“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh parshas Devorim/Chazon
7 Menachem Av 5785/August 1, 2025
ROTTING ROYALLY
Shortly after we arrived here in camp a few weeks ago, I opened one of our kitchen cabinets and an odious smell wafted from it. I quickly closed it, hoping it was my imagination. But a few hours later my wife confirmed that there was a terrible smell emanating from that cabinet, like something was rotting.
Even though one of the roles I play in our marriage is to be the exterminator who gets rid of bugs and any other unpleasant critters, I feared this was beyond my purview. If something had somehow gotten into our bungalow during the winter and crawled into a cabinet, I did not want to discover it at whatever stage in its decomposition. Instead, I summoned Cory, one of the caretakers of the camp, who isn’t fazed by this sort of thing.
As the beginning of the camp season is a busy time, it took Cory a day or two before he was able to come to our bungalow. The target cabinet was the one in which we kept shopping bags. There must have been shopping bags from the last five summers in the cabinet. When Cory arrived, he patiently removed all the bags in search of the source of the putrid odor. Finally, Cory discovered the source – a small piece of fruit. He removed it and deposited the rotting culprit in the garbage.
The next few times I saw Cory, he laughingly asked me if there were any other mysterious critters in the cabinet.
There is an oft-quoted concept (discussed in the Kuzari and many other sources) that there are 4 levels of being in the physical world – inanimate (domem), plant (tzomeiach), animal (chai) and human (medaber).
The higher up something is on the hierarchy, the “lower” and more putrid it descends when it ceases to exist. Inanimate objects do not decay or smell while plants wither and disintegrate. A rotting animal carcass is grotesque and emits a foul odor. But a human that dies, aside from decaying and smelling, forfeits its soul. The king of life in this world becomes nothing more than inanimate dust.
Man’s tragic physical end is indicative of his greatness. Because he falls so low it demonstrates how great he can become during his lifetime.
Kuzari adds that there is actually a fifth level of being in this world called “Yisrael,” one who possesses a Jewish soul. A Jew is not merely a human with more obligations but has a loftier soul with greater capacity for spiritual connection. The Tanya (chapter 18) discusses this in depth. He references the fact that so many simple-minded Jews have willingly given up their lives for their faith. Many times, this occurred with individuals who didn’t live in accordance with Torah values. Yet, at the moment of truth, they forfeited their lives to sanctify the Name of G-d. This phenomenon is based on the fact that a Jew has a naturally loftier soul, even if it becomes buried under “spiritual debris”.
It is because a Jew has such capacity for greatness, that he also has the capacity to fall so low and become so depraved and corrupt. Still, no matter how low he falls, a Jew always has the capacity to return to his roots. He doesn’t have to find that spears “out there”. Rather, he has to turn inwards and discover it within.
The gemara (Kesuvos 66b) relates that Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai was once riding on a donkey when he encountered a young woman sifting through the excrement of the animals of Arabs looking, for kernels of barley. When she saw Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai she begged him to give her some food. She revealed that she was the daughter of Nakdimon ben Gurion, who had been one of the wealthiest men in Yerushalayim. At that point Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai began weeping and he exclaimed, “Fortunate are you, Yisrael! When they fulfill the will of the Omnipresent, no nation or tongue can rule over them. But when they do not fulfill the will of the Omnipresent, He delivers them into the hands of a lowly nation. Not into the hands of the lowly nation itself, but into the hands of the animals of a lowly nation.”
Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai was stating that the harshness of the suffering of the Jewish people is indicative of their greatness.
My rebbe, Rabbi Berel Wein notes, “No one hates the Guatemalans, expect maybe the Guatemalans. But somehow the world is always busy with Israel.”
The question of why we are so hated has been discussed by many great people since time immemorial. But the very fact that we are so hated and that there is such a blatant double standard against us, is indicative of our uniqueness and our greatness.
Therein lies the secret for how we are able to begin accepting comfort at midday of Tisha b’Av itself. Then, at midday the following day all laws of mourning are lifted. The intense mourning itself contains the seeds of comfort. We have suffered so much travail and have been subject to such extreme persecution. That itself reminds us of our greatness. The fact that we have endured despite it all reminds us that we are a timeless people that will merit a return to world prominence.
A rotting fruit is not as odious as a rotting animal carcass, even if I can’t tell the difference. The Jewish people are at the top of the hierarchy of beings in this world. It’s only logical that when we fall, we fall hard. But “Fortunate are you, Yisrael!” The world knows that when we rise, there is no stopping us. Despite our anguish and copious tears, it’s clear that we have begun to rise. That is the greatest reassurance and comfort of all.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum