When we come to this realization that we have little to gain from the surrounding nations, the pasuk continues, “umal Hashem Elokecha es levavcha – Hashem will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring,” meaning Hashem will bend your heart toward Him. Hashem will bring us to understand that there is nothing better, nothing that brings more joy and fulfillment, than being the am Hashem, fulfilling His commandments and doing His will.
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The galus of America and the entire North American continent is perhaps the most benevolent galus the Jewish nation has experienced since the Churban Beis HaMikdash. Our feelings of gratitude are immense. After the terrible churban we underwent in Europe, this land has welcomed us and given us the wherewithal to thrive and build a remarkable Torah infrastructure.
Nevertheless, there are dangers inherent in this benevolence. The unique qualities that America offers have often led Jews to become overly enamored with American culture. In Parshas Va’eschanan there are several powerful pesukim that offer food for thought. In his parting words from Bnei Yisrael, Moshe Rabbeinu explains what the nations of the world will say when they see how Bnei Yisrael conduct themselves by keeping Hashem’s commandments:
“You shall safeguard and perform [the mitzvos] for it is your wisdom and discernment in the eyes of the peoples who shall hear all of these mitzvos and say, surely a wise and discerning people is this great nation. For which is a great nation that has a God Who is close to it whenever we call Him…” (Devarim 4-6).”
Perhaps we don’t realize this, but at the end of the day the nations of the world look to us as the am chacham v’navon, the wise and discerning nation. They themselves subconsciously understand that Hashem’s Torah and mitzvos are the basis for all morality in the world.
It is important for us, as Torah-observant Jews as well as astute observers of the society and culture in which we live, to understand that there is a tremendous emptiness in the surrounding society. The violent anarchy that has shaken many American cities in recent months is just one example. Another, perhaps even more concerning factor, is the immorality that confronts us everywhere. All kinds of perversions are now not just tolerated and condoned but praised under the guise of “equal rights.” It is becoming increasingly difficult to protect and shelter our children from a civilization that has lost its way when it comes to moral issues.
Politics has similarly lost any semblance of dignity. Corruption abounds and has become so embedded in the system that no one is shocked by it anymore. The candidates engage regularly and openly in the most degrading and disgusting form of viscous, malevolent mudslinging that perhaps has ever existed in a political campaign. The dignity of the highest office in the world is in utter ruin.
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As we approach Rosh Hashanah, the Yom HaDin when we all so want to be inscribed for a good year, for berachos, yeshuos, good health, and minimal suffering, it is important to bear in mind the above lessons. On Rosh Hashanah the primary focus of our tefillos is not on asking Hashem for a good year but on accepting His kingship over us and over the world. Our most fervent tefillah is ultimately, “V’yei’asu kulam agudah echas laasos retzoncha b’levav shalem –may we all form a single group to do Your will wholeheartedly.”
In contrast to the worldview that holds the ultimate goal is to achieve self-gratification and pleasure, the ultimate goal we must cultivate is the desire to serve Hashem b’achdus. Rather than just knowing this intellectually, it is what we must really crave. That is what we must really crave, not just cerebrally know. That is what we must seek – to feel this desire of coming together b’achdus with all our fellow Jews to do Hashem’s will.
Perhaps the best way to cultivate that desire is to look around at the host culture, look at what it idolizes, look at the moral decay that not just surrounds but engulfs us, look at how the political culture drenched in vicious hatemongering is the diametric opposite of our mandate of “V’yei’asu kulam agudah echas laasos retzoncha b’levav shalem – may we all form a single group to do Your will wholeheartedly.” Contemplating this will give our tefillos added meaning this year.
As we approach Rosh Hashanah it is important to take advantage of the unique vantage point his year offers us in understanding the degeneration that characterizes today’s society and use it as a springboard to do teshuvah and return to Hashem out of the recognition that the glitz and tinsel America has to offer is but a mirage.
There is another takeaway message we must internalize as we approach Rosh Hashanah and the ensuing aseres yemei teshuvah. After the pasuk tells us that “you will do teshuvah,” it continues, “You will return to Hashem and listen to His voice.” The Sforno comments that this time when you return to Hashem “it will not be the return by rote that you have done until now” – perhaps a lesson applicable to the times in which we live today.
Every year when Rosh Hashanah comes we declare that we want to do teshuvah. We go through the motions but after the yomim noraim we often fall back into our habits fairly quickly and forget about all of our declarations during Rosh Hashanah and the aseres yemei teshuvah.
This year, however, when we see and internalize how little enticement there is in the outside world; when we take note of the morally bankrupt society in which we live; when we witness the lowly state of the political landscape; and when we see our Supreme Court enshrining abomination into the law of the land and determinedly trying to make a pariah out of anyone who doesn’t agree, we can do teshuvah with all our hearts.
