It's Time to Talk about That Party
You know which rave party.
But I wanted to wait because this needs to be addressed carefully, especially since I'm pretty flawed myself.
It's also certain the party-goers lacked any awareness of the profound harm to themselves and others (especially spiritually & psychically) of the behavior in which they indulged.
This isn't about blaming the victims.
Regardless of who they were, who is not absolutely horrified and terrified by what happened to them?
Furthermore, we see instances in which religious observance or saintliness provides no guarantee — yet we still see how it does HELP.
Miracles still happen.
Salvation still comes within the blink of an eye.
Not always, but a lot.
And thousands of stories throughout Jewish history testify to this siyata diShmaya (Heavenly assistance).
As more details come my way (including personal, unpublished details), I felt ready to address the issue of the mesibat teva.
So here it goes.
Stuff You May or May Not Have Known about Tumah Parties
They are always associated with what's called "light" or "soft" drugs—marijuana, hashish, grass, weed, cannabis, or whatever plant or name they use.
Not surprisingly, I recently discovered drinking also occurs at these things.
Was this noted in the media?
Well, one article briefly mentioned how the party-goers attempted to escape was hampered by what they'd "consumed."
That's certainly a delicate way of putting it.
And yes, being repeatedly stoned for 2 days in a row definitely messes things up when murderous captors converge by the hundreds on the 3rd day.
Furthermore, this mass gathering near the Gazan border allegedly hosted a large statue of the well-known creepy baby-fat Buddha.
A 3-day event, this party started on Thursday and was scheduled to include Shabbat/chag.
So rather than a mesibat teva, we could call it a mesibat tumah (a party of spiritual blockage/impurity).
Some Background on the Young Man
His mother is one of my husband's many first cousins—and she has always been one of my favorite relatives in hubby's family.
The youngest of a large family, she was born in Eretz Yisrael after her parents and siblings made aliyah from Algeria. (Like my husband, her father was born in Morocco, but moved to Algeria after members of the "religion of peace" traumatized his family. There, he married an Algerian Jewess.)
Though born to warm religious parents with excellent middot, my husband's cousin dropped a lot of technical religious observance due to her surrounding environment in the North, but later returned to full mitzvah observance by age 20 with the support of a seminary for baalot teshuvah.
Through no fault of his parents, this particular son (who attended the deadly party) endured certain unexpected difficulties in his youth which, combined with his particular personality, influenced him away from a good yeshivah (which he attended with my son), and then from life of Torah and mitzvot.
His mother remained unconditionally loving toward him, spoke of him compassionately despite her profound pain, and also davened for him.
A Split-Second Decision at the Last Minute
But he attended this party on Thursday, the 6th day of holy Sukkot.
Yet on Friday around 4 PM and just a couple of hours before before the onset of Shabbat and Simchat Torah/Shemini Atzeret, he suddenly asked himself, "What, I committed to take upon myself Shabbat, yet I'm going to transgress Shabbat for THIS?"
And with that, he turned around and left, making it back to his mother's house just before sunset.
In doing so, he saved himself from a dawn of terror and slaughter.
Flawed & Hurtling in the Wrong Direction? Just Take ONE Step in the Right Direction. It Can Make All the Difference.
(Shomer contains the combined meaning of "guard, protect, observe, keep.")
Also, please note Hashem's tremendous Compassion extended toward this young man.
After all, here he was on the sixth day of the very holy Sukkot holiday, looking every inch the street chiloni, attending a drug-fueled party with deplorable music lyrics blaring at full volume, hosting mixed dancing with other unwholesome behavior, plus a creepy baby-fat Buddha.
And remember, Thursday night was Hoshana Rabbah, a time when Hashem makes His final judgement — a night of prayer, a night when men try to stay awake as long as possible to learn Torah and recite a special tikkun (prayer of rectification).
Such a holy night...and look at what this young man was doing that very night!
Yet because of his commitment to Shabbat, Hashem saved him.
Just based on ONE commitment — not even an act, but a thought! Commitment first occurs in the mind.
Based on that, Hashem reminded him to leave in honor of Shabbat.
And Hashem spared him absolute horror.
And this is exactly what a lot of our greatest true talmidei chachamim have been saying:
A little bit of mesirut nefesh!
A tiny bit of pushing yourself out of your personal comfort zone!
(And believe me, a mesibat tumah provides a literal comfort zone.)
And doing so for the sake of Torah fundamentals, such as Shabbat, tsniyut (dressing & behaving with dignity & self-respect), learning Torah, and so on — this brings about tremendous siyata diShmaya.
Yeshuah k'heref ayin — Salvation comes like the blink of an eye.
One quick decision in the right direction — and he saved himself from absolute horror.
Despite everything he'd been doing up until that minute, Hashem still related to him with revealed Compassion.
We don't need to make it to the top.
We just need to TRY.