Balancing Jewish Values
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5777
On Monday afternoon I went to pick up my dry cleaning and Tony hands me a sheet of paper with the following joke:
Hey, my cousin Frank has 2 tickets for the 2017 super bowl, both box seats. He paid $1500 a piece for the tickets but he did not realize when he bought them last year that it was going to be the same day as his wedding. If you are interested he is looking for someone to take his place.
It is at Saint James church, in Seaford at 3PM. Her name is Gina, she is 5’1 and 100 lbs, she is good looking and a great cook. She will be the one in the white dress holding the flowers.
We all have our priorities.
The joke is funny only because we can envision a person so football committed that he makes the wrong choice, has the wrong priorities.
Certainly Judaism demands us to prioritize correctly and to choose the valuable and lasting over the less valuable and fleeting.
Yet sometimes, we have to choose and prioritize between competing values, and that is often a little bit trickier.
I want to share with you one such example with modern applications this morning by way of Shirat Hayam, the song at the sea, and hopefully gain insight into a section of the Torah that we recite every morning.
The first 12 psukim of the song (chapter 15) are a mix of praise for God and descriptions of the Egyptian defeat.
Then we read:
יג) נָחִ֥יתָ בְחַסְדְּךָ֖ עַם־ז֣וּ גָּאָ֑לְתָּ נֵהַ֥לְתָּ בְעָזְּךָ֖ אֶל־נְוֵ֥ה קָדְשֶֽׁךָ
- You in your mercy have led forth the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation.
What is neveh kodshecha? What is the holy habitation?
In order to try and answer the question, and appreciate the different suggestions we have to look at the next few verses.
יד) שָֽׁמְע֥וּ עַמִּ֖ים יִרְגָּז֑וּן חִ֣יל אָחַ֔ז יֹשְׁבֵ֖י פְּלָֽשֶׁת
טו) אָ֤ז נִבְהֲלוּ֙ אַלּוּפֵ֣י אֱד֔וֹם אֵילֵ֣י מוֹאָ֔ב יֹֽאחֲזֵ֖מוֹ רָ֑עַד נָמֹ֕גוּ כֹּ֖ל יֹשְׁבֵ֥י כְנָֽעַן
טז) תִּפֹּ֨ל עֲלֵיהֶ֤ם אֵימָ֙תָה֙ וָפַ֔חַד בִּגְדֹ֥ל זְרוֹעֲךָ֖ יִדְּמ֣וּ כָּאָ֑בֶן עַד־יַעֲבֹ֤ר עַמְּךָ֙ יְקֹוָ֔ק עַֽד־יַעֲבֹ֖ר עַם־ז֥וּ קָנִֽיתָ
יז) תְּבִאֵ֗מוֹ וְתִטָּעֵ֙מוֹ֙ בְּהַ֣ר נַחֲלָֽתְךָ֔ מָכ֧וֹן לְשִׁבְתְּךָ֛ פָּעַ֖לְתָּ יְקֹוָ֑ק מִקְּדָ֕שׁ אֲדֹנָ֖י כּוֹנְנ֥וּ יָדֶֽיךָ
- The people shall hear, and be afraid; sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.
- Then the chiefs of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.
- Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of your arm they shall be as still as a stone; till your people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over, whom you have purchased.
- You shall bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which you have made for you to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
All of the commentators read this last verse as referring to the temple mount and the temple itself.
If we read the song chronologically, the first 12 verses refer to the events at yam suf, 14-16 refer to the response of the nations that Bnai Yisrael will encounter on their way to Israel and 17 ends with the building of the BeitHamikdash.
That should put verse 13 and Neveh Kodshecha after yam suf but before entry into the land.
The most logical choice in that time frame would be Sinai and the giving of the Torah.
That is the position of the Ibn Ezra in his short commentary – he writes: according to many of the commentators this verse refers to future events… the correct approach in my eyes is that Neveh Hakodesh refers to Mount Sinai, there they worshiped God and there the Torah was given to Israel.
His initial comment is accurate – most of the commentators believe that this verse relates to future events and Neveh kodshecha is not Sinai.
The Rashbam writes: God is leading them now in order to bring them into the land of Israel which is Neveh Kodshecha.
The Ramban writes that neveh kodshecha refers to the Beit Hamikdash just as in verse 17 where the word Mikdash clearly refers to the Temple.
Why doesn’t everyone agree with the Eben Ezra and stick with the chronologically logical choice? What are they arguing about?
A comment of the Meshech Chochma of Dvinsk suggests a potential answer. On our verse he cites the argument of Reish Lakish in Shabbat 119b that we don’t stop children learning Torah even for the building of the beit hamikdash.
המקדש כי אין מבטלים תינוקות של בית רבן אפילו לבנין בית
His proof is from a Talmudic reading of our verse in which Torah precedes the Temple.
He believes that our verse contains two of Judaism’s most critical components, Torah and Temple and that we are given a hierarchy of those components in the verse.
Maybe that is exactly what the commentators are doing! The Torah tells us that God has saved us in order to take us to neveh kodshecha – to this most holy place.
What is the most holy or most important thing? That is a very good question. Is it the Torah, the land of Israel, the Temple and service of God?
Eben Ezra says Torah, Rashbam says the land, and Ramban says the Temple.
Echoes of that very argument can be heard and felt today in the religious community. Moving the embassy to Jerusalem, settlements and our connection to the land, even land for peace at some level revolve around this argument. Forget the political and strategic considerations for a moment. Different segments of the orthodox community feel differently about these issues and part of that discussion and argument is our question.
What is the most critical component amongst 3 very good choices? Is it the temple in Jerusalem, the land itself or the Torah?!
