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Parshas Bo - The Gantz Mishpacha                        3 Shvat 5778

01/18/2018 10:41:44 PM

Jan18

It was twenty-one years ago this week that BJSD’s new, young rabbi was officially installed as the new Rabbi of the congregation, the oldest Orthodox synagogue in San Diego. Rabbi Berel Wein, along with local city dignitaries attended the beautiful affair. Things that endure over time inevitably go through many changes; this axiom applies particularly to people. Over the years there is always not only turnover, there are changes in the demographics and group dynamics which change as well. The continuity of a Shul/congregation is dependent upon new members, especially young families, to join, thereby keeping the cycle of life going. As simple as this sounds, there are a lot of trying situations involved in order to effectively balance the seasoned members and the new members, the young and the old, and, of course, the different levels of observance.

Before arriving, I was warned of the different groups that existed within the Shul, particularly the tension which existed between the older, more established, long-standing members and the newer, young families. The feelings were so strong that when my wife and I were invited to spend a Shabbos at Beth Jacob to meet the members of the Shul, lead the services, speak, and have my wife give a ladies’ class, we were also expected to attend two melava malkas: one for the “older” members and one for the “younger” member families. After being offered the position and accepting it, one of the first things on my agenda was to rid the shul of this separation. The Torah warns and commands us with a mitzva of “Lo Tisgodedu” - do not make separate groups; figure out a way to be together.

The Parsha of the week of the installation dinner was parshas Bo, and my speech addressed this issue. A brief part of the speech focused on Parshas Bo, specifically when after the eighth plague Pharoah’s officials said to him, ”How long will this man (Moshe) continue to be a menace to us?” Moshe and Aharon were brought back to Pharoah who said to Moshe: ”Go. Serve God your Lord.” “But,” Pharoah additionally inquired, “exactly who will be going?” To which Moshe replied the powerful words found in Shmos 10:9: “Vayomer Moshe, Binar’einu U’VisKeineinu Neilech, B’Vaneinu U’Vivnoseinu B’Tzoneinu U’Vivkareinu Neilech Ki Chag Hashem Lanu.” “Young and old alike will go,” replied Moshe. “We will go with our sons and our daughters, with our sheep and our cattle. It is a festival to God for all of us.”

In dissecting this verse the Ksav Sofer explains the reason Moshe began with the young before the old was because Egypt was considerably more dangerous for youth, more so than for the elderly. Children are very impressionable, and the youth were susceptible to the idolatry of Egypt. The older generation had already been immersed, remembering their Judaism and were therefore not threatened. The Ponovizher Rov, Rav Yosef Kahaneman, explains that the usage of old and young was due to the fact that an individual is an orphan when he doesn’t have parents, but a nation is orphaned when there are no children. Reb Yitzchok from Volozhin says it will be a Chag/holiday for us when we depart from you (Pharoah) and go to our own land. The Netzi”v explains the holiday aspect as follows: It is impossible to celebrate a festival and be happy without sons and daughters, and we need the sheep and cattle for the holiday’s sacrifices and offerings. We need our children and animals to celebrate properly. What kind of joy would we have if our children remained in Mitzrayim? It states later in the Torah “V’Samachta B’Chagecha, Ata, U’Bincha U’Bitcha”: “You will rejoice in your festivals, you, your sons and your daughters.” The Gemara Shabbos 119 recalls the words of the sages: “Yerushalayim was destroyed only because the people diverted the school children living in Yerushalayim from their Torah studies. Rabbi *Yehuda Rosanes (1657-1727) in his sefer Parshas Derachim explains that it was in the merit of the children’s learning that the Shechina - God’s presence - was settled on the Jewish people. As long as the Shechina rests upon the Jews, no nation is able to rule over us. This is what worried Pharoah; if the children were going to learn, he would lose control over the Jewish people. On the other side of the spectrum is the older generation. Without the elders who would there be to teach the children and to be role models for them? Without the older generation how would the young connect to our mesorah? Therefore, it was just as critical to include the older, previous generation.

As I mentioned earlier, my wife and I are entering our twenty-second year at Beth Jacob. According to the CDC, the average age of mothers at the time of the birth of their first child is 26.7 and increasing. Currently, a growing number of women are giving birth throughout their 30s and even early 40s. In population biology and demography, generation time is the average time between two consecutive generations in the lineages of a population. In human populations, generation time typically ranges from 22 to 33 years. We are now witnessing and living through the new upcoming generation, Baruch Hashem! For all intents and purposes, my tenure here is now in the next generation, facing a very different demographic than the previous generation. This is all good news, but not without challenges.

There is an active shift in the leadership and lay leadership of our Shul and community to enable nurturing strong continuity and sustaining of our recent growth. We are so blessed to have young minds at work, people with great talent and commitment to our Shul and future. We are all aware of the influx of new young couples and families within the last few years. Let us all be fully cognizant that this growth is not challenge and obstacle-free. Bringing together new people from all walks of the religious, economic and social life requires patience and fortitude on everyone’s part to allow the melding of the community. It is crucial for the younger generation to reach out to the older members - and also for the older members to actively and warmly reach out to the younger members - making the sincere effort to include each other in activities, meals, and so forth. It is particularly critical for the young members to make an extra effort to reach out and include all of their peers, making EVERYONE at Beth Jacob feel welcome and part of our growing family, Kein Yirbu.

  1. us all continue building Beis Yakov and have in mind L’Chu V’Neilcha: let us walk and go with our young and our old, serving Hashem as one family, eachcontributing our essential and necessary talent to the mix. May we all be Zocheh to have our Beis HaKnesses move to Eretz Yisrael in the time of the rebuilding of the Bayis Shlishi speedily in our day. Amen!

 

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky

 

* Rabbi Yehuda Rosanes (1657-1727) was Rabbi of Constantinople. Due to his knowledge of Arabic and Turkish, he was appointed by the government as Chief Rabbi ("hakam bashi") of the Ottoman empire. Rabbi Rosanes took a very active part in condemning
and denouncing the Shabbethaians, and he was one of the signers of an appeal to the German communities to oppose the movement.

Thu, March 28 2024 18 Adar II 5784