One of the most solemn and moving parts of the Yom Kippur services is “Eileh Ezkerah – These I shall recall.” It is a poetic depiction of the Ten Martyrs, all great rabbis, including the legendary Rabbi Akiva, who at different times were brutally executed by the barbaric Roman occupiers during and after the time of the fall of the Second Temple.
One must wonder: Why was this very sad tale placed in the Musaf service of Yom Kippur? After all, Yom Kippur is supposed to be focused on t’shuvah, repentance, not recalling tragedy. It rightfully belongs in the Kinos of Tish’ah B’Av, which indeed it is – under a different heading: “Arzei HaLevanon, the Cedars of Lebanon.”
If on Tish’ah B’Av we are bound to recount the suffering of the Jews and their leadership so that we can internalize that tragedy to this very day, then on Yom Kippur we are to recall that tragic episode to arouse us to t’shuvah.
I always found it paradoxical that many Jews lost their faith due to the Holocaust, yet so many of today’s youth strengthened their Judaism following the March of The Living, where they spent days visiting the hells of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Majdanek.
It seems that tragedy, as it unfolds, is almost impossible to find inspiring. But when a Jew looks back on his history, tragic as it may seem, he sees the connecting pattern of that era, thousands of years ago, and the experiences of today.
As we wailed over “Eileh Ezkerah” in shul on Yom Kippur, who realized that within 24 hours we would be wailing with suffering again? This time, however, we lost Cedars of Lebanon. The worst single day for the IDF in terms of injured and lost soldiers since October 7.
The reason the account of the Ten Martyrs on Tish’ah B’Av is titled “Cedars of Lebanon” is because in T’hilim (92:13), the Psalmist states that “A righteous man will flourish...like a cedar in Lebanon.” The brave and righteous soldiers of Israel will one day rise again as a beacon of hope for all Jews.
In the haftarah for Yom Kippur, taken from Isaiah 57, we read, “…And the wicked are like the driven sea that cannot rest…” Rashi on this pasuk comments, “...just as each wave sees the one before it being broken against the shore, yet does not abandon the path that is leading to its destruction and returns to sea, so too the wicked will follow each other blindly down the road of self-destruction.” The wicked are following that same path today.
A picture just surfaced of the bed of Rabbi Yitzchak Kolodetsky, the saintly son-in-law of Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l. The bed is a very simple one, with no frame, and a flat piece of wooden board lies on top of a thin mattress, upon which the rabbi sleeps. The Rebbetzin explained that, since the events of October 7, her husband feels that in some small way he can empathize with the suffering of his fellow Jews. What a level of greatness!
This Sukkos will be different in many ways; but like every year, we look to the sukkah to represent the protection of the One Above. Perhaps yesterday we read “Eileh Ezkerah”; but surely the Cedars of Lebanon will inspire us to daven harder to see victory and peace speedily. Amen.
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, former President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the Rabbinic Consultant for the Queens Jewish Link.
