Today came the sad news that one of the most beloved rabbis of our times, Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz, passed away. He was hospitalized for a few months with pneumonia at the Shaarei Tzeddek hospital in Jerusalem (not related to corona) and passed away today at the age of 83. Rabbi Steinsaltz wrote a translation and commentary of the Talmud, and made that great work of the Jewish people accessible to almost everyone who wants to learn it. He also wrote many other commentaries and also different kinds of books ("the 13 petalled rose" is one of them, which I read and liked). He was very sweet, "eidel", a real mentch.
He grew up in a secular family in Jerusalem, went to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to study, and gradually became religious, hassidic. Even when he rose to greatness, he stayed simple and humble and told people that he really misses just being a simple person without the fuss that happens around him everywhere, and just wearing jeans. I can sympathize with the jeans part of this sentence.
Anyway, I think that he was there all the past weeks that I was there on Shabbats, and I didn't know, and I couldn't know where exactly he was, but if I had gone from bed to bed to ask if people needed help, like I do in normal (non-corona) times, I might have found him. I just feel that at such times, even though I wear a mask, perhaps I shouldn't be going from one patient to the other, but better stick with one patient. Anyway, it makes me think that perhaps this Shabbat I should try to gently go from room to room just to see if anyone else needs something.
It is sad that he died and at such an age. 83 today is not so old and there are people who climb mountains at this age. My Italian teacher at highschool told us that her father, at the age of 83, was doing long bicycle rides everywhere in Europe, including mountain ranges, so it is absolutely possible. It depends on the lifestyle we lead before we get to such an age. I think that people who sit a lot and don't move much may lose their health, and also people who eat a lot (which is most of the population - people who just eat because they think it's right to eat three meals a day or they eat because they feel like eating even when they are not hungry). Anyway, a huge intellectual like Steinsaltz probably didn't spend time working out, and I wish people realize that working out, going for walks, jogging, all these things - are a must. They don't waste your time. They buy your body more time of health in the future. And these days, when you can listen to lectures on your smartphone, you can nourish your mind at the same time that you take care of your body. Yesterday I did a 3 hour walk around the hilly streets of Jerusalem, and I listened to lectures on my smartphone so it didn't feel it was like a waste of time. I was exhausted later and fell asleep very quickly and slept a lot. But it's good for the body to work out.
Anyway, what's even more sad for me is that such a spiritual giant like him had to spend time at a hospital - to let his body control his situation. A man that was all spirit, suddenly had to be all body and let his body dictate where he is and what he does. It's sad for me to think that nurses had to take care of his body, even the most basic functions. I often look at patients at hospitals and I feel this is so humiliating for human dignity - to be lying on a bed and let strangers take care of your body, even its most basic needs. I really implore everyone - please do your best to take good care of your body, so that the day won't arrive that others have to do it for you. Yes, of course, people can take the best care of their body and still find themselves in that situation, I mean, if G-d decides that this is what a person must go through, then that person will go through it no matter how hard he tries to stay healthy, and if someone is already in that situation, they must realize that G-d is with them in it and just cling to that knowing. But whatever degrees of freedom we have in our ability to take care of our health in a preventative way - we are obligated to do our best to stay away from the hospital.
We experience so much internal strife these days between those who love the Torah and want Israel to be a Jewish state and those few who do not want anything to do with Judaism, the Bible, Torah, anything - those few want to be super secular like Europe and they adopt secular European values as their creed. Their opposition to Netanyahu has nothing to do with the man himself. Sure enough, this man is not the Messiah, you can find faults in him, but this is not the real reason for their opposition, this is only the excuse, a disguise, because they are not super-righteous either, neither are their leaders. The question is not the man. The question is the identity of our country. It is an opposition to what this man stands for - national Jewish identity. He is not religious, but he is the leader of the political camp that wants this country to be Jewish, whereas they, consciously or unconsciously, don't want it. They are willing to give away parts of our G-d given land to our enemies, and this is the only way they think there will ever be peace. Some of them denigrate the state symbols (that are really religious symbols) like the Menorah, the flag, etc. Most of them are Ashkanazis, people whose roots are in Europe and who grew up with the influence of European culture in their homes - the reverence for human intelligence, the desire to be considered intelligent and intellectual by everyone around them. And there are also Sepharadi Jews who join them in these values and want to show that they are superior too, especially the intellectuals among them. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be an intellectual, except that it causes most of them to feel threatened by spirituality and tradition, because they don't want to be considered stupid and gullible, easy to be impressed and manipulated by the masses. This is where I have a problem with them. Yes, I have respect for human intellect too, but I know that it is nothing in comparison to the eternal infinite wisdom of our Creator. And it doesn't make me feel stupid to believe. To the contrary. I feel so much divine guidance in my life - I feel that G-d is guiding me and speaking to me all the time. I'm not sure I'm such a good student at understanding what He is saying all the time, but at least some of the times I do understand and I find that such guidance is really a life-giving gift. I ask questions in my heart, and the answers come (often quickly) in such amazing ways that I could never have thought of by myself, and when I follow these answers, I realize I was saved from really unpleasant situations. Really thank G-d for that, and I'm so sorry for my Jewish brothers and sisters who give all of this richness of wisdom up and stick instead to limited human knowledge and wisdom. This is really not a fair trade.
They are our brothers, yet it feels like when they discard faith, they become our enemies from within, and such examples are abundant also in the Bible. It breaks my heart. So so sad. Most of them grew up in secular homes - but their secular grandparents had at least SOME respect and love to our tradition and heritage. I'm sure those grandparents would be appalled had they seen what their grandchildren are doing and saying these days. When a Jew decides to leave the Torah and the faith-based way of life - they have no idea what detrimental effects it may have on their children, grandchildren and future generations. It is horrible.
I think, though, that G-d is placing in every secular family at least one person who makes Teshuvah (repents and rediscovers G-d and the world of Torah) and this way every secular family has at least one religious person, one traditional person or simply a spiritual person who is aware of the presence of G-d. By doing this, there is an ongoing effect that counteracts that horrible phenomenon of anti-Jewish Jews and each family is forced to learn about Judaism through that one spiritual person that is placed among them, that was born to them.
One more thing that G-d is doing, which I like a lot, is that He inspires many of our artists (especially musicians and singers, but not only) to rediscover Him and Torah, they make Teshuvah, become religious and it starts appearing in their amazing songs - and then everyone sings and hums their faith-filled songs, and it subconsciously affects large layers of the population. He does this also with journalists (Sivan Rahav Meir, Tzvi Yehezkely and Yair Raveh are just a few exmples). They are the ones who shape public opinions, they grew up in super-secular families and they suddenly discover Torah and gradually become religious and then others learn about G-d and Torah through them.
So, even though the situation at the moment is not so pretty, even scary at times, and even though I feel sad about it - I don't worry. I know that everyone, including the worst of the worst among us like those who denigrate our religious symbols in public, will one day make Teshuvah - and if not them - then their children or grandchildren. All of the people of Israel will return to the fold and there are HUGE waves of Teshuvah already throughout the country. I do what I think I can do to help these waves, including affecting my immediate family, but I also enjoy every time anew discovering yet another celebrity who stops performing and working on Shabbat in order to be at home with their kids, to do Kiddush and observe Shabbat (Rami Kleinstein is just one such example, the least unlikely person to ever do anything like this).
This week's Torah Portion is that of Ekev (Deuteronomy 7:12 - 11:21). I love the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy). There is so much faith and morality there. I can write a whole post about each and every verse in this book. It is so rich. And so relevant to our days. Moses tells us just before he dies and just before we enter the Promised Land:
"Beware lest thou forget the LORD thy God, in not keeping His commandments, and His ordinances, and His statutes, which I command thee this day; lest when thou hast eaten and art satisfied, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage... and thou say in thy heart: 'My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth.'"
So ironic that so many of our erring brothers and sisters not only forgot that G-d brought us out of all the exiles we were scattered in, they are the ones who leave our country and GO BACK willingly to live in... in Berlin, of all places, the Egypt of our times. I have a friend who did it - and she lives there, in Berlin, and always talks negatively about religion. It is so sad. But in every darkness there is a silver lining. I know a man who in his younger years did just that - left Israel to live as an artist, a musician, in Berlin. There he met a beautiful German girl and they moved in together. One day she asked him to take her to a synagogue, to see what it is like. He didn't want to. It was unacceptable for him, to be confronted with his "primitive" Jewish identity, but she was really curious and so they went. One thing led to another, and at the end of a journey she decided to convert to Judaism (orthodox), he became very religious (black kippah), they got married, moved back to Israel, he left his artistic occupation and he now studies Torah at a Bet Midrash every day. He is very short and dark, she is very tall and fair, they have six beautiful children, all studying in religious schools. Her German parents and siblings come to visit them here, in Jerusalem, and get to experience gorgeous Shabbat meals at their table. They live in a beautiful big villa in my neighborhood. She is a family doctor and speaks Hebrew very well, and it seems like they are very happy. So there are stories like this too. It seems like he had to go to Germany, to find her and help her find her way to Judaism and Israel, where she belongs. As I said, everyone will eventually return home to G-d, but for some it will be now and for others it will be in future generations.
If you read the Portion, you'll see that G-d makes conditions with us: IF we observe His commandments, we will merit to have the Land of Israel, if not - we will lose it, because it is not a normal land like that of Egypt, for example. G-d's eyes are always scanning and watching our land. If we follow His commandments, we will be blessed, and if not - we won't, and we may lose our land. So most of the Jews living here love G-d, believe in Him, talk about Him and keep thinking of Him. And this is the path to redemption. I believe that the few who go against us will repent and return to the fold too.
This post was written with the beautiful songs of Joe Dassin in the background. I love his voice and the way he presents the songs, some of them are really touching, like "et si to n'existais pas", "salut", "l'ete indien".
Shabbat Shalom,
Moi