Vayigash 2021
In 1865, almost 100 Hungarian Rabbis, (in reaction to Reform and Enlightenment movements), signed a pisak din, a halachic decision, to forbid the following in Orthodox Shuls, and additionally decreed that anyone who finds themselves in such a shul should leave immediately: The derasha given in a “secular” language other than Yiddish or Hebrew, a Shul with a tower (steeple) on its roof, a Shul with a mechitza in which the men and women are able to see each other, a shul with a bima in the front of the room rather than the middle, a shul with a choir, and a shul in which the rabbi or cantor wears a clerical robe for services.
A generation later the great posek, Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, in a responsa printed in his book Seridei Aish, wrote: “These words (forbidding a sermon in the vernacular, i.e. German) was for the previous generation in which the people spoke Yiddish and those who spoke German were the enlightenment who spoke it as a way of showing that Yiddish was an unscholarly language. But now times are different, since the people speak German, and those who give sermons in German are not out to push the people toward a more secular outlook, but to teach them Torah in a language they understand. In general there are two ways to fight against the Enlightenment. One is through forbidding things, excommunicating people and waging a war against it. The other way is to show their lack and to strengthen the love for our Torah and show honor to our true wisdom…”
We can learn a few powerful things from this responsa of Rabbi Weinberg. That times change and we must not just obey blindly and follow what others have decreed, but we must understand how the world we live in at this moment impacts Torah, and live it in the best way we can to sanctify God’s name and bring others close to Jewish life in our day. Every generation has its own challenges, its own orientations and requires its own unique approach. Secondly, we must not be afraid to fight against those who insist that any new idea, new action, or new outlook, is forbidden. We must tailor our Torah and our community to the needs of the Jewish people in our particular time.
Ours is a generation which needs inspiration, unity, and a vision of integration between Torah and society. It is easy to live Jewish life in an insular Orthodox community, with no challenges to observance from the outside world, but it is harder to live an observant, passionate Jewish life while being also integrated within the secular world. It is the job of our community to provide the strength and learning to enable our constituents to do so. To model a Jewisdaim which is not afraid of the world but which is also spiritually disciplined, to model a Judaism which is accepting and diverse but also deep and learned. Kesher Israel is blessed to be located in the most important city in the world (lucky it's not the most expensive, that recent distinction goes to Tel Aviv!). It is our unique mission to be the model for how to live one’s Jewish life seriously, and passionately and also to be integrated with our general world so that we can help lead our country and sanctify God's name in the process.
In these parshiot Yosef is faced with a similar challenge. He is second to Pharaoh, he is the head economist and head of the Department of Agriculture in Egypt, and he saves Egypt and the world from famine. Yet though all of this he does not give into selfish temptation or personal power trips. He always puts God first and says that his own power comes from God. Even toward his brothers in this parsha, instead of getting back at them, he says it was all part of God’s plan. For this reason he is called Yosef HaTzadik, Joseph the righteous, and he is a most important example for us.
