Message from R’ Schonfeld: R’ Yoel Schonfeld

This morning, I met someone in Baltimore who told me that his children live in Teaneck, New Jersey, and daven at Congregation Rinat Yisrael, with Rabbi Yosef Adler its founding rabbi. He told me that on Sunday morning, following the miraculous survival of the Jewish people in Israel from evil Iran’s attempt to cause thousands of civilian deaths upon the Israelis, that shul recited Hallel in gratitude to Hashem. He asked me if I thought that was the right thing to do. I told him absolutely! In fact, one of my sisters in Yerushalayim told me she could not believe she woke up alive in her own bed the next morning. But we almost yawned through it.

I am sure that, over the years, you’ve seen cartoons where someone is held upside down to get all the change out of his pockets. Well, the Jews and the world have been turned upside down. What do we find?

The lead story in The Wall Street Journal today is “Six Months After Hamas Attack, Israel’s World Is Upside Down.” I always tell people that the news department of the WSJ, as opposed to the editorial department, is left of center and not the greatest friend of Israel. Thus, anything negative they write about Israel must be taken with a grain of salt.

My father zt”l would recall witnessing prominent Jews on their knees, being forced by the Nazis to scrub the streets of Vienna, sometimes using toothbrushes. It was a major blow to the morale of the Jewish citizens to see their rabbanim and rebbes degraded in such a public fashion.

There is a certain respected figure in New York City who radically differs with me in political and sometimes religious outlooks. However, I heard that he fell ill recently, so I texted him to see how he was doing. His response was that, thank G-d, he is doing well. Then he continued, “You move out to Baltimore and suddenly the bridges start collapsing. Coincidence? I think not.” To which I responded, “Of course it’s not a coincidence. Baltimore is counting on me to be the bridge builder!” At least I got a winky smiley out of him.

The Midrash (B’reishis Rabbah, Chapter 5) has a very interesting account of Creation, stating as follows:

“At the time G-d decided to create Adam (Man), Chesed (Kindness) advised to create Man, as he often practices chesed. Emes (Truth) advised against creating Man, as he was full of deceit. Tzedek (Righteousness) advised in favor of creating Man, as he often practices tzedek. Shalom (Peace) opposed creating Man, because he is often engaged in machlokes (strife). What did Hashem finally do? He took Emes and threw it to the ground (and thus created Man).”