Rabbi's Blog

Dear OZ family,

The Haftara this Shabbat connects to the second of this week’s Torah portions, which contains the harsh rebuke for disobeying the Torah, called the Tochecha. Yirmiyahu (16-17) describes his personal pain and anguish, and he relates how he finds the strength to carry on in the face of suffering. The chapter is a veritable fortress of faith that a better day is ahead, and that the realization of that better day is in our hands. The chapter in Sefer Yirmiyahu right after the Haftara is the source of a beautiful prayer we recite at Kol Nidre on Yom Kippur, called “Ki HIneh Kachomer”. Man is but a lump of clay in the potter’s hand. It can be modeled into a usable vessel, but can also be ruined. The image of the potter’s wheel, and the clay falling apart, is explained by Yirmiyahu to relate to the fact that the very same clay can be refashioned and remodeled to be put to use again. At a time in history, when practically every nation was fatalistic and believed in a pre-determined outlook for their lives, Yirmiyahu vividly taught us that our happiness is in our own hands.

This is because the harsh rebukes at the end of Vayikra are not punishments, they are consequences. When parents begin to teach a child about crossing the street, they teach about looking both ways,  about the walk sign, and the stop sign, perhaps what the different colors of the traffic light indicate. A parent might say that if we cross the street when the light is red, that a car will hit us. This direction speaks like the Tochecha in this week’s Parsha. God speaks in this week’s Parsha as if these punishments will certainly come upon us if we sin. This is not so. For the vast majority of the history of the book of Melachim, spanning over 400 years, sinning did not immediately result in punishment. Moreover, some of our most successful times in the land, came during the sinful years of Omri, Achav and Yehoram. This moved some very courageous prophets like Hoshea, Amos, Yeshayahu and Micha to inform their countrymen that the suffering and cries of widows and orphans would cause the downfall and destruction of the kingdom and the land.

The kings and the people ignored these warnings. God must be satisfied with our behavior. Our successes are sure proof of that! These prophets predicted that such success could not continue in the face of their wayward behavior. Here is where the Tochecha comes in. There is no immediate correlation between sinning and suffering , the same way there is no correlation between performing Mitzvos and thriving. Chazal inform us of this when they say that there is no reward in this world. If there is a reward for a Mitzva, it is to be able to perform other Mitzvot. We have no explanation of the success of the wicked, nor of the suffering of the righteous, and attempting to explain such things is futile at best and blasphemous at worst. Note the anger expressed by God to Iyov’s 3 friends at the end of the book of Iyov, for being so sure that Iyov and his family deserved all their suffering.

A child may cross the street against the light again and again, and not get hit by a car, and conclude that the instructions about crossing were untrue. In fact the child may have even heard a story of someone who dutifully waited on the corner for the light to change, when an out of control car jumped the curb and hit that person. As a direct result of following the rules, this pedestrian came to harm, that might have been avoided if the rules were flouted. Divine reward and punishment are concepts beyond our comprehension. Our thoughts are not like God’s thoughts (Yeshayahu 55:8). The Tochecha we will read this Shabbat are no more punishments than that cancer is a punishment for smoking. They are consequences, delivered to us by a loving and caring God, who wants us to survive, while grand empires have turned back to sand.    

The Jewish world  this week mourned for what happened in Meron a week ago today. The incredible fortitude and strength, demonstrated by the families who were sitting Shiva is awe inspiring. Rob and Sue Koltai, who davened at OZ over 20 years ago, lost an incredible Tzaddik, and gained the admiration of a nation. Yeshivat Sha’alvim helped comfort not just a family, but the Jewish people. “Mi K’amcha Yisrael” is a wonderment that emerges from every corner of the Jewish world when facing tragedies like these. Tomorrow is Sa’adiah Gaon’s 1,079^th Yahrzeit. He understood the Tochecha in natural terms as well, as ultimate consequences. May we be worthy of God’s graces, and find the same strength that helped Yirmiyahu in tomorrow’s Haftara.

Be safe.  Be healthy.  Be excellent.

Rabbi Allen Schwartz   

Rabbi Allen Schwartz

Congregation Ohab Zedek

118 West 95^th Street | New York, NY  10025-6604

Phone 212.749-5150, ext 200 | Fax 212.663-3635

E-mail ras@ozny.org

Website:  www.ozny.org