“K A H A N E”
The magazine of the authentic Jewish Idea
Shavuot Dvar Torah – May 1977
DON'T BE SO HUMBLE
[This Dvar Torah is in memory of my much loved nephew Dov ben Eliahu who suddenly passed away last week at age 49. May his neshama make a fast and easy aliyah to Gan Eden]
We are told that when the L-rd
desired to give the Torah to the Jewish people, instead of choosing a lofty and
majestic mountain, He selected Sinai, a small, humble little mount barely more
than a hill. His purpose in this symbolic act was to teach us that man must
turn his back on overbearing pride and reject a false ego.
The Gerer Rebbe asked: If G-d
intended to teach us that man must turn down false pride, why was the Torah not
given in a valley?
The Rebbe answered: It is not
enough, he said, to reject overbearing pride. Too much humility is also wrong.
Man should- man must- possess some pride in his being; otherwise he is not a
man.
I never cease to be amazed that
we continue to be valleys. I never cease wondering at our choosing the way of
the meek. One would imagine that after all the "help" we have failed
to receive, we would remember the lesson of the mountain.
The fact is that we are living in
sad times when we must- just for the moment- still the voice of Jacob and, for
the sake of Jewish honor, of Jewish protection, don the hand of Esav.
Vandals attack a yeshiva- let
that yeshiva attack the vandals. Should a gang bloody a Jew, let a Jewish group
go looking for the gang. This is the way of pride- not evil pride, but the
pride of nation, of kinship- the pride of the mountain.
There are those who will protest:
This is not the Jewish way. And yet, since when has it been a mitzvah to be
punished and beaten? Since when is it a Kiddush Hashem to be spat upon? It is
not a Kiddush Hashem, it is quite THE OPPOSITE. It is a disgrace to the pride
of our people, our G-d. More important, there is a rule in the hoodlum jungle:
The more the victim backs away, the more the hoodlum moves forward.
So up from the valley and up to
the Mount. Jewish rights are not cheap and Jewish defense is not wrong. This is
the lesson of the Mount
Anyone reading this Rabbi Meir Kahane or Rabbi Binyamin
Kahane article and is not on my personal
list to receive the weekly articles and would like to be, please contact me at:
To view
articles written by Rabbi Meir Kahane and Rabbi Binyamin Kahane go to blog:
Facebook:
Barbara Sandra Ginsberg
Otzma Yehudit for Anglos
No comments:
Post a Comment