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I would not attempt to deal with a problem of this magnitude. The book of Iyov stands as a stark reminder of the futility of reading God’s mind, so to speak. The finite cannot effectively deal with the infinite and attempting to do so is only wearisome and frustrating beyond end. But there is an obvious insight that all of us can certainly glean from such an event as the Chanukah fire. And that is the lesson of the uncertainty of life and its events. It is this very uncertainty that makes life precious and drives us to make it meaningful and productive. We are therefore commanded to exploit it to the fullest together with the time and circumstances that life provides for us. That is what Rabbi Akiva meant when he said that one should never postpone Torah learning or any other good and productive deed or program for tomorrow, "for who knows what tomorrow brings to a human being?" Therefore Judaism abhors procrastination and twiddling delay. Life is too uncertain to allow for unnecessary postponements and the wastage of time and opportunities. If there is anything that inexplicable events and tragedies can teach us it is that the very uncertainty of life forces us to live it in a prudent and immediate state of mind. We planned on celebrating a Chanukah of lights and instead we are forced to commemorate a Chanukah of raging, uncontrollable murderous fire and conflagration. There is certainly a telling lesson in that stark fact that we have just witnessed.
On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, according to the traditional Ashkenazic rite, one of the main prayers of the musaf service concerns itself with what is inscribed in the book of judgment in Heaven for the coming year. Various forms of death and tragedy are mentioned in that poetic prayer. One of them is "who will pass on because of fire." I thought of that passage upon hearing and following the sad news of the great forest fire in the north of Israel and of the resultant loss of life - seemingly innocent young life. The prayer advances no reason for the long list of possible fatal mishaps that can and do occur to human beings on a regular basis. It is so inscribed in the book and the justification for that inscription is not revealed to us in this world. The Rebbe of Kotzk pithily stated: "For the believer there are no questions and for the scoffer there are no answers." That is probably the only sensible comment that can be made regarding the great Chanukah fire that we have just experienced. May the bereaved somehow be comforted and the wounded and injured healed speedily and completely. And may only good events surprise us in the future, uncertain as it is certain to be.
A Nation and its Halachot Explaining the Mitzvah of Pidyon Shevuyim
The Commandment of Redeeming Captives
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
