Hakhel Moments

The 612^th Mitzvah is described in Parshat Vayelech as a national gathering that would take place on the second day of Sukkot during the year after Shemitah. The Talmud in Sota paints for us the scene: Millions of Jews – men and women, children as young as infants, scholars and laypeople alike, assembled in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount. A hush falls over the mammoth crowd, as the royally bedecked king of Israel ascends on to a platform and reads sections of the holy Torah. The nation is inspired and invigorated. A display of unity and a statement of purpose converge to revitalize and refocus the entire nation. This scene repeated itself in ancient Jerusalem every seven years (almost 200 times) for over 1300 years. The first Hakhel took place 22 years after the Jews entered the Land Of Israel. Since there was no king at the time, Yehoshua read the Torah selections in Shiloh. Historians believe that the last Hakhel took place in 40 CE with Agrippas the Second leading the service. With the destruction of the Temple, Hakhel was discontinued, but never forgotten from our national memory. The idea of reviving the mitzvah of Hakhel in modern times was first proposed by Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim, known as the Aderet, who was the father-in-law of Rav Kook. He wrote two pamphlets on the issue and felt that Hakhel’s message was crucial and relevant and deserved commemoration in an active way.  The first official Israeli ceremony of Hakhel was held during Sukkot of 1945. A special service was held in the Yeshurun Synagogue, after which a mass procession marched to the Western Wall where the specified Torah portions were read. The ceremony seven years later, in 1952, was the first for the newly established State of Israel. I believe there are three lessons for us to learn from the mitzvah of Hakhel. The first lesson is the importance of showing up. The pasuk begins: “Hakhel Et Ha’Am” “Gather the People”. The Sefer Hachinuch writes that the mitzvah is for all people to show up; your attendance at Hakhel is both mandatory and necessary. Hakhel teaches us not only the importance of being physically present, but also the importance of being fully present in every way: emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. Hakhel is also a lesson in Jewish unity. Real unity is accomplished when diverse people come together in unity of purpose, when they are able to put aside their differences in pursuit of a shared experience or common goal. Hakhel is a re-enactment of Matan Torah, at which time everybody was present K’Ish Echad B’Lev Echad. Lastly, Hakhel reminds us that learning occurs not only through information, but through experiences. According to many commentators, even very young children, those whose parents are not yet obligated in the mitzvah of Chinuch, also have to attend. In Masechet Chagiga, Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya explains that even young children are brought “in order to give reward to those who bring them.” The reward that is referred to is the indelible imprint that the experience will have on the child.  Tosfot in Chagiga note that Hakhel is the basis for the practice of bringing young children to shul. Hakhel teaches us the importance of providing experiences even for young children that will foster a love for shul and Mitzvot. Over the next few weeks we will spend more time than usual in shul. I urge all of us to take advantage of these Hakhel moments when we can be inspired by the power of our community (Our Big Boat) and feel that we are part of something larger. I especially urge parents of children to find age-appropriate opportunities to bring your kids to shul to be, and to feel, a part of the Tzibur. Some examples of these moments are: Friday Night Kabbalat Shabbat, part of Shabbat or Yom Tov morning davening, Sukkah Hop, Mini Hakafot on Erev Simchat Torah and our Grand Community Hakafot (at night) for adults, children and families and Kol HaNearim on Simchat Torah day.

          

What We Create on Rosh Hashanah is Real and Permanent

Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon zt’l in his book with Hearts Full of Faith tells the story about Yom Kippur with the Mir Yeshiva during World War II when they were in Shanghai, China. It was unusual due to the location but also exceptional in terms of the kavanah and prayer atmosphere. Towards the end of the day, right before Neilah, Rav Yechezkel Levenstein, the Mirrer Mashgiach, shared the following idea that I believe can be useful for us as we embark on our journeys into Rosh Hashanah and through Aseret Ymei Teshuva.  He explained how many of the students present were probably thinking that this moment of inspiration will pass. Tomorrow we will slip from the high place onto which we have climbed today. “So what did we accomplish? What was the use?” you might ask. Rav Levenstein answered by way of a parable: "There was once a man who built himself a beautiful mansion. During the celebration upon finishing the mansion, he decided that he would climb up and place a beautiful ornament on the top of the roof. That great day came when he finished his mansion, and he made a special celebration and invited all his friends and family. The moment came when he climbed up to the roof to place the beautiful ornament. But just at that moment, a sudden gust of wind blew him off the roof. He dropped the ornament and fell to the ground. Dazed and in agony, he cried out, 'Oy, my mansion has fallen down. My mansion has fallen down.' His friends and family reassured him, 'Your mansion hasn't fallen down. You have. You may have broken bones and have to go to the hospital. But when you recover the mansion will still be there. You'll be able to go into it. It hasn't fallen down.” Rav Chazkel concluded, "My dear children, we built a mansion over the Yomim Noraim. Every prayer that we offered up is like a different room, and all together we have constructed a beautiful mansion. If tomorrow we feel that we have lost some of our inspiration, I want you to know that the mansion hasn't fallen down. It will be we that have fallen down. The mansion will still be standing. It will stand forever. One day, we will enter that mansion once again. When and how, that depends on us, but the mansion will always be there waiting for us. It will be there forever." Rabbi Salomon reflected on this story and wrote, "Rav Chazkel's words of encouragement to his students in the heat of a world war are an important lesson to all of us. When we stand in the shul and prepare to pray to G-D, the thought can sometimes be so intimidating that we may lose heart. We know that it will take so much emotional and spiritual effort to reach the highest level of prayer that we aspire to. Who knows if we will be successful? And even if we are, will we be able to maintain ourselves on that high level? Or will we fall back to earth, so to speak? And if we do, is all the effort worthwhile? The answer is, yes, most definitely yes. All the effort is indeed very worthwhile, because every transcendent prayer builds us a beautiful mansion. And no matter what happens, that mansion will endure forever." Davening on Yomim Noraim sounds different, looks different, and feels different. We are probably not in our usual seats nor our usual Shabbat location. Beyond that we may worry that any connection or growth that we feel over Rosh Hashanah will be fleeting. If we feel that, let us remember the story of Rav Levenstein. What we do and create over Rosh Hashanah is real and permanent and can never be undone or taken away.  Over this upcoming Tishrei season Let us try to build as beautiful a mansion as we can. In this merit, Hashem should inscribe us in the Book of Life for a healthy, happy and sweet New Year.

If We Can’t Move On, We can Still Move Forward

 One of the most notable, yet not well known, acts of valor that occurred on September 11, 2001 was the maritime evacuation of Lower Manhattan. It was the largest water evacuation in American history.  500,000 people were transported to safety in approximately nine hours by hundreds of vessels that answered a call from the U.S. Coast Guard to converge on New York Harbor to aid in the evacuation. In her book, Rebecca Solnit quotes Professor Charles Fritz who helped lead the University of Chicago’ Disaster Research Project in the 1950’s. While conventional wisdom was that disasters bring out the worst in people (think looting or better yet hoarding hand sanitizer) the opposite is much more common. “The widespread sharing of danger, loss and deprivation produces intimate primarily group solidarity among the survivors, which overcomes social isolation, provides a channel for intimate communication and expression, and provides a major source of physical and emotional support and reassurance.” Survivors often feel “a feeling of belonging and a sense of unity rarely achieved under normal circumstances. Everyone understands that this intense solidarity and altruism is but a “temporary utopian society”. Nonetheless it teaches us something important about the human ability to respond to challenges in positive ways. After the utopia wears off, many people go back to relative normalcy. For others survivors, the events of 9/11 continue to challenge them – even 24 years later. One such person is Virginia Buckingham. She was the head of Boston’s Logan Airport on 9/11, the origin of the two planes that crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City. After 9/11 many people, including the media, politicians and some families of victims, wanted to blame Logan Airport and Buckingham specifically for a “failure to prevent” the terrorists from boarding their flights. Never mind that this was pre- TSA, when the airlines were responsible for safety measures at the terminal. Never mind that the focus at airports was on customer service (you could get to the airport 30 minutes before departure), not security. Never mind that Logan’s security was the same, or better, than the security at all other US airports. In the aftermath of an unprecedented catastrophe people want to find a scapegoat, someone that they can blame. The thinking goes that if we find someone to blame we can feel more secure that the problem can be solved, we do not have to worry about it happening again and we can go back to their lives as before. Soon after the attacks Buckingham was asked to resign. She was sued individually by a couple of families who wanted to find her personally responsible. This led Buckingham to question herself: Maybe I am guilty. Maybe I should have known about the threat and stopped them from happening. In her memoir On My Watch, Buckingham tells her story of trauma, grief, depression and resilience.  She warns us about the tendency and dangers of scapegoating (good Yom Kippur topic). Ultimately the 9/11 Commission found that Logan Airport was as secure as every other US airport. Both the airport and Buckingham were blameless, and the lawsuits were dismissed. However that did not lead to Virginia immediately forgiving herself and moving on. In fact, as she puts it, she can never move on, only move forward. She does not expect to ever fully recover from her experience. She hopes that she can use those experiences to grow and become a better person. Buckingham lives in the coastal town of Marblehead MA. Due to her many walks along the shore she came to see herself like a piece of sea glass. “Sea glass comes from a broken bottle that the sea has tossed about. It’s completely unrecognizable from what it started as. But it still has value. It’s still beautiful.” These are valuable thoughts as we engage in the challenging yet worthwhile work of Elul and prepare for Yomim Noraim.

Putting Praise into Proper Perspective

 In Parshat Ki Teitzei the Torah says, ווְלֹֽא־אָבָ֞ה ה אֱ-לֹהֶ֨יךָ֙ לִשְׁמֹ֣עַ אֶל־בִּלְעָ֔ם וַיַּֽהֲפֹךְ֩ ה אֱ-לֹהֶ֧יךָ לְּךָ֛ אֶת־הַקְּלָלָ֖ה לִבְרָכָ֑ה כִּ֥י אֲהֵֽבְךָ֖ ה אֱ-לֹהֶֽיךָ: But the Lord, your God, did not want to listen to Balaam. So the Lord, your God, transformed the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord, your God, loves you. The difficulty with this Pasuk is that in Parshat Balak, we find no reference to any curse uttered by Bilaam that God would have had to reverse into a blessing. Balak, the King of Moav, wanted Bilaam to curse the Jews; but Bilaam only managed to express blessings before Balak fires him. Taking note of this difficulty, Rabbi Yochanan in Masechet Sanhedrin (105b) teaches us: “From the blessings pronounced by that wicked man (Bilaam), you can deduce what was actually in his heart.” Some understand Rabbi Yochanan to mean that Bilam actually wanted to say the opposite of the blessing that emerged from his mouth. But what if Bilaam’s evil intent was predicated on actually saying blessings? Praise can be given with two different intentions. I can give praise that encourages the recipient to strive and want to do better. Or I can give praise that causes the person to feel that they have no reason to work any harder. Psychologists today are concerned that in America we are raising a generation of over-indulged children. One of the symptoms they see is parents who are prone to over-praise. Although it may come from noble and loving motivations, over-praise can backfire and make the child addicted to praise. It can give that child an unrealistic notion of his own capacity and talent. It can also lead a child to reason that she does not need to strive for improvement, because praise will be offered regardless. Bilaam as a prophet understood that praise can be extremely motivating or extremely harmful. His words were meant to lull Bnei Yisrael into a sense of complacency. There was no accompanying call to action or improvement within Bilaam’s blessings. It is when people feel that there is nothing more to achieve that they are most prone for complacency and failure. Through his blessings, Bilaam was attempting to convince Bnei Yisrael that they have already achieved far beyond what was to be expected of them. Inherent within Bilaam’s supposed blessing is the message that they were fine just as they were, even if they did not improve anymore, and even if they slacked off a bit. As we guard ourselves against the repercussions of over-praising we must be careful not to go to the other extreme. A few years ago parents in Nashville Tennessee complained that schools were publicizing the names of students who made honor roll or attained other academic achievements. They were concerned that the publicity would harm the self-esteem of some of the non-honor students. A school attorney found an old Tennessee state law that prohibits the release of a student’s academic records without parental consent. In response, the schools stopped publicizing the honor roll. One school refused to publicize the name of their Spelling Bee winner. A principal was not allowed to release the names of the high scorers from a school basketball game. In the end sanity prevailed, and Nashville schools once again publicize honor roll students- only now it is only with a parent’s permission. We must be on guard for excessive praise, but we should also be wary of any effort that seeks to overemphasize all achievements or to ignore all of them equally. According to this philosophy, either everyone gets praised or nobody does. This is an incorrect and potentially dangerous and demotivating philosophy. As the story of Bilaam taught, the way one praises/ blesses others indicates our true feelings for that person. Let us be careful that our praise – for ourselves, our shul and each other- be heartfelt, realistic, and used as motivation for reaching even greater achievements.