Redeeming a fractured world by Harav Rubin Shlita
We were recently blessed with a lovely simcha, the Pidyon Haben of a great grandson. As I stood waiting for the proceedings to start I shared a whimsical observation with two choshuve Rabbonim, dear friends who were gracing the event. We are all three of a certain age (white beard a sine qua non!), and I mused that when we were youngsters we probably never even heard of anyone having a great grandparent, and now it seems Boruch Hashem quite a common phenomenon. We sighed and then one of my guests said, “Yes, we have been blessed with the zechus of being Alter Zeidas. Perhaps it’s because we are meant to fulfill a certain position in the world of our young. The society they are growing up in, is shaky and broken. We saw tzaddikim who had emerged from the greatest Gehinom imaginable and we were blessed in sharing in their expansive non-judgmental world that flowed with Torah love. The Torah tells us that the older generation must tell the next one exactly what they saw and lived. We are that generation that can tell our children what was once, and be their example. Ours was a community that reached out, yet was vibrant and strong to the core.” Sage words indeed. We shook our heads with the sort of understanding three score and ten years can bring. Then my third guest, a renowned mechanech and Rav added, “and what we must offer these, our youngsters of today, in their broken cold world, is unconditional love and support. Those that surround them, didn’t have the merit to see this first hand, but we did. Our Rebbe’s went through so much, yet overcame all that they encountered with loving care. We are the generation that can give testament to that.”
“We can’t put up our feet and rest; we need to reach out and offer that for which many of our young are desperate”
This addendum enveloped my heart with its warmth and slipped into my soul just as the guest of honour, the thirty day old tzadikle was brought in on a platter of silver festooned with jewels. My attention was drawn to the wonderful avodah that was taking place, yet those few words spoken by holy Yidden I cherish deeply, haven’t left me.
The more I allowed those words to take root in my heart, the more I realized how blessed I am. Yes, we are a unique generation that has been given a unique role. We saw those heroes that rebuilt all we share today, but more to the point we experienced in real time the spirit that drove that rebuilding. There were no barriers put up, every Yiddisher neshomo was precious and worthy of redemption. To those who had seen such mass destruction of our holy people, there could be no room to exclude anyone who sought entry. We “old timers” are now the torch bearers of that love and compassion, and our youngsters need to know we are there for them.
Times are different now; schools and mosdos seem to have Jews who are surplus to requirements. Yeshivos aren’t afraid to state clearly that they seek only youngsters who have been successful in school and are highly motivated, subliminally conveying a message to the others that they need not even ask!
In this week’s parsha we are told that Bnei Yisroel did not listen to Moshe at first because of “shortness of breath and hard work.” Chazal explain this to mean that because of the harshness of their circumstances they lost all positive spirit to move forward. Hence, they could not hear Hashem’s message of hope. Too many of our young are losing that spirit of what it is to be a Yid.
Our world, “way back then”, didn’t exclude; it sought to bring closer. This perhaps is our role at this particularly critical time.
So as I pack away the cubes of sugar and knoble from the Pidyon Haben I also have a fresh understanding of what the merit of such nachas entails. We can’t put up our feet and rest; we need to reach out and offer that for which many of our young are desperate. Our role just may be one of renewal, not just for ourselves as “young” Alter Zeidas, but more importantly, for those we are blessed to share our lives with.