“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos
Kodesh parshas Shoftim
6 Elul 5782/September
2, 2022
Avos perek 6
SEEKING
This week, we dropped off our son
Shalom at Newark Airport as he departed for his second year of learning at
Yeshiva Mercaz HaTorah in Yerushalayim.
Thankfully, it was a vastly better
experience than last year. Last year’s flight was from JFK airport, and we got
stuck in standstill traffic before the George Washington Bridge. Thankfully, we
made it to the airport. This was also during the days of masks and impossibly
numerous forms and visas, adding stress to an already stressful situation. (No
doubt you recall the Musings column where I wrote about it last year.)
Last year, Shalom arrived in
Yerushalayim like most first year bochurim, not knowing what to expect, where
to go, or how to get there. In addition to the emotional roller coaster of
sending a child off for a year, there is the added anxiety of wondering how
he/she is going to manage and get around without his/her parents.
I had the great fortune to visit
Shalom last winter. Among the other highlights of my trip, I was impressed at
how well Shalom and his friends knew the Jerusalem metro system. I couldn’t
believe that some of these boys who need a GPS to get from their house in
America to the local supermarket (for reasons of confidentiality, I will not
write whether Shalom fits into that category), could navigate Yerushalayim with
ease. They were all very familiar with which busses to take to get to various
neighborhoods, where to pick up the light rail and at which stops to get off.
I loved hearing them discuss various
streets, landmarks and neighborhoods - Har Nof, Wolfson, Bayit Vegan, the
Kotel, Yaffo, the Tachana, Mattesdorf, Shmuel HaNavi, Meah She’arim/Geulah,
Machane Yehuda, town… They also are experts in all the best places to eat -
where to get the best schwarma, how to find decent pizza in Israel with that
Israeli pizza sauce, the best bakeries, and of course marzipan in the Shuq
(true Oneg Shabbos).
During the Covid lockdown, someone
posted a soundless video simply walking through Sha’ar Yafo and through the old
city to the Kotel. The video evoked incredible nostalgia and yearning,
especially during that difficult time of isolation. The familiar walk from
Yafo, through Omar Ibn El-Khattab Square, making a left turn onto Saint James
and proceeding on the beautiful ancient narrow pathway leading from the
Armenian quarter into the Jewish Quarter. Then continuing down the narrow
alleyway on the cold stones, passing the Churvah and Ramban shul, through the rova
(open square), and past all the restaurants until finally arriving at the Rabbi
Yehuda HaLevi steps, next to the golden menorah. Then, making the turn and
beginning the descent, seeing the Kosel and the plaza become visible in its
tragic majesty. Even merely watching it granted the feeling of having arrived
at the central, focal point of the world.
In Parshas Re’eh, the Torah instructs
us “You shall inquire after His dwelling, and come there” (Devorim 12:5).
Ramban explains that “there” refers to the future Bais Hamikdash. Hashem never
directly revealed the site upon which the Bais Hamikdash was to be constructed.
The nation was told that they had to intuit the proper place. Dovid Hamelech,
in fact, did so. It was only after he determined the Temple Mount that the
prophet Gad confirmed his choice.
Rav Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk was a
student of the Maggid of Mezritch. In 1777, after the passing of the Maggid,
Rav Menachem Mendel, accompanied by 300 chassidim, traveled to Eretz Yisroel,
first in Tzefas, and later in Teveriah. His shul still stands in Teveriah.
After settling in Eretz Yisroel, Rav
Menachem Mendel was once asked if there was anything he missed from when he
lived outside Eretz Yisroel? He replied that he missed the constant yearning
for Eretz Yisroel that he used to feel before he emigrated there.[1]
We take it for granted that we have
the capability to visit and travel through Eretz Yisroel, to wander the streets
of Yerushalayim, and to visit the Kotel.
When I tell my students that from
1948-1967 the holy city was Jundenrein, they are stunned. During those years,
if a Jew even traveled to close to the city, he was in danger of being killed
by Jordanian snipers. Similarly, a Jew could not visit Kever Rochel or Mearas
Hamachpeilah.
After those holy sites were
miraculously recaptured during the Six-Day war, Rabbi Aryeh Levin noted that he
was concerned that we shouldn’t take the gift of being able to visit those
places constantly for granted.
The Torah never tells us the site of
the Bais Hamikdash, in order to arouse within us a sense of excitement to
uncover the mystery and majesty of that sought-after place.
Eretz Yisroel, and more specifically,
Yerushalayim, are places that need to be constantly yearned for. The very name
Yerushalayim was a source of comfort and yearning throughout the millennia of
exile.
I’m not sure if speaking about the
various neighborhoods of Yerushalayim is somewhat of a fulfillment of the
injunction to “inquire after His dwelling”. But it sure is a lot more special
than discussing the streets and neighborhoods of London, Paris or New York.
When Moshiach comes soon, we will all need to be familiar with the Jerusalem
metro system and the street names (and where to buy marzipan for Shabbos). I’m
gratified that Shalom and his friends have gotten a head start.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum
[1] As I
was preparing to send this essay (Thursday, 5 Elul) I received the daily
WhatsApp post of “Yahrtzeit-Yomi” from my friend Rabbi Ezzy Wartelsky, in which
he noted that today, 5 Iyar, is the day of the “First Yishuv (settlement) of
the Talmedei Habesh”t”. In other words, it is the day that Rav Menachem Mendel
arrived in Eretz Yisroel with his disciples in 1777.