R' Moshe Bamberger on "The Current Situation in Israel" at a Tehillim Gathering in Queens

The Chazaq organization, Chickens for Shabbos, and the QJCC, co-sponsored a tehillim gathering. Rabbi Moshe Bamberger, Mashgiach Ruchani of the Lander College for Men, offered words of Chizuk. The community gathered initially to daven for the release of Hadar ben Chedva Leah Hy’D. Sadly, the tehillim was recited without this hope. Rabbi Bamburger began by quoting words of one of the terrorists. He said, when their G-d gets angry with them, we will see what happens. Rabbi Bambrger stressed that Hashem loves us and that he gets angry and that anger is more intense during the Nine Days. He quoted the Kotzer Rebbe who taught why Av, the month that the jewish people suffered horrible tragedies, is called Av. He said it’s because we feel Hashem is our father most acutely in Av. Only a father can punish a child. We know we have a Father who loves his children. We have to accept that this is out of love. We have to feel the pain that Hadar was like our brother, our son our grandson. We have to feel this pain Hashem is sending us, so we can improve. He quoted Mishlei that we must not despise the reproof from G-d, don’t push it away. If Hashem is reprimanding us , it is ultimately a sign that He is our father and he loves us. He shared a story about a boy who was making noise in the famous Lederman Shul. From that noise, the boy received a potch from the Steipler. The boy ran home crying, and upon seeing the state of the boy, his mother was very upset. She went running in the street where she saw an important Jew. He stopped her and tried to comfort her. She told him what had happened and how she was worried about what would become of her son. The man brought up a story of when he was a little boy, the Chazan Ish potched him as well, resulting in his mother becoming upset too. The man related, “Anything I became in my life is because of that potch of the Chazan Ish.” This man she was speaking to was in fact the nephew of Chazan Ish Rav Chaim Kanievsky shlit”a. Rabbi Bamburger stressed that we have to understand that we will grow from this “potch”. We have to accept it, live with it, and grow from it. He went on to describe how, when in the times of difficulty, Dovid Hamelech wrote the most beautiful shirim and tehillim. His life was filled with challenges and difficulties and through these tragedies he wrote the sefer Tehillim, which lives for us today. When times are good and when times are tragic, the first thing we do is recite tehillim. He then offered a bracha to the crowd in which that we should celebrate Tisha b’Av in a rebuilt Yerushalayim. Next, Rabbi Moshe Rosenberg, Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Etz Chaim, led tehillim followed by Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, Morah d’Asrah of Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, who led that last few tehillim. For more information about upcoming CHAZAQ events and programs, please Visit https://www.chazaq.org/