All Roads Lead To Torah

There are numerous times when we see Hashem’s hand in the events of our life. Some may claim it is mere coincidence. However, from the following Gemara we can see how so much of history is orchestrated directly by Hashem. Even the building of a simple road is part of the Divine master plan.

The Gemara in Avodah Zarah (2a–b) relates a fascinating story, albeit one that hasn’t happened yet. It will take place sometime down the road, after Mashiach comes. Hashem will hold a Torah and proclaim, “For each one who occupied himself with it, let him come and receive his reward.” Immediately all the nations of the world will race and come in pandemonium ...

The kingdom of Rome will enter before Him first. The Holy One will say to them, “What good deeds did you do throughout the generations that you are deserving of reward?” [This is the Tosefos version of the question.] They will say before Him, “Master of the World! We installed many markets, we made many bathhouses, we amassed much silver and gold—and all this we did for no purpose other than to enable [the people of] Israel to busy themselves in Torah.” The Holy One will answer them, “Fools of the world! All that you did, you did for your own purposes. You built marketplaces to situate harlots, bathhouses to adorn yourselves, and the silver and gold is actually Mine ... ”

Rashi explains that the Romans were claiming that their markets made it very convenient for Jews to learn Torah. After all, they didn’t have to interrupt their studies to travel far to obtain their necessities. They were able to buy them at the local Roman Wal-Mart. Further, they themselves were able to profit from the local commerce without having to travel to China. Bathhouses were the recreation of the day, and those that engaged in the deep study of Torah were offered a brief respite.

However, it is not so clear what the Romans intended when they claimed to Hashem “we amassed much silver and gold.” How did that facilitate the study of Torah? The Raavad explains that the Romans were claiming that they amassed fortunes of money with the sole intent that they wouldn’t find it necessary to tax those who study Torah and erode their wealth. Clearly the Romans would have been content to live as paupers, but it was necessary for them to become billionaires to allow those learning Torah to live tax-free.

The commentators are incredulous at the sheer audacity and stupidity of the Romans to try and deceive Hashem. Obviously Hashem knows what their true intentions were! Could it be that in the Olam HaEmes they would be attempting an outright lie?

The Chiddushei HaGriz explains that in fact the Romans were somewhat correct. The only reason that they amassed fortunes and built bathhouses and marketplaces was to enable the Jewish people to learn Torah. That is why Hashem called them only fools, not liars. The problem was that it wasn’t their true intent, so they weren’t deserving of reward. However, after Mashiach comes, when one is able to look back at history, it will be crystal clear that everything was part of the Divine road map. They may have intended to build bathhouses for their own self-indulgence, but Hashem was really controlling the flow. Hashem was orchestrating the provisions necessary for those that study Torah. In the World to Come it will be so obvious to all what the true purposes of the marketplaces were—that they could indeed have only been built for the sake of Torah!

In 1964 came the first papal visit to Israel. That visit by Giovanni Montini (Pope “Paul VI”) lasted only 11 hours. The pope never once called Israel by name, and he went out of his way to avoid using the word Jews. In those days, the Vatican saw Israel as a non-country and its people as a non-nation. The pope even used the occasion to praise his mentor, Eugenio Pacelli (Pope “Pius XII”), defending the latter’s silence during the Holocaust. The pope then was careful to stress that his pilgrimage was “a purely religious act, absolutely extraneous to any kind of political or temporal considerations.” He avoided all sites of Jewish significance, including Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust museum and memorial. At that time, Israel’s statehood was still unrecognized by the Vatican. So what purpose could there have been in this Roman descendant’s visit to Jerusalem? Do we have to wait until Olam HaBa to see how this was part of the Divine master plan?

Prime Minister Levi Eshkol (Levi Shkolnik) sent a message to King Hussein on June 5, 1967 through a United Nations intermediary saying Israel would not attack Jordan unless he initiated hostilities. When Jordanian radar picked up a cluster of planes flying from Egypt to Israel, and the Egyptians convinced Hussein the planes were Egypt’s, he ordered the shelling of West Jerusalem. It turned out that the planes were Israel’s and were returning from destroying the Egyptian air force on the ground. The Israelis desperately wanted Jordan to stay out of the conflict so they wouldn’t have to open up another front in the ’67 war. But it was not meant to be. King Hussein believed the Egyptian propaganda. The shelling intensified, and he launched air strikes of his own. While the Jordanian planes were refueling, the Israelis bombed all 22 of their Hawker jets, thereby eliminating their entire air force!

Half of Jerusalem was at that point under Jordanian rule. It was not in the initial war plans for Israel to fight Jordan. However, when Israel reluctantly engaged the Jordanians, the decision was made to try to capture all of the West Bank and Yerushalayim. The first objective was to take control of the Ramallah ridge. Taking the ridge would give Israel control of the northern and eastern approaches to Jerusalem, along with the main road through the West Bank from Jericho, and would isolate Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.

Down through the ages, every force that would control Jerusalem has had to fight for this ridge—from the Jews under Yehoshua bin Nun to the British under General Allenby during the First World War. To accomplish this objective, it was necessary for the Israeli army to bring in heavy artillery and tanks to fight a ground war against the Jordanian brigades stationed there. This feat was accomplished rather quickly and easily, despite the hilly terrain of the West Bank, due to the fact that a road through the West Bank to Jerusalem had recently been widened and repaved. From there, the IDF forces went on to capture the rest of the West Bank and reunite the divided Jerusalem. Once again they were aided by this road.

Rabbi Berel Wein points out that the United States in 1964 paid for the paving of the road to East Jerusalem from the West Bank. This was to facilitate an easy and comfortable trip for the pope. However, three years later this very same road had a different purpose. It enabled Israeli forces to effectively mobilize and to rout the Jordanian forces in Jerusalem and the West Bank. It paved the way for the reunification of Yerushalayim!

This road that was seemingly made for a Roman was in fact made for Torah. All the Torah that is learnt in the Old City today was made possible by that thoroughfare. It was seemingly just another street with no apparent lasting significance then, but it was in fact a high road!