Parshat Beshalach 5779-Reading Torah on Mon/Thurs

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January 16 2019
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Parshat Beshalach 5779-Why we read Torah in shul on Mon/Thurs?


In this week’s parsha, after crossing the Re(e)d sea, we read that the Jews traveled 3 days without finding water:



כב  וַיַּסַּע מֹשֶׁה אֶת-יִשְׂרָאֵל מִיַּם-סוּף, וַיֵּצְאוּ אֶל-מִדְבַּר-שׁוּר; וַיֵּלְכוּ שְׁלֹשֶׁת-יָמִים בַּמִּדְבָּר, וְלֹא-מָצְאוּ מָיִם.


22 And Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.



 


The Mechilta makes an interesting observation about water and the comparison which can be made to Torah:


 דורשי רשומות אמרו אלו דברי תורה שנמשלה כמים שנ' (ישעי׳ נ"ה א') הוי כל צמא לכו למים לפי שפירשו מדברי תורה שלשת ימים לכך מרדו לפיכך התקינו להם נביאים שביניהן שיהיו קוראין בתורה בשבת ובשני ובחמישי הא כאיזה צד קורין בשבת ומפסיקין באחד בשבת קורין בשני ומפסיקין בשלישי וברביעי קורין בחמישי ומפסיקין בערב שבת:


“ those who are thirsty go to water(Isaiah 55:1)…..The 3 days here represent 3 days during which the Jews were separated from Torah(which is compared to water)…therefore the prophets made a decree that we must not go 3 days in the week without reading Torah in the synagogue, on Mon and Thurs mornings…”


Rabbi Simcha Wasserman (Lithuania-Los Angeles: d. 1992) asks the obvious question. If the Jews went for 3 days without Torah and this requires the Torah reading in shul, then what about the 210 years in Egypt when they went without Torah. How do we recognize the lack of Torah during this time, which is much longer than the 3 days mentioned  above.


His answer is quite remarkable. He says that in Egypt we were in a situation of oppression (what we call today anti Semitism). In such circumstances it is not hard for a Jew to recognize his/her faith as the reminders are constantly there. In the 1930’s it was a real quirk of Jewish history that Jewish children from secular families had to go to Jewish schools to be separated from the general populace by orders of the anti-Semitic regimes. The reminder of who you are is constant and no great institution of Jewish law is required to achieve this awareness.


However, once the Jews left Egypt they were released from anti-Semitic oppression, and they were free to practice (or not practice) the religion as they would wish. In such situations of freedom it is precisely when Jewish identity can be lost and reminders about the Jewishness of the individual are needed on a constant basis. As such, the institution of reading Torah every 3 days became an absolute necessity to counteract the effects of living in a free and non-oppressive world, or as we call it today, the world of assimilation.


The message is clear. In the USA and around the world, anti-Semitism has arisen again with all its frightening ramifications. Why now? I believe that Jewish history teaches us that in times of religious freedom, the reminder of who we are as Jews sometimes needs to be made to us by the anti-Semite, as we are quickly disappearing as Jews in the world because of high (70%) assimilation rates. The Torah reading on a regular basis is the way to impress upon us who we are before we are told who we are, by the oppression which we have seen again and again in our history.


The message for the Jewish world is clear. We must not wait to be reminded who we are but must always be proactive about being Jewish. The State of Israel is a real blessing in this regard and helps us to be proud Jews in the world and know who we are and where we come from. Torah study is at an all-time high, which gives us great hope for the future. I pray we can reverse the tide of assimilation in whatever way possible, as I fear the cycle of our history may have to be visited upon us again and this is too horrible to contemplate.


Rabbi Ian Shaffer             SCW/Cherry Hill NJ          Jan 2019


Venue: Stern College Stern College

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An insight on our current awareness of the rise of antisemitism.

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    Learning on the Marcos and Adina Katz YUTorah site is sponsored today by Judy & Mark Frankel & family l'ilui nishmos מרדכי בן הרב משה יהודה ע"ה and משה יהודה ז"ל בן מאיר אליהו ויהודית