The Jews and the Nations

By Rabbi David E. Eidensohn

 

The gemora[1] teaches, “The reason that HaShem exiled the Jews among the nations is in order to increase converts to Judaism.” Meaning when gentiles see that Jews live with decency and piety and they realize what goes on elsewhere, many of them consider turning to the teachings of the Torah. This does not mean that many gentiles convert to become actual Jews, as this is generally discouraged as it is very hard for a gentile to keep the entire Torah. But conversion can mean that a gentile stops worshipping idols and becomes a Ben Noach, keeping a few basic laws which are relatively easy for a gentile to obey. From this some Noahides may decide to become full Jews. This is a serious move not always encouraged because if after many years the gentile reverts to stop obeying the Torah he is punished by heaven. So better for some gentiles to stay Noahides. But here and there some do convert to Judaism and many are very successful, such as Unkeluse who composed the Aramaic translation of the bible that all Jews study every week.

Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi taught that the Jews relate to mankind as the heart is to the body. The Jews have a role, to teach morality to the nations. This does not mean simply to teach the nations not to steal, but it also means much more. It means that when we live upon this earth and see great problems and difficulties, and people suffer, we must question ourselves if we have some responsibility, because the suffering is somehow related to our failing in our mission.[2]

Ultimately, such a challenge is only appropriate for the great saints, and the rest of us cannot always blame ourselves when other people have problems. Obviously, life is full of problems and the full fulfillment of the above is only obtained with the negation of all suffering before the End of Days. But yes, we are the heart of the world, and when the world undergoes pain, and the heavens cry, we, the heart of the nations, must increase morality and thus raise the world to happiness, in some degree according to our piety. Or phrased somewhat differently, before the End of Days, even great people may suffer and may not be able to prevent the general suffering so common in this world. But when we remember that we are the heart of creation in this world, and the heart can find the capacity to improve happiness, we must turn to prayer, and we must reveal to the Jews and the nations the great power of morality and HaShem’s love of us. Because when HaShem notes that Jews are working hard to teach everyone Jew and gentile to obey G‑d with a pure morality, surely some benefit will shine forth from heaven, each to his own level.

There are two basic levels of serving HaShem, as taught in the very beginning of the Book of Elijah the Prophet. These two levels are Torah and Derech Erets. Torah is what HaShem taught to the world through Moshe, and Derech Erets is a higher level, whereby people respect each other, especially family and Torah scholars. The idea that Derech Erets comes higher than the Torah is as we mentioned, clearly stated in the first page of the book of Elijah the Prophet. It is also mentioned in the gemora Yuma[3]. The First Temple was destroyed because Jews sinned with paganism, sexual sinning, and murder. The Second Temple was free of these sins, but was destroyed because despite learning Torah steadily, people had vain hatred for each other. Thus, worse is vain hatred than paganism, sexual immorality and murder. The First Temple was destroyed and HaShem promised the Jews to rebuild the First Temple in seventy years. But the Second Temple was destroyed and until today we have no idea when it will be rebuilt. Because the sin of vain hatred, a violation of Derech Erets, is worse than paganism, sexual sin and murder.

We find a similar thought at the end of the biblical book of Malachi, HaShem spoke and said, “Behold I will send to you Elijah the Prophet before the great and fearful day, and he will restore the hearts of fathers to sons and the hearts of son to their father, lest I come and destroy the world.” We don’t find such a threat elsewhere. But when Derech Erets is destroyed, the world cannot survive. The exception is when even a few Jews such as Elijah are completely faithful to G‑d and themselves maintain Derech Erets and obey the Torah. In our times great rabbis such as Rabbi Aharon Kotler and Yaacov Kaminetsky and their holy generation were such saints, and it was their  piety that sustained a world filled with great evil and the destruction of Derech Erets on a massive scale. HaShem looks at the few utterly pious people who maintain a proper Derech Erets and obey the Torah, and in their merit, he does not destroy the world.

Another important idea in all of this is that one terrible sin, such as murder, is not as terrible as many smaller sins, especially if the smaller sins are committed with great passion. Thus, the sin of spilling marital sin is the “worst sin” because it occur very frequently for those who engage in it regularly, and when done, it is done with a mighty passion.

Simply stated, Torah brings us to relate to HaShem. It has all of the rules a Jew had to follow to speak to HaShem in prayer and to obey Him. Higher than that is the level of one person to another, or Derech Erets. A violation of Torah HaShem can forgive, but a violation of Derech Erets is much worse. At the end of the Prophet Malachi HaShem threatens to destroy the world if Derech Erets is not improved. This threat was at the time of Elijah the Prophet, but it was never carried out, not then, and not for thousands of years since then. Why?

The Orach Chaim HaKodosh in the beginning of AIKEV tells us that people have two parts, the mind and its decision how to behave, and the feet that take a person to do what he wants to do. Most people are not perfect in only doing things that the rational mind decides they must do. One thing they may do is to insult other people and violate Derech Erets. If so, this is very serious. But if there are some people, like Eliyohu HaNovi, and tsaddikim like Reb Aharon Kotler, who accepted the full force of HaShem’s will and spread the belief in that to others, their minds and their feet are one, and HaShem protects them and the world.

When Reb Aharon came to America he resolved to turn America, which was completely removed from Torah, into the high Torah level of ancient Europe. To further his goals in this regard, he asked for a meeting with the senior rabbis from Europe who came to America and got good paying positions in fancy synagogues despite the fact that the majority of people in these synagogues were not Orthodox and did not keep Shabbos. The rabbis were told, “You will receive a very good salary for performing marriages and various other things. But if you ever complain about a Jew driving on Shabbos, you will be fired.” Also, nothing was done about providing children with Torah teachings, and even one major rabbi refused to consider making in his community a school for children. His children grew up removed from Torah, which is no wonder.

Rabbi Kotler spoke at length when it was his time to speak, and then he awaited the response of the senior rabbi. The senior rabbi responded, “Rabbi Kotler, we are in charge in America. You go back to Europe with your father-in-law Reb Isser Zalman Meltser.” That rabbi died on the spot. Told me by Rav Benny Eisenberg who most likely was the one who brought Reb Aharon to the meeting in the first place.

Yes, Reb Aharon’s feet and mind were one, and HaShem watched him carefully to see him succeed, which he did. Those who opposed him HaShem dealt with as well. Eventually, rabbis of synagogues were often advanced students of Rabbi Kotler.

Derech Erets for Jews and Gentiles

The Talmud teaches that the senior rabbi of the generation, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zackai, was always careful to greet everyone, Jew and gentile, when he walked down the street. This led everyone to respect him as well as those others who followed his example, as suggested by the rabbis.

The gemora[4] teaches that “one should always respond softly, and establish peace with his brethren and with his relatives and with all people, even a gentile in the marketplace, so that he will be loved from on high (Heaven) and beloved below (in this world), and so be accepted by everyone.”

The gemora continues there saying, “It was said regarding Rabbi Yochanan ben Zackai, that nobody ever greeted him first, even a gentile in the marketplace.” Rabbi Yochanan ben Zackai lived in the time of the destruction of the First Temple, something brought about by fanatic Jews who had no compunction with making war with the mighty Roman legions. The Roman legions finally defeated all who opposed them and were about to penetrate Jerusalem and destroy the Temple. Whoever opposed the Jewish fanatics in their hopeless struggles against Rome was threatened. But one of them was a relative of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zackai who knew that the rebellion against Rome would not succeed. He helped Rabbi Yochanan ben Zackai to escape from Jerusalem and go to the camp of the Roman general.

Rabbi Yochanan was brought to this general and greeted him as “Your Majesty.” The general was shocked. He said that for that Rabbi Yochanan ben Zackai can be killed by the general who is only a general, not a king. But Rabbi Yochanan ben Zackai told him that it was obvious that he was about to conquer Jerusalem, and that this power was only given by G‑d to the monarch of the attacking country. Just then somebody came to the general and announced that he had been selected to be the new king.

The new king then turned to Rabbi Yochanan ben Zackai and told him that he was the first one to realize this, and he must be a very holy man to know it, so what does he want the new king to give him?

Rabbi Yochana ben Zackai realized that the new king would never permit the Jews to maintain their hold on the Temple, so he did not ask this. He asked rather several things he was sure the king would agree to. One was that the king allow a city in Israel to be used by rabbis to study the Torah, and the king agreed. He then asked for a doctor for a holy man who fasted many days to prevent the destruction of Jerusalem, and it was granted. From that moment on the Romans in general had a very high regard for the pious rabbis although they slaughtered the rebels. Eventually, a new Roman king had such great respect for the rabbis that he himself, secretly, began to practice Judaism. He once gave the leader of the rabbis a huge sum of money, explaining that he knew that the time would come when the Romans would demand a lot of money from Jews, and he wanted them to have that money, which actually came from him.

One of the greatest rabbis in the world years ago when I was younger was Rabbi Yaacov Kaminetsky. He was a man of understanding and wisdom, as well as piety and honesty. Near his house was a covenant for Catholic women. These were older women dressed in their special garments and their grounds were now surrounded by many blocks of deeply Orthodox Jews, mostly with beards and religious attire. Rabbi Kaminetsky, an old rabbi, would regularly greet these ladies pleasantly.

It so happened that our city had a powerful commissioner who hated Jews. Once a Jew came to him to get permission to build a building. He knew that this commissioner would give him a hard time. He was shocked when the commissioner greeted him warmly and quickly approved his requests. He was so shocked that the commissioner sensed his surprise and explained to him, that his close relative lived in that covenant, and that she and her friends who lived there always received the warmest greeting from Rabbi Yaacov Kaminetsky.

In the Second World War when the Germans began slaughtering Jews, a gentile postman began hiding Jews. If the Germans would realize this they would kill him. He explained that he once gave a Jewish customer a large sum of money by mistake. The Jew returned the money. When the postman realized how honest the Jew was he resolved to hide as much Jews as he could and so many survived the war.

But just as Rabbi Yochanan ben Zackai turned even ferocious Roman soldiers into people who honored the rabbis, and just as the postmaster saved many Jews from the Germans, so were there other Jews who did not merit to turn Jews and gentiles into beloved friends, but perhaps the opposite. It all depends how a Jew greets the other Jews and the gentiles.

In recent times many Jews who are not religious have entered Hollywood and turned it into a festival of disgusting anti-Torah teachings. Thousands of people of all ages have been destroyed by these very popular filth productions. When people notice that many of these Hollywood filth producers are Jewish, they often hate Jews, who teach people to do the complete opposite of what the Torah commands. The Torah is very clear that people who promote sin and evil are enemies of G‑d and all Jews must oppose them.

Rabbi Yaacov Kaminetsky once told me that when we find some Jewish politician or similar personality who is spreading anti-Torah anti-morality ideas, and there is a politician who believes in morality but who hates Jews, we must back for and vote for the anti-Semite. We have a G‑d and we have a Torah and anyone who spreads filth and opposes G‑d and the Torah must be opposed and fought.

There is now a war in America between various sections of people. The ferocious hate involved in this by the fanatics  has produced suffering by very wealthy people that threatens constitutional law. But there are few people who oppose the wealthy fanatics, and the wealthy fanatics grow from strength to strength. Some of them control Hollywood and teach millions of Americans to live a life of sin and abomination against the Torah. Some of them back radical anti-biblical values such as gay rights or transgenderism, including operating on young children to change their sex from male to female or from female to male. Rabbis rise up in shull and announce to their congregants that they are homosexuals and they encourage everyone to follow their example. Some individuals who oppose them strongly are threatened with serious legal punishment and they are often confined to their homes and stripped of basic rights all Americans enjoy. Some say that we are approaching the time when we will have war in America where fanatic group battles fanatic group.

We must recall that not long ago Japan made war with Russia and defeated the Czar. The Japanese were thrilled with their success and made war with China, and finally, they bombed Hawaii and the American ships there, and precipitated WWII. Around that time Hitler rose to power in Germany and began murdering six million Jews. Japan and Germany adapted fanatic positions and made war and human slaughter unheard of in world history. Many trembled and try to satisfy them with this or that, but failed. The world was collapsing, and America rose up to defend the world and succeeded, but at what cost? And if we are today silent when the fanatics seek to take over our rights and families, what then will the fanatics do? If they succeed, what will happen to our community?  Do we all have to flee the country and let America turn into the pure filth of the Hollywood terrorists?

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[1] Bavli Pesochim 87b

[2] See Yonasan Rosenblum’s work Reb Yaacov from Artscroll page 183.

[3] Yuma 9b

[4] Babylonian Talmud Berochose 17A