Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
May 24th
2012 -Volume 2, Issue 29 -3rd of Sivan 5772
47th Day
of Omer
Parshat Bamidbar/
Shavuot
A Day
to Remember
Did we
really stand at that mountain 3324 years ago? Did we actually witness Hashem
come down on the Mountain, hear his voice, and see the thunder and lightning? Do
I remember being there and calling out with the other 3 million Jewish souls
Na'aseh Vi'Nishma- We will do and we will listen to all the laws of the
Torah? Frankly, I barely remember my kids names half the time; forget about
their birthdays.
(One of
the nice things about having a Teudat Zehut- Israeli citizenship paper is that
it has all my kids' birthdays on it, so I don't have to undergo those
embarrassing pauses at government offices- as I quickly call my wife- when they
ask me for them).
Yet our
sages tell us that we were all there. The Torah gives us a commandment to
remember the day that we stood at Sinai and according to Nachmonide/ the Ramban
this is in itself one of the 613 commandments. Yet for some reason 3324 years
seems like a long time for this aging brain of mine. Yesterday does as
well.
There is
a general rule in the Torah that "the commandments were not given to
angels". All of the mitzvos are given for us, simple and forgetful type,
human beings to observe. So how can there be a mitzvah to remember something
from so long ago. Perhaps on an even deeper level why is it that we have to
remember the whole Sinai "production" isn't it enough just to know the Torah and
observe the commandments?
Why does
the Torah command us to...
(Devarim
4:9-10) "Just observe for yourself and guard your soul exceedingly LEST YOU
FORGET the things that your eyes saw and lest you remove from your hearts all
the days of your life and you will make them known to your children and your
grandchildren. The day on which you stood before the Lord, your God, in Chorev,
when HaShem Said to me, 'Gather together for Me the people that I may Cause them
to hear My Words, that will teach them to fear Me all of the days that they are
living on the earth, and that they will teach their children"
The
answer the Ramban suggests is that the significance of the mitzvah is so that
one will teach their children. The entire "production" was there to give a
message and an impact that one would "just have to" pass down. I may forget what
happened yesterday. But what my father heard from his father from his father...
that message, that scene was embedded in our national memory forever.
This
week we begin the 4th book of the Torah, Bamibar-In the wilderness.
It is the reading that always precedes Shavuot and there are many lessons that
our sages and commentaries have forever found in it about the lessons of Sinai.
Perhaps one of the most poignant, yet subtler lessons, is the extensive amount
of space that is spent in the Parsha recalling our national counting as we began
our journey. The Torah notes repeatedly how each Jew would be counted according
to their families/ their father's home. The message being that as a Jew we count
as much as we associate ourselves with the home of our fathers who stood at
Sinai. We are not an independent, self-started, coming-to-it-of-our-own,
religion. Rather we are bearers of our family heritage, the stories that we
heard and the events that we witnessed. To be counted is to connect oneself to
the events of that national moment that has been passed down in full detail to
us.
Another message our
sages note in a Medrash in the beginning of the Parsha when it discusses the
genealogy of the Jewish people is that it was in the merit of their genealogy
that we received the Torah. The Meishiv Nefesh explains this medrash with
another fascinating Medrash
.
"When Yisrael stood at
Har Sinai, Hashem asked them, "Who will guarantee your observance of
Torah?" Bnei Yisrael answered, "Our forefathers," but Hashem
responded that those were not adequate guarantors. "Our children," Bnei
Yisrael then said, and Hashem responded, "Your children are certainly good
guarantors." This, the midrash concludes, is the meaning of the verse
(Tehilim 8:3), "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings you have established
strength." And, this, writes the Meishiv Nefesh, is the meaning of the
midrash that the Torah was given because of
our genealogy,
i.e., our children.
The Ramban
suggests as well that the key to us fulfilling the mitzvah of remembering Sinai
is passing that tradition, our story that we heard from our fathers and that
resides in our collective memory to the next generation.
"And you will make
them known to your children and your grandchildren"
I
recall a lecture I once heard from Rabbi Berel Wein who once made an incredible
calculation. He suggested that each individual can relate first hand testimony
for about 130 years. Meaning that I knew my grandfather who was born in the
early 1900's and he knew and heard from his grandfather who lived in the late
1800's. So my personal record goes back about 130 years. If we make that
calculation over the 3324 years from Sinai we would only require a chain of
about 25 people to pass down the story of that great event. 25 people charged
with the memory and legacy of their grandparents who take seriously the mandate
to make sure that their grandchildren knew the most important message and
revelation of mankind that they were at. It's not so many people. It's not too
hard to remember.
We
live in a world where, thank God, with the blessing of modern medicine people
are living longer. By my son's Bris 14 years ago he had 7 out of his eight
great- grandparents alive and sharing in the Simcha. Today, they should live and
be well until 120, they have the blessing of of having 4 of their great
grandparents still active and passing down those important messages and values.
Sinai lives and will always live our memory despite how much so many of us might
forget from time to time, despite the challenges of assimilation and persecution
we've faced throughout the centuries. It lives because the deepest instinct
imparted to us as a nation at the momentous occasion was this message. Remember
this day, Remember this moment when we saw and witnessed Hashem a.nd his glory. And never forget to remind
your children of their precious heritage and memory as well. Personal birthdays
may be forgotten, but our national birthday as the eternal nation will be
celebrated each year as we approach and enjoy in the special birthday party of
Shavuot.
Have an incredibly
amazing Shabbos and a Chag Shavuot Samayach,
Rabbi Ephraim
Schwartz
P.S. Happy 1st Bar
Mitzvah anniversary to my 14 year old Yonah!! We are so proud of you!!(and me
for remembering :))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS03Xkmaf3U
RABBI SCHWARTZ FAVORITE QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Instead of spending a fortune on this trip to climb Mount Sinai and reciting the 10 Commandments on the mountain's peak, I have a better idea. Save your money, stay home and keep the Commandments in Boston."-Mark Twain to the Boston Globe on a proposed expedition to the Holyland with a Sinai finale"
RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-
JEZRE'EL VALLEY/ "THE EMEK"-THE TRUTH IS THIS LARGEST VALLEY IN ISRAEL BETWEEN THE LOWER GALILE AND THE HILLS OF MENASHE HAS TONS OF COOL PLACES. MANY BIBLICAL STORIES TOOK PLACE IN THIS VALLEY FROM SAUL, GIDEON, DEVORA, ALIYAHU AND ACHAV. YET WHEN ONE IN ISRAEL REFERS TO THE EMEK THEY REFER TO THE HOTBED OF MANY NEW IDEAS AND SOCIETIES THAT WERE DEVELOPED AND TRIED IN THIS VALLEY THAT WAS FULL OF SWAMPS, SICKNESS AND DETERMINED ZIONIST IDEALOGUES WHO WERE COMING TO BUILD A DIFFERENT FUTURE FOR THEMSELVES.
CO-OPERATIVE LIVING IN MERCHAVIA, KIBBUTZ LIFE IN EIN HAROD, MOSHAV IN NAHALAL WERE ALL ATTEMPTS IN THE 1920'S TO CREATE A SOCIETY THAT WOULD BALANCE A COMMUNAL LIVING AND RESPONSIBILITY THAT WOULD CHANGE THE WORLD. THE ONE THING THAT THEY ALL HAVE IN COMMON IS THAT THEY WERE ALL STARTED AS SECULAR NEW-WORLD VIEWS AND SOLUTIONS AND THEY HAVE ALL CHANGED AND EVEN HAVE ESTABLISHED SYNAGOGUES AND MIKVAOT.
THE JEW IS BUILT TO CHANGE THE WORLD THE EMEK IS A SYMBOL OF THE INCREDIBLE FLOURISHING THAT WE CAN BRING TO A DESOLATE SWAMP AS THE MOUNTAINS FLOURISH WITH WHEAT, TREES AND FLOWERS. MAY WE BE THAT TRUE SPIRITUAL LIGHT AS WELL
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