Have you read the Good Book?
Your Christian friends have. (Shabbos 45)
A number of years ago, I was sitting on a plane and I happened to
overhear the conversation of two young women in the row behind.
“What did you bring with you to read on the way?” asked the first.
“My Bible,” replied her friend, “I’m trying my best to make my way
through it. I’m just past half way. Have you read the Bible?”
“Of course,” the first one responded, “I’ve actually just started reading
it for the third time. Each time, I’m
amazed at how much more I understand!”
I don’t know the age of those
ladies or what they looked like. I
didn’t turn around. But that
conversation will remain with me forever.
I thought to myself: Here are Christian girls who have read through the Bible
multiple times. And I, despite all my
years of Torah learning, have never made my way through the entire Tanach. Right then and there, I committed to reading
my Bible on a regular basis and making Tanach an integral part of my daily
learning schedule.
בְּעוֹ מִינֵּיהּ דְּרַב
מַהוּ לְטַלְטוֹלֵי שְׁרָגָא דַחֲנוּכְּתָא מִקַּמֵּי חַבָּרֵי בְּשַׁבְּתָא,
וַאֲמַר לְהוּ: שַׁפִּיר דָּמֵי! — שְׁעַת הַדְּחָק שָׁאנֵי. דְּהָא אֲמַרוּ לְהוּ
רַב כָּהֲנָא וְרַב אָשֵׁי לְרַב: הָכִי הִלְכְתָא? אֲמַר לְהוּ: כְּדַי הוּא
רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן לִסְמוֹךְ עָלָיו בִּשְׁעַת הַדְּחָק
מקמי חברי - שלא יראוהו
בחצר כדאמרינן בפרקין דלעיל דנותנו בטפח הסמוך לרשות הרבים וידעו שהדליקו בו נר
מקמי חברי בשבתא - שביום
חג שלהם לא היו מניחין נר אלא בבית ע"ז ואע"ג דבשעת הסכנה אמרינן בבמה
מדליקין דמניחה על שולחנו ודיו הכא מיירי אם יארע שלא הניחה על שולחנו א"נ
אומר ר"י דשעת הסכנה דלעיל לאו סכנת חברים קאמר אלא סכנת גזירה שגזרו שלא
להדליק נר חנוכה
Didn’t they raise a dilemma before Rav: Are you
allowed to move a Chanukah menorah away from the “chavrai” on Shabbos? And he said to them: One may well do so,
as exigent circumstances are different. For Rav Kahana and Rav Ashi said to
Rav: Is that the halacha? He responded: Rabbi Shimon is worthy to rely upon in
exigent circumstances.
Rashi: To remove it so that they
would not notice it in the courtyard, as we said in the earlier chapter that
one should place the menorah in the space close to the public
thoroughfare. And they would know that
they had lit a candle there.
Tosfos: On their festival,
they would not permit public lightings other than in their temples. And even though we rule that during times
of danger one may place the menorah on the dining table and that is
sufficient, we are dealing here with a case where it happened that he did not
place it on the table. Alternatively, R”Y
says that the abovementioned danger is not the danger of “friends”, but the
danger of a government decree not to light Chanukah candles.
In order to publicize the miracle,
Chanukah candles must be lit in the front doorway or by the window. At various times in our history, however,
lighting publicly was dangerous. Tosfos
points out that if the authorities had enacted an antisemitic law forbidding
the kindling of Chanukah lights, the solution was simply to light candles on
the dining table. That way, if they were
to enter unexpectedly, the lights would appear to be mere dinner lights.
But if that’s the law in exigent
circumstances, asks Tosfos, then why is the Gemara concerned about a situation
where someone lit by the front door? Given
any dangerous decrees, everyone would have lit at the table. They conclude that our Gemara is not dealing
with a government decree, but the danger of “friends”. Who are these friends they speak of?
While Rashi translates the term “chavrai”
in the Gemara as a nation that existed during Persian times, Tosfos’
translation of the word as “friends” appears to be a tongue-in-cheek reference to
early Christian antisemites, who would attack the Jews on Christmas. Indeed, Rabbi Gavriel Zinner quotes a view
that “if the gentiles saw a light in a Jewish home on the day of their
festival, they would start pogroms.”
In order to avert such attacks, for
many centuries in Ashkenazi communities, it became common practice to avoid
learning Torah on Christmas eve. The day
is called “Nittel Nacht” and it is customary to engage in
extra-curricular activities, such as chess, until midnight. We would do our best to stay as inconspicuous
as possible, leaving the lights down low and not venturing out into the street
to attend one’s regular evening Torah classes.
The Gemara seems to refer to a
situation where someone put their menorah by the door as they would every night
of Chanukah. Suddenly, they hear trouble coming down the road, and the
realization of the date on the Gregorian calendar hits them. They’re desperate to hide the evidence of
their festival lights. But it’s Shabbat,
when we are not allowed to move the candles.
It’s not a clear and present danger – after all, the revellers might be
non-violent, just loud. Are they
permitted to bring the menorah inside just to be on the safe side? Rav responds that, in such circumstances, you
can bring the menorah inside, and avoid any unnecessary attention from the
Christian neighbours.
The Chasam Sofer offers an
ingenious explanation for the custom of Nittel and why the ban only lasts until
midnight. What happens at midnight? Christians head off to church for Mass. At that moment, if all the Christians were
engaged in religious devotion and the Jews were sleeping, we would look bad in
the heavenly court. The Rabbis thus
instituted a ban on Torah learning for the first half of the night. Consequently, we must delay our nightly study
schedule until midnight and only then start catching up on what we missed!
Most contemporary Christians have
no idea about the religion’s spotty history.
A few years ago, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Nostra
Aetate, the Catholic Church’s reassessment of its approach towards the Jewish
people, I spoke to a Christian audience about various major Christian attacks
on Jews over the centuries. Perhaps the
greatest eye-opener for all was the diametrically different perspective we each
have on the Crusades. For Christians, it
was a period they take immense pride in, an era of triumph. For Jews, the Crusades were a bloodbath when
Jewish communities were destroyed and our people murdered in cold blood.
Thank God, we are blessed to live
in an age when Christians have long since repented of their past misdeeds. Christians and Jews today are best of friends
in ways our ancestors could never have dreamed of. And so if the Chasam Sofer was willing to be
inspired by Christian devotion, we most certainly must do what we can to strive
to reach the levels of religious devotion of our Christian friends.
Which brings me back to 10,000
metres above the Pacific. If Christians
know their Bible and we don’t, how must that look in the heavenly court? It’s time we reclaimed our heritage. The Tanach, or Written Torah, is the
foundation of Judaism. And yet, so many
of us aren’t even familiar with the basic storylines in the Bible. Across the globe, from South Korea to social
media, the Talmud seems to be all the rage right now. But whatever happened to the Bible? Somehow, our key text got lost in all the
excitement. The Talmud is certainly
vital to Judaism. But the Bible is no
less important.
We currently find ourselves in the
midst of Sefirah – the period of counting up to the festival of Shavuot, when
we celebrate the Giving of the Torah.
Each day, we are called upon to prepare ourselves for the big
event. What better way to prepare than
to learn a little Tanach? Whether you’re
learning it in-depth or simply reading through and anticipating gaining a
deeper appreciation on the second or third time around, a mere five or ten
minutes a day of Bible will be life-changing!
At our shul, Hampstead Garden
Suburb Synagogue, we are aiming to complete the entire Tanach as a community
initiative by Shavuot. If you’re part of
the HGSS community, please sign up for a couple of chapters. If you’re part of another community, perhaps
consider a similar initiative. It
doesn’t need to happen over a period of seven weeks, a year is also an
admirable congregational accomplishment.
May the Bible become an essential part of your daily routine!
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