The Ultimate Contact

Parshas Haazinu

Posted on October 1, 2025 (5786) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

 

The Ultimate Contact Never give up hope. No matter how bleak your plight may seem, do not allow yourself to surrender to despair. This is what we are told. This is what we tell others. This is what we believe. Hope springs eternal in the human heart.

 

In this week’s Torah reading, however, we find an altogether different perspective. On the last day of his life, Moses addresses an evocative poem replete with metaphors and allusions to the Jewish people. With broad strokes, he presents a sweeping view of the past and a searing vision of the future. When will Hashem bring an end to the suffering of His people? He tells them.

 

When the power of their enemies spreads uncontrollably and no one can withstand the onslaught.

 

What does this mean? The Talmud provides the answer. It is a reference to the Messianic era.

 

Moses is prophesying that the Messiah will come when then Jewish people abandon all hope of redemption, when they despair of salvation.

 

The commentators are mystified. Why is despair a prerequisite for redemption? Yearning for the arrival of the Messiah is one of the central tenets of Judaism. If so, why does the Talmud contend that this yearning must be forgotten before the Messiah can come?

 

The commentators explain that the yearning for the ultimate redemption must indeed remain strong and vital among the Jewish people without any interruption. The Talmud, however, is addressing a different brand of hope. What is our first reaction when we face an anti- Semitic crisis? Do we turn toward Hashem and plead with Him to save us? Or do we consider other avenues? Do we mobilize our military forces, if we have any? Do we bring all our political and diplomatic influence to bear? Do we flex our financial muscles? Do we call upon the press and the media to help us?

 

This then is the hopelessness that will hasten our redemption. First, we must recognize the utter futility of self-reliance. We must despair of solving our problems on our own. Only then will we turn to Hashem with absolute trust and faith in Him as the sole Source of salvation. Only then will we deserve to be redeemed.

 

A great sage was sitting in his room, immersed in a pile of holy books. Just then a distraught woman burst through the door and planted herself in front of him.

 

“You must help me!” she wailed as tears ran down her cheeks. “My husband is desperately ill.”

“Come back tomorrow,” said the sage.

 

“Tomorrow?” she shrieked. “I can’t wait until tomorrow. He may be dead by tomorrow. I need your help now!”

 

“If you insist,” said the sage. He closed his eyes and pursed his lips. After two minutes of silence, he opened his eyes. The woman looked at him with breathless expectation.

 

“I’m very sorry,” he said. “I can do nothing for your husband.”

 

The woman went deathly pale. She clutched her head and screamed, “Lord in Heaven! Help me! I am lost. Even the holy sage cannot help me. Only You can save my husband. Please! I beg of you!”

 

Then she collapsed into a chair, her body wracked by wrenching sobs.

 

“Go home in peace, my child,” said the sage. “Your prayers will be answered. As long as you placed your trust in me, there was no hope. But the hopelessness in your heart led you to our Father in Heaven. He is the only One who can give you what you need.”

 

In our own lives, as we strive for financial and professional achievement, how often do we think to ourselves that the key to success lies in contacts, marketing or other stratagems? But that is not really true. No matter how hard we work or plan or scheme, Hashem can wipe it all away with a flick of His figurative wrist. So, what are we supposed to do? Of course, we need to make our best efforts, to go after the contacts and the marketing and whatever else seems to be indicated. But we must always keep in mind that Hashem controls the world, and if we’re looking for contacts, He is undoubtedly the Ultimate Contact.

 

Text Copyright © 2009 by Rabbi Naftali Reich and Torah.org.

 

The Power of Bad Habits

Parshas Haazinu

Yom Kippur

Posted on September 21, 2023 (5784) By Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Series: Lifeline | Level: Beginner

 

“Is this the way you pay Hashem back, foolish nation and unwise…” [Deut. 32:6].

 

The Talmud teaches (Tamid 32b) “Who is wise? The one who sees the future.” This is not a reference to prophecy but to the ability to see the predictable consequences of our actions.

 

One who can perceive these consequences will not be foolish, and thus calling the nation “foolish” and “unwise” are interdependent. The Talmud also says (Sukkah 52a) that at the end of days, G-d will present us with the Yetzer Hara, the Evil Incliination, and destroy it in front of the righteous and the wicked. And, says the Talmud, to the righteous the Evil Inclination will look like a mountain, but to the wicked, it will look like a hair’s breadth, a tiny thing. But how can it be both? How can it appear so different to two groups of people, yet be one and the same?

 

Rav Y.Y. Horwitz, the “Alter [Elder] of Novardok,” said that it is indeed a mountain, built of tiny hair’s breadths! Think of a spider’s web. A single thread is very fine and easy to brush aside or break. But when a fly gets stuck in a spider’s web, the spider surrounds it with layer upon layer of silken thread, until it is impossible to break free or even move.

 

The first time a person does a bad thing, he feels it intensely, and it is easy to stop. But if it becomes a habit, then it becomes much harder to break. [From VeHigadtah, collected teachings of Rav Yaakov Galinsky.]

 

We see this with addictions, like smoking: the first time a person smokes, he or she coughs, doesn’t enjoy it, and can easily stop. But once they master it and feel the nicotine, it is much, much harder to give it up.

 

The truth is that doing something bad can give its own mental rush. Initially, the person will feel alarmed, but can become inured to it, and have it become a habit. The key is to see the future and not get caught from the outset.

 

Yom Kippur, however, is when Hashem is “closest” to us, when we have a special power to break free of our bad habits and to approach Him. If we are wise, we will see and seize this opportunity, to free ourselves of those bad habits for the new year.

 

May Hashem help us to take full advantage of this opportunity, and may all be sealed in the Book of Life for a blessed year.