The Reason We Were Created

The Reason We Were Created

Beshalach, 5772

Shmuel Herzfeld

Recently I was at a meeting with several other rabbis and one of the other rabbis in attendance shared his opinion about a Woman’s Tefillah Group that meets and holds services only on an occasional basis in his shul. They have been meeting in this manner for many years and when they don’t meet they simply pray in the usual manner with the rest of the congregation. This rabbi wanted the Woman’s service to gather more often. He said that he told the organizers of the group, “If you think that this type of prayer service is so beautiful and meets your spiritual needs then how come you don’t do it every week?”

Since I am diplomatic and respectful, I kept my silence at that meeting but now I would like to take a shot at answering that question in the context of a vision for our own congregation.

Women from our congregation recently met for a Woman’s Tefillah service on Shabbat morning. For those women who find spiritual meaning in this service, I enthusiastically support their involvement in it. In our synagogue the Woman’s service begins in the chapel with Shacharit and leads through Torah reading and then rejoins the rest of the community for Mussafin the main sanctuary.

The halachik basis for this service was the subject of a monograph by my teacher and mentor, Rabbi Avi Weiss: Women at Prayer: A Halakhic Analysis ofWomen's Prayer Groups.

The spiritual benefit of this service is that it gives these women from our congregation an opportunity to be more directly involved in leading prayers and even in the reading of the Torah. Our congregation has a growing number of women who are very skilled in reading from the Torah and in leading this service. Several women have personally shared with me how meaningful it has been for them to participate in the preparation for this service. Others have shared with me how special it has been to directly participate in a service. These are beautiful sentiments which I find inspiring. It is for this reason that I support this service.

Similarly, there is another type of service (which for those who are interested in this type of service I also fully support their participation) that we are beginning next Shabbat (February 11). We are calling this the Mashkimin service, or the early-risers service. The short description of this service is that it will meet at 7:30 am on Shabbat morning on a once a month basis.

There are significant spiritual benefits to this service as well.

First, the Talmud praises those who rise early in the morning to pray. The Talmud in Berachot refers to holy people—known as Vatikin-- who would arise early and pray with the sunrise. This dedication to Hashem is inspiring because it signifies that the focus of our day is about God and serving Him at the earliest possible moment. I am hoping that once more people see the salutary spiritual effects of rising for prayer early in the morning that as a consequence more of those people will start attending the daily 6:30 am Minyan.

Second, an additional service on Shabbat morning will make it easier for both parents to daven with a Minyan in a case of a family with young children---as one spouse can go to the first Minyan and the other spouse can go to the second Minyan.

Third, like the Woman’s Tefillah service, some men have expressed a desire to be more directly involved in participating in the services. An earlier service on Shabbat morning will allow for more direct involvement in the davening by its participants.

Finally, I see another advantage here: to a limited degree there is a spiritual value in varying a routine so as to not become complacent in one’s prayers. If a person always davens in the same way he or she runs the risk of becoming complacent in their prayers. A once-a-month break from routine may reenergize some people’s davening.

Even though there are all these potentially significant advantages in these two new services, there are also possible disadvantages. We can’t ignore or minimize the possibility that the unity of the shul will be lessened as a result of these alternative services. In some congregations an alternative service becomes a source of divisiveness and has hindered the community’s attempt to create a unified spiritual force and mission.

In the face of all of these potential spiritual advantages of the Woman’s Prayer service and the Mashkimin service some might think that these great possibilities outweigh the potential for divisiveness contained in having alternative services and that for this reason –like the unnamed rabbi who I mentioned earlier--these services should be held every week.

But here is where I diasagree. Even though these alternative services have some spiritual value and some spiritual advantages, and the people who organize them and attend them should be praised, nevertheless in our congregation they should still only be held on an irregular basis, like, once a month, because there is an even greater spiritual value than the spiritual benefits of these alternative services. The greater spiritual value is in everyone gathering and praying together on a regular basis as a community.

When everyone in our community gathers together for a common service it is not just a symbol of congregational unity, it is in fact the reason why we were created, the reason why we are a synagogue, and the most important element of Judaism.

Those are strong words that I just used. But I felt comfortable using them because they are not my words, but the words of the great Ramban (Nachmanides). I want to quote his exact words to you.

Ramban is often called the second greatest commentator on the Torah (after Rashi), but in one respect he is the greatest. He is the greatest in the manner in which he masterfully uses the text of the Torah as an opportunity to teach us core theological values.

This week our parashah tells the story of the splitting of the sea, keriat yam suf, and Ramban’s comments about this moment are very important.

Ramban (13:16) argues that this is the most significant moment in Jewish history because it is the moment in which God refutes the major heresies that exist in the world. By changing the laws of nature and splitting the sea, Hashem proved that He created the world and involves Himself in the ongoing events of the world. Thus every time we remember this event, i.e. keriat yam suf, we are affirming our belief in Hashem.

Ramban then goes on to state:

“The ultimate objective of all the mitzvoth is that we should believe in God and acknowledge to God that He created us. And this is in fact the ultimate objective of the creation itself. And God has no desire for the earthly creature other than this; i.e. that man should know and give praise to God on account of the fact that God created him. And this is the reason why we should raise our voice in prayers and this is the reason why we should gather in synagogues and gain merit for praying in a large group—kavvanatbateikenessiotuzechuttefillatharabbim—so that people should have a place where they can gather and acknowledge to God that he created them and caused them to be—makomyitkabtzuveyodulakelshebera-am ve-himtziamveyifarsemuzehveyomarberiotkhahanakhnu, and where they can publicize this and declare before Him, ‘We are your creations.’”

In short, Ramban argues that the reason why we were created was to gather together in public with as many people as possible and declare in a loud and fervent voice, “We are your creations.” As a community, we reach this point most powerfully, when we all gather together in the same service.

I recognize that that is not always possible and that every prayer service we participate in doesn’t always accomplish our goal, but that must remain our ideal and the vision of what we are trying to accomplish. The alternative services that we hold should be temporary recharging stations to allow for a better fulfillment of the goal of all of us gathering together and declaring before Hashem, beriotkhahanakhnu.

There is precedent for this model of a unified communal service with an occasional alternative service.

Approximately 3300 years ago, a similar model to this appeared when the Jewish people gathered to sing praise to Hashem after keriat yam suf. The Torah tells us that first all of Israel gathered together and sung praise,azyashirmoshe v-veneiyisrael and then Miriam led all the women—and only the women—in an alternative service so to speak. “Vatikach Miriam haneviah…vateitzenahkolhanashimachareha, Miriam the prophetess, sister of Aharon, took the drum in her hand; and all the women followed her with drums and dancing (15:20).”

Miriam’s alternative song and dance was noteworthyand powerful because it came as an addition to the song and dance that all of the beneyisrael had participated in.

Her alternative service following on the heels of a communal service is a paradigm for future communal prayer.

But the ideal is a successful communal prayer that represents a unified gathering of the community. When a community acts together in declaring their own faith in God the spiritual possibilities are limitless.

There is a well known Midrash that when Moshe was standing at the sea and waiting for it to split, it only split once the prince from the tribe of Judah, Nachshon Ben Aminadav, in an act of pure faith jumped into the sea.

But there is another approach as to how the sea split.

According to the literal text of the Torah, Moshe was standing at the sea with the Egyptian army bearing down upon and crying out waiting for the sea to split. So Hashem turned to Moshe and said: “Why do you cry to Me? Speak to the B'neiYisrael and let them move on. Daber el beneiyisraelveyisau.” (14:15).

MeshechChochmah (1843-1926) writes (14:15) that God was telling Moshe to tell the children of Israel to demonstrate their collective faith in Hashem and travel as a group in to the sea. “Uvezechuthanesiahshayavoutokhhamayimlayamyivakuhamayim, and in the merit of their journey into the water, the sea split.”

In other words, the collective faith and action of the Jewish people is what allowed our ancestors to merit the greatest miracle of all-time, the splitting of the sea.

And because of the collective faith and demonstration of that collective faith everyone was lifted and experience the greatest spiritual moment in history. Even those who we might have thought were not spiritually great experienced a spiritual moment that outshone that of the greatest prophets in history.

The Torah says that the children of Israel sang together to Hashem, “zehkeliveanvehu, this is my God and I will glorify him” (15:2). Rashi (15:2) cites the Midrash that says: “ra-ah shifchah al hayammah she-lo ra-u neveim, a handmaid at the sea saw that which even the greatest prophets could not see.”

Such is the power of a communal expression and declaration of faith in God. We have the ability with our communal service to see that which even the greatest prophets could not see. And when we do so we are fulfilling the reason for our creation.

This is a lofty but necessary goal for our congregation: To use the once a month alternative prayer services not as a detraction from our unity but as a springboard to an even greater communal declaration to God of beriotkhahanakhnu: we are Your creatures and we are here to sing Your praise.

1