Last week, our editor and many of the esteemed columnists wrote about what has been called the Semiquincentennial. My good friend and neighbor, Rav Mordechai Kamenetzky, facilely called it in these pages the “Birth-Dud” of America, meaning that the celebrations have been disappointing at best. I would like to share a particular perspective that I have on this subject.

In 1975, with the Bicentennial looming ahead, Torah Umesorah, upon the urging of the great mechanech Rav Yosef Elias, decided to devote an evening to share the Torah perspective upon this event. I was then a young menahel (of RJJ in Staten Island) and deeply involved in Torah Umesorah. Our group of menahalim decided that, like all Torah-based events, we must have a respected daas Torah hashkafah from a gadol who could speak articulately and authentically in English about Klal Yisroel and the two hundredth birthday of the United States.

After quite a bit of discussion, it was unanimously agreed that we should invite Rav Shimon Schwab, rov of Khal Adas Yeshurun, to give the keynote address. Several other historians were also lined up to present various aspects of our joint history, and one of them prepared a beautiful slideshow about certain presidents and Jewish leaders of the past two centuries.

For some reason, I was chosen to be the chairman and emcee, and I had the privilege of introducing Rav Schwab. I wasn’t sure if this was because I am an immigrant to the United States or because I was born in Germany, but I was both honored and nervous about the opportunity.

Rav Schwab was, as always, eloquent, diplomatic and extremely kind to the young fellow struggling to introduce him properly. The presentation is now recorded in Rav Schwab’s collected writings (Selected Writings, pp. 154-58), but the emotions and teachings he shared are both timeless and a lesson in daas Torah. Some of his words from half a century ago are quite prophetic, yet the nagging feeling remains that he might not have been able to give the same speech today.

Rav Schwab did not disappoint. He gave us all a panoramic overview of how a Torah Jew should view “secular governments which rule over us in the diaspora as divinely appointed and not as mere historical accidents.” He reminded us of Shlomo Hamelech’s teaching that “a king’s heart is in the hand of Hashem” and added something amazing. He stated that “this is irrespective of the attitude of those ruling powers towards our people. If we are oppressed by some rulers, we must actively seek out every legitimate path to redress the wrongs perpetrated against us. But we must realize that discrimination and persecution as well as benevolence and tolerance are willed by the ‘Guardian of Israel,’ Who does not sleep or slumber.”

Nevius? Perhaps, but certainly the long-distance clear-eyed vision of a true manhig Yisroel.

But there is yet more. Rav Schwab took us back to the first journey to these States, when Columbus left Spain on the day after Tishah B’Av in 1492, the day after the Expulsion. In Rav Schwab’s own words, “a new world was destined to be opened for the oppressed of many nations, where millions of Jews, among others, were to find a home under the protection of laws which were unthinkable to most minds almost 500 years ago.”

The rov added a lesser known fact that Columbus’ first sighting of the New World, while flying the Spanish flag, was on October 12, Hoshanah Rabbah. Today, Spain has once again joined the ranks of the most anti-Semitic countries in the world. If I may paraphrase, we must look back and be grateful for what we have received from presidents and this medinah shel chesed, but take nothing for granted and ask Hashem to once again point His surrogates in the right direction.

A few more salient facts from Rav Schwab’s history lesson. A committee of famous Founding Fathers comprising Benjamin Franklyn, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson was appointed to prepare a Great Seal of the new United States of America. Franklyn proposed an image of Krias Yam Suf with Moshe Rabbeinu holding his mateh. Jefferson liked this so much that he used it on his private seal. However, the future president preferred for the official seal an image portraying the Ananei Hakavod leading Klal Yisroel in the midbar. He went on to quote the Gemara (Shabbos 11a), which teaches that “if all the oceans were made of ink and all the reeds were writing pens and all the heavens were parchment and all men sofrim, it would not suffice to describe the wisdom of statecraft,” echoed, as we all know, in the beautiful tefillah of Nishmas. Rashi explains that running a country requires an incredible level of sagacity. We must question whether any of those currently vying to attain this stature of leadership would even come close to this level of competence.

Rav Schwab summarizes a lengthy excursion into the ideal relationship between Klal Yisroel and the secular rulers with whom we are often forced to coexist. “The political power of the government is nothing but the hidden works of the King of kings.” More importantly, he quotes from Mishlei (26:10): “The Master employs fools and transgressors to bring all His plans to fruition.” Again, these are not only eloquent words, but a motto and modus operandi for us to conduct our dealings with governments of all kinds.

For all who live in New York under a new administration, the following words resonate as if they were written today rather than 50 years ago. “In contradistinction to the communistic regimes which oppress Jews and Judaism, this country has the immense zechus to be the host of thousands of Torah Jews who enjoy the freedom to serve Hashem without restrictions. All this imposes upon us an ever mounting debt of gratitude, which we repay by loyalty and concern for this nation and by the strict adherence to the laws of the land.”

It seems that although Rav Schwab said many prophetic things, we are clearly now at a different point than when he spoke those eloquent words fifty years ago. We would do well to heed his exhortations to be patriotic Americans, but also to be vigilant about two things. We must remember that all of this ultimately comes from Hashem. Secondly, we must do what we can, b’derech hateva, to oust and replace those who would do us harm, even based upon their very own words. This can be done in many ways, but most effectively by beseeching the true Master of the World to give us benevolent and moral leaders. Yes, things have changed since 1976, but in the larger historical picture, they have not changed that much at all.

I would like to close on a personal note about Rav Schwab. I checked with reliable members of the Schwab family, one of whom, Reb Gavriel Schwab, I am now privileged to have as a member of my shul, who validate what happened with me personally. The rov had to leave after he finished his brilliant drosha and I walked him out, in accordance with halacha and my profound hakoras hatov. Although it was warm outside, it was drizzling and Rav Schwab reached for his raincoat. Having learned in Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, where we were injected with kavod haTorah from the earliest years, I tried to help him on with his coat. Although he was somewhat frail, he practically knocked me down, explaining apologetically that he doesn’t allow anyone to help in this way. I did apologize for any offense, but he explained with a story.

“When I was a bochur in the Mir,” he began, “there was an elderly gentleman who used to help us in many ways, including rushing to help us put on our coats, boots or whatever we needed. To us, including me, it felt good to be treated in this way, and he explained that since he could not learn Torah like us, this was his way of honoring the Torah. After he was niftar, I found out that he was a tzaddik and talmid chochom nistar, who had left numerous writings in many areas of Torah. I decided that for my personal teshuvah, I needed to make a decision that, other than my immediate family, I would never again allow anyone to help me with my coat, hat or anything else.”

Wow! I left that night thinking that this was a man who was na’eh doresh vena’eh mekayeim — he acted as beautifully as he spoke. And that is ultimately the message. As Rav Schwab said, even if we are mistreated by governmental officials, we should never forget that the Ribono Shel Olam is calling the shots. Of course, as he alluded, our hishtadlus requires us to vote properly and do our legal best to elect decent, honorable people who are not anti-Semites. But we must always remember that we are, after all, in golus. Even if others have lost their minds and any shred of integrity, we must maintain our composure and be rigorous in our middos. Rav Shimon Schwab was the perfect messenger to convey these eternal sentiments and goals.

May we soon be zoche that our only King will be the Melech Malchei Hamelachim Hakodosh Boruch Hu.