Rabbi's Blog

At a recent RCC conference I was reminded of a basic rule in life: when to focus on the general and when to focus on the specific. The speaker, who was discussing his involvement in Jewish divorce proceedings, reminded me of this rule through a short anecdote. He related that someone called up his rabbi on Erev Pesach, stating  that he and his wife were in a terrible fight arguing whether or not they should eat ’gebrokts’* on Pesach. The speaker explained that the issue of this household was not the question about ‘gebrokts’, but rather the essence of their Shalom Bayis. If they are arguing about this on Erev Pesach, there are far larger  problems with the relationship.  

In an unrelated matter, the United Jewish Federation of San Diego announced a partial cut in 2017 and a complete end of all funding in 2018 of many vital Jewish causes in San Diego.  Every one of  the schools which provide  Jewish Education is slated to be included in these cuts. Our Jewish schools depend heavily on these funds;  it is deeply disturbing that the community had not been made aware of these moves until now. The schools still have an opportunity to receive the monies through grants given out by the UJF, but such avenues for grant monies are never  guaranteed. The reason I bring this up is first and foremost this is a great loss of financial support for local Jewish education. The bigger and broader issue, however, is that this move by our local UJF is only symptomatic of a far greater problem. Everyone should take a good look at the focus of UJF and what it is supporting. It plans to fund programs to help Jews maintain and reconnect to Judaism. This is similar to giving person oxygen after we cut off his air supply. The greatest fundamental source of Judaism is Jewish education, primarily the Jewish education received during a child’s critical early years of development. It is truly horrible; actually it is sinful to process the idea that a UJF of any city would even consider cutting the funding of its local schools which are the future of the Jewish community! The greater larger and broader problem is the shift in value system that Jewish Federations across North America stand for. The very future of the Jewish community is being threatened by cutting off its life source.   

Every community – every individual within every community- must evaluate, must work to  address the causes of such a decision. The most obvious challenge facing the Jewish people today is to assess the way the world presents Zionism as the primary cause of many of the conflicts in the world. We should all realize that it’s not Zionism that the world truly takes issue with. Rather ‘Zionism’ is just a more politically correct phrase or modern semantic excuse for anti-Semitism. The issue of how the world views the Jews and - even more so - how the Jews interpret those views - is nothing new. This criticism, and the accompanying Jewish fear of the criticism, is found in the Torah and highlighted in this week’s parsha which addresses Yakov’s  concern regarding what the world will think and say about him. The concern is after Dinah was taken by Shechem, when Shimon and Levi plotted to retrieve her, but along with saving her killed  the entire village.  

The Torah states in Bereishis 34:30 “Vayomer Yakov El Shimon V’El Levi Achartem Osi, L’Havisheini B’Yosheiv Ha’Aretz Ba’Canaani U’VaPrizi, Va’Ani M’Sei Mispar V’Nesfu Alay V’Hikuni V’Nishmaditi Ani U’Beisi”. “Yakov said to Shimon and Levi, ‘You have gotten me in trouble, giving me a bad reputation among the Canaanites and Perizites who live in the land. I have only a small number of men. They can band together and attack me, and my family and I will be wiped out’ ”.  Yakov is worried, yet his sons reply, ”Shall we allow our sister to become a harlot?” It appears as though Yakov was worried about world opinion while his sons only cared about saving their sister.  Truth be told, Shimon and Levi did not limit their mission against Shechem Ben Chamor just to save Dinah. With a cursory look at some of the previous verses, we can determine that Shimon and Levi not only wanted to save their sister but to punish Shechem at the same time. Perhaps this is why Yakov was upset. It was on the third day after the entire town had been circumcised, the men were hurting and basically incapacitated. At that point in verse 34:25 Shimon and Levi kill all the males. In verse 26 they killed Chamor and his son Shechem,  and then they took Dinah out and saved her.  

A question is asked: Why didn’t Shimon and Levi just take Dinah when all the men of the town were aching? Why did they first kill everyone and then take her out, which had been their goal? The Midrash explains that the passuk points out that they came to the city with ‘Betach’  - a guarantee. They were confident their mission would be successful in the merit of Yakov, their father, in order to save his daughter. It was the merit of Yakov that gave them protection and cover for their mission.  Therefore, they were concerned that once they saved Dinah and took her out of Shechem’s house, the merit of their father would no longer be in effect.  Yakov was not interested in killing anyone; his only desire was to retrieve Dinah, his daughter. As soon as Dinah was saved he would not have a desire to do any harm to them. At that point, then, protection and shield of Yakov would no longer protect Shimon and Levi for that which was against his will. Shimon and Levi realized that as long as Dinah was still ‘captured’ they had the protection of their father and were free to do as they wished against the people of Shechem. Therefore, they took advantage of the situation by taking revenge against the people who took their sister Dinah.

The deeper issue for Shimon and Levi was to stick up for the family and never allow such a disgrace to occur within the family. The hard lesson we need to take away from this is that there are times when tough action must be taken and difficult decisions need to be made. They may not be politically correct or justified in the eyes of the world, but nevertheless Am Yisroel needs to do what is necessary for our honor and security - despite what the world says. Let the Jewish community stand up for San Diego’s Jewish future and recognize the value and vital importance of Jewish education, core to our existence, essential to our future.  

Ah Gut Shabbos                              Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky

*Gebrokts – Allowing the Matzah on Passover to get wet before eating