Rabbi's Blog

Every so often the Internet connection goes down at home or in the office. If it weren’t for the fact that we have a Shabbos for which, by choice, we shut down our computers, phones and the like, I would go ballistic when this happens during the week. I definitely have the patience for a short ‘down time’ when the connections are not working properly or not working at all. I even attempt to re-boot my computer or restart my smart phone when it is giving me trouble, but I manage only because it usually comes back pretty quickly. This week, however, computer ‘down time’ gave much cause for thought.  The Internet provides the world with instantaneous access to breaking news.  When that viaduct for information is broken during times of crisis, particularly those events which directly affect Jews anywhere in the world, my patience quickly runs very thin.  Throughout the past week all of us, I am sure, were focused on the emerging news from Paris, and yet, in the midst of the quickly growing story of terror and heroism, of anti-Semitism and shock, having no Internet connectivity was frustrating, to say the least.    

We have become so enslaved to our technology that we actually tend to break down when we  lose connectivity as a result of some computer malfunction or loss of power. Think how often in the course of a day we rely on search engines such as Google, Bing, and continuous, instantaneous access to  Internet. This need for total reliance on Internet connectivity is not only in our personal lives;  the entire business world, - stock markets, and government. We feel trapped and lost without it. We rely on technology for instant mail, stock trades, buying, selling, and banking needs, bill paying, entertainment, movie reviews, and much more. I only remain sane because I go, by choice, twenty five hours a week without even thinking about the Internet  and therefore am trained to get by when it’s not available thanks to an act of God. This situation, however, has limited effects for me as well as for most of us when we are disconnected from events which can easily be traced back to events of seventy years ago in Europe.  News traveled very slowly, and frequently inaccurately during WWII.  It was only after the end of the war that we really learned to true horror of what had happened to European Jews.  Terrorist anti-Semitic attacks occurring today are transmitted directly to our cell phones only minutes after they’ve occurred.  Television and radio programs are immediately interrupted to tell us of “breaking news”.  For us this week, an Internet shut down was maddening. I came to appreciate the benefits of immediate access to a quickly developing major event taking place seven thousand miles away – an event which, initially focusing on a controversial publication shifting one day later to a kosher market just hours before Shabbos.  This dual attack, revealed to a watching world, juxtaposed in my mind to the lack of news emerging from the same part of the world seven decades earlier. The fact that there is double meaning in events of importance is not something new; it actually occurs around the time of this week’s parsha. A little background will offer greater insight into the nature of this idea. The five books of the Torah are known by two different names. In Hebrew the name of the second book of the Torah is Shemos, which means ‘names’, because the names of the children of Yisrael are mentioned immediately. The English name of the second book of the Torah is called Exodus, which is the translation from a different Hebrew name of Shemos called ‘Sefer HaGeula’ - the book of redemption. With regard to the other four Chumashim (books) of the Torah, the secondary names come apparently from the beginning to the end of each sefer/book. In contrast, Sefer HaGeula, the book of redemption, one can argue only begins once the Jewish people are safe and sound on the other side of Yam Suf – the Sea of Reeds.  During the first three Parshios of Shemos, we are still slaves in Egypt.  It is only after the Makkos, the plagues, and literally leaving Egypt that we leave slavery behind. One can even argue that the slave mentality remained with many of the Jews even in the desert many years later.

The name of the Sefer  runs from the beginning to the end, as do  the other four books of the Torah.   The Gemara Megilla 17b states: “Milchama Zu Hee Aschalta D’Geuala” - “War, this is the beginning of the redemption”. Once the battle has begun we should understand that the salvation is accompanying us, giving inspiration and hope to that end. I either once heard or saw a Gemara Yerushalmi that literally says every war that takes place in the world brings the ultimate redemption, the Geula Shelaima, that much closer to the world. (I am going out of my own box of rules: quoting a source without knowing the exact citing, but I feel it’s worth the risk in this case). To that end, in the seventh Bracha of the weekday Amida, we ask for Geula/redemption. At first it appears to be a request for the national redemption of the Jewish people, but that idea is challenged because the requests about Moshiach and rebuilding of Yerushalayim comes later in the Shmone Esrei. Rav Chaim Friedlander, in his sefer Sifsei Chaim, explains that it really refers to a personal Tzara,a personal difficulty. A personal difficulty is viewed as one being enslaved by the issue that is attacking him. Once we mention Geula for a personal plea, it can also be attributed to the national cause as well.

The internal battles and wars that wage within us can be viewed as slavery. Anytime we are being controlled by an outside force and torn by what to do is a form of slavery. We must recognize that the battle itself is the beginning of the resolution. When a person fights for something, it is an indication they are on the road to victory. In the United States the Civil War, despite being a bloody and  costly battle and a war which came close to tearing the United States apart, WAS the actual beginning of the redemption and ultimate freedom of the blacks in America.

In our own personal daily struggles, battles, and wars we should know the actual trouble and difficulty is the beginning of the salvation. Whether it is a religious or secular issue that we are faced with, we need to maintain our resolve to fight because the actual ‘slavery’ that we find ourselves in is really the beginning of our freedom. If and when we struggle with religion and our observance of the Torah and we feel strangled and enslaved, keep in mind that the salvation and the Geula – redemption - has begun. Therefore, the beginning of Shemos, when our slavery started immediately, the book is nevertheless called Sefer HaGeula, the Book of Redemption, because the Geula was on its way. As Jews today, we are facing difficult and complex challenges that previous generations witnessed in different ways. Let us strengthen ourselves by knowing the Geula Shelaima is not too far behind!

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky