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Horav Yosef Konvitz, z.l., one of the early pioneers of Orthodoxy in America, applied this pasuk to explain the dismal state of Jewish observance in the early part of  the twentieth century. Most Jews at the time viewed every aspect of religious life with a haphazard, begrudging, even antagonistic attitude. Many were ignorant of Torah law. Some even acted l’hachis, deliberately transgressing Torah and mitzvos for profit or power. Kashrus, which in Europe was accepted by everybody, was unreliable at best. America was devoid of spiritual hope, posing an alarming threat to Torah-based Judaism. The European immigrants who came to…