Basic Nourishment
Rosh Hashanah 5768 (Day 1)
This past May an unusual case came before a judge in a New Hampshire court. A man named Albert had committed a crime as a teen-ager which had landed him in prison. In prison, Albert reconnected to his Jewish faith and began to keep kosher. The prison allowed him to get kosher meals. But then the prison accused him of taking non-Kosher chicken from the cafeteria and wanted to suspend his kosher privileges for six months.
Albert protested their decision and so the case came before a Federal judge in New Hampshire.
The judge admitted that he was unsure of what to do. Then he spotted in the courtroom a Chabad Rabbi named, Levi Krinsky. The judge ordered the rabbi to come forward and testify.
When the rabbi sat in the witness stand, the judge asked him, “What do you say about such a situation?” The rabbi immediately turned to the judge and offered a mashal. (A mashal is a parable and it is often used in Talmudic arguments.) “If a diabetic was caught eating sweets, would it be appropriate for him to be punished by forcing him to eat a high sugar diet for six months?" the rabbi asked the court.
The judge quoted Rabbi Krinsky in his ruling and ordered the food to be reinstated.
Just like for a regular prisoner having food is not a luxury but a necessity, so too, for a Jew having kosher food is not a luxury but a necessity.
This morning we read the story of another person who desperately sought food and nourishment. We read of the banishment of Yishmael from the house of Avraham. After Sarah gives birth to Yitzchak she tells Avraham to expel Yishmael (his other son via a union with Hagar) from the house.
Avraham doesn’t want to do it at first. Only after God tells him to listen to Sarah does he send away Yishmael. He gives Yishmael some bread and water and sends him on his way. But in the very next verse we are told, “Vayikhlu ha-mayim, the water was finished.”
Yishmael immediately runs out of water and nearly dies in the desert. How is this possible? Why didn’t Avraham just give him more water? Did Avraham drop Yishmael in the desert without enough water?
However, the great commentator known as Rashbam (12th c., Northern France) defends Abraham. He notes that prior to Hagar running out of water the verse tells us, “va-telekh va-tetah be-midbar, Hagarleft and wandered in the desert.”
Rashbam explains: “She-ilu halkhah derekh yashar hayah maspik mayim, for if Hagar had gone directly on the right path both she and Yishmael would have had enough water.”
The message is straight forward: If we wander we will lose our path and run out of water.
What is our path? Our path is the path of Hashem and our nourishment—our water--is Torah. Water is a symbol of life AND of Torah. If we wander from Torah, we will lose our focus in life.
How do we stay on the path of Hashem? Our responsibility is simple. We stay on the path by studying Torah, obeying the negative commandments, performing the positive mitzvoth, and by having a deeply intimate relationship with Hashem which can manifest itself in many ways like, for example, prayer and acts of kindness.
Some of you might be thinking: If our jobis so simple then how come I have such a hard time keeping the commandments. The reason is because knowing our responsibility and executing our responsibility effectively are two different things.
On Rosh Hashanah we remind ourselves of what our responsibility is. It is simply to follow the Torah and the will of Hashem. Thenext step is to execute that responsibility. How do we follow the Torah? How do we make sure not to sin? This can be much more complicated and it requires in depth study and ongoing commitment.
When I begin a projectthe most important thing is to first decide my goal. Once I have a clear understanding of my goal then I can go about executing it. Rosh Hashanah is a reinforcement of our first step; it reminds us of our goal.
The message of Rosh Hashanah is that we cannot wander from our path and still expect spiritual nourishment. On Rosh Hashanah we remind ourselves that just like a human being needs food, so too, does a Jew need the Torah to keep us on our path of spiritual nourishment.
Think about the message of the shofar in this context. The shofar is like a traffic cop’s whistle. It shows us the way to go and reminds us to follow His direction. Follow the whistle and you’ll be ok. So too, the shofar of Rosh Hashanah reminds that if we follow the path of Torah, we will dwell with Hashem.
One of my favorite books is called,Mesilat Yesharim (THE PATH OF THE JUST) by Rabbi Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto (Ramchal) who lived in the early 18th century. This is a book of psychological genius which I highly recommend that everyone read during these days of awe.
Ramchaltells us that life is really very simple. He begins this book with the following unusual sentence, “Ha-chibur ha-zeh lo chibartiv le-lamed le-adem et asher lo yedaem, I have written this work not to teach people what they do not know, but rather to remind them of what they already know and clearly understand. For within most of my words you will find general words that most people know with certainty. However, to the degree that these rules are well-known and their truth self-evident, they are routinely overlooked, or people forget about them altogether.”
Ramchal then goes on to remind us of this very simple message: the path to Hashem is to follow the Torah with humility and to constantly remind ourselves that this is our goal. The essence of our responsibility and duty in life is not hard to understand.
Thus, one message of this morning’s Torah reading is that we need to stay on our path of Torah. Don’t lose focus. We should be reminding ourselves of this every day, but at the very least weremind ourselves of this every year as we refocus on Rosh Hashanah and return to the basics.
But if that is all Rosh Hashanah is for us then we are missing the point:
This morning’s Torah reading also teaches us another lesson about nourishment. We are told at the very end of the story, “Vayitahavraham eshel….va-ykira be-shem Hashem.” After Avraham expels Yishmael from his home, Avraham settles down and plants an eshel and calls out in the name of God.
An eshel is literally an orchard. Why is Abraham planting an orchard and what does that have to do with the second half of the verse where he calls out in the name of Hashem?
Rashi explains that the eshel was a pundak -- an inn for travelers. It is as though Avraham realized his error of letting Yishmael wander on the path and run out of water and so what he does now is a type of teshuvah—repentance. Avraham builds an orchard or an inn to make sure that no traveler will run out of water. If someone has wandered off the path then Avraham will help them and resuscitate them.
Abraham sets up an “eshel” – a guest house to help the wanderers. He recognizes that it is his responsibility to make sure that people do not wander.
But he also recognizes that the best way for him not to lose the path and for his family members not to lose the path is to set up a guest house. His own family members will have a place that they can look to if they are stranded in the desert and his own family will better understand their mission if they are teaching it to others.
The model of the eshel is a second lesson of Rosh Hashanah and it is an important lesson for our synagogue.
Our synagogue needs to be an eshel, a place where spiritual wanderers can find a home; where anyone can stop in and receive nourishment.
If we are an eshel then others who wander will be nourished by us. If we are an eshel then we will fortify ourselves by helping others on their spiritual journey. And if we help others we will be helping ourselves.
I want to share with you something really special that just happened in our congregation. Recently, a young family moved to our community after studying in a school in Israel called Pardais in order to become Jewish educators. Sometimes when people move into a community they ask: “What can I get out of this community?” That is an important question but it is not enough.
Within a week of moving in this family approached me and said: How can we help? How can we volunteer and teach on behalf of the community? And so, immediately after the holidays they will be leading two Hebrew classes a week, offering their services as tutors to people in need, helping out with our youth on Shabbat, teaching at women’s Beit Midrash, organizing a communal night of Torah study, and starting a Beginners Service for people who need help getting adjusted to synagogue.
They obviously have more skills then many others, but their model should be an inspirational model for all of us. We all have something to teach and to offer. We all have unique experiences. For example, only one who has entered the synagogue not knowing how to read Hebrew can really relate to someone else who walks in not knowing how to read Hebrew. Our unique experience just might be the eshel that others need to find their path.
Some of you might laugh, but this is the reason why two people from our congregation dressed up like a bee and an apple and gave out honey on the streets of Downtown, DC. It all comes from the same approach. We are trying to let people know about our eshel. We are trying to remind ourselves to build an eshel.
Our community can only grow stronger if we all assume the responsibility of building an eshel. This is not only the way we help others but it is also the way WE can stay on the path. We stay on the path by turning our homes and our synagogues and our skills into guest homes for wandering Jews. For when we welcome wanderers in, and teach them, they in turn remind us of our need to stay on the path.
Personally, my spirituality is enhanced when I teach Torah. When I teach I get energized and excited. When I watch someone else do a mitzvah for the first time, I get a spiritual high that I can’t always reach as I perform the mitzvah for the umpteenth time. When I build an eshel I am the one who is most nourished.
I want to leave you with a challenge. Over the next year everyone should try to build a personal eshel. Reach out to spiritually guide someone using the skills that only you have. With the help of Hashem next year we will gather on Rosh Hashanah as well. When we gather, I would like each of us to share how we built an eshel over the previous year.
If we build an eshelfor others to find their path then I promise you that our path will be that much brighter.