Always Quietly | Rabbi Haggai Lundin | Beit Midrash

Family and Society
Understanding Circumstances

קטגוריה משנית

119

The main characteristic of media storms is noise; lots of noise. Not a week goes by without loud screams in the media and social media, each time on an issue upon which the world seemingly depends: COVID-19; legal reform; settlers; ultra-Orthodox; cost of living, etc. The subject changes, the hatred and noise remain constant.

The Torah portion of Pinchas, which we will read this Shabbat, deals with the continual offering. Every morning and evening, a lamb was sacrificed in the Temple. The lamb represents the natural and simple way of life. This means that the main way to get closer to God is not through dramatic actions and media noise, but through constant, quiet and successful effort. One of the reasons for marking the 17th of Tammuz fast which we will observe on Thursday is that from the day the Temple was destroyed, the continual offering stopped - in other words: since the destruction of the Temple, people relate more to the audible noise and listen less to the quiet sounds that operate below the surface.

Think of the thousands of hours of watching and listening to inflammatory media that time and time again turn out to be full of hot air – political babble that we don't even remember exactly what it was about a year later. Look at how the noise of Netanyahu's files collapses into itself; look at how the progressive fantasies of the left are collapsing in France. Note the discrepancy between the IDF's quiet operation in Jenin and the noise of those who block the airport. Anyone who listens knows that while the screamers threaten civil disobedience, the systems below the surface are quietly moving in the right direction – demography, education, settlement, economy, security and tradition. The best of our sons act quietly. a continual victory of continual sacrifice; always quietly.

The bad will pass

The good will prevail

With God's help