One of the greatest dangers that can happen is when one Jew is being chased by enemies who want to hurt him, says the Rambam. If such a thing happens, you have to break Shabbat to save the Jew, and he says there’s a mitzvah (commandment) to scream to HaKadosh Baruch Hu for help. He says one has to scream. He says that one who ignores such a tragedy, saying, “This is the ways of the world,” is saying, in effect, let’s say a person hears bad news from Israel that just happened last week, and their response is, “Okay, you know, there are always terrorists around. Sometimes Israel wins, sometimes Israel loses. It’s politics; it’s Joe Biden’s fault because Trump is not president.” If people start tying it into politics, and tying… “Just the way the world works,” says the Rambam. If he does it, or she does it, take the message home: scream to Hashem. If their response is not screaming to Teshuvah (repent), says the Rambam, that person is called an achzar, a cruel person. These are the words of the Rambam—very, very strong words.
We spent weeks in Yeshiva trying to figure out one paragraph of the Rambam, because he’s very careful with his words. And over here the Rambam says clearly what our response… The response has to be, when we hear tragedies, to scream. The Rambam says life cannot move on as usual when such a tragedy happens; a drastic change for the better has to happen within the people of Teshuvah. Then the Rambam goes on: if the people are not in Teshuvah, and they’re just going to say that this is happening because… The Rambam says it’s going to leave people… People are not doing so, and because people are not going to repent, Chas v'Shalom (God forbid), more so if they’re going to come—that’s what the Rambam meant. Something very scary.
So what is our response to such a tragedy? We have to call it by its name: this is a real tragedy; it’s really scary. Hashem did it for a reason, and we’re living in this generation now for a purpose. That means we’re strong enough to have the right response. What is the right response? To scream at Hashem. To pray, not to move on as if nothing is happening. Pray.
I told this to a person the other day, and he said to me, “Rabbi, you want to tell me I can’t go on vacation? I’ve had a vacation for a few months. You want to tell me I have to cancel my vacation?” I told him, “Of course you’re canceling your vacation. We’re talking about Jews being hostages as we speak, and you’re talking about vacation?” He said, “Yeah, but I’m going to lose money.” I said, “Still lose money. What do you think Hashem did this for? For you to wake up, for me to wake up. What else did He do this for? You think it’s easy for Hashem to kill Jews just like that?”
The purpose has to be great, the response has to be great, and who’s responsible for a very important response? That’s us, the people living right now through the tragedy that we’re witnessing right now. HaKadosh Baruch Hu chose us to live through times. That means we are powerful enough to overcome it.