Rav Avigdor Miller on The Airplane Crash
Q:
What do you think our reaction should be to the destruction of the Pan Am jetliner?

A:
The first thing is to thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu that you weren’t there – that’s very important. That’s one of the big reasons that things happen in this world. אין הקדוש ברוך הוא מביא פרעניות אלא בשביל ישראל – Any misfortune that happen in this world are for the purpose of Am Yisroel. And Rashi there says: כדי ליראם – that it’s done to frighten them, so that they should do teshuva.

So the first thing is to think, “Did I ever travel on an airplane?” Yes, certainly. And look; boruch Hashem, boruch Hashem, I’m still here!” So you’ll start saying, “Well, in most of the cases airplanes don’t crash, so I don’t have to think about that.” No, that’s a mistake. You’re misusing the airplane crash. That incident has to be utilized properly in order to gain more gratitude to Hashem.

Now, if we’ll study more about that, we’ll learn there were twenty frum Jews who were scheduled to take that airplane, but they were rerouted for a certain reason. That means that Hakodosh Boruch Hu was rerouting them – it’s a true fact. Twenty frum Jews were supposed to be on that plane and they weren’t. It was the yad Hashem.

Of course, they themselves should always – all their lives – think about that and sing to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. But we too have to study that however. It’s up to us also to study that and to see that everyone on that plane was led there by Hakodosh Boruch Hu; they were sentenced by Hashem beforehand.

Why were they sentenced? Only Hashem knows; but we know that He brought them all together in one place where all those people were destined to lose their lives and that’s why it happened that moment. Nothing happens by accident.

Of course, if they could find the terrorist who planted the bomb there, if it was up to me they wouldn’t just kill him. They’d put him to death by slow torture in order to teach a lesson. The nations of the world are insane in their leniency to criminals, especially to criminals of terrorism. The nations are insane.

The liberals are the worst enemies of the public safety. And that’s why we should vote against every liberal politician. We should vote against every liberal who runs for office because they are our deadly enemies. All the Jews who were killed and are being constantly killed – Jews are being killed constantly and nothing is done – it’s due to the liberals. So when a liberal goes to the legislature or wherever he goes and he takes his seat, he is now becoming your deadly enemy. He’s going to keep the murderers encouraged all the time, because the criminals know that nothing will happen to them as long as that liberal is in office.

However, in addition to the great lesson of how important it is for us to be stern in judgment and to learn that you must punish criminals – otherwise the world has no existence; without justice there cannot be any safety in the world – but in addition to that, we have to learn how important it is for us always to be on guard with yiras Hashem. Nobody can know when he is being sentenced, chas v’shalom.

A person may be packing his valise and he’s full of joy going for a happy trip. He doesn’t know that he is going now to his final execution. And therefore at all times a man must be ready with yiras Hashem. At all times a person should think, “Who knows what can happen?”

And do you know when you should think about that? When you fall tachnun. רחום וחנון חטאתי לפניך – I sinned before You Hashem, השם אל באפך תוכיחני – Please, Hashem, don’t rebuke me in Your wrath. Ask Hashem constantly when you fall on your face! That’s why you fall on your face – you’re asking for rachamim! Don’t tell me you prayed already. Maybe it didn’t help; maybe despite your prayers the sentence was passed. So you have to fall on your face tachanun and beg – a condemned man falls on his arm and he bursts out with tachanunim – “Please Hashem; please don’t rebuke me in Your wrath.” That’s why it’s tachanun – you’re imploring! “Hashem; please, please, recall the decree!”

That’s how important it is to say tachanun with an outcry all the time. Every time, cry out to Hashem. That’s how important it is. Nobody can know what’s in store for him. And therefore it always pays beforehand to cry out to Hashem.