The Land I Will Show You, sec. 2, chapter 4

Transgression of the Oaths as Cause for the Holocaust

Apr 24, 2023

(For the previous chapter of “The Land I Will Show You, click here. For the ToC, click here.)

For the sake of a full exposition of the elusive notion of the oath, which determines the proper character of the behavior of Israel among the nations, we will first treat of the terrible calamity that occurred to our nation eighty years ago, the likes of which never occurred, and its connection to the oath.

The result of breaching the oaths is awesome – slaughter and death and destruction, as Chazal said: “I will abandon your flesh like the gazelles and like the hinds of the field.” As mentioned, Rabbi Yoel of Satmar saw in the Holocaust a punishment for breaching the oaths, a complete fulfillment of these frightening words of Chazal. But this cannot be, since the issue is not a sin and its punishment but rather a natural cause and effect. If there is a connection between the Holocaust and the oaths, it is a connection rooted in reality, a direct activation of a hidden danger, not in the manner of a heavenly guidance. There is nothing more severe than the oaths because there is nothing more severe than lives.

However, it seems that there is a connection between the oaths and the Holocaust. But not the oaths about hastening the time of the redemption and ascending as a wall are connected to it. A different oath caused it, the sixth oath: that they shouldn’t reveal the secret to the nations.

What is included in this oath? Rashi explained: “Some say [it is referring to] the secret of intercalation, and some say [it is referring to] the secret of the reasons for the Torah.” However, from the language of the Midrash quoted above (in chapter 1), it sounds as if the oath is a lot broader than this. This is the text of the Midrash: “That they should not reveal their mysteries to the nations.” It implies, as Maharal commented, that the oath is that Israel shouldn’t reveal any mystery or secret of theirs to the nations.[1]

What are Israel's secrets, their mysteries that they must guard? It seems that the main secret of Israel is what their hidden inner essence is, and what lies ahead for them in their future. In general – the secret of the people of Israel is that they are unique in God's eyes, a treasure from among all the nations. In particular – the secret is that they have a unique relationship with God and His words expressed in the living Torah, i.e., the Oral Torah that is planted within them, and also that they have a promise and hope for a brilliant future of redemption and rule.

This idea is supported by these midrashim:

“And he said to Moses, write these words for you” (Exodus 34:27). This is the idea of what is written: “I will write for him the majority of my Torah; they were considered a foreigner” (Hosea 8:12). Rabbi Yehuda son of Shalom said: “When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe, ‘Write [these words] for you,’ Moshe asked that the Mishnah be in writing. And since the Holy One, blessed be He, foresaw that the nations of the world would translate the Torah and read it in Greek, and that they would say ‘We are Israel!’ Until now the scales are in balance. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to the nations: ‘You say you are My sons? I do not know – but the one with whom my mystery is, they are my sons.’ And what is this? This is the Mishnah that was given orally.”[2]

The Mishnha is the secret of the Holy One, blessed be He, entrusted to us to keep, and it testifies that we are the children of the Holy One, blessed be He, and that His Torah is planted within us.

Redemption, too, is one detail of the general secret, as expressed in this midrash:

“Any foreigner shall not eat of it” (Exodus 12:43). To fulfill what is said: “He tells his words to Jacob, His laws and judgments for Israel [He did not do this to any nation, and didn’t make them know judgments]” (Psalms 147:19). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: Let no other nation interfere with it, nor let anyone know its mysteries but you yourselves.[3]

What is the secret of eating from the Pesach sacrifice which must be preserved from being revealed? It seems to be nothing other than the secret of the redemption which was expected by virtue of eating from the sacrifice. Therefore, “Any foreigner shall not eat of it” – it is forbidden to reveal to a foreigner the secret of the redemption, just as one must not reveal Torah to a gentile in general.

It is very important for the people chosen among all the nations to maintain extreme secrecy. Its true status in the world must be a secret known only internally, to Israel’s select faithful.

Why? For the same reason that one should not ascend as a wall and hasten the end of days: The nations do not accept kindly the true opinion of the people of Israel. The great godly secret, in its full glory, is too heavy a burden for an imperfect world. This is the obvious reason for anti-Semitism, as clarified in the Zohar based on the story of Joseph and his brothers, and their hatred towards him:

Come and see, that the Holy One, Blessed be He, due to the love that He loves Israel and brought them near to Him, all the other nations, which worship stars and constellations, hate Israel; for they are far, and Israel is near. And come and see, due to the love that Jacob loved Joseph more than his brothers, although they were all his brothers, what is written? “They plotted to kill him” (Genesis 37:18) – all the more so the nations which worship stars and constellations to Israel. Come and see, how much the extra love he had for him caused, which caused him to be exiled from his father, and his father was exiled with him, and caused them exile.[4]

The great love from the Holy One, Blessed be He, to the nation of Israel is at the root of the great hatred from the nations toward it: Our brothers have seen that our Father has loved us from all our brothers and they hated us. Thus, what is the best counsel for this unique nation that is waiting for the era when they will finally actualize their unique destiny in full, an era when they will be a “Light unto the nations”?[5] Until then, they should hide the extreme love, the secret of the greatness of this nation; in the meantime, not to publicize our dreams about redemption and world revolution. The chosen-ness of Israel must be a secret. Just as Rebekah kept the secret of Jacob’s superiority over Esau and didn’t reveal the secret which was revealed to her. As they have said:

“Hashem said to her: Two nations are in your belly” (Genesis 25:23); I am revealing a secret to you: The first among nations is destined to come from you. Thus, it says “Isaac loved Esau… and Rebekah loved Jacob” (ibid., 28) – for she knew what the Holy One, Blessed be He, had revealed to her.[6]

She knew and didn’t reveal the explosive secret. In this same spirit, Solomon adjured in metaphorical language not to arouse the love and reveal the secret, as a grave danger is contained in it. Had we heeded him and done so, the other nations of the world would have forgotten about us and left us alone. But the story repeats itself: Like Joseph, so all the House of Jacob. Joseph had dreamt dreams of kingship and greatness, dreams that would undoubtedly arouse his brother’s jealousy, but he didn’t keep them secret. He recounted his dreams time and again, and the expected, natural outcome occurred – the hatred increased and flared up. And like Joseph, so did we.

Let’s ask: Has the nation of Israel fulfilled this particular oath? In general, we must admit that we indeed did not preserve secrecy, but for good reason. It is difficult to both preserve uniqueness and transfer it from one generation to the next without it becoming somewhat known, for it not to become known by those who it would be preferred that they didn’t know; just as it would have been difficult for Joseph to achieve his destiny had he kept it secret. How would we have educated the future generations what it means to be a Jew without our enemies discovering it? Actually, the calculus is frightening: To the degree that we sharpen and elucidate our secret, and teach it in a clear and obvious way, we are risking provoking the nations; and to the extent that we protect ourselves, we need to diminish the dangerous and explosive message of our destiny. In fact, we chose to be strict about teaching Torah and we paid the price with souls. We didn’t hide our destiny from the world. They all hear what Israel is, what Torah is, what redemption and the Messiah are – and they don’t always like it.

This hasn’t started recently. The revelation of the Oral Law through the publication of the completed book of the Mishnah is essentially a breach of the oath. The Oral Law is the mystery of the Holy One, Blessed be He, which is entrusted in our hands and testifies that we are His children; as soon as it becomes accessible and approachable to all, the competition for this position becomes cause for intense hatred toward the nation of Israel. However, the need to preserve the Torah compelled Rabbi Yehudah the Prince to take this dangerous step, despite the unavoidable negative consequences. It would seem that this is the key to understanding another breach of the oaths by Our Holy Rabbi. One of the oaths prohibits, as Rashi says, “that they shouldn’t increase supplications for this too much,” and we find that Rebbi did just that: He prayed intensely in order to bring the Messiah before its time. As is recounted:

Elijah was often found in the academy of Rabbi Yehudah the Prince. One day it was a New Moon, and Elijah was delayed and did not come. He said to him: “What is the reason that the Master was delayed?” He said to him: “I had to wake up Abraham, wash his hands, and wait for him to pray, and then lay him down again. And similarly for Isaac, and similarly for Jacob.” [He said to him:] “And let the Master wake them all together?” [Elijah responded:] “I maintain that if I were to wake all three to pray at the same time, they would generate powerful prayers and bring the Messiah prematurely.” He said to him: “Is there anyone alive in this world who is comparable to them?” He said to him: “There are Rabbi Chiyya and his sons.” Rebbi decreed a fast, and they brought Rabbi Chiyya and his sons down [to the pulpit to pray on behalf of the congregation]. He recited the phrase: “Who makes the wind blow,” and the wind blew; he said: “Who makes the rain fall,” and rain fell. When he was about to say the phrase: “Who revives the dead,” the world trembled. They said in heaven: “Who is the revealer of secrets in the world?” They said: “It is Elijah!” Elijah was brought to heaven, whereupon he was beaten with sixty fiery lashes. He came disguised as a bear of fire. He came among them and distracted them.[7]

Rebbi attempted to bring the Messiah before its time. How did Rebbi transgress the oath that forbids activities of bringing the redemption before the world is ready for all its massive ramifications?[8] It is only because he had to do so. For it is dangerous to actualize the notions of redemption before the appropriate time, meaning – before the time that the world, as a whole, is ready for it.[9] Rather, we must take a conservative path of strict secrecy, so that the nations of the world don’t know of us or hear from us until the day that our time comes.

But at the moment that Our Holy Rabbi took the second path, the path of revealing and publicizing, he couldn’t turn back to the first path; if the secret already became known, he must do all that is necessary to support it and uphold it and explain it even more, such that the nations will agree to the secret of the nation of Israel. And since Our Holy Rabbi already began to reveal the Oral Law to the eyes of the nations, he was forced to promote the matter even more, despite the great dangers inherent in this approach. So appears correct.

We have deviated a bit from the topic in order to clarify the subject of the oaths and how to think about them. But as for the terrible Holocaust – it is true that at the root of anti-Semitism stands a breach of the oaths. We haven’t hidden and we don’t hide our secret. We chose this path and speak openly and write books – even in the languages of the nations! – that declare what is a Jew and what is Torah and redemption and the like, certainly based on the recognition that only in this way will we be able to guard our uniqueness and transmit it from one generation to the next, but the result occurs automatically: The nations hate us. We threaten them.

(For the next chapter of “The Land I Will Show You,” click here.)

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Ha'Aretz asher Areka

Unapologetics

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