Lift Up Your Candle

So I dont't usually make it to shul until the afternoon. But this week, my father insisted on me coming early to hear the Rav's Sermon; he was going to be talking about Leiby Z'"L.

I've avoided talking about it while the blogging world was all aflame about it. I wanted to wait. The truth is there is really nothing to say. There are no explanations we can make. If we do, that is just insulting to his memory and insulting to G-d. Who do we think we are trying to understand the "mind" of the Creator of the world, who Was, Is and Always Will Be, who "sees" past, present, and future simultaneously?

But as humans we need to understand. We have to be able to make it tangible. We need to be able to wrap our heads around it, try to make some sense of it. The alternative is too scary. So we give reasons. With the Itamar Massacre, people tried to make excuses. With the expulsion of Gush Katif, we gave reasons. With the Holocaust even, we had reasons. But this..this.. there is no explanation. We'd like to say the murderer was insane. He must have been. That was my original thought. But no, he is completely rational, clear thinking and definitely not clinically insane.

Clearly this is a wake up call of an enormous magnitude. Itamar didn't do it. Hashem needed to shake us harder to awaken us from our slumber. I pray that we stay awake this time, for we cannot afford to drift into sleepy oblivion again.

But alas, Leiby z"l was not enough. Hashem needed to jolt us one more time. The death of Baba Elazar z"l shocked the world. So unexpected. So wrong. Everything in this world today seems so wrong. What are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to react? What is He trying to tell us?

As Jews we are commanded to be different. We are supposed to talk, walk, and dress differently.  As much as we'd like to say that we are different-we're not. We wear the same styles. We eat the same food (kosher crab anyone?) We vacation in the same places. We go to the same schools. We work and workout together. We are supposed to be separate. We are supposed to be Kadosh. We are not.

We cannot change these facts. We cannot change that we dress the same, work together. These are realities of life in the 21st century. We don't live in a ghetto. We are exposed. We eat French, Chinese, Indian, Mexican and Thai food just like them. It used to be there was only a few kinds of kosher wine. Now? The wine list is endless. Every type for every palate.  And its OK. This is our life. But we have to be aware of the consequences.

The more we live like them, the more of a spiritual void we create. It is not a punishment; rather it is a simple cause and effect. The more we act like them, the less we act like us, the less kedusha we bring..the more of a void there is.

Specifically with the demise of so many gedolim in such a short period of time, there is a serious spiritual deficit in the world. We need to balance it out. We can eat our sushi and enjoy it too, but we need to learn a little more, take on a little more. Each person needs up to the fill the void in themselves somehow. There is no magic solution. There is no master key.

When the world's spiritual balance is off kilter, things start to go awry. Otherwise normal people dismember innocent children. Beloved rabanim are stabbed to death. These events are not accidents nor are they coincidental. They happen in a specific order.

Our recent losses are a heavy a blow for us to bear. Now with the start of the Nine Days perhaps we can begin to taste a miniscule amount of tzaar Hashem has, that we should be feeling during these days of mourning.

So please, for the sake of Klal Yisrael, start to fill your void. In your world, start to fill the deficit. No single person can make up for the loss of Baba Elazar z"l. When the light bulb goes out, we each need to light a candle. Together, we can light up the world (cliche i know, but so true.)