All the infighting was forgotten and people who hadn’t spoken to each other all year came together as one all united in their concern for one Jewish child. What this perhaps a hint to one lesson last week’s horrific tragedy was to teach us?

My readers already know about my friend who helps me make a living by calling me up now and then to share his insights.

“So what do you think about that horrific murder in New York?” he asked me the other day.

“What am I supposed to think? ‘The wise one keeps silent at such a time’ ” I quoted.  

“You do have an opinion though” he countered. “You think silence is appropriate. But why? Why not yell and scream shout?”

“Yell and scream what? At whom? Do you want to argue with a Divine decree chalilah?”

“Of course not! Chas v’shalom! What gave you that idea?”

“So what do you mean then?”

“Well don’t you think something extremely out of the ordinary has occurred? A horrible act of violence that would sicken even the lowest elements of humanity done by a Jew and not just a Jew but somebody who lives in Boro Park keeps Shabbos and davens three times a day? Is this just another tragic occurrence or is it something really exceptional?”

“Of course it is if you put it that way. And who exactly do you want to yell at?”

“I can’t believe you’re asking that. HaKadosh Baruch Hu aims a missile at the heart of our community and you ask who we should yell at? At ourselves of course! Obviously HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants something from us!”

“That’s clear enough. But what do you want? Rabbis all over the world gave eulogies and spoke out about things in our communities that need to be corrected.”

“What for example?”

“They mentioned breaches of tzniyus lashon hara carelessness here and there about the Shabbos laws….”

“That’s just the problem! Is that all there is to talk about? About the same old issues that always need improvement? Doesn’t anybody notice that this time with this dreadful act a different message is being sent?”

“Can you explain please?”

“Certainly. That’s what I called you for. I was in New York when it happened. Little Leiby disappeared and everybody got into the search effort. Every Jew! Nobody asked which Chassidus the Kletzky family belonged to. All the foolish pettiness was pushed aside; all that mattered was that a Jewish child was missing! All the infighting was forgotten and people who hadn’t spoken to each other all year came together as one all united in their concern for one Jewish child.”

“Mi k’amcha Yisrael!” I remarked.

“Yes. Very nice. Who is like Your people Israel. But tell me what did we see?”

“We saw a kiddush Hashem.”

“All right but let’s fine-tune that idea. HaKadosh Baruch Hu brought a terrible thing on us and it forced us to come together. He showed us that when we have a common goal a common concern we are capable of tossing all our fights and divisions into the garbage.”

“All right. So what do you think we should do now?”

“Yell. Yell about the fact that we’re willing to repair any breach in public or private life except for the breach that was ‘repaired’ for a few days because of that horrible tragedy. Don’t you see it for yourself? There’s no ‘maybe’ about it! Clearly this terrible punishment came in order to knock down the dividing walls force us to unite and to tell us that this is what we have to correct! Am I right or am I wrong?”

“You’re absolutely right.”

“So if I’m right then how come nobody’s thinking about this? Why is everybody talking about other things that need to be corrected?”

“Why do you say nobody’s talking about it? Unity is one of the themes that’s been mentioned.”

“Mentioned. Very nice. This is the central issue the one thing that should concern us more than anything else as Jews who know that every trouble that comes upon us is a wake-up call! We’re in the three weeks of bein hametzarim now. Again we’re hearing that the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed because of baseless hatred. I ask you has that hatred gone away?”

“I remember hearing Rav Yosef Kahaneman ztz”l say back in Yeshivas Ponevezh that two things remain with us since the churban: the Western Wall and baseless hatred. And you know…”

“Just a moment. Let me tell you something frightening I heard from a reliable witness who heard it directly from his rebbi Rav Shlomo Wolbe ztz”l who heard it from the Chazon Ish ztz”l. He said that the Holocaust which struck so hard at chareidi Jewry happened because in the last few generations there was a great decline in relations between man and his fellow. Rav Weissmandel ztz”l wrote such sharp words about this that I can’t bear to quote them. And I ask you have we learned any lesson from all that? Look around you and answer me honestly.”

“Honestly? I don’t see that we’ve learned much at all.”

“Do you know why? Chazal say: ‘The latter that is the people of Second Temple times whose sin was not revealed their end was not revealed.’ That is it was not revealed when the end of their exile would come. What does it mean ‘their sin was not revealed’? Rav Yehonasan Eibeschitz gives an awesome explanation in Yaaros Devash (drashah 7). He says that people are generally aware of gross sins and they regret them and do teshuvah. That’s what happened with galus Bavel. The Jews did teshuvah and after seventy years they returned to Eretz Yisrael.  ‘But with the Second Temple ’ says the Yaaros Devash ‘the sins were sinas chinam and lashon hara [things that are harder to discern ] and they didn’t do teshuvah. To this day we are still holding on to that tumah of baseless hatred. People speak words of shalom to their fellowman while laying traps for him in their hearts; they rejoice in his downfall and say there’s no sin in that. On the contrary it’s considered clever. The sin of Second Temple times still isn’t revealed because it is considered permissible. And so due to our many sins the end is not revealed and we sit in exile all this time.’

“You see my friend? Sinas chinam is a sin that is not so readily discernible to the eye not to the person himself and not to others. People always have an excuse for it; they even use yiras Shamayim as an excuse. That’s why they’ll talk about anything else that needs correcting — tzniyus Shabbos even lashon hara anything but the hatred lurking in our hearts and I’m sure that HaKadosh Baruch Hu sent us this terrible message to make us focus on this neglected point which is so crucial to our future.

“Do you know why I called you? Because when I was pacing around trying to understand what happened I opened a sefer and the words seemed to pop out at me: ‘HaKadosh Baruch Hu said this to Israel: My children what do I ask of you? All I ask is that you make a habit of loving one another. And that you make a habit of respecting one another. What are the ways of Heaven? He is merciful and has mercy even on the wicked and accepts them in teshuvah sheleimah and feeds and gives sustenance to all creatures… so should you be merciful to one another sustain and show a friendly face to one another.’ I found it in Tanna d’Bei Eliyahu chapter 27. I had the feeling it wasn’t by chance that I opened it to that page. I was feeling so troubled and confused and suddenly everything became clear. The message was ‘Just as you’re capable of going in My ways when trouble strikes you can go in My ways when things are going well so that troubles like these won’t need to come upon you to bring out your love for one another. Love that crosses all the barriers of different camps different groups…’ ”

“And what is it you want from me?”

“Nothing. I want something from myself. I’ve taken on myself to change my attitude toward one person I know someone from a different group that I’ve been fighting with. Just one person! This way I hope to repair something in myself in the spirit of the message we all received from the tragedy of Leiby Kletzky. I see a parallel between Leiby Kletzky a”h and Nadav and Avihu who were burned together with their offering. Of them it is said ‘Through my near ones I will sanctify and before all the nation I give honor.’ They were the korban so that the whole nation would understand the significance of the Mishkan and its holiness. Do we understand our duty now that Leiby Kletzky has been taken as our korban?

“…All right I think I’ve talked it all out now. But don’t print what I said.”

“Why not? Doesn’t klal Yisrael need to hear it?”

“I guess you’re right. Okay go ahead. Print it.”

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

With cash even someone who despises money can be bribed

(Rav Gershon Henoch Leiner of Radzin)