In recent weeks Klal Yisrael has been occupied with an outbreak of the Measles disease. It is a serious disease which can be fatal. Before I make my point, which I have not heard anyone mention as of yet, I would like to say that we should have all those who have contracted the disease in mind in our tefillos. May they have a speedy recovery.
Aside from the serious health risks that this disease presents, the outbreak has brought with it another vile and nasty side-effect, namely machlokes. In almost every community there is a rift on whether vaccinating should be mandatory or a choice. Lawsuits have been brought against schools, posters hung – alas the machlokes endures.
Every decision in a Jew’s life is governed by halacha. The question of whether vaccination is mandatory is a halachic one as well, and unsurprisingly the psak will be based on evidence from medical science. So, why hasn’t this question been resolved?
Unfortunately, we do not have a single halachic authority that everyone abides by, and as a result each person can rely on whomever they choose. Consequently, we have the conflict that is plaguing our community, both physically and spiritually via the ongoing machlokes between Vaxxers and Anti-Vaxxers.
One thing is clear we need the geula desperately. We need a central, unified beis din in Yerushalayim, as the pasuk says, “Ki mitzion teitzei Torah.”
There is a source that explains why Klal Yisrael suffered an outbreak of a plague. The Navi tells us in Shmuel Beis (24:1) that Hashem was angry and sent a pestilence and many Jews died. Rashi there says he does not know why Hashem was angry at Bnei Yisrael.
The Ramban in Parshas Korach (16:21) writes that Klal Yisrael suffered a terrible plague in the abovementioned episode because they prolonged the building of the Beis Hamikdash. Says the Ramban, “If Klal Yisrael would have wanted and been nesorrer for the Beis Hamikdash earlier, it would have been built earlier by Klal Yisrael – not by Dovid Hamelech and Shlomo Hamelech – and there would not have been anger against them and they would not have suffered those tzaros.”
For the second time in world history, Klal Yisrael is in Eretz Yisrael before the building of the Beis Hamikdash. Are we being nesorrer for the Beis Hamikdash? Do we really want it? Perhaps it is not enough to want it deep down; maybe we must show that we want it, and speak about it openly, as speaking can help one to be nesorrer about something.
We are experiencing a period of tzaros in Eretz Yisrael as just this week hundreds of rockets once again were fired into our cities. It should be mentioned the open miracles that we are experiencing as well, considering the minimal number of casualties in proportion to the number of rockets fired. According to one story, 25 soldiers exited a bus literally a minute before an anti-tank missile exploded it. Nevertheless, we are under attack and it is an eis tzara. Schools are closed, and people are living in fear.
We know that tzaros befall our nation to remind us to correct something. Instead of allowing ourselves to advance us further into machlokes let us focus on what we really need: the geula. Yehi ratzon that in the zechus of being nesorrer for the Beis Hamikdash and Eretz Yisrael we will be zocheh not only to stop these tzaros, but to the coming of Mashiach and the building of the Beis Hamikdash, amen.
