Dear Friends,
Lately, in Israel and the United States, all sorts of “popular rabbis” have been scaring people. I have heard and read excerpts from their sermons and am rather astonished: they list the punishments that are to come upon anyone who does some action or who doesn’t refrain from doing some action. People even ask me about the severe “punishments” (May we be spared them) that Hashem is supposedly preparing for the Jewish People.
“I don’t know about this”, I answer those who ask me. I simply don’t know. I learned in Cheder for ten years; I then spent seven years in yeshiva, and two years in a Kollel, and I don’t remember ever hearing threats of punishments or Gehinnom (hell) from my teachers.
I do, though, remember the wonderful story about the Ba’al Shem Tov, a story that contains a basic component of his worldview, which is also a central part of the Jewish way of life that I was raised upon and that I am familiar with.
It is told about the Ba’al Shem Tov that he once came to a Jewish village, whose residents were farmers. It was the middle of the summer and the ground was dry and parched – it had not rained in a long time, and the people were in distress, and in fear of being hungry. They were simple Jews: They feared G-d, loved him, and knew how to say Tehillim.
One of the common occupations then, and also one of the more lucrative ones, was that of being a “Maggid Mussar”. This was usually a learned Jew who would travel between the towns and the villages and awaken the Jews to do Teshuva by way of scaring them with threats relating to the so-called stern hand of Hashem. One of these Maggidim happened to be in this town at this time. He gathered everyone in the Shul and showered fire and brimstone upon these simple Jews, until they were all crying uncontrollably. He hadn’t taken into account, though, that Rabbi Yisrael Ba’al Shem Tov was present as well. The Ba’al Shem Tov stood up and called out to the Maggid: “What do you have against these Jews? What do you want from them? They are good Jews!” Then he turned to face the people. “Come with me, and dance, and in the merit of that it will rain.”
At the beginning everyone looked at him as if he had gone mad, but after he repeated his request and even quoted verses such as “Serve Hashem with joy”, they agreed, and danced with him.
Of course, in the middle of the dancing, the sky clouded up and it began to rain.
Parashat Vayikra, the first Parasha in the book of Vayikra, starts with the verse, “Vayikra El Moshe” – “And He called out to Moshe.” Rashi comments that “Vayikra” is an expression of affection. Hashem called out to Moshe with love and affection.
The Rebbe took this idea further and said that the call is not only to Moshe Rabbeinu, but to every Jew wherever he is. Moshe was the first “Moshe Rabbeinu”, and so in each and every one of us there is a spark from Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul. And so Hashem is calling to us, to all of us, as well, with affection and much love, the love of a father for his children, the love of a shepherd for his flock.
The book of Vayikra contains many mitzvahs, most of them mitzvahs between human beings and their Creator, such as the laws of purity and impurity, Kashrut, bringing Korbanot (sacrifices in the Temple) etc. The Torah is telling us at the beginning of this book that the mitzvahs were given with a call of love and affection, and not from a place of threats and scares – just like the blessing we make before Kri’at Shema: “He Who chooses His nation, Yisrael, with love.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Zalmen Wishedski