If You Remain Silent…:HaRav Nachman Kahana on Parashat Tetzaveh 5775

BS”D  Parashat Tetzaveh 5775  Rabbi Nachman Kahana Moshe’s Name is Missing Today the 7th of Adar, is the date of Moshe Rabbeinu’s birth and the day of his passing away 120 years later. Moshe died on the mountain of Nevo in the tribe of Reuven, and his body was moved by HaShem to an unknown location in the tribe of Gad. Beginning with parashat Shmot, Moshe’s name is mentioned in every parasha until the end of the Book of Devarim, except for one – our parasha Tetzaveh. HaShem dictated to Moshe every world to appear in the Torah and He commanded Moshe to omit his own name from this parasha in order to serve as an everlasting memorial to Moshe’s self-sacrifice when he declared to HaShem, that if the Jewish nation would be destroyed because of the Golden Calf episode, then his own name should be omitted from the Torah. Interestingly, the 7th of Adar falls out every year in parashat Tetzaveh. It is only fitting that the Medina has declared this very day to memorialize our holy sons and daughters who sacrificed their lives in defense of the Holy Land, and whose place of burial is unknown. The norm is to erect imposing monuments on the place of burial of outstanding individuals. However, we cannot do so regarding Moshe, neither can we do so regarding those holy soldiers whose place of burial is unknown. It would not be surprising, if in the world of absolute truth – Olam Haba, on this very day Moshe is teaching a private shiur to those holy soldiers. It should be a point of comfort for the bereaved families that the Gemara states that a Jew who is killed on Kiddush HaShem (killed for being a Jew) is awarded a special place in Olam Haba. If You Remain Silent… Tractate Yoma 29a: אמר רב אסי: למה נמשלה אסתר לשחר? לומר לך מה שחר סוף כל הלילה אף אסתר סוף כל הנסים והא איכא חנוכה? ניתנה לכתוב קא אמרינן Rav Asi said: Why was (Queen) Esther compared to the blackest time of night just before dawn? To inform you that as the darkest moments signal the end of night, so too was Esther the end of miracles. (And the rabbis asked Rav Asi): But wasn’t Chanuka which came after the story of Esther not a miracle? (And he replied) My intention is that Esther was the last of the miracles to be recorded in the 24 books of the Bible. The Gemara in Megila 14a states that a recorded miracle had significance for its time and significance for the future; while an unrecorded miracle has no significance for the future. Indeed, the events of the recorded Megila are unfolding right now before our very eyes, the names are different but the situations are similar. As in the days of Mordechai and Esther, the nation which plotted and planned to obliterate the Jewish people in one day was Persia, as it is today, under the name Iran which is advancing daily to achieve their explicitly stated goal of attaining nuclear weapons and ICBMs to deliver them to Europe and the USA. Today, the plan to destroy the Jewish state is unopposed by the vast majority of UN members, as in the time of Achashverosh and Haman whose plan to destroy the Jewish people was unopposed by the 127 nations under Persian control. At the time of Esther, there were those who betrayed the Jewish dream of returning to Zion, by partaking in the grand banquet hosted by the King, where the food was served out of vessels and dishes taken from the holy Temple. So too today, there are influential segments of the Jewish nation who betray the ideals, hopes and aspirations of the healthy segments of Judaism by siding with the enemy. Like the J. Street traitors of the USA, the despicable Neturai Karta of Williamsburg who periodically visit Teheran, not to mention many leftists in Israel. Today as then, the diabolical plans of destruction are made by heads of state at presidential dinners or sitting rooms, and sealed with toasts sounded over the background of champagne goblets clinking in glee. Today as then, there are Jews in the galut, leaders and laymen, who choose to remain on the sidelines of Jewish destiny in the belief that non-involvement will keep them under the radar screen of their gentile masters. However, the marshaling words of Mordechai to Esther (4,14) ring ever more true today: כי אם החרש תחרישי בעת הזאת רוח והצלה יעמוד ליהודים ממקום אחר ואת ובית אביך תאבדו For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. At that time there was considerable doubt in Esther’s mind whether she should enter uninvited into the King’s inner chamber to plea for her people. And today, controversy and division surround our Prime Minister’s uninvited visit by the White House, to appear before a joint meeting of Congress to explain the suicidal road the free world is being led on by the US’s Moslem orientated President. Mordechai and Esther belonged to the tribe of Binyamin, and Binyamin Natanyahu will speak for the Jewish State of the 3rd of March, which will be in Eretz Yisrael the beginning of the 13th of Adar – the Fast of Esther. What saved us then will save us now! The call to arms sounded by Mordechai and the other 119 members of the Anshei Knesset Hagedola (The Great Assembly) to train in preparation for the war against the 127 lands under Persian control. The fierce military battles were waged on the 13th and 14 of Adar by the Jews who were faithful to HaShem. He blessed them with victory, and brought to us the holiday of Purim. So too will HaShem bless the holy soldiers of Tzahal, whenever and wherever they will have to fulfill their duty of protecting the Jewish people. And let us not forget the crescendo of the Purim episode – the return of many Jews with Zerubavel, and then afterward with Ezra and Nechemia to rebuild Yerushalayim and the Second Bet HaMikdash. We too will merit to see in our generation three astonishing happenings: The return en masse of millions upon millions of Jews to the holy cities of Eretz Yisrael, including Shechem, Bet Lechem, and Chevron. HaShem’s wrath poured upon all the enemies of our people. The rebuilding of the Bet HaMikdash on the Temple Mount, including the restoration of the Sanhedrin and the Davidic Monarchy. The future is an open book for all to see and study. For example Yirmiyahu chapter 30: ג) כי הנה ימים באים נאם ה’ ושבתי את שבות עמי ישראל ויהודה אמר ה’ והשבתים אל הארץ אשר נתתי לאבותם וירשוה: פ 3 Days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity, says HaShem, and restore them to the land, I gave their ancestors to possess… (HaShem is aware that our return to the Promised Land will not be without fierce opposition from religions which will feel threatened. So He dictates to the prophet to add)…. י) ואתה אל תירא עבדי יעקב נאם ה’ ואל תחת ישראל כי הנני מושיעך מרחוק ואת זרעך מארץ שבים ושב יעקב ושקט ושאנן ואין מחריד: יא) כי אתך אני נאם ה’ להושיעך כי אעשה כלה בכל הגוים אשר הפצותיך שם… (10) Do not fear, Jacob my servant, says HaShem. And do not be dismayed, Israel, For I will surely save you out of a distant place, and your descendants from the land of their captivity. Jacob (the Nation of Israel) will again have peace and security and no one will make him afraid. (11) I am with you, declares HaShem, to save you. When I will completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you… טז) לכן כל אכליך יאכלו וכל צריך כלם בשבי ילכו והיו שאסיך למשסה וכל בזזיך אתן לבז: (16) All who devoured you will be devoured; all your enemies will go into exile. Those who plunder you will be plundered; all who make spoil of you I will despoil. יח) כה אמר ה’ הנני שב שבות אהלי יעקוב ומשכנתיו ארחם ונבנתה עיר על תלה וארמון על משפטו ישב:  (18) “This is what the Lord says: I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents and have compassion on his dwellings;  the city (Yerushalayim) will be rebuilt on her ruins, and the palace (Bet HaMikdash) will stand in its proper place (Mount Moriah). כה) בעת ההיא נאם ה’ אהיה לאלהים לכל משפחות ישראל והמה יהיו לי לעם: In days to come I shall be the acknowledged God to all the families of Yisrael and they shall be My Nation. Indeed! The return en masse of millions upon millions of Jew to the Promised Land. And HaShem’s wrath will be poured out on all the enemies of our people, of the past, present and future. We will witness the rebuilding of the Bet HaMikdash on the Temple Mount and the restoration of our past Torah society. Shabbat Shalom, Nachman Kahana Copyright © 5775/2015 Nachman Kahana