Wednesday, December 25, 2019

as long as there remained - the Sentry


In Megilas Antiyochus [and other Medrashim] it states that the when Yochanan Kohen Gadol witnessed the Yevanim slaughtering a davar acher on the mizbeyach, he grew enraged, and initiated the fight against the Yevanim. About twenty years ago, HaGaon Harav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro zatzal asked; the Yidden had been suffering under the gezeiros shmad of the Yevanim for many years prior to this event, why then did it require the slaughtering of a davar acher on the mizbeach to trigger the uprising against the Yevanim? Additionally, the Meforshim ask, under what bases did the Chashmonaim go to war against a mighty empire, on what appears to be a complete suicide mission? Rav Moshe Shmuel answered; as long as there remained a pure corner which was unaffected by the Yevanim, the Yidden could retreat into that oasis and still survive spiritually. However, when the Yevanim contaminated the remaining sanctuary of purity, there was no longer an option of tolerating, and they were forced to push-back against the Yevanim, at whatever the cost. He concluded; so too in our times, when they are attempting to breach the Yeshivas and the [insulated] camp, we cannot remain complacent and we must be moser nefesh to combat the violations.

How deep inside the fortresses of Torah have the winds of change blown? Hagaon Rav Eliyahu Lieberman shlita related; “A bocher was learning in one of the prestigious Yeshivas in Eretz Yisroel. One day a thought crossed his mind, ‘There exists a Nachal HaChareidi, why should I not go [to the army], I can make money, and learn a trade there as well.’ Armed with the [military’s] assurance that everything is run ‘al taharas hakodesh’, he enlisted.  [In the end], he was pressured to be mechallel Shabbos, and to transgress the most severe and despicable aveiros. He sunk to the lowest of depths, until he decided to travel to chutz la’aretz and live as a complete goy. [The boy summed-up;] ‘I served for five years, I know them from the inside; their goal is to cause [the soldiers] to transgress the entire Torah.”

the Sentry

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