Introduction: (Chofetz Chaim, Shmiras HaLashon)

The story in במדבר כ"א ה' (the poisonous snakes), was precipitated by the story in במדבר כ"א ד' (going around Edom), where there was a 'bump-in-the-road' at the end of B'nei Yisrael's "galus" in the midbar. This disheartened them so, that they proceeded to talk against Hashem (see there). Their "talking against Hashem" was in depicting the mon, which was a manifestation of middas harachamim, as being an instrument of middas hadin. And for that they were punished! This is a remez, a sign, that at the end of our galus, there may be 'bumps-in-the-road', which will dishearten B'nei Yisrael and cause some of them to talk against Hashem.

May Hashem help us to not inadvertently "talk against Hashem".

I. "Nachamu Nachamu Ami": No matter what happens, realizing and internalizing that even a tragedy is from Hashem is comforting. The pain is there, the tzaar, the frustration, and sadness- but it is comforting to know that it's ultimately orchestrated by Hashem and therefore we know that it's ultimately good. This does not exonerate the evildoers and the abettors of evil, of course. But it does provide a level of comfort to the victim. It is actually easier to internalize this in our tragedy since there is:

1)

A. Clear lack of any logic or benefit –the opposite, rachmana litzlan.

B. It is coming from the 'right-wing'; and from the 'builder' himself!

C. Doing it flies in the face of all democratic ideals (and these are their claimed ideals). And in the face of all human-rights protections (their claimed principles.)

D. There were so many junctures which could have stopped this, (e.g: various votes, government coalition-forming, budget vote, Kfar Maimon), it seemed to have had an aura of inexorable inevitability. As if an Unseen Hand was shepherding it through.

     This is, ironically, comforting.

2) To realize that the more cataclysmic an event, the more earth-shattering, the more it fundamentally changes life as we know it, the more we see it changing people's perceptions, exposing people and groups for what they are, the more we should see it as necessary and important- and thus immune to thousands, millions, of tears, Teffilos, tze'akos, bakashos ,   y'mei tzom, tehillim, nedarim, and kabbalos, acts of chesed,Torah learned for its zechus—this, too, is comforting. For it means it 'had' to happen.

       Similar to Moshe Rabbeinu's teffilos (515 of them!) that he be allowed to enter Eretz Yisrael. As the Malbim explains (as do others), the chait hameraglim made the flow of history necessitate that he not enter. End of story.

(The chait of mei meriva, the ostensible 'cause', merely reflected a reality that if Moshe Rabbeinu would not have sinned, the consequence of his not entering Eretz Yisrael couldn't have happened either- and you would have had the classic paradox of the immutable force hitting the immovable object. But this is not nogea us, sadly, since there were plenty of chataim here to go around- see sections II. & III.)

It is comforting to know that it represents a stage in history, a fundamental event.

3) A third comforting aspect is that, as we shall shortly see, every tragedy has a lama question, and a madua question. The fact that there is  a discernable lama aspect here (See section II.) means the purpose and goal and tachlis of the tragedy, is comforting, since Hashem's lama's are always tov and represent tikkun.

         So this is a third nichum.

II. "Lama" ( Chasam Sofer in Ki Sisa, and my father-in-law in his hakdama to his book on the Holocaust "With Fury Poured Out").

Madua means why in the sense of what is the prior event or action which led to this tragedy. What is the cause, the sin.

Lama means what is the purpose of this, what is it supposed to accomplish. The goal. The tachlis.

We cannot (Although see section III.) know the answer to madua. But we see many times lama, the purpose, the accomplishment. (We still have the madua question, because tzur tamim paalo, Hashem does not have ends justify means. If something is undeserved, it won't happen, even if there is a great goal, an important tachlis. The madua asks- why was/is this deserved.)

When someone dies tragically, we rarely can discern the lama. But we believe it is for the best.

The Holocaust- maybe years later we can look back and start to discern a lama.

             Here, I can discern clear lamas.

1)    If we call Oslo the death of secular Zionism, we can- hopefully- call the 'disengagement' the death of accommodating, being machshir, secular Zionism. It is the death of the idea that the medina is primary and Torah is, at best, the hechsher-stamp. We thank them for the 100 years of work in building up the infrastructure- now they have to be consigned to the dustbin of history.

[This is not so simple. The Rabbanim who said not to be mesarev pekuda are still stuck there. Those who cried and said ani ohev tzahal are still stuck there.)

 (If they would mean "we forgive you individual soldiers, we understand you simply were not omed banisayon and "al tadin es chavercha ad shetagia limkomo", that would be fine. But they do not mean that- there is still a worshiping of tzahal as an institution though it has shown itself to be an arm of a medina devoid of any Torah principles whatsoever, or even democratic and moral foundations. This is why we read about the Yeshiva of Atzmona inviting in Dan Harel! to partake and participate in their last get together! The singing of HaTikva as they are expelled, wrapping arms around soldiers on the way to the busses. Expellees uttering complimentary words for soldiers and police.]

But, hopefully, over days, weeks, months, realization will set in as to the monstrosity of secular Zionism, seeing what it has become, what it has done, and the impossibility of accommodating it. This past Shabbos, heated arguments broke out in Sha'arei Yerushalayim Hotel among the expellees over the recital of the Tefilla leshlom hamedina.

Certainly this is a worthy lama- I only fear it will take even more chas veshalom. Listening and reading Rav Elon and Rav Aviner, I am growing more and more pessimistic by the day.

[Sadly the Chareidim, whose stance on this matter was always anti-Zionist (thus, their own constitutional requirement for extremely complicated procedures before they can join a coalition, which was ignored a few months ago.) is today the only religious party 'accommodating' Zionism, by being and       remaining in the coalition despite what they have done. Talk about a "kosher" stamp!]

2)    A second lama. In Nach, the ketz hayamim is described as having a possible b'eeta mode and a possible achishena mode.

The b'eeta mode is a natural process, with lurches, gains, losses- and accompanied by human suffering and even tragedies. The 'end' is described many times as a resurgent yishuv in Eretz Yisrael, surrounded by seemingly unconquerable, cruel, enemies, and ultimately a war over Yerushalayim, in which many of B'nei Yisrael will fall, perhaps the partial conquering of Yerushalayim. (What we call Milchemet Gog UMagog.)

It is not far-fetched at all to see that, mired as we are in b'eeta mode, this is a step in the tightening of a noose around B'nei Yisrael, making it harder and harder for us to withstand the onslaught of Yishmael (and ultimately Eisav too, as described.) Until ultimately, when all seems lost, "vehaya Hashem l'melech ol kol haaretz…" 

This is not a happy, pleasant scenario. But it is described already in Nach.

This is a major lama, resulting in the ultimate Kiddush Hashem!

It is sadly the result of our not grabbing hold of the achishena mode. (See below under III. Madua, 1).

3)    A third lama.

Hopefully, a reawakening of Torah-based ahavas Eretz Yisrael, on the part of Chareidim who are appalled by the lack of it in their circles- exhibited by their indifference to kol d'mei achicha tzo'akim ayleiy.

4) A fourth lama- The Arabs will never make any sort of peace with Israel. They will never ever settle  for anything less than they have just been given (this is perhaps part of #2).

III.        Madua

Because even if there is a lama, if there is no madua, if it is undeserved, it just can not happen.

Normally, without a navi, we just do not know madua. So we work on being mischazek in Torah, mitzvos, chessed, loshon hora, tznius etc.

1)    But let us say a person has a toothache. Or is in jail. Or got fired. Here there is certainly a clear madua- you do not need a navi to tell you that you ate too much candy, or stole, or came late to work and left early.

Now, if someone has r"l: no children, or a disease, or a traffic accident when he was not at all at fault- we do not know madua.

We think, we try, but we do not know.

But if bad things happen and there is a direct link to a flaw, a chait, or a chisaron in our chovos halvavos, and if it is a result of that- there's your madua!

Think of a fellow who stole and sat in jail. Started wearing Teffilin. Stole again. Back to jail. Started keeping kosher. Stole again. Back to jail. Wife started covering her hair. Stole again. Back to jail. And he's wondering- just what does Hashem want from me? (not my moshol)

It is clear to me- Rejection of declaration that Eretz Yisrael is ours, and belongs to us (first Rashi in Beraishis), is the cause of all the tzoros. Because if a land is yours, no one asks why you are there, is it k'dai to be there, how many soldiers must defend it, etc.

And if it is not yours- no one cares about all the reasons you want to hold on to it… and you gain no points for giving it away, because you are just giving back a gezeila.

In short- If it's yours there are no questions.

If it's not yours- there are no answers.

Everything going on from the Yom Kippur War (and earlier) until today is based on this. And as long as we don't declare, they won't stop. 'They' being all the oomos haolam. We'll just keep on going back to jail like that frummer and frummer thief.

And let's not forget the intertwining chait – "Vayim'aso b'eretz chemda, lo he'emino lidvoro". The refusal to declare Eretz Yisrael ours is our fear of the oomos haolam vs. Bitachon in Hashem.

(And as the chovos halvovos points out constantly, lack of Bitachon actually brings on whatever you feared in the first place!)

That's the first madua. Directly link to chait of Vayim'asu/chisaron bitachon.

And that flaw is a general disease amongst the general Jewish population of Eretz Yisrael. Take a poll about Oslo's premise and you'll see.

2)    The second major madua is the flip side of the first lama. All the Rabbanim who said lo lesarev pekuda, all those who said the army and police are our brothers, we respect them and will not fight them, all those who said STOP instead of GO, the continued supremacy (in the eyes of this segment of the population), of mamlachti over dati—of medina over Torah—is the second direct link. And, though it pains me to say it, perhaps the people of Gush Katif were guilty of this more than anyone- the inability to see and recognize and expose their enemy (the medina) as an enemy. Rather than as a friend who is temporarily doing crazy things. There's a direct link here too. This made it impossible to fight back. This ensured the astounding ease with which it ultimately happened. After all, if France would've sent in Jewish soldiers to destroy Gush Katif, would there be a fight put up? So what is the difference? The 'medina'! Here are people who put their prime Torah value only after their subservience to the medina.

  I also admit I don't understand all this talk of avoiding civil war. There was a civil war, Rabbosai- one side attacked and destroyed. The other side surrendered. That's "avoiding civil war" the way the Arabs "want peace".

IV.         After lama and madua, comes aich-HOW? But how did it happen?

This means as follows:

Even if there's a good purpose, and even if it is a clear result from a chait,

since we're talking about something people did, people had to choose to do it. If people would not have been bocher ra, it wouldn't have happened. So what chataim were involved, and are we sure that the potential for these chataim are eradicated from k'lal yisrael, from within us?

1)    The primary doers: We're not going to dwell on them. Sharon and his cohorts are evil, they are the G'ra's prediction of erev rav, and we don't have to dwell on the evilness of these people. Baruch Hashem, I am not worried we will sink to that level.

2)    The secondary doers:

1.    "divrei harav vedivrei hatalmid divrei mi shom'im"—If every frum soldier and every frum policeman would have refused to violate the many Torah prohibitions involved in this tragedy…Woe is to us that we have (brace yourself) emulated the cursed Germans, and have an army and police who just "follow orders".

[Are we, in our lives, strong enough to withstand pressures? For a negative prohibition, one has to surrender everything short of one's life. If you would be fired if you don't listen to loshon hora, if your job makes you be violate " velo sasuru acharei levavchem…"—Are you sure of what you would do?]

3) The Non-Stoppers: The Rabbanim who said no violence, only 'love'. Those who refrained from strong action out of respect for the medina and its institutions. Moetzes yesha, which squandered tremendous power either because of politics, or because what would be said about them. Let me quote from an Arutz 7 report of August 21. " According to Army Radio, the IDF is exceedingly concerned about the lack of leadership in the northern Samaria community of Homesh and is considering importing rabbis and members of the Yesha Council from outside in order to ensure the residents leave without resistance."

[Do we do things because of a mistaken loyalty to non-Torah powers? Do we do things because of what people will think of you, talk of you, hold of you- most of our actions are based on such considerations, according to the chovos halvovos.]

4)  Other enablers:  Sina'as chinam- Harsh words. I mean them in the same sense I spoke of on Tisha B'av night- lack of ve'ahavta lereiacha kamocha. (Ki se'nua Leah)

The Chareidi public are especially guilty here. First of all, their whole perception of "them" vs. "us". (I suspect their Gedolim encourage this "them vs. us" to a certain degree, lest the Chareidi public absorb mistaken values- and of course, as always, people take it much further than it was ever intended.)

Second of all, just veahavta-kamocha. Does anyone think that if a square block in Kiryat Sefer or Beitar was threatened this way, there would barely be a reaction? The medina would be afire!!

(But realize that this is so because the Chareidim do not feel any ties to the medina, so there would be no holds barred. And when they fight the establishment, they fight to win- and they give not a thought to what they will look like in tomorrow's news reports.)

But they should also do so for their fellow Jew! Kamocha, sinas chinam, not nosei baol, unfortunately also a small measure of nekama.

This refers to both propping up the government when it was falling and not participating in any meaningful way in any macha'a.)

  [Are we better? Was it "kamocha" for everyone?

  Why were there 50,000, not 500,000? Of any segment of the population? And of the 50,000, weren't they, truthfully, 75% young unmarried adults? So where was everybody?].

5) All of us, in general- Toleration of evil (if it's not hurting us directly)

Ohavei Hashem—sin'u ra

Halo m'san'echa Hashem- esna!

Tachlis sin'a s'naysim-l'oyvim hayu li

Or are we of a western, liberal, moral relativism mindset- or are we just too comfortable to be stirred?

All these are 'aich'.

V.             All this is regarding the tzibbur, and trends in the tzibbur.

Any particular individual that has a tragedy happen, we can do nothing but stand back and say "Kayl emuna ve'ain avel tzaddik ve'yashar hu". Regarding an individual, it is well nigh forbidden to say- that happened because of this, because of that. But we know there's a cheshbon. That's Tzidduk Hadin.

VI.         The tremendous Chilul Hashem.

Arab newspapers: "Koran Wins Over the Talmud".

And we too feel- all those bakashos, tefillos,tehillim,etc. –where is Hashem?

Sukas Dovid in Parshas Yisro: Hashem saying "mutav yikanes ha'chetz bi". (comparing Hashem to an eagle who puts its young on top of its wings.)

Hashem is willing, as it were, to suffer the indignity of chilul Hashem for the sake of the tikkun of K'llal Yisrael (and ultimate great Kiddush Hashem).

VII.     A sense of betrayal/ Realization of not proper hishtadlus.

There was no plan!

"ye'hiye tov"- basically relying on a nes!

"It Shall Not Be!" Why in the world not? There's 40,000 troops out there!

What was the plan?

n      Go block roads!

n      Go block the PM's home!

n      Go block the K'nesset!

n      Go to BIG!

Why, how will this stop 40,000 soldiers? And who's in charge?

No plan.

The military and police, on the other hand, had detailed plans and contingencies and contingency of contingencies.

[Our Yetzer Ho'ra, Chazal tell us, has plans and strategies.

We say: I'll be good, I'll be better- No plan!]