OzTorah

Hineni – “Here I am” – is the name of an organisation created by the famous Rebbetzin Jungreis with the aim of showing a personal commitment to Judaism and the Jewish future.

The name Hineni comes from the response of Abraham when God called on him to go onto the mountain (Gen. 22:1).

Rashi quotes the rabbinic comment that Hineni is the way the righteous respond to God with humility and willingness.

Being a tzaddik, Abraham would naturally say Hineni. But if someone is not such a tzaddik, they might react in a different way and insist on making their own decisions, choosing to do what was right in their own eyes, to which the Torah does not take too kindly (Deut. 12:8).

Being a law unto yourself may be an expression of autonomy and individualism, but it can gravely endanger society. Detach yourself from accepted norms and standards and do only what you yourself fancy, and you risk causing chaos for civilisation.

This is so axiomatic in Jewish thinking that for all our obvious dedication to the dignity of the individual we cannot possibly approve of people always doing their own thing.

There is also a danger in people excluding themselves from the community.

Judaism emphasises the importance of both the individual and the community. But when the community needs the individual, everyone must be there to be counted and counted on.

If the minyan needs you and you decline to be the tenth man, the sages say you are a bad neighbour.

If you have a talent which you refuse to make available to society, you are like the bottle of scent to which the Midrash refers when it says that one should be Abraham, who shared his insights with the world, and not like the person who says, “I am keeping my bottle of scent to myself”.

A practical illustration of the problem is those in a community who do not affiliate to a congregation, give nothing either in money or involvement towards the maintenance of community services, and then expect that the rabbis and facilities of the congregation will automatically be made available to them when needed.

Example: “I came to the synagogue on Kol Nidrei night and they would not let me in because I wasn’t a member”… If everyone decided not to be a member there would be no synagogue or service.

Example: “My family do not belong to a shule, but why was it so hard to find a minister to conduct my relative’s funeral?”… Ministers do their best if they have time, but their first priority is their own congregants.

Certainly, if there are financial problems and someone simply cannot afford membership fees every assistance is given without question – but what about those who can afford to belong and do not bother, relying on the kindly nature of the rabbi/minister/congregation when needed?

Fair is fair!

Last week’s reading was Lech L’cha, literally “Go for yourself”.

Rashi tells us that l’cha, “for yourself”, means “for your benefit and well-being”.

Logically, the lech l’cha in today’s sidra (Lech l’cha el eretz haMoriah, Gen. 22:2) would have the same meaning of personal benefit.

Yet how can a father who is told to take his son onto a mountain and offer him for a burnt offering expect that this will bring him any personal benefit?

There must be an answer, and the answer may be that Abraham’s willingness to obey the Divine will brings him the benefit of proving to himself that he can be selfless and utterly dedicated to God.

Additionally, there is a benefit for the people of Israel – the benefit that God would always hearken to the prayers of Abraham’s descendants when offered at this holy place.

Indeed, a later verse of the sidra says, b’har HaShem yera’eh (Gen. 22:14) – “On the mountain the Lord’s Presence will appear”.

Q. Does the Beth Din have any real power?

A. In Israel the rabbinical courts are part of the national judicial system and their rulings, e.g. on matters of divorce, are binding.

Outside Israel a Beth Din is as strong as the loyalty which the community shows it.

Traditionally, every significant community had a Beth Din, and civil as well as religious matters were dealt with by it.

Hence disputes between Jews should automatically be brought to a Beth Din for settlement, and in most countries the Beth Din is recognised as a private court of arbitration.

Beth Din rulings in matters of conflict can be appealed to the general justice system only on the basis of misconduct (fraud, bias, etc.) or denial of natural justice on the part of the Beth Din.

If summoned to a Beth Din, a Jew is religiously and morally bound to come. It goes without saying that a synagogue must attend when summoned by the Beth Din.

Q. Why does a bride wear a veil at her wedding?

A. It originated with Rebekah, who covered her face with a veil when she saw Isaac, her husband-to-be (Gen. 24:65).

As with almost every custom, one hears a range of rationalisations of the veil. Perhaps it shows that the bride’s beauty is only for her husband to see. Others see it as a mark of modesty.

It might even be connected with the practice of covering the eyes with the hand when saying the first line of the Sh’ma, which enables a person to concentrate on the holiness of the moment and to prevent distractions. The wedding is a sacred experience, not to be intruded upon by anything extraneous.

There are times when the moments before the ceremony are disturbed by people bothering the bride with questions about hair-do, make-up and flowers, as if all that mattered was the superficialities of appearance and stage-management.

Yet despite their age, Abraham and Sarah now began the most productive period of their life, creating a future for their faith, tradition and family.

In a later generation Moses began his great period of leadership at an age when conventional wisdom would have thought him too old.

Aaron his brother was even older, and his sons Nadav and Avihu had to be punished by God when, according to one rabbinic version, they said of their father and uncle, “When will these old men die so that we can take charge?”.

Had Abraham, Sarah, Moses and Aaron lived today there would have been modern Nadavs and Avihus desperately anxious to push them aside and consign them to the scrap heap of history.

It sounds like the Greek custom of leaving older people on the hilltops to die. Fortunately, discrimination on the grounds of age is now increasingly unlawful, and those who are capable of a continuing contribution to society are not being lost from the workforce.

The fact that an arbitrary age like 60 or 65 does not automatically make a person a has-been is well illustrated by Jewish history; had there been a retirement age for leadership in Judaism there would have been no Ten Commandments, no Torah, no Jewish tradition, no Judaism.

But no-one can keep going for ever, at least at the same punishing pace. Which is why you have to prepare yourself psychologically as well as economically for the time when you decide to vary your pace. It is good to move into the new mode in advance.

A good analogy is Jewish experience when the Temple was destroyed. Despite the tragedy Judaism kept going, because the synagogue was waiting in the wings, ready to take over as the spiritual focus of Jewish life.

A person should always have something waiting in the wings – a new career, new commitments, a new busyness… and a new attitude that leaves no room for depression or self-doubt.

Everyone should say in the morning, “I can choose to be unhappy – or happy. My choice is to be happy!”