Something To Celebrate

Even if it's a little difficult

Today, we hosted a party for my oldest son, on the occasion of his enlisting into the IDF immediately after Pesach. He was joined by around twenty of his friends who are also about to enlist. Here is the speech that I delivered:

I have to admit something. The idea of having a party for going into the army is not something that initially resonated with me.

My precious son. When you were 18, you decided that it was time to go out into the big wide world. However, you weren’t 18 years old, you were 18 months old. And you left the house by yourself without telling anyone. The interval between when I realized you were missing until I finally found you was one of the worst times of my life. Because as a parent, the most important thing to you in the world is your child's wellbeing. Like almost every creature in the world, we're biologically wired that way.

And so the thought of you going into the army, in a combat role, is scary for your mother and I as parents. And beyond the dangers, there are the difficult times that you will undoubtedly experience. And meanwhile you have to leave yeshiva, the environment where you are growing so much in Torah, in spiritual development. So what's the idea behind having a party to celebrate the start of this track?

Of course, the answer is that notwithstanding the risks and challenges and hardships and having to leave yeshiva, this is something that is truly worthy of celebration.

First of all, you are getting to perform two profoundly significant mitzvot. One is milchemet mitzvah, that of ezrat Yisrael miyad tzar, fighting to save the lives of your nation. Rav Eliezer Melamed notes that Chazal say that if you save a single life, it is as though you have saved an entire world, and so imagine how much more significant it is to be part of protecting the entire nation!

Second, you are not just saving Jewish lives in some random place in the world. You are performing the mitzvah of kibush ha-aretz. The phrase “kibush ha-aretz” nowadays has a political context, but the mitzvah is about its most basic aspect: securing our homeland and making it possible for our people to survive here.

But it's not just the technical fulfillment of two mitzvot, two of the 613 to check off. Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, late rosh yeshivah of Alon Shvut, has a very important essay called “The Ideology of Hesder.” He discusses why, despite the enormous importance of learning in yeshiva, it is even more important for you to take time away from yeshiva to serve in the IDF. Rav Lichtenstein explains that being in the IDF is not just about milchemet mitzvah. He explains that it’s the ultimate fulfillment of something much more basic: gemilat chassadim, which Chazal define as one of the three pillars of the world. Rav Lichtenstein notes that Chazal say that “Whoever concerns himself solely with Torah is as one who has no God.” Judaism requires everyone to balance learning Torah with doing chessed. And the application to yeshiva students is obvious, says Rav Lichtenstein, because in Israel today the greatest single chessed one can perform is helping to defend our people’s very lives. We can only live here through the great chessed of people like you.

You've been learning Torah in yeshivah, and now you're going to be living Torah. The Midrash says:

משֶׁה בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁזָּכָה לְקַבֵּל הַתּוֹרָה, תְּחִלָּה בֵּרַךְ וְאַחַר כָּךְ קָרָא. אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר אֵיזוֹ הִיא הַבְּרָכָה שֶׁבֵּרַךְ משֶׁה בַּתּוֹרָה תְּחִלָּה, בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר בָּחַר בַּתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת וְקִדְשָׁהּ וְרָצָה בְּעוֹשֶׂיהָ. וְלֹא אָמַר בַּעֲמֵלֶיהָ, וְלֹא אָמַר בְּהוֹגֶיהָ, אֶלָּא בְּעוֹשֶׂיהָ, בְּאֵלּוּ שֶׁהֵן עוֹשִׂין אֶת דִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה.

“When Moshe was privileged to receive the Torah, first he recited the blessing, and then he read. Rabbi Elazar said: Which is the blessing that Moshe recited over the Torah? ‘Blessed are You, Hashem our God, King of the world, who chose this Torah, sanctified it, and desired those who fulfill it.’ It does not say that He desired those ‘who toiled in it,’ and not ‘who think about it,’ but those who ‘fulfill it.’

Torah is about making you into a better person and making the world into a better place, and that's what you're going to be putting into practice, in the most powerful way.

The fact that you're getting to perform something of foundational importance in Judaism is reason enough to celebrate. But there's something much, much more to rejoice about: the historic context.

Two thousand years ago, we lost the original Jewish state. And for two thousand years since then - right up until the time your grandparents were born - Jews were attacked, beaten, robbed, tortured, and killed, in countless places all over the world. And there was usually nothing they could do about it.

One of your sisters is in Poland today, visiting Auschwitz. That's where four of your great- great- grandparents were killed, along with millions of others. Even before the Holocaust started, many Jews in Europe realized that a terrible fate was awaiting them. But there was simply nothing they could do about it. They had nowhere to go because no country would let them in. And they had no way to fight their murderers. It wasn’t just physically impossible - it was also psychologically impossible. Everything that the Torah says about going to war against our enemies, about the great people in Tanach who fought on behalf of the Jewish People - this was ancient history for them, and something that was an impossible fantasy for a future era.

And look where we are now! We have a homeland again - and it's the very same one from our history! And we have an army that protects it! We - YOU - can protect your family, your friends, your community, your nation! And you can do so as part of an amazingly powerful and advanced army, and within that army as part of a group of yeshiva students, spiritually prepared for the task.

As the Torah says, Hashem has given you great power. וְזָכַרְתָּ אֶת־יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ כִּי הוּא הַנֹּתֵן לְךָ כֹּחַ לַעֲשׂוֹת חָיִל. Ramban explains:

וזכרת את ה' אלהיך כי הוא הנותן לך כח לעשות חיל - ידוע כי ישראל גבורים ואנשי חיל למלחמה כי נמשלו לאריות ולזאב יטרף ומלכי כנען במלחמה נצחו אותם. על כן אמר אם תחשוב כחי ועצם ידי עשה לי את החיל הזה תזכור השם שהוציא אותך ממצרים ולא היה לך שם כח ועצם יד כלל.

“It is known that Israelites are mighty men, valiant warriors that were likened to lions and to wolves, and they vanquished the Canaanite kings in battle. Therefore he said, “If you should think, ‘my power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth,’ you should remember G-d Who brought you forth from Egypt where you had no power or might of hand at all.”

You, all you amazing young men sitting here, you are nothing less than Jewish heroes, blessed to be living in an extraordinary era in Jewish history. Following a long time when we had no power, Hashem has once again made it possible for us to be gibborim - to be lions and wolves, to be Kfir and Givati (yes, I know it’s not a wolf in your emblem, but it’s an animal in the same family!). And you actually do it, you actually become these gibborim!

The praises that are written in Tanach about the heroes of the Biblical era - praising them for their bravery, for their proficiency in combat, for their protecting and saving the lives of our people - these praises apply to you. Avraham Avinu - as Ramban notes, he wasn't just a pillar of kindness, he was also a lion-hearted warrior who fought for his family. Moshe Rabbeinu - he was worthy for his role as leader due to the dedication he showed to his people, putting himself at risk by killing the Egyptian who was beating the Jew. Shaul HaMelech, and his son Yonatan, praised by David HaMelech for their strength and skill in war on behalf of the Jewish People. David HaMelech himself - the warrior who defeated Goliath and so many other enemies. Shimshon HaGibbor, the Maccabees, so many other heroes of Jewish history. And you are joining their ranks!

Thank you - to you, our precious son, and to all of your friends here. Thank you for your hard work, in mind and in body, and your incredible dedication and commitment and chessed that enables all of us to exist in this miraculous and amazing country. And thank you Hashem for making all this possible, for the miracle that enables us to live a full life in our ancient homeland, to raise incredible young men. There's nothing more worthy of celebration.