 It was a Shabbat like many others for the Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidim of Crown Heights. By 1:30 p.m., they had assembled in the large synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway for the Rebbe's weekly Shabbat farbrengen. At the gathering, the Rebbe asked a question: Why does the Torah-reading of Vayak'hel, whose name means "community," come before Pikudei, which denotes individuality? Can one build a community before one has individuals with whom to build it? Indeed one can, answered the Rebbe.
"Six days shall work be done," says Moses to the people of Israel. "But on the seventh day shall be ... a sabbath of sabbaths." Why not do the work, instead of having it "be done"? And what, exactly, is a "sabbath of sabbaths"? The Torah seems to be telling us to work, but not to really work; to rest on the seventh day from a week of... resting from work.
Shortly before Passover of the year 1796, the French armies, led by a young 27-year old general named Napoleon Bonparte, laid siege to the town of Fossano, and began a bombardment of the little city. The rabble-rousers found it easy to incite the mob against the Jews of Fossano, whom they accused of collaborating with the enemy. After all, if a victory over the French seemed out of the question, a victory over the defenseless Jews was easy.
The two terms are not mutually exclusive, though their combination is not without tension. As a Chassid, I live in a world of absolutes, the Torah world; I love that world and I knew it to be true. But I am also bothered by issues which, in this pre-Redemption era, have yet to be resolved. I am drawn to certain feminist polemics and compelled by certain arguments. The Chassidic interpretation of Shir HaShirim, the Song of Songs, is particularly meaningful to me. Song of Songs speaks of a love between woman and man as a metaphor for the bond between G-d and the Jewish people. For the G-d /Jew relationship is not meant to be platonic. It calls for nothing less than a coupling of body and soul.
G-d believes in marriage. If G-d doesn't play dice with atoms or molecules, He certainly doesn't play dice with hearts or minds or souls. When He created your soul, He created your "intended" along with you. Why, then, does G-d allow you to get divorced? Not only allows it, but tells you how to do it?
 With the airports closed, roads buried under ice, and freezing winds whipping anyone who dared to venture outdoors, Rabbi Pinchas Herman knew it might not be so easy to find ten Jews for a minyan. Weighing heavily on his mind was the thought that this was not going to be an ordinary Shabbat -- a young man, Daniel Rosenberg, was to become Bar Mitzvah. |
Exodus 35:1-38:20 Week of February 27 - March 4, 2000 The Parshah In A Nutshell Full Parshah Summary With Commentary
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