“No weapon fashioned against you shall prosper”

by HaRav Dov Begon
Rosh HaYeshiva, Machon Meir

“No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper. Every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn” (Isaiah 54:17).

For thousands of years unrelenting efforts have been made from within and without to engulf Israel in foreign cultures, each generation facing its own influences. In our own generation as well, we are exposed to the influence of Western culture, whose effects are recognizable in large segments of Israeli society.

Despite everything -- all the foreign cultures and all the languages that have set out to replace our own, the Holy Hebrew tongue -- those influences will not achieve long-term success. Quite the contrary, we see with our own eyes how Hebrew has been revived after thousands of years of its being the heritage of the few. We see clearly how the great spectacle of a return to Jewish tradition and to our Holy Torah is taking shape. This represents a tangible expression of the Prophet Isaiah’s vision that “no weapon fashioned against us -- i.e., non-Jewish culture -- shall prosper.”

Right now, we are in the process of the return of the People of Israel to the Land of Israel. At a later stage will come fulfillment of the words of Ezekiel 36:25: “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your uncleannesses and from all your idols will I cleanse you.” The movement of return to Judaism which is growing stronger and stronger throughout all strata of our society is just the beginning of the process in which there will be “a famine in the land. Not a famine for bread nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the L-rd” (Amos 8:11).

It is true that this process has different and difficult levels. There is personal repentance, repentance out of fear, repentance in which a person calculates that Judaism will be good for him, for his family, for his children’s future -- and indeed it is: “Observe that I am placing before you both a blessing and a curse. The blessing will come if you obey the commandments of the L- rd your G-d, which I am prescribing for you today” (Deuteronomy 11:26-27). People do see in practical terms how religion and the Torah are beneficial for them and their families. Yet there is still a higher level than that -- repentance out of love, in which a person is brought to Judaism not just by calculations, but by recognition of the truth that there is a Master over everything and that His dominion extends over all. Hashem, the G-d of the world is the G-d of Israel and we are commanded to serve Him, to follow in His path and to cling to Him.

Through repentance out of love we will merit the great repentance that all of us are looking forward to and believe in -- repentance in which goodness and joy are truly revealed and magnified on earth. Then we will see how G-d is good to all, and how His mercy extends to all His creations. Through this, in turn, we will merit the vision of Isaiah 55:5: “Nations that knew you not shall run to you, because of the L-rd your G-d, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you.”

Longing forward to complete salvation,
Shabbat Shalom.