A Personal Response by Rav Aryeh Zev Ginzberg - 4/26/2007

The following article was written by Rav Aryeh Zev Ginzberg for the 5 Towns Jewish Times and is reprinted here with permission of the author.

For more than a year, the readership of this newspaper has been fascinated with the weekly column written by Shmuel Katz about his planning for, and then carrying out, the relocation of his family to Eretz Yisrael.

He caught our attention as he described in great detail the trials and tribulations of the massive task and awesome responsibility of uprooting an entire family from the only home they had ever known and boldly fulfilling the dream that we all have - yet too few see realized - to relocate to our Holy Land.

While the articles over the year have been informative, entertaining, and truly inspiring, nothing could have prepared us for the last installment. In last week's brief but emotionally wrenching article, titled "A Personal Note," Shmuel Katz shared with all of us the shocking and very painful news of his wife's illness and diagnosis (may HaKadosh Baruch Hu send her a refuah sheleimah b'karov).

With so many who shared with me their shock and pain after reading the terrible news, I would like to publish a personal response, on behalf of all their friends, to Reb Shmuel and Goldie.

To even attempt to understand HaKadosh Baruch Hu's Divine plan for each and every one of us is humanly impossible. The Torah tells us that darchei Hashem nistaros - the ways of Hashem are hidden from us. Yet someone recently shared with me a fascinating insight from the Lakewood Mashgiach, HaRav Mattisyahu Salomon, shlita, that was so profound and important that I shared it with more than 150 women who joined for our shul's annual Shabbos HaGadol derashah last month:

There was a young non-religious couple that had one child, a young boy. Though they had successful careers, affluence, and an active social life, they felt that something was still missing in their lives. They attended a Gateways Shabbaton, and then several Discovery seminars, and after much soul-searching decided together to totally change their lifestyle and became shomrei Torah u'mitzvos.

Soon after relocating to an Orthodox community and adopting a Torah way of life, their young son - a beautiful and wonderful child, the source of all their pride and joy - was diagnosed with a terrible, life-threatening illness. Needless to say, they were devastated. They began to question how G-d could do this to them. After all, they totally uprooted their lives for Hashem; was this their reward? They began to question: is this a punishment; is it a test; a challenge? They went to the rav of their shul, who asked them to come with him to the Lakewood mashgiach to hear his insights and response to their heartfelt questions.

After Rav Salomon heard their story, he responded as follows: This is neither a test nor a punishment. There was a decree in Heaven that your child will have to become ill (we are not privy to why), and Hashem, in his infinite love and compassion for you, saw that you were not strong enough to handle this decree - that it would destroy your family and you would fall apart. So Hashem caused you to question your existence and purpose in life, and to search for answers, to find Gateways and Discovery and to become Torah-committed Jews. You would now be filled with bitachon and emunah, fortified and strengthened to face this difficult challenge that is before you. Hashem did not punish you, nor did he test you. He prepared you!

The family was so strengthened and encouraged by these words that not only did they face their challenge, they overflowed with great inner strength to help others. And they would attend family retreats from Chai Lifeline and continue to inspire others, as well.

So many people have asked me: After such a life-changing move to Eretz Yisrael, done with such love and joy for our beloved land, how could this happen? And the penetrating words of the mashgiach reverberate in my mind.

Just maybe HaKadosh Baruch Hu wanted the family to have extra z'chuyyos, and coordinated events so that they would find themselves in Eretz Yisrael - and to do so in such a public way as a way of providing z'chuyyos.

And what z'chuyyos they are! Not only the merit of fulfilling the mitzvah of yishuv ha'aretz (settling the land) - which according to many Rishonim is today a mitzvah d'oraysa (see Ramban Bamidbar 3 and in hashmatos to Sefer HaMitzvos No. 4) - but much greater is the mitzvah of inspiring so many other people to find their strength to make aliyah as well. At least two families from my community have told me that without any question, their decision to make aliyah is completely due to Shmuel Katz's ongoing series on the life and challenges of an oleh.

This past Pesach, we spent Yom Tov in St. Petersburg, Florida, where we met so many wonderful people. One young family from Baltimore told me that they are in the final preparations of planning their move to Eretz Yisrael and were inspired to do so by Shmuel Katz's article, which her sister in Woodmere sends to her each week.

I asked what it is, exactly, about the articles that inspired her. She explained that most of the fear and anxiety of aliyah is the fear of the unknown: How will the children adjust to the language, the school schedules, etc., etc.? Here they would read each and every week the trials and tribulations of the Katz family detailing their successes and challenges. She realized "if they could do it, so can we." She concluded that as she finalizes her plans, no less than five other families of their friends and relatives are planning to follow their lead.

What unbelievable z'chuyyos. To not only build Eretz Yisrael with your own sacrifice, but to inspire a multitude of others to do the same. In the words of the mashgiach, HaKadosh Baruch Hu has prepared for you so many z'chuyyos which will no doubt be a vehicle for a complete refuah and speedy recovery.

And even to many of us who unfortunately are unable at this time to follow the Katz family's lead, it has instilled in us a greater yearning for Eretz Yisrael, which is almost as important.

My friend and colleague, Rav Yaakov Feitman, once shared a story about a chassid who sent a letter to his rebbe, the Rebbe of Zhikov (Rabbi Yehuda Horowitz), who lived in Eretz Yisrael. He wrote that though he had to leave Eretz Yisrael years earlier because of parnasah, he yearns to return to Eretz Yisrael. The Rebbe wrote back and said, "It's better that you live outside Eretz Yisrael and long for the land, than to live in the land and long for chutz la'aretz." He concluded, "If the time should come, chas v'shalom, that you no longer yearn for Eretz Yisrael, then you must return immediately."

For many of us who are unable to currently join the Katz family in Eretz Yisrael, maybe our yearning for Eretz Yisrael is lacking, as well. The articles that depict the Katz family's aliyah experience has made it into our homes and into our hearts, and hopefully our yearning has returned. For that alone, we owe them a great sense of hakaras ha'tov, and may the z'chuyyos of all the enhanced kavod and ahavas Eretz Yisrael be a z'chus for Goldie to return to her home and family in perfect health.

We are in the month of Iyar. Many are aware that Iyar forms an acronym of "Ani Hashem rof'echa" ("I am Hashem, your Healer"), but are not sure why this month is associated with refuah. The Bnei Yissaschar (Chodesh Iyar, Maamar 1-3) explains that it is because the mon in the desert began to fall in the month of Iyar. The mon was called the lechem avirim, because it became totally absorbed into the body and cured anyone of any illness that he or she may have had, and so this month became a segulah for all forms of refuah.

Our personal response to Shmuel and Goldie Katz is that in the merit of all their wonderful z'chuyyos of building Eretz Yisrael with their bodies and their hearts, and in the z'chus of the month of Iyar, may they be zocheh to a complete refuah and continue to inspire the rest of us with their love and devotion to Eretz Yisrael, until 120 years. In the meanwhile, we ask all our readers to please daven in the z'chus of Golda Susya bas Shoshana for a refuah sheleimah.