Re: הכנסת ס"ת שארית ישראל - hachnasat sefer torah to Bet Hakneset Shearit Yisrael Sderot

bs"d

Israel Kaplan can honestly say that he shares in the pain of his brethren.  May we all be equally zocheh and learn from his example.

Israel, Thank you so much for sharing.  Yasher Koach!

On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 9:47 PM, Israel Kaplan <israelkaplan@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear Family & Friends   On the eighth day of Shevat, corresponding to February 2nd, 2009, a Sefer Torah entered into the Shearit Yisrael Shul in Sderot.  The Shearit Yisrael Kehilla is one of the few ashkenaz shuls in Sderot and has a mix of young and old, many immigrants and Israeli born Jews.   Several month earlier I was approached by members of the kehilla to help them locate a Torah as the Sifrei Torah they had were either on loan or were posul beyond repair.  So after giving it much thought I decided that the right thing to do was to donate one to this shul.   The dedication was not in memory of our family members but rather to honor the Jews of Sderot who have shown our enemies, both near and far that it will take much more than  the intimidation of Kassam rockets and the recklessness of the ruling Israeli governments to remove these Holy Jews from their homes.      The event was planned for between Mincha & Maariv and when I showed up at this very modest shul with Alon Davidi of Maateh L'bitchon Sderot, recorded music started to play and the chaverim of the shul drew us into the dancing immediately.   Throughout the dancing with the Sifrei Torah, I kept thinking of what brings me to this place, why me, why Sderot, why this shul?  Later in the evening the answers became clear when we sat down to the seudah in order to give shevach v'hodaah (praise and thanks to hashem) that he brought us to this moment of great joy(as seen in these pictures).   One regret was that my wife, children and grandchildren who live in Israel were not with me during this hachnasat Hasefer but due to timing, work and school it would have been difficult, however we hope in the future to involve them in similar acts of chesed.   At a point in the suedah a number of Rabbanim stood and said beautiful divrei torah which encapsulated a myriad of aspects related to why we all came together.      So, at the end of the divrei torah an announcement is made asking me to address the kehillah hakdosha and only then did it dawn on me that I am speaking to an entirely hebrew speaking group.   Ashamedly my hebrew is not all that good but having little choice stood up and thus began my debut of giving a drasha in hebrew for the next 10-15 minutes.    I have often heard Rabbanim say throughout my life that whenever you are looking for connectivity to a happening open up the chumash and there you will find it, in front of your nose.    I firstly asked for mechilah from those that were gathered, that my hebrew is rough and that I will need their help to get me through this.   I then brought to their attention my thoughts of why me why Sderot, why this shul.   I opened up the Chumash to parshat Shmot perek alef, posuk zayin.   Yosef has died and the Jewish people were fruitful and became strong and the land became filled with Jews.   So what we see here is that while Yosef was alive and leadership exsisted and protected, the Jewish people were safe and secure and despite the fact that they grew and became many there were no assurances that there safety and security was guaranteed as the following suggests (v'yakam melech chadash).   From this point I turn to Shmot Perek bet posuk yud alef.  Moshe Rabbainu grows up and went out to his brothers and the posuk says that he observed their burdens(v'yar b'sivlosam).  I remarked that Moshe grew up not only grew up physically but also matured in his sensitivity to the plight of his brothers and identified as one of them.   Moshe sees an Egyptian beating a Jew and with very little hesitation acts quickly and decisively, wrong or right and kills the Egyptian.   My comment being that this is the first time we see that a man has taken notice of the suffering of the Jews.   Only later in Shmot perek bet posuk kof daled does hashem state that he hears their crying and moaning and great suffering.  Then again perek gimel posuk zayin does hashem begin to discuss with Moshe that he, Hashem has seen the suffering of his people thus begins the process of Hashem's intervention from suffering, slavery to redemption and freedom.      One should attempt to draw the lessons of life and behavior from the acts of Moshe Rabbainu who long before he knew about the powers of Hashem took it upon himself to help his fellow Jews.   Moshe was brought up as a Prince, isolated from the streets of Egypt where his brothers were going through unimaginable suffering and yet he was unable to live with himself knowing that while this is going on I am enjoying myself in a palatial existence.    It would appear that the message that I am attempting to give is that Hashem will not come into the picture unless he sees how we sacrifice for the sake of our fellow Jews first.  Other examples that Moshe displays are at the time of Golden Calf when Hashem has had it with the Jewish People and declares he will destroy the Jews at which point Moshe shows again his devotion and responds to G-d to wipe his name out from the Torah.   And yet another example of faith & emunah is when Moshe is castigated by G-d prior to the splitting of the sea and with no compassion asks Moshe why are you crying to me "did I not tell you what to do" at which time he tells  Moshe, "Now when Israel is in distress, is no time for lengthy prayer.  Bringing examples such as these could be called a blueprint on how and when to act when segments of the Jewish people are in trouble.     Another famous line that I have heard from Rabbanim throughout my life time is when you have reached IM"H your 120th and you go to for judgement will they ask you why were you not more like Moshe Rabbainu and the answer is no they will ask you why were you not more like yourself, why did you squander the great potential that you had?   Why did not you not hear the calling out of your brothers when they needed you the most?  I pray that most of us won't be asked this question.    Without greater elaboration I asked the gathering if they understood what I was trying to say.   My closing remarks were regarding the yet to be decided elections and who would lead Eretz Yisrael and Am Yisrael into the coming frightening years.  Again I borrowed some parallels from our mesorah.   When we come close to the month of Tishrei, we begin to do some soul searching and often become a bit queezy about transgressions, sins of ommission, innocent and not so innocent comments made to our fellow man.   The coming elections in Israel can be looked at by many political personalities of coming clean as it were with the Jewish people.   How refreshing would it be if someone stands up in front of the viewing public and says I made a terrible, terrible mistake.  I voted for the expulsion of the Jews from Gush Katif, I was carried away to a low place by personal greed.  I watched in the last 3 years how so many families have been destroyed with very few of us politicians coming to their aid.   I watched as the Kassam rockets rained down on the homes and people in Sderot for the last few years and I did so little to help.   Oh, I am so ashamed of what I have done.   I have no right to ask this of you the people of Israel who voted me into power, but I need your forgiveness.   Are there politicians of this calibre who are able to show their human side, I responded, very, very doubtful.   Politicians in Israel are unable to admit to making mistakes lest those who oppose them use the apology as being less than perfect and unable to serve.   Only politicians who make no mistakes are able to serve and the rest, well the rest are not part of the ruling class.   I suggested to the small gathering that far be it from myself to make predictions on the political future of Eretz Yisrael, but that until a new bread of political leadership religous or non-religous are voted into power those that are being recycled today will continue to challenge us for many years to come.   I thanked everyone for the z'chus and merit of sharing my feelings with the Jews of Sderot and left the evening elevated and richer for this experience. May we all share in similar experineces throughout our lives.   Thank you Izzy Kaplan           ----- Sent:  ----- Sent:   חה . I am