Rabbi's Blog

A few years ago I wrote about analog and digital watches, describing some of the advantages and disadvantages of each. Recently, I was reading from the Torah and noticed that the person who had been called up to the Torah was wearing an analog watch which had three other mini-clocks on the face, giving the time in other parts of the world. Knowing that this person does business in other countries, I surmised that he chose this kind of watch in order to instantaneously see the time in three other places in the world. I don’t ever recall seeing a digital watch with multiple times for different locations without pushing some button to change the face to another screen.

I personally enjoy the challenge of figuring out the time in a certain locale at any given point in the day. Whenever I travel to the East Coast or even to Israel, I do not change my watch to the local time, but rather look at my watch still set to Pacific Daylight or Standard time and figure out what time it is where I am currently located. I will admit that sometimes I do get a little confused, especially when I wake up in the middle of the night and check my watch to see the time.  It’s kind of hard to have to start calculating the time when half asleep.

In today’s day and age with family, friends and business associates living in different parts of the world, we need to constantly be aware of the time in multiple places.  The sense of day and night is somewhat mitigated by the fact that I am speaking and communicating with others when it is night for me and morning for them or night for them and morning for me. I feel that while time becomes somehow compressed, the day has become longer in a certain way by extending time beyond my location. I refer this as the time zone syndrome - having a twenty-four hour round-the-clock system. This was amplified a few weeks ago as I traveled to New York through Chicago in the middle of the night. Looking out the window as we descended over Chicago, I was blinded by the bright amount of light that totally lit up the city. Chicago, along with many other major metropolises  does not sleep;  the proof is that major cities are so lit up at night that they appear brighter than daylight. Twenty-first century man has made night into day, running the clock twenty-four continuous hours throughout the world. We  always get excited about the advancement of technology and the next kind of phone, tablet or cool device to hit the market. But I think we should take pause and think how simple and perhaps more meaningful life was before the dawn of high-speed travel and the computer age.  Don’t get me wrong, advancements in medicine, science and technology have extended and improved our lives, but perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to take a break from our constant world of work once in a while. We Jews unplug once a week, but imagine what the world was like with serenity and tranquility in the air every night. Even though we are compelled to produce more energy in order to support our modern habits, and even though this world of amazing scientific and technological advances are providing us with longer, healthier lives, we should never forget the way the world originally was. I believe this message is found in this week’s Haftorah.

 The Haftorah for this week’s Parsha Pinchas is actually the Haftorah for Parshas Mattos. In it we read from the very beginning of Yirmiyahu – Jeremiah - who describes God’s displeasure with the Jewish people who abandoned Hashem by  offering sacrifices to other gods. According to many commentaries, the actual prophecy began in chapter two verse two: “Haloch V’Karasa B’Oznei Yerushalayim Laymor, Ko Amar Hashem, Zacharti Lach Chessed N’Urayich Ahavas Klulosayich, Lechteich Acharai BaMidbar B’Eretz Lo Zerua”: “Go and call out in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: So said the Lord: I remember to you the lovingkindness of your youth, the love of your nuptials, your following Me in the desert, in a land not sown”.  The Medrash HaGadol in Devarim 7:12 mentions Hashem remembering three good things: the days of the holy forefathers and the oath that God had sworn to them and their offspring. This refers to the days of the youth of our nation during its earliest times of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. The second good thing Hashem remembered was the ‘love of your nuptials’: Jewish people standing at Har Sinai being consecrated to God, just as a bride is consecrated to the groom. The third and perhaps most significant reminder that Hashem has of His people is how we went into the desert that was not sown. There would have been difficulty in the desert had it not been for the help of Hashem, guiding, providing for, and protecting them throughout the forty years in the desert. The power of Emunah/belief in Hashem, that He would take care of us, remained as merit for the Jews not only for that time but for the entire future history of our people. The Zohar, in Parshas Vayishlach, states that immediately after the Jewish people crossed over the Sea of Reeds Hashem walked in front of us, and we followed blindly right behind Him. Walking and following the Shechina set the stage:  no matter how sinful the Jewish people are Hashem will always come back to us.

Since God recalls the history from our youth, He finds favor towards us even when we sin, and even in our old age. In the very next verse, the Abarbanel comments that since Hashem remembered the kindness of our youth and the love of the bridal canopy, we, the Jewish people, have become holy and consecrated to Hashem to the degree that God is integral to  the Jewish people. Even when we sin God protects us from those who try to harm or destroy us. The Navi Yirmiyahu says in 2:3 that Yisrael is to God like the first of His grains. Am Yisrael is compared to Hekdeish, set apart for holiness, and to Teruma, a gift or offering. Just as a non-kohein who eats Teruma or Hekdeish is liable to death by heaven, so too, whoever tries to attack, to ‘eat up’ Klal Yisrael, will be subject to death by heaven.

Our world, our days, our lives all evolve around time.  There is the past, the present and the future times of the world, and the Jewish people are the center point of all that goes on. The past of Jewish history is ever-present today. We are now in the midst of the three weeks – the time between Shiva Asar B’Tammuz, the Fast of Tammuz, and Tish’a B’Av, the time when we recall all the tragedies and devastations we have experienced as a nation. The greatest message of our time is to keep in mind that just as Hashem remembers our sacrifices when we were a young nation, He will always remain with us, guiding and protecting us shielding us with the ultimate love that our Father in Heaven has for His children on earth……the Jewish people.

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky