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Harav Hagaon Meir Wahrsager Shlita

 “Chosen” — But Why?

Parshas Va’eschanan

Harav Hagaon Meir Wahrsager shlita

At the end of the parashah, Moshe cautions Klal Yisrael not to stray after avodah zarah, and he gives the following reason: כִּי עַם קָדוֹשׁ אַתָּה לַה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ בְּךָ בָּחַר ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ לִהְיוֹת לוֹ לְעַם סְגֻלָּה מִכֹּל הָעַמִּים אֲשֶׁר עַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה. You are an am kadosh, the am hanivchar, the am segulah.

We open all of the shalosh regalim with this idea, which we then reiterate in all the tefillos of the Yom Tov: אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים. It’s an amazing maalah that Hakadosh Baruch Hu chose Klal Yisrael from among all the nations.

The Torah goes on to explain why it is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu chose us from among all the nations:

לֹא מֵרֻבְּכֶם מִכָּל הָעַמִּים חָשַׁק ה׳ בָּכֶם וַיִּבְחַר בָּכֶם כִּי אַתֶּם הַמְעַט מִכֹּל הָעַמִּים. כִּי מֵאַהֲבַת ה׳ אֶתְכֶם וּמִשָּׁמְרוֹ אֶת הַשְּׁבֻעָה אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם הוֹצִיא ה׳ אֶתְכֶם בְּיָד חֲזָקָה וַיִּפְדְּךָ מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים.

It’s not because you are numerous; you are actually the smallest of the nations. Rather, Hashem chose you as His nation for two reasons: מֵאַהֲבַת ה׳ אֶתְכֶם — Hashem loved you, and secondly, וּמִשָּׁמְרוֹ אֶת הַשְּׁבֻעָה אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם, because He kept the promise that He made to your forefathers.

The first reason is hard to understand. Hakadosh Baruch Hu could have chosen any kallah that He wanted, but He chose Klal Yisrael out of all the nations. Why? Because He loved you. But that’s exactly what we’re trying to understand — why did Hashem love you? What was it about you that made you more fit for Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s love than any other nation? Instead of answering the question, the passuk just raises the question but doesn’t give a proper answer.

The Ramban addresses this difficulty with a powerful insight that touches on the essence of being a Yid. This is a very fundamental Ramban; I don’t know why it is not well-known.

What makes us Yidden? What makes us the chosen nation?

The Ramban says the following:

ויבחר בכם. מכל העמים שתהיו אתם סגולה ונחלה לו, כי הבחירה בכל מקום ברירה מן האחרים. ואמר הטעם, כי מאהבת ה’ אתכם  בחר בכם, שראה אתכם ראויים להתאהב לפניו ונבחרים לאהבה יותר מכל העמים. ולא הזכיר בזה טעם מן הבחירה, כי הנבחר לאוהב היודע לסבול את אוהבו בכל הבא עליו ממנו, וישראל ראויים לכך מכל עם, כמו שאמרו (ביצה כה ב) שלשה עזים הם ישראל באומות, כי יעמדו לו בנסיונות, או יהודאי או צלוב.

The phrase וַיִּבְחַר בָּכֶם, the Ramban points out, means that Hashem made a choice. He could have chosen other nations, but He chose Klal Yisrael. Why? The passuk says: מֵאַהֲבַת ה׳ אֶתְכֶם. But what does that mean? Why did He love you more than all other nations? The Rambam explains that Hakadosh Baruch Hu saw that you were more fitting for love than any other nation. Why? The Ramban now defines what makes someone the best choice for a love relationship: someone who knows how to tolerate everything that will come upon him as a result of this relationship. And, the Ramban adds, Klal Yisrael are more suited in this regard than any other nation, because they are azim — the most stubborn and tenacious of all peoples — and they will withstand all nisyonos, staying true and loyal to their faith even on pain of death.

Let’s try to understand what the Ramban is conveying.

The Foundation of Love

There are two types of relationships — a business relationship and a love relationship.

A person seeking a business relationship is looking for talent, for ability. He’s not looking for a bond of love — he’s looking for what the other person can bring to the table.

But then there’s a love relationship — a kesher shel ahavah — which is what Hakadosh Baruch Hu is looking for in His am hanivchar.

What is the most important characteristic in a love relationship? It’s not talent. That’s why the passuk, when describing Klal Yisrael’s uniqueness, doesn’t specify any talent or ability. The point is not that Klal Yisrael is outstanding in their performance of mitzvos, or that they possess more impressive attributes. Rather, there’s a different characteristic of Klal Yisrael that prompted Hakadosh Baruch Hu to consider them the most suitable and worthy partner for a love relationship: the capacity to endure, to remain loyal, to care about your partner — no matter what happens.

This commitment to the relationship is what makes an ohev the best partner in a kesher shel ahavah. And, apparently, if Hakadosh Baruch Hu is going to embark on a relationship with an am, making that nation His am hanivchar, it’s going to demand a certain sacrifice. The nation that will be Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s partner is going to have to tolerate, kivyachol, a lot of baggage, for this relationship will come along with heavy burdens.

After all, the nation that is going to be the am hanivchar is going to have to keep the Torah and mitzvos. They are going to have to devote their lives to ruchniyus, while the rest of the nations will be chasing physical and materialistic pursuits. They’re going to be the underdogs, the ones who are  constantly persecuted and hated. The very fact that Hakadosh Baruch Hu chose this nation will cause everyone else to be jealous and hate them. Indeed, Chazal say that the name “Har Sinai” implies that from that mountain, sinah descended upon Klal Yisrael from the nations of the world.

The endless hatred of Eisav to Yaakov is partly due to our status as the am hanivchar. Hakadosh Baruch Hu knew that the nation He would choose as His partner would suffer tremendous yissurim, undergo severe oppression, and be threatened with annihilation for their effort to hold onto this relationship with Him. He was therefore looking for the nation that has it in their DNA to be loyal and withstand all nisyonos.

The Ramban is explaining that one of the most essential features of a Yid is that he is worthy of being in a relationship of love with Hashem.

What makes us His ohavim? More than dancing on Simchas Torah, more than bringing Him joy when we celebrate a chag, it’s our ability to bear and tolerate all the persecution, tzaros, and exiles that Klal Yisrael has endured.

Not Only as a Nation

This is true on both the collective and individual levels. Not only is Klal Yisrael oppressed as a nation, but even as individuals, Yidden face far more nisyonos; apparently, this is part of being the am hanivchar. Look around — you’ll see the tzaros.

The Chovos Halevavos explains that Hashem gives us a chance to prove how strong we are in our emunah and bitachon, testing us to see whether we’ll endure and realize proudly that this is what makes us a partner of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This is what we invest in our relationship of ahavah with Him, and this is the main thing that makes us Yidden — the am hanivchar.

This is a new perspective on tzaros, whether those of the community or the individual. They reflect Klal Yisrael’s amazing power of endurance, from generation to generation.

Perhaps we can use this idea to better understand the Gemara (Yevamos 47) that discusses the process of how a person becomes a ger. The Gemara says that when a non-Jew comes to convert, before teaching him anything about Judaism, we ask him: Why do you want to convert? Don’t you know that Klal Yisrael nowadays are downtrodden, oppressed, beaten, and suffering?

If he says: Yes, I know this is the state of Klal Yisrael, and I’m not even worthy of joining them — then we accept him immediately, and start teaching him about the mitzvos.

But the first requirement is to tell him what Klal Yisrael is. Why is that? The simple reason, perhaps, is that we’re trying to test if his intentions are worthy, or if he has ulterior motives. But we wouldn’t tell an untruth in order to do that. It must be that we’re telling him what Klal Yisrael is.

Before we talk about mitzvos — which are comparable to talents and abilities that one partner in a relationship brings to the table — we tell the would-be convert: You’re coming to be a ger — a Yid — and you’re about to enter a relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu and forge a bris with Him. You want to know what it means to make that bris? It means Klal Yisrael is ne’eman. We are faithful to Hashem, bearing the tzaros, withstanding the nisyonos.

This ability has forever been part of our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So when someone is coming to convert, he needs to know that this is the DNA of a Yid.

When we proudly remain loyal to Hashem, standing as His chosen people no matter what happens, we are investing in our true kesher with Him, and that brings us greater returns than any tranquility that other nations may enjoy. They might be better off in this world — in the prozdor — but we know that we will receive boundless reward in the traklin. And that’s what gives us koach. This is the stuff of being a Yid.

The Consolation: There’s a Future

We’re coming to Shabbos Nachamu, which, this year, falls on Tu B’Av. The seudah and nechamah that we have on Shabbos Nachamu is actually very hard to understand. If we’re still in this bitter galus, what is the nechamah?

Yirmiyahu Hanavi says:

כֹּה אָמַר ה׳ קוֹל בְּרָמָה נִשְׁמָע נְהִי בְּכִי תַמְרוּרִים רָחֵל מְבַכָּה עַל בָּנֶיהָ מֵאֲנָה לְהִנָּחֵם עַל בָּנֶיהָ כִּי אֵינֶנּוּ.

Rochel Imeinu continues to cry over the plight of Klal Yisrael, because they’re not where they’re supposed to be: כִּי אֵינֶנּוּ — in galus, we’re so far from where we belong. And Rochel refuses to be consoled.

Yet Hashem has a way to comfort someone who is refusing to be consoled:

כֹּה אָמַר ה׳: מִנְעִי קוֹלֵךְ מִבֶּכִי וְעֵינַיִךְ מִדִּמְעָה כִּי יֵשׁ שָׂכָר לִפְעֻלָּתֵךְ נְאֻם ה׳ וְשָׁבוּ מֵאֶרֶץ אוֹיֵב. וְיֵשׁ תִּקְוָה לְאַחֲרִיתֵךְ נְאֻם ה׳ וְשָׁבוּ בָנִים לִגְבוּלָם.

The nechamah is: יֵשׁ שָׂכָר לִפְעֻלָּתֵךְ … וְיֵשׁ תִּקְוָה לְאַחֲרִיתֵךְ, which, the mefarshim say, means that there is hope for the acharis hayamim. Very nice — but how does that console Rochel now, during the galus?

The answer is that what we’re doing now is building the future.

The Radak explains the words יֵשׁ שָׂכָר לִפְעֻלָּתֵךְ as follows:

לפעלת בניך שסבלו הגלות כמה שנים ולא שכחו את שמי ולא עברו על בריתי.

Klal Yisrael perpetuated Rochel’s legacy. Her noble act of revealing the secret codes to Leah, to spare her from embarrassment, reflected many facets of greatness, but one of the core qualities it exemplified was the middah of savlanus: tolerating something that’s not going your way, that distances you from where you think you’re supposed to be. This feature is something that Klal Yisrael has inherited, throughout the generations: the ability to stand steadfast, with stamina and resilience, and maintain our kesher ahavah with Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

In this vein, the Vilna Gaon explains the pesukim in Shir Hashirim that state: מְצָאֻנִי הַשֹּׁמְרִים הַסֹּבְבִים בָּעִיר הִכּוּנִי פְצָעוּנִי נָשְׂאוּ אֶת רְדִידִי מֵעָלַי שֹׁמְרֵי הַחֹמוֹת. הִשְׁבַּעְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם אִם תִּמְצְאוּ אֶת דּוֹדִי מַה תַּגִּידוּ לוֹ שֶׁחוֹלַת אַהֲבָה אָנִי.

What is Klal Yisrael expressing here?

That we have been hit and wounded, but the message we are giving the malachim to convey to Hakadosh Baruch Hu is: Of all the pain we have experienced, tell Him only that I am sick with love for Him, for that separation from Him is the hardest for me of all.

With everything we have endured — the Holocaust,  the Simchas Torah massacre, the hostages, the yissurim of Klal Yisrael and the personal tzaros — what we tell Hakadosh Baruch Hu is, שֶׁחוֹלַת אַהֲבָה אָנִי. We know this is all part of our relationship, and what pains us more than anything is our separation from You, because we are a people with a kesher ahavah with You. The purpose of the yissurim is to strengthen our relationship; in truth, as the Ramban says, it is what defines our relationship.

Anyone who sat and truly mourned on Tishah b’Av understood that Klal Yisrael has experienced more galus and suffering than any other nation — and this is what makes us Yidden. When we understand that this is the meaning of being the am hanivchar, and that this is what gives us hope for the future and reward down the line, we are consoled. For despite all the suffering, it’s a zechus to be a Yid.

Our ne’emanus is what builds our bond of love with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and makes us worthy of וְשָׁבוּ בָנִים לִגְבוּלָם.

Gut Shabbos.

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