We have created a sign-up for all participants in Shabbat services. Anyone who could be joining us is required to sign-up by noon on Erev Shabbat. Thank you for helping us to stay in compliance with the county's mandates regarding gatherings at the present time. (The daily Minyan's list already exists).
With Maariv after Shabbat, we begin to ask for rain in the ninth blessing of the Amida. That request continues in every weekday Amida until Pesach.
Derasha
The media was temporarily distracted this past few weeks by a strange story about the sudden appearance of a monolith in the Utah desert. Then in Romania. Then in California. They can appear immovable; sometimes they are susceptible to a firm shove. At this point, its origin and purpose remain a mystery, as they once said about another monolith. But one somehow doubts that it will herald a sharp shift in human history.
There are two stone structures that appear in the story of Yaakov Avinu. One is what the Torah calls a “Matzeiva” and the other is what it calls a “Mizbe’ach.” They both have a role in worship; they both can be used for sacrifices, or just as places of gathering for public worship. After the travails of this week’s Parasha, Hashem appears to Yaakov and tells him to build a Mizbe’ach. He later appears to him again to add the name Yisrael. At that point, Yaakov erects a Matzeiva.
There is a major lesson for us about the patriarchs in general in these structures. What is the difference between them? Rashi says in Devarim that a Mizbe’ach is built of many stones while a Matzeiva is just one stone. The Matzeiva is the monolith. A few chapters later in Devarim, the Torah forbids the building of monoliths, even if they are used for the sake of Hashem. It even calls them “hateful” to Hashem. What has changed from the beginning of the Torah? Rashi says that when the patriarchs erected monoliths, they were unique in this. But once idol worshippers began to build monoliths, it became forbidden for Jews to use them.
R’ Avraham Yitzchok Hakohen Kook, ztz’l, pointed out in a letter a fascinating distinction between the two. The monolithic Matzeiva is used to pronounce general principles. The Mizbe’ach, on the other hand, with its small rocks, is a symbol of the many details that make up small acts in service of general principles. In the time of the patriarchs, the thrust was to proclaim large principles. This is the charismatic stage of religious life, aimed at attracting followers and spreading an urgent message. Eventually, a nation developed around those ideas. At that point, the task became how to express grand principles in myriad ways. Meditating on single concepts gave way to seeking how to express those ideas in small meaningful acts.
The formulation of small acts in service of great principles is what the Halacha is all about. Getting Halacha right is about giving proper voice to big ideas. Halachot always relate to a broader viewpoint. They are like the points in a pointillist painting. A Halacha which is not observed leaves a gap in the painting. If the Halacha is not carried out correctly, it’s like the color of that point does not fit with the others.
R’ Kook made a further distinction, also crucial for us. A Mizbe’ach is typically used in a domestic setting while a monolith is used as a public display. The Temple, which was Hashem’s house, had a Mizbe’ach and not a monolith. Before there was a Temple, and for a time afterward, it was possible for any household to build a Mizbe’ach for private offerings. The domestic use of the Mizbe’ach is significant. Once a monolith gives way to a Mizbe’ach, the nation will thrive when it can express the myriad ways of serving Hashem in the context of the domestic setting. Public displays are great but endurance comes from a strong structure of detail in the home.
On Parashat Vayishlach, I often touch on domestic violence in the Jewish community. Domestic violence is first a threat of physical harm. But destruction of a healthy Jewish home also does violence to its Halachic foundation. The atmosphere is ruined in terms of those small acts of Chesed and honesty and integrity that are central to the creation of a living Halachic framework. During the pandemic, a quotation from R’ Shimshon Raphael Hirsh, ztz’l, has come up many times. R’ Hirsch once wrote to a colleague about his wish for a Sabbatical for Shuls. For how long? One hundred years, he wrote. If people stayed away from Shul for 100 years, they would successfully re-center the focus of Jewish life in the Jewish home and in the school. A focus which depends on Shuls will always be fuzzy at best. It is in the home, and in school, that the viewpoint of the Halacha comes through clearly. The many stones of the domestic Mizbe’ach, those many acts that proclaim Hashem’s dominion, are centered in the home. Our little Sabbatical from full Shul life is regrettable in so many ways. But at the very least it should help us re-center. And our distaste for isolated monoliths should guard us from the tempting allure of grand proclamations in favor of the small acts that taken together speak loudly for our principles.
Congregation Emek Beracha 4102 El Camino Real Palo Alto, CA 94306
