by Rav Netanel Yosifun, Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshivat Orot Netanya, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.
A rabbi and teacher par excellence once met with an elderly Holocaust survivor, and the two spoke of matters of faith. The survivor said, "I grew up in a Hassidic family, filled with Torah and awe and fear of Heaven, and my parents raised me to always believe that G-d runs the world with beneficence and goodness."
"But then," the man continued, "when the Shoah happened to us, and I saw so much evil, I realized that my parents had been mistaken. I knew it could not be that G-d the Good would run a world with so much evil in it. I therefore became a total heretic and stopped keeping the commandments."
The rabbi said, "Your parents were mostly right, but they erred in one thing: G-d is not good!"
The Shoah survivor was shocked at what he had heard, and after a moment of confusion, he reacted sharply: "Not true! My parents were right! G-d is good…"
The rabbi used an educational trick in this exchange. He sensed that deep down, this Jew was still totally connected with all his soul to his parents' traditions, and that in his heart, his belief in G-d was still strong – but that he had great anger at G-d because of his horrific Shoah experiences. His abandonment of Torah was just a manifestation of his pain, the rabbi realized, and that when push would come to shove, the Jew could not but cry out in faith in G-d with confidence in His goodness.
This approach can also be used in the face of difficult questions of faith asked by our youth - if the teacher or parent truly understands the child and where he is coming from. Sometimes, their questions are simply a way of acting out, expressing anger, etc. – but if someone were to tell them that their objections were correct, they would show their true colors of faith.
The Same Divine Game
In truth, this is how G-d often acts with us, with this same educational "trick." In this week's Torah portion (a double reading, Nitzavim and Vayelech, D'varim 29,9 to 31,30), Hashem tells Moshe: "Know that the Nation of Israel will sin in the future; I will be angered at them and even abandon them, hiding My face, and they will undergo great tribulations" (see 31,16-21). "Haster astir panai – I will totally hide My face on that day…" (verse 18).
This is why G-d insists that the song of Haazinu would comprise the next chapter in the Torah, D'varim 32 – so that when Israel experiences great tribulations, such as the Shoah, the song will be a testimony that G-d knew this all in advance.
And what will that help? Why is it important to have advance testimony?
The explanation is that even though G-d says that He will hide from us, the very fact that He is telling us this in advance means that He is not really hidden! It is all known in advance; it's as if the game was "thrown" ahead of time, and is simply a Divine scheme. As such, everything – even His concealment – is part of G-d's revelation in the world!
After all, if we know in advance that someone will hide, and where, he cannot really be said to be hiding.
This is a Path to Teshuvah
This insight is actually a way for us to repent of our errant ways and sins. Many know the popular song Vaafilu b'hastarah sheb'tokh hahastarah, but have trouble with its exact meaning. It is infact based on the words of Rabbe Nachman of Breslov, who wrote it to explain the Torah's double use in the above passage of the word for "concealment," haster astir (of the same root as hastarah).
Rabbe Nachman wrote: "And even in the concealment that is within the concealment, I am most certainly found there as well – for there is nothing that can exist without the vitality given by G-d; for without His life-force, it would have no existence at all" (Likutei Moharan 56,3).
The idea is that there are two levels of concealment. If Hashem is hidden only once, it's true that He is "hidden," but we know it, and this gives us the ability to look for and find Him. But, if he is "hidden within a concealment," this is a situation in which we don't even know that G-d is hidden there, and we don't know to look for Him there! But in truth, even there, G-d's life-force is present.
And where is this place of hastarah within hastarah? Rabbe Nachman explains that "even if, Heaven forbid, one commits a sin or deed against G-d's will – still and all, G-d's energy is there." That is, the sin is the place of hastarah within hastarah. Let us assume that we understand that, but how do we understand that a sin has G-d's life-force within it?
The answer is that G-d gives man life at every moment; if not, he would die on the spot. The same is true even for a sinner, of course; his capacity for sinning comes from G-d, as does all life. And even if we may not be able to explain it, we see that even "sin" is part of the Divine program.
And this is precisely why Hashem gave us the ability to repent, do teshuvah, and actually rectify our sins. Because when we regret and repent having left G-d's will, and understand that He is He Who runs everything and is found in everything, and desire to fix our sins via regret, verbal acknowledgement, and abandonment of sin – we show that G-d is found even in the "hastara of the hastarah," meaning that there is actually no Divine concealment at all.
And to take it another step deeper – which we will not do here – this also can help us understand the Talmudic teaching that when one repents out of love, his purposeful sins actually turn into merits (Tzidkat HaTzaddik 40).
May we merit to repent fully and do complete teshuvah, and experience G-d's revelation in His return to Zion with compassion!
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