Smoke Screen, Part 2 

Translated from Rabbi Arush’s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna. 

What is He So Angry About? 

Rabbi Natan of Breslev was not only a tremendous gaon and an active person who labored ceaselessly his entire life, but he was also a ba’al tefillah, known for his special prayers. Among his famous books is Likutei Tefillot, in which he pours out his heart to Hashem in prayers that awaken the heart and open it to holiness. 

This week, when I was sitting and reading and praying from the book Likutei Tefillot by Rabbi Natan, I read Prayer #37, and reached a few very harsh lines that made me stop and rub my eyes in amazement: Did Rabbi Natan actually write this?? 

“Give us strength that we will merit to vanquish and break and annul and uproot all the epikorsim and kofrim (non-believers and heretics) from the world. May they be erased from the Book of Life and not be written with tzaddikim. And all those who engage in philosophy and wisdom that are not Torah, may their name and remembrance be wiped out of the world. May Hashem cut off the man, kith and kin, who will engage in their philosophical speculations and ways. ‘May his children become orphans, his wife a widow, may his posterity be cut off, their names be erased by the next generation. May Hashem recall his forefathers’ offense and may his mother’s sin never be erased. May these ever be before Hashem until He cuts off their name from the earth’ and may their ideas and opinions be obliterated from the world and not be brought up anymore and not be remembered in their name.” 

I read this and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Rabbi Natan, who is so encouraging in his words, consolation, kiruv (bringing Jews closer), and love – he is writing so harshly, with such rage?! What makes him so angry? Why is he acting so out-of-character, writing such hard words? 

Rabbi Natan is not angry for nothing. Due to his great love for the Jewish People, he cannot stand those who distance the Jewish People from their great purpose. His great love for Yisrael fills him with great zealousness. Because Rabbi Natan well understood the immense danger in those books that seemed outwardly to be making ‘wise’ claims and expressing clever speculations – but their ideas and claims cooled the ardor of Bnei Yisrael for emuna (faith) and threw them down to the bottom of the abyss.  

Rabbi Natan cannot stay silent in face of those who cause so many others to sin! He has no mercy for them, no forgiveness! And he is zealous in his outrage.  

An Exaggeration? 

This struck my heart and shocked me. People nowadays do not usually have such an urge to read such books – how much are people attracted to philosophy books? How much yetzer hara do they have for that? The young people of our generation barely ever open any book – they are not attracted to books. And yet, how much holy and raging fire does Rabbi Natan pour upon them. I thought to myself: What would Rabbi Natan have said about the technological devices, the internet, the ‘smart’ phones, and the like? 

These gadgets are a billion times more attractive than any speculative book. Babies in their carriages cannot take their eyes off the screen. And these devices contain kefira and filth and all kinds of Gehinnom. They not only remove their user from any trace of holiness and service of Hashem, but also detach him from his own life, turn him off, so-to-speak, wreck homes, and corrupt the souls of both young and old. What language would Rabbi Natan have used in his crying out against this monster created by the Satan himself for  the purpose of destroying the Jewish People?  

If you think that the words written here are harsh, see for yourself what Rabbi Natan says about these “speculative” books. After all, these devices do not lack speculation and heretical beliefs and ideas that are many times more powerful, colorful, misleading, and confusing than those books in Rabbi Natan’s lifetime. But this is just “small change”. In these devices, there are infinitely more problems and powerful temptations. Think for yourselves whether I am exaggerating or not.  

A Voice in the Wilderness 

Dear Jews, we must look into all this and be shocked. How could it be that the Jews, who are a nation of very wise people, who are willing to sacrifice themselves over the smallest detail, who spend much money on every hiddur and chumra (being particularly strict and exacting in performing a mitzvah), who never drop any custom or segula – how can such a large and broad mass of people who define themselves as being yerei’im and sheleimim (G-d fearing and wholly connected to Hashem) fall into a device that is a roaring, rushing avalanche of aveirot (transgressions) and the complete opposite of Torah and Judaism?! How?! 

I am sorry, but the yetzer hara has been extremely successful. It is frightening. What will happen to us? How can one twist the truth and make the twisted road straight? How can one take the symbol of tumah, the face of evil – and bring it into the holy sanctuary, the Jewish home, the synagogues, the Western Wall, to every pure and holy place, and no one says a word? How can people fail to sense the complete opposition between the two things? How can one’s eyes be blinded so that they don’t feel the danger, remain completely unaware, and do not understand what the problem is at all?! What terrible blindness!! 

So painful.  

When faced with this pain, it is impossible to remain silent. And even if no one is listening, you must cry out even if it will be for the one Jew who will hear what you have to say. He will accept it and do it simply and save both his own soul and the soul of his family. 

And even if there is not one person who will be willing to get rid of the impure gadgets, it is still worth it to cry out and scream for those few survivors who are standing strong like Avraham Ha’ivri, who was on one side (ever) and the whole world was on the other. Baruch Hashem, they have no connection to any kind of technology and impure gadgets. For those people, it is worth it to continue to cry out and write for them, so that they will have the strength to hold on. They will know that they are the ones who are saving the Jewish People and guarding the glowing ember of Judaism. They will stand strong and know that they are passing Avraham Avinu’s test [the akeidah, binding of Yitzchak]. They will know that they are going through a truly historical test like in the days of Matityahu ben Yochanan, the High Priest¹. They will know that Hashem is proud of them and boasts of them and that the Jewish People is indebted to them for its future. 

And Purify Our Hearts

In parshat Vayishlach², Yaakov and his sons reach Eretz Yisrael after twenty years in the unholy home of Lavan. Twenty years of Lavan trying every possible way to influence the young Am Yisrael negatively but failing to have any effect. The sons of Yaakov don’t take anything from the house of Lavan Ha’arami – he couldn’t find even a small needle of his among their possessions.  

But the bad influences got in anyway from an unexpected direction. Dina, Yaakov’s daughter, leaves her father’s house for just a short time and falls, against her will, into a wrong relationship with a non-Jew. And when Shimon and Levi come and kill all the city’s inhabitants, they take the spoils, including idols and images of avoda zara (alien gods).  

True, the holy tribes of Yisrael are very far away from avoda zara, but still, Yaakov Avinu understands the great danger and performs a formal “ceremony” of getting rid of all those alien gods and purifying everyone from any foreign influence: “Be rid of the alien gods you have with you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.”³ 

The Kli Yakar explains that Yaakov was afraid of someone even thinking of doing an aveira, because even such a thought is enough to cause near-fatal damage to the nation, as he says: 

“And that is why he commanded them to first purify the sin of thought and said, ‘Be rid of the alien gods you have with you’ – gods that are within you. For Yaakov said, ‘Perhaps my sons sinned and ‘blessed’ (meaning: cursed) G-d in their hearts and are thinking of the idols they have; therefore, they should purify themselves, because that way Hashem will create a pure heart for them.”⁴ 

We have gone through an exile of two thousand years, and we remained clean of aveirot and passed on the Torah in all its purity, and now through “telephones” and all kinds of inventions and “useful tools” the yetzer hara is bringing into our world by the back door all the evils of the world – a spiritual atom bomb. 

Our future, our salvation, our success and that of our children, our very lives – are all dependent on this purity. We all must perform a cleansing ceremony and rid ourselves of this terrible evil of the smartphones and the internet – in our homes, by our families and friends, taking care to speak pleasantly and politely and say resolute words that will be accepted by the hearts of the listeners, and in that merit, may Hashem create a pure heart for all of us! 

Next week, erev Chanukah, we will explain, with Hashem’s help, how the wonderful light of Chanukah that purified the Jewish people in those days has the power to purify the Jewish people in our days. The light of Chanukah can purify us from the new tumah of Yavan (Greece), that of the impure devices, and cleanse us and sanctify us with His supreme holiness, Amen, Sela. 

Editor’s Notes: 

¹ After gathering all the Jews to the town square in Modiin, the Greeks ordered Matityahu to offer a hog to the Greek deities. He refused, exhorting the townspeople to be steadfast against the forces antithetical to Torah. When a renegade Jew approached the pagan altar to offer the sacrifice himself, Matisyahu killed him and the surrounding Greek soldiers. Matityahu proclaimed, “Mi Lashem Ayli” (“Whoever is for G‑d, join me!)”.  

² Bereishit (Genesis) 32:4 – 36:43  

³ Bereishit 35:2  

⁴ Kli Yakar on Bereishit 35:2