Parshah Afterthoughts

5 Marcheshvan 5780

Rav Yehudah Richter has a new video out.  It's called "Israel Haunted House."  It's a crazy story that brought a couple of things to mind that I thought I'd share for the benefit of those who will listen to it.

It's interesting that while this event took place during Sukkot, it is being recounted during Parashat Noach.  The commentary from the Stone Edition Chumash says the following about the sins which brought about the destruction of the pre-Flood world...

The behavior of people deteriorated.  At first they were corrupt - being guilty of immorality and idolatry - and they sinned covertly, before God.  Later, the earth had become filled with robbery - which was obvious to all.  Then, the entire earth was corrupted, because man is the essence of the world, and his corruption infects all of Creation (Zohar).  Such is the progression of sin.  It begins in private, when people still have a sense of right and wrong.  But once people develop the habit of sinning, they gradually lose their shame, and immoral behavior becomes the accepted - even the required - norm.  

...The Midrash teaches that they stole from one another in petty ways that were not subject to the authority of the courts.  Though this is not the gravest kind of sin, it is morally damaging in the extreme, because thievery within the letter of the law weakens the conscience and corrupts the social fabric (R' Hirsch). 

One of the Sheva Mitzvot of Noach that all mankind must follow is Not to Steal, and another is to Establish Courts of Justice.  In Rav Richter's story, we see how corrupt our society has become in Eretz Yisrael.  It should shake us to the core of our being.  The secular Law here simply does not concern itself with justice.

However, Hashem continues to keep His eye on everything that happens here.  And He is the ultimate address for justice.  But, if we want justice for ourselves, we'd better be very sure our own hands are spotlessly clean.  That can't be said, unfortunately, for the Tura Winery.

All of these episodes of theft recounted in Rav Richter's video are a result of a major failure on our part: the refusal of Jews to expel the gentiles from our Holy Land. There is simply no getting around this mitzvah. It has to be done and until it is, we will continue to suffer. When the existing government is itself lawless, it has to be replaced. And that is the starting point.

~ SHAVUA TOV ~