The lesson here is the mutual responsibility we all carry for every member of our nation
With the spilled blood of 45 pure bnei Torah still boiling like the blood of the prophet Zechariah in the courtyard of the Mikdash, our hearts are roiling too, with so many questions. Why has Hashem done this to us? How has he allowed children, teenagers, and sterling avreichim to fall in such a cruel way?
But deep inside, we know not to question the Creator’s decisions. In truth, Moshe Rabbeinu already asked those questions for us all when he begged HaKadosh Baruch Hu: “Hodi’eni na es derachecha, inform me of Your ways.” With these words, the Gemara explains, he voiced life’s most piercing question: Why do we see tzaddikim suffer while evildoers enjoy a good life?
HaKadosh Baruch Hu responded with a singular statement: “Hinei makom Iti — See, there is a place near me” (Shemos 33:21). Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch explains: With these words, HaKadosh Baruch Hu revealed to Moshe Rabbeinu that all of mankind’s questions about the ways of the Hashgachah Elyonah stem from the limited human point of view.
“Your question, Moshe,” Hashem said, according to Rav Hirsch, “stems from the fact that your perspective is ground-based. Positioned as you are on earth, you are forced to peer upward, confined to a narrow view. However, if you would find a place to stand beside Me, and observe what is happening in the world from My lofty view — then you will understand the events below in a very different way.” (See the commentary of Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch ibid.)
Create a free account to keep reading.
