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Shemini Atzeret 5767
Rabbi Herzfeld
If you go to the parking lot of most Synagogues, you will see
reserved parking spaces. The prime spots will be saved for the
Rabbi, Cantor, Executive Director, and officers of the board. But
if you go the fastest growing churches in America, you will see
something else. They also have reserved spots. But their prime
spots are reserved for first-time visitors.
This point was made by Ron Wolfson, in his recent book, "The
Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a
Sacred Community."
Every Synagogue claims to be a welcoming community. But how many
really are? Studies show that many first time visitors to Synagogue
end up leaving unloved and un-welcomed. How good are we ourselves
in that area?
Of all the holidays in our tradition, Shemini Atzeret is the one
that most speaks to this theme.
How so? After all, Shemini Atzeret has no laws that speak
specifically to guests. And in fact, it has no specific mitzvoth.
It has nothing distinguishing it. But maybe that's why it teaches
us this valuable lesson about how to welcome people.
There is a well known story in the Talmud of a Gentile who came to
Shamai and said, "Convert me on the condition that you teach me the
entire Torah while I stand on one foot—al regel achat. Shamai threw
this man out of his office. Shamai had no patience for a man who
wanted to join the community but who had no interest in putting in
the hard work that Shammai had put in. So the gentile went to
Hillel who said, "De-alakh snei le-chavreikh lo taaveid, that which
is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow man. This is the
essence of the Torah and the rest is commentary."
Hillel's message is that you can join our community—even if you
don't know all our rules. We will bend over backwards to let you
in. We will be extra accommodating to you.
Hillel is not saying, "We don't stand for anything." On the
contrary, just the opposite! Hillel was the head of the Academy
that formulated most of the halakhic opinions which we follow
today. Hillel knew exactly who he was and exactly how one should
serve Hashem. It is because Hillel was so strong and secure in his
beliefs that he allowed someone to come in and join even though the
visitor did not fully fit in.
A community that is secure can welcome in many people who don't
exactly fit in. Heterogeneity should not be seen as a sign of
weakness but of strength and security.
We as a community should be especially proud that this is one of the
strengths of our community. We welcome in guests and visitors even
though they might not know all our customs and manners. We welcome
them in not only to teach them, but also to learn from their
uniqueness; to see what they can offer us, precisely because they
are a little different.
An interesting explanation of the Hillel story was offered by Reb
Yisrael the tzaddik of Ruzhin. Reb Yisrael explained that the
gentile asked for an explanation al regel achat—usually translated
as "on one leg"—but it could also be translated to mean "about one
holiday." Reb Yisrael suggested that the gentile wanted an
explanation of Shemini Atzeret. In that context, Hillel taught the
gentile that the essence of Shemini Atzeret is that one should not
do unto others what they do not want done to themselves. (Cited in
the Festivals in Halakhah, p. 333.)
It is because Shemini Atzeret has no unique laws that we can
understand it as a holiday that teaches us the value of welcoming.
Every other holiday vies to say that it is the best holiday. We can
imagine all the holidays saying, "Look at how beautiful our rituals
are. Look how great we are." In contrast, Shemini Atzeret
says, "We are nothing. We just want to absorb the beauty of all the
holidays that preceded us. Just come and celebrate with me. I will
learn from you."
Ultimately, Shemini Atzeret contains no unique laws so that it can
symbolize the value of welcoming.
The Torah commands "Bayom ha-shemini atzeret tiheyeh lachem," on the
eighth day of the holiday make for yourselves an atzeret. There are
different understandings of what the word atzeret means. But one
explanation –based upon an interpretation of Rashi—is that it means
to form a gathering.
The holiday of Sukkot commands us to move outside of the home. We
have ushpizin—spiritual guests who visit us every night. Our new
home—the sukkah—is unlocked. Everyone can enter. But then comes
Shemini Atzeret, the time to return to the old home. But before we
go back to the old home, we must gather together. We gather and
enter our homes as a community in order to ensure that we retain the
lessons of the Sukkah—and the primary lesson of the Sukkah is the
lesson of welcoming strangers and guests into our home.
So as we leave Sukkot, how do we as a congregation make sure that we
retain the spiritual lessons of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret. We can
do so by keeping the goal of welcoming at the forefront of our
agenda.
In some congregations, if people walk into the Synagogue and look a
little different, talk differently, speak a little differently or
say things that people don't want to hear, then the people are
either shunned or not warmly welcomed. Similarly a person might
walk in and not know where to sit or how to hold a prayer book.
They even might not realize that it is our custom not to speak
during services. They might not realize that we have certain
protocols of behavior which they should maintain. And yes, they
might violate them.
When they violate them, we might be offended. Deeply offended. I
remember once before I came here I was at a bar mitzvah in a
different shul on a Shabbat. Suddenly in the middle of the bar
mitzvah a man pulled out a camera and took a picture. I was
shocked. My initial reaction was anger. But then I realized that
he was our guest and he did not realize how offensive I would find
his actions. He didn't know better. How could he? He was only a
guest.
If we see guests or new comers we should embrace them. No one would
argue with that approach. But even when we see guests or newcomers
violating proper protocol, we should still embrace them. In fact,
that's all the more reason to embrace them! How else are they going
to learn about what makes our community so special?
Let's go back to the parking lot example. I'd like to suggest a
parallel. Every Shabbat we have seven aliyot and other ritual
honors that we hand out. We could reserve those honors for our most
active members or we could reserve a few for our active members and
the others for first time visitors.
When we see a guest, we should see an opportunity- -an opportunity to
teach, embrace, and learn. It is only through welcoming the
stranger that we can truly fulfill our mandate as the children of
Israel who left the desert and dwelt in Sukkot.
In light of this I want to present everyone in the shul with a
Shemini Atzeret gift—a copy of Dr. Wolfson's book. All I ask is
that you read the book and when you are done you put your name in it
and put it back in our bookshelves. This way all our future guests
and members will be able to read your book as well.
