By the Grace of G-d
Dear Friend,
On a personal note, Nechama and I praise G-d for a beautiful baby girl born to our daughter Devorah Leah and son in law Shneor Brod earlier this week in Israel. She has been named Chaya Mushka. May you too be blessed with happy things in your life!
Now to something more universal…
Thailand is in the world-news headlines.
Just google Rescue Cave Boys Thailand and you will have access to the still unfolding story of a group of boys with their coach trapped in a cave in Northern Thailand.
The good news is that the boys have been found. The gripping part is that they are stuck way down in the cave without any danger-proof way of getting out. Actually, a Navy Seal just died placing oxygen in the cave. This means that the options for rescue are as of now quite dangerous.
We offer our prayers that they get out safe and sound. The boys will please G-d go back to their parents and hopefully be none the worse for their ordeal. Some may even become sought after speakers and writers as they recount their harrowing tale. The coach, will probably get a mixed reaction from people. Some will say he did courageous things to save his boys. Others will say he did a foolish thing by entering the caves in the first place.
I will leave the up-to-date reporting to the media.
However, I cannot resist sharing some snippets from one of our very own community members who is a media cameraman. Danny is up there in the cave area right now and this is what he had shared with me yesterday when I asked him for a ‘scoop’.
Hi Rabbi!
Well as you know, it is a very difficult situation. The boys are healthy. They most likely will not be taking be diving out as cave diving is extremely technical. We spent the day with military climbing up the side mountain and taking pipes to divert rivers so less water goes down into the cave system.
This is at the same time as they are continuing the pump massive amount of water that has already flooded the cave. Navy seals are staying in there with the boys some of are also medics.
It is quite extraordinary indeed!
Trying to pump out the river system to bring water levels down really shows the power of nature and man trying to fight it!
I hope this gives you a bit more of color.
Also, I’ve begun to upload every video on a new facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/dannybullmedia/
Danny, good on you and may you be blessed to take pictures of them coming out safe and sound.
What I would like to share are the nuggets of information that provided me food for thought from the Jewish perspective.
First of all, the connection to the weekly Parsha which among other things, tells us about the census of the Jewish People in the desert. When talking about the tribe of Levi, it mentions Korach who was swallowed up by the earth. The Torah inserts a by-the-way short verse saying that his children didn’t die. The sages explain that they were saved and continued living underground for years until the generation had changed and only then did G-d bring them out of their underground holding space to rejoin the community.
Why didn’t they die? Were they not part of their fathers mutinous rebellion? They actually were heavily involved in the fight. But at the last minute they realized that mutiny against Moshe was tantamount to rebellion against G-d. They realized that this was dead wrong and as the earth was opening up, made a mental decision to repent. G-d, who knows the thoughts of man treated this regret as sufficient and saved the children of Korach from death. They could not come out right away though. For the community had seen them heavily involved in the argument against Moshe. They could have no way of knowing that the Korach offspring had repented in their thoughts at the last possible moment. Would they have reappeared immediately; the message would be misleading. G-d therefore made them wait for the changing of the generation. This really brings home the point that its never too late to change! See here for a scholarly article from the Rebbe’s teachings regarding all of this.
It always seemed hard to visualize where the children of Korach could have disappeared to for so long. And how they were able to be alive on the one hand yet be totally out of sight on the other. This cave story unfolding in Thailand, provides a lot of audiovisual description. This allows my mind to get a more imaginable perspective on this Torah’s teaching that I have studied since I was a child. It’s incredible to me how ancient concepts become easier to visualize and comprehend in this amazing era of technology.
(There are many examples of this. An Eye that Sees. An Ear that Hears. All of your deeds are transcribed in a book. Easier to imagine with the ever-present cameras and satellites that we have today? Perhaps the topic of a future article. In the meantime, if you have any ideas on this please share them with me).
Another important teaching that becomes emphasized. The prophets foretold about the Messianic era being a peacefully transformative one. In the words of the Prophets:
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more.”
The Rebbe explained some twenty seven years ago that as we get closer to the coming of Mashiach we see this concept coming to life. Click here for examples dating back to 1991-2.
In this cave rescue, personnel and equipment that was initially designed for war is being used for this life-saving operation. Navy SEALS are at the forefront of this rescue for starters.
There is also Israeli technology being used that is key for this cave rescue operation. The particular communication technology being used in this operation is developed by a company called Maxtech. Its technology is widely used in the area of defense and security. Here, this technology is serving a critical and worthwhile humanitarian need.
This is ‘swords being beaten into plowshares’, 2018 version.
No wars in the future? In this massive effort, nations are working together regardless of background or political affiliations.
A great ‘trailer’ for the fully united world that Mashiach will usher in.
Divine providence abounds in this dramatic story. Look at this quote someone sent me from the NY Times:
The British diver John Volanthen was placing guide lines to try to get closer to 12 missing boys and their soccer coach trapped in a flooded cave network when he ran out of line himself, forcing him to the water’s surface.
There they were, all 13, staring at him through the light of his headlamp. After 10 days of efforts racing against monsoon rains and rising water in the cave, the search for the missing soccer team had finally succeeded.
If his line had been even 15 feet shorter, he would have turned back and not reached them on that dive Monday night. The group would have spent at least another night on its own in the pitch black, not knowing if a rescue would ever come.
That is quite simply miraculous Divine Providence.
I cannot help but muse. G-d gave him enough rope to get to the boys. But what would have happened if he decided he was tired and had swam far enough already?
G-d gives us exactly the amount of energy and life that will get us to our ‘finish line’. We need to decide to use it.
It is up to us not to tire and not to despair. We need to KEEP GOING for as long as we can. We ought to use every faculty we were given. Every minute of the day is a gift.
Wouldn’t it be so disappointing if you stopped just a few short steps from where you could have been? In this cave rescue, it could have meant the difference between life and death.
Rambam teaches that our every deed has to viewed as being the one that tilts our own microcosm and the entire world in either the direction of merit or…
Let’s not even mention any other option. Let’s just all do what WE can. One deed at a time and may we be blessed to exit our ‘cave’ of exile to the ‘great outdoors’ of redemption.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Yosef Kantor