THE AFFAIR OF THE THREE TORAHS
At Touro Synagogue
December 8, 2018
Shabbat last week was a three torah affair. The day was a confluence of Shabbat, Rosh Hodesh for the new month of Tevet and Hanukkah. The first Torah was for the parsha, the second for the Rosh Hodesh reading and the third for the Hanukkah reading.
Things got so crowded at the ark that we danced a minuet so we could proceed to the bimah in the correct order. We needed a traffic choreographer to keep things in order.
In Rabbi Marc Mandel’s absence, Sam Spencer stepped up to the plate. With aplomb, he directed our minuet, layned, and gave us words of Torah.
Sam thanked me for sitting with one of the torahs on the bimah, which we don’t usually do at Touro. It was a mitzvah. Giving people an opportunity to perform a mitzvah seems like a good idea. Mitzvot are equal opportunity employers!
The challenge for someone giving a sermon, and the challenge in life, is to come up with a message that helps us to harmonize disparate elements and experiences, hopefully ending on a positive note. It does not always work out that way, either in life or in shul.
Sam Spencer was up to the challenge. Sam said that the unifying theme for the day was self-sacrifice.
In the parsha, Judah was willing to sacrifice his life to guarantee Benjamin’s safety in Egypt.
The Maccabees, he said, were sacrificing themselves for an idea, that the Almighty is above us. This really bothered the Greeks. The Greeks, if we look at what they did, glorified the individual, and they just could not understand the approach of the Jews.
Is this an accurate portrayal of the Greeks and the Jews at that time? Does it matter? Sometimes the lesson we learn is more important that what actually happened.
In the previous examples, self-sacrifice was a matter of life and death. If we insist on that, it would be impossible for most of us to be self-sacrificing. Sam told us that our rabbis believed that going out of our way, or beyond what was expected, is also a form of self-sacrifice.
Tevet is the darkest month of the year. In the Temple, Sam said, the menorahs had to burn through the night. Extra care had to be taken to keep the flame going.
Some people go out of their way at considerable sacrifice to care for an ill child or an elderly parent.
Sam encouraged us to approach what seems burdensome with joy, enthusiasm and optimism.
May you have the opportunity to perform many mitzvot with joy, enthusiasm and optimism!
Shabbat Shalom from Jewish Newport!
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