Despite Everything...
Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun (KJ) on Manhattan’s Upper East Side is a special place. Not only is it a very old congregation with a rich history, but it and its spiritual leadership have also long exemplified what it means to be Modern Orthodox. They are unapologetically part of the world and culture around them while unapologetically providing connecting New Yorkers to Torah in a variety of ways. I’m blessed to be connected with many of the rabbis there, and was very excited to receive a copy of Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz’s new book Despite Everything: A Chronicle of Jewish Resilience in the Aftermath of October 7th.
Rabbi Steinmetz (who my Canadian readers will be appreciate served one of the most active synagogues in Montreal before coming to New York) is one of today’s most thoughtful and articulate Orthodox rabbis, and his book collects a full year’s worth of divrei Torah that he wrote since the tragedy of October 7th, 2023. In the words ofKJ’s Rabbi Emeritus, Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, these divrei Torah serve as “a reminder of the ongoing crisis of today and as inspiration for how we must continue to respond to that crisis in the future.” Every chapter is written from the heart and calls on readers to strengthen their connection to the Jewish people both locally and in Israel.
One chapter that I found particularly powerful was the one for Parshat Beshalach. After a brief history of national flags, Rabbi Steinmetz quotes Theodor Herzl that “if we desire to lead many men, we must raise a symbol above their heads” and that he (Herzl) wished to be remembered as “an impetuous Jewish journalist [who] amid the deepest degradation of the Jewish people and at a time of the most disgusting anti-Semitism, made a flag out of a rag and a people out of a decadent rabble, and was able to rally this people around such a flag.”
After a more traditional devar Torah, Rabbi Steinmetz eventually quotes an idea from Rav Soloveitchik:
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik argues that the people’s attachment to the Israeli flag transforms it into a sacred object. In a Yiddish lecture given at a Mizrachi convention in the 1960s, Rabbi Soloveitchik remarked that he generally doesn’t understand the magical attraction of flags or any other objects like it. However, the Israeli flag is different. The Shulchan Aruch says that a Jew who is murdered must be buried in the clothes he was wearing when he was killed. Soloveitchik says this law teaches us that clothing “acquires a certain sanctity when spattered with the blood of a martyr. How much more is this so of the blue and white flag, which has been immersed in the blood of thousands of young Jews who fell in battle defending the country and its population. The Israeli flag has a spark of sanctity that flows from devotion and self-sacrifice.
In other words, something with no inherent meaning in and of itself can be given the highest possible meaning when it is cherished and cared for by others, sometimes at the cost of their lives. Rabbi Steinmetz then continues on a more personal note:
Today, our young men and women have to go into battle; far too many will not come home again. It is grueling to continue to fight against a fanatical, bloodthirsty foe. The ongoing losses are too large to bear. As the war continues, we too, like Moses, find that our hands grow weary.
What continues to hold the flag high are the people, who are filled with dedication. In the end, Moses can no longer hold up the flag; his hands need to be held aloft by Aaron and Hur. This moment offers a critical lesson: flags don’t belong to leaders, not even Moses. They belong to the entire people.
Today in Israel, it is the ordinary Israeli, and only the ordinary Israeli, who has held the country together. Previously unknown heroes have rushed to the front lines, organized volunteers, and taken care of a country in crisis. These ordinary people have consecrated the flag with the sacrifices they have made, sacrifices too great to count.
Israel’s flag is their flag. And they are holding it up high, despite everything.
The big takeaway for us in North America is to continue to see what Israel represents as important in our lives. Even those of us who do not believe that Israel is reishit tzemichat geulateinu can still value the ideas and ideals that Israel stands for and honor the sacrifices which ensure our people’s continued thriving in our homeland.
In his introduction to Rabbi Steinmetz’s book, Rabbi Lookstein noted the disconnect that Americans experience in going about business as usual while tens of thousands of our brothers and sisters in Israel are risking their lives every day and while hundreds of hostages are still trapped in Gaza. The solution, he wrote, “is that we must strive to retain some degree of normal life, but, at the same time, we must be acutely aware of how Am Yisrael is suffering over there, while we are living our normal lives… we need constant and poignant reminders to retain that awareness.” KJ in particular does so in the following ways:
We say Avinu Malkeinu in shul at Shacharit and Mincha every day, including Shabbat and Yom Tov.
We recite Psalm 121 at the end of every service every day.
We recite the prayer for the soldiers of Israel each time we read the Torah.
Remarkable women assemble in our Rohr Chapel every weekday morning in impressive numbers to recite Tehillim.
We have large cut-outs of the hostages in the Main Synagogue and in seats alongside the Holy Ark so that we cannot forget their plight.
While no individual practice or practices have found universal acceptance, every community has done its own job of making sure to recognize what is happening. My own community does so through prayers for hostages, chapters of Tehillim, and communal singing of Shomer Yisrael and Acheinu. Outside of shul, as well, it is important to remember that “Despite Everything” we are a nation of fighters who persevere through even the darkest of times by embracing our bonds of unity and our Jewish identities. It’s important for us each to ask ourselves what more we can do to remind ourselves of that in our daily lives.