Welcome back to another episode of NachDaily with Ezra chapter 9.

[May this segment be a merit for the aliyas neshamos of Raizel bas Moshe, Avraham Aharon ben Yisroel Yitzchok, and Refael ben Yehoshua Falek.]

Ezra returned to Yerushalayim and began setting up his autonomous government. He realized that the Jews who had moved approximately 25 years earlier had begun to intermarry.

How was this able to happen? Rav Schwab suggests that although there had been great leaders there ( Zerubavel, Yehoshua Kohen Gadol, Chaggai, Zecharieh, Chananiah, Mishael and Azariah etc.) who had tried to stop the intermarriage, they only had the moral, but not the legal authority to enforce any edict against intermarriage.

As Ezra had been granted full legal authority by the Persian King, he was able to legally enforce the stoppage of intermarriages.

All of the Meforshim pause here, going into great length to explain the gravity of intermarriage.

Ezra is deeply bothered by this aveira. The Ralbag explains that he didn’t want to just chastise the nation for marrying non-Jews, knowing that he would face tremendous opposition. He went about it in a clever way.

Ezra tore his clothing and went into fasting and a state of mourning. He began to daven, pouring his heart out to God. The rest of the perek records Ezra’s tefilah, which he said on his knees out loud in public. As he prayed, people gathered around to listen.

“Hashem, I’m full of shame and embarrassment to come before You. I’m full of avieros. Because of our sins, you’ve put us under the control of foreign rule. Currently, you have showed us kindness for even a brief moment by bringing us back to Eretz Yisrael. You have enlightened our eyes and returned the korbanos at our holy Temple. So how could we have left You? Didn’t You say that if we intermarry, we will be thrown from our land? Isn’t this considered repulsive in

Your eyes? Surely, You would be enraged by us. Hashem, we are guilty. Please treat us with kindness.”

There are two points I’d like to mention.

One, we see that Ezra didn’t give mussar to them outright but mentioned it in passing as if it were his own suffering. It is so important to check ourselves prior to giving criticism or rebuke to anyone else. Are we doing it for selfish reasons? Are we just angry or are we coming from a place of empathy, caring and joining with the other person’s pain? Ezra felt their pain as if it were his own.

Reb Zusha of Anapolie, while staying at other peoples houses, would get up for Chatzos in the middle of the night.

He’d sit on the floor and cry out to Hashem, mentioning the sins of others as if they were his own. His listeners were brought to teshuva.

The second lesson is about the power of personal prayer. Ezra spoke to God in his own words, telling Him what was on his heart and mind. We also need to speak with Hashem in our own words every day about both small and large matters.

Stay tuned to the next episode of NachDaily, when we hope to finish Sefer Ezra.

Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day.