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February 2, 2024, (24 Sh'vat 5784) Parasha Yitro - Higher and Higher!
Dear Friends, I hope this correspondence finds you in good health and good cheer. Please join us this Saturday morning for Shabbat services which begin at 10:00am in our sanctuary and will be followed by a festive kiddush. As always, services will be available on our regular Zoom prayer link. Our community extends its gratitude to Gary Miller for sponsoring this Shabbat’s Kiddush in memory of his mother and father. May their memory be for a blessing. Next Shabbat, as part of our series entitled Young Voices: Today’s Topics, we will host world-renowned musician Neshama Carlebach. Neshama and her sons will enhance our liturgy by offering uplifting instrumental melodies and songs. Additionally, I will engage in a brief interview with the boys and ask them what it is like growing up as part of a famous family. This is a huge opportunity for us and you will not want to miss it, so please join us next Shabbat morning, February 10! This Shabbat features the Torah reading of the Ten Commandments, which is taken from Parashat Yitro. This entire week, I have been thinking about how uplifting this reading is, and in fact, how uplifting all of our programs, classes, and services are. Our Shul continues to uplift by sharing community, prayer, education, and music (just wait for next Shabbat!). It shouldn’t be surprising that our services, activities, and events provide a spiritual uplift because there is a clear connection to the physical manifestation of rising up, which we see each Shabbat: the custom of raising the Torah, or as it is referred to in Hebrew, Hagbah. Raising the Torah after the reading expresses a commitment to observe the Torah in both public and private, and liturgically validates the Torah’s authenticity and efficacy. That’s why we point at it when it is raised. The ritual is also meant to encourage others to follow the Torah’s precepts. Most importantly, however, the lifting of the scroll for all to see shows that the Torah is, perhaps literally, our “highest” priority. According to the Talmud, the opportunity of lifting the Torah for the congregation is a great responsibility (for obvious reasons!) and a great honor. The Gemara (Megillah 32a) teaches that “Rabbi Shefatya said that Rabbi Yochanan said: ‘If 10 people read from the Torah, the greatest among them should lift the Torah scroll, for this is the most distinguished honor. And the one who lifts it takes the reward of all of them,’ Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi adds that the Magbiah (Torah lifter) receives a reward equivalent to that of all of them.” The biblical basis for lifting the Torah comes from the Book of Nehemiah, chapter eight, which describes Ezra the Scribe gathering the entire community on the first day of the seventh month and publicly teaching from the newly redacted scroll. “He read from it, facing the square before the Water Gate, from the first light until midday, to the men and the women and those who could understand (a little lengthy, but well worth the experience!)” The text tells us that he had six Gabbais on his left and another six on his right, all checking his reading. (Don’t tell Fred!) We learn וַיִּפְתַּ֨ח עֶזְרָ֤א הַסֵּ֙פֶר֙ לְעֵינֵ֣י כׇל־הָעָ֔ם that Ezra opened the scroll before all the people on this auspicious occasion. While Ashkenazim lift the scroll after the chanting, the Sephardic custom of Torah lifting before the chanting seems to follow more precisely the biblical example above. It seems that our Ashkenazic custom may be based upon the following urban legend: The Kaf HaChaim (Orach Chaim 134:17) writes that Ashkenazim changed the lifting to after the chanting, since they were concerned that ignorant people believed that seeing the Torah’s text uplifted was more important than hearing it and thus, they might leave the Shul after Hagbah! As a result, Ashkenazim postponed Hagbah until after the Torah reading to ensure that people stayed. As a word of caution, please keep in mind that with the great honor of Hagbah also comes great responsibility, given that the penalty for dropping the scroll is a shared forty-day congregational fast! As we enter Shabbat, I am confident that our holy work is indeed uplifting to those who participate, and as such, our Shul will continue to flourish. I pray that we continue to be uplifted by all our Mitzvot, our shared experiences, our devout learning, and our joyous song. Shabbat Shalom and ONWARDS and UPWARDS!
Rabbi Eric L. Wasser, EdD, Hon.DM
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