Dear Friends,
As we discussed in this
series, the human being
was created in the
Divine image with the
ability to emulate on a
human level the Divine
compassion. And the
Talmud reminds us that
compassion is to be a
distinguishing
characteristic of
Israel, the people of
the covenant that
descend from Avraham,
who was known for his
compassion (Beitzah
32b).
Regarding the quality of
compassion, Rabbi Samson
Raphael Hirsch writes:
“Compassion is the
feeling of empathy which
the pain of one being of
itself awakens in
another.” (Horeb 17)
The tragic and awesome
developments in Japan
can therefore evoke in
us compassion for the
suffering of the
Japanese people. And the
following recent
tragic event in the Land
of Zion can therefore
evoke in us compassion
for the suffering of our
own people:
Over twenty thousand
people turned out at the
Givat Shaul cemetery in
Jerusalem on Sunday for
the funeral of five
members of the Fogel
family that were
murdered late Friday
night in a brutal attack
in their home in the
religious village of
Itamar. The victims are
the father, Udi, age 37;
the mother, Ruth, age
36; their son, Yoav, age
10; their son, Elad, age
4; and their baby
daughter, Hadas, age 3
months. Each of them was
stabbed to death by the
Palestinian Arab
terrorist that entered
their home.
This brutal murder
reminded me of another
brutal murder which took
place about eleven years
ago on Kibbutz Metzer, a
secular kibbutz in the
northern region of the
State of Israel. Right
after that tragic event,
I wrote the following
information about the
victims in an
introduction to a Hazon
letter:
“Revital Ohayon, 34, was
reading her sons Matan,
five, and Noam, four, a
bedtime story on Sunday
night, when a Fatah
terrorist burst into
their home on Kibbutz
Metzer. She jumped in
front of the children’s
bed to protect them, but
he killed her and then
the children. He then
went outside and came
across Tirza Damari, 42,
of Moshav Elyachin. He
shot and killed her as
well. He also killed
kibbutz secretary
Yitzhak Dori, 44, who
had heard the shots and
rushed to the scene.”
That Hazon letter was
dedicated to the memory
of those who were
murdered on Kibbutz
Metzer. According to our
tradition, we respond to
death through the study
of Torah, as the
spiritual enlightenment
of Torah – the Divine
Teaching – increases
life. In this spirit,
King Solomon wrote
concerning the words of
Torah: “For they are
life to the one who
finds them” (Proverbs
4:22). In addition, King
Solomon wrote the
following description of
the Torah:
“She is a tree of life”
(Proverbs 3:18).
“A
tree of life” – In its
poetic commentary on
this statement, a
midrash cites the
following teaching in
the name of Rabbi Yudan:
Why is the Torah
compared to the Tree of
Life? Just as the Tree
of Life is spread over
the Garden of Eden, so
too, the Torah is spread
over all of life and
brings one under the
Tree of Life. (Yalkut
Shimoni on Proverbs,
934)
The Torah helps us to
regain access to the
“Tree of Life” in the
Garden through returning
to our original
mission: to “serve and
protect” the
Garden (Genesis 2:15).
How does the Torah help
us to return to our
original mission? There
is an ancient teaching
which reveals that the
two-part human mission
to “serve and
protect” the Garden is a
prototype of all the
mitzvos of the Torah –
mitzvos which relate to
every area of life. The
mission to “serve” the
Garden is a prototype of
the mitzvos which call
upon us to engage in
actions which nurture
and elevate life, while
the mission to “guard”
the Garden is a
prototype of the mitzvos
which prohibit actions
which damage and degrade
life. (Tikunei Zohar 55)
As the above midrash
stated: Just as the Tree
of Life is spread over
the Garden of Eden, so
too, the Torah is spread
over all of life and
brings one under the
Tree of Life.
I discovered a hopeful
message regarding our
future access to the
Tree of Life in the
following Divine promise
regarding the life of
our people during the
future age of spiritual
enlightenment through
the Torah:
“The days of My people
will be like the days of
the Tree” (Isaiah
65:22).
I asked myself: “Which
tree is this Divine
promise referring to? I
checked the commentary
of Rashi, and he cites
the
following interpretation
of Targum Yonasan: the
Tree of Life. Is this an
allusion to the Tree of
Life in the Garden of
Eden – the Tree which is
associated with eternal
Life? If so, then is
Hashem promising us that
in the future age of
spiritual enlightenment,
we will regain eternal
life on earth? In my
search for an answer, I
discovered the following
teaching which the Zohar
(Genesis 38a) cites in
the name of Rabbi Elazar:
In the future, the Holy
One, Blessed be He, will
fix the world and set a
new spirit within human
beings so that they will
have eternal length of
days, as it is written:
“The days of My people
will be like the days of
the Tree” (Isaiah
65:22), and “He will
eliminate death forever;
and the Master of All,
Hashem God, will erase
tears from all faces”
(Isaiah 25:8).
Based on the above
prophecy of Isaiah
regarding the end of
death and the erasing of
all tears, the Midrash
Rabbah states the
following teaching of
Rabbi Joshua Ben Levi:
There will be no death
in the future that is to
come – neither for
Israel, nor for the
nations of the world, as
it states that Hashem
will erase tears from
“all” faces. (Genesis
Rabbah 26:2 – the
version cited in Sefer
Chassidim 368, and in
the commentary of Rabbi
Joseph Kara on Isaiah
25:8)
In the messianic age,
“Torah will go forth
from Zion” (Isaiah 2:3),
and “the earth will be
filled with the
knowledge of Hashem”
(Isaiah 11:9). This will
lead to the culmination
of human history when
Israel, followed by
other nations, will
regain eternal life
through the spiritual
enlightenment of the
Torah, which is
described as “a tree of
life” (Proverbs 3:18).
Life and Shalom,
Yosef Ben Shlomo
Hakohen (See
below)
A Related Teaching:
In the following
prophetic message,
King David writes:
“For this is God,
our God, forever and
ever; He will guide
us beyond death.”
((Psalm 48:15)
“He will guide us
beyond death” – This
is the translation
of Midrash Tanchuma,
Bamidbar 17. Rabbi
Samson Raphael
Hirsch gives a
similar
translation.