The Role of the Individual

הרב אביעד נייגר
7 ביולי
זמן קריאה 4 דקות

Le'maan Achai Ve're'ai, i'm glad to present you with Torah of Rav Shimon Schwab

THE ROLE OF THE INDIVIDUAL

The Gemora (שבת פ"ט ע"ב) tells us of a fascinating dialogue that will take place at the End of Days. Hashem presents His indictment of Klal Yisroel to their founding fathers – Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov. בניך חטאו, your offspring have sinned, He tells Avrohom. ימחו על קדושת שמך, then let them be destroyed to sanctify Your Name, Avrohom replies. When Yaakov is told the same thing, he gives the identical answer. But when Hashem tells Yitzchok, he defends us, and finds merits on our behalf. What is this puzzling episode meant to tell us?

Rav Shimon in Ma'ayan Beis Hasho'eva (Parshas Lech Lecha) explains that Klal Yisroel have several important tasks is this world. On the one hand, they have the "Abrahamic legacy" – to spread the faith and belief of Avrohom Avinu throughout the entire world, what is referred to as being the אור לעמים, light to the nations. On the other hand, they have the legacy of Yaakov Avinu, of being a separate nation – "Bnei Yisroel", עם לבדד ישכון, a people who dwell apart from the rest of the world, elevated and pure. Both of those tasks were not fulfilled properly. We ultimately did not succeed in bringing the light of Avrohom Avinu to all the people of the world. On the other hand, we did not succeed either in staying apart from the others. Thus, both Avrohom and Yaakov see no other way of us bringing sanctification to this world other than through our personal obliteration.

Yitzchok Avinu has an alternative mission. Yitzchok personifies the Tzaddikim, the sacred individuals who dedicate their lives to their own personal advancement. They do not have the ability to influence others on a large scale, they cannot "change the world" in any visible way, but they know that their mission in life is to look inwards and expend all their efforts on self-betterment. In the words of Rav Schwab:

"In every generation, there are righteous and holy people serving Hashem; they are the יחידי סגולי, treasured individuals, the בני עליה, those who strive to ascend, amongst Klal Yisroel in every place. Even at the time when darkness covers the world and Klal Yisroel – far from spreading the light of spirituality to the entire human race, are, to the contrary, assimilating amongst the other nations – even so, at every time there remain individuals who seek Hashem, and they are the Klal Yisroel of Yitzchok Avinu, which lives on throughout the generations. And therefore, Yitzchok is to be the lone defender of Klal Yisroel in the future, and their survival will depend on him."

Rav Shimon brought out this concept from a different angle elsewhere (Rav Schwab on Yeshayahu, pp. 650-1):

"aתהי האמת נעדרת וסר מרע משתולל; And the truth will have dwindled down, and he turn away from evil is foolish (Yeshayahu 59:15). …"The truth will be missing" then means here that there will come a time when those who speak the truth and embrace true Jewish values will dwindle down to a precious few. Maharsha to Sanhedrin 97a explains that נעדרת cannot mean that truth will disappear altogether, because Yisrael was promised that even in its worst times there will always be some אנשי אמנה, people of faith, in the nation (Shabbos 119a). In another interpretation of our verse, the Chachamim explain that נעדרת means הולכת ויושבת עדרים במדבר, that "emes" will form flocks and live in the desert. (See Sanhedrin 97a and Yalkut here 497.) This means that those few people who still abide by the emes will form "flocks", small groups, and hide out "in the desert". These people – who will be ignored in mainstream Jewish life – will form small groups of Torah-true Jews without influence in the general Jewish community. … Those few people who will still struggle to סר מרע, stay away from evil, from violating Torah values, will be considered as being out of the loop. They will be looked upon as being a little bit odd and foolish. In the words of the Chachamim, משתולל על הבריות, they will be viewed by the general population as fanatic, odd and demented".

These powerful words express the reality which we see before our eyes. But Rav Shimon also explains that not only those special individuals will merit to see the glory of the Geulah. All of those who appreciate the true tzaddikim will also merit. In another place in Yeshayahu (chap. 24), the prophet foresees tremendous catastrophic events which occur before the Geula[1].

At that time, few will survive: The land will become empty, and it will become despoiled … the earth mourns and wastes away; the human world is cut off and withers away … a curse consumes the earth, and the inhabitants thereof have been desolated… (24:3-6).

But after that, Yeshayahu continues: מכנף הארץ זמרת שמענו צבי לצדיק, From the wing of the earth have we heard songs, "Beauty belongs to the tzaddik" (24:16).

Rav Shimon (ibid, pg. 245) explains:

… It is also possible that מכנף הארץ refers to a certain part, or parts, of the earth, called "wing of the earth", which will be spared in this catastrophe. Besides the few tzaddikim living in the cracks and crevices of the devastated earth, there will be a place on earth where tzaddikim live which will be unscathed. And there tzaddikim will live and be admired. People will say, צבי לצדיק, Beauty belongs to the tzaddik. Instead of hating the tzaddikim, as most of the world will do at thar time, people in this "wing of the earth" will sing songs praising the tzaddikim as the ideal human beings. However, this will be only a small part of the world's population.