THE TSUNAMI -- A TORAH PERSPECTIVE

Derasha delivered by Haham Amram Assayag on Shabat Shemot, 20 th of Tebet 5765,

800 th anniversary of Rambam and Hilula of Rebbi Yaakob Abu’hatsira z.y.a.a.

We read in this week’s Perasha about the three signs that Moshe Rabenu was to display before the Jews – the staff turning into a snake, Moshe’s hand becoming leprous and the Nile waters turning into blood. These signs constituted a Divine change in the rules of nature. In fact, a series of ten plagues will follow culminating with the splitting of the Red Sea, and all the plagues will display an astounding spectacle of Hashem’s intervention in the very rigid laws of nature.

Rambam, whose eight hundredth anniversary is commemorated today, discusses these very changes of nature in his Guide to the Perplexed, Moreh Nebuchim (2-29). He teaches us that all these changes that occurred throughout history are of Divine design, integrated in the very creation of the world, and thus, there is nothing new under the sun. Rambam brings the Hahamim’s interpretation of the word, ‘ le’etano’, (Shemot 14-27) referring to the Red Sea’s power. In a play on words, we are to read ‘letenao’ meaning “to its original stipulation”, as the sea was created on condition that it split when the Jewish people will cross it. We are, therefore, to understand that any change in nature that we experience has been devised by Hashem and obviously with reason. The horrific tsunami that the world witnessed this week is one of those predetermined events.

The Talmud in Berachot 59a discusses the blessing to be recited when witnessing an earthquake and considers the origin of earthquakes by the following anecdote:

Rav Ketina was walking along the road. When he reached the door of the house of a bone necromancer, the earth shuddered and quaked. Rav Ketina said, “Does the bone necromancer know how such an earthquake comes to be?” The necromancer shouted out to him, “Ketina, Ketina, why should I not know? When the Holy One, Blessed is He, remembers His children who endure in misery amidst the nations of the world, He sheds two tears that fall into the Great Sea, and its sound is heard from one end of the world until its other end, and that is what we perceive as an earthquake.” Rav Ketina replied, “The bone necromancer is a fraud and his words are false. If it is so, that an earthquake is caused by two heavenly tears, then there should be two earthquakes!” However, it was not as Rav Ketina argued. For in fact, there are two earthquakes, and the reason that Rav Ketina did not admit this to him was so that the whole world should not make the mistake of following the necromancer in other things. Rav Ketina himself said, “God claps His hands”, as it says, “I too will pound My hand upon My hand, and I will put My wrath to rest”, and the earth shakes from the resulting sound. R’ Natan says, “God emits a sigh,” as it says, “and I will put My wrath to rest through them and so I will find consolation for the punishment I have dealt to them”, and His sigh convulses the land. And the Rabbis say, “He kicks the sky”, as it says, “He shouts ‘Hedad’, like those who trample the grapes at the winepress, to all the inhabitants of the land.” Rav A’ha bar Yaakov said, “He pushes His feet under the Throne of Glory”, as it says, “Thus, said Hashem, the heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool”.

Hashem’s pain is at its height and its expression, in any form, brings about the calamity of an earthquake. His children are suffering and they have not brought themselves to merit their final redemption. His two tears falling in the sea produce the two gigantic-wave tsunamis. In fact, in a regular earthquake we would not sense the double tremor, nor would we know that it is connected to the sea. However, the tsunami occurs in the sea from which erupt two waves traveling in opposite directions. Thus, Hashem’s two tears falling in the sea.

Why did Hashem choose the sea as the medium of His display of pain? Hasn’t David Hamelech praised Hashem in Tehilim (104:9):

“You did set a bound that they (ocean waters) might not pass over, that they might not turn back to cover earth”?

What message is Hashem sending us when He allows the water to cover the earth?

Yirmiyahu, the prophet at the time of the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash, had many opportunities to reprimand the Jewish nation for their lack of Yir’at Shamayim, fear of Hashem. In a poignant rebuke (5:22), he highlights to the nation the absurdity in their lack of Yir’at Shamayim, in light of the most compelling reason to fear Him.

In the words of Hashem, he states:

“Do you not fear Me?” says Hashem. “Will you not tremble at My Presence, who has placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it, and though the waves toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar they cannot pass over it?”

From the innumerable acts of kindness performed by Hashem, none will convincingly and forcefully bring us to Yir’at Shamayim as Hashem’s restraint of the sea. Perhaps the reason for this is because man has an astounding resemblance to the sea. Indeed, man is a raging sea, energized by ambitions, dreams, urges and desires, very capable of trespassing, breaching, devastating and ravaging. As Hashem put a boundary to the roaring sea, so too, He put a boundary to raging man, namely the Holy Torah. It then became incumbent upon man to keep his own bounds in proper position, so the rest of the creations can also keep theirs in proper position. It thus follows that if the sea breaches its bounds, it is because man has already shattered his own buffer.

When the tsunami came, it was sent to alarm us into assessing our Yir’at Shamayim. Now, we have to take notice. We have to newly erect our own fences and further fortify our protective walls. Now, we must intensify our Torah and Misvot performance in order to boost and fuel our Yir’at Shamayim. This is the earth-shattering message sent to us.

The part of the world that Hashem chose to convey his grief to us serves as a further confirmation of His message. That part of Asia is ranked as the one place in the world where all three cardinal sins of our Torah are unreservedly transgressed. Idolatry and immorality are unconditionally available. Murder is the inevitable result of all the trafficking and consumption of drugs. Some will die and others will be counted among the walking dead. This is not to say that there aren’t other evil places in the world.

However, the combination of these three sins is exceptionally rare. The extreme lack of Yir’at Shamayim is epitomized by these sins.

We know that names are meant to reveal the major defining factors of the bearer. A thought occurred to me. Transliterating tsunami into Hebrew may give us an indication of its raison d’etre. The root of the word is formed by the three letters – tsadi, nun and mem. There is one word in the Torah of the same root. In Bereshit 41:23, Par’oh describes the seven ears of wheat he sees in his dream as being ‘tsenumot’ – withered, meaning dry and void of moisture. In fact, the word ‘tsinum’ in Hebrew translates as dehydration.

Perhaps the tsunami came as the result of the spiritual aridity persistent in the world. What spectacular display could more dramatically emphasize our spiritual dehydration than the horrendous waters of the tsunami. Hashem is telling the world, “You are spiritually dehydrated! This is what you need – water, water and more water”.

Ve’ein mayim ela Torah” – all water is a reference to Torah. (Baba Kama 17a)

The sea which trespasses its boundaries, the interpretation of the word tsunami, and Southeastern Asia jointly underscore the essence of Hashem’s message regarding our own level of Yir’at Shamayim. Hashem, in His infinite love, is urging us to rehabilitate and to revitalize ourselves through our Torah, the source of life.

Rebbi Yaakov Abu’hatsera, whose Hilula we celebrate today, proposes that through the three signs, Hashem intended to address both Moshe Rabenu and Am Yisrael. Moshe had expressed a degree of despondency when he complained to Hashem that the Jewish people were not capable of listening to his message of hope. In response, Hashem told Moshe to observe that when the staff, his hand and the Nile waters are taken out of their natural setting, they all lose their real identity and become damaged. However when brought back to their original environment, they immediately repair themselves and return to their untarnished state. The Jewish nation has also been removed from its natural habitat, the Holy Land, and brought to an atrocious slavery. The Jews have obviously lost their quintessence and their very soul. However, when the nation will be brought back to its sanctified milieu, the Jews will return to their inherent, impeccable character.

It is in this light that we are to understand Hashem’s cry. His two tears epitomize His unending love and hope for us. He cries as a father who feels the profound pain of his beloved children in galut. Hashem enrages the nature of the world into rousing us to the Yir’at Shamayim that He trustingly anticipates from us.

Rambam in his Guide to the Perplexed (ibid) suggests that all earth-shattering occurrences, good or bad, are to be counted among the spectacular events designated to

‘Yom Hashem Hagadol Vehanora’, the great and awesome day of Hashem.

The Jewish nation must acknowledge Hashem’s infinite love and hope, and reciprocate with a wholesome devotion to His Torah and Mitsvot. We must invigorate our Yir’at Shamayim so that very soon, the day can arrive when Yish’ayahu’s prophecy (11:9) will be fulfilled:

“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Hashem, as the waters cover the sea.”

THE TSUNAMI -- A TORAH PERSPECTIVE

Derasha delivered by Haham Amram Assayag on Shabat Shemot, 20th of Tebet 5765,
800th anniversary of Rambam and Hilula of Rebbi Yaakob Abu’hatsira z.y.a.a.

We read in this week’s Perasha about the three signs that Moshe Rabenu was to display before the Jews – the staff turning into a snake, Moshe’s hand becoming leprous and the Nile waters turning into blood. These signs constituted a Divine change in the rules of nature. In fact, a series of ten plagues will follow culminating with the splitting of the Red Sea, and all the plagues will display an astounding spectacle of Hashem’s intervention in the very rigid laws of nature.

Rambam, whose eight hundredth anniversary is commemorated today, discusses these very changes of nature in his Guide to the Perplexed, Moreh Nebuchim (2-29). He teaches us that all these changes that occurred throughout history are of Divine design, integrated in the very creation of the world, and thus, there is nothing new under the sun. Rambam brings the Hahamim’s interpretation of the word, ‘le’etano’, (Shemot 14-27) referring to the Red Sea’s power. In a play on words, we are to read ‘letenao’ meaning “to its original stipulation”, as the sea was created on condition that it split when the Jewish people will cross it. We are, therefore, to understand that any change in nature that we experience has been devised by Hashem and obviously with reason. The horrific tsunami that the world witnessed this week is one of those predetermined events.

The Talmud in Berachot 59a discusses the blessing to be recited when witnessing an earthquake and considers the origin of earthquakes by the following anecdote:
Rav Ketina was walking along the road. When he reached the door of the house of a bone necromancer, the earth shuddered and quaked. Rav Ketina said, “Does the bone necromancer know how such an earthquake comes to be?” The necromancer shouted out to him, “Ketina, Ketina, why should I not know? When the Holy One, Blessed is He, remembers His children who endure in misery amidst the nations of the world, He sheds two tears that fall into the Great Sea, and its sound is heard from one end of the world until its other end, and that is what we perceive as an earthquake.” Rav Ketina replied, “The bone necromancer is a fraud and his words are false. If it is so, that an earthquake is caused by two heavenly tears, then there should be two earthquakes!” However, it was not as Rav Ketina argued. For in fact, there are two earthquakes, and the reason that Rav Ketina did not admit this to him was so that the whole world should not make the mistake of following the necromancer in other things. Rav Ketina himself said, “God claps His hands”, as it says, “I too will pound My hand upon My hand, and I will put My wrath to rest”, and the earth shakes from the resulting sound. R’ Natan says, “God emits a sigh,” as it says, “and I will put My wrath to rest through them and so I will find consolation for the punishment I have dealt to them”, and His sigh convulses the land. And the Rabbis say, “He kicks the sky”, as it says, “He shouts ‘Hedad’, like those who trample the grapes at the winepress, to all the inhabitants of the land.” Rav A’ha bar Yaakov said, “He pushes His feet under the Throne of Glory”, as it says, “Thus, said Hashem, the heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool”.

Hashem’s pain is at its height and its expression, in any form, brings about the calamity of an earthquake. His children are suffering and they have not brought themselves to merit their final redemption. His two tears falling in the sea produce the two gigantic-wave tsunamis. In fact, in a regular earthquake we would not sense the double tremor, nor would we know that it is connected to the sea. However, the tsunami occurs in the sea from which erupt two waves traveling in opposite directions. Thus, Hashem’s two tears falling in the sea.

Why did Hashem choose the sea as the medium of His display of pain? Hasn’t David Hamelech praised Hashem in Tehilim (104:9):
“You did set a bound that they (ocean waters) might not pass over, that they might not turn back to cover earth”?

What message is Hashem sending us when He allows the water to cover the earth?

Yirmiyahu, the prophet at the time of the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash, had many opportunities to reprimand the Jewish nation for their lack of Yir’at Shamayim, fear of Hashem. In a poignant rebuke (5:22), he highlights to the nation the absurdity in their lack of Yir’at Shamayim, in light of the most compelling reason to fear Him.
In the words of Hashem, he states:
“Do you not fear Me?” says Hashem. “Will you not tremble at My Presence, who has placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it, and though the waves toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar they cannot pass over it?”

From the innumerable acts of kindness performed by Hashem, none will convincingly and forcefully bring us to Yir’at Shamayim as Hashem’s restraint of the sea. Perhaps the reason for this is because man has an astounding resemblance to the sea. Indeed, man is a raging sea, energized by ambitions, dreams, urges and desires, very capable of trespassing, breaching, devastating and ravaging. As Hashem put a boundary to the roaring sea, so too, He put a boundary to raging man, namely the Holy Torah. It then became incumbent upon man to keep his own bounds in proper position, so the rest of the creations can also keep theirs in proper position. It thus follows that if the sea breaches its bounds, it is because man has already shattered his own buffer.

When the tsunami came, it was sent to alarm us into assessing our Yir’at Shamayim. Now, we have to take notice. We have to newly erect our own fences and further fortify our protective walls. Now, we must intensify our Torah and Misvot performance in order to boost and fuel our Yir’at Shamayim. This is the earth-shattering message sent to us.

The part of the world that Hashem chose to convey his grief to us serves as a further confirmation of His message. That part of Asia is ranked as the one place in the world where all three cardinal sins of our Torah are unreservedly transgressed. Idolatry and immorality are unconditionally available. Murder is the inevitable result of all the trafficking and consumption of drugs. Some will die and others will be counted among the walking dead. This is not to say that there aren’t other evil places in the world.

However, the combination of these three sins is exceptionally rare. The extreme lack of Yir’at Shamayim is epitomized by these sins.

We know that names are meant to reveal the major defining factors of the bearer. A thought occurred to me. Transliterating tsunami into Hebrew may give us an indication of its raison d’etre. The root of the word is formed by the three letters – tsadi, nun and mem. There is one word in the Torah of the same root. In Bereshit 41:23, Par’oh describes the seven ears of wheat he sees in his dream as being ‘tsenumot’ – withered, meaning dry and void of moisture. In fact, the word ‘tsinum’ in Hebrew translates as dehydration.
Perhaps the tsunami came as the result of the spiritual aridity persistent in the world. What spectacular display could more dramatically emphasize our spiritual dehydration than the horrendous waters of the tsunami. Hashem is telling the world, “You are spiritually dehydrated! This is what you need – water, water and more water”.
Ve’ein mayim ela Torah” – all water is a reference to Torah. (Baba Kama 17a)

The sea which trespasses its boundaries, the interpretation of the word tsunami, and Southeastern Asia jointly underscore the essence of Hashem’s message regarding our own level of Yir’at Shamayim. Hashem, in His infinite love, is urging us to rehabilitate and to revitalize ourselves through our Torah, the source of life.

Rebbi Yaakov Abu’hatsera, whose Hilula we celebrate today, proposes that through the three signs, Hashem intended to address both Moshe Rabenu and Am Yisrael. Moshe had expressed a degree of despondency when he complained to Hashem that the Jewish people were not capable of listening to his message of hope. In response, Hashem told Moshe to observe that when the staff, his hand and the Nile waters are taken out of their natural setting, they all lose their real identity and become damaged. However when brought back to their original environment, they immediately repair themselves and return to their untarnished state. The Jewish nation has also been removed from its natural habitat, the Holy Land, and brought to an atrocious slavery. The Jews have obviously lost their quintessence and their very soul. However, when the nation will be brought back to its sanctified milieu, the Jews will return to their inherent, impeccable character.

It is in this light that we are to understand Hashem’s cry. His two tears epitomize His unending love and hope for us. He cries as a father who feels the profound pain of his beloved children in galut. Hashem enrages the nature of the world into rousing us to the Yir’at Shamayim that He trustingly anticipates from us.

Rambam in his Guide to the Perplexed (ibid) suggests that all earth-shattering occurrences, good or bad, are to be counted among the spectacular events designated to
‘Yom Hashem Hagadol Vehanora’, the great and awesome day of Hashem.

The Jewish nation must acknowledge Hashem’s infinite love and hope, and reciprocate with a wholesome devotion to His Torah and Mitsvot. We must invigorate our Yir’at Shamayim so that very soon, the day can arrive when Yish’ayahu’s prophecy (11:9) will be fulfilled:
“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Hashem, as the waters cover the sea.”