Rabbi Chaskel Besser ZZ"L who fled Europe as the Nazi's invaded, told me that we cannot blame the Holocaust on "secular" "zionist" or "reform" of Jews. The Holocaust is without understanding, the Hester Panim so intense, there is no answer. Those that claim to know "why" the Holocaust happened on spiritual terms should be ignored.
That is a fundamentalist understanding of the pasuk in Devarim. It's talking metaphorically that if we do Avodah Zara it will be "as if" Hashem is abandoning us and hiding his face from us. But we know from the Baal Shem Tov that truly Hashem always has full control at all times. And this pasuk surely doesn't apply to holy Breslever Chassidim going to visit the Rebbi who will protect them and we know that shlichei mitzvos are not harmed.
I refer you to Talmud kiddushin 39b that discuses the incident of an innocent child sent by his father up a ladder to fulfil the mitzvah of שילוח הקן. Two mitzvot whose reward is long life. The child falls and dies. The discussion in Talmud follows many opinions but after the failure of many “frum” theologies the rabbis conclude that the ladder was indeed rickety and “one cannot rely on miracles when there is fixed danger”. I think any rational human being can see that there is a “fixed danger” in going to a war zone. We may want to believe in a blind theology but it will do nothing to protect us from a danger that we place ourselves in - however much Torah we may learn and however much of a שליחות we believe we are on. Please don’t buy in to a naive and frankly dangerous theology that has close to zero support from authentic Jewish sources.
Thank you for your comment. Chazal say that the idea that people going to do a mitzvah are spared from harm does not apply in a situation of clear danger. When the governments of both the United States and Israel express geniune concern because of the war in Ukraine, that clearly falls under the category of danger. The merit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai did not protect people going to Meron; why is this any different?
״And this pasuk surely doesn't apply to holy Breslever Chassidim going to visit the Rebbi who will protect them ״
I truly would like to understand the basis for your assertion that Rebbe Nachman in Shamayim is protecting these followers who are literally entering into a war zone where casualties occur everyday. On the evening of the Meron tragedy 2.5 years ago, was R. Shimon Bar Yohai surely to have protected those innocent souls who were trampled to death?! And if so, then why did this tragedy occur?
Rabbi Chaskel Besser ZZ"L who fled Europe as the Nazi's invaded, told me that we cannot blame the Holocaust on "secular" "zionist" or "reform" of Jews. The Holocaust is without understanding, the Hester Panim so intense, there is no answer. Those that claim to know "why" the Holocaust happened on spiritual terms should be ignored.
I am not agreeing with the other side but Netanyahu could have worded it differently
That is a fundamentalist understanding of the pasuk in Devarim. It's talking metaphorically that if we do Avodah Zara it will be "as if" Hashem is abandoning us and hiding his face from us. But we know from the Baal Shem Tov that truly Hashem always has full control at all times. And this pasuk surely doesn't apply to holy Breslever Chassidim going to visit the Rebbi who will protect them and we know that shlichei mitzvos are not harmed.
I refer you to Talmud kiddushin 39b that discuses the incident of an innocent child sent by his father up a ladder to fulfil the mitzvah of שילוח הקן. Two mitzvot whose reward is long life. The child falls and dies. The discussion in Talmud follows many opinions but after the failure of many “frum” theologies the rabbis conclude that the ladder was indeed rickety and “one cannot rely on miracles when there is fixed danger”. I think any rational human being can see that there is a “fixed danger” in going to a war zone. We may want to believe in a blind theology but it will do nothing to protect us from a danger that we place ourselves in - however much Torah we may learn and however much of a שליחות we believe we are on. Please don’t buy in to a naive and frankly dangerous theology that has close to zero support from authentic Jewish sources.
Thank you for your comment. Chazal say that the idea that people going to do a mitzvah are spared from harm does not apply in a situation of clear danger. When the governments of both the United States and Israel express geniune concern because of the war in Ukraine, that clearly falls under the category of danger. The merit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai did not protect people going to Meron; why is this any different?
״And this pasuk surely doesn't apply to holy Breslever Chassidim going to visit the Rebbi who will protect them ״
I truly would like to understand the basis for your assertion that Rebbe Nachman in Shamayim is protecting these followers who are literally entering into a war zone where casualties occur everyday. On the evening of the Meron tragedy 2.5 years ago, was R. Shimon Bar Yohai surely to have protected those innocent souls who were trampled to death?! And if so, then why did this tragedy occur?