Hearing the Call (מוסר קשה)

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Hearing the Call (מוסר קשה)

From my time in every From Frum Birth community (which prior to this month included being in a Khassidish communities more than others), I had notice that it’s not that uncommon that people are not as wholehearted with their mitzvos; it wasn’t uncommon to see people who are interested in the most gashmiustic lifestyle while wearing a Black Hat. Sometimes, it’s the expensive, unideal, but formal-passing clothing (in the modern Yeshivish crowd) or the socially low attitudes (in all backgrounds)….

Now, it’s good that there’s Yiddishkeit in all financial classes in society, but some of these people need to be at least ashamed if not embarrassed of the idea that they are talking like the most goyish people while wearing a shtreimel? Many people don’t value the significance of a Rav. Many people have been robbed the ability to live a simple Toradig life. Many Yehudim are proclaimed בני תורה but are living in a life which is full of gashmiustic influences and goyish attitudes that are a product of the contemporary Akum-influenced world that many people praise. Many of them don’t take their Yiddishkeit too seriously. There are many people who are in the category of “בעל תשובה“, I have the interest in experience the spiritually high moments of deeply felt עבודת השם. Yes, the oxymoron was intended because the viral situation is an anomaly in the seemingly normal picture of humanity. 

In Lakewood, where I can actually understand the language that people are speaking, I’ve seen a Ben Kollel say that Jews shouldn’t be so Jewish in public – that we should build more Eruvim or perhaps wear Black Hats in public. How could it be that a person learning in Kollel could have the opinion that JEWS should be less JEWISH? And in the weak leading right into the school closings, curfews, and deaths from the infamous plague affecting Yidden in the year 5780, I had the first hand experience of seeing countless  בני תורהcrowding around the bulletin boards of the biggest yeshivah (outside Israel) reading a paper talking about an election that they probably wouldn’t even take the time to register for in their busy lives (even if it’s busy with gashmius).

Was it worth the countless 6-12 paragraph essay’s written by our גדולים about the not-so-relevant elections of an entity that’s barely government of any sort. And in the yeshivish world, it’s not ideal that something be a strong distraction from Yiddishkeit or that someone would even gather in large groups over some news story or opinion unless it was from an actual rabbi such as the ראשי הישיבה of the great yeshivos we have. Don’t tell me that everyone was wholeheartedly interested in learning and are now missing time from learning when they were most certainly not valuing that time wisely in the week leading into the complete shut-down of every yeshivah in Lakewood. These people should be ashamed of themselves.

The crowned disease translated from its Latin name “Corona” is the name of the infamous virus that is shutting down the whole world. Yes, this is the Latin word for Crown. In Hebrew, the translation of the word “crown” is כתר. It is also the name that is highest of the סְפִירוֹת – the emanations of how Hashem expresses his infinite abilities to the universe. Because it is the highest emanation, it is the hardest to break. It is influencing humanity from a very high source. Therefor, we, the Nation of Israel, need to recognize that this plague is not some ordinary problem like those coming from the lower emanations. We need to really look into our actions and see if there is something that should be changed or improved. The nature of this plague affects the elders of Israel, many of which are our Rabbis. In some communities, every old man is a rav which means that every rav in such a town is at risk from the virus (since it can easily kill someone with a weaker immune system). Khas v’Shalom, that we loose the majority of our rabbis, but it was brought down Me’Khtav Me’Eliyahu that sometimes Hashem takes away our צדקים (righteous ones) in order to send us a real message! Why would cause Israel’s righteous onesto suffer? This isn’t the first time that such a tragedy happened. This happened to the students of Rebbe Akiva during the count of the Omer


Yeshayahu Ha-Navi says in 29:13-14: “Because this people has come near; with their mouth and with their lips they honor Me, but their heart they draw far away from Me, and their fear of Me has become a command of people, which has been taught.Therefore, I will continue to perform obscurity to this people, obscurity upon obscurity, and the wisdom of his wise men shall be lost, and the understanding of his geniuses shall be hidden.”. In some cases, Hashem is willing to remove to צדקים in order to send the message that we need to hear. Sometimes, it is through a hard message that someone hears the call, the wake-up call, that the world is not good enough. 

Jewish people, all over the world, need to go through some serious introspection. But most of all, Jews that are in some category of “Orthodoxy” need to consider what they are. Are Frum From Birth people setting a good example for everyone else? Are Frum From Birth people behaving in a manner which would be hypocritical for a Frum person to act?…It’s not difficult for a culturally aware person to see the social segment of Reformism as being fake. A person has the capability of seeing secular Jewish culture as not holding itself to a higher standard, but for a Frum person to act in a very low is degrading for those that are identified as “Frum”. How much of a חילול השם is it when a Frum person is showing himself as inviting towards immorality or showing low middos in public? And how unideal is it that we live in a world where one can not find wholehearted עבודת השם. How humiliating must it be that the righteous rabbis from the old country can have grandchildren with such crude attitudes when it comes to basic human decency. 

Take this into consideration: Some card-carrying Orthodox Jews have so-called “Kiddush Clubs” where they מקדש the holiday they are in (albeit a Shabbos or Yom Tov) by leaving during the דרשה given by the rav of the shul in order to consume alcohol and socialize (in many cases not about  תורה or any ). Now, if the norm of the Shul is to hear קידוש before other davening מוסף, then one would be implying that the rav is involved in the making of קידוש, but in the case of these fake clubs, it is a sign of disrespect to the rav. Does such a group of people truly value their rabbis? It seems not.It is as if people do not respect the forerunners of the living generations. But this can change. People are now in a position where the davening has to be motivated from within and not external forces. The נשמה of a real Yid is motivated by the desire connect to its Creator. A Yid doesn’t have to motivated by exterior forces in order to מקדש the day he’s in or to do a simple act of חסד. The learning in [literally] today’s world has to be motivated by an authentic desire to learn. And the ביטול תורה caused by our people wasting time at baseball games…Does one need evidence on the ביטול?

 
.פרה אדומה – The גוים laugh at this concept of it. The card-carrying fans of “The Bible” think that it’s ridiculous that Jewish people would still make an offering using a פרה אדומה, but the Yid is willing to do a מצוה just for the sake of that מצוה! No other nation has this ability. The Selected People for G-d’s mission are not the descendants of Mitzrayim. That nation was steeped in sin. They had no interest in carrying out His word. Esaw liked to kill, and Yishmael liked to steal. There was no way that תורה was for them. It was given to the ישראל. It was given to someone who had to fight his way to G-d.

Sometimes being a Yid requires you to literally fight one’s own inner-desire in order to succeed. Sometimes, it means having to pray without the spiritual support of others in your local shul, and sometimes it means that you would have to learn without the assistance of a חברותא. When Hashem sees that someone is wholeheartedly performing His will, He is happy. Let’s see how happy we can make Hashem before most of everything is lost.

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