Looking for Zeide – Emor
The priests’ duties are part of this week’s sidra. They included placing the showbread on the table and kindling the menorah.
The Talmud relates (Yoma 39a b) that whilst Simon the Just was high priest, there was a blessing in the showbread; the menorah burned brightly: and, entering the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, Simon sensed that an old man dressed in white entered with him and left with him.
One year, however, the high priest was shocked to find that the showbread was affected by a curse; the western light of the menorah went out, and the old man on Yom Kippur was dressed in black and though he entered with him, he did not leave with him.
Bernard Berzon applies this story in this way. Once, the elders were the honoured members of the community. As if dressed in white, their teachings were viewed with admiration. They went in and went out with us. There was light in the house of worship and blessing in the Jewish home.
But then all that changed. Zeide became an embarrassment. His old-fashioned ways were not our ways. We left him to dream in the synagogue while we got on with real living.
The menorah was the symbol of ancient observances that we wanted to forget. We were thoroughly modern. The dietary restrictions, summed up in the showbread, were irksome.
But what Berzon says needs updating. For there came a day when we hankered after Zeide.
Yes, we were indeed modern, but we no longer had an anchor and identity, a pattern of values and a sense of purpose.
So we went looking for Zeide again. Back to the synagogue we went. And Zeide could hardly believe his eyes when we said we wanted to bring him back into our lives. We needed his guidance, his faith, his constancy.
In our community, one version of the search for Zeide is called Project Heritage. It entails grandchildren enjoying what their grandparents have to say, hearing the memories that created their own identity.
But in a wider sense, Project Heritage is happening everywhere in the Jewish world. For there is a return to traditional observance. There is a rediscovery of the wisdom of the old books. In a world in which it has been said that everything nailed down is coming loose, we are finding stability and meaning again.
Simon the Just would be pleased.
