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Where Are You?

Rabbi Dr. Leonard A. Matanky

he Midrash teaches that three
people prophesied with the
word “ה ָכי ֵא” – Moshe Rabbeinu,
TYishayahu HaNavi, and Yirmiyahu
HaNavi.

Moshe saw the Jewish people at the height
of greatness and said י ִ ּ ד ַב ְל א ָּ ׂש ֶא ה ָכי ֵא – “How
can I bear your burdens alone.” Yishayahu
saw the Jews when they were impetuous
and immoral and cried הָי ְר ִק ה ָנֹוז ְל ה ָתְי ָה ה ָכי ֵא
ה ָנ ָמ ֱא ֶנ, “How has the faithful city become
a harlot?” And Yirmiyahu witnessed the
destruction and opened the megilla of Eicha the creation of memorials, and even the will never again have to cry the eicha of a
with the words ד ָד ָב ה ָב ְ ׁשָי ה ָכי ֵא – “How lonely all-too-often lament of דיא א ןייז וצ רעווש, nation in pain.
sits the city” (Midrash Eicha Rabbah). “it’s hard to be a Jew.”
Do we feel that G-d is part of our lives? Do
And yet the introductory sections to that But the question of ה ָּ כ ֶּי ַא is one we need we work to create a connection – not only
midrash lists a fourth ה ָכי ֵא – the word G-d to work on much more – not only in the in shul but at work and at home? Can we
used when He called out to Adam follow- realm of our connection with G-d but answer ה ָּ כֶּי ַא with the words of Kind David,
ing the sin of Gan Eden. G-d said to Adam, also regarding our connection with G-d’s who yearned to be close to G-d, “that I may
“ה ָּ כ ֶּי ַא,” “Where are you?” As the midrash chosen people, the nation of Israel. dwell in the house of Hashem all the days
records, ה ָכי ֵא וי ָל ָע י ִּ ת ְנ ַנֹוק ְו – G-d lamented of my life” (Tehillim 27:4), that we want to
Adam’s sin with the word ה ָכי ֵא, at which From its earliest days, Mizrachi has cele- be with G-d in every aspect of life?
ֹ
point ם ָד ָא ָה ל ֶא םי ִקל- ֱא 'ה א ָר ְקִּי ַו, G-d called out brated and promoted our connection with Ultimately, the way we answer G-d’s ques-
with the question of ה ָּ כ ֶּי ַא (Eicha Rabbah, G-d, the Land of Israel and the people of
Petichta 4). Israel. We have been the bridge that has tion of ה ָּ כֶּי ַא will determine if we will G-d
enabled different views to be heard and forbid lead lives of ה ָכי ֵא, of tragedy, or lives
Doesn’t the midrash know the difference worked to bring the Jewish people closer of growth, connection and joy.
between ה ָּ כֶּי ַא and ה ָכי ֵא? True, the letters to one another. Perhaps this is the essential message of
are the same, but their meaning is very Tisha B’Av – that the way we answer a one-
different! From the days of Rav Kook, who reached
out to the non-religious pioneers, to today, word question can determine the future
The question of ה ָּ כ ֶּי ַא, “Where are you?,” when we are responsible for sending of an entire nation.
can and sometimes does lead to the expe- shlichim around the globe, our answer to
rience of ה ָכי ֵא, “How can it be?” Because the question of ה ָּ כֶּי ַא has been to be at the
when G-d asks ה ָּ כֶּי ַא, He’s not saying “I can’t forefront of repairing the rifts that can
find you, and therefore, where are you?” weaken our people.
Rather, when G-d says ה ָּ כֶּי ַא, it means, “I see
you, but what is the state of your connec- This is precisely what needs to occur, not
tion and relationship with Me?” only in the season of Tisha B’Av, when
we recall the destruction and exile that
If the answer to ה ָּ כֶּי ַא is “I am seeking that resulted from the baseless hatred that Rabbi Dr. Leonard A. Matanky,
connection,” then all is good. But if the plagued our people, but especially today, PhD, is co-president of the Religious
answer is, as Adam said, “I am hiding,” when our calm and reasoned voice for Am Zionists of America, rabbi of Congregation
then tragedy is around the corner. This Yisrael b’Eretz Yisrael al pi Torat Yisrael is so K.I.N.S of West Rogers Park in Chicago, IL,
is the connection the midrash is making sorely needed. and head of school of Ida Crown Jewish
between ה ָּ כֶּי ַא and ה ָכי ֵא. Academy. He is a board member of World
ה ָּ כֶּי ַא – where are we? We are a movement
Mizrachi, an honorary governor of the
Unfortunately, we seem to have mastered that seeks G-d, that aims to bring peace Orthodox Union, and past president of
the “ה ָכי ֵא”s of Jewish life – the cries and between divergent groups, and that does the Rabbinical Council of America.
the sighs, the observance of a Tisha B’Av, so with the beauty of Torah, so that we

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