Cultural, Religious and Social Rigor Mortis: HaRav Nachman Kahana on Parashat Ki Tavo 5775

BS”D  Parashat Ki Tavo 5775  Rabbi Nachman Kahana Cultural, Religious and Social Rigor Mortis Two parshiot in the Torah – Bechu’kotai in Vayikra and Ki Tavo in Devarim, warn the Jewish people of the cruel fate awaiting us in galut-exile if we do not abide by the Torah. Devarim 28,36-37: (לו) יולך ה’ אתך ואת מלכך אשר תקים עליך אל גוי אשר לא ידעת אתה ואבתיך ועבדת שם אלהים אחרים עץ ואבן: (לז) והיית לשמה למשל ולשנינה בכל העמים אשר ינהגך ה’ שמה: 36) The Lord will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. 37) You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you. And in Vayikra 26,41: (מא) אף אני אלך עמם בקרי והבאתי אתם בארץ איביהם…. I shall be hostile toward them and send them into the land of their enemies…. Medinat Yisrael – A Knock on the Door  There is a unit in Tzahal composed of sub-units of three soldiers. The unit in its entirety is mobilized in time of war, although there are elements which are in constant preparedness. They go through grueling training in preparation for their mission, although in most instances they need not do more than knock on the door. Each sub-unit consists of two officers and a doctor. As they approach the address they are sent to, their knock brings to the door a smiling husband or wife anticipating the arrival of a neighbor for a cup of coffee and a shmuz. The hospitable smile quickly turns to disbelief, rejection and incredulity. Without exchanging a word or a glance, the family has just realized that their son has been killed in action. The establishment of Medinat Yisrael in 1948, in addition to all else, was a knock on the door of every Jew. It was a game-changing, historical moment that without the need for words announced the death of the galut. And just as zero brain waves combined with zero heart beat are sufficient to declare death, although there are bodily elements still functioning before total cessation sets in, the dead galut will continue to function until cultural, religious and social rigor mortis sets in. Think of it as the first rays of dawn, and the city lights begin to dim, one by one. It is the way of HaShem, to efface the used past in favor of a new future. The demise of the galut after 2000 years of shameful punishment which led to the Shoah, denotes the termination of the age of anger and the ushering in of a renewed relationship between HaShem and His nation. In 1948, Hashem saw fit to close the galut chapter in our history and, as the pasuk says in Vayikra 26,42: וזכרתי את בריתי יעקוב ואף את בריתי יצחק ואף את בריתי אברהם אזכר והארץ אזכר: I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. Evil Will Self-Destruct The tracks are the same, but the destination is reversed. Thousands upon thousands of people displaced from their homes, separated from families, are congested into rail cars headed for points West. Seventy five years ago, the rail cars were filled with Jews herded into the rail cars unfit even for animals headed for points East; to the death camps of Poland and Ukraine. Today, they are the displaced of Syria, Iraq and Lebanon; Moslems who are converging on Christian Europe like the locust that inundated ancient Egypt. They cross over from Turkey to Greece to Serbia and Hungary; their preferred objective is Germany, but any Western European country will do. In addition, thousands of Africans are arriving weekly to the shores of Italy by way of Libya. Italy is Rome and Germany is Germany – all are the descendants of Aisav. Is there a lesson to be learned from this? The cruel and savage Moslems and Africans will inundate the hypocritical peoples of Western Europe. The hand of HaShem is at work to punish the enemies of Am Yisrael and Medinat Yisrael in a way we could never imagine. Don’t be surprised if the mass immigration of Moslems and Africans will soon encourage the Germans and their Italian World War Two allies, France, Hungary and Poland etc., to regenerate their proven mass-murder abilities. That could be part of HaShem’s master plan for this world where initially evil has a free hand, and goes full circle until it self-destructs. Shabbat Shalom, Nachman Kahana Copyright © 5775/2015 Nachman Kahana