They came from the entire metropolitan area, the "Five Towns" and as far away as Connecticut, filling every seat at Citi Field to capacity. Some 40,000 laymen and rabbis, with an overflow of standing-room-only of over 20,000 more.
They came to hear, to be strengthened, to be part of a historical event – to learn about the dangers of the internet and to make sure it does not interfere with their lives of mitzvoth and holiness.
And just in time for the Shavuot holiday, for what better way is there to spend the days leading up to the "Giving of the Torah" to the Jewish people? A great Kiddush Hashem... Or is it?
Megilat Ruth, which we read on Shavuot, tells us the tragic story of Elimelech and his family. Elimelech, a leader of his people, was a wealthy landowner when the years of famine hit the Bethlehem area. As the famine grew worse, more and more of his townspeople turned to him for help. It got so bad for Elimelech that he was not able to do anything else besides helping his people.
Every ten minutes, someone would be knocking on his door for this or that. Every time he finally sat down to learn a daf of Gemara, the doorbell was ringing again. It got so bad that he could not even finish up the daily Daf Yomi - How was he ever going to complete the seven-year cycle with the rest of the people?
Then he had an idea: He would leave. At first it seemed crazy at the time, while the nation is suffering so, but the more he thought about it, it began to make more and more sense to him. He would go only for a short while, just enough time so he could really get connected to his learning, six months a year tops.... Oh, just the thought of being able to learn in peace and quiet for awhile - bliss!
Sure, it's so much more important to do, to act, to help, to build up our own country, but just this one time, he would do something for himself.
And so he chose to move the family to Moab. Sure, the Torah tell us to stay away from the Moabites and not to intermarry with them, but really, how bad could it be over there? And besides that, the king himself, King Eglon sent him a invitation. We can compare Elimelech to Abraham, who also was forced to leave the Land of Israel because of a very severe famine in his day. Abraham, though, chose to go down to Egypt where there was water from the Nile. Elimelech, on the other hand, headed east to Moab, for there the famine was not so severe and the opportunities were great.
So one fine day, Elimelich and his lovely wife Naomi and their two wonderful children loaded up the horses and left town. The townspeople ran beside the carriage, begging him not to leave them in their time of trouble, but Elimelech would not hear of it, promising them that he would be back again.
Well, the months quickly turned into years, and they kept saying: Just a few more months - we will make a bit more money and then go "home". But before they knew what had happened, 10 years had come and gone. It had not been the best of times for the Elimelech family, for the Master of the World was very angry at him for abandoning His people and leaving the Holy Land.
Our Rabbis tell us that Elimelech was from the family of Nachshon, the same one who entered the Reed Sea first when the Jews left Egypt. But when one leaves the Land of Israel, the merits of his ancestors do not stand by him!
So great is the sin of leaving the Land of Israel, that a decree in Heaven was written to kill Elimelech and his two sons; all would be lost if he did not wake up and do teshuva, repent, and return "home".
So at first, Hashem killed off his livestock, but Elimelech still did not understand the sign; quite the opposite occurred, he convinced himself that he was worshipping G-d in the greatest way - "I've completed the study cycle three time already, so I must really be finding favor in G-d's eyes."
But G-d's judgment is not as man's, so Elimelech was killed in the foreign land that he ran to. His two sons went from evil to evil there, intermarrying with the king;s daughters, Ruth and Orpah, two non-Jewish women from Moab. Soon they, too, would meet the same fate as their father, buried in a foreign land.
The Talmud teaches us that one should not leave the Land of Israel, even if times are hard and prices are high. For all who live in the Land of Israel, it is as if they have a G-d, while all who live outside the Land, it is as if they are worshippers of idols.
Our Rabbis teach us of one who goes to purify himself in the waters of the mikve, ritual bath, and while in the water, holds on to a impure object. So he has accomplished nothing - he remains as he was before he went to the mikve - impure.
All the good intentions of the 60,000 G-d-fearing hareidi Jews who came to Citi Field to raise their voices in concern for the evils of the internet are like the ones who submerge in the pure waters of the mikve, with good intentions to purify their lives and be holy.
But as long as they do not understand the lesson of Elimelech - the lesson of the blight of living outside the Land of Israel - they remain impure.
Let them come to really purify themselves in the Pure Land - the Land of Israel.
Now, while the gates are open!
We are waiting for them!