By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com

This week, the entire country witnessed the tragic end of a horrible disaster unfold before our eyes.  There are lessons to be learned, of course, and this article will, b’Ezras Hashem, address some of those lessons.  But first, a brief trip back in time to almost one century ago.

It is Sept. 1st, 1923, the 20th of Elul.  An earthquake, a very powerful one – hits Japan’s Kanto plain.  It veritably destroys Tokyo, Yokohama, and its surrounding cities.  Over 100,000 people r”l die.  When the news reaches the Chofetz Chaim in Radin,  he fasts and says that this news should galvanize everyone. He writes a Kol Koreh about it (see Letters of the Chofetz Chaim 10-12).

Now we are back in our time.

On June 18th, 2023, the Titan, an engineering “miracle” so to speak, a submersible went missing. The submersible was on a tourist expedition to view the wreckage of the R M S Titanic which sank in 1912.  Two of those killed were Isador and Ida Strauss, the co-owners of Macy’s.

The founder and CEO of the company that made and died on the Titan was a man named Stockton Rush. Rush was married to Wendy Rush, an ur-ur einekel of the Strausses.  Early on June 22nd, evidence of the wreckage began to emerge.  The vessel imploded, and it seems instantly. There were no survivors.

The first lesson we can draw from this tragedy is that we need to galvanize ourselves not just to do Teshuvah –  but to take action.  How so?  And in what areas?  Details and facts are emerging that there were horrific shortcuts taken.   Unfortunately, some of us, at times, also take shortcuts rachmana litzlan in regard to various things – whether it has to do with following codes and protocols about electricity, bedikas chometz, chanukah licht, buildings, swimming pools, crowd control, or general safety.

Shortcuts are a negation of six different Mitzvos in the Torah.  And before we get to specific lessons, let’s enumerate those Mitzvos. Please, please, do not skip this section.

• Hashavas Aveidah. The verse in Parashas Ki Seitzei (Devarim 22:2) discusses the mitzvah of hashavas aveidah, returning a lost object, with the words, “V’hasheivoso lo,” “and you shall return it to him.” The Gemara in Sanhedrin (73a), however, includes within its understanding of these words the obligation of returning “his own life to him as well.” This verse is the source for the mitzvah of saving someone’s life. It is highly probable that it is to this general mitzvah that the Shulchan Aruch refers in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 325. Shortcuts violate this Mitzvah in the Torah.
• V’Nishmartem me’od l’nafshoseichem.’ The Maharsha states definitely this pasuk from Devarim (4:15) refers also to following practical advice and protocols in all matters of safety.
• ‘Thy Brother’s Blood.’ There is a negative mitzvah of not standing idly by your brother’s blood —“Lo sa’amod al dam rei’echa” (Vayikra 19:16). This is mentioned in Shulchan Aruch (C.M. 426:1) and in the Rambam. When shortcuts present a clear danger to so many around us and we do nothing, we are violating the commandment of “Lo sa’amod al dam rei’echa.”
• ‘Lo Suchal L’hisalem.’ There is yet another negative commandment associated with the positive commandment of hashavas aveidah, and that is the verse in Devarim (22:3), “You cannot shut your eyes to it.” This verse comes directly after the mitzvah of hashavas aveidah. The Netziv, Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, in his HeEmek She’eilah, refers to this mitzvah as well.
• ‘V’chai Achicha Imach.’ The She’iltos (She’ilta #37), based upon the Gemara in Bava Metzia 62a, understands the words in Vayikra (25:36), “v’chai achicha imach,” “and your brother shall live with you,” to indicate an obligation to save others with you. The Netziv in his HeEmek She’eilah understands it as a full-fledged obligation according to all opinions. He writes that one must exert every effort to save his friend’s life, until it becomes a matter of pikuach nefesh for himself.
• ‘V’ahavta L’rei’acha Kamocha.’ The Ramban, in Toras HaAdam Sha’ar HaSakanah (pp. 42–43), understands the verse of “And love thy neighbor as yourself” as a directive to save our peers from other danger as well.

THE SHORTCUTS

What were the shortcuts here?  My father z”l was a leading metallurgist, engineer, and physicist and chose and developed the metals for the Apollo rocket engines.  He worked for Rocketdyne, JPL, NASA, and Boeing.  On numerous occasions, he pointed out that the engineering and metallurgical engineering behind space exploration was much easier than that of exploring the ocean depths.

Things much be tested much more for what is going on underwater – than in space – especially if the lives of people may be at risk.  Why is this the case?

The underlying issue is air pressure. And when dealing with water – it is called hydro-static pressure.  At sea level, air pressure is 14.7 pounds per square inch which means that a column of air with an area of 1 square inch would have a weight of slightly less than 14.7 pounds – because of the weight of all that air going up to the sky.  Water, however, weighs much more than does air and every square inch you go down is another 14.7 pounds per square inch.

The Titan planned to go to the ocean floor next to the Titanic which is  12,500 feet below sea level.  Imagine that you have back issues and your 100 pound child is walking on your back to alleviate your back pain.  At the Titanic’s depth, that child is no longer 100 pounds.  He would feel like 12500 X 12 X 14.7 X 100 on you.  That’s 150,000 times 1470 which is the equivalent of 75,000 fully loaded Monsey Trail buses on top of your back.

The hatch on the Titan had to be bolted down by 17 to 18 bolts from the outside. There was no other egress or exit.  It had to be open by people on the outside.  We too have to ensure that there are other exits whenever we build anything.  For example, im NYC’s building code, TITLE 27 Subchapter 6, we find the exit requirements.  We need to keep to that.  The Titan had no backup systems.

It had no GPS, no locator, nor even a black box.  In 2019, OceanGate, Titan’s creator,  published a blog post explaining why the Titan was not certified by any ship authority.  Uh-oh.

PLASTIC CHANUKAH MENORAHS

The craft was also controlled by a video game controller – not by a well-tested military grade device.  It just wasn’t tested to be safe.  Years ago, I called a Vaad HaRabbonim to complain about plastic Chanukah licht that were being sold in a local store. They were perhaps tested one at a time in 70 degree air conditioned weather, but when placed in close proximity to 5 to 9 other Chanukah menorahs – the heat generated can very likely cause a fire.

I asked that they require that they be removed, because – how is it different than selling tarfus?  I was laughed at.  Many deaths later, rachmana litzlan – we still haven’t learned.  They need to be banned.

The Titan was a carbon-fiber and titanium hold submersible. America has been testing and using high strength steel and aluminum for a long, long time, and there is engineering data on how they fail and what we should be looking for and even data on test methodologies. Whenever there is a fire in the city, there are investigators from the fire department to determine how the fire happened so that it won’t happen again in the future.  Engineers know what they are doing – circumventing them is stupid.  Quite often, products fail after  one or two or three uses.

There were warning signs too.  Chazal tell us aid echad ne-eman b’issurin – when someone warns us about something – let’s not ignore a warning.  And especially, let’s not shut them up.  We need to be brave enough to point out serious problems. David Lockridge, the Ocean Gate Director of Marine operations, filed a quality control report in January, 2018 stating that no non-destructive testing of the carbon fiber hole had taken place to check for voids in the carbon fiber layup that could compromise the whole strength.

The day after he filed his report, Lockridge was summoned to a meeting by Ocean Gate and was dismissed from his position. To shut him up, they filed a lawsuit against Lockridge accusing him of improperly sharing proprietary trade secrets.  The suit was eventually settled and we do not know the exact terms.

With airplanes, there are mandated hours for retiring the craft from commercial use – because it was only tested for a certain amount of hours.  When the Chasam Sofer said, Chadash assur min haTorah, we can include a new or further use for an old thing.

We need to always learn from our mistakes, but often, we just go right back to them, r”l.  Which brings us to another lesson that we can also learn from a child of a certain “Reb Moshe Mabovitch.”  Almost 50 years ago, this child was found to be in a key leadership position and failed miserably.

It was a case of possible destruction of hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives.  A statement was issued by this leader which runs counter to all that we Jews, and that much of American society holds dear. Innovation is good and incredible, but let us not place our faith in our own abilities.  Let us always remember to put G-d in all aspects of our lives.  Let us always express that we have faith in Hashem, before every endeavor.

A quick perusal of the statements made before the Titan was launched (and the Titanic as well for that matter), revealed no mention of Hashem.  Nor did any statement made by Mabovitch’s child.  Instead, fifty years ago, the fourth Prime Minister of the State of Israel issued a statement that echoed a national sentiment of invincibility in the aftermath of the Six Day War.  She said, “anu botchim bekochot tzahal.”

The results were the horrific tragedy that was the Yom Kippur War and the deaths and injuries associated with it.

The lesson here is the bravado, the brave new world that we can do anything, should and must be tempered with the knowledge that we must do our hishtablus – make our best efforts, but ain od milvado – Hashem runs the world.  Let’s never forget that, but let us never use that sentiment to make shortcuts in our observance of the six Mitzvos mentioned above.

The author can be reached at [email protected]