It Was Not in Vain

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ayal-gilad-kidnappedBy Rabbi Naphtali Hoff

The recent tragic saga involving the kidnapped Israeli teenagers has left us all with more questions than answers. Why did this have to happen? And why in such a gruesome fashion to such innocent souls?How can we prevent such things from reoccurring? What will be the final outcome, for the families, the evil perpetrators, and the rest of us, who remain in shell shock from the horror that has gripped our collective psyches for the past three weeks?

There is one more question that has been gnawing at me ever since I learned about the near-immediate fate of the boys following their abduction. Our entire nation spent a few weeks praying, performing acts of kindness, advocating and whatever else we could in order to #bringbackourboys. Practically all of those efforts, if not all of them, occurred after Eyal’s, Gilad’s and Naftali’slives were already taken (though obviously without us knowing). Is there something to be learnedfrom the fact that the entire rescue effort, spiritual as well as physical, came “after the fact,” too late to achieve the outcome that we all desired?

As I contemplated this question I thought of an incident involving Rav Aryeh Levin, the tzaddik of Jerusalem. A story is toldabout his efforts to comfort a bereaving widow. As he sat with her, the distraught womancried that her tears were in vain as her prayers for a complete recovery were not answered. Rav Levin told her that whileher prayers did not help her husband regain his health, Hashem collected and stored every last one of her tears, and would use them to heal others and offset their pain. Her prayers and pleas were in no ways without purpose.

On a basic level we can suggest that the immeasurable merits that were generated by their family, friends and supporters will undoubtedly be a shield against other would-be challenges, Heaven forbid.

But I think that the answer goes much deeper.

This week’s Torah portion introduces us to Bilaam, the gentile prophet who was hired by the Moabite king Balak to curse our nation. Jewish tradition tells us that his prophetic capacities exceeded those of every other prophet who ever lived, with the sole exception of Moshe Rabbeinu. Yet we know that prophecy is the outgrowth of rigorous character perfection, hardly the description of the evil, self-serving Bilaam. How was it possible for such a wretched soul to achieve such prophetic clarity?

Rav Eliyahu Lopian states that there are in fact two pathways to prophecy. The first, and more normative, is character refinement. The second is to receive it as a special divine gift. Moshe, as well as all of the legitimate Jewish prophets, achieved their connection by working on themselves and their characters. They reached high levels of spiritual awareness, and were able to tune in to the divine frequency, so to speak, of Hashem’s special broadcasts.

In contrast, Bilaam fit into the latter category.He was given his unique capacity so that Hashem would be able to neutralize the argument of any nationthat would choose to pin their spiritual failings on the absence of prophetic guidance and leadership.

When prophecy comes as a gift, then its long-term impact is negligible. The prophet remains the same as he always was and is not motivated to change or improve. On the other hand, when divine communication occurs organically, so to speak, it is clear evidence that the “listener” had successfully undertaken the lengthy and challenging process of spiritual improvement and character refinement that eventually led to his newfound connection and awareness.

Our nation grew -up and out – over the past three weeks. We prayed together, sang together, rallied together and held out hope together. We kept uninterrupted attention to our collective plight, and put aside our differences in the hope of achieving a better tomorrow. Our efforts may not have succeeded in their intended purpose, but they did succeed in so many other ways.

Had we known about the tragic outcome for Eyal, Gilad and Naftali immediately, I suspect that the result would have simply been what it has started to become, an angry, embittered response filled with threats and reciprocal tactics. But because we were given the gift of time, we were able to elevate ourselves to new levels of connection and growth.

Of course, the challenge now is to ensure that we don’t view what occurred over the past few weeks as a “situation,” similar to a fleeting prophetic experience. It will require much focus and effort to ensure that we do not slip back too far but remain firm and resolute in our commitment to help, support and elevate. That is the sign of true growth and connection.

May the memory of these three special young men be eternally bound with the many prayers, acts of kindness and solidarity that they have encouraged and will continue to inspire well into the future.

Rabbi Naphtali Hoff is an executive coach and President of Impactful Coaching & Consulting (www.ImpactfulCoaching.com). He can be reached at [email protected].

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3 COMMENTS

  1. Healing words. A good hope we can keep our future in good stead with good rabbis and better pilgrims looking for jewish soul improvement. Our face of time is not always going to be everyone’s friend in Torah if we have more events like the repercussions the day after with a slaughter and murder of an innocent boy from the palestinian’s community. This is unheard of in a truly organized jewish society.

  2. #1 we say in slichos “vsim dimosainu bnodcha lhyos” which simply means that if our tefillos cannot be answered now then please save them for a later time. #2 Rav Shlomo Brevda z”l points out that most of klal yisroel davened for the gezaira of Haman to be nullified after haman was dead and the gezaira nullified because the megilla tells us how long it took for the messengers to travel. Even though then it had a happy ending the yesod is the same Hashem wanted the tefillos whether before the fact or after.

  3. time for all of us to REMAIN in achdus-ON ALL LEVELS from frum to frei to reform etc…- like we were when we were davening for them & always care about our brothers & then mashiach is ready to come.

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