The Chasam Sofer
Emancipation! That sweet word was on the lips of the Jews of Pressburg. Equality, freedom from persecution, the ability to earn a decent wage. The hopes ran through their veins like sweet wine.
The gov. ministers were meeting in the parliament in Pressburg to discuss the status of the Jew, and they were close to giving Jews civil rights.
Pressburg’s communal leaders approached Rabbi Sofer and told him that they thought it would be fitting and politically astute to give public thanks for the good that these gov. officials were doing for the Jews.
That Shabbos, Rabbi Sofer gave a talk in the large synagogue. At the end of his sermon, he told the following parable:
A king ruled over a great country. He had a son whom he loved a great deal and in whom he placed all his trust to one day take over the rulership.
But his son fell into bad company and acted badly against both G-d and man.
The king grew deeply disturbed. He rebuked his son, but his son did not listen.
The king then sent his ministers to speak to his son. But nothing helped. The son blithely continued his unprincipled way of life.
When the king saw that his son would not change his ways, he expelled him to live in a far-off land in the house of a peasant who would support him with the barest of means.
The son lived in that barren outpost for many years.
Finally, the king began to feel sorry for his son. He decided that he would build his son a beautiful palace. He sent architects and builders to his son, together with many servants and a gift of a great deal of money.
When this great entourage arrived, the king’s son was ecstatic. But his joy soon turned to grief. If his father had spent so much money to send all these people to him, his father evidently must intend for him to remain there for a very long time.
The son’s heart was broken, and he wrote his father,
“My dear father: I am very happy that you thought of me and sent people to build a palace for me. But I am sick at heart, because I realize that you mean for me to remain here a long time. Until now, I had hoped every day that you would take me back home. But now I see that I was wrong. So I am asking you to have mercy and let me come back to you.”
The king, Rabbi Sofer explained, is G-d, the King of the universe, Who chose us from all the nations. He is our Father, and we are His children.
We were at His table, in His palace-that is, in the land of Israel.
We sinned and abandoned G-d’s ways, until G-d sent us His ministers-that is, his prophets-to warn us. However, we didn’t take their rebuke to heart, but continued sinning, against both G-d and our fellow man.
Finally, G-d expelled us from the Land of Israel. In this terrible exile, we barely kept alive, and we cried out to G-d to bring us back to our land.
Now, G-d has compassion on us, and the nation in which we live has considered emancipating us and giving us equal rights.
This is truly a great favor, and we are thankful for it, insofar as our physical well-being is concerned.
But our souls are in mourning, for this means that the King intends that we will remain here a long time, and we shall not yet return to the Land of Israel
So what place is there for joy? Only in our own land does the true blessing lie: the spiritual blessing of eternal life, in the place of the temple, the priests and the great court.
Rabbi Sofer cried out bitterly, “My friends, I can no longer hold myself back. I must challenge G-d. Why should a father exile His sons? What more does G-d want?
“Happy is the King Who is praised with Torah and prayer, whether it be in His own house or in a foreign land. But woe to the sons who are exiled from the table of their Father.
“G-d, You sit on your throne for all generations and lack nothing. But why do You forget us forever? Why do You abandon us for so long?”
Rabbi Sofer burst into tears, and the hearts of all the people in the crowded synagogue broke. “My brothers, “Rabbi Sofer concluded, “let us pray to our Father in heaven, ‘Please have mercy on us. Bring us back to our own land, where we will be close to our Father’s table.’ G-d will not expel us forever. The Eternal One of Israel will not be false, and a redeemer shall return to Zion.”
The life of the Chasam Sofer
Other great Jewish Leaders
