The Ethos of Ve-anvehu
Beshalach, 5775
Shmuel Herzfeld
When I graduated from Yeshiva College the school brought in as its speaker, a prominent Orthodox Jew who was also a very successful politician. I was especially pleased with the choice because not only did I go to the same college as him, but I had also gone to the same primary school, Rabbi Jacob Joseph.
That day this prominent figure delivered an outstanding speech in which he urged us: to “tap our heritage each day and incorporate its essence in our careers.”
For a long time it was assumed that this speaker was an outstanding example of this. Not only was he identifiably Orthodox but he was also seen as being a champion for the Jewish community in areas like helping poor Jewish communities, helping Agunot, and Israel advocacy.
But recently things have come to light that argue for a different narrative. Recently, the US Attorney arrested him and charged him with a federal crime of receiving millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.
Other press reports claim that he not only used his position to enrich himself but also to better his community at the expense of more vulnerable members of society.
I am not naïve about the dangers of politics and corruption. But it still stings me when I read about a person who is held up as an icon of our community and whose integrity is being challenged in such a serious way.
I identify as an Orthodox Jew and for this reason I am doubly disturbed when I see paragons of the Orthodox Jewish community who have become discredited as a result of their questionable behavior.
Also troubling is the blasé manner in which the Jewish community has reacted—or should we say, not reacted—to this current scandal.
I have been waiting for major leaders in the Jewish community to speak out against this behavior, but I haven’t seen that. Everyone is entitled to their day in court, and we believe that people are innocent until proven guilty, but still we should take very seriously the claims of a US Attorney against a powerful political figure. At the very least we should question whether we as a community made the right choice in holding this man up as a role model and protector of the Jewish community.
I not only identify as an Orthodox Jew, I also identify as Open Orthodox.
Some have criticized this term and also the concept of Open Orthodoxy and have said that it represents a liberal deviation from Orthodoxy; some have suggested that Open Orthodox is not really Orthodox, it is just Neo-Orthodox.
I think we need to go in the other direction and redefine what it means to be an Orthodox Jew.
Around 22 years ago I went to visit the Israeli Professor, YeshayahuLeibowitz with a couple of my friends. I remember we asked him if such and such a person was Orthodox. He looked at us and said: “Orthodox? Does he keep kosher? Shabbat? Taharathamishpacha? If so, then he is Orthodox.”
Probably most people would identify those three questions as the identifying traits of an Orthodox Jew. But that to me is a very disappointing model.
For too many people, Orthodoxy is just a club or a social circle to associate with. This is a tremendous failure and disappointment that stunts people’s spirituality.
Orthodoxy is just a term; but terms and names have consequences. We have to start living up to the term.
This week I was fortunate enough to publish The Open Orthodox Haggadah. Open Orthodoxy is a term that was coined by Rabbi Avi Weiss, so I asked Rabbi Weiss to write an introduction to the Haggadah explaining what he means by the term Open Orthodoxy.
One of his sentences in that introduction especially speaks to me. He writes: “Open Orthodoxy sees halakhah as a system of kedushah– of holiness – leaving it to the decisor of Jewish law and its adherents to discern the kedushahinherent within the halakhic system. For the Open Orthodox Jew, the question is not only ‘what is the halakhah,’ but ‘what is the kedushah.’”
Too often we focus exclusively on following the halakhah. It is vitally important to follow the halakhah, but it is just as important, if not more important to not only follow the letter of the law but also to focus on not only fulfilling the letter of the law but also the spirit of the law in all of its beauty.
Whenever we have a mitzvah to do we should only ask ourselves, “what is the halakhah?” But also, “what is the kedushah?”
Let us look at one simple word from this week’s parashah and understand how thisword reminds us of this basic but essential message: we must always be searching for the kedushah within the halakhah.
As the children of Israel crossed the yam suf, they burst into song with Moshe. As part of their song they declare: “Zehkelive-anvehu, this is my Gd and I shall glorify Him” (15:2).
The word anvehuis the word I want us to focus on.
This word reminds us that we are not just supposed to serve Gd. We are not just supposed to obey His will. We are in fact commanded to glorify Him.
Merely observing the commandments is not considered glorifying Him; to glorify Him we need to infuse our mitzvotwith kedushah.
What does the wordanvehumean?
The word a-vehu can be seen as a contraction of the Hebrew words aniva-hu, I and He. In other words it can be seen as a reference to us and Gd. (See Torah Temima, ad. loc, #12.)
In this light the Talmudic sage, Abba Shaul teaches (133b): that we can glorify Gd by acting in a manner similar to Him, heveidomeh lo. Just as He is merciful and kind, we too must be merciful and kind.
This understanding of Anvehuargues that in order for our halakhah to be imbued with kedushahit must contain a sensitive awareness of the needs of our fellow neighbors. We must conduct ourselves in accordance with the highest levels of morality and ethics. Without this sensitivity to our place in society our halakhah lacks kedushah.
I think this is one of the things that Rabbi Weiss was referring to in his statement. We reject the idea that you can be a strict follower of halakhah and an insensitive person. We even reject the idea that you can be a strict follower of halakhah and an indifferent person. The follower of Halakhah must be as careful with the way she treats others as she is with the way she keeps the commandments. Anything short of that is not a halakhah that is imbued with kedushah.
A great example of such a person who did this was the author of the BeisHalevi, Rav YosheBer Soloveitchik.
The BeisHalevi was known for being a brilliant Talmudic mind but what made him special was the fact that he used his mind to entirely empathize with the poor and needy Jews who he served.
When he was appointed rabbi of the town of Slutsk in 1865 the leaders of the community asked him to sign the contract that he was their rabbi. At the signing of the contract, the BeisHalevi noticed that only the dignitaries and very wealthy people of the community were present. He refused to sign his contract until all the poor workers of the town were called to ratify his contract. This caused some strife between him and the muckety-mucks of the town, but he made his point that there would be one code of law for the rich and poor alike. (The Soloveitchik Heritage, 50-52.)
The most famous story about the BeisHalevithat teaches us how to incorporate anvehu into our halakhic observance comes from the following incident that took place on the eve of Pesach.
A man came to the BeisHalevi and asked him if he could use milk to fulfill the mitzvah of drinking four cups on Seder night. The BeisHalevi spoke with him for a little bit and realized that the questioner was a poor man who could not afford wine for the Seder. So the BeisHalevi gave him 25 rubles to purchase wine. The BeisHalevi’s wife, Tzirel, was there. She noticed the enormous amount of money that her husband gave to this man. She pointed out to the BeisHalevi that enough wine could be bought with just a couple of rubles, why did he need to give the poor man, twenty-five rubles. So the BeisHalevi responded, if a man is serving milk at the Seder, he probably doesn’t have enough money to purchase meat and other fine food for the Seder, so he gave him money so he could have a proper seder. (The Soloveitchik Heritage, 58.)
This story represents anvehu: the halakhah impels us to be kind and generous and to help others.
In contrast to the BeisHalevi, if you show me a posek who is insensitive, then I will tell you that that person is not my posek. A posekmust walk in the steps of the BeisHalevi or else as we say, haikar chaser min ha-sefer, the essence is missing from the book.
After the children of Israel crossed the sea, before they came to Sinai they stopped at Marah, and the Torah says, sham sam lo chokumishpat, there they were given laws and rulings (15:25).
But Rambanexplains that this means:
“He gave them ordinances by which they could live in the Wilderness – namely, that each person love his fellowman and conduct himself in accord with the Elders…that they should act peacefully towards visitors who might come to the camp to sell something and admonitions of restrained behavior that they should not act like the camp of marauders.” (Trans. by Artscroll edition of Ramban, ad .loc.)
In other words, before the children of Israel were given the Torah at Sinai they were told to be decent and kind human beings. This is what it means to glorify Gd, to live a life on anvehu: to imbue our mitzvot with kedushah, with a holiness of morality, decency, ethics, honesty, generosity, and sensitivity.
These words might strike some of us as unnecessary. Many of us take this message for granted. Why do I even need to share it with you? Of course to be a religious Jew means that we must keep the halakahahwith kedushah!
But alas, recent events have shown us that these words are all too relevant.
The motto of our shul should be anvehu: above all observe a halakhah that is imbued with kedushah—with morality, kindness, sensitivity, generosity, and honesty.