Today we had a Yom Iyun at our shul. It was special, it was actually a partnership Yom Iyun of two Lower East Side shuls. The Rabbi from one of the shuls spoke first, about what caused the Churban, and then an expert on Israel, gave a presentation on the song Jerusalem of Gold, and how it was composed. Both presentations were fascinating. The first part presented presented the various texts of our Torah, and provided a unique perspective on how to view the Churban back then as well as now, and the second part was an interpretation of a hebrew secular song(poem), written about Jerusalem, with what seems clear indications that the author used the tanach, and the Torah Shebaal Peh as her basis. What marred what would have been a beautiful day, was the vitriol that I received from other people in my neighborhood about the program, who was part of it and whether or not we can consider the Rabbi an orthodox Rabbi or not. This question always bothered me. What does it mean to be an orthodox Rabbi in the 21st century? Why are there such fights amongst the jewish leadership on this issue. So please excuse my naivete, and my lack of knowledge and understanding of all of halacha, when I try and work through this.
Part of the direction we received at Nishmat was to study the parsha each day. So that is what I did. I started with the Parsha, and before I got very far, I read Devarim 1:12-1:16. So here in Devarim Moshe is about to give his last speech to Am Yisroel before they go into Yisroel. He is reminding them that they have become too big for him, and he appointed leaders for each tribe. In fact, in Devarim 1:12 his first word is איכה, to me very coincidental considering the week we are in, and wht we will be reading in less than a week. In the prior sefer we learned about how each tribe will be split up in the land. Meaning, that they will not be all together, as they were in the desert, and they will have to rely on their leaders to lead them. One can imagine that given the distance, there may be times when the leader of one tribe will provide a different insight into a situation than a leader of a different tribe, however, when Moshe ordained Yeshoshua and the 70 Shoftim, I am guessing he knew this too. This is likely the reason when the תורה שבעל פה was written down, there may have been questions on exactly what was meant.. and why there are constant conflicts that occur throughout the Gemara.
In my quest I found several what I can call words of wisdom regarding loving your fellow man, and loshen harah (by chofetz chaim, and daat zekainim) which of course provided me with no insight as to why someone would say something about a fellow jew in public, but certainly helped me understand that loshon hara, and that we are all created with hashems likeness, are essential to who we are as a jewish community and a human people.
Since I was having problems finding an answer, I figured I would find out about what exactly constitues semicha... First, as I mentioned above, I found that the first ordination would be from Moshe to Yehoshua and then to the 70 shoftim., and they in turn ordained their followers. The history of "classic semicha" went on until I believe after the Jews were expelled from Spain. When some Rabbayim tried to bring it back, it was rejected by others and after that semicha became a different process and can be very specific or can be diverse, regarding the parameters of an individual receiving semicha. Interestingly enough I found a question posed to Rav Sperling on Yeshiva.Org, where someone asked what constitutes a valid ordination... and his answer was pretty simple... of course the Rabbi in question from what I understand holds a highly respected ordination, and of course this furthered my question on why someone or some people feel it is appropriate to behave in the way that they do. (As I am quoting a question, I want to add that Rav Sperling did mention to the individual who asked that if there was some impetus to the question, perhaps it should be asked separately, or offline-- his was a general response to the question)
The more I researched, the more I found that there was no true answer to any of the questions.
We were at shul for a day of learning. The people in question, have firm beliefs in the halachic process, in both תורה שבכתב and תורה שבעל פה, there are just some debate on how to handle sensitive questions on halacha, which as a matter of jewish history and jewish halacha has been the norm for the longest time. I think in the age of technology, and the age in which we live, the question of community is the all encompassing issue. Community for the longest time, was always subjugated to a location, if you live in Spain, you follow the Rabbi of Spain etc.... Now, the definition of community is not about where you live, but to whom you belong...I believe this, is the crux of the issues here on the Lower East Side. Many people here identify community as we live here and follow the Rabbayim that live here, and others, identify community in a more global perspective. However you interpret the word community in the sense of the specific leader you follow, we are all part of the whole "jewish community", and that is different than individual communities.. as a jewish community there are basic values, and beliefs that we all share. Unfortunately we do not live in a time that Gd is going to come down and tell us what to do... as a community it seems there are many answers to specific questions and depending on which specific faction you are part of and who is your leader..In the end though, its gotta be about serving hashem and respecting our fellow man...Sinas Chinum and Lashon Horah have no part in that, and now, as we are coming upon Tisha B'av that is gotta be the theme and the thought throughout the week Bein Adam L'chavero
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