Determined Not to Destroy
When I was living in Eretz Yisrael, I was approached by a girl from France who had been living with relatives in Eretz Yisrael. She had made strides in her level of religious observance and Fear of Heaven.
The girl was terribly homesick for her irreligious family and asked whether she should spend the holidays with her family in France, or preserve her spirituality by remaining in Eretz Yisrael.
I was acquainted with this girl and her family. I therefore knew that if she were to return at this point, all of her spiritual accomplishments would be undermined. There were a lot of things going on in her parents’ environment which were unsuitable for a fine Jewish daughter. I advised her to remain in Israel with her relatives in Yerushalayim for the holidays.
She accepted my words and informed her family of her decision. But they insisted on spending the holidays together with her. They therefore decided to make the trip to Israel themselves and spend the holidays with her on sacred shores. But they made arrangements to stay in Herzeliya, a city far from Torah and mitzvot. They asked her to join them there.
Unfortunately, this young flower of a girl, who had flourished in the fertile sands of the Holy Land, was snatched away by her family in Herzeliya. Instead of flowering during the season of the Jewish holidays, she withered away in the company of her wayward family. She lost out spiritually from their fateful and fatal visit.
It is very easy to pluck a flower from the earth. It is much more difficult to plant one anew. Only a short while in a place of disrepute is enough to destroy worlds built on purity.
