Beit Shemesh Tragedy - Iran Missile Targets Civilians

The Hafetz Chaim one time said that [clears throat] if someone would take a box cart and turn it upside down in the middle of town square and stand on top of it and start screaming something out in Yiddish, who would be the ones that would be gathering around the box cart or the guy screaming? Only Jews because they're the only ones who understand Yiddish. The would not bother. So, on that the Hafetz Chaim said the pasuk in Tzephaniah that says "A mighty ulterior motive to take him out of his seat." That when a when a Kodesh Baruch who is speaking, then I'm speaking to you. Ain praniyus ba ela bishvil Yisrael. When events happen in the world, it is not what we call world news. That's an incorrect explanation. It's not world news, it is our personal lives that are being affected. It is a Kodesh Baruch who is speaking to me directly. When we see it is what we call such as news or world news or ideas or things that happen across the ocean in Israel or things like that, then we don't necessarily take it personally. We go, "Ah." We give what we call a society of hate and that type of thing, but in the end of the day we don't feel it in our blood system. So, being as one who lives in Beit Shemesh and it happened so close to us that we had unfortunately a terrible calamity here on a son that happened here in Beit Shemesh where it hit a bull's eye. The ballistic missile landed exactly on a safe room and it killed nine people. Now, let me get it straight. You probably know, but three of those people were children of the same family who have four children. They have three boys, teenage boys, and one little girl. Three of those boys, mishpacha Biton, were killed. In one shot, these these these parents lost three out of four of their children. They have one younger daughter who happened to not be in the area at that time. Two of them was a mother and her daughter where the father and the son are now without without without a parent and without a spouse. >> [snorts] >> These are nine, 50 injuries, but you should know we hear the word 50 injuries, about a 20% of them are serious injury, which means we're talking about a limb missing or the like. This was a serious calamity that happened next door to where I live and many many other from Yidden. I know someone who went to visit Shiva because they are friendly with one of the almanots that are over there and they showed her a picture of the page of the haftorah, the safer Torah was open to a page where it said the words that was from Shmuel that said a makah gedolah in Beit Shemesh. It referred to Beit Shemesh receiving makah, a certain makah that was occurring over there. It was referring to the Aron Kodesh being stolen. Not only that, there was a little little piece, shrapnel is what they say from the from the missile that landed in the safer Torah, it passed the safer Torah and went through it and landed in parshas Zachor on the spot. So, I'm just pointing out to you that apparently Hakadosh Baruch Hu, as the Kodesh as the Chofetz Chaim was mentioning, is sending us a little message because Chazal say, "Im echad mibnei chaveira met, if somebody happens from your kehilla, from your area or from not too far from you, kol hachaveira yidagu." Then Hakadosh Baruch Hu is obviously sending a close and near message for something for everyone here to take place. So, like I said, you'll tell me maybe this has to do with Beit Shemesh. I think we understand the kol Yisrael are zeh bazeh. Eretz Yisrael is considered an ircha also. It is considered part of your city. Everyone in Eretz Yisrael and mamila, the message that we're trying to say is this calamity that happened yes in a time of euphoria in a time when Iran should be turned over and destroyed but still at the same time is sending a message. The Rambam writes in the beginning of Taanis he writes that a person who sees that comes into the city board as obligated obviously supposed to do to scream to go that and he says someone who says it's someone who says it was something that happened wow it's just coincidental this is what happens sometimes you never know it could have happened anywhere he says that's called that's called cruelty lead the back to my same or him. Now what's the meaning of the word cruelty does that seem like a proper definition to refer to I would have said it's a person who's blind a person who's a heretic use some type of what is cruelty have to do the price of tea it doesn't make any sense but the answer is as he continues over there because by doing that you see Zara also if you act in such a way then you destroy the purpose of the message the message that Zara the difficulty the calamity that occurred was there to teach you something if you don't learn something from that I'm calling you from the Rambam you're doubling up you're playing double up in in Blackjack you are now telling me that that apparently your ears are not prepped up enough to listen to the message and I have to pipe up the volume and I have to turn it up and you are inviting on yourself and the rest of for that matter another and maybe even bigger I don't want to be calamity something else that might occur. So that means when these things happen we have to stop and take our own responsibility. We have to stop and look into it and realize wait maybe this isn't just about a couple people who live in Beit Shemesh or those that live in the vicinities around them. Like maybe Rabbi Kanievsky or something like that. No, no. It means that we have to go ahead and take the message and do something about it, which please neither I want to mention one more thing. Yona, when he was on the boat, when he was sitting on the boat, he was sitting with a bunch of ovdei avodah zarah, people who are idol worshipers. There's an unprecedented storm that is going around, completely about to capitulate the whole entire ship. They were in dire straits, they didn't know which way to go. And in the end of the day, what did they do? They asked Yona. Now, Yona had a million excuses to blame it on a bunch of idol worshipers. You guys are a bunch of I'm a tzaddik yesod olam. He's a navi. And what does he say? The famous words that he says, bishvili hasa'arah hazot. This sa'arah, this storm is here because of me. Yona said, "If it if if this storm didn't have anything to do with me, then why am I on this boat? What am I doing here?" Obviously, if I'm in the boat, there's something that I have to take responsibility for. There's something that involves me over here, also. And mamila, bishvili hasa'arah hazot, I need to take responsibility when an occurrence is happening. And therefore, when we have such a event occurring, when we saw such a terrible calamity that occurred, maybe it's time for us to look at it and say, "Bishvili hasa'arah hazot." Maybe it has to do with us needing what what to take from it. Now, I think the message is more or less like this. Because as we say, we kind of take for granted the fact that we are surrounded by miracles. Baruch Hashem, we are surrounded by absolute miracles that are happening on a constant basis. Because we have ballistic missiles that are the size of a bus, 500 kg of of of of of explosions that are going on it. Some of them actually have cluster bombs, which means when they get exploded, they break up into 14 different pieces. And here we are still standing. Everyone's okay. Baruch Hashem, we only had we had a few unfortunate, like I said before, tragedies. But big or small, we're doing okay. When that happens, we become callous. We don't start realizing the mess that is around us. And the Brisk Rav says, listen to the Brisk Rav. He says many times we think when we're okay in this cuz we're big baalei bitachon. No, no. He says, you want to be a baal bitachon? Then you have to realize how bad the situation is. You have to realize how dire the straits of the of where your holding is. You have to realize that yes, you are in a makom sakanah, in a place of absolute danger. When you realize that, and then you have bitachon, and then you say, "Oh, Hakadosh Baruchu, I know that you're taking care of me. I know that I'm in the hands of Tatty. I know that Hashem is taking care of us." That is the level of bitachon. Now, when you're stam callous or just not closing your eyes or not appreciating the situation that's around you. And therefore, sometimes Hakadosh Baruchu sends us a reminder of what we are dealing with. An explosion that took away You have no idea how many streets in the city. When you pass by there, there's a big ditch in the city. Also in Tel Aviv, there was a bore, a literal pit that is on the road. It's coming out of the universe. You understand what I'm talking about? This thing went out of the stratosphere, came back down. And we're talking about the thing that's the size of a bus with 500 kg of explosions. That sounds pretty damaging, no? And still it happened. You should know, there was one of these cluster bombs that fell in 14 spots in Bnei Brak, and you won't believe it. In Bnei Brak, there's no open space. And it landed in open space. I don't know where the open space is, if they are. I don't know why they didn't build a building there yet. But Hakadosh Baruchu had happened, and I listened to one of the and I heard one of the non-religious station saying, they said, "In our in the in the luck of the people, it ended up not landing on anywhere. Good luck, mazel lemazelam. That's it. Because it's an unbelievable thing that people can get to such a stage. But we have to take a different direction. Our success comes from the fact that we put our bitachon in Hashem." When did this happen on Purim? Now, let me tell you just one incredible idea that you have to know. Because if you notice the first half of the Megillah, the whole first half of the Megillah, we don't find Esther playing a very active role. She's completely passive the whole time. At Maimer Mordechai as Esther, she does whatever Mordechai tells us she tells her. She goes ahead and she doesn't say at moledet she doesn't say where she's coming from. She's the Melech. She goes to Mordechai and to the Melech. She doesn't say anything. She's playing a completely passive role. Mordechai is the Melech to tell her what to do. Who is that? Who is that? She doesn't play an active role. Incredible that in the second half of the Megillah, suddenly we find her being incredibly active. She turns over a leaf gamre. What does it say? Esther knows the Yudim. She was 3 days She decreed 3 days of fasting. Suddenly she goes ahead and she throws a party with and Haman. Quite a scary event to happen. She Esther She already She already reported to the Melech what she was. She goes ahead and she was She gave base home on the Mordechai. She handed over Mordechai's things and then eventually she said the She goes ahead and tells the rabbi she says she wants them to put Megillat Esther into the 24 books of Tanakh. This woman took a very active role in the second half of the Megillah. For a lady that was quiet and passive, we don't hear one word of her in the beginning of the Megillah. An incredible aura. But the answer is the one time heard is the answer lies smack of the Megillah. What does it say? Esther that Esther went ahead and she wore the Chazal tell us in the warm Megillah, she wore Ruach Hakodesh. Suddenly she had a surge of bitachon, a surge of a connection, a relationship to Kadosh Baruchu. She suddenly felt that Kadosh Baruchu with her, and she then ended up in not ending up in despair or any type of feeling of abandonment, but instead she turned her life into a life of purpose, a life of a ya'ad, of a goal where she is directing it because Hashem is behind her the whole entire way. And as a result of that, she suddenly took, as we say in Hebrew, a yozma. She took some type of active role to go ahead and give purpose to everything she's doing, and there she is the woman who saved the day. Megillat Esther is called on her incredible move that she did because she is the one who saved us through her level of bitachon. The whole Megillah, the whole idea behind it is to stop looking at mikra, stop looking at things that look like accidents. Ben ben Oy shall karal, the whole metziut of Amalek and his children, his child Haman, was all about "Et kol asher karahu", talking about this had happened and that, "Oh, what this happened?" This coincidence and that coincidence, as we are quite familiar with, and take the lesson of Esther, know that yes, this is a dangerous situation. Yes, these ballistic missiles that are falling are not so simple. I realize that the situation we're in is not is not pashet, but to take it with a bread and understand, "Wow, but Hakadosh Baruchu is there protecting us." To feel the comfort, to feel the warmth that Hashem is behind me. You know what the tikkun was in the whole Megillah and what this we're finishing is Mordechai. Mordechai was a gilgul, he was a hemshech of his great grandfather Yaakov Avinu, and Esau, of course, is the father of Amalek, as we know he's the father of Amalek and eventually to Haman, who comes from Amalek. Esau, Haman. Yaakov, Mordechai. On that fateful day in Parshat Vayishlach, when it says "Vayeitzei Yaakov a year mode, he was very scared, even though he received a promise from Hakadosh Baruchu. Yaakov Avinu was quite scared because he For whatever reasons he was scared and therefore he bowed down, him and his 10 children bowed down to Eisav. And that was sort of speak a sin for the great person that he was. Who was the one to repair that sin? Who's the one that's going to fix that problem? That's right, Mordechai. When he stood up, Velo kara velo yishtachaveh, and he did not bow down to who? Haman, who comes from Eisav, Haman the descendant of Eisav and Mordechai the descendant from Yaakov. And he did not bow to him, that was the way to repair what his great-grandfather, his zaidy, would uh his great his zaidy very very very subtly made the sin that he did. That's what Yaakov was That's what happened with Yaakov and that's what happened with Mordechai who picked it up. And don't forget, Mordechai comes from Shevet Binyamin. Binyamin was the only one who didn't bow down to Eisav. He was the only one who had it in his power not to bow down to Eisav because Binyamin wasn't around, he wasn't born yet at that time. And Mordechai went ahead and cleaned up the pieces. What's it about? Bitachon. Knowing that Hakadosh Baruchu is behind me, I'm not scared of you. I know that you're a scary person. I know and in the Gemara it says that he always said that Haman was going to kill him, but he was okay. He had bitachon in Hakadosh Baruchu cuz he knew what was right to what needed to be done. And as a result of that, he was the man and him together with Esther were the ones who were able to succeed. With this we come back to where we started. Yes, we went through a terrible calamity and yes, we are in a state of euphoria, of simcha, hopefully success to be able to destroy the enemy that is on the other side. But we have to realize and accomplish and realize the incredible danger that we are surrounded by, that we have an incredible strong government over there that is swimming in ballistic missiles. They have hundreds of hundreds of tens of thousands of these ballistic missiles. Some of them even are chemical warfare, believe it or not. And some of them, like I said, are cluster bombs. And here we are and give us that we should go out and we go from Purim to Pesach to see the month of to come out and we'll bring out this kingdom be amen amen.