Events are unfolding so rapidly. Just as we begin to absorb one, another one is upon us. That which we see before our very eyes would in past generations have taken decades if not centuries to unfold. Much of this is due to the computerization of the world, which we once thought would make our planet into one happy village. Yes, we have one village, but it’s a village of hatred and bloodshed, a village of immorality and decadence.
And the tragedy is intensified because we grope around in darkness, stumbling and falling. Our minds fail to absorb. Our hearts do not feel. We have difficulty digesting it.
For Jews to be unaware of what is happening around us is disastrous. We always have to be alert, stand on guard, and take our cue from our Commander in Chief, Almighty G-d.
When the Jewish people are caught napping, we always wake up to tragedy. I saw this happen in Europe right before the Holocaust, when anti-Semitic rumblings were all over the place but somehow we managed to sleep through it. We would hear reports of mass slaughter, of gas chambers and crematoria, but we convinced ourselves these were unsubstantiated rumors, the ravings of men who’d lost their minds.
We are the generation that has been destined to live in the period of ikvesa deMeshicha – when the “footsteps of Mashiach” become audible. We are also the generation many predicted would be akin to the generation that lived in the days of Noach prior to the flood that washed away all mankind.
That generation was so degenerate, so corrupt, so violent, that G-d had no choice but to declare the world would have to come to an and be recreated. But G-d in His infinite mercy gave that generation a second chance. G-d commissioned Noach to build an ark that took 120 years to complete. Thus, people had plenty of opportunity to see it and hear about it. They had the chance to ask Noach why he was building an ark and hear from Noach’s lips that G-d had decreed a flood to destroy the world unless they repented and became the people G-d created them to be.
* * * * * The story of Leon Klinghoffer is one that could only have been choreographed in hell. Mr. Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound Jew, sets sail with his wife on a long-anticipated cruise on the luxurious Achille Lauro. But Muslim terrorists hijack the ship, kill Mr. Klinghoffer in his wheelchair, and dump his body in the sea.
Should we really be surprised that in our sick society someone would come up with the brilliant idea of setting his monstrous story to music, thus converting savage barbarism into great entertainment? Can there be anything more repugnant, more immoral, than that? Murder is the most heinous act a human is capable of. But it is hard to imagine anything more evil than lending a true story of heinous murder a sophisticated veneer of respectability and labeling it “opera.”
When art and evil are intermingled, evil is elevated and made acceptable.
I’m certain that many readers may be thinking, “Rebbetzin, let’s not get carried away. How many people actually go to the opera?”
I agree that not many people do, but much more critical than the number of actual operagoers is the influence and impact of such decadence and evil on our culture and, by extension, our society.
The last mitzvah of Torah is “Kisvu lachem es hashiro hazos – write down for yourself this song.” We know that “song” means our Torah. Why is the Torah likened to a song? Song is a reflection of the soul, of the values of a culture, a person, a nation.