A passerby saw smoke coming out of our attic window, and pounded on the synagogue door to alert someone. No one was there. This kindhearted person then ran across the street - to the Baptist church - and told the pastor of the emergency.
He, knowing that my family lived next door to the synagogue, came banging on the door of my home. My wife, Malkie, opened the door and was greeted with the pastor's breathless news: "the synagogue's on fire!" Her immediate reaction was "we need to save the Torahs!".
Pastor Pendell repeated that story to me because he was so impressed my wife's value system, with her instinctive 'care for Scripture'.
Indeed, it's a nice story. But why - in fact - did she have that reaction? And it's not just about her. In the millennia of persecution, and burning synagogues, we hear story upon story about people risking their lives to save a Torah. Why? The Torah in a given synagogue is quite replaceable, So it's not about saving a priceless artifact.
Even more: Life is paramount. Yet people often risked their very lives.
Why? What is it about our attachment to Torahs?
This is Torah-attachment is an interesting phenomenon, which I'll try to briefly explore:
The Torah is our marriage contract with the Divine; it binds us to G-d. Every Torah is a new manifestation of the original, and carries the magnitude of our original Covenant at Sinai.
It's not just another copy of an old document. It is a fresh incarnation of the original 'marriage' at Sinai.
That being the case, how can we bear to see it burn? Who cares if I have another copy? If I value my relationship - my Covenant - with G-d, then I need to value this penultimate expression of our Covenant.
(In this week's Torah reading we are introduced to another 'Covenant,' the idea of the Bris, Abraham's 'Covenant' with G-d.)
What is a Covenant? It's a level of relationship which transcends reason. If I'm someone's good friend, then there's usually a reason - e.g. we share interests, kids are in the same school etc. When the reason dissipates, the friendship is likely to follow suit.
What is a Covenant? It's a level of relationship which transcends reason. If I'm someone's good friend, then there's usually a reason - e.g. we share interests, kids are in the same school etc. When the reason dissipates, the friendship is likely to follow suit.
Our relationship with G-d is beyond that. It exists because it does, and nothing can make it unravel. The Torah is a tangible expression of this super-rational relationship. And we need to honor it in that way.
We at Chabad are fortunate to be in the position of beginning our own Torah, on October 28th. This isn't just filling the need for another Torah or a way of posthumously honoring a loved one (the Torah is open to collective sponsorship, but is being generously underwritten in memory of Marc Kissel).
We at Chabad are fortunate to be in the position of beginning our own Torah, on October 28th. This isn't just filling the need for another Torah or a way of posthumously honoring a loved one (the Torah is open to collective sponsorship, but is being generously underwritten in memory of Marc Kissel).
Writing a Torah will be a community exercise, and it will be a communal reawakening of our super-rational relationship with the Torah's Author. It's a very special process, which will create a very special document.
And it will be ours. For life.
Shabbat Shalom
Rachel wrote...
What I meant was that I have a very clear understanding of our relationship. It’s nothing like any other relationship I’ve ever experienced. Nothing like being a friend or a spouse or even a daughter. Those relationships can be (or at least have been for me at times) very complicated, difficult and at times impossible to navigate. Being a mother is totally different. I know exactly who I am to her. I know what my responsibilities are to her. I love her unconditionally period end of story. (I know…talk to me when she’s an adolescent, but for now…..it’s all very clear and simple.) Confession: pretty sure I had no idea what unconditional love really was until I became a mother.
Mendy, you write: “What is a Covenant? It's a level of relationship which transcends reason. If I'm someone's good friend, then there's usually a reason - e.g. we share interests, kids are in the same school etc. When the reason dissipates, the friendship is likely to follow suit.. . . . . Our relationship with G-d is beyond that. It exists because it does, and nothing can make it unravel. The Torah is a tangible expression of this super-rational relationship. And we need to honor it in that way.
My question: Is it possible that a parent’s relationship to their child is also a Covenant? Doesn’t the unconditional love of this relationship that nothing can unravel also transcend reason? Is it possible that the beginning of understanding one’s relationship to G-d might come through experiencing the purity and simple perfection of the relationship between parent and child? I think that last question is answering itself…….If I can make that connection in my own mind….child to parent, self to G-d, and the Torah can be a tangible expression of both…..then yes, I think I might run into a burning building too.
Mendy Herson wrote...
Happy birthday Carly!
You're right on target.
You've explained quite eloquently why the Torah uses the parent-child relationship as a model for understanding the depth of our relationship with the Divine.
You call to mind an event I experienced years ago, when I was a student at the Rabbinical College in Morristown. My friends and I were at a Rabbi's (one of our teachers) house for a late night shmooze.
He must have been talking to us about the depth of the relationship we share with our Creator.
His two year old child woke up, came down the stairs and crept into his Dad's lap. As I watched a parent lovingly cradling his small child, it struck me that this is a model for the simple love - the inexplicable, transcendental connection - we'd been discussing.
Interestingly, the Torah also uses the depth of the SPOUSAL relationship - even though there's no biological dimension and spouses can unfortunately separate - as a model of our relationship with G-d too.
There seems to be a transcendental element of the spousal relationship which we can tap, and is just as powerful as that of the parent-child. And perhaps even more.