A Hedge Fund Against Armageddon
Jul 12th, 2010 | By admin | Category: 2007-8, Archivesby Rabbi Yisrael Rutman
There is a hedge fund against Armageddon. Although there are no guarantees, the Talmud says that if you want some protection against the ultimate war at the end of history, invest in Torah and good deeds.
In the kabalistic literature, the shor v’chamor (ox and ass) symbolize the enemies of the Jewish people in the terrifying run-up to the messianic era. The Jewish people are endowed with a corresponding shor v’chamor of their own: This is alluded to in Jacob’s words to Esau: “I have shor v’chamor.” I am not afraid of you, he tells his brother in the confrontation that foreshadows the troubled future relations of their descendants. Jacob’s son Joseph is the Jewish manifestation of the shor. He was distinguished by his modesty and kindness; fleeing the enticements of Potiphar’s wife, and as Pharaoh’s viceroy providing food for all of Egypt in time of famine. Yissachar is the chamor, the prototype of the Torah scholar, who bears the burden of unremitting toil in Torah study (Rav Mordechai Neugroshal, Shabbos Kodesh, Yated Ne’eman, Parashas Balak, 8 Tammuz 5768/2008).
Not that we sneer at conventional methods of defense. An army is an unfortunate necessity when one’s neighbors are peculiarly pre-occupied with improving armaments rather than health, education and welfare for their impoverished millions. Gas masks and bomb shelters would seem to be reasonable precautions in the Mideast of 2008. But the military and civil defense solutions are overrated. Ask the residents of Sderot and Kiryat Shemona. Ask the reserve soldiers who fought a futile campaign in Lebanon two years ago. And who in his right mind thinks that a military confrontation with Iran would be anything short of disastrous, no matter how successful a surgical strike on its nuclear installations might be.
And if you have the means and think you can avoid the next conflagration by buying a house far away from the axis of evil and its latest franchises, bear in mind the story of the man who built his dream house in the most tranquil spot he could find on earth—the Falkland Islands, just before the war.
The truth is, however, that Torah and good deeds is always a lucrative investment, whether you’re losing sleep over Ahmadinejad or not. We are enjoined to study Torah day and night, in the knowledge that it, not the oil they keep pumping out of the Persian Gulf states, keeps the world going.
The prophet calls upon us to engage in ahavat chesed, love of kindness. If you love being nice to people, you look for opportunities. You set up a free loan fund, a wedding fund for the needy, a fund for whatever there’s a need for.
There’s nothing esoteric about the concept. It’s found in the meditation after Shmoneh Esreh, the daily prayer: P’tach libi l’Toratecha, u’vmitzvotecha tirdof nafshi, Open my heart to Your Torah, may my soul pursue your mitzvot. It’s an appropriate sentiment for the synagogue, itself a venue offering a multiplicity of mitzvot; not only the Shemoneh Esreh, but also the Shema, Torah readings, priestly blessings, and numerous amens to kaddish and the leader’s repetition of Shmoneh Esreh.
The question arises then, if Torah and mitzvot is an ongoing agenda, what we have to do in any case, why does the Talmud advertise it as a way of saving ourselves from destruction? Probably, the answer is that not everybody leaps out of bed in the morning eager for a new day; some of us need an alarm to wake us up. Some of us need a loud alarm. It’s a Jewish duty to be a nice guy. But if you’re needy for an incentive to be a nice guy, well, just think Iran. Think Hamas. Think Hizbullah.
In Judaism there’s a concept of midah keneged midah, measure for measure. If we are nice to each other, God will be nice to us. It may sound unrealistic, esoteric, impractical. But the practical thinkers with the stars on their hats and their highly paid staffs of advisers don’t seem to be getting us out of this mess, do they?
We live in perilous times. Maybe a hedge fund is something you should consider?
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