The articles in this column are transcriptions and adaptations of shiurim by Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, zt”l. The Rav’s unique perspective on Chumash permeated many of the shiurim and lectures he presented at various venues over a 40-plus-year period. His words add an important perspective that makes the Chumash in particular, and our tradition in general, vibrant and relevant to our generation.
Previous generations of American Jews were less educated but were committed to the synagogue. Those generations would steadfastly attend services three times a day. The young Jew of today feels alienated from the synagogue. Young couples do not join a local synagogue. Young Jews wander from synagogue to synagogue without laying down roots, in constant conflict with the established synagogue at each station along the way. He feels more at home in the house of study than the house of prayer.
Even religiously committed Jews have lost the commitment to daily communal prayer, tefillha b’tzibbur. The lack of attendance by day school children at daily services is a major problem. Perhaps the children do not have a sense of urgency to attend because their fathers do not make it a priority to attend. This lack of importance manifests itself in a lack of respect for the synagogue and the congregational rabbi.
What is the great fundamental idea behind the synagogue that they are missing, and that we need to clarify and reinforce? What does a house dedicated to prayer mean to Judaism and the philosophy of man?
The greatness and tragedy of man is reflected in the idea of prayer and the house of prayer. Man is in exile; or put another way he is homeless. Homeless man must pray. i.e. he has a strong need to pray. The word exile triggers association with the Jew. No other nation besides the Jews ever existed in a state of exile. While many nations have been displaced, the affected populations never suffered the experiences of the Jew. Over time, the nostalgia and commitment of other displaced peoples to the home country are extinguished. The exile experience fades away to the point that the second or third generation knows nothing of the ancestral country. Home is the newly adopted country, the old homeland means nothing.
The Jew on the other hand was able to mingle with the societies of whatever adopted land he found himself, while maintaining a strong relationship with his homeland. The State of Israel is the best proof of our unbroken memory and connection to our land. We still await the arrival of Mashiach and out triumphal re-entry to the land. Even the Jew who fought with Trotsky and Lenin never forgot that promise of redemption and continued to dream of returning to his homeland. Half of the blessings of our Shemoneh Esrei revolve around our desire to end the exile and return home.
Judaism says that from a metaphysical perspective, the exile experience is universal. It represents the exile experience that man was burdened with when he was exiled from the Garden of Eden. The idea of existentialism has taken root in the Post World War II era, as man attempts to understand himself and his fellow man, and inject a dose of rationality into our lives. Man is in exile. Look through the Bible, from Abraham to David, we find many references to the Jew as sojourner. Man is homeless as he was expelled from his paradisiacal home. Inside paradise, man finds himself showered with unbounded love from Hashem. Outside of paradise, in exile, man is homeless and finds himself consumed with fear of disease and despair.