A Message From The Kalever Rebbe: Thinking About The Eternal Nature Of The Jewish People Strengthens Our Faith

“The Dirshu World Siyum 2020 was a great source of joy for us that we merited to see tens of thousands of Jews gathered to rejoice in the completion and the re-starting of Shas, many Jews among them who were also tested on their knowledge in the Dirshu learning program and other similar curricula,” explained the Kalever Rebbe shlit”a.

The Queens community was recognized with various Rabbanim on the dais including Chief Bukharian Rabbi of the USA and Canada HaRav Yitzchok Yisraeli, HaRav Noach Isaac Oelbaum, Mora D'Atra of Khal Nachlas Yitzchok, HaRav Aharon Walkin, Rosh Hayeshiva of Yeshiva Gedolah Beis Nosson Meir of Queens, an affiliate of the Chazaq Organization and Rabbi Yaniv Meirov, CEO of the Chazaq Organization. Other rabbinical personalities that have lectured in Queens were seated on the dais included Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser who has been a constant source of enrichment to make struggling Bukharian Jews. The Kaliver Rebbe of Williamsburg, HaRav Moshe Taub, Moshe ben Raizel, for whom tehillim is still needed was in attendance as was his son the Kaliver Rav. The following is a message detailed by the Rebbe.

“And Yisro the chieftain of Midian, the father-in-law of Moshe, heard all that God did for Moshe and for Israel His People, that the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt.” (Exodus/Shmos 18:1)

At such a time, it is worthwhile to consider the open miracle we see taking place before our eyes; how the Creator protects His people Yisrael forever, they should not be lost among the nations who attempt to destroy them, bodily and spiritually.

We look back about 80 years ago, when the Nazis tried to annihilate the physical bodies of every Jew around the world, while the Communists tried to extinguish the souls of each Jew. However, with abundant help from Heaven, they were not able to complete their final goal. Rather, those mighty enemies of Israel fell and are no more, and the Jewish People remain alive.

When in 1948, after I was rescued from both the Nazis and the Communists, I emigrated from Romania to the USA, I found that there arose a new spiritual enemy. The great temptations of America were causing many Jews to abandon their ancestral heritage and the Jewish religion, to the point where some Jews opposed Judaism so much that they persecuted me because I wore long payot hanging down my face. They claimed that in 50 years time there would be no more Torah observant Orthodox Jews left in America. With Hashem’s help, however, we overcame these foes, and today we see thousands of Jews in America who are Bnei Torah, pious laymen, young and old, setting aside time to learn Torah daily, and are careful in their observance of mitzvot.

Legend has it, that a French monarch was once troubled by his doubts in his faith in God, and he invited leading bishops and priests for advice. He gave them a month to come up with proofs of the truth for the existence of the Creator who controls the world. At the end of the month each priest brought a lengthy composition with proof of God which they showed the king, but the king remained unsatisfied.

The king noticed that one of the priests had not brought anything forward. The king asked, “Where are your proofs?” to which the priest replied that his proof of God rested in the next room. The priest opened the door bringing forth an old Jew crowned with a beard and payot, holding a volume of the Talmud. The priest explained, “This is my proof; after so many years of wars, pogroms, and decrees against the Jews, they still exist and hold fast to their Torah – the Rules of the World.” The King accepted this argument as convincing.

Over 200 years ago, HaRav Yaakov Emden zt”l wrote in the introduction to his commentary on the Siddur, that when he contemplates the miracle of the continued existence of the Jewish People in exile, in the face of those who stand against the Jews to destroy us, and the continuance of the Torah against all of those who seek to nullify it, this is a greater miracle – the miracles and wonders that Hashem did for our ancestors in Egypt and in all of their years in Eretz Yisrael. He concludes that the more the exile was experienced, the miracle was proven to be even truer, and the power of the Creator becomes more known. Today, following the era of Rav Yaakov Emden, who experienced even more difficult decrees and difficult wars, both material and spiritual, we are even more aware of the greatness of the Creator in his sustenance of Am Yisroel.

The Klausenberg Rebbe zt”l would say that during the Holocaust, when Hitler, yimach shmo, conquered one country after another, and transported the Jews to Auschwitz, a gentile professor who lived in Klausenberg, asked him what will ultimately be with the Jewish People. The Rebbe answered that if he was asking if he will personally survive the War – this he was unable to answer, but the general existence of the Jewish People as a collective, was clear and certain that the community would survive the War. He explained at length how we see from Jewish history the Supernal Power of the Guardian of Israel constantly protected the continuity of the Jewish community in a supernatural fashion, as was promised to us in the books of the Prophets. The professor contemplated the Rebbe’s words deeply, and he admitted that there was no other explanation for the eternal nature of the Am Yisroel other than the supernatural.

This fundamental principle is important for us to remember when it comes to the spiritual wars we are currently suffering. There are those who seek to fight against the Torah and its commandments, and many arise against us to prevent us and our children from learning the Torah, and the terrifying temptations of technology threaten to destroy the faith and the holiness of Am Yisroel. In such a time, the Yetzer Hara wants us to see and focus only on those who have fallen away from the proper path, so that we fall into despair, believing that we do not have the power to battle against the tremendous temptations which overcome us, may the Merciful One protect us, and that in a natural way of the laws of history there should only be a few years left before Torah-true and mitzvot observant Jews go extinct. However, we must battle such thoughts, by looking at the growth of Torah in the past and present and contemplate how this is only by the help of Hashem. We must strengthen our faith in the Divine Providence of the Creator, that He will continue to help us forever, as He promised us in His Torah “it will not be forgotten from the mouth of their offspring” (Deuteronomy/Devarim 31:21).

Through this, it is possible to explain that which is written about Yisro, “And Yisro the chieftain of Midian, the father-in-law of Moshe, heard all that God did for Moshe and for Israel His People, that the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt.” Rashi adds, “What news did he hear that caused him to come? The splitting of the Red Sea and the war of Amalek.” When he heard how Hashem took His People out in order to give them His Torah, and He did a miracle of splitting the Red Sea to rescue them from the hand of Egypt who wanted to return them to Egypt and to drown them in 50 gates of impurity, and how He rescued them from Amalek who sought to kill them, then he was encouraged in faith in the Divine Providence of the Creator Who always protects the bodies and souls of His People in a supernatural manner, and from this he was inspired to come and join the Eternal People and to learn Torah.