Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • YU Center for the Jewish Future THE BENJAMIN AND ROSE BERGER TORAH TO-GO® Established by Rabbi Hyman z"l and Ann Arbesfeld • October 2020 • Tishrei 5781
Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm zt"l on Sukkot DRASHOT AND TRIBUTES
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2 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 Table of Contents Sukkot 5781 A Tribute to Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm zt"l Dedicated in memory of Bernice and Irby Cooper by their Loving Family
5 Indispensability: Myth and Fact Rabbi Lamm's Drashot for 8 Man is More than Sekakh Sukkot 11 Peace in Pieces
14 R' Sam Dratch: The Halachot of the Sukkah and the Halichot of Rabbi Lamm
Sukkot and 18 Rabbi Dr. Stu Halpern: Simchat Torah, the Cain Mutiny, and Religious Rabbi Lamm's Responsibility Legacy 21 Rabbi Mordechai Willig: Permanence and Transience (Keva and Arai): Homes, Foods, Deeds and Worlds
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3 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 REMEMBERING RABBI DR. NORMAN LAMM ZT”L
The Yeshiva University community mourns left an indelible mark on Jewish history and the loss of Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm zt"l, was a central architect of the modern Jewish the former president, Rosh HaYeshiva and experience. For my part, his loss is deeply chancellor of Yeshiva University. He was an personal, as he was a mentor and rebbe. He elegant and articulate spokesman for Jewish generously and lovingly gave me much of life in modern times. His oratory, wisdom and his precious time, sharing with me his Torah leadership inspired our institution for more and wise counsel. Our community has lost than three decades. a legend, and we mourn the passing of our teacher and guide.” A prolific author in the field of Jewish philosophy and law, a distinguished He was born in the Williamsburg section of academician and a charismatic pulpit rabbi, Brooklyn, New York, on December 19, 1927, Dr. Lamm had an extraordinary impact on the to Pearl Baumol Lamm and Samuel Lamm. Jewish community. With a rare combination Dr. Lamm received his elementary and high of penetrating scholarship and eloquence school education at Yeshiva and Mesivta of expression, he presented a view of Torah Vodaath. In 1945, he entered Yeshiva of Jewish philosophy and law, especially in contemporary Jewish life that spoke movingly College, where he majored in chemistry. relation to problems involving science, law, to all. Israel’s War of Independence in 1948 tested technology and philosophy in the modern his skills in the laboratory when, as a student, world. He authored 10 books, including his He was elected Yeshiva University’s third he was asked to work on a secret munitions major work, Torah Lishmah (1972), about president in August 1976, succeeding Dr. project for the struggling state. The project the Mitnaggedim, and The Religious Thought Samuel Belkin (1943-1975) and Dr. Bernard was headed by Dr. Ernst D. Bergmann, who of Hasidism: Text and Commentary, which Revel (1915-1940). He became the first later became head of the Israel Atomic Energy won the coveted 1999 National Jewish Book native-born American to head the nation’s Commission. He graduated summa cum Award in Jewish Thought. He also published oldest and most comprehensive Jewish laude in 1949 and was class valedictorian. many articles on Jewish law in many journals, institution of higher learning. He served one of which was cited in two separate as president until June 2003, during which Upon graduation, Dr. Lamm pursued landmark Supreme Court decisions on self- time he also became Rosh HaYeshiva of the advanced scientific studies at the Polytechnic incrimination. affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Institute of Brooklyn, while continuing his Seminary (RIETS). After retiring as president, Judaic studies and rabbinic scholarship. At the Dr. Lamm edited or co-edited more than he was elected chancellor, serving as both urging of Dr. Belkin to choose the rabbinate 20 volumes, including The Library of Jewish chancellor and Rosh HaYeshiva until July rather than science as his career, he was Law and Ethics. He was the founder and first 2013, when he announced his retirement after ordained as a rabbi at RIETS in 1951 and editor of Tradition and associate editor of being at Yeshiva University for more than 60 earned a PhD in Jewish philosophy from the Hadarom, a journal of Jewish law; founder of years. University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School the Torah U-Madda Journal; and founder of of Jewish Studies in 1966. the Orthodox Forum. “Rabbi Lamm was the premier expositor of our community’s worldview. His teachings During the 17 years preceding his election as He was also active in many educational, and writings anchored modern life in Torah president, Dr. Lamm served on the Yeshiva religious and humanitarian endeavors, values and taught us how we can grow from University faculty, beginning in 1959 as an traveled extensively, served on many the interchange of history’s great ideas. In instructor in philosophy, culminating in his governmental commissions, and received his decades of leadership as our president, appointment as the Erna and Jakob Michael numerous awards and honorary degrees. chancellor and Rosh HaYeshiva, he elevated Professor of Jewish Philosophy in 1966. Dr. Lamm is survived by his children, Dr. Yeshiva University to new heights and He also lectured at Brooklyn College of the Chaye Lamm (David) Warburg, Dr. Joshua educated thousands upon thousands of City University of New York, where he was a (Rivkie) Lamm and Shalom (Tina) Lamm; students who now serve as leaders of our visiting professor of Judaic studies. son-in-law Rabbi Mark Dratch, husband community and pillars of our society. His A pulpit rabbi for 25 years, he served as of Sara Lamm Dratch Z”L, who passed enormous impact is simply incalculable in the spiritual leader of The Jewish Center away on February 28, 2013; and his many considering both the influence of his ideas as in Manhattan. Prior to that, he served grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He well as the number of alumni who graduated as assistant rabbi of New York City’s is survived by his sisters, Tzivia Sittner and during his tenure from across our institution’s Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and then Miriam Auslander, and was the brother of graduate, undergraduate and rabbinic as rabbi of Congregation Kodimoh in Rabbi Dr. Maurice Lamm Z”L. His wife, programs,” said Dr. Ari Berman, President of Springfield, Massachusetts. Mindella (Mindy) Lamm Z”L, passed away Yeshiva University. on April 16, 2020. Dr. Lamm gained wide recognition for his “As a visionary leader, sophisticated scholar, writings and discourses on the interpretation master orator and prolific writer, Rabbi Lamm
4 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 Rabbi Lamm's Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm zt"l Drashot for Sukkot This sermon was delivered by Rabbi Lamm at the Jewish Center in New York City on the second day of Sukkot 5724, October 4, 1963.
INDISPENSABILITY: MYTH AND FACT
ecently, I paid two calls upon somewhat differently, nevertheless, The essence of Sukkot is:tzei mi-dirat two different individuals. One my absence proved to be no disaster. keva ve’hikanes le’dirat arai, leave was a condolence call to a It is both a welcome and a humbling your permanent home, and for seven Rmourner sitting shivah. The other was thought: I am not as crucial to their days dwell in this temporary booth. a sick call to a patient in a hospital. survival as I thought I was! From Normally, the interpretation of the By a remarkable coincidence, each of now on, therefore, I shall give more significance of this commandment these told me of something he had time to my wife and my children, points out the independence of man learned from his experience, and the to discovering the wonders of the from his possessions. You need not results were identical. world about me, to attending to my have a fine home and expensive "From my experiences during this synagogue, to developing my own appointments in order to survive. confinement, away from my normal mind and cultural level. I never Consider how for seven days you can activities," each of them told me, "I realized I could do all these things and get along without them. What you do have discovered a marvelous truth. To get away with it. Now I learned — and need is G-d,the tzila di'mehemanuta, my great relief, I now realize — that not only I but my family as well will be the shadow of faith. Your home is not I am not indispensable. I had always the beneficiaries of my discovery.” indispensable to you. (Cf. Rashbam to thought that if I took time out, away I believe all of us can appreciate Lev. 23:43, and S.R. Hirsch in Horeb from my business or practice, all of it the simple truth in these remarks. vol. I, p. 124ff., Grunfeld trans.) would collapse hopelessly. Now I see I submit to you, therefore, that the I prefer to interpret the meaning of that I have been away from my office, good Lord has given us an easier and Sukkot in the reverse direction, by my business, my home; and while all more pleasant way to learn that truth emphasizing the converse: You are might have benefitted somewhat by than by suffering. He has given us the not indispensable to your home, my presence, I might have done things sukkah and the festival of Sukkot. to your society! When a man leaves
5 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 his dirat keva, his lavish home and worries and concerns on paying bills, can get away from under your dirat complex society, and for seven days satisfying employers or employees, keva, from your normal routine, he moves out — whether completely, pacifying clients or customers, meeting and into the sukkah under G-d’s or at least partially, for meals — he the competition, keeping up with great heaven, without permanent discovers that they survive — even the neighbors. These so-called “live” damage to all the intricate goings- without his presence! By moving hours are so preoccupied with other on in that home or office or factory, out from under a roof to under the people, that we utterly ignore our own the dirat keva. But when we say that sekhakh, he learns what the patient selves. No wonder we have so little Sukkot teaches us that man is not does in the hospital and the survivor inner peace, inner tranquility. We are indispensable, does that mean that he in the house of mourning — except "alive” so tensely, so neurotically, so is expendable, that there is no area of that he learns it through simhah, not busily, that we head straight for the life where he is indeed indispensable? anguish; that, in a great measure, the psychiatrist's couch and for spiritual No, there are areas where man is world can very well get along without oblivion. Hence, say the Bratzlaver crucial, where there can be only him! Hasidim, keep one little hour set dismal failure without him. If in his aside as your “dead hour.” Make no This is a sobering thought, for mundane affairs, hisdirat keva, his appointments, answer no phone calls, by destroying the myth of our presence is dispensable; then in the read no newspapers, keep away from indispensability, it makes us feel that sukkah, symbol of the spiritual world, radio and television, see no people, we are not the center of the world, that man is indispensable! A sukkah write no memos to yourself. Be "dead we are essentially dependent beings. without a Jew to make kiddush in it to the world" — and alive to yourself. And it is also a liberating thought, for is meaningless. There is nothing holy Banish all your usual problems from it assures us that we can now learn, about it. Strange as it may sound, your mind. Think of where you are throughout the year, to pay more in matters of the spiritG-d needs going in life — or , perhaps, where attention to the things in life that are man! Ha-Kadosh barukh Hu mitzapeh life is taking you; the difference is really important, and that we will not li'tefillatan shel tzaddikim, G-d deeply worth thinking about. Ponder your thereby be endangering the existence desires the prayers of the righteous. own conduct, and what it is doing of the other, mundane affairs. His purposes in the world cannot be to you and to your character and fulfilled without men — without each Perhaps, then, we ought to take a little personality. Project into the future individual man or woman called upon bit of Sukkot with us through the rest — that of yourself, your children, by Him to contribute to the building of the year. Every day a waft of the your community. Make a heshbon of malkhut shamayim, the Kingdom Sukkah’s atmosphere ought to inspire with yourself that may help ha-nefesh of Heaven, the G-d approved society us to "let go” for a short while and you redirect and reorient your day-to- and world. If any one of us fails in his divert our attention to ourselves, our day activities. And if you are not the or her spiritual mission then, as our minds, our hearts — our neshamah. contemplative kind — then pull your Sages were wont to say, G-d's Name is The world can get along without us. mind out of the sucking whirlpool of incomplete. Here — each of us is truly daily business and elevate yourself to Bratzlaver Hasidim offer us a indispensable. remarkable suggestion: every day a new and higher kind of existence ought to contain at least one "dead by reading that which is enduring, The Talmud Sukkah( 53a) tells us hour." All our waking hours are so filled reviewing the Sidra, finding inspiration an interesting story of the renowned with “life,” with nervous tensions of all to a higher-than-animal existence Hillel at the simhat bet ha-shoevah, sort that afflict us in the course of our through art or music, studying a blatt the joyous celebration at the drawing daily affairs in commerce, in business, gemara — dead to the world, and alive of the waters which took place in in professions, in society. Our emotions to yourself. One "dead hour" a day can the Temple on Sukkot. When Hillel are engaged with others, our feelings make all of life worth living! would reach the heights of happiness at this occasion, he would say: im ani entangled with them, our sensitivities That ought to be one concrete, kan, ha-kol kan; v'im eini kan, mi kan inflamed with real or imaginary slights felicitous result of the message of — "if I am here, everyone is here; and to our pride, our minds overflowing Sukkot. For the Bratzlavers’ "dead if I am not here, who then is here?” with a myriad of details and plans, hour" is the essence of Sukkot: you A strange remark, is it not? Hillel the
6 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 humble, the gentle, the meek — is at the festival of simhat bet ha-shoevah, beti, when I am so foolish that I give this sentiment worthy of him: I am drawing of the waters which Tradition You no entree to my home, when I indispensable? The Jerusalem Talmud, has understood symbolically as the think I can get along without You and which understood the quotation drawing of the Ruah ha-Kodesh, the that it is I who is indispensable, that it to refer to Hillel himself, therefore holy spirit, from its divine source; is my wisdom and my shrewdness that rightly asks: ve'khi le'kilusav Hu when I am involved in the life of have built my house and my career tzarikh, does G-d need Hillel’s praise spirituality and sanctity; then if I am and my business, then ani lo avo el and celebration that he should regard here all is well; but if I am not here, betekha, then I have no business in himself as so important? For the same im eini kan, then mi kan, then I must Your home, then You can get along reason, Rashi is moved to interpret feel that I am responsible for the fact very well without me. If man thinks he the remark as being a quotation by that the holiness of the Temple is does not need G-d, then G-d knows Hillel of G-d, of the Shekhinah. Hillel, diminished, that the joy of the simhah He does not need man. The man speaking in G-d’s name, says: “If I and the whole spiritual enterprise is who considers himself self-made and am here, that is sufficient, for if I am a failure — for here, in this House of worships his maker, is ignored by G-d. not here, who is?" i.e. — nothing else G-d, I as a human am indispensable! Here then is an invaluable lesson for counts. Yet this too is strange, for And then Hillel continues not in us from Sukkot: into the sukkah for a Hillel was a Sage, a Rabbi, and not setting conditions in negotiations, week's time, enough to learn that the a Prophet, and hence not given to but in stating an indisputable fact of world can get along without you, but speaking of G-d in the first person. spiritual life: im ata tavo el beti, when that G-d cannot. Even stranger is a sentence attributed You come to my home, O G-d, when Abolishing the myth of indispensability to Hillel which follows immediately I understand that my home, my office, from our daily concerns will prevent us upon the one mentioned (cf. my factory, all my mundane affairs, from entertaining exaggerated notions Rabinowitz, ): Dikdukei Soferim im all my successes and triumphs, all are of self-importance, and will inspire us ata tavo el beti, ani avo el betekha; Your doing, that is only because You to plan those "dead hours" which can v'im ata lo tavo el beti, ani lo avo el are present does my home and career grace all of life with meaning, with ; if You, O G-d, will come to betekha exist, that it is You Who has given me serenity, with a touch of poetry. And my home, I will come to Yours (i.e. the intelligence and the substance, the affirming our indispensability to the the Temple); but if You will not come health and the wealth, the confidence spirit, to Torah, to the Synagogue, to to my house, I will not come to Yours. and the mazal to be what I am and Judaism, and to G-d’s purposes, will What an astonishing expression! Is have what I have, and that I am only give us a new insight into our true Hillel striking a bargain with G-d, ancillary and my presence and services significance and our lofty place in the making conditions about reciprocal can be dispensed with; when I realize world. hospitality with Him? that in beti, in my mundane life and Va-ani be-rav hasdekha avo betekha. I believe that Hillel was guilty the world You are indispensable and I am not; then it is equally true that Only when I realize that my whole life, neither of arrogance in saying im ani , then I am important, my very self, my ani, my family and ani kan ha-kol kan, nor of religious avo el betekha nay indispensable, to the existence livelihood and joys and pleasures, all commercialism in saying im ata tavo of Your house, the ‑Mikdash, are the result of Your indispensable el beti. What he meant was simply Bet Ha the universe of the divine spirit. hasadim, Your kindness; only then to teach what we have been saying: When a man has grown in spiritual avo betekha, do I have the right to that man is not indispensable to the maturity and understanding to enter Your House, Your Holy Temple, mundane world and its affairs, but appreciate his real place in the and only then may I be considered is indispensable to the world of the world, to acknowledge G-d as the indispensable to its prevalence in the spirit, of Torah, of Temple, of Ha- cause of his success, then he is great world. Kadosh barukh Hu. For this is what enough spiritually to be crucial to the the great Hillel said: im ani kan, existence of G-d’s house. When we ha-kol kan, if I am here, in the Bet ha- know we need G-d, He knows that He Mikdash in G-d's house; if I am here needs us! However, im ata lo tavo el
7 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 Rabbi Lamm's Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm zt"l Drashot for Sukkot This sermon was delivered by Rabbi Lamm at the Jewish Center in New York City on the second day of Sukkot 5733, September 24, 1972.
MAN IS MORE THAN SEKHAKH oral instruction is available which is connected to the earth. Third, immortality, whether in healthy ways to us Jews not only in the sekhakh must be aino ra’uy le-kabel or in sick ways, whether in the form of the Humash, not only in tumah: it must be such that it cannot great contributions to scholarship and MAgadah and Midrash, but, sometimes, contract ritual defilement. According philanthropy, or simple social climbing in Halakhah. If we look closely and to the Halakhah, only such objects and publicity seeking. We want to carefully enough, we will discover the can become tamei (impure) that are continue, to survive, to conquer the grand themes of human destiny even artifacts, that have specific functions, temporary and the ephemeral. Hence, in legal technicalities, profound human such as vessels or pots or pans or to accomplish this, we must strive for wisdom even in halakhic discourses. ladders. For that reason one may not the very opposite of the three laws of All it requires is imagination, a sense of use for sukkah such items as ladders, sekhakh. If, indeed, man is more than allegory, some homiletic license, and grass mats, or wooden doors or sekhakh, he must go beyond arez, a readiness to find beautiful insights in frames, even though they are made of talush, aino ra’uy le-kabel tumah. unlikely places. material that grows from the earth and Unlike sekhakh, man must transcend is severed from the earth because, as With this in mind, I commend your arez, earth, the symbol of purely functional objects, they can contract attention to the halakhic requirements material existence. Now, I am not impurity. of the sekhakh, the boughs and arguing for the medieval notion that branches we use to cover the sukkah. Now, the sukkah symbolizes humans are caught in the vise of an The Halakhah lays down three transience, impermanence, the weak enormous conflict between Matter conditions for the sekhakh to be and the feeble. It is the sparse and and Spirit, and that they must choose kosher, or valid. The first of these is, provisional roof of the wanderer’s Spirit and reject Matter. (That theme that it must be zomeah min ha-arez: hut in the great desert. The three laws really goes back beyond the Middle it must grow from the earth. Thus, of sekhakh, therefore, are associated Ages to ancient days, and the ancient it must be an item such as branches with mortality and finitude, with that movement known as Gnosticism.) It or wood, but not metal or plastic. which cannot survive. is not an idea I would recommend to Second, it must be talush, cut off from moderns or to anyone. Judaism by no But man is more than sekhakh! Man the ground. Hence, one may not build seeks permanence and endurance. means considers this material world as a underneath the overhanging sukkah All of life is, in a sense, the effort to all bad. But neither should we submit branches of a tree, attempting to use overcome death. So much of life to the equally mistaken and even more those branches and leaves as , sekhakh is a disguised attempt to achieve disastrous idea that has seized us in for they are connected to the tree modern days, that there is nothing
8 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 more to life and existence than this the endless money — mania and chaff driven by the wind." Its rejection material world. This is a stifling and possessions — obsessions of their of the whole of the human past and stultifying idea. It is based upon an elders and their cult of affluence. In inherited culture leaves it without immature skepticism that distorts the Israel, the children of Kibbutzniks any cultural equilibrium, without any meaning of science when it insists in who exchange their Judaism for psychological or spiritual rootage, its name that only that is real which an idealistic Marxian materialism, and therefore incapable of making can be proved experimentally. We are now rejecting materialism and a creative contribution to human have been brainwashed with the searching for something deeper and development. It is merely adrift. And theory that man is nothing more higher; they are going beyond arez instability is a symptom, not an ideal. than an aggregate of molecules. For and looking for that which points I remember a story (that is probably our contemporary materialism has to , to heaven. And social shamayim apocryphal, but nonetheless contains indoctrinated us with a fallacious set thinkers and philosophers of the a great deal of truth) that was told of equations: that man equals animal, first rank in the Western world, have shortly after the first session of the and animal equals machine, and developed a new interest in a respect United Nations. According to this machine equals chemicals, the kind for transcendence, for that which lies story, the delegation from Yemen was that are found in the earth. Man, we beyond immediate sense experience, housed in a hotel, and after they left at are told to conclude, is exclusively a beyond this world alone. the end of the session, the manager of zomeah min ha-arez, nothing more The second requirement ofsekhakh the hotel discovered that all the faucets than a product of the earth, with no is that it be talush, severed from the were missing. Upon investigation he additional dimensions to him. ground, cut off from its origin. By discovered that these men of the desert However, if we are going to submit to the same token, if man is more than were fascinated by these contraptions this kind of scientific reductionism, sekhakh, then his redeeming quality called faucets which, when turned on, we must go the whole way and ask: must be that he remain mehubar, magically allow water to emerge in full and what are chemicals made from?, rooted and fixed in a framework force. They therefore decided to take and so on. And the answer would be: of value and meaning, in a ground the faucets home with them to the chemicals are atoms, and atoms are a of Weltanschauung. For man to be desert, so that they can turn them on form of congealed energy, and energy human, he must recognize himself as and thereby allow water to flow freely is, after all, simply an abstraction, a a link in an ongoing chain, he must in the very desert. set of mathematical formulae. So, in a see himself as part of the continuum What I am trying to say is that man, way, we have this terrifying pseudo- of human history. He must remember to be human, must be mehubar to a scientific conclusion: man is just a set the legend on certain coupons and reservoir of culture and tradition and of abstractions. Or, if you will: man is tickets: "No good if detached!" history, lest his currents of life run dry. nothing! Not even ! sekhakh Change there must be — but change This is, after all, the sum and substance A brief sermon is not a place to something, to something, in relative of what we mean by Jewish education. subject materialistic concepts to of something. One of the failures out Jewish education contains such critical analyses. But it is important of the counter-culture, the "now elements as learning Hebrew or to note that the philosophy of man generation," is its rootlessness. It learning Humash or learning the as is on the wane is not based on and rooted in and zomeah min ha-arez Talmud, and these are very important, today. In Russia, the authorities are attached to a past or a tradition. The but they are not the most significant alarmed at the reemergence of signs of counter-culture considers this a virtue, object of Jewish education. Our religious interest after six decades of it holds itself free and liberated and central purpose is to give growing state materialism and atheism. In the emancipated because of its lack of young Jews and Jewesses the feeling United States, where materialism is connection to the past. But in truth of a rootage in a great Jewish past, always officially disavowed, but where it is as free as a piece of straw floating an awareness of being mehubar — it is effectively the underpinning in the air; or, as David said of the connected to and growing out of — of "the American way of life," the (evil man) in his first Psalm, rasha the greatness of Jewish history, so that younger generation is revolting against , "like ke-moz asher tidfenu ha-ruah even if they stray from the path they
9 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 will know what it is they are leaving, historic sanctification of God's Name. job, speak out, change your mind, do and they will recognize that to which A leader — of any kind of group — that which is new — and do not be they ought to return. must venture beyond the limits of afraid of failure, of risk, of danger, of Finally, the third qualification for caution and occasionally dare to speak criticism or derision! Take a chance! sekhakh is that it be aino ra’uy le-kabel out and declare his vision of the truth, The great achievement of man is to be tumah not capable of contracting even if he runs the risk of losing some tahor (pure) while he is ra’uy le-kabel impurity. Hence, by the criterion of his followers. The alternative is to tumah (capable of becoming impure). we have established, a man should be a consensus leader, who merely These, then, are the three qualities be capable of does what the people want; but such ra’uy le-kabel tumah that are requisite for man in order for contracting impurity. I take this to a person is not a leader, merely an him to be more than sekhakh, but to mean that man must be ready to administrator. All progress, all change, endure meaningfully. First, he must risk and dare in order to achieve and involves the possibility of failure. But acknowledge more than material accomplish. without it we are as good as dead. To be existence, more than arez, but be truly human, we must act responsibly The Kabbalists have taught us that open to the transcendental and the — with equal emphasis on both: , only that can achieve kedushah act spiritual. Second, he must be rooted and . Young people are (sanctity) which can contract tumah responsibly in a great past and see himself as a link usually more active, frequently without (impurity). So, man himself is the in the chain of history and culture and a sense of responsibility. Middle main source of sanctification in the tradition. Third, he must be willing aged and older people are most often world; but when he loses his soul to be ra’uy le-kabel tumah that is, to responsible, but usually fail to act when and returns it to his Creator, his venture and hazard and risk and dare. body is a corpse which is considered they should. The wise person is both — active and responsible. And if man That is how man can become more halakhically avi avot ha-tumah, the than sekhakh, more than the weak and most potent source of — defilement. is more than sekhakh, he must be ra’uy le-kabel tumah, be ready to embrace feeble and temporary sekhakh. This There is a powerful and dangerous idea defeat in order to try for victory, for is so according to the Rabbi of the on the loose here: that only by risking triumph, for conquest. Talmud who considered our Sukkah tumah can you achieve kedushah; to be the physical counterpart of the So, there are times when we should that only by daring to lose can you huts that were used by our ancestors strike out boldly. Think about it: win; that only by taking chances with in the desert. But man becomes more the lesson of sukkot that man must failure can you succeed. The gambler’s like the sukkah according the opinion be more than , does not say instinct can, of course, be taken to an sekhakh of another rabbi of the Talmud, who that you should do things merely for extreme and turn into a disease. But maintains that our sukkot are symbols the sake of novelty or to chase away without some element of hazard and not of the physical huts used in the boredom. But there are times when risk, we are paralyzed and inert and desert, but of the ananei ha-kavod, we want to do something which can never make any progress. the divine clouds of glory which we think is right and proper, and protectively covered our ancestors The State of Israel would not be here we have assessed the possibilities during their entire peregrinations in today if those men meeting in Tel of success and the possibilities of the great desert. Aviv in 1948 at the session of the Vaad failure, the desirability of the former Leumi did not hazard monumental and the consequences of the latter, In this sense, man becomes more failure in declaring independence and logically we know we ought to like the sukkah and its sekhakh: by — as a fledgeling group without any take a chance. But we are frightened, raising his head above the ground of experience in statecraft and any of we are apprehensive, we are too materialism, by locating himself in a the appurtenances of statehood. It comfortable, we prefer our inertia. great past, by striving for greatness was only because they were ra’uy le- At such a time, Sukkot calls out to us while willing to risk failure, he kabel tumah, willing to embrace the and says: risk tumah, go ahead and becomes worthy of being enveloped possibilities of catastrophic failure, innovate, experiment, make the move, and covered by ananei ha-kavod, the that Israel was created and became a go on aliyah, emigrate, change your clouds of glory. kiddush Hashem be-rabim, a public and
10 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 Rabbi Lamm's Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm zt"l Drashot for Sukkot This sermon was delivered by Rabbi Lamm at the Jewish Center in New York City on the second day of Sukkot 5734, October 12, 1973, less than a week after the breakout of the Yom Kippur War.
PEACE IN PIECES
n speaking on the theme "Peace The late Rav Kook, of blessed different approach. It told us that even in Pieces," I refer not only to the memory, put it this way. In our prayers if there are no four walls, but only :spread three, that is adequate. Even more" ,ופרוש עלינו סוכת שלומך fragile peace in the Holy Land that we ask Ihas been so cruelly shattered this past over us the sukkah (tabernacle) of Thy "three walls" does not mean three Yom Kippur, but to a related idea that peace." What is the relation between whole walls but a third wall, i.e., if the in some ways is untimely and in other sukkah and shalom, between the booth booth consisted only of two full walls ways most timely. or tabernacle which we build on this and a small piece of a third wall, that Perhaps the whole thing can be festival, and the concept of peace? too is sufficient. And then, by a series summarized in one statement of the Rav Kook answers by pointing to of legal fictions, and utilizing such abstract ideas as , Midrash (Bamidar Rabbah, Naso)that: the Halakhah, which did strange lavud gud ahit mehizta things with the commandment of and dofen akumah, it expanded the legal concept of sukkah by minimizing גדול השלום, שאפילו בשעת מלחמה צריכין sukkah. One would imagine that לשלום. the observance is quite simple; one the requirements to the very core. So great is peace, that even in time of must build four walls, place over it The conclusion that we derive from war, one needs peace. the covering or sekhakh, and that is it. Halakhah is that even if one does not Even a little piece of peace is precious However, the Halakhah took a rather have a whole sukkah, but at least a beyond words.
11 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 little piece of it, that too is good. So We must pray that the friendship, something to the Jewish soul; it shook wonderful, so vital, so significant is peace, and understanding that up Jews in Israel and throughout the commandment of sukkah, that one currently prevails between Israel and the world, it penetrated beneath the must strive for whatever he can get of the government of the United States hardened layers of Sabra cynicism it. will continue for a long time to come. and realism, and allowed some kind So far the United States has proved of spark, some kind of historical So it is with peace, shalom. I do not know if the classical ideal of total and to be a secure friend of Israel in this longing, some kind of spiritual universal peace ever really existed. war. May the Almighty grant that nostalgia to express itself without self- I believe it is more of a myth than a this continue, that the superpower of consciousness and embarrassment. reality. One scholar calculated that which we are citizens remain steadfast What a great opportunity that was from the year 1500 B.C.E. to the and confront the enemies of Israel for Israel to take a giant step forward year 1860 C.E., there were no less with determination. spiritually! But it was not to be, whether the fault was that of religious than about 8,000 peace treaties that Even more important is the shalom were signed, each one purporting to that prevails amongst Jews. Between Jews (which it probably was) or of the secure permanent peace, and each 1967 and Yom Kippur of 1973, it inexorable pace of routine life which one lasting an average of two years seemed at times that the State of was quickly resumed. What is quickly won, is quickly lost. A year after the (See H. B. Stevens, The Recovery of Israel and the Jewish people would 1967 war, there was hardly a souvenir Culture, New York, 1949, p. 221). be rent apart almost irrevocably by And that was before the two World various struggles, factionalisms, and left of the feeling of spiritual exaltation Wars! I do not believe there is anyone animosities. It is a pity that it takes which so gripped the entire country. alive today who can remember a time a war to bring us together. But this The religious renaissance simply never when universal peace prevailed. In all time we must attempt to forge links of materialized. likelihood, we must resign ourselves fraternity between Jew and Jew that Perhaps now it will be different. Most to the bitter fact that this is a messianic will not fall apart when the pressures unfortunately, this is not going to be ideal, one which will indeed not be of the outside world begin to wane a mere 6-day war. It is going to be realized until the Messiah has come. and ebb. This time we must resolve much more difficult. The casualties Nevertheless, so precious is peace, that we will remain secure with the are already greater than they were in so great is peace, that — like the feeling of powerful Jewish identity, the entire 1967 war. But when it is sukkah — even a little piece of peace fraternity, and brotherliness, come over, and we will have prevailed (with is a blessing! Even be-sha’at milhamah, what may. This time we must insist the help of God), maybe then the when the world is ravaged by war, we that the relations between Jew and Jew slower pace of victory will produce a must seek the refuge of little islands of remain supreme even when we are different attitude: not one of sudden shalom, peace. not threatened by the missiles of the seizures of religious insight which These bitter days, when even the enemy. will, like a flash, illuminate and vanish illusion of peace has been shattered Perhaps most important of all is the quickly, but a slow understanding, in the Holy Land, we must thank the peace between God and Israel. We a mature development, a profound realization that we are totally alone in Lord for the little pieces of peace, and must pray for shalom bein Yisrael the so-called "Family of Nations"; that strive our mightiest to retain them. la-Avihem she-ba-Shamayim, that we in the long run, after we have relied We must pray that even at the Israeli- will be at peace with our Father in Heaven. I mean this in two ways. First, upon each other as Jews, and after Jordanian border, the uneasy peace we have secured ourselves militarily our attitude to God. We were spoiled אין לנו להשען will continue undisturbed, that the by the Six-Day War of 1967. We and politically, ultimately we have only ,אלא על אבינו שבשמים little King who had such a short memory in 1967 will remember more won a lightning victory that stunned everyone — even the generals, who God in Whom we can trust, and with now, and, no matter what maneuvers Whom we must make peace first he must undertake to satisfy his Arab later on knowingly and foolishly bragged that they knew all along we and foremost. In the Jewish religious critics, he will make sure that the conception, every great event in border does not go up in flames. would win a stunning victory. The fortunate trauma of total triumph did one's life, and every great historical
12 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 event in the life of people, must lead divine economy. It is a status to which Peace, and the seal of God is Truth. to a hirhur teshuvah, to a feeling of we have been recalled and which is What is the difference between these repentance, to a reconsideration of irrevocable. We can no longer afford terms? one's way, to a change in one's spiritual to be abandoned. We must proceed Rav Kook answers: a name is orientation. I firmly believe that we throughout the remainder of this war something that is both written were not created and brought through and its aftermath confident in the faith and pronounced consecutively or the entire historical process, with that the Almighty will never again sequentially. First you write one all its agonies, in order to be a small forsake us, that we shall remain the letter, then the next letter, and so embattled nation which will have people through whom He will execute on. Similarly, in articulating a name, to fight for its very existence every His designs for History, the People you pronounce first one syllable, few years. We were meant for greater who, having been brought back to its then the next. When you imprint things, for achievements that will have ancient homeland, will continue to a seal, however, then you do it not made all this struggle worthwhile. vindicate the historic promise to our sequentially, but simultaneously. You We were destined for something for forefather, Abraham. engrave the seal on the paper and all which nationhood and independence So we strive for peace even in pieces. of it comes out at once. Truth is a are prerequisite, but which transcend Every bit of it, every piece of peace, seal. It must be all or nothing. A piece mere political entity. So we must every iota of shalom, is precious to us. of truth is a lie. A fragmented truth determine that when this war is done, is a falsehood. But when it comes to it will lead to a greater feeling of peace, there we cannot expect all at between Israel and its Creator. shalom When it comes to peace, once. There we must try for even a But there is another side to this letter, even a vowel, even a syllable. We coin. And that is the shalom or peace there we cannot expect must strive even for peace in pieces. by God towards Israel. Because all at once. There we Almighty God, spread over us the 1967 produced such a brilliant and sukkah of shalom, over us and all Israel quick victory, many of us are today must try for even a letter, and Jerusalem. Like the sukkah, we are depressed by the slower and more anxious for as much as we can get of agonizing pace of events. But I even a vowel, even a the divine blessing of peace. Even little would not like to see despair as the pieces of it are gifts that we cherish only alternative to the exaltation syllable. We must strive infinitely. of triumph. No, we must not, we even for peace in pieces. dare not despair. It simply cannot But with all this, we pray — as we סוכת — be that we are finished as a state or do in the Hoshanot prayers help us and prosper us ,שלם הושענא as a people. For a brief few years in Rav Kook continues with the our living memory, God abandoned with the sukkah that will be shalem following insight: the Rabbis of the us. He turned His face from us, — complete, a peace that will be Talmud made two statements that are and we were almost wiped out. But inviolate, and universal as well. fascinating. In one (Shab. 10b), they immediately thereafter, from 1948 the name of ,שמו של הקב”ה שלום say and on, something else happened in the Holy One is: "Peace." In the other the relationship between God and חותמו של :one (Shab. 55a) they say Israel. He restored us to — if you the seal of the Holy One ,הקב”ה אמת permit me the use of the term — a is: "Truth." So the name of God is Most Favored Nation Status in the
Find more shiurim and articles from Rabbi Lamm zt"l at https://www.yutorah.org/rabbi-norman-lamm
13 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 Sukkot and R' Sam Dratch Rabbi Lamm's Judaic Studies Faculty, Yeshiva University High School for Boys Legacy
THE HALACHOT OF THE SUKKAH AND THE HALICHOT OF RABBI LAMM
n the months since my Zeida, don’t believe he would be too upset parameters, halachah provides Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, passed, about being remembered in this less models to redefine how to view the he has been spoken about and straightforward way. More specifically, dimensions. These models allow us to Iremembered in many different ways: and to borrow and paraphrase the kri view the reality of halacha, rather than as a president, a rabbi, a darshan, a u’ktiv that titles Rabbi Lamm’s halacha the reality that we perceive. father and grandfather. The tributes sefer, I intend to use the halachot For example, when there is a have been beautiful, informative, and (laws) of sukkah to recount the noticeable gap in the schach that deeply meaningful. There is one lens, halichot (ways) of this great man. is smaller than three tefachim, however, through which I have not The sukkah’s structure ideally has halachah provides the model of seen him viewed. This is the lens of walls that reach all the way up to lavud, establishing that, in (halachic) Rabbi Lamm as a sukkah. This is not kosher schach, with the schach reality, the gap is not there and to sit a surprise. Rabbi Lamm passed away completely covering the sukkah with under the gap would be equivalent after Shavuot and his actual roles serve gaps only wide enough to see stars, to sitting under schach. Another as a more obvious frame of reference and with no large spaces. When model that halachah provides is that to speak about him. But being the the sukkah seems to fall short of of dofen akumah. Dofen akumah is the unrepentant darshan that he was, I these requirements, under certain principle that if there are four amot
14 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 or less of invalid schach or any other home learning or sitting next to him many reasons for a grandparent covering (such as an overhang), and davening at shul was, for me, the very to feel seperate or distant from that covering runs from the wall to picture of a life lived in dedication his grandchildren. There are often the kosher schach, that covering is to Hashem and the Mesorah. His differences in interests, barriers of considered an extension of the wall centrism and moderation was not a common language, or the natural and does not invalidate the sukkah. call to being moderately passionate, obstacles of relatability that come Finally, the principle of gud asik is but, as he put it, to being passionately with decades of separation in age. utilized in the sukkah as well. Gud moderate. In Rabbi Lamm’s case, there were asik, as applied to a sukkah, means far more reasons for any gap in Rashi’s view (Sukkah 4a, 17a), as we that even if a wall at least ten tefachim have it, seems to be different from the connection. He was an impossibly high does not extend up to the schach, busy man, a towering intellectual, and Ritva’s regarding dofen akumah. Rashi halacha considers the wall as if it someone esteemed by others in a way holds that dofen akumah is not an continues upward to meet the schach. invisible slanting of the walls toward we children could not understand. In his life, Rabbi Lamm, through his the schach in the center; instead, But just as halacha demands we see actions, words, and vision, made use Rashi holds that the walls actually no gap in the schach, Rabbi Lamm of these halachic tools. bend over completely at a right angle always made a conscious effort for us to feel there was absolutely no gap Rabbi Lamm used dofen akumah, to continue via the invalid schach. both in his ideology and in how he In this way, Rabbi Lamm embodied between us, his grandchildren and him. He did this by bridging that gap cared for people. Dofen akumah, the walls of the sukkah. I knew this himself. As children, whenever we in the Ritva’s view (Sukkah 4), is a when he was alive, but even more halachah insisting that walls separated so now that I hear the many stories entered his home we were greeted, from kosher schach by pasul schach about him since his passing; Rabbi not with a hello, but with humor and actually bend toward the center Lamm consistently and astonishingly an offer to pull his beard. He let us to meet the kosher schach. In his bent over completely to help others. know right from the start we were writings and lectures, Rabbi Lamm I was told by my uncles and aunts here to see Grandma and Zeida, not consistently and wholeheartedly that the nearly default shiva visit Rabbi Dr. President and Mrs. Norman maintained his belief in centrism as after Rabbi Lamm’s passing was, “I Lamm. Growing up, my grandfather the Jewish ideal. To him, the walls of reached out to your father in a time sent doodles and drawings to us, Judaism pointed toward the center. of crisis, he moved mountains for me, knowing this was something of his we This is most classically typified by his and we stayed in correspondence for could appreciate and hold on to. He desire to have Modern Orthodoxy years.” The flood of examples has not stretched from his end, to reach us be referred to as Centrist Orthodoxy, stopped. People who were children where we were, the gap vanishing. and was often expressed in his when Rabbi Lamm influenced and Not only would he purposely let down complete disdain for extremism. One helped them; immigrants, potential his guard and give us attention we of the most common sources that agunot, people facing poverty, and could appreciate, but he would make comes up in Rabbi Lamm’s drashas everyone in between have shared their us feel we were bridging the gap in is the Rambam’s formulation of the stories of Rabbi Lamm bending over our own right. He was generous with golden mean, the ultimate call toward backwards for them. But what for me sharing that he was proud. Any dvar centrism and moderation. However, makes his acts of chesed and caring Torah or question we had would be this did not amount to a retreat to even more meaningful is that Rabbi met with praise and encouragement. I halfhearted beliefs, or an apologetic Lamm was able to do it all while recall, as a child of 10 or 11, that when and pandering spiritual demeanor. constantly writing, reading, running a I first heard of Torah U’Madda, I had Anyone who has read a word of his shul, and later and most impressively a burning question. A question that, writings or has heard a line of his in terms of giving of himself, acting as in my expert opinion as a 6th grader, drush can attest to his complete and President of Yeshiva University. would disrupt and disband the entire utter belief in the authenticity and project of Modern Orthodoxy. My Rabbi Lamm made use of lavud in importance of what he believed the his role as a grandfather. There are father said, “we have to ask Zeida!” Torah to be saying. Seeing him in his So the next time we were with him
15 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 for Shabbos, my father pushed me wanted us to come to him as well, and aim, not to entertain, but to change to bring up the question. Sheepishly, to believe that we could. This effort of perspectives. He didn’t quote simple because I felt embarrassed that I a nurturing lavud, of not letting any sources or rely on cliche ideas to gain was going to ruin Rabbi Lamm’s of the potential gaps in relationship popularity and acceptance. Despite philosophy, I asked, “Zeida, if you come to fruition, defines for me his making his ideas understandable believe we have to care about Torah role as a grandfather. and accessible, he also challenged and Madda equally, what would The final halachic tool that Rabbi the listener with sophistication, happen if you ran into a burning intellectual honesty, and unwavering Lamm embodied in his life was gud building and saw both a Torah and an ideals and goals. He saw where his asik. To me, this is the most defining encyclopedia, but you could only save of his character and vision. To the congregation could be, not where one? Wouldn’t you have to choose?!” they were. Personally, I felt his vision cynic, a wall only ten tefachim high Despite my misunderstanding of stops where his perception of it of gud asik in my life as well. I spent Torah U’Madda and my ignorance of ends. It grows no taller and has no my childhood much more concerned what halacha would have to say about more significance. To the halachist, with hockey than Rav Chaim, to the matter, Rabbi Lamm feigned there is much more to the wall than say the least. Despite this, he always intense thought. He furrowed his meets the eye. It rises higher than the introduced me in the following way: brow and brought his hand to his “This is my grandson, Sam. He’s a perceivable ten tefachim. The eyes of chin and said, convincingly, “That’s the halachist in the sukkah, to see the sports player now but he’s going an excellent question.” I felt like a wall reaching greater heights than one to be a talmid chacham one day.” million dollars. He continued, “I might think, was how Rabbi Lamm I’m not sure if he knew how utterly would save the sefer Torah. What viewed people and the world in meaningful this introduction was. I you have to understand is that you general. wasn’t planning on putting down the could care deeply about two different hockey stick at those moments, but things while not always only giving When it came to people, he saw I knew that Rabbi Lamm believed in attention to one. You don’t always not the modest heights that people me. I knew that he wanted me to see have to choose between your wife and reached; he looked up and saw their myself the way he could envision me. your mother.” The reason I remember potential. When reading the drashas Although I have not yet accomplished this encounter and many others like he gave at the Jewish Center this is this goal of becoming a talmid them so clearly, is because they meant particularly obvious. Rabbi Lamm chacham, his gud asik vision keeps the for me, not only that the gap could be would push the bar higher and higher. goal to rise to his vision a constant. bridged by him sharing cartoons and Speaking directly against apathy and Thehalachot of the sukkah relate jokes and coming to us, but that he settling for less, Rabbi Lamm would
The eyes of the halachist in the sukkah, to see the wall reaching greater heights than one might think, was how Rabbi Lamm viewed people and the world in general.
16 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 to specifichalichot of Rabbi Lamm, but that is not where the comparison ends. At first glance, and understandably so, the sukkah represents a sense of impermanence and transience. It is a structure that only needs to last for seven days, whose ceiling is perforated, and whose walls don’t need to provide tremendous shelter. Halacha even recognizes the impermanent nature of the sukkah by not requiring a mezuzah to be placed on its doorpost (Shulchan Aruch, YD 286:11). The message is often shared that we are to learn that despite the impermanence of the Leviathan. This meal, and sitting in the present. We are here one day and sukkah, we can still find meaning and sukkah specifically here, is meant as gone the next. Our life in this world, happiness in it. an ultimate future reward for a life of like in the sukkah, is a diras aray — a However, I believe that there is righteousness. temporary structure. However, when another, differing message we can The sukkah structure capturing a life is lived meaningfully, with ideals learn when looking at the context the space of our past, present, and and contributions of transcendent of how our sources talk about the future places it not as a symbol of the value, the individual living that life sukkah. The first source that we deal temporal which can be overcome, becomes like a sukkah in a different with when discussing sukkah is its but as a symbol of what is truly way, and they become everlasting. source from the Torah. In Vayikra, lasting. The sukkah’s place as formed Rabbi Lamm, in that way, is a sukkah. 23:42, we are given the normative in the past, lived in the present, and His contributions of transcendent commandment to sit in sukkot. Then, yearned for in the future makes it, value ensure he is still present. The in Vaykira 23:43, we are told that as a structure, more established books he left over offer, in the present, we must do so “in order that future and everlasting than any modern an open conversation with him. A generations may know that I made skyscraper whose history is a matter of conversation where he guides through the Israelite people live in booths trivia, and whose future is dependent inspiration, scholarship, mussar, and when I brought them out of the land on practical use. The sukkah shows love, not just his grandchildren, but of Egypt.” At this point, we encounter that overcoming transience, and anyone who opens them looking the structure of the sukkah at two ensuring its place in the future, is a for meaning. The blood, sweat, and points in time. First, the expectation matter of transcendence to a higher tears given to Yeshiva University and that any Jew living in the present ideal. There are then two attempts everything it stands for in the world is (whenever that may be) must erect a at becoming everlasting. One where a contribution that makes him present sukkah. Then, the Torah informs us the attempt is a matter of literally in the present and, G-d willing, in the that doing so should hearken us back eternally present, and the other is future of the Jewish people. Possibly to the ancient sukkot of the Israelites being eternally meaningful. The most significantly, he is ever present after they left Egypt. That’s not all, sukkah, although there is no attempt in the lives of the countless people though. The sukkah is also meant to to be physically everpresent, and thus for whom he bent over backwards, occupy our vision of the future. The no mezuzah is to be placed on its brought to their full potential, and Gemara, in Baba Batra 75a, describes doorpost, is eternal in its meaning. gave a roadmap in a plethora of ways the sukkah of le’atid lavo (future for what it means to be a thinking, days) as one that Hashem makes for When it comes to people, there is no inspired, and caring Jew. the righteous from the skin of the possibility of being physically ever
17 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 Sukkot and Rabbi Dr. Stu Halpern Rabbi Lamm's Legacy Senior Advisor to the Provost of Yeshiva University and Senior Program Officer of YU's Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought
SIMCHAT TORAH, THE CAIN MUTINY, AND RELIGIOUS RESPONSIBILITY
מִ הנְחָ לַה': )ד( וְהֶבֶל הֵבִיאגַם הּוא מִּבְ כֹרֹות imchat Torah is a celebration world and the creation of the first צֹאנֹו ּומֵחֶ ןלְבֵהֶ וַּיִׁשַע ה' אֶל הֶבֶל וְאֶל מִ נְחָ תֹו: ,of the world’s largest book club. man and woman, we might consider )ה( וְאֶלקַ יִן וְאֶלמִ נְחָ תֹו לֹא ׁשָ עָה וַּיִחַ ר לְקַ יִן Jews across the globe unite in amid our current socially distanced מְ אֹדוַּיִּפְלּו ּפָ נָיו: Sjoyfully commemorating completion moment, how lonely, isolated, and of the yearly Torah-reading cycle and precarious Adam and Eve must have In the course of time, Cain brought an starting it again. Though the current felt in navigating a new world. And, as offering to the Lord from the fruit of the pandemic has unfortunately precluded we proceed to read Parashat Bereshit, soil and Abel, for his part, brought the a regular completion of the cycle we come across a heroic and inspiring choicest of the firstlings of his flock. The and the usual festivities will also be act of one of the earliest humans, a Lord paid heed to Abel and his offering, curbed, we nonetheless unhesitatingly moving gesture amid uncertainty. but to Cain and his offering He paid no begin reading our holy Torah again. Cain brings a sacrifice. heed. Cain was much distressed and his .face fell )ג( וַיְהִי מִּקֵ ץיָמִ ים וַּיָבֵא קַ יִן מִּפְרִ י הָאֲדָמָ ה As we reread of God’s creation of the
18 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 Cain, we recall, was so named by his mother, because, as In a tale with literary and thematic parallels to the first she said, “I created (kaniti) a male child with the Lord.” sibling rivalry and fraught jealous rivalry, Joseph is sold by Blessing God for the fruit of her womb, Eve thanked God his brothers into slavery. for His help in allowing the child to be born. And so, as Like with Cain and Abel, rulership is at stake: Jonathan Grossman notes in his Creation: The Story of Beginnings (YU Press and Maggid Books, 2019), her son, Joseph & His Brothers Cain and Abel בראשית פרק ד בראשית פרק לז after growing up, follows suit. Cain too has produced )ז( הֲלֹוא אִםּתֵיטִ יב ׂשְאֵ ת וְאִ ם )ח( וַּיֹאמְרּולֹו אֶחָיו הֲמָ ֹלְך fruit, this time of the agricultural variety, and, just like לֹא תֵיטִ יב לַּפֶתַח חַּטָ את רֹבֵ ץ ּתִמְֹלְך עָלֵינּואִם מָׁשֹול ּתִמְ ׁשֹל his mother, thanks God for what has flowered. And he וְאֵלֶיָך ּתְׁשּוקָ תֹו וְאַּתָהּתִמְׁשָ לּבֹו: ּבָנּו וַּיֹוסִפּועֹוד ׂשְ נֹא אֹתֹו עַ ל did so while fulfilling his parents’ mission, having been חֲ ֹלמֹתָ יו וְעַל ּדְבָרָ יו: commanded to work the ground and toil in it. As a means of thanking God, he innovates the central ancient religious Surely, if you do right, ritual, a practice that inspired our own daily prayers. He His brothers answered, There is uplift. But if brought a korban. “Do you mean to reign you do not do right, Sin over us? Do you mean to crouches at the door; Its At this stage, Cain seems poised to be a religious hero. rule over us?” And they urge is toward you, Yet you Clearly the focal point of the narrative (his brother hated him even more for can be its master.” Abel’s name, unlike his own, was given no explanation), his talk about his dreams. he movingly offers to God a sign of gratitude. As Moshe Halbertal has written, “The gift of sacrifice to God, who is There is the seeking of brothers: in the first place the provider of the good and in no need of )ט( וַ ּיֹאמֶר ה' אֶל קַ יִן אֵי הֶבֶ ל )טז( וַּיֹאמֶר אֶ ת אַ חַ י אָ ֹנ כִ י it, functions as a token of submission and gratitude.” אָחִ יָךוַ רּיֹאמֶ לֹא יָדַ עְּתִ י הֲ ֹׁש מֵ ר אָ חִ י מְ בַ ּקֵ ׁש הַ הּגִידָ ּנָא לִי אֵ יפֹה הֵ ם אָ ֹנ כִ י : רֹעִ ים: ,But Cain’s act is met with brutal disappointment. God for reasons unexplained, does not accept Cain’s sacrifice. He answered, “I am The Lord said to Cain, But Abel’s is accepted. “Religious sacrifice is a costly act of looking for my brothers. “Where is your brother self-giving, in denial of natural inclinations, that is offered Could you tell me where Abel?” And he said, “I in suspense, under conditions that threaten failure, for the they are pasturing?” do not know. Am I my purpose of establishing a relation with the transcendent brother’s keeper?” reality” writes scholar David L. Weddle. And Cain’s sacrifice failed. Isolation in fields holds the possibility of danger: )ח( וַּיֹאמֶר קַ יִן אֶ ל )טו( וַּיִמְ צָאֵהּואִ יׁש וְהִ ּנֵה תֹעֶ ה ּבַ ּׂשָ דֶ ה )ו( וַּיֹאמֶר ה' אֶל קָ יִן לָּמָה חָרָ ה לְָך וְלָּמָ ה נָפְלּופָ נֶיָך: )ז( הֲלֹוא אִ ם הֶבֶלאָחִ יו וַיְהִיּבִהְיֹותָ ם וַּיִׁשְאָ לֵהּו הָאִ יׁש לֵ אמֹר מַה ּתְבַּקֵ ׁש: ּתֵיטִיב תׂשְאֵ וְאִ םלֹא תֵיטִ יב לַּפֶתַח חַּטָ את רֹבֵץ וְאֵ לֶיָך ּתְׁשּוקָ תֹו וְאַּתָ ה ּתִמְׁשָ לּבֹו: ּבַ ּׂשָ דֶ ה וַּיָקָם קַ יִן אֶ ל A man came upon him wandering And the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you distressed, And why הֶ בֶ ל אָ חִ י ו ַ ּי וַהַ רְ ג ה ֵ ּו: ,in the fields. The man asked him is your face fallen? Surely, if you do right, There is uplift. But if “What are you looking for?” Cain said to his you do not do right, Sin crouches at the door; Its urge is toward brother Abel ... )כ( הוְעַּתָ לְ כּו ַ נ וְ הַ רְ ג ה ֵ ּו וְנַׁשְ לִכֵהּו ּבְאַחַ ד ”.you, Yet you can be its master and when they הַ ּבֹרֹותוְאָמַרְ נּוחַ ּיָה רָ עָה אֲ כָלָתְ הּו וְנִרְ אֶ ה Following the sacrifices, Cain is the one God addresses, not were in the field, מַ ה ּיִהְיּו חֲ ֹלמֹתָ יו: Abel, whose offering had been received. God is invested in Cain set upon his Cain’s potential, encouraging continued efforts at goodness “Come now, let us kill him and brother Abel and despite disappointment and unrequited entreaties. But throw him into one of the pits; killed him. then things go south. History’s first religious hero becomes and we can say, ‘A savage beast mankind’s first villain. Cain murders his brother. devoured him.’ We shall see what Cain’s decision to be not his brother’s keeper, but his comes of his dreams!” destroyer, amid what was surely anger and disappointment, And the blood of brothers stands to be spilled: receives, later in Sefer Bereshit, a comforting and restorative echo.
19 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 .Their familial future is assured )יא( וְעַּתָהאָרּור אָּתָ ה )כו( וַּיֹאמֶ ר יְהּודָה אֶלאֶחָיו מַהּבֶצַע ּכִ י As we, on Simchat Torah, begin Bereshit anew in the מִן הָאֲדָמָה ראֲׁשֶ ּפָצְתָ ה נַהֲ רֹגאֶת אָחִ ינּווְכִּסִינּו אֶתּדָ מֹו: )כז( context of our own societal, financial and communal אֶת ּפִיהָ לָקַחַת אֶ ת ּדְ מֵ י לְכּו וְנִמְּכְרֶ ּנּו לַּיִׁשְמְעֵ אלִים וְיָדֵנּו אַל ּתְהִ י precariousness, the stories of Cain and Abel, and Joseph יאָ חִ ָך מִ ּי ָ דֶ ָך: בֹוּכִי אָחִינּובְׂשָרֵ נּו הּוא וַּיִׁשְמְעּו אֶחָ יו: Then Judah said to his brothers, Therefore, you shall and his brothers, remind us of the stabilizing force of “What do we gain by killing be more cursed than individual responsibility. Kindness toward another, now our brother and covering up his the ground, which as then, can be the antidote to despair, anger, doubt, and blood? Come, let us sell him to opened its mouth uncertainty. the Ishmaelites, but let us not do to receive your In a sermon delivered in 1955, Rabbi Norman Lamm, my away with him ourselves. After brother’s blood from wife’s grandfather, spoke of the true nature of holiness. It, all, he is our brother, our own your hand. he said, “is for those whose hands must come to grip with flesh.” His brothers agreed. real situations cold, brutal, unattractive, unfeeling; and who can wrest from them cleanliness, warmth, pleasantness, And yet, as we know, Joseph does not seek vengeance kindness.” As we begin once again reading the holiest of against his brothers. In this story, the answer to the books, amid a dark and disappointingly long period of question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” is met with a instability, we are reminded how religious heroism, and our resounding yes. Joseph assumes responsibility for his societal future, relies on our ability to bring kindness and brothers and provides for them, despite their earlier light to our brethren. antagonism and cold-heartedness. Stability for their family amid uncertain economic and social times is achieved.
A Tribute to Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm zt"l by RIETS Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman On Yom Kippur Night of 1964, Rabbi Norman Lamm, as well, that we expect to be here again next year once zt”l, spoke of what he called "the Royal Reach." He again asking for release from our obligations. Anything described the need to always aspire to a level greater less than that would be an inexcusable failure of religious than one's current stature, quoting the poet Robert ambition. Kol Nidre is about proudly acknowledging Browning: "a man's reach should exceed his grasp". In we set our sights too high, as we should, and if we are this premise, it is appropriate and necessary for one to granted life, we will do it again next year. deliberately set a standard for himself that is beyond As we turn from Yom Kippur to Sukkos, we see a glimpse what he can currently attain. of how our expanded religious ambition could manifest. With this perspective, maybe there is some Sukkos is often understood in the mussar literature to understanding that can be brought to the placing of represent teshuvah me'ahavah, repentance from love, the Kol Nidre at the opening of Yom Kippur. Yes, we are growth of active spiritual fulfillment rather than merely declaring, it is true that we have failed to live up to the the abandonment of harmful patterns of the past for commitments we have made in the past year. However, which Yom Kippur atones. With its multitude of mitzvos, there is a good reason for that: we had, as we were Sukkos displays the boundless opportunity open to the supposed to, set very lofty goals, that by design were religious idealist. beyond our grasp. It is a most fitting symbol of the picture that was painted In fact, if we had accomplished everything we had set for us by our great leader Rabbi Lamm, who through his out for ourselves in this past year, that would be the real teachings, writings, and most powerfully, his personal embarrassment: we would have had aimed too low. The model, made us understand that a world of possibility fact that our aspirations have been beyond our capacities existed to realize the aspirations of the committed seeker, is actually an argument on behalf of our repentance and and that the royal reach could be within our grasp. our potential for the future. And, yes, we can proudly say
20 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 Sukkot and Rabbi Mordechai Willig Rabbi Lamm's Legacy Rosh Yeshiva and Rosh Kollel, RIETS Rabbi, Young Israel of Riverdale
PERMANENCE AND TRANSIENCE (KEVA AND ARAI): HOMES, FOODS, DEEDS AND WORLDS
He will thereby recognize that he is This is the lesson of Sukkos. We בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים אמרה תורה כל merely passing through this world (as dwell in a sukka to recognize that our שבעת הימים צא מדירת קבע ושב בדירת in Rosh Hashana 9b) on the way to the successes and our lives in this world עראי. In Sukkos you shall dwell for seven days, next, permanent world. are only temporary, arai, and not keva. every citizen (Ezrach) in Yisrael should A wealthy American visited the sit in sukkos (Vayikra 23:42). The Chafetz Chaim in Radin. He offered Arai and Keva in the Laws of Torah said: All seven days, leave your to buy him a new home and new Sukkah fixed dwelling (diras keva) and sit in a furniture that befits thegadol hador. temporary dwelling (diras arai) The Chafetz Chaim replied: “During We may eat and drink lightly (arai) Sukka 2a your sojourn in and near Radin, outside the sukka (Sukka 25a). How he Kli Yakar translates ezrach despite your wealth, you also are living much is light eating? Rav Yosef said as toshav, a permanent in very modest quarters.” The rich (bread the size of) two or three eggs. resident. At the time of man responded: “In my permanent Abaye asked, Often that is enough to Tharvest, on Sukkos, everyone wants to residence in America I have a beautiful satisfy a person, and it constitutes a live in his house, a yeshivas keva. The home and furnishings. Here, I am regular meal (keva). Rather, Abaye Torah instructs one who wishes to merely passing through.” The Chafetz said, as a yeshiva student tastes before be a permanent resident of this world Chaim concluded: “I have no need for going into the shiur (26a). Rashi and not a ger, a sojourner, to leave his a new home or furniture in this world. (27a) explains that it is the size of an fixed dwelling for a temporary one. I am only passing through.” egg. Any more than an egg is a regular
21 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781 meal and must be eaten in the sukka (O.C. 639:2). It’s a totally quantitative shiur of bread. The Rambam Sukka( 6:6) exempts light eating, the size of an egg or a bit less or more. It is not a purely quantitative shiur. One is exempt if it is not viewed as a meal, but rather a snack to abate his desire to eat until subsequent mealtime (Commentary to Chap. 2 Mishna 7, see Bartenura). A bit more than an egg means up to the shiur of two eggs of Rav Yosef. Why does Rav Yosef say two or three? from grain, if it is eaten as a meal, Torah study keva (Avos 1:15), a fixed If the size of three eggs is exempt, must be eaten in the sukka. A bit more practice. All of his other myriad then certainly the size of two eggs is than the size of an egg is exempt, as accomplishments he viewed, as exempt! Perhaps the answer is that opposed to bread (Mishna B’rura 15). did earlier generations, as relatively three eggs is a known quantity for a While some disagree, we do not recite temporary (B’rachos 35b). His meal (Rambam Eruvin 1:9, see M.B. “leshev basukka,” since he is likely remarkable literary output in all areas 168:24). Three eggs is a meal for exempt. of Torah interest, notwithstanding his communal responsibilities, continues most people, and up to that amount Despite that, the Mishna B’rura (16) to teach and inspire. His herculean is exempt. But some establish a meal records the custom to recite leshev efforts, which sustained our Yeshiva on as little as the size of two eggs. For basukka on a bit more than the size them, more than two eggs must be of an egg of cake, since it is similar to financially and enhanced its Torah eaten in the sukka. bread. This is questionable. The Rosh study programs dramatically, place (2:13) exempts meat and cheese us all in his debt. As the Gemara However, the halacha follows Abaye, (B’rachos 35b) teaches, those who not Rav Yosef. According to Abaye since it is not common to establish a meal on them. Today, however, many made their Torah keva and their and the Rambam, one egg or less is melacha, other work, arai, both their halachically light. From one to two is people avoid bread and eat meat or cheese as the main part of the meal, Torah and their work endure. As light if eaten as a snack and not as a beneficiaries, then and even now, of meal. More than two is halachically and the exemption may not apply. By contrast, cake is considered a snack Rabbi Lamm’s Torah and his support, a meal. However, according to the we must continue his commitment to and leishev basukka is questionable. Shulcahn Aruch, any bread larger than excellence, in our Yeshiva and beyond. the size of one egg must be eaten in May Rabbi Lamm’s multiple merits the sukkah. Rabbi Lamm's Arai and Keva accrued in our temporal world, which can yield additional dividends if we What about other foods? The Rabbi Norman Lamm z”l has left serve Hashem better because of his Shulchan Aruch (639:2) exempts fruit this temporary world of ours for influence, elevate his neshama in its and wine. TheMishna B’rura (13) the permanent World to Come. In achilas keva in the world of truth and includes meat, fish, and cheese in this his lifetime, despite the burdens permanence. exemption, since the Shulchan Aruch of his illustrious career, he made rules that only a cooked item made
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23 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781