A Vort About the Virus from DIN

This Shabbat most shuls will say the tefila of אב הרחמים before מוסף ........

So you ask what is the chidush? Don't we say אב הרחמים every shabbos? 

Actually no, we usually skip this prayer,
a prayer that deals with those Jews that were martyred for being Jews, 
when there is a bris in shul , or when there is a groom present who is in midst of his sheva berachos, or if that particular shabbos is Parshas Zachor, Parshas Para, Parshas Ha'choidesh, Shabbos Shekalim....

And there is another shabbos that we don't say אב הרחמים and that's when Shabbos is also Rosh Chodesh...

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This Shabbos even though it is Rosh Chodash we will nevertheless say אב הרחמים .....
Why?
Because the Ramah (סימן רפד ס''ז) states, that the time period between Pesach and Shevuois was a time of pogroms and bloody riots against the Jews..
it is therefore appropriate to recite a prayer for those who were martyred ..... even when Rosh Chodosh, a time of joy and festivity,
falls on Shabbos like this year!

When I was growing up in Brooklyn, in Brownsville and Crown Heights, my family davened in shteeblach. The people in those sheeblach were characters and maybe one day I'll talk about them, but most of them were Holocaust survivors .....
During Pesach and Shevuois there was mayhem in those shteeblach.
Why?
They all had yurzeit during this period... since as you know the majority of Hungarian Jewry were deported from right before Pesach until after Shevuois... over 400,00 Jews!

They all wanted to lead the davening as its a big kabbalistic inyan to be the Shliach Tzibbur when you have yurzeit..especially when their loved ones were murdered so brutally "al kiddush Hashem" 
and by davening as Shliach Tzibbur it gave them comfort ...
They would make separate minyanim (regardless of the shuls rules) all over.... in the vacant rooms, hallways, next to the bathrooms, outside where ever they could fit a minyan ...
This is the way I grew up ..... 
My grandparents and family (two of my own brothers) were also murdered during this time..

So it seems that even in the times of the Magan Avraham (the MA is the sourse of the Ramah's Psak vis a vis  Av Harachmim) who lived in the 1600's this period was a vulnerable time for the Jewish communities.

But really the times goes further back to the times of the holy tannah, Rebbie Akiva....
Who according to the Talmud lost 25,000 talmidim during this tekufah.......
Some want to say that Rebbi Akivah didn't lose them all in one year, but all agree that they died during this time period, even if it took years ...

Interesting, that the talmud gives a reason why they died....
the talmud says because "they didn't treat each other with respect"

Very disturbing  answer.....
as their rebbe and mentor Rabbi Akiva was known for constantly preaching 
ואהבת לרעך כמך זה כלל גדול בתורה
"To love your friend as yourself is a huge principle in the Torah"

so how was it that 24,000 students heard this motto and yet completely disregarded this teaching ....
after all these students weren't your regular yeshiva bochrim...
they were tanaim...?
and they heard it not from a regular guy but from the Tanna that we today have our entire mesorah from ....

The answer could be that they had a different understanding of this teaching..
they understood  the meaning of the word כמך (as yourself) to mean that one should only respect someone who is exactly like you ...
respect only those who look exactly like you, who wear the exact same uniform as you, who wear the same yarlmulka as yourself ..
who has the same length of shaitel as your wife .... who davens with the same nussach as yourself, who have the exact same minhagim as yourself ....who believed that only their rebbe was a rebbe the other rebbe was a shaigatz .... only my rebbe has the correct mesorah your rebbe is a Zionist.... 

What they missed ...was the word לרעך ....."your friend"
The Radak ( Mishlei Ch 3 V 29) says on the word רעך ....
"והוא הדין לכל אדם" 
This applies to ALL people!

So you ask ....ok ...very bad thing ..... but but but 
does this deserve death?.......

I love my followers... they ask the right questions ...just love them ..
No.... of course not ...as bad as this was ...  it still didn't deserve death ...
calling a rebbe who isn't your rebbe a "Zionist" to disparage him  still doesn't deserve the death penalty ...

So why did they die?

Because if they wouldn't have died then their understanding of 
 ואהבת לרעך כמך זה כלל גדול בתורה
would have been part of our mesorah, and since these talmidim of Rebbe Akiva were the next generation to pass on the torch of the mesorah..to transmit the truth .....
they would have taught their talmidim this flawed understanding of  לרעך כמך.....
So it didn't deserve death but this type of understanding could not be part of a mesorah ...and therefore they couldn't continue ...

Now ... if you still remember,  this corona virus really hit the fan  the week of pesach and is unfortunately continuing in the exact period when the Jewish people historically were in a vulnerable position......
Once again we have our brethren dying  during this tekufa....
a time when nature rejuvenates, when flowers begin to bloom, when the days get longer, when we usually start enjoying the weather and start seeing people that were hibernating all winter,
a time of hope a time to look forward ......

 When Moshe was baffled on the ways of Hashem ... and tried to understand why things happen they way they do ....
Hasem told him 
וראית את אחרי ופני לא יראו 
"You can see my back, but my face can not be seen..."
Does Hashem have a "back"? Does Hashem have a "face"?
What did Hashem tell him ... 

Hashem told him .... when things happen that you don't understand then look את אחרי .... look at my "back", in other words look "back" in history and study when similar things happened ...
then you will understand ... learn from history ...

There are people that always say... "if only I could see into the future, I would be able to know what Hashem really wants"
Nope .... that won't work ... look back and you will have your answers!

No... you can never see my  פני , my "face" ...
face means "facade" ... the front ... the future ... 
I won't let you see and predict the "future" (except in a prophecy) 
because then all kinds of charlatans will emerge and predict nonsense and lies .... no one will see my פני ... the future! 
No one ... 

UPDATE

Some of my readers, to distract from the message, and think they know it all are bringing me the psaks from the M"B and Ishei Yisrael that say we don't say Av Harachamim when R"C falls on Shabbos even on R"C Iyer ....

 My "vort" was according to the Magen Avraham ..

and of course there are different minhagim ...

the Minhag in Eretz Yisrael is to say 

See Bottom Line that states Rav Kook Said Av Harachmim Every Single Shabbos after the Shoah

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