In August of 1967, two months after the completion of the Six Day War, then-IDF Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren stirred up a controversy that continues to reverberate until this day. The controversy was religious in nature and began with a tefillah he inserted into the IDF prayerbook. The tefillah celebrates that our holiest city of Yerushalayim no longer lies in ruins. We can all agree that this is cause for celebration, but the controversy surrounded the placement of this tefillah: in the middle of shmone esray Tisha B\u2019av day, in place of the \u201cNachem\u201d paragraph printed in our siddurim. Rabbi Goren boldly removed the description of a \u201ccity that is in sorrow, laid waste, scorned and desolate\u201d and that \u201csits in mourning like a barren childless woman.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Parshat Yitro we read of Yitro\u2019s advice to Moshe to improve the judicial system. Rather than having Moshe stand in judgement all day and all night, he should develop a system of judges and Moshe will only adjudicate over the most difficult matters. In our parsha Moshe summarizes his father in law\u2019s advice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u05d4\u05b8\u05d1\u05a3\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b8\u05a0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05a8\u05d9\u05dd \u05d7\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05a7\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d1\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u059b\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05bb\u05e2\u05b4\u0596\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d1\u05b0\u05d8\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u0591\u05dd\u2026\u05c3\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPick from each of your tribes men who are wise, discerning, and experienced\u2026\u201d (Devarim 1:13)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And two pesukim later:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u05d5\u05b8\u05d0\u05b6\u05e7\u05b7\u05bc\u059e\u05d7 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05be\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05e9\u05b5\u05c1\u05a3\u05d9 \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d1\u05b0\u05d8\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u0597\u05dd \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05a4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d7\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd\u0599 \u05d5\u05b4\u05bd\u05d9\u05d3\u05bb\u05e2\u05b4\u0594\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b8\u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05a5\u05df \u05d0\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u059b\u05dd \u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u0596\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05b2\u05dc\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u0591\u05dd\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo I took your tribal leaders, wise and experienced men, and appointed them heads over you..\u201d (Devarim 1:15)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The commentaries point out that it seems Moshe did not succeed fully. He searched for \u05d7\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05a7\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05b0\u05d1\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u059b\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b4\u05d9\u05d3\u05bb\u05e2\u05b4\u0596\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d1\u05b0\u05d8\u05b5\u05d9\u05db\u05b6\u0591\u05dd, judges who were wise, discerning, and experienced. He ends up with \u05d7\u05b2\u05db\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd\u0599 \u05d5\u05b4\u05bd\u05d9\u05d3\u05bb\u05e2\u05b4\u0594\u05d9\u05dd, wise and experienced men. What happened to the search for \u05e0\u05b0\u05d1\u05b9\u05e0\u05b4\u059b\u05d9\u05dd, men of discernment? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rashi explains that Moshe was admitting that he was unsuccessful. He could not find people with all three qualities; presumably they didn\u2019t exist. So he was forced to settle for the wise and experienced judges, despite the fact that they were not discerning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moshe Rabenu is teaching us a valuable lesson through this act of integrity. Take a moment to contemplate who you know that is wise, discerning, and experienced. These are not binary character traits, everyone has some wisdom, some discernment, some experience. If I were searching for one of these judges, I would find the person who fits the bill best. But Moshe was intellectually honest. He knew exactly what he was looking for: a specific amount of wisdom, a specific amount of discernment, and a specific amount of experience. And he knew that his appointments fell short. He does not say they are unqualified; we would all love to be described by Moshe as possessing wisdom. But he admits that were lacking the credentials he sought. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we daven this Tisha B\u2019av, we will not be saying Rabbi Goren\u2019s revised edition of Nachem. His modifications were mostly rejected both by scholars and publishers. We were never mourning the physical loss of a city. We were mourning the spiritual loss of Yerushalayim. When we pray for the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash, we are not simply davening for a construction project. We pray for that spiritual clarity and to fill the void of Godlessness in a world which can feel scorned and desolate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s been over 50 years of us having control over Yerushalayim. Rabbi Goren would marvel at the current State of Israel. But like Moshe Rabenu appointing judges, we must be honest that our goals have not been reached. We are thankful for what we have, but our teffilot remain unanswered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I heard a beautiful story in the name of Rabbi Hillel Grossman who is the Rabbi in Woodridge and whose parents live in my building here in Riverdale. Upon visiting a jail this week, the chaplain noticed one of the prisoners lying on a narrow cot reading a book with a smile from ear to ear. It looked bizarre: through the bars he sees this man in a cramped room just a few feet from a toilet relaxing with this huge smile on his face. So he ask the man: \u201cwhat are you smiling about?\u201d He responds \u201cI am living the American dream. I have three meals a day, we have a well-stocked gym, and I\u2019m taking courses for college. I am living the American dream.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s a man in a tiny little prison and he feels like he\u2019s living the American dream! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rabbi Grossman explained that that man is us. We are in exile. We have no Beit Hamikdash. We live in a world of rising antisemitism and hate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We should be thankful for the physical and even spiritual comforts we have in life. But let\u2019s make sure over the next day to match Moshe\u2019s integrity and remind ourselves of what we are lacking this Tisha B\u2019av. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In August of 1967, two months after the completion of the Six Day War, then-IDF Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren stirred up a controversy that continues to reverberate until this day. The controversy was religious in nature and began with a tefillah he inserted into the IDF prayerbook. The tefillah celebrates that our holiest city of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,72,10,40],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":374,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}