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NASO 5784
Moral Clarity
Rabbi Andrew Shaw Chief Executive, Mizrachi UK
I have been in Israel for the last week and it has been truly wonderful.
I rst was at a wedding for one of my Stanmore ‘kids’
Then it was Shavout, which I spent with my son in Yeshiva.
And now it will be Shabbat with my brother.
However, it was an encounter with one person at the airport last Sunday which really ampli ed everything I have experienced this week.
We were waiting for our bags, and I was talking to someone from the UK who I know very well. She made a comment, which you might say was very accurate.
“I am very worried about Israel”
A very normal statement to make. Israel is at war with Hamas, still has over 100 hostages imprisoned and is now facing a signi cantly increased level of rockets on its northern border with Hezbollah
Yet, my reply to her, disagreed with her statement.
“I am not worried about Israel, I am worried about the Western World”
This would seem like a very strange statement to make, as America is not at war, no British people are being held hostage in the Isle of Wight and no one is threatening France with rockets.
So, what did my answer refer to?
What I explained was that I am not worried about Israel because her moral compass is well and truly in place.
The west, however, is another matter.
There was euphoria in Israel when I arrived on Sunday due to the incredible rescue of four of the hostages Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv.
Yet, many in the West could not contain their upset and horror at this miraculous feat This was a true low for our media and when it comes to large parts of the west today, ‘ up is down, down is up and moral clarity is nowhere to be seen.’
I read that quote at the end of a brilliant article by James McPherson which explains beautifully the moral bankruptcy of parts of the west. https://jamesmacpherson.substack.com/p/hostages-are-rescued-and-the-world? utm medium=ios
And then came Shavout, the day that we commemorate the giving of the Torah. I gave two shiurim during Tikun Leil in both Netiv Aryeh and Yeshivat Hakotel to wonderful young men who are taking time after high school before university to immerse themselves in Torah.
On the one hand we are hearing and seeing the appalling ideologies and behaviours of students on campuses across the West but with these yeshiva students, I see outstanding examples of students whose moral compass is contrastingly so focussed.
What is the secret?
Of course, Torah is the ingredient which sets them up for a life of connection to God and to each other, living lives of meaning and ful lment and a clear understanding of good and evil.
However, I thought of an additional secret when I saw the boys, which can be explained by a beautiful idea by Rabbi Frand in this week’s parsha.
He asks the following question.
There is a mitzvah in the parsha called Gezel HaGer [restitution of theft from a deceased convert].
The Torah teaches: “Speak to the Children of Israel: A man or woman who commits any of man ’ s sins, by committing a trespass against Hashem, and that person shall become guilty –and they shall confess their sin that they committed; he shall make restitution for his guilt in its principal amount and add its fth to it, and give it to the one to whom he is guilty. And if the man has no redeemer to whom to return the debt the returned debt is for Hashem, for the Kohen…” [Bamidbar 5:6-8].
The Gemara [Bava Kamma 109a] explains that this passage, which references a situation where a deceased victim “has no redeemer to whom to return the debt,” is referring to the case of someone who stole from a recent convert who legally has no relatives. This is the only type of Jew who can have absolutely no heirs.
However, it is strange that this pasuk refers to heirs as redeemers [go ’el].
It is not uncommon in Tanach that relatives are referred to as “ go ’el”
But why are relatives here referred to as “ go ’el”? They are not redeeming anything. We are not speaking of a piece of land that is in jeopardy of leaving the family like in the normal context of its usage. The simple way to write the pasuk would be to state “If the person does not have any heirs (yorshim)”! Why are heirs/ children referred to here as “ go ’el”?
The answer is that many times a child can be a redeemer(go ’el) for a parent. The most well known idea for this, is the custom of saying Kaddish for a parent.
Our children are our most important investment. A person can live a life that was spiritually speaking not necessarily the best of lives, yet he can have a child that is a tremendous spiritual asset. The fact that he or she was responsible for putting such an offspring on the planet will remain an eternal merit for the parent
Every single one of those Yeshiva students has parents who decided to invest in them to spend time in Israel, in Yerushalayim, to become better human beings and better Jews
Many of those parents may not have had the opportunity for themselves a generation ago, but they realised the importance of this time in Israel.
Those children can be the best investment and the greatest insurance policy that the parents ever took out in their lives. That is why children are referred to as “ go ’el” .
Sometimes children can be tremendous redeemers.
When I see, not only those students, but young people across Israel with their selfsacri ce, their bravery, their loyalty and their Emunah in Hashem and their love for their country you can so easily see why I replied the way I did when I arrived in Israel
Mi K Amcha Yisrael, goi echad b’aretz - Who is like Israel, the singular nation of the world?
Shabbat
Shalom
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