Rabbi's Blog

Next week, the official summer vacation season comes to an end on Labor Day. Here in San Diego, and particularly at Beth Jacob, it has been a busy summer with the influx of tourists and extended family guests and friends. The Grill, our summer restaurant, was a perfect complement to the minyanim we offer at our Shul from morning to night. I, along others on our staff, have frequently remarked about how the tourists we’ve all been privileged to greet and make comfortable openly spoke of the warm welcome received and the positive experiences they had here at our Shul. Many underscored their remarks by adding that this isn’t the case at other Shul’s they’ve visited.

I can certainly attest to having visited and prayed at many different Shuls throughout my life. As a pulpit Rabbi, I have become acutely aware that I feel comfortable and made to feel like a member of minyanim in some places while in other places left alone, feeling like a stranger and outsider. When I visited my parents, I davened at a local shul in Arnona. I do not want to speak disparagingly about the members or about the Shul because it did offer me a place to daven that was close by. Nevertheless, over the few years that I’ve shown up only two men greeted and befriended me. I was always made to feel welcome but never made to feel comfortable. To the opposite extreme I found the most welcoming and warm minyan in the last place you would imagine! There is a little congregation at the Vasikin (early morning) minyan at the Kotel. There are many different minyanim at the Kotel throughout the day, including the very first minyan, known as Vasikin. This group is comprised of Chasidim/Chareidim. It is organized by a fellow who runs the minyan and coordinates the logistics, timing, and the welcome to any and all people. As I arrived each morning, he ran to get me and others who came with me chairs and a shtender (lectern). At the end of davening, they serve shnaps and cake if there is a yahrzeit or sponsor. The atmosphere is completely friendly and reminds me of our Shul. Its welcome and warmth connected me to home.

When a person travels for business or even pleasure there is a sense of nervousness and fear of being out of his/her element and familiar surroundings. In my mind, I thought I learned that a traveler is considered like a poor person. I could not find the source for it, but the rationale is consistent as a traveler doesn’t have his own place to sleep, a place to establish his own meals; he can feel desperate. I will take poetic license and leap from a traveler considered being poor and connect it to the Gemara in Nedarim 64ab “Arba’a Chashuvim K’Meis: Ani, Metzora, Suma, U’Mi She’ein Lo Banim”. There are four categories of individuals who are considered dead:one who is poor, is a leper, is blind, or is childless”. Since a poor person is considered dead, then the traveler who is considered poor would share the notion of being considered like dead. Therefore, helping a traveler is as if I saved his life. Now this may be a stretch of the imagination, but to a stranger and or a traveler it gives strength and security knowing they are welcome.

If you think that being hospitable is just a nice thing to do, you are wrong! In the context I provided, being hospitable and making people feel comfortable and secure is a Mitzva of returning their lost sense of being. The traveler is at a loss; perhaps he can’t articulate or describe the exact item that is lost but that sense returns when greeted and treated as a local rather than as a stranger. Today’s typical tourist with credit cards, cash and points may not feel truly lost. Nevertheless, there are many Jews who lose their spiritual way and land in San Diego, our fair city, where we welcome these ‘lost’ souls and slowly get returned by our community. This ‘Mitzva’ is indirectly described in the Torah. Its depth of meaning can be gleaned from one of the Mitzvos in this week’s Torah portion.

In this week’s Parsha Ki Tetzei the Torah states in Devaim 22:1 “Lo Tir’eh Es Shor Achicha Oh Es Seyo Nidachim V’Hisalamta Meihem, Hasheiv T’Sheeveim L’Achicha”. If you see your brother’s ox or sheep going astray, you must not ignore them. You must return them to your brother”. The Torah then expands in 22:3 to other lost items as well. “V’chein Taaseh LaChamoro, V’chein Taaseh L’Simlaso, V’Chein Taaseh L’Chol Aveidas Achicha Asher Tovad Mimenu Um’Tzasa, Lo Suchal L’Hisaleim”. “You must do the same to a donkey, an article of clothing, or anything else that your brother loses. You find it; you must not ignore it”. The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh teaches that the ox of your brother refers to people who are compared to the animals but are nonetheless holy! We must return them to their brother, meaning to their homes, we must make them feel comfortable so that they can serve Hashem properly. This verse speaks to the righteous Jews who are commanded not to turn away from those who were pushed aside, but rather return and bring that sense of security and warmth of home back to them. The saintly Chofetz Chaim Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan in his sefer *Chomas Hadas writes that if the Torah went out of its way to show the value of animals in returning them when lost - which is of monetary value - how much more so the need to show mercy upon every Jewish soul who has strayed from the path of the Torah. *Rav Yosef Yoizel Horowitz writes in his sefer Madreigas Ha’Adam that the lost objects of your brother include the loss of his physical body to health issues, both physical and emotional. Finally, Rabbeinu Bachya teaches us that when the Torah says ‘do the same for your brother’s donkey’ which is even a non-kosher animal! It continues by emphasizing that we must return a lost garment that isn’t even a living creature, and concludes that this also applies to all lost items of your brother. Not only is it speaking of returning physical objects but also to doing anything to help a fellow Jew in need. That may be to remove any potential damage or to move your brother away from anything dangerous, including making him feel at ease and at home. This all is categorized under the Mitzva of V’Ahavta L’Rei’acha KaMocha: Love your neighbor as yourself.

For the past week, we have been witness to the destruction and devastation which hit Houston, Texas by Hurricane Harvey. An incredible number of different things have been lost and need to be ‘found’ - in this case to be replaced. This week we must fulfill at least three Mitzvos mentioned here. The Mitzvos of returning to our brethren that which they have lost, the negative precept of not turning away and the MItzva of showing love towards our fellow Jews. I am confident that if we send messages, e-mails, money and words of encouragement, the Almighty will see to it the need to speed up the process of everyone feeling at home once again.

Ah Gut Shabbos Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky

Rabbi Bogopulsky’s book “Developing A Torah Personality” is available for purchase directly from him or click here or on amazon.com

*Chomas Hadas - 1 Volume, published in 1905. On the importance of a man to study Torah, and encourage others to learn. as well as the need to create groups in every city wherein a man could acquire Torah.

*Rabbi Yoseif Yoizel Horowitz was the Alter of Novardhok (1848-1920). He was the founder of the Novardhok Mussar Yeshivah Network and author of Madreigas HaAdam