“RABBI’S MUSINGS (&
AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh parshas Bamidbar
Erev Shavuos
4 Sivan 5782/June 3, 2022
Avos perek 6 - 48th day of Omer
לזכר נשמת חו"מ נטע
יצחק בן אלכסנדר
I am happy to report that my Striving Higher Haggadah is currently being
edited and will be published by Mosaica Press before Pesach 5783 iy”H.
Although much of the book has already been sponsored, I am looking for more
sponsors to help offset publishing costs.
Sponsors can be in memory, in honor or as a zechus.
Please contact me if you are interested in partnering with me in the
production of this unique Haggadah (stamtorah@gmail.com).
THE REAL THING
The story is told about a poor Jew in Europe who came
home one day and told his wife that he wanted to eat blintzes, like the rich
people. The wife replied that rich people eat blintzes because they can afford
the ingredients.
When the husband asked what they needed, his wife replied
that they didn’t have money for eggs, cottage cheese or the other fillings.
The husband instructed her to make the blintzes without
those ingredients. The wife did so and dutifully served her husband.
After eating a few bites, he said to his wife, "You
know, I don't see what rich people see in blintzes."
Since the 1940s Coca Cola has been known for its slogan,
“It’s the real thing”. In 1999 they adapted it to “Can’t beat the real thing”
and in 2005 to “Make it real”. Among other things, the slogan aims to affirm
the supremacy of coke over its rival, Pepsi. Although Coke is only 12 years
older than Pepsi, founded in 1886, Coke uses that seniority to emphasize that
it has ‘soda supremacy and authenticity’.
On Shavuos we celebrate not only the giving of the Torah
three-and-a-half thousand years ago, but also that we continue to observe the
Torah as we received it then, in its pristine form.
We don’t just learn Torah; we seek to internalize its
messages and to make them the central focus of our lives. The more we invest in
Torah study and Torah living the more it becomes part of our being.
Rabbi Jonathon Sacks noted that people think the reason
why many don’t become more observant is because Judaism is too constricting and
too difficult. If only it were easier and less demanding more people would
embrace it. But the reality is not that way. In thinking about the three major
Jewish holidays, more Jews observe Pesach than Sukkos and more Jews observe
Sukkos than Shavuos. Paradoxically, Pesach is by far the most difficult to properly
observe. It involves cleaning the house, koshering the kitchen, using special
utensils, and much else besides. Sukkos is not as challenging but also entails
building a sukkah and gathering the Four Species. By far, Shavuos is the
easiest holiday to observe, with no special mitzvos.[1]
Most difficult of all is Yom Kippur, when we pray much of
the day while fasting and reflecting on our shortcomings and mishaps. Yet, that
is the most observed day by Jews across the religious spectrum.
The counterintuitive reality is that the things we value
most are the things that are the most demanding.
“Things that cost us little, we cherish little. What
matter most to us are the things we make sacrifices for. If Judaism had been
easier, it would have died out long ago. Never doubt that it’s a privilege to
be a Jew. Head for head our people have done more to transform the world than
any other. There are easier ways to live, but none more challenging. G-d asks
great things of our people. That’s what made our people great.”
In one of his masterful letters, Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner
wrote that in large cities there was a city clock hanging atop a tall building
or tower. Most assumed that the clock was hung there so it could be viewed even
from a distance.
The real reason, however, is that if the clock were
easily accessible, every person would adjust the city clock to match their
watch, which they perceived to have the correct time. But once the clock was
placed out of reach, it would be seen as the standard, and everyone would set
their watches according to the City Clock.
The Torah is our city clock. It is the standard bearer
for all times, and we seek to adjust our lifestyles and decisions by its
expectations, and never the other way around.[2]
When the Constitution was drafted in this country, the
Founding Fathers wisely recognized that times change and there is a need for
adaptations. They therefore created a process to create and ratify amendments.
To date, 27 amendments have become law.
The Torah, however, contains no amendments. Its laws and
commandments are infallible and are as applicable today as they were when they
were given at Sinai.
To be sure, there have been many necessary precautions,
customs and rabbinic enactments that have been added over the years. But those are
all to bolster and safeguard the Torah itself.
No matter what society advocates, Shabbos, Yomim Tovim,
our code of morality and values have never changed and will never change.
The gemara (Shabbos 31a) states that one of the first
questions one is asked by the celestial courts after one departs this world is,
“Did you set aside time for Torah?”
Aside for the simple meaning of those words, there is an
additional understanding: Did you set the times you lived in to fit with and
into the dictates of Torah? Did you ensure that no matter what people around
you said or did, you strove to maintain the laws of the Torah?
The alternative is trying to fit the Torah into the whims
and practices of the society surrounding. What we know is that those who have
embarked upon that path often don’t have many Jewish descendants.
We remain Torah observant not because it’s easy, but
because it’s hard. We have endured by rising to the challenge and investing
ourselves in it. It is those ceaseless efforts that we celebrate on Shavuos.
Our Torah is truly the real thing.
Shabbat
Shalom & Good Shabbos
Freilichen
Yom Tov & Chag Sameiach,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum
[1] Staying up all night is a custom, but not obligatory
[2] In that letter Rav Hunter was making the point that the
Rabbi of a community must be like the city clock. He must set the standards of
Torah observance in his community, and not that he flails according to what
everyone wants. The same point can be made about Torah generally.