Rabbi's Blog

Throughout our history, members of Jewish communities residing throughout the world have experienced relationships filled with a mix of camaraderie and conflict, friction and harmony. By definition, “growing” tends to be accompanied with a modicum of pain. While we are familiar with the phrase “no pain no gain”, the challenge to push through in order to gain can still be difficult. Changing leadership tends to evoke mixed emotions of holding onto the past while looking towards the future. There are the highs and the lows which travel along with the good times and the not such good times in the life of any organization; such challenges confronting a Shul and its community are no different. The future of each of us as well as the future of a community is dependent upon the outlook of all those involved.  While personal tendencies toward optimism or pessimism are typically present within any community, there is no question that an optimistic – but realistic – approach to life’s challenges is both personally and communally beneficial and more likely to lead to success.  

The date was Sunday January 19th, 1997, slightly more than twenty-eight years ago, that Rabbi Berel Wein visited us here in San Diego in order to participate in the official inauguration of one of his talmidim/students to the Rabbinic position of Beth Jacob Congregation. That evening began my tenure as the third Rabbi of this illustrious congregation in almost sixty years. It was an elegant evening focused on the charge of forging the way for Beth Jacob to meet its mission statement. Rabbi Wein’s kind words to me and his inspirational message to the community highlighted what was to be my family’s home for almost the next three decades. At the time, the community of Beth Jacob included many Holocaust survivors as well as aging but devoted long-time members and a few young families who were committed to building the future of the Shul.

As I learned early on in my career, Hashem gives siyata dishmaya (heavenly assistance) to the timing and topic of speeches, eulogies, divrei Torah, and the like.  The portion of the week that the inaugural dinner took place was Parshas Bo. There were a few prominent pesukim which formed the core to the speech I delivered that evening. Those words are timeless and are just as meaningful and important today as they were back then.

The Torah in this week’s Parshas Bo states in Shmos 10: 8-9 "ויושב את משה ואת אהרן אל פרעה ויאמר אלהם לכו עבדו את ה' אלוקיכם מי ומי ההלכים. ויאמר משה בנערינו ובזקנינו נלך בבנינו ובבנותנו:בצאננו ובבקרנו נלך כי חג ה' לנו  “Moshe and Aharon were brought back to Pharaoh. ‘Go serve God your Lord’ he said. ‘But exactly who will be going?’ ‘Young and old alike will go,’ replied Moshe. ‘We will go with our sons and our daughters, with our sheep and cattle. It is a festival to God for [all of] us.”  *Rav Moshe Teitelbaum, in his sefer “Yismach Moshe”, explains that there are three parts within these pesukim which hold a timely message. The Gemara in Shabbos 119a says Yerushalayim was destroyed because of the disruption and halting of the learning of ‘TASHBAR’ - acronym for the Tinokos Shel Beis Rabban - the school children’s learning. It was in the merit of school-aged children’s learning that the Shechina, God’s presence, came to rest upon the Jewish people. The benefit of this is that so long as the Shechina rests upon the Jewish people, no nation or tongue could rule over us. Therefore, Behold! When Pharaoh asked, “Who is going?” Moshe replied, “With our elders and our youth we shall go!”   It is a festival to God and any festival and any celebration we experience is only complete when Hashem is with us. The only way Hashem is “with us” is because of the children, the younger generation who come, so our children must come along with us.

The Ksav Sofer, Rav Avrohom Sofer, explains that the youth spoke in front of the elders, explaining, “We need to leave; we need to get out of Egypt. The Egyptian culture and value system, in addition to being seeped in idolatry, is worse for us than for you. You, the older generation, were connected to previous generations of our forefathers, but we, the youth, are still settling and seeding our roots. We cannot afford to be a part of this. We need to look to the future, away from Mitzrayim. It was said in the name of the Ponovizher Rov, Rav Yosef Kahanaman zt”l,  that by definition an orphaned child has no parents, but an orphaned nation is a nation without children! Children are our future. We need to do whatever it takes to ensure the success - not only of our children but the success of our children’s children and beyond.

Times have changed. The demographic makeup of our community is the opposite of what it was when I arrived. Yes, change is sometimes difficult and challenging, but that is the way of the world.  There are many people involved and committed to see the continuity and success of our Shul and to lead it into the near and far future. The future of Beth Jacob is looking brighter as the pieces of the puzzle begin to merge together. Looking forward to a new location (just as Beth Jacob has done in the past) and new Rabbinic leadership will propel Beth Jacob to greater heights. Looking back throughout Jewish history, there has always been a dark, gloomy side before the light and promise of the future. The message upon leaving Egypt was that we are “going” and we will take the children with us as they are the future. Today, it is the children who are leading the push and will take along the older generation, sharing in continuing to teach as the younger now lead by example. Let me recall the famous quote of Yeshayahu HaNavi 2:5  בית יעקב לכו ונלכה באור ה' “O House of Jacob, By the light of Hashem, come let us walk! And may we continue to walk in His light into the future!  Amen.

*Rav Moshe Teitelbaum משה טייטלבוים; 1759 - July 17, 1841), also known as the Yismach Moshe, was the Rebbe of Ujhely in Hungary. He signed his name "Tamar", this being the Hebrew equivalent of Teitelbaum, which is the Yiddish for "date palm" (compare German "Dattelbaum"). An adherent of the Polish Chasidic rebbe Yaakov Yitzchok of Lublin. Teitelbaum was instrumental in bringing Chasidic Judaism to Hungary. Though initially opposed to Chassidism, after his son-in-law introduced him to Jacob Isaac Horowitz, he soon became an adherent.

Wishing you and your family Ah Gutten Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky