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Dear Friends,
It is with great
love that I would like to share my derasha from last Shabbat with you. Please
read my words and know that we will miss you and wish you all tremendous beracha
v'hatzlacha. May Hashem bestow His blessings upon you and your families.
Please keep in touch. My personal e-mail address is evang...@gmail.com and our new
mailing address will be 24 Rechov Nachal Dolev Apt 9, Ramat Beit Shemesh,
Israel.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Mordechai
Gershon
בס"ד
Parashat Balak - 5775
Rabbi Mordechai Gershon
Approximately three weeks ago my six year old daughter experienced one of the
highlights of her kindergarten experience - her siddur presentation. My wife and
I, along with our parents, came to her school, entered the crowded auditorium,
and watched with great pride as the children received their siddurim and recited
the morning tefillot.
One thing
that struck me as interesting was the choice of prayers. Among the first songs
that the children sang was מה טבו אהליך יעקב - "How
good are your tents O Ya'akov" (a reference to the Jewish people), which is of
course the greatest of all blessings that Bilaam utters against his will toward
the Jewish nation in this week's Torah reading. Although this passage is
included in the introductory prayers found in the siddur, most people tend to
omit it since the formal prayers in the synagogue begin with the
ברכות השחר - morning blessings, which appear later on
in the siddur. Yet, the rabbis who compiled the siddur must have had a good
reason for including this passage in the introduction to our daily prayers. What
is so special about these words?
In two
separate Talmudic locations, our rabbis offer different interpretations of the
meaning of this blessing. The most famous explanation is the interpretation
quoted by Rashi in our Parasha, which originates from the Talmud's discussion in
Masechet Bava Batra 60a. This interpretation states that Bilaam was praising the
Jewish people since the entrances to their tents did not face each other. One
classical understanding of this comment is that the Jewish people lived with
great modesty and respect for privacy of their neighbors. However, another
interpretation offered by the late chief Sephardic rabbi of Israel, HaRav
Mordechai Eliyahu זצ"ל, is that the Jewish people
lived with great love and unity. Perhaps we may add that they did so in spite of
the fact that, in the words of the Talmud, "their doors did not face each
other," meaning that they lived in love and unity in spite of the fact that they
were different from each other. The tents, attitudes, philosophies, and customs
of the people may not have been congruous, but they still dwelled together in
harmony, their tents complementing each other in the "big tent" of Klal Yisrael.
In a
different location, the Talmud (Masechet Sanhedrin 105b) explains that Bilaam
intended to curse the "tents" and "dwelling places" of the Jewish people, which
is a reference to the synagogues and yeshivot. However, when Hashem saw the
intent of Bilaam, He transformed the intended curse into a praise and blessing
of these communal institutions. We must now wonder why it is the Bilaam was so
threatened by the notion of Jews community, as symbolized by the institutions of
the synagogues and yeshivot. Why is the notion of Jewish community so critical
to the survival and thriving of the Jewish nation?
The
answer to this question is that the notion of community and the genuine sense of
unity that should permeate it is the strength of the Jewish people. In a 1978
article in the Tradition Journal of Orthodox Thought, Rabbi Yosef Dov
Soloveichik זצ"ל wrote the following about the
significance of community. "The community in Judaism is not a
functional-utilitarian, but an ontological one. The community is not just an
assembly of people who work together for their mutual benefit, but a
metaphysical entity, an individuality; I might say, a living whole. In
particular, Judaism has stressed the wholeness and unity of K'nesset Yisrael,
the Jewish community... The personalistic unity and reality of a community, such
as K'nesset Yisrael, is due to the philosophy of existential complementarity of
the individuals belonging to the K'nesset Yisrael. The individuals belonging to
the community complement one another existentially. Each individual possesses
something unique, rare, which is unknown to the others: each individual has a
unique message to communicate, a special color to add to the communal spectrum.
Hence, when lonely man joins the community, he adds a new dimension to the
community awareness. He contributes something which no one else could have
contributed. He enriches the community existentially; he is irreplaceable." I
believe that we now have the answer to our question of why the notion of
community was such a threat to Bilaam and why it is so critical to the success
of the Jewish people.
As
Shoshanna, our children, and I prepare to take leave of this extraordinary
community that we love so much, I can't help but reflect on this messages that
Rav Eliyahu and Rav Soloveichik expounded upon through the prism of Chazal and
based on the story of blessings uttered by Bilaam. This community in particular
is one of great variety and many colors that complement each other. In fact, the
various colors of this community blend together so beautifully that they form a
true work of art. The seniors and the young, frum from birth and ba'alei
teshuva, Ashkenazic and Sephardic - the variety in our community is something
unique. Everyone has his or her own story and his or her own individual
contribution to this truly amazing community.
We have
shared so much with you over the years. We shared in times of great difficulty
and in times of great joy, we shared Torah and insight, we shared laughter and
friendship. Shoshanna and I want to thank you all for being who you are and for
all that we have shared during these five years. I would like to thank Rabbi
Goldin, Rabbi Poupko, and Rabbi Hyman for their friendship, guidance, and
mentoring. I would also like to thank the past presidents of the shul, the board
members, and leadership of Congregation Ahavath Torah and of the Benaroya
Sephardic Center for their support during these years. Most importantly, we
thank Hashem for bringing us to be a part of the Ahavath Torah community. Even
though we are now moving on to fulfill the dream of the Jewish people and our
dream of שיבת ציון - returning to Zion and to our one
and only Jewish homeland, please know that we will still be connected to the
Ahavath Torah community. We would love to stay in touch and want to hear about
your wellbeing and, b'ezrat Hashem, look forward to hearing about your future
simachot. Please contact us when you are in Israel. May Hashem bless all of you,
your families, and the entire community with good health, happiness, success,
and nachat. Shabbat Shalom. |
