October 7th: What Would The Brisker Rav Say?

As the anniversary of October 7th approaches, it behooves us to collect our thoughts. What does this day mean for us? What did we learn from it? What do we continue to learn from it? First and foremost, our heart goes out to the victims, to those who perished, to those who are still held hostage. We can't divert our attention from them. We can't stop even for a moment trying to feel their pain and the pain of their families. There's someone in my that has a list of all the hostages that perished or that still need to be released and he holds it in front of him every day when he davins and when he says kadesh he doesn't allow his mind to divert from trying to think about them and feel their pain to some extent and that is a very worthy practice to do whatever we can to try a little bit to feel their pain and to commiserate. Secondly, we can never forget Israel is like no other land. If on the day one of the holiest days of the year, a day which is designated for rejoicing with the greatest gift that the God ever gave to the world that Hashem ever gave to the Jewish people, the gift of the Tyra, it is a day designated to rejoice with Hashem in the Tyra. If init on this great day instead of rejoicing with the Torah, it is utilized to rejoice in a way which is foreign to the Torah approach. It is not something that is tolerates and in a sense it should give us that the kaduca of Israel and the kaduca demanded of the Jewish people is no less today than it ever was. And this is not something that is tolerates and we saw with our own eyes what happens even in a generation of the mashia what could happen but now let's let's turn this inwardly because there's an amazing teaching of the briskar that I think is very relevant and very appropriate for this date in our history when ya was running boy and there was a terrible storm sent to the sea and to his ship demanded he told the other sailors and the other travelers lift me up and throw me into the sea so that the sea will rest I know that it's because of me you know in the years after the independence of the state of Israel and there were many many casualties. Somebody once came to complain to the riskar. He said the reason for these casualties it's because of Jews who don't observe the shabas. It's because of secular Jews who desecrate the shabas. And the briskarov said let's get a perspective for a moment. Let's talk about ya. Yaoa is on the boat. Who else is on the boat? The boat is occupied by members of the 70 nations. They were all idolattors. They were and yet when there was a storm on the boat that was threatening the life of all the travelers on the boat, ya said it's not because of this person who's serving abara or that person who's serving idols. I know it's because of me. And therefore the briskarov said the casualties that were suffered in the aftermath of the war of independence. It's not because of Jews who desecrated chabas but every observant Jew needs to point to themselves and say it's because of me. Maybe because I have been given the privilege of a yeshiva education and a Jewish education then more is expected of me more is demanded of me. more is expected in terms of my understanding of my role in this world and the responsibility that I have to the Jewish people. And if there are Jews who don't understand what Tyra is, that means they don't understand what Tory is. And who's responsible to teach the Jewish people what Tyra is? If not for those who are privileged to be given a Jewish education. So every Jew needs to say, "Why did October 7th happen?" Yeah, we understand that there were many Jews who didn't appreciate. But whose responsibility is that? Every single Jew needs to learn from Yah and say [Music] we all need to say it's because of me. What more can I do to bring the beauty of Tyra to every single member of Kalisra Kashi Hassim said the briskar in 1948 and his words reverberate until this very day. And that is a very worthy thought and certainly worthy of our consideration as October 7th approaches. And as we hope should watch over all of and return like we said in the should return all the captives of only to amen.