In Parshas Korach, a portal to hell opens up in the ground. I could only imagine the shock of the onlookers, watching as this portal sucked in everything and everyone in its vicinity. The noise! The ground shaking, the screams; it must have been so frightening and unsettling for the Jewish People.
And then the sense of relief when it finally closed. It’s over. We’re done. We could stop clutching our children; we’re safe.
That’s an image that kept popping up in my head this week, but in the inverse:
About three months ago, a portal to Olam Habbah, to the Messianic Era, was opened in the heavens. When the American and Israeli governments attacked Iran at the end of February, killing the Ayatollah, severely damaging their weapons, and crippling their economy, peace and security for the Jewish People was finally in sight. Hamas was decimated, Hezbollah was shutting down, and now their great sponsor, the Iranian regime, was finally getting their due. This was how Mashiach was going to go down.
The portal cracked open 78 years ago, when the State of Israel was formed. Two decades later, the Har Habayit was back in our hands and that hole to heaven expanded, and now, after so much bloodshed, we were finally going to have peace.
I felt drawn into that portal in the most beautiful way. Mashiach was coming; you could just feel it. I would tell my kids every Friday night that I was nervous that Mashiach would come on Shabbos, just as a way to stick it to those of us who chose to live outside of Israel. All of us outside of Israel would be late to the party.
Either way, I could hear the intro music; we were really almost there.
And then, with the stroke of a digital pen on a pathetically weak Memo of Understanding, everything changed. Just like that, the Iranians were gifted billions of dollars which will end up arming Hamas and Hezbollah, they were given the green light to continue building “peaceful nuclear reactors,” and they were given permission to continue stockpiling missiles which will likely end up in Israel. Not to mention the heartbreaking infighting between Jewish brothers playing out on the streets and highways of Israel. And not to mention, the anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiment that exploded during these past months. JD Vance was right when he said no one likes the Jewish State right now. We are not back where we started. We have gone backward. The expanding portal of Olam Habah has slammed shut in our face. I imagine I am not alone in feeling this way.
The question is, what did we learn from this experience?
The first and most obvious lesson is “Al tivtichu bindivim.” King David warned us thousands of years ago not to place our trust in political leaders. For too long, way too many people in the Orthodox community have placed their faith in mortal man. On the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, banners were raised with the words, “Thank you, G-d, and thank you, President Trump.” We forgot that “Man is like a fleeting breath, his days are like a passing shadow.” The early Zionists erased G-d from the Declaration of Independence and denied His existence; the later Zionists believed in G-d but equated Him to a man. I’m not sure which one is worse.
How did this happen?
In my opinion, we lost the script on politics.
Let me share with you a conversation I had with someone I love and respect. A few weeks ago, this person texted me with the following question. He understood that as a resident of Maryland for his vote to count, he had to switch parties and register as a Democrat. And he was really bothered. To quote: “I’m uncomfortable registering as a Democrat because many of the values associated with the party do not align with my beliefs. How can I switch parties when I don’t identify with the party?”
We could debate which party has more values that we do or do not identify with, but that is really not that point, and I beg you to not get distracted by his position. What I was troubled by was the notion of identifying with any party. No one here is a Republican and no one here is a Democrat. The party you vote for is not your identity.
By extension, our politicians are not our heroes; they are our public servants. You know who else is a public servant? The sanitation crew who picked up the recycling from in front of my house this morning.
Obviously, it would be ideal if the sanitation crew members were all outstanding citizens. An honest sanitation crew member would do a better job if he was a good person. But if my best option is a crook and he gets the job done, I will hold my nose and begrudgingly thank him for getting the job done. That is true for the president of the United States, and it is true for any elected official.
When the Orthodox community elevates public officials into gedolim, into heroes, when Orthodox magazines imply that one party is our identity, they are distorting Jewish values.
This is obviously a timely message for our community as elections are taking place this week. I urge you to vote; it’s critical that we have a large turnout. Who you vote for is obviously your choice. But when you vote, don’t forget that your only real identity is a Jew who lives in America. Full stop. You are not voting for a hero or even a role model and I do not believe that this is a sell-out of our values. On the contrary, I believe that thinking your representative is meant to be a role model is a sell-out of our values. Instead, you are essentially voting for the sanitation worker you believe will best represent the needs of the Baltimore community; the Jewish community, the Black community, the Baltimore community-at-large.
The second lesson I hope we can learn from the Messianic portal closing is that this is an opportunity for real growth.
It’s easy to believe in G-d when all is going well. It’s easy to believe in a positive future when our enemies are being bombed to smithereens. And right now, it’s hard to see the good, you might even feel that it’s hard to see G-d.
But what that means is that this is a real opportunity to deepen our faith; to be inspired by tens of generations of our ancestors who said Shema as they were burned in the auto-de-fe, who sang ani maamin in the gas chambers.
So let’s be honest and say out loud that it is hard to believe in a Messianic era; do we really believe in it?
Let’s be honest and say out loud that it comes across as naïve to talk about a new world order with open miracles; I am sure this whole conversation is making some of you a little uncomfortable.
And – let’s use this vulnerable opportunity to be honest and say that if we truly believe in G-d, if we truly believe in a good G-d, then a world of corruption, a world of dishonest political leaders, a world of pain, a world of hurt cannot be what He has in mind.
If we truly believe in G-d, in a G-d that created the world, then that G-d can just as easily snap His fingers and bring about a totally new reality.
Yes, a portal has closed, but a new one has opened. And this new portal that is opening before us is one that demands of us to strengthen our Emunah, to think about G-d more not less, to double our commitment to living lives that will contribute to a new world order, to believe in a Messianic era from a place of true faith, be’emunah sheleima.
The gemara in Sanhedrin tells us that the portal that swept up Korach into the depths of hell was left open a tiny crack. The gemara informs us that if you find that crack and put your ear to the ground you can hear Korach and his followers proclaiming, Moshe emes v’toraso emes, Moshe and the Torah he taught us are real. Korach learned his lesson and was able to declare his belief in G-d and in His torah.
Are we in heaven? Are we in hell? I don’t know. But let’s join them and proclaim from the depth of our hearts that we too believe.