Living Our Faith
Shmuel Herzfeld
Rosh Hashanah, 5776
This year as we gather in prayer before Hashem on our Day of Judgment and Renewal I encourage all of us to keep at the forefront of our mindsthree different moments in history. Two of those moments happened this past year and the third comes from today’s Torah reading.
The first incident that we shouldremember is the incident that happened on the 25th of Cheshvan, 5775 (November 18, 2014). A community of Gd fearing and pious Jews had gathered for prayer in the Kehillat Bnei Torah synagogue in the Har Nof section of Yerushalayim. While these people were chanting their prayers, two terrorists entered and started attacking these innocent worshippers. Four Jews were murdered that morning. Additionally a Druze police officer who acted heroically was also murdered. Others worshippers were also injured including one who has remained in a coma ever since.
The holy martyrs murdered that day were Rabbi Kalman Levine, Rabbi Aryeh Kopinsky, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg , and the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Moshe Twersky whose soul left him while his body remained wrapped in his tallit and tefillin. Howie Rottman was also severely injured in the attack and he still remains in a coma. Additionally, Master Sergeant Zidan Saif a police officer, wasfatally shot in the head during the attack and later died.
A second incident that we shouldalso keep in our consciousnessas we gather in our house of worship for prayer happened on June 17, in Charleston, South Carolina.
On that day, a brutal and horrific attack was carried out on the peaceful and holy worshippers who were studying Bible at the Emanuel African American Methodist Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.
During the bible study nine African-Americans were murdered by a vicious and wicked killer who the worshippers had invited to join them in their studies and whose hope was start a race war in the United States. The names of those killed were: Cynthia Hurd,Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, Depayne Middleton-Doctor,Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Simmons, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Myra Thompson, and Clementa C. Pinckney, the church's pastor and a South Carolina state senator.
These two horrible events obviously have some major distinctions between them. One took place in a synagogue upon Jews and against a backdrop of terrorism and Middle Eastern politics, while the other one took place in a Church upon Christians against a backdrop of racial unrest in America.
At the same time there are also obvious similarities between the two attacks. Both attacks took place upon innocent and peaceful worshippers who were dedicating their way of life to a Higher Power and sacred service.
In both cases these worshippers are inspiring martyrs. In a world of warriors they died as spiritual beings and sensitive souls.
We can draw inspiration from their lives. But as much as we draw inspiration from the martyrs themselves, we also draw inspiration from the way that their loved ones and their community reacted to their death.
In Har Nof, just three days after the attack, the widows and children of the murdered rabbis, issued a letter that was a call for peace in response to the attack. They wrote: “We should take upon ourselves to increase love and brotherliness between man and his fellow man, between our various communities, and between different sectors of society. Our request is that each and every person take upon himself or herself at the time of the welcoming of Shabbat…a day in which we refrain from speaking divisively or criticizing others.” And life and prayers went on in the synagogue. The synagogue very quickly reopened for prayers. And on August 21, in the month of Elul, nine months after the massacre, the family of Rabbi Levine, of blessed memory, and the congregants of the synagogue celebrated the bris of his grandson in the same synagogue in which his grandfather was murdered. The grandchild was given the name, Kalman Levine.
The reaction of this community to the massacre of their role models and their spiritual leadership was one of love and spirituality. In the face of incredible darkness they continued to live their faith. They turned to prayer, Torah, and the spiritual lessons that were the foundation of their faith. In doing so they not only were able to find a way for themselves through the darkness, but they were also to inspire and lead millions of others.
I saw a similar reaction in Charleston after the murder of the Charleston Nine.
Two weeks after the brutal murders in Charleston I traveled down to Charleston with Rabbis Etan Mintz and Avi Weiss. Our plan was to attend the bible study fellowship with church members. The bible study was taking place in the same fellowship hall in which the Charleston Nine were murdered. It was at the same and the same place, just two weeks later.
Walking up to the church that afternoon we wondered how we would be received. After all, it was only two weeks earlier that a total stranger had walked into their church, attended a bible study, and then killed their pastor. How would church members look at us?
The reaction we got was inspiring and uplifting. The church members did not change their way of life at all. They embraced us and welcomed us into their fellowship room. They made us feel like honored guests. They spoke about love for the stranger and embracing their neighbors. After the fellowship, family members of the murdered approached us and gave us little tangible items to remembers their loved ones. For example, the sister of Myra Thompson gave us a pin with Myra’s picture on it. Since then I have kept this picture on the desk in my office.
As best as I can understand from my limited encounters, the theology of the AME Church seems to hold as a core value the principles of love for all and welcoming of the stranger.
The good men and women of Emanuel Church lived this teaching more than ever in the days following the murder of their loved ones. In their moments of greatest darkness they truly lived and embraced their faith. Like the congregation in Har Nof, the response of the Emanuel Church was able to inspire and lead millions of people.
This concept of “living our faith” is exactly the challenge of being a religious and spiritual Jew. To live our faith means to follow Hashem not only when it is convenient but also when it is inconvenient.
This brings us to the third moment in history that we should focus on this Rosh Hashanah: the story of Avraham and Isaac at the akeidah. In many ways this story is very hard to relate to for us today. I have always thought it is impossible to understand the story. How can a parent ever be asked to sacrifice a child? It is unimaginable and impossible for most of us to relate to.
But maybe the core lesson of the akeidahstoryissomething we can actually relate to; that is,when things get difficult for us in life, and when we face our greatest challenges, it is a charge to remember to live our faith?
The message of the akeidah story is that Avraham lived his faith. When he faced his greatest challenge in life he did not back down. He relied upon his core principles and was able to withstand the challenge.
Not only was he able to withstand the challenge, but he even soared high in response to the challenge. Because of his reservoir of faith, he brought tremendousstrength and energy to this latest and greatest challenge.
The Torah says that after Avraham was given the call to take his son up the mountain he immediately rose to fulfill the command: “Vayakam vayelekh, and he arose and went toward the place.”
One of the rabbis murdered in Har Nof was the scholar, Rabbi Moshe Twersky. Here is how the grandfather of Rabbi Twersky, R. Joseph Soloveitchik, interpreted those words:
“When reading the Torah’s account of the Akeidah, we marvel at Abraham’s sedateness, complacency, and peace of mind. The enormity of his feat was demonstrated not in his actual compliance with the Divine order, but in the manner in which he behaved in the face of this most puzzling Divine decree. Abraham did not argue, plead, or beg for mercy or clemency…. By acting this way, Abraham unconsciously relieved his tension and reconciled himself with God. Faith represents this peculiar attitude of leading a life fraught with realities that contradict the very ideal for which the faithful suffer, believing in the covenant notwithstanding all crises and retreats.” [Soloveitchik, Emergence of Ethical Man, 156-157. Reprinted in Rosh Hashanah Machzor, with commentary adapted from the teachings of Rabi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, 407.]
In this interpretation, the greatness of Avraham was not the fact that he was willing to follow God’s command no matter how difficult. Instead, we see greatness in the manner in which he went about following God’s command: with great faith and with a clear path.
Avraham’s actions show us that once our path is clear, then all of our actions will have a direction. The Torah says that Avraham went and saddled his own donkey, “vayachavosh et chamoro.”
Explains the Talmud, “’vayachavosh et chamoro’—ahavah mevatelet ha’shurah,
Love disregards the rules”(Sanhedrin 105b).
Avraham is known for his great faith. That is one of his defining characteristics. He surpassed ten challenges in his life and the akeidah was the last and the greatest of those challenges. But Avraham didn’t just defeat the challenge. That is not the right way to define his response to the command. He expressed a great eagerness to fulfill the will of Hashem. This is what the Talmud means when it says, “love conquers all.” With commitment to Hashem even in the face of unimaginable challenges we can conquer everything.
Avraham is the best example for us of what it means to “live our faith.”
We are here on Rosh Hashanah because we have faith—some of us more and some of us less. The challenge for us this year is to live our faith!
Most of us in this world will thankfully not face the type of incredible challenges faced by the communities of Charleston and Har Nof, but we all still must remember to live our faith.
What does it mean for us to live our faith?
For me this means two things:
a-As a community of faithful believers we must always walk with honesty and integrity in a way that our actions reflect our core beliefs.
b-Living our faith also means to run after mitzvoth and put our entire heart and soul into each and every mitzvahthat we do. Like Avraham we must run for the opportunity to perform a mitzvah, and even saddle our own donkey.
That is the challenge of the truly spiritual. We must live our faith.
In this context the Daf Yomi for the day (Nazir, 23b) teaches us something really powerful. “Gedolah aveirah lishmah mi-mitzvah she-lo lishmah, a sin done for the right purposes is greater than a commandment done for the wrong reasons.”
At its core this statement means: “Live your faith!” The way we live our lives, the way we do a mitzvah, all of it must be done with full intent, full consciousness, and for the right purposes. Halakhah is our guide and we must follow it. But it is not enough just to follow it. We need to live it. Otherwise, Hashem prefers even an “aveirah,” done for the wrong reasons.
After the Talmud tells us this principle the Talmud continues and explains that the source for this teaching is Yael, the brave woman who killed the general, Sisera, the enemy of the Jewish people.
Ironically, it is Sisera’s mother who plays a large role in our liturgy today. When the Talmud wants to know how the shofar should sound, the Talmud says that it should sound like Sisera’s mother because it is Sisera’s mother who cried with all of her heart and soul while waiting (in vain) for her husband to come home.
The sound of the shofar is the sound of Sisera’s mother passionately living her faith. In order to sound the shofar, the shofar blower must literally put his heart and soul into the ram’s horn.
Shofar blowing at its core is about the need for all of us to live our faith—with purity, simplicity, and with al of our hearts.
This year as the shofar blows I will be remembering the holy martyrs of Har Nof, Jerusalem, and of Charleston, South Carolina. They are our role models in so many ways, but perhaps most powerfully, in the manner in which they teach us to always live our faith.
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