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54

February 8 • 2018

jn

2201620

Fate And Destiny

A

t Sinai, the Jewish nation
entered into its second cov-
enant with God, a pact based
not on the family-nation of the
descendants of Abraham but rather
on the common religious commit-
ment of adherence to the word of
God revealed at Sinai.
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
taught that, in fact, the Torah
contains two covenantal
in Riga, since the Jewish
experiences: the former, our
doctor who had agreed to
national covenant of fate;
risk his license and perhaps
the latter, our religious cov-
his life was ignorant of
enant of destiny.
Jewish law.
The fate of the Jewish
After both circumcisions,
nation has long been to suf-
I uttered the traditional
fer far more than its to-be-
phrase: “Just like this child
expected share of persecu-
Rabbi Shlomo
has entered the covenant,
tion, exile and suffering. To
Riskin
so may he enter Torah, the
be Jewish was their fate, and
nuptial canopy and a life of
their blood was too often
good deeds.” Suddenly, from
shed as a consequence.
the depths of silence which
Not so the religious faith
one can only sense in a cemetery,
of the commandments of revela-
the father of the boys emitted a
tion. The Torah calls upon each Jew
strangled cry in Yiddish: “Nein ‘ke-
to make a choice: to sanctify the
shem’!” (“Not ‘just like’!”) “I do not
Sabbath or desecrate it; to honor
want their brises, bar mitzvahs and
one’s parents or disregard them.
weddings to be just like this, in hid-
When the bedraggled ex-slaves who
ing, in a cemetery. I want them to be
stood before Sinai and cried out,
in the open, with pride, in our Jewish
“We shall do and we shall under-
stand!” they were making the Jewish homeland, in Israel!”
Indeed, the two children I circum-
vision their national mission, defin-
cised nearly five decades ago cele-
ing themselves as a “kingdom of
brated their weddings in Israel. Both
priest-teachers and a holy nation,”
of them, but particularly the young
and turning their fate into destiny.
man just before bar mitzvah, were
There are, however, special cir-
expressing not only their Jewish fate
cumstances when fate and destiny
but also their Jewish destiny.
become intertwined. One such
Because we have been exiled to so
moment was in September 1970 in
many lands for so many generations,
Riga, Latvia, where I was on a spe-
our return to Israel depends upon
cial underground mission for the
our choice to return to Israel, our
Lubavitcher Rebbe. I was awakened
willingness to fight for Israel, our
at 2:30 a.m. with a daunting and
understanding that only Israel is our
marvelous request. Two brothers,
one just eight days old and the other promised land and ultimate home.
The Land of Israel is an integral
one week prior to his bar mitzvah,
part of the destiny we accepted
were about to be circumcised. Since
at Sinai. We may have returned to
the Soviet regime severely punished
Israel as a result of our determina-
those who participated in such reli-
tion and prayers, but we shall actu-
gious rituals, the two “operations”
alize our destiny in Israel only as a
were to take place in the dead of
result of our efforts and actions.•
night at the Rombula cemetery out-
side Riga.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is chancellor of Ohr Torah
The ritual ceremony had been
Stone and chief rabbi of Efrat Israel.
timed to coincide with my presence

Parshat Mishpatim:
Exodus 21:1-24:18;
II Kings 12:1-17.
(Shabbat Shekalim)