One hundred and fourteen days into the war and the end is still not in sight. Over 1,400 who were murdered, 136 hostages who are still in Gaza, and the fighting is still going on. Many ask, “What is our role now? How can we - the citizens of Israel and Jews around the world - help spiritually and personally?
Last week, Rabbi Yoel Moshe Pinto, the son and successor of Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, gave a unique talk in Ashkelon revolving around the question: What is our role now? The answer was detailed and empowering. Watch the full talk.
At the beginning of his words, Rabbi Yoel Moshe Pinto mentioned, "There is one front where people are fighting the enemy, and it is obvious what the Holy One, blessed be He, expects them to do. But what about we Jews, the ones who are not on the war front, but in the home front? What does God want us to do? What should we be doing at this time?"
He explained that, "There are religions who make vague demands upon their adherents. They require a person to be generally good, to be kind, not to behave cruelly. Judaism, our Torah, doesn’t give vague demands. The Torah commands us in minute details what we should do in every case."
He continued, "We have a program that is spread out over many years, it covers our entire life. Each year has a different kind of message. There are seven days, there is Shabbat, every hour of the day has its own relevant commandment. So at a difficult time like this, when the Jewish people are suffering terribly, we need to better understand what the Holy One, blessed be He, is asking us to do at this difficult hour."
Rabbi Yoel Pinto laid out the way by which one can know the correct answer: "Of course, the simplest and safest way handed down to us from our ancestors of how to know what the Holy One, blessed be He, wants from us is to look at the weekly Torah portion and see what happens in it. What processes are taking place in the weekly Torah portion? What events are happening in it? And then try to see the analogy to our present times and what we need to learn for our response."
He expanded on the weekly Torah portion of Beshalach, in which the Torah recounts that the Exodus from Egypt was the "first war in the history" of the Jewish people after becoming a people. Rabbi Pinto averred that this war paved the way showing each and every one of us how to practically respond during these days. Watch the full talk.
This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel