Shabbat Shoftim  6 Elul 5765, 10 September 2005

Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Shoftim Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9
By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - Does Faith in G-d mean that our victory is assured in times of war, that our population, land and produce will be increased while those of our enemies will be diminished? Must we believe that our G-d guarantees perennial success? Clearly this seems to be the case, if we quote the words which the bible places in the mouth of the High Priest anointed for warfare as he attempts to raise the morale of the Israeli soldiers:
“Hear oh Israel, you are coming near to battle against your enemies; let your heart not be too sensitive, do not fear. For the Lord your G-d is marching with you to do battle with you against your enemies to bring you salvation” (Deut. 20:3,4)

But reality proves that success is not always achieved; were not our two Holy Temples destroyed, did we not suffer persecution and pogrom at the hand of our enemies, have we not experienced grave sacrifices in war and national setbacks such as the evacuation of Gush Katif? Indeed, our prayers have not always been answered positively - even when more than one hundred thousand of our most committed and pious prayed together at the western wall. Does faith demand that we believe that G-d is constantly marching with us to victory - even when our experience often reflects heartbreaking despair and defeat!

Let us study a fascinating Talmudic passage, examine our well-known Evening Prayer (Maariv), and I believe we will achieve a proper Jewish definition of faith.
“R. Yohanan declares, ‘who is the child of the world to come? He who joins together the blessing of redemption (“blessed art thou who redeemed Israel”) with the Standing Silent Prayer of the evening”(B.T. Berachot 4b).

R. Yohanan is one of the towering giants of the Talmud, who is considered to be one of the most trustworthy and incisive transmitters of the Oral Traditions of Israel. He is here expressing the important linkage between redemption - the ultimate vision and the optimistic hope of our nation - and prayer - calling upon the aid of the Almighty while we are in the process of attempting to redeem ourselves: through compassionate and ethical deeds, political action, planting and building in Israel, and even doing battle, if necessary.

I hasten to include these very human activities under the rubric of “prayer” since Maimonides cites as his Biblical source for prayer “and you shall serve the Lord your G-d”, a commandment which appears in the context of Israel’s progressing on the road to the land of Israel, a quest and a march which demands their fealty to the Biblical commandments, their development of the land itself, as well as courageous military battle (Exodus 23:25, 20-24 and Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Prayer 1,1). R. Yohanan is teaching that redemption cannot happen unless we combine our commitment to G-d with dedicated action on all fronts: political, ethical, religious, agricultural, civic, economic and military; G-d guarantees that we will never be destroyed, G-d will even lead us by means of His Torah as we march along the road to redemption, but we must map out the route and we must do whatever is necessary along the way, on the path to salvation. We must link redemption to our human activity and prayer to G-d.

But, there is a problem with R. Yohanans’ linkage. Right after the words “who redeemed Israel,” our Prayer Book has inserted a paragraph which begins with the word “Hashkivenu”, “Enable us, O Lord our G-d, to lie down in peace...save us quickly for your names sake, protect us, remove from us the enemy, the pestilence, the sword, the famine, the anxiety... Blessed art thou, O Lord, who guards His nation Israel eternally” The Talmudic Sages query why this insertion is not considered an interruption, an unwelcome interposition between the blessing of Redemption and the Prayer. The Talmudic response is that this “Hashkivenu “ prayer is merely an elongation or continuation of the request for redemption; indeed, the paragraph pictures existential fear of extinction due to pestilence, sword and famine. National as well as personal redemption must be joined together with our prayerful activity.

However, there is yet another liturgical problem, raised by the Tosofot commentary (French - Provence scholars of the 11th - 13th centuries). After the elongated blessing of Redemption which concludes the Hashkivenu prayer, “Blesses art thou O Lord, who guards over His nation Israel eternally,” we recite the Kaddish, the liturgical doxology of Yitgadal Ve Yitkadash Shmey Rabba, after which we intone the Amidah. Certainly the Kaddish ought be an interruption between Redemption and Prayer?!

I believe that proper understanding of our Jewish concept of faith will explain in depth why the Kaddish is not to be considered an interruption or interposition, but is rather the entire point of the linkage, the real definition of redemption.

It must be noted that there is a blessing of redemption just prior to the Amidah in the Morning prayer, not only in the Evening prayer as emphasized by R. Yohanan. And the Sages of the Talmud differentiate between the Morning and Evening Prayer: the bright, light Morning Prayer is a symbol of G-ds loving kindness, whereas the black, bleak Evening Prayer is a symbol of Israel’s faithfulness even in times of desperation, as the psalmist declares: “To express your loving kindness in the morning, and our faithfulness towards you in the evening” (B.T. Berakhot 12a)

In the past we experienced G-d’s miraculous love, specifically in our exodus from Egypt. We have faith that in the future will come the eventual redemption, as is guaranteed by all our Biblical prophecies. But when will that happen? That depends upon our actions and G-d’s will, the manner in which we forge the path of return to Israel and how we succeed in teaching ethical monotheism to the nations of the world.

Along the way, there are existential perils of enemies, swered and pestilence (Hashkivenu). We will never be destroyed , however, and we will retain our faithfulness to G-d’s laws even in the darkest of hours. And we believe that ultimately “G-d’s Name will be great and holy throughout the world which He created” as testified by the Kaddish. The Kaddish Speaks of our future redemption, when G-d’s name will become great and holy in the world, and that will happen only when we bring about redemption by our active, action-filled prayer.

The High Priest anointed for Warfare is not promising immediate success; he is merely teaching that our faithfulness to G-d must always be apparent throughout our long march to redemption - and that eventually we will be redeemed! Faith is not bound up with our personal success and well-being; it is rather our faithfulness to G-d’s will even during the dark night, because we know that eventually the morning star will appear and the dawn sunrise will bathe the world in warmth and light.

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