This Shabbat is Shabbat Bereshit where we start reading the Torah afresh, beginning with the words “In the Beginning… .” We have entered a new world.
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“Now the earth was astonishingly empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep.” That describes our situation last Friday as we entered the Simchat Torah holiday divided and empty as a nation and without a clear purpose or future. It describes the darkness of the abominable acts perpetrated by inhumane animals to our people.
But the story continues: “And God said Let there be light and there was light.” By Monday morning, “a new light shone on Zion” and the whole world woke up to the truth of the evil that we have faced around us for 30 years.
Then there was a “separation between water and water.” This is the separation between good Palestinians and evil terrorists that is taking place under the courageous hands of our soldiers as we read. And this must be followed by the destruction of that evil.
Only then does “the earth sprout vegetation” and new life can emerge in our region. Healthy, green, sustainable and wholesome.
So how do we respond as Jews?
Tears, anger, fear, sadness and all their synonyms. If we had a thousand words in our thesaurus we could not adequately describe how we feel. But is there another possible response? I believe that, as Jews, we have an incredible role model of how to respond to tragedy, and that is Rabbi Akiva.
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Soldiers battle Hamas terrorists near the Gaza border
(Photo: IDF spokesman's office via Reuter)
It was Rabbi Akiva who raised 24,000 students over 24 years of hard work only to see them systematically murdered by the Romans over 50 days. His life’s work, and probably his best friends and relatives, mowed down before him. Five hundred funerals a day for 50 days. For most people, this would have been a reason to sink into depression, to give up on life and to retire into oblivion. But for Rabbi Akiva, he responded by taking five new students: Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Eleazar, Rabbi Yossi and Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. They became the foremost rabbis of the Mishnah and rebuilt Judaism in the wake of the destruction of the Second Temple 1,900 years ago.
It was Rabbi Akiva who saw the site of the destruction of the Second Temple and laughed. He explained that there were two prophecies. Micah prophesied that the Temple would be destroyed and Zacharia prophesied that it would be rebuilt. Until he had seen the fulfillment of Micah’s prophecy, he did not believe in the fulfillment of Zacharia’s, but now he saw the fulfillment of the Second Temple’s destruction, he could dream about the building of the Third Temple in its time.
It was Rabbi Akiva who screamed the Shema prayer when he was being flayed alive by the Romans at the end of his life. He had hope for humanity even while he was experiencing its greatest evil.
What was Rabbi Akiva’s approach? In the seeds of tragedy, he could find hope for a better tomorrow.
We need to find hope and fight on
And in our daily prayers, we call God, “Master of wars, Sower of Goodness who causes salvation to flourish.” War, with all its tragedies, is what brings change to the world and, when it happens to Jews, the change is always, ultimately, for the better.”
So, we need to find hope and fight on. Clearly, the first priority is the battlefield and the bravery of our soldiers is an inspiration to all of humanity.
But what can those of us do, who are too young to fight, or too old to fight, or just never served and have no fighting ability whatsoever? There are three guidelines given in the Mishnah Avot: Torah, Prayer and Action.
Torah: We must behave morally to one another. If the enemy is the most hateful, evil society that God has ever created, then we must rise above them morally. They hate, they destroy, they put themselves in the center and care less about anyone else, not their own people and certainly not about our lives. So, we must love each other, build and value one another. We must lead ethical lives.
Prayer: Why does prayer work? Doesn’t God know what to do? Why does He need us to ask for the protection of our soldiers and the safety of our hostages? Rav Efrem Goldberg once told about a lottery ticket that was bought in a shop near his synagogue in Florida that had been identified as the winning ticket for a $150 million prize. One problem - no one had come to claim the prize. For weeks the newspapers advertised the ticket number, but no one came. He explained that this is a parable for our prayers: God has a $150 million prize waiting for us and all we have to do is to bring Him the ticket. If all the Jewish people were to pray sincerely to God, for the soldiers and the hostages, that is the cue that God is waiting for to answer our prayers.
Action: In a war, this is the most urgent. And we can all fight on a second front for our Land and for our People. We know that the flimsy flag of public opinion can quickly change direction. Today we are the victim, but tomorrow we will be called the aggressor. That makes the production of social media content that supports our moral right to fight absolutely crucial to the war effort. And those who speak English, Spanish, French and other key languages must produce content that keeps the wider public on our side, contrasting the atrocious acts of our enemy with the peaceful and righteous lifestyle of our people.
A further action point: Israeli charities need our support. If we don’t have money to give then we must become their fundraisers and approach others: Jews, Christians and corporations worldwide. The number of terror-bereaved families in Israel DOUBLED on Simchat Torah. The amount of support that soldiers and bereaved families require is unprecedented and all of us can help.
For those of us in Israel, the provision of food and clothing for our soldiers is an ongoing challenge, and honor, for us to maintain. We are proud of our children who are working night and day on this crucial supply chain.
With the courage and optimism of Rabbi Akiva, we can win. The time to mourn and grieve will be after our victory and then we can celebrate our freedom from this evil just as we move each year from Yom HaZikaron into Yom HaAtzmaut. But now is the time for action. We have entered a new world.
- Rabbi Leo Dee is the author of 'Transforming the World: The Jewish Impact on Modernity'. He tragically lost his wife Lucy and daughters Maia and Rina in a terrorist attack earlier this year.