You Are A Soldier

Roy Yisroel Neuberger

This Sukkos marks the Thirty-Ninth Anniversary of the venerable Torah institution, Yeshiva Dvar Yerushalayim. I am honored to be a friend of Yeshiva Dvar Yerushalayim and its beloved Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Boruch Horovitz.

As I write, it is a few days before Tisha B’Av, and I am wondering: will Moshiach ben Dovid have arrived by the time you read these words?

I am now in the United States, thousands of miles from the Holy City. The feeling of Golus hangs heavy here; the absence of the Bais HaMikdosh weighs upon us like a chain around our neck. Tonight storms move across the landscape; the sky is illuminated by streaks of lightning. The world is dark and afraid. The voices of our enemies become stronger. What will be in the days before Moshiach? The well-known Gemora in Sanhedrin states, “May he come, but may I not see him.” (¹ Sanhedrin 98b)

Just before leaving Eretz Yisroel after Shavuos 5769 (in fact just a few minutes after I had spoken at Yeshiva Dvar Yerushalayim), I had the privilege of being escorted by my beloved friend, Dr. Mori Bank, to meet the gadol, HaRav Moshe Shternbuch Shlita”h. I was not anxious to return to America, and I mentioned this to Rav Shternbuch. His response filled me with strength, which has lasted to this day: “You are a soldier, and you must go where the battle is.”

That was the message I needed to hear. It still rings in my ears. It gave me the courage to continue my work. Yes, I could serve the Ribono shel Olam wherever He needed me.

Exactly what are we called upon to do at this crucial moment in history? What in fact is the battle which we are supposed to fight?

King David says, “Ele varechev, v’ele basusim, v’anachnu b’shaim Hashem Elokainu nazkir.” (² Psalm 20) Is that a battle tactic, or is it the battle itself?

Perhaps that is our entire battle: to “call out in the Name of G-d!”

I would like to tell you what else Rav Shternbuch told me. “What you read in the newspapers is not important and what is important you will not find in the newspapers. We do not have to fear the leader of Iran; Hashem watches over His children. The only subject about which we must be concerned is the relationship of Am Yisroel to the Ribono shel Olam! That is all that matters! Nothing else.”

My friends, holy Rabbonim and students of the Torah, friends and supporters of Yeshiva Dvar Yerushalayim, you are doing the work of the Ribono shel Olam! You are enabling the world to survive and preparing it for the advent of Moshiach ben Dovid and the Bais HaMikdosh! We are all soldiers in the greatest battle in the history of the world, the battle to reunite His children with the Ribono shel Olam.

The thirty-ninth anniversary of Yeshiva Dvar Yerushalayim is taking place on the Yom Tov of Sukkos. Thirty nine melachos are prohibited on Shabbos. How is it that keeping these prohibitions, based upon the meticulous study of ancient laws which have come to us from Mount Sinai, related to categories of work performed in the creation of an ancient, portable structure in the Biblical Desert, how is it that these melachos could be so important? Does a nation survive on the basis of words describing the construction of an ancient structure? Is this logical?

What about the holiday of Sukkos? We live in flimsy huts, exposed to heat and cold, and sometimes even wind, rain and snow. Flimsy huts, swaying in the breeze. How can a nation survive when that nation lives according to ancient words concerning flimsy huts made of reeds and palm branches? How can a nation survive by waving plants in the air? How can a nation survive that goes without shoes on the holiest day of the year? How can a nation survive that does not act or dress or speak or think like any other nation?

“Behold, it is a nation that will dwell in solitude and not be reckoned among the nations.” (³ Bamidbar 23:9)

Yes, my friends, we survive. We survive precisely because we are different from all other nations. What they think is solid will turn to dust. What is flimsy in their eyes is to us the material out of which we build eternal habitations. Their guidance is from the newspapers and the television; we receive our guidance, lehavdil, from the Word of the Al-Mighty G-d.

We grasp at the merest hints from our Father in Heaven. We hang on to His every word, every dot in the Torah B’Ksav and intonation and nuance in the Torah Sh’Baal Pe. We study them, we dwell on them, we contemplate them and we live by them! With abundance of spiritual, mental and even physical labor, we follow their trail until we reach high up the ladder whose feet are planted on the earth and whose uppermost rung stands at the entrance to the Holy Kingdom, the Source of all life!

Those words over which the students of the Holy Torah struggle, the thirty-nine Melachos, those flimsy reeds with which we build the Sukkah, these are the building blocks of eternity. The colossal towers of other nations may collapse, but our words of Torah and our flimsy sukkah, swaying in the breeze, will stand forever, into the days of Moshiach and beyond into Eternity.

This is our battle, my friends, the battle to glorify the Creator and demonstrate our Eternal devotion to Him and to His Torah! To bring the Reality of Torah into the world, to make a living reality of the Rotzon of our Father in Heaven, to give Him nachas and to tell Him, “Your children are coming home!”

The Gemora in Sanhedrin continues: Abaye asked Rabbah: Why [do you not want to see Moshiach’s arrival?] Is it because [you fear] the travail …? But it was taught in a Beraisa: Rabbi Elazar was asked by his students what can a person do to be spared the travail of Moshiach? [He responded,] One should occupy himself in the study of Torah and in acts of kindness.

This is the work of Yeshiva Dvar Yerushalayim. May the fortieth anniversary of Yeshiva Dvar Yerushalayim be celebrated in the Rebuilt Yerushalayim, in the presence of Moshiach ben Dovid and the Bais Ha Mikdosh!