There is probably only one synagogue in the world where the congregants have to bundle up in heavy coats and hats in order to attend services in the main sanctuary in the winter. I’d also imagine that there is only one synagogue in the world that is still lit exclusively by candlelight. But the one synagogue that has no heat and no electricity is not in the Arctic Circle, nor in the frozen tundra of Siberia, but rather in the modern sophisticated city of Amsterdam.
I’ve been fortunate to pray in old synagogues all over the world, from the Altneushul in Prague, built in 1270, and the oldest active synagogue in Europe, to the Touro Synagogue, built in 1763, and the oldest surviving synagogue in North America. In Israel, I’ve been to the Arizal’s Shul which dates back to the 1570’s and to the Kotel and Tomb of the Partriachs, which both are used as synagogues today, and date back over two thousand years. All of them have electricity at a minimum, and most of them have heat.
But the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, built in 1675 by Jews from Spain, refuses to modernize. They are holding onto their glorious past without so much as a glance at 350 years of global innovation. I’m not sure if their motivation is to avoid building a coat room, to prevent people from falling asleep during the Rabbi’s sermons in the winter, or to keep their carbon footprint down to nothing, but it sure creates a beautiful nostalgic experience.
The synagogue does have a smaller sanctuary used by members during the week, and that has heat, A/C, and electricity, but the massive sanctuary built using design cues from the Beit Hamikdash itself, is not planning on getting electricity unless the Third Beit Hamikdash is built using electricity. The floor is still covered in fine sand to absorb moisture, dust, and dirt, as it was when people were coming in off of dirt roads, and muddy paths. And before evening services, there are still deacons who walk around lighting the hundreds of candles that illuminate the sanctuary.
The Portuguese Synagogue is a rare treat in a world of ever accelerating modernization, a place where you can see Jewish life as it was hundreds of years ago. Of course, as soon as we got there I snapped a bunch of pictures on my iPhone and blasted them all over the world seconds later… The collision of the modern and the ancient….
I was in Amsterdam with a group of young Jewish professionals from the Metro Detroit area as part of our Amsterdam-Israel trip. Just a few days later we would be in Jerusalem where we waded through the Gihon Spring in a 533 meter long tunnel hewn from rock 2700 years ago, with nothing but chisels and hammers, by King Hezekiah and his men. An hour later we would be riding the smooth and silent GPS enabled light rail through the city of Jerusalem. The collision of the modern and the ancient…
In a way the whole trip was an attempt to blend the modern and the ancient. How do young professionals in today’s modern work environment bring the ancient wisdom of our people into their lives? How do we take the best of both worlds and bring them together to create the ideal life? How do we live a life filled with the fruits of technology, medicine, global commerce, computer science, and current events, while still reaping the benefits of our Divine tradition, a tradition designed by G-d to give us serenity, joy, meaning, fulfillment, and the challenge to be as great as G-d designed us to be?
The answer I believe lies in the common denominator between the ancient and the modern; both of them were arrived at incrementally. The engineers and workers building King Hezekiah’s tunnels built it one hammer blow at a time, and the modern developments we have today are built one layer at a time on previous technologies. The people building the imposing Portuguese Synagogue didn’t try to build it in one day, they spent years on it, layering row after row of brick, and building pew after pew, one day at a time.
So too, the scientists seeking stem cell therapy for ALS (I sat next to one of them on my flight back!), don’t walk into the lab one morning saying “I’m going to cure ALS today!” Rather, they spend years performing tests, each slightly different than the one performed the day before, tweaking the formula each time, pushing the envelope slowly forward each day, until the joyous day when they achieve the unthinkable. Every day, the researcher comes into the lab with a list of the experiments he plans do that day. And while sometimes he may head down a false lead for a few months, the day after he realizes it he gets back on track, tweaking the experiments, adding a little more green fluid to this beaker, some more steam from the blue bubbling liquid, and soon enough the magic happens!
In order for us to be the heroes who can properly blend the ancient and the modern, without getting totally lost in one or the other, we need to walk into the lab that is our life each day with a plan. This is what I will be testing out today, this is how I plan to push the envelope today, this is my challenge for today. I may be triumphant, I may not, but here is my plan.
In the Path of the Just, one of the classical mussar (self-development) texts of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato, (1707-1746, Italy-Israel), the author encourages people to spend time at the end of the day each day, going over their day, and seeing where they were successful, and where there was room for improvement the next day. Just as a storekeeper takes inventory at the end of the day to prevent slippage, so too the Ramchal tells us we must take moral inventory each day to prevent slippage.
To take the Ramchal’s analogy further, just as the researcher plans his day out before starting work, and just as the sales team has their nine o’clock meeting to set the goals of the day, to make sure the day has direction and purpose, so too we should set for ourselves a goal each day for bringing the ancient wisdom into our modern life.
Today I will work on appreciating my parents more (Ex. 20:12).
Today I will work on seeing G-d in my daily life (Ex. 20:12, Deut 5:6).
Today I will work on not bearing a grudge even when someone wrongs me (Lev. 19:18).
Today I will work on not speaking negatively about anyone (Lev. 19:16).
Today I will work on giving charity according to my means (Deut 15:11).
Today I will work on not eating or drinking more than I need. (Deut. 21:20).
If we were to write down each day on a pad of paper near our bed what we plan on working on that day, and then come back that evening and evaluate how our day went, I’m very confident that within one month, anyone would see significant success, as well as measurable increases in self-esteem and meaningfulness. It’s a simple equation for injecting our modern lives with the benefits of our people’s ancient wisdom. The collision of the ancient and the modern… it’s a beautiful thing!
Parsha Dvar Torah
This week’s Parsha begins with the reward given to Pinchas. Pinchas glorified G-d by killing one of the leaders of the tribe of Shimon who was publicly committing adultery and idolatry with a princess from Midian. The Midianite people had sent their daughters to seduce the Jews. At the moment of their highest vulnerability, the women would entice the Jewish men to serve the Midianite Gods. Pinchas, with his quick and violent action, brought the people back to their senses.
The parsha begins: “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Pinchas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the kohen has turned My anger away from the children of Israel by his zealously avenging Me among them…Therefore, say, "I hereby give him My covenant of peace.” (Numbers, 25:12)
For a man who committed a zealous and violent act, peace seems an incongruous reward. The Talilei Oros quotes the Steipler Gaon (1899-1985, Ukraine-Israel) who explains the following idea. Normally peace is a diametrically opposed to zealousness, and one who acts zealously is liable to lose any sense of peace. However, Pinchas’ zealousness did not come from anger, but from a deep love for G-d and a desire to stop the devastating spiritual downslide the tribal leader was causing with his brazen public idolatry and adultery.
G-d therefore assured him that he would not lose his sense of peacefulness through this act, but would instead be rewarded with more peace.
Everything has an appointed season, and there is a time for every matter under the heaven.. a time to plant and a time to uproot that which is planted… A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time of wailing and a time of dancing… a time to keep and a time to cast away… a time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)
In today’s world there is often a push to paint everything with broad, over-arching strokes that are actually quite dangerous. We want peace everywhere, all the time, and would rather look the other way at the people who don’t want peace and are attacking us. We want to be happy all the time, and find ways to make even a funeral a happy event, murmuring platitudes like “Charlie would have wanted this to be a real party.” We want to shower our children with kindness all the time. We want our whole world to be painted in vibrant, cheerful colors all the time.
Judaism believes that there is time and a place for everything. The only way we can feel true joy is if we can also experience sadness. The only way we can be truly kind to our children is if we sometimes discipline them. The only way we can have peace in the world is if people occasionally act violently to stop that which threatens the peace.
Even though Pinchas acted violently, it was done for the right reasons. Therefore G-d assured him that this will not make him into a violent person, but rather a person who has a greater appreciation for what true peace really is.
Parsha Summary
This week begins with the reward given to Pinchas who glorified G-d by eradicating one of the leaders of the tribe of Shimon who was publicly committing adultery with a princess from Midian. The Midianite people had sent their daughters to seduce the Jews. At the moment of their highest vulnerability, the women would entice the Jewish men to serve the Midianite Gods. Pinchas, with his quick action, brought the people back to their senses. The reward Pinchas received was the ability to join the ranks of the Kohanim, the people whose entire raison d'etre is to bring people closer to G-d by cleansing them of the negative effects of their sins. After this incident, the Jews went to war with the Midianites, in retribution for the spiritual war the Midianites waged against the Jews.
If you remember in the beginning of the Book of Bamidbar (Numbers), there was a major census taken of all the Jews. That was at the beginning of the Jew's forty years in the desert. Now, at the end of their 40 year journey, G-d commands Moshe to take another census. Why was another census necessary? A number of reasons are given. First, just like a shepherd counts his sheep after a wolf attacks, so too G-d, after forty years and a number of punitive plagues, counts the Jews to see how many remained. In addition, just as Moshe counted the people at the beginning of his leadership, now that his watch was about to end, he counts them again before returning his flock to their master.
Another purpose of the census was to count the people by family, as this would determine their portions when they entered Israel. At this point, the daughters of Tzelafchad came before Moshe to make a request. They were from a family with only women, five of them to be exact. Their father had died, and they were concerned that with no men to represent them, their family would get no portion in Israel. Moshe, after a quick consultation with G-d, told them not to worry, as they would get a portion of the Land of Israel in lieu of their father. (Here is an interesting note: 2000 years ago, Jews were the most liberal nation in the world in regards to women's rights. They gave women land, offered them many forms of protection in the case of divorce or death of a spouse, and gave them equal protection under law. Today, people look at Orthodoxy and claim that it represses women. It is important to try to understand the Orthodox position before judging them, in light of their record of being the foremost champion of women's rights for thousands of years.) Once dealing with laws of inheritance, the Torah here summarizes the Jewish laws of bequest and inheritance.
The Torah, now close to wrapping up the narrative of the Jew's desert experience, tells of G-d informing Moshe that he will die imminently and he therefore has to pass the mantle of leadership onto his principal pupil, Joshua. The Parsha then concludes with a list of the sacrifices brought on all the various festivals. That's all Folks!
Quote of the Week: A well spent day brings happy sleep. ~ Leonardo Da Vinci
Random Fact of the Week: There are 132 Hawaiian Islands.
Funny Line of the Week: I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. I can’t put it down.
Have a Splendalicious Shabbos,
R’ Leiby Burnham