Religious Teshuvah
Sadly, here in Israel we are currently in a very dire situation. Terrorists from Gaza infiltrated the country and attacked a music festival as well as multiple communities in Southern Israel. The death toll is already over a thousand, the number of those injured is a few times that, and people were taken hostage by the terrorists (may God protect them and bring them home safely). There are also constant missile barrages raining down on Israeli cities from all sides. We must all strengthen in prayer to our Father in Heaven and talk to him constantly, for this is the path to the redemption, the path of the Moshiach, the path of King David.
In these trying times, I have been receiving messages from my “religious” friends about how such a calamity happened and how it is being fixed spiritually. “The music festival was taking place on Shabbat” some explained. “Most of the communities weren’t religious”, others pointed out. “The survivors have now come around to the truth of God and they finally put on tefillin”, as if their not being religious was the main problem to start with.
Don’t get me wrong, I am writing this wearing my Tallis and Tefillin from the back of the local Shul. I myself likely fall into the category of “religious״, but I personally try not to think this way.
As Rav Kook writes in מאמרי הראיה (I’m using the translation of Rabbi Ze’ev Schwartz):
The “religious” person — that is, the person who thinks he belongs to the group that calls itself “religious” — looks down from a high podium at the secular group. Concerning matters of change, improvement, and teshuvah, he aims his critical eye at the other group that stands before him naked of Torah and Mitzvot. He thinks in his mind that improvement only applies to “them and not him” (quoted from the Pesach Haggadah’s response to the wicked son)..…Therefore it is most beneficial for each individual to take a personal accounting and purify one’s own flaws, while looking with a favorable eye toward others.
(The Spiritual Revolution of Rav Kook pg 122)
Obviously sin must be avoided at all costs. It goes without saying that anyone who repents is doing huge tikkunim; and anyone who takes upon themselves any religious commitments are helping save us from the enemy. But it’s important for each one of us to ask ourselves “How can I do more? How can I help things?”. It’s important for each one of us to personally pray to Hashem in our own words and to keep growing spiritually.
A true Tzaddik doesn’t explain why his brethren were punished, but asks “How can it be that I wasn’t able to save them?”
Moshe doesn’t contemplate whether the Israelites deserve to suffer, but prays on their behalf. So too, we must all strengthen in prayer right now and with God's help we will see great miracles and a speedy redemption.
May we know no more pain.
