The Time has Come for Strong Jews
One Thursday night in camp this summer, I overheard two teens complaining about the offerings at dinner.
“Man, I’m struggling here. There’s just not enough quality protein.”
His friend, similarly disappointed, nodded in agreement: “I know what you mean. Burgers and hot dogs are not gonna help me...”
As these two walked off, a visitor standing next to me in the line chuckled, noting that a few years ago, teens seem didn’t care about their macros so much. As long as there was enough food for seconds and thirds, no one cared.
His tone indicated that he was not impressed with this obsession over their diets. If anything, he explained, this is nothing more than pampered entitlement, and a lack of gratitude for everything with which Hashem has blessed our generation.
Moreover, he continued, it appears clear that they have been persuaded to care about this naarishkeit by their devices. It’s no secret that social media is overrun with health advice, detailed directives for losing weight, gaining muscle and sculpting our bodies...
I didn’t want to pick a fight while juggling dinner with my kids, so I smiled politely, and moved on. But I’ve been thinking about this argument for a few weeks.
Something has changed in the world. There is a generation which is no longer content with aesthetic beauty alone. Teens and young adults are researching functional fitness, and training to build strength. Not everyone, not all the time. But it’s happening. And as a social trend, this is all pretty new.
Of course, it would be easy to dismiss it all as a distraction from the real work that Hashem wants us to engage in. We know that health is important; but the preoccupation with working out is outside the pale of normative Yiddishkeit.
Or, at least it used to be.
The mekubalim explain that whenever there is a new drive in the world, it comes along with positive and negative applications. Ultimately, however, the reason that Hashem infuses a drive into the world is because Klal Yisrael needs it. As the Medrash explains: כל מה שעשיתי לא עשיתי אלא בשבילכם – Hashem says: Everything I do, I do for you.
The Kli Golah notes that Hashem promised Avraham that his children would be as numerous as the stars of the heavens. He also told Avraham that his children would be enslaved in a strange land. How might a slave nation grow so numerous? By placing them in a country and culture that was overrun by promiscuity. That way, Bnei Yisrael would still be interested in procreating! Hence, our first exile was in Egypt – ערות הארץ – the most licentious place in the world.
In our own recent past, we might argue it was Hashem’s Hashgacha which ensured that the Baby Boomer generation followed the horrors of the Holocaust. Somehow, it became acceptable and financially possible to raise large families. Such opportunities have not been the norm in human history.
Likewise, it appears that the philosophies of Nationalism gripped Europe just in time for Zionism to take root in the hearts and minds of Klal Yisrael. And it all happened at exactly the right time for the State of Israel to be born.
In a deep and profound way, every new technology, social trend or political movement is somehow paving the way for our redemption.
What then is this new desire for physical strength and prowess?
Rav Moshe Yaakov Charlap writes (מי מרום חלק ו’ – ממעיני הישועה פרק ס):
בעקבתא דמשיחא יש לטהורי לב להברות את גופם להיות בריאים ואיתנים כדי שיהיו מוכנים ללחום מלחמת קרב עם עמלק למחקו מן העולם
In the footsteps of Moshiach, those pure of heart must strengthen their bodies to be healthy and resilient, so that they will be ready to wage battle against Amalek and erase him from the world.
The Torah tells us this Shabbos, that when Amalek attacked us, we were עָיֵף וְיָגֵעַ וְלֹא יָרֵא אֱלֹקים – tired and feeble, and without fear of Hashem.
As the world becomes a more dangerous place for Jews, Hashem is instilling a new drive into our world. A desire that we no longer live as tired and feeble. A deep desire to fear nothing other than Hashem.
That’s the invitation for this Elul: If we wish to develop our Yiras Shamayim, we need to ensure that we’re not afraid of world around us.
So eat your protein, get yourself to the gym, and push yourself to keep on growing in learning, davening, chessed and middos.
The time has come for strong Jews. The end of Amalek is coming, as we finally take our rightful place as leaders of the world. With Hashem’s help, it should be soon.