Hesped Of Rabbi Gershon Edelstein Shlita: ‘Woe To The Land Of Israel, We Are A Poor And Orphaned Generation’

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — “There is a gemara which says: ‘Woe to the land of Israel’ There was a great man who passed away and they said: ‘Woe to the land of Israel’. A great man passed away and yet they made a hesped for the land of Israel.

“It doesn’t say that he was the only great man in the land of Israel but it says that if this one is lacking there is a lack of abundance (hashpa’ah) in the land of Israel. In the world there wasn’t a lack of abundance but even there something is lacking.

“But here with us it is truly woe to the land of Israel, this was a great man, this was the only great man of the land of Israel. It’s not that one person is lacking, now there is no great man in the land of Israel and in the entire world! Now that there is no great man there is a lack of abundance, and if there is such a lack, this is a terrible situation.

‘Everyone needs this abundance and without it things are terrible. If a person does all that he can then there is Divine assistance (Siyata D’Shmaya) but now it is not simple. Woe to the land of Israel and woe to the entire world, the entire world was sustained from him. People asked him to pray and give blessings. Such abundance did not exist in the entire world and this is now the situation.

“I will speak briefly and ask- what is our obligation now, what do we have to do? Now there is a lack of  abundance. There is another gemara which says that Hashem metes out justice to Tzadikim but this is not a punishment, this is profitable for the Tzadik and Hashem is elevated through this.

‘We are a poor and orphaned generation, we lack people of stature and feel that we lack abundance. We must therefore strive to add fear of Heaven, we need fear of Heaven. How do we attain this? A heart of stone cannot receive abundance, but there is a solution. Studying mussar is the only solution, since it enables a person to reach self-reflection, and reflect on his actions. The yetzer hara is very strong and at every moment we need the abundance and the Divine assistance in order not to falter and to reach the level of “Hashem your G-d you shall fear.”

“Many times it is written in the Torah to fear Heaven. This is against our nature and we must continually strive to maintain fear of Heaven by studying daily mussar. There are lots of mussar books which enable the Jewish nation to attain spiritual abundance. There are interesting works and one must make a fixed time to study these things and internalize the lessons.

“This is what we lack, the influence of a great person, a spiritual influence. We must give back to him in the same way- with spirituality and the eternal pleasures of the World to Come. This is what we owe him and give him this merit that we are aroused to pray in his merit.

“This is the only thing we can return to him, to add merits which is our spiritual salvation and is also a great kindness towards those who have passed away and we owe them so much. There is no measure to what we owe him, the entire public, the world owes him and there is not merit for the next world besides accepting upon ourselve to study mussar books and to be influenced by them for the better.”

“This will lead to a tranquil home, a joyous home and that for us is a spiritual pleasure and a great merit which we need to receive. May Hashem have mercy on us and eradicate death forever.”