My parents celebrated their 50th anniversary this summer. It was amazing! Over 40 family members, my parents, their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren all in one place for shabbos!
But….my mother said she wanted some programming! So after friday night dinner we all gathered around the couches and played the “newlywed game.” My parents competed against the other couples. You know how the game works. 3 couples compete against each other to see which couple knows each other best. In the first round the wives stay in and the husbands leave. The wives are asked a series of questions about their husbands. After the answers are noted, the husbands return and we find out how well the wives really know their husbands. In round 2, everything is reversed with the wives leaving. The couple that answers the most questions correctly, wins.
My parents answered every question about each other correctly! It turns out, that my parents know each other really really well. It is almost scary to see how well they know each other. Just to give one example: One question that they asked my mom about my dad was “if your husband could have unlimited access to one store, what would it be?”
My mom said, “your dad is first going to say the cigar shop, then he will switch his answer to the liquor store and finally settle on the bike shop.” Sure enough my dad came back and gave those three answers in the same order! Scary!
I then realized that in addition to my parents love, attraction and care that they have for each other, there is actually another secret to their amazing marriage. They actually know each other very well and maybe this is why they love each other so much.
There is actually research to back this up. Harvard-trained psychologist Dr. Robert Epstein recently presented research proving that “Knowledge of one’s partner including his or her preferences, hopes and dreams, values and even superficial things like shoe size” greatly enhances marital happiness and strong marriages.
This might be interesting but what does it have to do with Rosh Hashana and Judaism?
My theory that I hope to prove in the next 10 minutes is that Jewish Knowledge makes better jews. 100 years ago this would have been obvious. After all are we not the people of the Book? are we not the people who produced thousands of volumes of commentaries, commentaries on the commentaries and then commentaries on the commentaries of the commentaries?
The problem is that if you go to any Jewish meeting discussing the big problems (high intermarriage rates, low connection to Israel, low affiliation), the big buzz words are Jewish “Identity”, “connection”, “feeling”, “peoplehood”, “meaning”, and “values.” All of that is great but we never talk about Jewish Knowledge anymore.
I was meeting with Abi Daubner Sterne who is is the vice president for Global Jewish Experience at Hillel. She pointed out to me that the Pew didnt even ask questions about jewish knowledge. There were many questions about Jewish identity, beliefs, practices, connection to Israel, denominational affiliation but not one question about knowledge. How fascinating would it be to ask some basic Jewish literacy questions of the respondents and cross tabulate those responses with responses about observance, intermarriage, etc.
I recently read a fascinating statement which I am going to paraphrase. Our great great grandparents in Poland, Russia, Germany, Yemen, Morocco etc didnt have a strong Jewish Identity. They were just Jewish. As soon as we talk about taking an external identity and putting on ourselves, we have already lost. It is all about just being jewish. Growing up and learning the shema and tefilot, thinking with Jewish categories of thought. This is jewish knowledge and it precedes and is more important than jewish identity.
There is a very important line in the Rosh Hashana davening that proves this.
The central theme of the Musaf Davening is Malchiyut - the affirmation of G-d’s sovereignty over the world. The central piece of the Malchiyos section of the Mussaf is Aleinu. When many of us confront it in the middle of the Mussaf amidah, we are probably wondering, “what is aleinu doing in the middle of my shmoneh esreh!” shouldnt aleinu rightfully be at the end of davening. Well the truth of the matter is that Aleinu was originally composed for the Rosh Hashana Amida. The rabbis liked it so much that they decided to also append it at the conclusion of every davening but really, Aleinu is a prayer composed for Rosh Hashana. Well there is one line from Aleinu that I want to focus on.
Right after we say “Va’anachnu Kor’im Umishtachavim” and for one of only three times during the year we fully bow demonstrating that even though we have lots of important things in our lives (jobs, secular pursuits, hobbies etc), the most important thing that we will give up everything for is Judaism. And then we say an important line:
וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך
“You must know today and place it in your heart that Hashem is G-d…”
Two concepts. וידעת (knowledge, literacy) and השבת אל לבבך - place it on the heart (inspiration, passion or what I would call Jewish Identity).
Note the order. We must first know and then we put the knowledge on our heart. Meaning, Inspiration, passion, identity, connection - These are all very important. But, we must first know. Without jewish knowledge, jewish identity and meaning is fleeting. It wont last. It will not be strong.
It goes back to my parents and any couple.
If there is attraction, chemistry, love and care but a husband does not know his spouse. He doesnt know what is important to her, What are her values, And yes maybe even her shoe size (!) then the marriage will not be strong.
If a wife has deep love and attraction to her husband but doesnt know what makes him tick, his values and his dreams, then the marriage will not last.
The same thing is true about judaism. We can send our kids on trips to Israel, they can climb masada, they can have meaningful bnai mitzvah, frogs can jump out at our seder, but if they dont have jewish knowledge then its fleeting. It wont last.
If we dont have jewish knowledge, if we dont understand Judaism, its history, its meaning and application, we are just observers we arent participants.
So I want to spend the next few minutes discussing to areas of Jewish Knowledge that I think are sorely lacking in the contemporary American Jewish Community; Halakhic Knowledge and Hebrew.
1.) Halakhic Knowledge: Let me explain this by discussing a fear that every convert that I work with has even before they have start the process.
They have heard of the Bet Din. They will have to sit before a Bet Din of three scary rabbis who will test them on their jewish knowledge.
So first of all I tell them who are these rabbis. It is basically me and two of my friends. Not very scary!
Then I explain what the “test” will be and what really jewish knowledge is all about. It is not about locking your self in a room and trying to memorize jewish knowledge facts and terms. It is practice based. As soon as they begin to keep kosher and shabbat, they have questions which lead to answers which lead to more questions. They they want to understand why are they doing this and not that. Over the course of a year of committed halakhic observance, the Jewish knowledge organically emerges out of jewish practice. It is not test-based knowledge but practice-based knowledge.
The same is true for those of us Jewish from birth. If we want to understand Judaism, if we want to “think jewishly,” we must take Jewish practice more seriously and ask more halachik questions. If we ask more halakhic questions (and if you are serious about your judaism then unless you went to rabbinical school, you should probably be asking halakhic questions weekly) you will start to understand the difference between the Tannaim, Amoraim, Rishonim and Achronim; between De’oraisa and Derabanan, Lechatchila and Bedieved, mutar and assur, chumara and kula. If you dont understand all of the words I just said, dont worry! I promise you there wont be a test! But I also promise you that if you start taking jewish practice more seriously, you will know all of those terms and more and you will no longer be a jewish observer but a jewish participant.
If you do understand all the terms I just said, dont rest on your laurels. The important question is not how many words you know. The question is do you know more words and jewish terms this year on rosh hahsana than you knew last year and more importantly “how are you going to know more next year.”
2.) Hebrew:
When I talk about hebrew literacy I am not referring to the ability to order lunch in a restaurant in Tel Aviv. That is important. A majority of Jews now live in Israel, Israel is our future so we have to learn Modern Hebrew. But speaking modern hebrew is not a requirement to be a knowledgeable jew. Rabbi Akiva, Rava, Maimonides, Rashi, Yosef Karo, the Baal Shem Tov….all of them would have had a lot of difficulty carrying on a conversation in modern hebrew but I think we would all agree that they were Judaicly knowledgeable. When I speak of Hebrew Literacy, I mean the hebrew of the chumash, the mishna and the siddur. If we come to the torah reading and we only understand it through the translation then we are relying on others for our connection to G-d and Torah. We are observers and not participants. If we have a halakhic question, and we cannot sit down with the rabbi for 5 minutes and review the material in the original, then we are observers and not full participants. And if our only access to the tefilah, is through the translation then we are not full participants.
I recently understood why so many people feel disconnected to the davening. The Pew actually has a section on Hebrew. 52% of American Jews can read Hebrew. How many can actually understand Hebrew. How many can actually understand most of the words in the siddur or chumash? Well it turns out there is a fascinating difference based on denomination.
Ultra Orthodox - 74%
Modern Orthodox - 52%
Conservative - 16%
Reform - 4%
What percentage of Members of Beth Sholom understand the Hebrew of the Siddur? I would say given our diverse backgrounds we are somewhere between Modern Orthodox and Conservative. Lets say we have about 30% understanding hebrew. So here is the problem. As an orthodox shul, we pray like the Ultra Orthodox (all in Hebrew) but we understand like the Conservative. This is a recipe for disaster.
So some might say, we should begin praying in English. The truth of the matter is that the American Jewish Community after WW2 tried to do something unprecedented in Jewish History. It tried to create a Jewish Identity (that word again!) without Hebrew being the basic building block. Well i have a question for you. How well did that experiment work?
Perhaps you are thinking, Hebrew is important. I will make sure my children and grandchildren learn hebrew but it is too late for me. First, I want to say it is never too late to learn something. Mendy Rutstein, who was a beloved congregant of Beth Sholom decided when he was 80 years old and diagnosed with cancer that he wanted to learn Talmud seriously. He studies a page of talmud a day and by the time he died at age 88, he was a shas-yid (he finished the entire talmud)! It is never too late…
Here are some practical suggestions.
I would suggest that we Begin with the Siddur and Tefilah. Our new CJE (Center for Jewish Engagement) will be running at least monthly shabbat morning Explanatory Services. These services will include explanations of structure and meaning of tefilah together with practical how to’s of davening. In the past when we have had these explanatory services, only a handful of people go. Everything else believes they are too advanced. I would argue that an explanatory service is appropriate for about ⅔ of our shul!
And while the explanatory service will focus on words and hebrew, it will not be enough. This is why the CJE will also run a series of hebrew reading (and understanding) crash courses throughout the year.
Finally, Consider using the Interlinear siddur. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it has the english translation of each word directly under the hebrew. This allows every time you come to daven to be a hebrew lesson. You start understanding words, making connections to other words and slowly the pieces of the Jewish Puzzle come together.
So if there is one take away from this talk it is the following. Jewish Identity without Jewish Knowledge is insufficient. The important question is not how much knowledge do I have but do I have more knowledge this year than i had last year and do i have to plan to have more knowledge next year than this year. Finally, set Jewish Knowledge goals. If you have never leined from the Torah, learn how to lein this year (both men and women). If you have never finished a tractate of Talmud, make that your goal. If you have never learnerd Hebrew, make a commitment to do it this year.
וידעת היום והשיבות אל לבבך - If we want want it to be on our heart. If we want the passion, the identity, the commitment, we need the knowledge.
A story: Chatzkel was a young Polish Jew who survived Buchenwald. He grew up as a chosid but during the war, he lost everything; his parents, his siblings, his community. He even lost his faith. He was so angry at G-d for allowing all of this to happen to him that he promised that if he survived, he would raise a family completely assimilated without a trace of Judaism. His children would not even know that they were Jewish.
Chatzkel survived. After the war, a Rabbi (a US army chaplain), Rabbi Hershel Schachter was one of the first to liberate Buchenwald. He stayed there for a number of months providing resources for the Jewish inmates. The rabbi met and befriended Chatzkel. Chatzkel said, “Rabbi, dont even start with me. There is no way that you will convince to become religious again.” The rabbi said, “I am not trying to make you religious. I just want to be here with you and support you.”
After a few months, Rabbi Schachter managed to bring a Sefer Torah to the camp. On that first shabbat morning when they had the Torah, many showed up to the tent which was a make shift shul to hear the Torah for the first time in years. But as usually happens, not as many showed up for mincha (the afternoon prayer). They have 5 then 6, 7, 8, 9 and nobody else is coming. The rabbi looks at his watch and it is just a few minutes before sunset. They need to daven now. Just then the rabbi sees Chatzkel walking by. He runs out and says, “Chatzkel, please help us. We need you for a minyan.” Chatzkel says, “who is ‘we.’ “you need me. I dont need this. I told you I have already rejected G-d and Torah.” The rabbi says, “Chatzkel, please dont do this for G-d do it for your brothers who need a minyan.” chatzkel agrees but just to show his displeasure with G-d, he lights up a cigarette as the minyan begins (remember it is shabbos!). The chazan begin Ashrei...Uva L’zion….Then they get up to Torah reading. The rabbi asks, “does anyone know the torah reading?” Nobody volunteers. The rabbi looks at Chatzkel. “Chatzkel didnt you tell me that when you were younger after your bar mitzvah you used to lein?” Chatzkel says, “No way.” I am through with this. The rabbi begs and Chatzkel agrees to do it “for his brothers.” The Kohen gets the first aliyah, He says his bracha, “asher bachar banu mikol ha’amim venatan lanu es torato, baruch atah hashem noten hatorah.” And Chatzkel for the first time in over a year says “Amen.” A tear wells up in his eye. He then starts leining. “Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe Leimor.” He is surprised at the ease with which it comes back to him. He starts remembering his father and Zeidy who taught him how to lein. He remembers his mother who taught him to read Hebrew and would tuck him in every night with the shema. And he realizes that he was wrong. He did not lose everything. It is true he lost his mother and father and siblings. But he still had his Jewish knowledge which they taught him. Which connected him to his past and would help create his future. At this point tears started coming down and by the time he finished the first aliyah, he was crying like a baby. When he started the aliyah, it was their torah. He was doing it for them. But when he finished it was his torah once again. It was his Jewish Knowledge which was the essence of his being which had been rekindled.
It took some time. But eventually Chatzkel moved to Australia where he started his own family and passed down all of the Jewish Knowledge to his children.
We are about to hear the shofar. In the sound of the shofar, let us hear Chatzkel’s cry. Let us hear the cries of our Neshamas which crave more and deeper Jewish knowledge. Let us commit to deepening our own Jewish Knowledge that of our children and grandchildren. In that merit, May Hashem hear our cries and give us a year of Bracha (blessing), Hatzlacha (success). A year of Peace and security in Israel and to jews all around the world. May 5775 be a year in which all of our deepest prayers are answered. Shana Tova.
