Parshat Pinchas: Hope In Dark Times

Parshat Pinchas is filled with a whirlwind of emotions. A portion of the beauty of Yamim Tovim, the Festivals, are included with the sedrah. However, the time period when the parshah is read coincides with a very sad time in Jewish history - the Three Weeks of Mourning over the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. This begs to question, why would the reading of the joyous festivals overlap with such a woeful period?

My father, Rav Yitzchok Fingerer shlit"a expounds on a thought delivered by the heiliger Ruzhiner, Rav Yisrael Friedman of Ruzhin, that the juxtaposition of times of happiness and sorrow is meant to give klal Yisrael chizuk, encouragement, hope, and a reminder that even when we are experiencing the destruction and desolation of the churbon during the Three Weeks of Mourning, the Jewish nation must cling to the prospect of a brighter future when there will soon come a time for our return to the Beit Hamikdash and the ability to properly celebrate each of the Festivals within its confines for the glory of the Almighty.

Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman ztk”l, Rosh Yeshiva of Ponevezh Yeshiva, tragically lost his entire family in the Holocaust. After the Shoah, the Torah luminary reached Eretz Yisrael. It is said that one day two bachurim noticed the Lithuanian-born scholar pacing to and fro atop a mountain gripping a lantern and pointing hastily in various directions. Thinking the rav made a discovery, the yeshivah students inquired of their Rosh HaYeshivah's find. “Look! Over there is a beit hamedrash with several hundred boys immersed in Torah study.” Pointing elsewhere their leader continued, “Over there is a lunchroom. Over there, there is a dormitory with hundreds of beds.” The boys looked at one another and thought that the revered rav had become senile from the terrible war experiences endured, "Rebbe must have lost his faculties, and is seeing things that do not exist."

Years passed and these boys became men. As it was told, the boys once again found themselves up on the hill where years before they stood with Rav Kahaneman. Suddenly, one of the men burst into tears. Shaken, his friend questioned what had happened to which the teary-eyed man uttered, “Don’t you get it? Look over there, it is a beit hamedrash! Over there is a dining room! There is the dormitory!” They could not believe their eyes. Whatever Rav Kahaneman dreamt of being built stood erect before their very eyes this many years later!

We all go through hard times. Remember there is always hope; never get depressed! Even in the toughest of times, dream big. We must remember that in one second everything can flip. With Hashem’s help may we see ultimate redemption, the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash this year!

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