Parshas Devarim 5778
This email is transcribed from questions that were posed to Harav Miller by the audience at the Thursday night lectures.
To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210
QUESTION:
Could we understand the settlement of Eretz Yisroel by Jews today as a miracle?
ANSWER:
Now pay attention, and we shouldn't be confused in terminology. Al nisecho shebchol yom imanu, Hashem does miracles every day; let's not get lost in terms. Every day there's miracles. If you're able to make parnosso, don't deceive yourself; you're making a living by a miracle. And many times you can see the miracle. From sources that you didn't expect, some people got rich in unexpected ways; there are miracles. So therefore everything is a miracle.
Shall I point out the settlement in Eretz Yisroel as a miracle like Yetzias Mitzrayim? No, certainly not. Yetzias Mitzrayim was so open, there was zeroah netuyoh, and therefore we saw the outstretched arm.
The truth is that even other miracles that happened subsequently were not as open as the miracle of Mitzrayim. So if you settle in Eretz Yisroel, or a Jew settled in Williamsburg, and in Boro Park, if a Jew makes a living wherever he is, and he raises a family that is frum, all these things you have to know is siyata Dishmahya, it's various degrees of miracles.
Therefore the answer always is, certainly al nisecho shebchol yom imanu, but not to say that it's a miracle like yetzias mitzrayim. No, we are waiting for that yet, there'll be a big miracle. K'yemai tzaizcha m'eretz mitzrayim arenu niflaos, Hashem will show us miracles that will equal those of Yetzias Mitzrayim, but He didn't do it yet.
Therefore a Jew should always be ready to recognize the hand of Hashem in all of our circumstances. Therefore wherever Jews live, wherever Jews have an opportunity to function, they have to realize Hakadosh Baruch Hu is doing that despite all their enemies, despite the adverse circumstances. You think it was easy for a Shomer Shabbos in America to remain frum and to raise his children as Shomrei Shabbos? Believe me it was a miracle in the days up til now, and even today it's not so easy.
So it's always the Yad Hashem that's helping us, and you can always say certainly it is Yad Hashem. But zeroah netuyoh is only in certain instances like Yetzias Mitzrayim.
Question #145
QUESTION:
How can we mourn on Tisha B'Av for the losses to our people that took place so long ago?
ANSWER:
There's no such thing as “long ago” in our nation. It's a big mistake to think that time makes any difference to us. Our history is one monolithic history, from the beginning of our history till the end of time is one existence. All the Jews are one nation; the Jews who once lived, and the Jews who some day will live, are all one people.
When we say elokeinu ve'lokei avoseinu on Rosh Hashonoh, ya'aleh ve’yovo zichroneinu, u'fikdoneinu, we ask Hashemto remember, v'zichron kol amcha bais yisroel, who is the bais yisroel that He has to remember? Only the ones that are alive? No! The whole bais yisroelthat ever lived, we're one people. It's an error to think that once they died it's all over and we forget about them, put them in the ground and it's all finished. Oh no! They're just as alive as we are. All those neshomos that were slaughtered are just as alive as we are, and their blood still cries out from the earth. “Kol d’mei uchicha tzo’akim ai’lei min ha'adamah”, the blood of all the martyrs is crying out from the earth. It doesn't stop crying when two days pass by - or two years or two thousand years pass by, they're still crying out.
And therefore we are one nation. Goy echod means we are one nation from the beginning to the end. It's a serious error. Therefore Avrohom Avinu is not someone that once lived, Avrohom Avinu is our father of today, he's still alive, our entire history lives. And that's why we learn Chumash again and again, there's nothing past and nothing future; it's all together in the eyes of Hashem. Hashem means“hoya, hoveh, v'yihiyeh”, all tenses are together. Now get that lesson into your head. Hashem is all tenses together, “eh'heyeh asher eh'heyeh”, there is no past tense to Hashem.
So a man who made a sin fifty years ago, let's say he was bar mitzvah and made a sin. Oh... he was just a little boy, he was only thirteen and a half years, forget about it. No! It's remembered forever, nothing is forgotten, it's remembered forever. And even sins of our forefathers are remembered forever, and the mitzvohs of our forefathers. V'zocher chasdei avos, He remembers the devoted acts of our forefathers. So if we demand today, Hashemshould give us kindness in the merit of Avrohom Avinu, we're saying Avrohom Avinu is still alive, as far as we're concerned. There's no such thing as "long ago" by the Jewish people. It's yesterday, it's now, and it's our future.
The Bais Hamikdash is now burning, it's actually burning right now, kol dor she’lo niv’neh bais hamikdash b'yomov, ki’elu nechrav b'yomov. The churban Bais Hamikdash is taking place today. It's a fundamental attitude, there's no past to the Jewish people, and therefore we live with the past and we live with the future.
Good Shabbos To All
This is transcribed from questions that were posed to Harav Miller by the audience at the Thursday night lectures. To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210 QUESTION:
Important Numbers
