Friends,
In todays Shir shel Yom, we said a pasuk, one we say at least once a week: עַמְּךָ ה יְדַכְּאוּ, וְנַחֲלָתְךָ יְעַנּוּ , Your nation, Hashem, they crush, and they afflict Your heritage.
It’s worth a moment of reflection. The Mefarshim explain the seeming redundancy as reference to two different forms of oppression: physical persecution and the attack on the spirit, as our antagonists seek to demoralize us.
My reaction to the video released by Mayor Zohran Mamdani – in which he lists off, as fact, the litany of “war crimes,” and atrocities committed by Israel’s Prime Minister and the Israeli army – was not disappointment in the inherent dishonesty, which, sadly, wasn’t that surprising.
It was alarm at the astounding recklessness of his message. To peddle blatant untruths when real people’s safety is at risk isn’t clever politics—it’s a staggering breach of basic human responsibility and the very opposite of leadership.
We hope that officials of goodwill and decency will come forward to challenge this dangerous rhetoric, but at the same time, we look inward, cognizant that there is a message here for us.
Today is Erev Tisha B’Av, the eve of the saddest day of the year.
This is a day marked for punishment, with tears flowing throughout the generations. It is the date upon which the Meraglim spoke badly of our land, and upon which both the first and second Batei Mikdash were destroyed. It is the date upon which the city of Beitar fell and on which we suffered the implications of the First Crusade (1095), the expulsion from England (1290), the Spanish Inquisition (1492), and the start of World War I, along with so much personal tragedy.
There is comfort in this: a clear sign that these events are part of a larger pattern, a message directed at us.
This video is one more reminder of our sorry situation, but it is also a catalyst to seize this moment, to use out this day to truly cry, knowing that sincere tears can finally pierce the wall.
In the middle of Eichah, we read a pasuk: Chasdei Hashem ki lo samnu. His kindness doesn’t run out. Deep in galus, we feel it surrounding us- it is specifically in the middle of Eichah that we declare, “Lo chalu rachamav.”
He safeguards and protects. May He hear our heartbroken cries and restore our pride once more, this year!
Have an easy fast, and may we experience the ultimate nechamah,
Shloime.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
3 Responses
Now I understand it
Without Israel we are considered worthless and in danger like sheep
And according to supposedly something is the Torah of Rabbi Abraham Issac kook, that lived in German wasn’t American, but supposedly his Torah, if your not for a kind of Jewish stature or cultural gains then the Torah is worthless etc……
So, by that logic, if anyone were to criticize any foreign leader, then that would be irresponsible because he’s the leader of so many people. In fact, then, how can anybody criticize the Mayor, given the enormous population of the city he leads?
Where are Mr. Mamdani’s (Modeh Ani) eyes that he doesn’t see that the root cause of all this trouble in the region is the fault of Hamas. They use their own population as human shields (Those very women & children that all the bleeding hearts are crying about) in order to to kill Israeli soldiers. They shoot from apartment buildings, schools & hospitals. When Israel returns fire in self defense they cry about the “innocent” victims.