Hakoras haTov for Eretz Yisroel, Soldiers, etc.

The hakarat hatov of the Kadosh Baruch Hu is major, central, foundational in our religion. The hakarat hatov that not only ultimately back to Hakadosh Baruch Hu but also back to those who Hakadosh Baruch Hu uses as agents in the world. The parsha of the mitzvah of kibud av va'em is rooted in hakarat hatov. The chiyuv of hakarat hatov that I have is not affected, not invalidated by other things that happened. To explain. The rabbonim used to say that if you want in a single phrase to define what the Jewish moral code is, so in two words the answer is vehalachta bidrachav. And that's what our moral code is, vehalachta bidrachav. One of the דרכי הקדוש ברוך הוא is that אין הקדוש ברוך הוא מקפח שכר כל בריה ובריה. Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't undermine, he doesn't withhold the s'char that every beryia is entitled to. We're given, maybe it's just a metaphor for it, whatever the pshat in this is, but it's clear the point that it conveys. Whatever the pshat of the mashal is, it's clear what it conveys is that the kelev, what we're given, we're given s'char lakelev tashlichun oto בשר בשדה טרפה לא תאכלו לכלב תשליכון אותו was a s'char for because ולכל בני ישראל לא יחרץ כלב לשונו. So whatever that means it's clear what it illustrates. Og Melech haBashan is ma'arich yamim because ויבא הפליט ויגד לאברם העברי. When Forbes came out with its speculative list of who the lamed vav tzaddikim were, it's safe to assume that Og Melech haBashan's name was not included in that list. And not only that, but as Chazal tell us, as Rashi quotes, not only was he in every other area of life a rasha, in that he was also a rasha. His whole plan was that Avraham Avinu should be killed and that he should marry Sarah Imeinu. ואף על פי כן nishar miyeter haRefaim, that he's given an arichas yamim. Izevel is also not from the lamed vavniks. Izevel is given s'char because there was one mitzvah she used to be mekayem, she used to be mesameach the kallos. So simchas choson vekallah was a mitzvah, whatever motivated her or for whatever reason that spoke to her, but lema'aseh, she was given s'char for that. So that's what it means that... Hakadosh Baruch Hu giving s'char kavyachol is the analog, is the derech that we emulate in terms of hakaras hatov. Because hakaras hatov means recognizing tov, right? The source of feeling gratitude is first recognition for something that's been done. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu giving s'char is the way Hakadosh Baruch Hu recognizes what's done, the way Hakadosh Baruch Hu acknowledges. It means that whatever else oso habar-nosh did in his life, whatever his motivations were even in this action gufa, lemaaseh Hakadosh Baruch Hu acknowledges the tov shebo. The tov that a person does doesn't whitewash or justify or exonerate him from the ra he does. But midach gisa, the ra that a person does doesn't eclipse the tov and doesn't mean that the tov isn't supposed to be acknowledged. That's what some of the meforshim say is the pshat in the lashon of Pirkei Avos of דע לפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון. There's a double lashon of din vecheshbon that we might have thought that leatid lavo the way the system of s'char veonesh would work is you get so many points, you have so many black points, so many red points, and then you do the arithmetic and then you see whether you're in the black or in the red and then a person would get either so much s'char or rachmana litzlan so much onesh. And the meforshim say no, דע לפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון means that's not the way it is. That every maaseh tov a person does, the s'char for it. אין הטוב מבטל את הרע. That's, so that's דרכו של הקדוש ברוך הוא. Heyos she'hadavar kein, it doesn't make a difference in terms of the hakaras hatov. It doesn't make a difference whatever whatever else happens in Medinas Yisrael and whatever responsibility and liability there is for what isn't right in Medinas Yisrael, it in no way diminishes the hakaras hatov that all Jews have to have to chayalim, to the mishtara, to all those who risk and at times sacrifice their lives, which allow their fellow Jews in Eretz Yisrael who share part of the burden, or achas kama vechama, which allows us to get on an El Al plane and safely disembark eleven hours later into Eretz Yisrael. We're not supposed to someich al hanes. There is an obligation to have an army. In the same vein, there's an obligation to have a police force. And every Jew, ba'asher hu sham, owes a profound debt of hakaras hatov to all those people who day in, day out risk their lives, which allows us to enjoy Ribbono Shel Olam's matana of לזרעך נתתי את הארץ הזאת. And there's nothing complicated about that. Rachmana litzlan the mixed beaches in Tel Aviv, the gay parade, it doesn't complicate this cheshbon. This cheshbon doesn't in any way diminish the outrage of those things. And all that is true even in. if everything that was going on in Eretz Yisrael would be b'vchinas meizid. על אחת כמה וכמה when rubo d'rubo are the not yet religious, are so to be in the geder of tinokos shenishbu. An overwhelming majority, certainly, certainly tinokos shenishbu. But again, this cheshbon is true even if it wasn't the tinok shenishba, if it wasn't the tinok shenishba. This cheshbon is true even without that. It's magnified many many times over when one then also is cognizant of the fact that rubo d'rubo are tinokos shenishbu. That that another Jew should be the initiator, the the aggressor in a in a confrontation with a chayal or with the shoter is unthinkable and a chilul Hashem. And when we see, when we see a chayal, we should be overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude and and indebtedness for for the sacrifice that they're willing to make and that they do make. I once happened to have a a teacher who posed the following question. Who does more for the security of Eretz Yisrael? A frum Jew who doesn't serve in the army, or or a non-frum Jew who serves in the army but is a mchalel Shabbos, a mchalel Shabbos etc. etc. etc. So obviously this teacher, this Rav's punchline was that the former is superior. But the question is totally misguided. There's no answer to the question because the question's a wrong question. It it ignores, it goes against the derech of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This v'halachta bidrachav, that you don't you don't take what's right and what's wrong and then put it on a balance and say, well, who's the more right, more who's the more right, more wrong. The chayal is contributing to the security of Medinat Yisrael through his service in the army, and for that he deserves to be recognized, acknowledged, and for that we have to have gratitude. For that for that for that, that's the mida of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That the frum Jew whose tefillos and whose Torah and whose shmiras Shabbos, so he should be he should be recognized for that. It's not a question of of it's not an either/or, and within each of the two, it's not a question of which outweighs the other. That's not the mida. That's not what which is subject, subject of v'halachta bidrachav. And another crucial distinction that that we have to make sure that we get right. It goes without saying that the secular state in which abortions happen all the time and there's no need to rattle off a whole list is no Jew's idea of what a Yiddishe Medinah should be. That goes without saying. The fact that in its implementation there are so many real grave problems doesn't mean that the fact that we have a Medinah isn't something miraculous and isn't something to which we're supposed to be supposed to recognize a miracle she'bechol yom, the ongoing miracle of the 69 continuous years and whether whatever whatever one's moda'at ha-atmi says, however this does or doesn't express itself or manifest itself in other forms, but that a person should have such a hargasha, such a hakara, is certainly the case. When Rabbi Lau was here once he told a story that he was going to be meeting with Rav Brovman, Rosh Yeshiva of Netiv Yisrael, and when he came someone was just talking to Rav Brovman so he was waiting. He noticed Rav Brovman was listening to something. So he goes over, and כל מראה ועין אין הם שומע, a person doesn't have to actively listen, a person hears. A person doesn't have to actively look, a person sees. A person doesn't have to necessarily actively smell, a person senses an odor. It happens without conscious intentional initiative. I forgot all the other details of the storyline, but somehow or other Rav Brovman was being consulted that someone had donated a paroches and the paroches had a Magen David on it and there was some opposition, the Magen David was associated as a symbol of the Medinah. So there was a whole sichsukh in the shul that they should have the, should use the paroches, shouldn't use the paroches and he was being consulted. So he was listening to the s'tadim mikan u'mikan and he says, "So what's wrong with the Magen David?" They said, "It's a symbol of the Medinah." So he said, "And what's wrong with the Medinah?" They brought out the whole list of very real problems and deficiencies and shortcomings, and Rav Brovman answered, says, "The Medinah is a good thing, all these things that happen in the Medinah are bad, but the Medinah is a good thing." So that's the distinction which is very, very important to keep in focus. All the incredibly painful problems and shortcomings, all the elements which are k'chol ha'goyim in the Medinah is obviously indescribably painful and immeasurably wrong, but the fact that there's a Medinah, that doesn't defy the gift of the Medinah that the Ribbono Shel Olam gave us. One of the challenges in having perspective in general, not just in the area that we're talking about now, but one of the challenges in having perspective is that we tend to assume that whenever Imagine Moshe Rabbeinu coming down from Har Sinai like that. It's difficult to think of it any other way than that. So we extrapolate from the metzius that we have and build a picture of the picture of the mishkan, as it's done up al derekh something, but it's clear what Moshe Rabbeinu was going to be doing when he came down from Har Sinai. In a serious vein, but obviously that isn't true. There are times when in a certain generation, the pendulum shifts one way in terms of that majority of rabbonim think one way, even though in the previous generation or two, the majority was on the other side. And the fact that the pendulum has swung neither delegitimizes this generation's rabbonim, but nor does it delegitimize that view which may be amongst the contemporaries in this very, very small period of time, nor does the fact that the pendulum has swung this way doesn't delegitimize the opinion and the view which a generation or two ago was the majority opinion. When the Medina was announced in Tav-Shin-Chet, so they were dancing in the streets in Me'ah Shearim. In Me'ah Shearim, they were dancing in the streets in Me'ah Shearim. On Hey Iyar outside the Ponevezh Yeshiva, Ponevezh Rosh used to fly the Israeli flag on Hey Iyar. Obviously neither of those practices continued, but that's pendulum swings. It's not a kasha on this generation, but it's certainly not a pircha or a teshuvah on that generation, nor does it for those who continue to follow that hanhaga which when the pendulum was swinging in the other direction represented the rov minyan u'vinyan. I've heard some quotes, but these are letters, it's not just the תורה שבעל פה, it's Torah she'bichtav of the Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland had a joint Yom Ha'atzmaut celebration with the Mizrachi. And when the Bloch was attacked for it, he answered back and explained why it was entirely appropriate to do. So again, the pendulum has swung differently and that's a description, no editorializing involved or intended, it's a description. But it's important to understand that that happens in it happens in terms of in Europe there were places that kept Shabbos בין לקולא בין לחומרא according to Rabbeinu Tam's zman. And they would do what by our standards today would be chilul Shabbos d'oraisa, not just bein hashmashos. They would be doing melacha after the Gra's tzeis hakochavim. That was their today, no one would do such a thing, no one would I don't think anyone would go lekula against the Gra's zman on Erev Shabbos. Question today is whether one is machmir lechumra for Rabbeinu Tam, to follow Rabbeinu Tam lekula on Erev Shabbos is unheard of. It's not a kasha on today, it's not a kasha yesterday. Sometimes pendulum swings. And part of having perspective on Torah, on Jewish life, is to be aware of that phenomenon. In this essay called Kol Dodi Dofek, the Rav talks about the different dimensions of what the establishment of a Medina represents. He talks about how it was a shift in almost 2000 years of Christian theology. He talks about different, different, different perspectives. I don't remember whether he has this there, but if he does, it was more בחינת חכמת הדורות מקדם, and today we see it. I think, I think he does write there—I didn't get around to reviewing it—I think he does write there about, about thinking back, you know, what would have been, contrapositive, what would have been if during the years of the Shoah there had been Medinat Yisrael instead of a colony of the British with its, with its inhumane, atrocious white papers. And the Rav used to say that in our day with the Medina, the security of every Jew asher sham is linked to the security of Medinat Yisrael. So when he said it, I don't know, maybe you have to partially accept that on faith, that, that analysis. Today we see it on so many different levels. We see as, as the situation in Europe, especially in a country like France, deteriorates and deteriorates, so all French Jews have a place to go as an ir miklat, and an ir miklat that, that didn't exist previously. The, the very legitimate discussion and, and difference of opinion, do you say Hallel or don't say Hallel, when, a-hin a-her, shouldn't, shouldn't distract us from the bigger and, and more underlying issue of the miraculousness of the ongoing existence of, of the Medina, and again, however al pi din it should be expressed, however al pi din it should be manifest, but the... The recognition and the gratitude to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for that reality. Maybe let's come back to a little bit of these one other question some of the questions that were left hanging yesterday, but maybe we'll do first by seeing the Tosafot Yeshanim here on the bottom of מם בית עמוד בית. You know, part of the Hakarat Hatov and part of the perspective a person's supposed to have is not only current and contemporary, but it's whatever, I think we're susceptible to forgetting just about anything everything and taking just about anything and everything for granted, but certainly the Meimer Chazal of Gimmel Matanot Tovot Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave to Yisrael וכולן לא נתנו אלא על ידי יסורים. Many many Jews have paid incredible and ultimate prices for our privilege of disembarking from the El Al plane on the tarmac at Ben Gurion. Many years ago, one of the casualties was a Chayal Boded and his Levayah was on Tisha B'Av. So, NCSY Kollel arranged transportation so it was a graveside Levayah on Har Herzl. So, there was a large crowd. So, many of us were quite a distance from where the grave was. But still, one was standing amongst kvarim. So, Har Herzl is a military cemetery. You read the Matzeivot there, there really aren't words to express the reaction. These boys, 18, 19, people who were really almost... they're the nikneit b'yisurim and that's also part of the Hakarat Hatov is to recognize that sacrifice. It's not limited to those who are interred on Har Herzl, but because there's such a concentration in one place, so the point is driven home very forcefully, but it's obviously not limited to those who are buried there. The price that has been paid is... okay. So, on another level, everyone buried there and again whether chayalim, whether victims of terror, they all have the incredible incredible zechut of giving their life Al Kiddush Hashem and obviously on a certain level they didn't miss out on anything. But in Halacha we're supposed to respond and react on a human olam hazeh'dike level and perspective. Well, there's no din that one doesn't sit shiva for a person who was who died al kiddush Hashem and there's no din that you don't have shelosha yemai hibechi in such a case. So we are supposed to respond and react and given our olam hazeh'dike perspective, our faith perspective notwithstanding. And from the olam hazeh'dike perspective it's just so staggering, just so staggering. It's also part of the appreciation and hakaras hatov that that one is supposed to have. It's some kind of gratitude that those who.