[Avodah] RSRH on Av HaRachamim

[Prof. Levine]

Av HaRachamim was written in the late eleventh or early twelfth 
century, after the destruction of the 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews>Ashkenazi communities 
around the Rhine River by Christian crusaders during the 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Crusade>First Crusade.

RSRH has written what is in my opinion a most moving and insightful 
essay about this period and this prayer.  See 
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/Iyar_III.pdf

The following is from this essay.

Yes, an entire world had joined together to drag the spirits of our
fathers down into the dirt of sensuality and baseness, attempting to
transform them into the most self-seeking, unprincipled people,
degenerate because of their misery and their distress. And still they
remained the nation most receptive to all humane, godly and pure
ideals. Still they remained the people most capable of cheerful self-sacrifice
for these ideals.

They were able to soar lightly, in the manner of eagles, above all
the grime and misery of the earth. From their spiritual nest amid the
high rock they were able to expunge all elements hostile to their feelings
of morality, spirituality and serenity. And they had the wisdom to
preserve the pure strength of their spirit and mind unmarred and
unbroken for the most ideal life that is granted to mortals.

"They were stronger than lions!" They had the courage to defy the
whole world for the sake of the truth which lived in them. They, the
scattered, unarmed, most insignificant, and most defenseless handful
of people had the courage to constitute a perpetual living protest
against the convictions cherished by the rest of the world. They had the
courage to bear the fury of an entire population gone mad. And what
is more, they had the courage and the strength, the lion-like strength,
to remain loyal to their convictions despite all the threats of violence
and all the enticements to stray.

Truly, our era is quite unaware of what courage and power of self-control,
what lion-like strength being a Jew entailed in our fathers'
times. Our era does not realize that the sword dangled every moment
over the heads of our fathers, and that the naming torch hovered
threateningly over their dwellings. With every step that they took in
this world, mockery and threats greeted them.

Our generation does not realize with what sacrifices their fathers
purchased the privilege to be Jewish. Few are aware of the price, so to
speak, at which they purchased every mitzvah which they practiced,
and kept far from every aveirah. In the archives of the nations are
found the so-called documents dealing with Jewish rights. Within the
motley contrivances of these documents, designed to place constraints
upon Jewish existence, each form of madness surpasses the next. They
are the copious, unintentional testimonies to Jewish courage, the
voluminous record of Jewish triumph. They are the documents, too
numerous to count, which unintentionally extol a tenacity, an energy
and strength, a lion-like courage and loyalty to duty, such as no other
nation on earth has ever exhibited.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20120417/2d5e6897/attachment.htm>