Bar Mitzvah, The Maccabees, and Chabad

Ma’ale Gilboa weekly blog- Parashat Vayeshev/ Joel Weiner

Apart from Shabbat, Thursday is my favourite day of the week, so I thought I’d write a little about what went on in the Yeshiva yesterday:

We started the morning with the Bar Mitzvah of a boy from a nearby Kibbutz in the valley, whose family had decided they wanted it to take place in our Beit Midrash (a good choice, I might add!). It was wonderful to be able to join in the family’s celebration.

This year we are learning Masechet Ketuvot in our Iyun (in-depth Talmud-study) Shiur, but for the week preceding Chanukah we’ve made a slight diversion to learn what the Talmud has to say on the matter of Chanukah in Halachah. What’s particularly interesting is the way in which Chanukah is perceived in the modern day to be a fairly important festival, and yet in the Gemara there are almost no references to it at all (interestingly, Sefer Hamakkabim, which tells the story of Chanukah, was one of the books left out of the Tanach). We studied the main source for the laws of lighting Chanukah candles, which appears in Masechet Shabbat as a side point to the central discussion on the Shabbat candles. In my Shiur, we argued about why the Gemara allocates so little space for the discussion of Chanukah. We came up with a couple of possibilities: Either the events in the story of Chanukah were fairly recent at that point, and therefore the ‘laws’ that we have now were little more than minhagim (traditions) then; or, because the Rabbis weren’t the biggest fans of the Maccabim, who after the story of Chanukah anointed Kings from the tribe of Levi (even though the Priesthood and the Royalty were meant to be kept separate) – and therefore the Rabbis tried to belittle the miracle of the war against the Greeks.

Yesterday we also marked “Yat Kislev”, the anniversary of the Ba’al Hatanya’s (the first Lubavitcher Rebbe’s) release from prison in the 18^th Century. For Chabadnikim, this is a big calendar event; in Ma’ale Gilboa, we did our bit by singing Nigunim, eating (a necessary part of the celebration), and telling stories late into the night, and ended off with our traditional Thursday night ‘Spontaneous Dancing’ (normally at 10pm exactly, but a little late this week). Afterwards, we had our weekly Yeshiva-wide Sicha with Rav Bigman, who spoke about his own thoughts on the Ba’al Hatanya and his world.

And hence, we brought to an end another week of learning at Ma’ale Gilboa, and in that spirit we prepare to welcome the Shabbat bride.

Praying through the Mind of Yishayahu Leibowitz, R. Kook R. Hutner and beyond

After a week of eco-construction, Niggun-singing, malawa-absorbtion, Gemara-deduction and Tanakh-exploration, I finally have time to reflect.
The week has reached its culmination in Thursday night. The communal clock of our Beit Midrash reads 9:10 PM. At 11:00, we will hear from a member of the chiloni, or secular, community of Israel on the meaning of prayer. Last night, in our weekly sicha,  or open forum discussion, with Rav David Bigman, we talked about the benefits of prayer. To the sound of the tranquil eloquence of the kibbutz night, Rav Bigman presented three models of Tefillah, each illuminating in a different way the significance of daily effort to communicate with the realm of the beyond. The respective models were as follows:

1) Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz, true to form in maintaining his powerful and poignant view that the sole purpose of religious commandments is to unconditionally accept God and the “Yoke of Heaven”, opined that the purpose of Tefillah is in it of itself exclusively a manifestation of the obligation to obey God’s commandments.
2) Rav Abraham Issac Kook suggests an alternative approach. His esoteric philosophy of prayer highlights process, and not action, as the crucial element of prayer’s significance. Through the process of Davening, one experiences internal change and hence becomes more deserving of receiving divine reward. To Rav Kook Tefillah should ideally repair thoughts and restore spirit. Within this framework, the combination of the two aforementioned growths provides for the awakening of the soul. Through prayer, one encounters and embraces the journey of becoming a better person. Through consistent praying, one continues on his or her journey to the esteemed, albeit vague, plateau of reaching one’s own ethical potential.
3) Rav Yitzchok Hutner approached Tefillah as a meditation meant to invigorate the senses of man kind as expressed in the prayers of the Jewish tradition. When one prays with Kavannah, or consciousness, intention, and awareness, one becomes more receptive to the ideas and values found in the siddur, among which are Binah, wisdom; Refuah, healing; and Seleicha, forgiveness. Rav Hutner felt that God does not necessarily answer specific prayers, but nevertheless, through meditation man benefits from both a deeper consciousness and a strengthened connection to God.

Tefillah was presented to us as a mitzvah, a stepping stone towards, and in, improvement, and a mediation, and therefore an act, of self -improvement.  

Although our sicha continued late into the night, it was only the beginning of a conversation that will be extended by the presentation this evening. The experience of Wednesday evening’s sicha framed the question of why and how Jews pray, and will serve as a fitting framework entering the discussion of secular prayer.

In preparation for this evening, my mind has raced through the possibilities that could make traditional Jewish prayer pertinent even to the chiloni. Rav Hutner’s opinion could suggest that even the non religious have what to gain in the mediation that Tefillah offers. With an understanding of Rav Kook’s philosophy of prayer, perhaps a secular Jew could benefit from the contemplative and self-improvement aspect of Davening. Through tefillah, perhaps a secular person could recognize the merits of the committed lifestyle advocated by Professor Leibowitz.

The ideas of three modern Jewish scholars provoke the realization that the community of the halachic observant does not hold a monopoly on prayer. What they clearly assert, is, regardless of affiliation, dedicating time for prayer contains a powerful message particularly relevant to becoming a contemplative, disciplined, and appreciative human being.

-- Gavi Brown and Josh Trachtenberg