The Shofar stirs people to return to God, as the verse (Amos 3) says: “If a Shofar is blasted in a city, will the people not tremble?”

The Sages taught that the Shofar blast of Rosh Hashana confuses Satan who believes that it may be the Shofar of the Messiah. It seems strange that Satan does not know that we blow the Shofar on Rosh Hashana and can be so easily confused.

The message of the Shofar is so powerful that Satan expects us to repent and merit the Shofar of the Messiah! (Kli Yakar, Genesis 22:13)

If only we would believe as much as Satan in the Shofar’s power!

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If a homicide victim should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, and no one knows who killed him, your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked – that has never pulled with the yoke –and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water,6 to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck. Then the Levitical priests will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, and to decide every judicial verdict, and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. Then they must proclaim, “Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we witnessed the crime. Do not blame your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.” Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed. In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before the Lord. (Deuteronomy 21:1-9)

On 19 December 1916, in the last December of the Romanov Empire, a corpse bobbed to the surface of the Malaya Nevka River in Petrograd. Ice-encrusted with a mutilated face. But the most startling thing was its hands. It bound hands were raised. For there, under the icy water, that extraordinary individual, although beaten and shot, had still been alive, and had still been trying to break free of his fetters. And, as the police would later write in their report, great numbers of people hurried down to the river with flasks, jugs, and buckets to ladle up the water in which the awful body had just been floating. They wanted to scoop up with the water the deceased’s diabolical; improbable strength, of which all Russia had heard. (The Rasputin File by Edvard Radzinsky, Page 1)

My grandfather, Rabbi Yaacov Yitzchak Ruderman zt”l explained why the elders of the city declared “Our hands have not spilled this blood”: The Talmud says that no one had escorted the person from the city. My grandfather asked: How did they know? How would an escort from the city have saved his life?

He answered that someone who leaves a city alone, feels alone and therefore weak. Someone who leaves with an escort feels honored and therefore stronger. He would have fought back.

We can literally give someone the strength to fight, or fight harder for his life by simply treating him with greater respect. The Egla Arufa teaches us that we bear some responsibility for people we know who give up without a fight.

Consider the Russian peasants who were so inspired by the evil and hated Rasputin’s fight for life that they wanted some of the water in which he fought his final battle. We are moved and inspired by fighters. The Egla Arufa reminds us that we can nurture the will to fight in the people we know and meet.

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The right horn of the ram offered by Abraham will be used as the Shofar of Redemption. (Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 31.) We blow the Shofar on Rosh Hashana to recall the merit of Abraham’s great deed, which happened on Rosh Hashana, and to mention the promised Redemption.

Nachmanides (Exodus 19:13) asks: “how the horn could still exist to be used at Sinai and the Redemption, if Abraham offered the ram as an Olah – Burnt Offering?” He answers that perhaps God gathered the ashes of the horn and restored it to its original state.

Nachmanides sees a hint of the Resurrection of the Dead in the Shofar. The original Shofar, although consumed by fire, was restored.

The Shofar speaks of many great things, but perhaps we can add the idea of God rebuilding and recreating even those things, or people, who have been consumed by life, and have lost their spiritual form.

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“In the “Judgment” of the Book of Changes, whenever one encounters dangerous circumstances the advice is always: “Cross the river.” One can see from this that the real purpose of boats is to deliver people from danger rather than to provide comfort.” Pleasure Boat Studio by Ou-yang Hsiu (1007 – 1072)

We seem to take Hsiu’s advice quite seriously. We refer to our first patriarch, Abraham as “Ivri” – what Hsiu would call a river crosser. In fact, many people referred to us as Ivrim for a long time.

But we do not cross the river to avoid dangerous circumstances. We actually cross towards them: “For you are crossing the Jordan to come and possess the Land that God, your Lord, gives you.” We are certainly river crossers, not to avoid, but to confront.

Our definition of Ivri is not “from the other side” but one who can bridge both sides of the river. Our challenge is to stand on both sides of the river – to bridge the spiritual and physical worlds.

We also differ from Hsiu’s definition of a boat’s purpose: “This world is like the shore and the World to Come like the sea.” (Kohelet Rabbah 1:36) The Midrash compares the World to Come as a journey on the sea. There will be no dangers to escape. The journey will be filled with joy and comfort.

We are Ivrim – River Crossers and Bridges – in order to prepare for the ultimate journey on the sea of the Coming World. No wonder we live by Halacha – Instructions for Journeying!

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A Chesed Walk is a similar exercise to The Patience Walk, but far more demanding: The concept is not self-flagellation, but to maintain a sense of calm even when I go shopping with my wife and her sister.

The idea is to walk with a smile from one end of about ten thousand stores to the next, while carrying piles of clothes “We’re thinking about.” Comments and suggestions are not permitted, especially as the Spanish – I think it was Spanish, but they were speaking so quickly, without any consonants, so I’m not positive, – was flying fast and furious. The husband/brother-in-law must have a constant smile on his face, with a full expression of patience and pure pleasure to share such an exciting adventure.

This is what I call serious Midot Development, or refining my character. It is a deliberate program, not a spatchcock of different suggestions and ideas. I set out to remain patient, happy, and calm, no matter how challenging the time.

I added an element to my objective: I wanted my time and effort to be an act of Chesed, or giving, to my wife and her sister. I decided to enjoy the fact that I could give so much by simply shlepping around for a few hours as a glorified and silent shopping cart.

I take Chesed walks when I walk our dog, Pip, no matter the weather or how tired I may feel. Walking Pip is also an exercise in humility: I may be “Abba” to some, “Rebbi” to others, and “Rabbi Weinberg” to more, but to Pip I am the guy who has to clean up after him. Debbie assures me that Pip considers me the Alpha of the family, but I watch that silent smirk on his face as I pick up his poop! Some alpha!

There is always the Walk of Expectation as I look forward to praying in the synagogue. Then there is the Walk of Continuation as I return home trying to keep all the wonderful feelings I experienced in my prayers alive and strong as I head home.

I am trying to learn how to be a better walker, to enjoy and maximize the walking to and from one place to the next. I figure that there is no better way to practice Halacha, or Walking in the Ways of God, than to practice the walking itself.

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(Kings II Chapter 25) “It happened in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia, he and his entire army, came to wage war against Jerusalem and encamped near it, and built a siege tower around it.”

Jeremiah had been predicting the arrival of a storm from Babylon for years. No one listened. “It could never happen to Jerusalem!” No one wanted to listen, so they threw the prophet into a pit and jail. Babylon’s armies had already visited Jerusalem. Zedekiah was king only because his brother, Jehoiachin, was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar.

Zedekiah was not his real name. The 21 year old Mattaniah was renamed by the Babylonians ; they controlled everything, not only who was king, but even his name! And Jeremiah continued to warn the people how vulnerable they were, and how insecure their situation. But the people did not hear the prophet. They did not want to listen. “It could never happen to Jerusalem.” “It will never happen to me.”

The Babylonians were at the walls of the city and Jeremiah cried out to the people to listen to God’s message. Perhaps now they would listen to the man who spoke in God’s name. But the people did not pay attention to the prophet’s voice. They did not want to hear. They could have prevented the destruction of Jerusalem. They had ample opportunity to surrender to the Babylonians. But, they could not hear God’s voice in Jeremiah’s cries. They did not want to hear God’s message in their new circumstances, even as siege walls were being constructed around Jerusalem. They could hear the hammers banging away at the walls that would spell their doom, but they did not listen. They were not deaf. They chose not to hear.

They may have chosen to shut out God’s voice, Jeremiah’s cries, the sound of Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers marching, the noise of the construction and the loud and clear pronouncements of their political and military realities, but we can hear the sound of desperation and frustration in Jeremiah’s words.

We, the people of the Shema, “Hear O’ Israel”, so often choose not to hear. We shut out the warnings of Jeremiah. We ignored the warning signs of Hitler’s rise to power. We shut out the very clear message in Iran when Islamic radicals toppled the Shah. We, who repeatedly remind ourselves to hear and pay attention, simply slide into selective hearing. How can we hear the words of Shema as we should if we can so easily choose what not to hear? Either we hear the voices of God, the prophets and history, or we do not.

We remember the deafness of our ancestors in besieged Jerusalem and we “fast”! Would it not make more sense to dedicate the Tenth of Tevet, the Seventeenth of Tammuz, and the Ninth of Av, to learning how to listen? Why do we fast?

The Zohar (Volume 2, 20b) teaches us that we want God to pay attention to our fasting, just as He would pay attention to a sacrifice burning on His altar. We ask the Master of the Universe to pay attention, to hear us, to listen. We cannot accomplish anything with our fast if God does not take note of our feeble effort at fixing our mistakes. We cannot ask God to listen if we continue to shut our ears to Him. A fast is a prayer. A prayer must be heard. A prayer should begin a conversation.

A conversation cannot develop if either party does not hear the other. Jeremiah expresses this idea in a powerful verse (14:12): “If they fast, I will not listen to their call.”

The fast of the Ninth of Av is a prayer; a prayer that can only be effective if we remember to listen for God’s voice.

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My fingers are humbled and my foundations are crumbled -

O woe!

The Holy Temple and its courtyards are dragged

on the day of wrath –

Woe, what has befallen us!

The faces of princes and princesses are blackened

like the bottoms of pots –

O woe!

This Kinah describes numerous details of the Temple and its vessels, details to which we did not pay attention, details that did not matter to us. We forgot that each detail in the Temple was laden with meaning and deep secrets. No, the details did not matter to us, and eventually, we not only forgot the details, we forgot the Temple.

It is not that we are unconcerned with details; The Talmud teaches: R. Yochanan said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because they gave judgments therein in accordance with Biblical law.

Were they then to have judged in accordance with untrained arbitrators?

But say thus: because they based their judgments [strictly] upon Biblical law, and

did not go beyond the requirements of the law. (Bava Metzia 30b) They were so focused on the exact details of the law that they forgot to consider the ideas and concepts within each detail of every law.

We took something holy, Halacha, and made it a Hell. No wonder Milton wrote, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” (Paradise Lost)

I recall listening in to a conversation my father zt”l was having with a non-observant Jew, who was insistent on describing Judaism as a “Kitchen Religion,” “You guys spend so much time on insignificant details that you have no time for life!”

“Surely,” said my father, “you, a surgeon, are concerned with minute details.”

“Of course,” he responded, “but those details are more important than how hot some milk was when it fell into a meat pot, and how much milk was there in proportion to the meat in the pot!”

“How do you know?” asked my father.

“Because my details are about life and death!”

“So are mine,” my father gently responded, “I have found that I care about the details whenever something matters to me.”

“So do I,” argued the surgeon.

“So your problem is not the details; it is that you do not care about these laws.”

One of the most horrendous images of Hell is Jean Paul Sartre’s “Huis Clos,” where the characters face each other and their pasts eternally. The continuos repetition and their continual closeness is the greatest torture that could possibly be inflicted on them. Details that were insignificant the first ten thousand times they reviewed their pasts, eventually became huge mountains, especially when pointed out by the people they faced for all eternity. Details that did not matter to them, mattered to others, and the small things became part of their torture.

Details do matter to us in a beautiful way, as beautiful, if not more so, than the details of the Temple described in this Kinah. I offer an example from Yerushat Pelatah:

In the face of a government decree requiring Jewish-owned shops to be opened on Shabbat, Rabbi Pinchas Tzimetboim of Grossvarden was asked if it was permissible for shops to remain open, since the penalty for not doing so was the total shuttering of the stores by the government.

Note: The questioners were prepared to lose everything if the Rabbi ruled that they could not keep their shops open! Such are the magnificent details as beautiful as the decorations of the Temple!

After exploring the possibilities of keeping the shops open by having a non-Jew handle all transactions, Rabbi Tzimetboim writes,

“And even if one can find permission to open the shops on Shabbat during this time of persecution by having a non-Jew handle all buying and selling, it is necessary to make an important Takanah that each person so doing give his solemn word – Tekiat Kaf – staking his share in the World To Come, in the presence of a Rav or Bet Din, that he will not personally sell on the Shabbat and that he will renounce any profit from these Shabbat transactions.

The people of Grossvarden transformed their hell into heaven by caring about such details.

We too possess such power and beauty. We can, when we care to look, discover the beauty of the Temple in the details of our lives.

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On October 28, 1941, Ruchele Jager was herded with more than a thousand other Jews into the Dom Katolicki (The Catholic Center) in Bolechow, Ukraine. The 16 year old girl was forced to watch as the Rabbi she had known since she was a small child had his eyes cut out, a cross cut into his chest, and then forced to dance naked with another terrified young woman. (The Lost: A Search For Six of Six Million, by Daniel Mendelsohn, Page 206)

Why the rabbi?

A few months earlier, July 1941, Rabbi Yitzchak Weiss of Werbau was asked, “Since Tisha B’Av falls this year on Saturday night, and since there is a decree that Jews are not allowed on the streets after 8:00 pm, how will we recite the Ma’ariv service and the Book of Lamentations? Was it permissible to advance the time of ma’ariv until just after pelag ha-mincha (about one and one-quarter hours before sunset), at which time the Jews would still be allowed to be outside? Is it permissible because we are in a time of emergency? Should we be concerned with the Talmudic dictum (Megillah 5a), “We do not hasten the approach of trouble?” (Mekadeshei Hashem, Volume I, pp. 150-151)

As long as the Rabbis survived, people requested Halachic rulings on how to deal with the realities of life under the Germans. There was no irony for them when they asked about “not hastening tragedy!” As long as we ask such questions, we will survive and outlast our enemies. The Germans knew it. The Romans knew it.

Do we?

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This Kinah is based on the Talmud (Gittin 58a):

Our Rabbis have taught: R. Joshua b. Hananiah once happened to go to the great city of Rome, and he was told there that there was in the prison a Jewish child with beautiful eyes and face and curly locks.

He went and stood at the doorway of the prison and said, “Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers?” (Isaiah 42:24) The child answered, “Is it not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned and in whose ways they would not walk, neither were they obedient unto his law.” (Ibid.)

He said: I feel sure that this one will be a teacher in Israel. I swear that I will not budge from here before I ransom him, whatever price may be demanded. It is reported that he did not leave the spot before he had ransomed him at a high figure, nor did many days pass before he became a teacher in Israel.

Who was he? — He was R. Ishmael b. Elisha.

(What happened to Rabbi Ishmael?)

Rab Judah said in the name of Rab: It is related that the son and the daughter of R. Ishmael b. Elisha were carried off [and sold to] two masters.

Some time after the two (Roman masters) met together, and one said, “I have a slave the most beautiful in the world.” The other said, “I have a female slave the most beautiful in the world.” They said: “Let us marry them to one another and share the children.”

They put them in the same room. The boy sat in one corner and the girl in another.

He said: “I am a priest descended from high priests, and shall I marry a bondwoman?”

She said: “I am a priestess descended from high priests, and shall I be married to a slave?”

So they passed all the night in tears.

When the day dawned they recognized one another and fell on one another’s necks and bemoaned themselves with tears until their souls departed.

For them Jeremiah utters lamentation, “For these I am weeping, mine eye, mine eye drops water.” (Lamentations 1:16)

The tragedy is horrible. Their heroics are inspiring. However, there are deeper levels to this story:

The young Rabbi Yishmael is saved by Rabbi Joshua because the young Jewish boy, imprisoned in Rome, maintained his connection to God and Torah. His commitment lived on in his son and daughter, who, in the face of death, refused to dishonor their honored position as descendants of Kohanim. Jerusalem lay in ruins. The Temple was destroyed. They were slaves in Rome, yet they would not let go of their honored positions. The world looked at them with disdain. They perceived themselves as honored people, and risked their lives to preserve the honor of the Kehuna, which still waits, almost two thousand years later to assume its proper role in God’s home.

Their situation was horrible, but the greater tragedy is the loss of such a powerful commitment to our honor as Jews.

Rabbi Yishmael’s children did not restrain themselves because of Halacha, but because they understood that they had to risk all to preserve the dignity of Israel, especially the Kehuna.

We live in a world in which we are constantly bombarded with messages that contradict our laws, values, and dignity. We hear leaders urging us to maintain Halacha. Rabbi Yishmael’s children do not speak of law, but of dignity. “I am a child of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; shall I lower myself to act in such a manner?”

When we demand observance and fail to echo the message of this young boy and girl, Jeremiah weeps, “For these I am weeping, mine eye, mine eye drops water.”

When we fail to inspire our children with such pride in their identity, Jeremiah laments, “For these I am weeping, mine eye, mine eye drops water.”

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In this elegy composed by an unknown author describing the anguish of a survivor of an unknown massacred community we share the pain of countless communities and individuals who have suffered the tortures of exile over the ages.

The Kinah describes the weeping of all the angels. Perhaps we can add an element by sharing a Responsum that resulted from one such massacre:

In his most poignant responsum (Part II #59) the Maharam MiRothenbeurg discusses a case arising out of the tragic events which occurred in the city of Koblenz, where on April 2, 1265, some twenty Jews were slaughtered. At that time a man killed his wife and four children by his own hand in order to save them from torture and forcible conversion. He had intended to kill himself, but was saved by Gentiles before he could commit suicide.

The Maharam was asked whether the unfortunate man was obliged to do penance for the murder of his family.

The Maharam first observes that he has no doubt at all that suicide is permitted if the aim is to avoid forcible conversion to another faith. The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 34:19) explicitly exempts from the sin of suicide instances such as that of King Saul who killed himself in order to avoid being tortured by the Philistines. (Samuel I 31:3-5) And the Talmud (Gittin 57b) quotes with approval the tale of the young men and women being taken to Rome for immoral purposes, who threw themselves into the sea.

All this, however, applies only to suicide. The Maharam is not at all sure that it is permitted to murder others for the sake of the “Sanctification of God’s Name,” in order to prevent them being forcibly converted.

The Maharam, nevertheless, concludes that this, too, must be permitted, since we know that many of the righteous did kill themselves and their families when threatened with forced conversion.

Consequently, no penance is required because no sin was committed. On the contrary, the man must not be allowed to undergo any penance, for if he did penance it would imply that he was wrong, and that the righteous of old were wrong.

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