The Connection Between Jewish Living and Jewish Security
At a time when all Jews are united in their resolve to defeat our enemies who have harmed us and wish to continue to do so r’l – the publishers of “The Letter and Spirit” are sharing a letter of encouragement from the Rebbe in which he explains the connection between Jewish living and Jewish security.
How are we to bring about the promise of “I will give peace in the land and you shall lie down an none shall make you afraid”? The letter includes some thoughts about the twice daily recital of the Shema and on the question of why the holocaust and similar tragedies.
By the Grace of G-d
18th of Elul, 5736
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mr.
New York, N.Y. 10011
Greeting and Blessing:
I am in receipt of your letter in which you write that you read my published message but did not understand the connection between Jewish living in accordance with the Torah and Jewish security.
It is rather surprising that you should question this inasmuch as there is a clear statement in the Torah, “If you will walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them, I will give you rain in due season… and you will dwell in your land safely; and “ I will give peace in the land and you shall lie down and none shall make you afraid. “and so forth (Lev. 26:3 ff.) this is but one quotation, but actually there are many of the same nature in TeNaCh, the Talmud, Midrash, etc.
No doubt you also know that the Shema which a Jew recites twice daily, in the morning and at night, and which contains the basics of our Jewish religion and faith, the second portion begins with the words “And it shall come to pass, if you will diligently hearken to My commandments,” etc., and concludes with the words “In order that your days and the days of your children shall multiply on the land which G-d solemnly promised to give your Patriarchs, as the days of heaven on earth.” (Deut. 11:13 ff.).
Your question that if so, how can one explain such a thing as the Holocaust? This is surely not an original or new question, for every page of our Jewish history is filled with persecutions and massacres. Suffice it to mention the Inquisition and the Crusades, which involved wholesale massacres and exterminations of countless Jewish communities for no other reason but that they were Jews who adhered to the Torah and mitzvos. Thus, there were questions after every such tragedy, and it was discussed by Jewish Rabbis and philosophers of the Medieval period and also before that. Indeed, the whole book of Iyov (Job) is also devote to this question and there is no need to go onto it again.
The main purpose of this letter is based on the saying of our Sages that “The essential thing is the deed.” You begin your letter by introducing yourself as one “who feels cultural and historical ties to my heritage,” although you add that you are not religious. It is surely unnecessary to emphasize to you that the Jewish heritage has not been handed down from generation to generation in order that every individual could do with it as he pleases. Any heritage has certain central aspects without which it would have no content and there could be no ties to it of any kind, since it would be without substance.
One of the central aspects of the Jewish heritage is, as has often been pointed out, the constant factor which has remained unchanged throughout the ages. What is meant by this is as follows: looking through our Jewish history you will find that there were various factors relating to the Jewish people as a people such as political independence, possession of a country and various cultural factors such as language, clothing etc. But all these were not constant but had changed from time to time. Even the general philosophical outlook has also changed from time to time, including the philosophical exposition of the Divine commandments, which were sometimes expounded in terms or ethical concepts or mystical concepts or pragmatic concepts, etc.
The only factor which has not changed throughout Jewish history ever since our Jewish people became a nation, is the practice of the mitzvos in the daily life. Ever since we heard the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai and accepted the absolute unity of G-d and rejected idolatry – this has not changed to this day. And so also the other commandments, such as “Honor your father and your mother,” “Remember the day of Shabbos to keep it holy,” and so on – these too have not changed to this day. This does not mean that there were never Jews who deviated from the commandments and never desecrated the Shabbos. Unfortunately, there were Jews and even movements, which did deviate from the Jewish way, but these were temporary and passing phases, for sooner or later those Jews who deviated either returned to the fold or were completely assimilated in their alien environment and lost to our people.
Another aspect with regard to heritage is one that has been confirmed by the latest scientific findings, although our Torah, Torat emet, has already proclaimed it thousands of years ago. This is that no Jew has the power to change his essence, which is bound tup with his Divine soul and divinely given way of life as set forth in the Shulchan Aruch. To be sure, one has been given the freedom of action and therefore jus as a person can knowingly hurt himself if he so wishes by leading a harmful or unnatural routine in matters of diet, etc., it does not change the fact that he can be healthy only if he leads a life which is in harmony with his essence. And if this is so in the physical aspects of life, relating to the physical body, how much more so in regard to the spiritual aspects relating to the soul.
It is therefore surely unnecessary to emphasize, in summary, that the true health, happiness and inner peace of every Jew, is bound up with the daily life and conduct in accordance with the Shuchan Aruch.
A further point, which is also part of the essence of the Jewish heritage, will provide an answer to those who might claim that their personal life is their own affair. And no one has a right to tell them what to do. And the answer to this is that the Jewish essence is such that all Jews constitute an inseparable organism, where anything that happens to one part of it affects the whole. There is the well-known illustration in Midrash of people sailing in a boat and one of them boring a hole through the floor of his cabin, justifying it on the ground that he is doing it in his own private cabin, for which he has paid with his own money, etc., and therefore it is nobody’s business. I trust that there is no need for any further elaboration.
At this time before Rosh Hashono, I send you prayerful wishes for a truly good and sweet year.
With blessing,
