Page 32 - HaMizrachi Chanukah 5783 USA

BLAST

From the Past

In this “Fragments” column from the April 4, 1920 edition of HaMizrachi, Rav Yitzchak Nissenbaum calls upon the Jewish people to “know
their own souls” – to reject the humanistic ideals of Western civilization and proudly embrace the uniqueness of the Torah and the Jewish
people, G-d’s chosen nation.
Over 100 years later, Rav Nissenbaum’s call for Jewish particularism and pride remains as powerful and compelling as ever, evoking the spirit
of Mattityahu and the Chashmonaim. We are not, ultimately, “Greeks”, “Americans” or “Argentinians”, no matter how badly we hope to fit
into our host societies. We are Jews, and whether we live in Israel or in the Diaspora, our primary responsibility is to strengthen and support
the Jewish people. We are G-d’s holy princes – and we must not be ashamed to say it!
“If in the hearts of our people there flows the warm blood of the Chashmonaim… all of our strength will be sanctified in order to fulfill the
great goal of our people – the goal of Zionism!” (Rav Yitzchak Nissenbaum, Derushim v’chomer L’Drush, Derush Rishon, 1902).

בי ִד ָנ י ִּ מ ַע ת ֹוב ְּ כ ְר ַמ י ִנ ְת ַמ ָש י ִ ׁש ְפ ַנ י ִּ ת ְע ַד ָי אל walnut cannot be stolen by customs thieves, for the matter will
ׂ
ֹ
be heard and known, so too the people of Israel: wherever a Jew
“I did not know my own soul; I have placed goes, he cannot say that he is not Jewish, for he is recognized,
foreign chariots over the princes of my people.” as it is written, ‘all that see them shall recognize them, that
(Shir HaShirim 6:12) they are the seed which Hashem has blessed’” (Yishayahu 61:9,
T Shir HaShirim Rabbah 6:11). But the people of Israel in their exile
he greatest disaster that exile has brought upon the
have begun to “cover” their young children, concealing from
people of Israel is this: that we have become a people
these tender seedlings their ancient roots in order to obscure
that does not know its own soul…
The people of Israel are compared to a walnut: “Even though the unique spirit of Israel, so that their unique Hebrew voice
should not be heard and others should not recognize them as
it is filthy and covered with dirt and excrement, that which is the blessed seed of Hashem.
inside the nut remains unsoiled” (Chagigah 15b). But the nation
has forgotten what lies within it and believes that it is only a The people of Israel are compared to a walnut: “Just as with walnuts,
shell that has fallen into the filth of exile, and so it has become if you take one walnut from a heap, all of the other walnuts fall
disgusting in its own eyes. down and roll after one another, so too if one Jew is stricken, all
of them feel pain” (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 6:11). But today, [many
The people of Israel are compared to a walnut: “If you cover its roots Jews] make great efforts to suppress and hide their national
at the moment of planting, it will not thrive.” And “just as a feeling from the eyes of the nations. Not only our “tough walnut

32 |