Protecting Jews Even From Other Jews, Sexual Abuse, and Why Moshe was Chosen

Judy Brown, author of Hush, asked a serious question in this famous speech at the Nefesh conference in Chicago (above). She asked why do we punish victims of sexual abuse in many parts of our community and hide/protect the perpetrators? Why do we place the burden to prevent chillul Hashem, the burden to remain silent, on the children and the victims?

She asks (see the video above starting at 15:50) why, for a community that does such an immense amount of chessed, do we further victimize the victims of sexual abuse? She suggests that one reason could be that we do above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty chessed when the victim in need of assistance is the victim of circumstances, Divine decree, or perhaps even non-Jewish persecution. But if we stood up to protect children from other frum Jews (including family members, rebbeim, etc.), we would have to admit that we (at least some of us) are the bad guys. There is no such connotation when helping perpetrator-less "victims." So we deny that the abuse exists and bully the victims into silence.

We're willing to help Jews who are victimized by circumstances or by non-Jews, but not those who are victimized by other Jews.

This is the opposite of true of Moshe. Hashem chose him in this week's parsha, Shmos, as our redeemer because he not only stood up to protect a Jew (at great risk to himself) from the non-Jewish task-master who was beating him. He also stood up to one Jew who was beating another. His accomplishments go further, but this point reminded me of Judy Brown's observation noted above.

IY"H, may more of us be like Moshe Rebbeiniu and, if presented with the choice, may we have the courage to face the consequences as Moshe did and protect children and others in need of assistance even from other Jews, no matter how powerful they are.

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to "follow" me on Twitter.

The Greatness of Teshuva and the After-Effects of Sin

One reason for my paucity of postings recently over the past number of months are the paltry presence of pauses in the perpetual amount of work I have to do.

When I am able eke out a thought about something I would like to share, I just don't have the time to write and provide sources the way I would like to. I think that a post has a lot less "value added" when it expresses what could be described as a mere "boich svorah."

Nonetheless, this blog is dead if I don't even share what little I have to share from time to time so here's one thing I was thinking about at the end of last week on parshas Ki Sisa:

A couple of things popped out at my as requiring an explanation. One is that Moshe comes down from Har Sinai after 40 days of communion with G-d without food or water shining with light after his second time on Har Sinai, but not after the first time when he received the whole Torah. Why only the second time? It would seem that the revelation of the whole Torah would be a bigger experience than achieving forgiveness for the sin of the egel hazahav.

The second thing that bothered me a bit was Moshe's mask and moving outside the Jewish people's encampment. While we hear about Moshe judging the people and people coming to him before this, there was, I think, a lessened ability for Moshe to relate to the people after Moshe's face began shining with light and people could only being able to talk to him if he wore a mask. It's kind of hard to become close to a person who's speaking to you from behind a mask (an observation which is true for both literal and figurative masks). Also, Moshe no longer even lived among the Jewish people because he went outside the camp and the only time a person could see or speak to Moshe was if he was a "mevakesh Hashem" and went outside the camp to Moshe's tent, the "tent of meeting."

It occurred to me that as great as the hisgalus Hashem must have been for Moshe to receive the Torah, and as high in shamayim as Moshe must have gone to bring the Torah down to the earth, this did not create the beams of light for Moshe, and it did not create a big separation between him and the Jewish people.

But attaining mechila, forgiveness, for the Jewish people, did accomplish that. This perhaps means that Moshe had to ascend even higher than the Torah during his second sojourn on Har Sinai to achieve forgiveness for the Jews for the cheit ha'eigel. It shows that Teshuva comes from an even deeper place than Torah. But that mechila came with a price for the Jewish people though. It created a separation between the Jews and Hashem (because He told them he would no longer lead them in the desert, but that an angel would instead) and it created a separation between themselves and Moshe (who then could only talk to them through a mask and who had to move out of the encampment of the Jewish people).

Teshuva is the highest thing in the world but it comes with a price. Even after teshuva does its miraculous work, the aveira still leaves its mark and creates a separation that cannot quite be bridged. Better not to create the separation to begin with...

P.S. This point is presumably only true for regular teshuva, teshuva meyirah, as opposed to the much more difficult level of teshuva me'ahava. cf. Yuma 86b, "אמר ריש לקיש גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כשגגות שנאמר (הושע יד) שובה ישראל עד ה' אלהיך כי כשלת בעונך הא עון מזיד הוא וקא קרי ליה מכשול איני והאמר ריש לקיש גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כזכיות שנאמר (יחזקאל לג) ובשוב רשע מרשעתו ועשה משפט וצדקה עליהם <חיה> [הוא] יחיה לא קשיא כאן מאהבה כאן מיראה."

Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.

The Small Alef in Vayikra - Reb Itchie Mayer on the Parsha - Hebrew & English PDFs

Here is Reb Itchie Mayer Morgenstern's Torah on Parshas Vayikra, with English excerpt and full text in both English and Hebrew in pdf form. You can send an e-mail to this address to subscribe to receive Rav Morgenstern's Torah in your e-mail box every week.

“And Hashem called to Moshe and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying...”[1]

The Small Alef

The Arizal revealed that he achieved all that he did by virtue of the joy he felt in fulfilling mitzvos.[2] He was as supremely happy with every single mitzvah that he fulfilled as a person would be if he had profited by a million golden dinars. In the merit of this joy, all of the worlds opened before him and he was privileged to ascend and travel through all of them, from level to level. In this way, his soul was completely incorporated within the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu.

Similarly, the holy Baal Shem Tov—about whom Rav Mendel of Vitebesk testified that he was absolutely unique, and there had never been nor ever would be another like him—rose to all of the limitless levels that he did by virtue of being completely at one with every single Jewish soul.

These traits—joy in mitzvos and unity with other Jews—are both expressed by the small alef of the initial word of Vayikra. The small alef symbolizes being small in one’s own estimation in comparison with every other Jew, no matter who he might be. One cannot just remember that there is a mitzvah of ahavas Yisrael when someone is ill or tragedy strikes, G-d forbid. Even though it is true that, at such times, the bond between Jews is sparked into life, nevertheless this is not true love of one’s fellow Jew. The Baal Shem Tov achieved all that he did because he honored every single Jew with total self-nullification, and it was this that brought him to complete incorporation within the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu to whom the little alef of Hashem’s call referred directly. He sought to embody the little alef absolutely. As the Zohar teaches, “He who is small is great [רב]”—by making oneself small before everyone, one becomes incorporated within the truly great, the true Rav.

For us this means that we must also strive to think little of ourselves in comparison with others and not to cause any kind of pain or suffering to any Jew. Quite the contrary; we must be willing to sacrifice ourselves for their sake, and this is the uppermost yechidah aspect of one’s soul—to suffuse the soul of every single Jew you meet with joy and vitality, no matter who he is. Although, on the surface, this might appear to be a level that everyone can easily reach, it is not so simple. The alef means to teach[3]—humility demands great study and is not a simple avodah at all. To really intensify one’s love of his fellow Jews every single day and unite with all of their souls is a very deep kind of learning, and it was this that opened all of the gateways of heaven before the Baal Shem Tov just as simchah shel mitzvah had for the Arizal. One must actively contemplate and delve into the good that is in every single Jew.

The Baal HaTanya teaches that all of the Torah’s secrets are a manifestation of Chochmah, and the light of dveikus and experiencing delight in Hashem’s presence is a manifestation of Kesser. We have a general principle in Kabbalah that when one reaches a higher level, one automatically attains all of the levels below it. For this reason, when a person really takes pleasure in Hashem’s presence in a holy way of dveikus, he naturally also experiences the light of Chochmah. In just this way did the Baal Shem Tov attain all of the levels—by binding himself to the light of Kesser which is a “lover of all of Yisrael.” This bound him to each and every Jew, and once he was attached to the root of everything, he also merited the light of all of the other sefiros.

Rav Avraham b’Rav Nachman taught that this is why Moshiach is called “Prince of Peace.” Ultimately, Hashem will open all of the heavenly gates before Moshiach by virtue of his being a tzaddik who constantly seeks to foster peace among all Jews. The Baal Shem Tov shared a soul-root with Moshe because his main focus was also the avodah of the “small alef,” and in its merit he was privileged to hear Hashem “call to Moshe.”

[1] Vayikra 1:1
[2] Mishnah Berurah 669:10
[3] Iyov 33:33

CLICK HERE to get Toras Chochom on Vayikra

CLICK HERE to get Toras Chochom on Vayikra in English

Picture courtesy of chabad.org. Click here to get Dixie Yid in your e-mail Inbox or here to subscribe in Google Reader.