WINGS OF ETERNITY
WINGS OF ETERNITY
Harav Y. Reuven Rubin Shlita
The counting has ended, each day drew us closer to this moment, and now it’s time to be real. The acceptance of the Torah is obviously an ongoing feature in our lives, yet, Shevuos prods us with its heavenly call to reawakening.
The Koznitzer Magid Ztl quotes the Berditchever Rebbe Ztl as explaining that when Hashem was about to give the Torah to Bnei Yisroel He told Moshe Rabbenu to tell them, “You have seen what I did to Egypt, and that I carried you on the wings of Eagles and brought you to Me.” Asks the Berditchever, what is it about the wings of eagles that caused Hashem to use this as His metaphor for our coming to the point of receiving the Torah. The Rebbe points out a Rashi on Tehillim that denotes that the feathers of Eagles fall out and then grow back fresh and new. Explains the Tzadik, Hashem is telling us that no matter how far away a Yid may feel distanced from the Eibishter, just like the wings of the eagle, we each can come back refreshed to Har Sinai feeling renewed and strengthened with our connection with Hashem.
We have all shared in an epoch of unheard dimensions. The pandemic and its aftermath has shaken the very souls of thousands. Fear, lock down, mask wearing, all this and so much more created a Petri dish of pain and dissonance that ripped into many hearts. Just as the air is getting a bit clearer, we now face economic pain and war on our doorstep. Where to turn, where to go? Let us all leap onto those eternally renewable eagle’s wings and allow Hashem to draw us to Har Sinai.
For those sceptics who may be reading these lines and are thinking I am over dramatising the case, I suggest that you talk to your Rabbonim and health experts. The situation is troubling and many need chizuk. In this generation of technology and superficial sharing of information, some have lost their connection with the enormity of Hashem’s love and care.
So how? How do we regain our own wings?
We find in the Medrash and in our holy Seforim that the most important aspect of being connected to the Torah is through the trait of feeling the sense of brotherhood with others and Ahavas Yisroel. This is accomplished by being humble and feeling empathy for others. The Tiferes Shmuel Ztl explains that this is the reason that the Torah was given to Klall Yisroel in the month of Sivan, whose ‘mazel’ is depicted as twins. Just as twin brothers feel each other’s pain, and sense one another’s needs, so it must be between all of Klall Yisroel. Feeling the pain and sharing the woes of our brethren is the first step towards our acceptance of Torah and fulsome connection with the Eibishter. We must hold ourselves close to one another and in this way, the Torah will hold us together with Hashem.
Sweet readers, there are so many who are suffering the aftershocks of what we all have experienced. This is especially true when it comes to our young. They need our non-judgmental love, our undivided attention. My phone doesn’t cease to ring with the problems many of our brethren are living through. We must create programs, raise money, do whatever it takes so these broken neshomahs can grow new and healthy wings. Let this be the clarion call for this Shevuos, that all our nation be given the strength to connect with that which is theirs, the eternal bond we all created at Har Sinai. We stood in a desert, nothing was there to distract us, our souls were aflame with the essence of who we are. Let us cut through all the dross and come back to where we want to be, and allow this Kabolas Hatorah to be the one that hastens our final and total redemption.