As posted on November 17, 2012 by Sam Blustin on Soup for the Neshama
“Reb Yisrael of Ruzhin paid a surprise visit to his Hasidim and found them sitting around a table, idly eating and drinking. The rebbe frowned, clearly disappointed at the actions of his students.
One among them stood and said, ‘Rebbe, I heard Reb Pinchas of Korets once say that a gathering such as this- Hasidim reveling in friendship- could be likened to the mitzvah of Torah study.’
Reb Yisrael said, ‘I would not think to contradict Reb Pinchas, but the analogy depends on how the thing is done.’
‘But all we are doing is talking and eating,’ another student said. ‘As long as we recite the proper prayer, how can we do this incorrectly?’
Reb Yisrael replied, ‘It is a matter of intention. If you place yourself last that others may go first, then your act is selfless and holy. If you place yourself first, it is selfish and smacks of idolatry. If you do something for another or for God with no thought of reward or gain, you are hallowing the deed and uplifting the act. In that case, our action is holy. When you do something to further your own ends, you are debasing the deed and concealing the Divine. In that case, your action is sinful.’
Still not satisfied, the Hasid said, ‘Rebbe, what if my action is itself sinful but my intention is pure? What if, heaven forbid, I speak ill of another to save a friend from being hurt. Is that a sin or not?’
‘Intention is everything,’ Reb Yisrael said. ‘If your intention is for the sake of heaven-that is, if it is for the good of the other and not to benefit yourself- even a sinful act can reveal the Light of God.'”
Looking for a story this week, I stumbled across this one which I thought would be appropriate given the current unrest between Israel and Gaza. According to Reb Yisrael, intention is everything. If you are acting intentionally in the service of God, and performing truly selfless acts, then even if what you’re doing isn’t 100% moral or correct, it can still be in service to a larger good and some good can come of it.
Things happen in war. War itself isn’t a good thing. But if peace can come about through war, then maybe it is worth it. Since Israel’s pull out of the Gaza strip, Israelis surrounding Gaza have lived in constant fear of missile attacks.
Is the cost worth it? I don’t know. Many people will and have died on both sides, and many of them are innocent people. One life honestly is too many.
Golda Meir Z”L once said: “When peace comes, we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons.”
Israelis take life very seriously, on both sides. But how long can Israelis live in fear? Isn’t one of the purposes of a Jewish State to protect Jews around the world from harm from its enemies? How can we do that if we can’t even protect those living within our borders?
War is never easy. In the Jewish community, it is never depersonalized. Everyone knows someone who is fighting. Someone who is putting their life on the line to preserve the Jewish State. Our Jewish State.
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And in some parts of Israel and Gaza right now, it certainly is hell.
My prayer is that all who are protecting the State of Israel will come home safely, and that someday peace will com. And may it be a lasting peace, where Jews, Muslims, Christians, and people of all faiths can coexist in this world together peacefully.
Shavuah tov,
SB
(Story taken from “Hasidic Tales”, by Rabbi Rami Shapiro)
