Community Magazine January 2017

20 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE to the 50 th level of impurity. As spiritually contaminating as the environment was in ancient Egypt, it will be even worse in the final generation. In fact, it has been noted that the word “ hageulah ” (“the redemption,” referring to the final redemption) has the numerical value of 50, alluding to the fact that our nation’s redemption will arrive only after we’ve sunken to the lowest possible depths – all the way down to the 50 th level of spiritual contamination. The situation will become so dire that some might assume there is no hope, that Am Yisrael would never again be able to rebuild itself. The obvious question then arises, how will we be able to be redeemed after sinking to this level? The Or Hahaim explains that there is one way to climb up from the 50 th level of impurity, and that is through Torah learning. Torah is the source of sanctity, and thus it has the ability to lift us up from even the 50 th level of impurity. Indeed, the Torah was given on Shavuot, the 50 th day of the omer , signifying that it exists on the 50 th level of kedushah (sanctity) and thus can extricate us from even the 50 th level of impurity. Beneh Yisrael ’s enslavement in Egypt occurred before the Torah was given, and thus they would not have been able to be saved had they fallen to the 50 th level. But in the generation before Mashiah , the Or Hahaim writes, we will have the Torah as our “lifeboat” that can and will save us even after we’ve sunken to the 50 th level. The Illness and the Cure There can be little doubt that we are now living in the final generation. And frankly, I wonder if the Or Hahaim knew just how bad the 50 th level of impurity could be, if, even with his Torah-inspired foresight, he could envision the depths to which society would fall. One by one, long-standing norms of decency and acceptable behavior are being discarded, and the trend continues steadily and unabated. Standards of dress, speech and conduct have been consistently declining, and just when we think they can sink no lower, they do. We have an entire generation of people who carry in their pockets all day, every day, more impurity than an average person just a generation ago would be exposed to over the course of an entire lifetime. As much as technology has helped mankind progress, it has, to at least the same extent, spurred mankind to unimaginable moral decline. It is consuming enormous chunks of time that could be used for productive and meaningful endeavors, drawing people’s attention to gossip, slander, immorality, and all other forms of sin. Materialism continues to dominate as our generation’s chief religion, with people prostrating themselves before the newest fashions, the most cutting-edge gadgets, the fanciest cars, and the most luxurious vacations. One shudders to think that the impurity of ancestors in Egypt was mild compared to what we have to contend with in today’s day and age. Dedicated in memory of the pure neshamot of the Sassoon children