Rabbi's Derasha

We learn from declarative sentences in the Torah and we learn from oddities too.  Here’s one: We have a principle that Devarim She’bekedusha, matters of holiness, are in the hands of no less than a quorum of 10.  Kaddish, Kedusha, and reading the Torah in public -- they all require a Minyan.  From where do we learn this?  From the spies of all people.  The Mitzva to consecrate Hashem’s name is learned from a verse in Vayikra -- V’nikdashti B’toch Bnei Yisrael.  The Talmud links that use of the word “Toch” to another in Bamidbar -- Hebadlu M’toch HaEda HaRah, and then links that use of the word Eda to this week’s Eda HaRah, the group of spies who derail the trip to Eretz Yisrael.  That group was 10.  

So we learn that the minimum number is 10 from a story in which that number applies to wicked people.  Why can’t we learn from Tzadikim?  We are after all trying to sanctify Hashem’s name.  

One is tempted to say that we learn from this that anyone can count in a Minyan.  And no less an authority than R’ Moshe Feinstein, z’l, made an argument somewhat like that.  But there was push back against his approach.  We know, for example, that we need to give special permission on Kol Nidre on Yom Kippur for the sinners to join the Minyan.  Complicated subject -- for more about this, come to Beit Midrash on Tuesday night.  But let’s just say that this as a source for Minyan is not necessarily teaching us that anyone can be in a Minyan.  

Rather, we learn about the quorum for Kiddush Hashem from Chilul Hashem (desecration of Hashem’s name).  In his plea to Hashem this week, Moshe says, “Hameta et ha’am hazeh k’ish echad?” -- will you kill this nation like a single person?  He’s drawing a distinction between how this punishment would be justified for an individual versus a group.  These differences between individuals and the Tzibur, the community, often exist.  When an individual suffers, it can be a tragedy but it’s not usually a Chilul Hashem, a desecration of Hashem’s name.  But there is a connection between Hashem and the Jewish people.  The covenant Hashem made with the Jewish people means that He is in a way tied up with their fate.  If the community is destroyed, Chas V’Shalom, it will be a Chilul Hashem.  

From this idea that only a community is capable of making a Chilul Hashem we learn that only a community, a group, can make a Kiddush Hashem.  That is why the spies are our source for a Minyan.  Their desecration of Hashem’s name teaches us the requirement for sanctifying Hashem’s name. 

This is the time when the power of the Tzibur is felt by all of us.  Whom do we have in this situation besides each other?  We’re exhausted, we’re confused, we’re confronted each day with disappointment and disillusion.  We need to be there for each other and we need to stand as a Tzibur, a community.  

It is fitting that this is the theme this week as we are able to come together as a community.  We can do that because so many people have worked overtime to provide a real community event in Kiddush.  The Handwerkers pushed for the effort and Rebecca has done so much of the cooking.  Nechama Schuman has been the organizer, and Yehudis Dukhovny has done much shopping, prep and cooking.  

Of course it makes sense that this effort is to honor the Tirschwells, the exemplary Anshei Tzibur, stalwarts of community life.  R’ Tirschwell took care of the day school for six years.  He began with the pandemic, leading the community through the ups and downs and the ins and outs of the guidelines.  He also has many support roles at EB, tasks he took on after no less than Stan Sussman made Aliya.  And Miriam Tirschwell has been a linchpin for Kiddush, in guidance to those who seek it, in tutoring.  She also takes her own learning seriously, a real example to the community.  We can only Daven that those who step up to fill their shoes will be up to the task and will be able to keep us going as the community all of us so deeply need.