From weddings and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs to business functions and lectures, our facility is a great setting and location for your special occasion. BAS Rabbi's Message for May 2010
Torah for its own sake: A Celebration
posted May 31, 2010
Invariably, when student and adult church groups visit Bnai Abraham, as they frequently do, I am asked, among many other questions, “Why don’t Jews believe in Jesus?” Over the years, without exception, all seem satisfied with the following response.
Following Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, I explain that, according to the Gospel of John in the New Testament, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God (1:1).” The foundational doctrine of incarnation is described further in 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us…the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” Judaism refrained from endowing the word with human form. For the Jewish people, the word became incarnate as a book. In A Passion for Truth, by Abraham Joshua Heschel (one of the texts the Adult Torah Study class is reading), God is quoted in the Talmud as saying, “I give Myself in written form.” Schorsch states, “That formulation is a Jewish version of incarnation.” Heschel says, “The purpose of immersing oneself in The Torah is not only to understand its rational meaning, but also to become united with the divine presence therein.”
“In the spirit of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of modern Hasidism, Heschel reminds us that when we study the words of a particular sage in the Talmud, we ought to conjure up his presence, to see him standing before us. Beyond understanding his words, we must actually live with him and feel the power of his spirit. Similarly, the words of the Torah enable us to lose ourselves in God’s presence.” (Schorsch).
When Reb Mendl of Rymanov b 1745, poured over Alfasi (b1013), he wanted to be able to see him, to experience the Rabbi himself. Having striven in vain, he wept with anguish and fell asleep, whereupon Alfasi appeared to him.
“Mendl, you are to go to Elimelekh,” he said.
Reb Mendl left the House of Learning to search for this unknown Elimelekh. He journeyed from one city to another, from one village to the next. When he arrived in Galicia (a province in Poland), he heard that a great tzaddik called Reb Elimelekh lived in Lishensk, a great distance away. He hired himself out to a coachman who was driving to Lishensk. Weary and in tatters on his arrival, hungry and freezing, he barely managed to reach the Rebbe’s house. The secretary refused to admit this person who looked like one of the beggars that had lately pestered the Rebbe. But Reb Mendl tore past him into the house.
“Who sent you?” asked Reb Elimelekh.
“Alfasi did.”
Reb Elimelekh raised his bushy eyebrows, looked at the stranger for a long moment, then said, “You can stay with me.”
That is how Reb Mendl became a disciple of Reb Elimelekh. When his master died, Reb Mendl became the Hasidic leader of Galicia. (Abraham Joshua Heschel, A Passion for Truth)
Eight of our congregants through their studies the last two years have encountered God in an ongoing quest. Join them as they share their experience with you at services and at a special kiddush on June 12.
Mazal Tov! And congratulations to the class.
Rabbi Mark Shrager
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