B'Yachad: A Time To Come TogetherIn Response to the October 7th Attacks

Eish Kodesh, Parashat HaHodesh, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, 19th c.

Rabbi Shapira, was the Grand Rabbi of Piaseczno, Poland, who authored a number of works and was murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

In the Talmud (Hagigah 5b), we learn that In the outer chambers, there is always “strength and rejoicing in God’s place,” and within the inner chambers, God weeps in God’s distress as it were over the pain of the Jews. So, it is possible that at a time of hester panim (concealment of the Divine Face), which is to say, when God hides Godself within the inner chambers, a Jew may also enter and be alone with God there, each Jew at his own level. There within the inner chambers, Torah and worship is revealed to each person who enters. We have already spoken about how the Oral Torah was revealed primarily in exile, in Babylon, and how the holy Zohar was only revealed to Rabbi Shimeon bar Yohai and his son Rabbi Elazar when they were living in the cave, fleeing the Roman Government, afraid for their lives.

There are times when a person wonders about himself, thinking, “I am broken. I am ready to burst into tears at any moment, and in fact, I break down in tears from time to time. How can I possibly learn Torah? What can I do to find the strength not just to learn Torah but to discover new Torah and a hasidut (piety)?”

Then there are times when a person beats his heart, saying, “It is not simply my supercilious heart allowing me to be so stubborn, to learn Torah in the midst of my pain, and in the midst of the pain of the Jews whose suffering is so great?” And, then he answers himself, “But I am so broken. I have cried so much, my whole life is fraught with grief and dejection.” He is lost inside, his introspective, self analytical confusion.

But, as we have said above, it is the Holy One who is crying within the inner chambers and whoever presses himself closer to God through Torah is able to weep there together with God and also to learn Torah with God.

This is the difference. The pain and grief he suffers over his own situation, alone, in isolation, can break a person. He may even fall so far that he becomes immobilized by it. But the crying that a person does together with God makes him strong. He cries and takes strength. He is shattered and is then emboldened to study and to worship.

It is difficult for him to rise up only the first or second time because of the pain. If he is bold, if he stretches out with his head to touch the Torah and worship, he gains access to those innermost chambers where God is. There he laments and wails with God, as it were, alone with God. Then, even in the midst of pain, he can learn Torah and worship God’s blessed devotions.

Eli, Eli by Hannah Senesh

Hannah Senesh (1921-1944) went to Israel from Hungary at age 18. She studied at the agricultural school at Nahalal and joined kibbutz Sdot-Yam. In 1943, at the height of World War II, she volunteered to go into Nazi-controlled areas in Europe to save Jewish lives. In 1944 she parachuted into Yugoslavia. After staying with the partisans, she went to Hungary, where she was discovered and executed by the Germans.

Eli, Eli, Shelo yigamer le'olam:
Hachol vehayam
Rishrush shel hamayim
Berak hashamayim
Tefilat ha'adam.

My God, My God, I pray that these things never end,
The sand and the sea,
The rush of the waters,
The light of the Heavens,
The prayer of Man.