Parshat Vayelech  27 Ellul 5761, 15 September 2001

By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - I write these lines shortly after having been shocked and stunned at the vicious terrorist attack upon the United States of America, with the Twin Towers having collapsed and the Pentagon Building inflamed only a few hours ago. It happened while I was making a breakfast presentation "From the Front lines of the War in Israel" to a group of high-powered business people in the boardroom of Stroock, Stroock and Lavan; I had just expressed my belief that "if, in the last century, the two major threats to world stability and human freedom had come from Nazi Fascism and Stalinist Communism - and both of these had raised their weapons of destruction first against the Jews and then against the entire free world - the heir to these Evil Empires in the 21st century is Islamic Fundamentalism. Today they urge terrorist attacks against Israel, but tomorrow they will target the United States and the entire free world." Almost as on cue, the door to the boardroom was opened by a grim employee who announced the air attack on the Twin Towers, only to be followed by the news of the burning Pentagon a few moments later... We felt it was either a bad science fiction film, or the beginning of World War III...

This is our season of Tshuva, Repentance, the ten days between the Festival of the Sound of the Shofar (Ram's Horn) and the Awesome and White Fast of Atonement and Purification. Maimonides explains the symbolism of the shofar blast as a Divinely sent wake-up call: "Arise, those who are asleep, from your slumber," cast aside your specious and superficial self-satisfaction, and serve the Almighty as you were created to do!

What is the definition of this Divine service? First of all, we must blow the ram's horn and coronate our G-d as the Lord of the entire universe. That is the subject of malkhuyot, our declaration of the Kingship of the Divine, the first of the unique blessings of the Rosh Hashanah Mussaf Amidah. Why must we, the much maligned and persecuted Jewish people, be concerned about making G-d King of the Universe? Isn't it sufficient that we worry about ourselves, given that we are a fairly powerless nation and that the rest of the world demonstrates again and again how little they value our values and how deeply they despise us? The Rosh Hashanah (New Year) Prayer teaches us that we must be concerned about the world, because the member nations of our global village are inter-dependent; the precise "nature" (as it were) of the G-d who we coronate King has ultimate ramifications for every citizen in the universe. Our G-d of love and peace demands justice and peace; a god who insists on domination by the sword can only wreak havoc on society and cause human blood to fertilize the earth. We must coronate the holy Lord, who is "sanctified by righteousness."

Secondly, we must blow the ram's horn and remember our G-d of History who is mindful of individuals and nations, who bestows specific functions upon people and peoples. This is the subject of the second unique blessing, Zichronot, Remembrances: And we, the Jewish people, were charged with the mission of communicating the message of ethical monotheism to the world, of impressing upon humanity that our Parent in Heaven wishes His children on earth to establish just and peaceful societies. And if the relatively weak and paltry Israel must see itself as the bearers of this message, how much more must the great and powerful United States of America assume this responsibility as well!

Thirdly, we must blow the ram's horn which was sounded at Sinai, where the Almighty gave His Torah to Israel and the world. This is the subject of the third unique blessing, Shofarot, which signals the absolute law of the prohibitions against murder and stealing, against adultery and the service of false gods. The seven laws of morality must be accepted by every human being if the world is to be safe for human habitation. "Turn the other cheek" is a prescription for immorality; it is the craven and puerile pluralism which refuses to take a stand against terror and thereby abandons the world to the domination of the most despicable, destructive and despotic forces of evil. Those who refuse to hate and destroy terror will themselves become victims of terror; those who are accepting of evil must ultimately take responsibility for the triumph of evil.

Tragically, the American government and its citizenry has been forced to taste the bitterness of a cowardly terrorist attack against innocent civilians whose only sin was to have left their homes in the morning to go to their place of employment. Hopefully America will strike back-forcefully and effectively. Hopefully, no one will caution America to show restraint, not to be excessive in their reaction, to hold back in order not to continue the evenhandedly expressed "cycle of violence". America and the entire free world has hopefully learned that the terrorist interprets restraint as weakness, negotiation as capitulation.

The shofar sounds include the broken, sighing sob of the t'ruah as well as the straight, exultant sound of the tikiah. We weep at the injustice and cruelty within an imperfect and incomplete world; our heart breaks over the inhumanity of human being to human being, those who have the capacity to incite and encourage suicide bombers to destroy innocent people. But the shofar is also the clarion call to war against the forces of terrorism and evil - as well as the jubilant victory shout in confidence of our ultimate vindication and triumph. The year gone by has forced both Israel and America to face the evil of Islamic Fundamentalism. America, "don't ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." May the coming year grant the wisdom, strength, and courage to all who revere life and freedom to join together in order to make the world safe for the peace and security which is the promise of our Day of Forgiveness and Redemption!

Shabbat Shalom.

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