October 2, 2020
Eight Hundred Paths to Hashem
Sukkot, 5781
This week in our daf yomi study on Eruvin, 54b, we came across the following story.
The Talmud tells us Rabbi Preidah had a student to whom he would teach a Torah passage four hundred times. Only then would the student master it. One time, while Rabbi Preidah was in the middle of teaching the student, some people came in and interrupted their studies and asked Rabbi Preidah for his help in regards to a certain mitzvah. Rabbi Preidah continued teaching the student, but this time the student was unsuccessful in grasping the material.
Rabbi Preidah asked his student, “How come you aren’t able to grasp it today?” The student answered that ever since Rabbi Preidah was interrupted, the student kept anticipating that Rabbi Preidah would again be called for help with respect to a mitzvah. On account of this the student said he was unable to concentrate properly. So Rabbi Preidah taught the passage to the student an additional 400 times.
This story is often held up as an example of the incredible patience that a teacher must have in helping one’s student learn the material. And also of the diligence t takes for a student to master the material. These are indeed the central lessons of the story. To be a teacher requires enormous and unending patience. To be a teacher is perhaps the holiest of all professions. We would be nothing in life without our teachers and I am incredibly grateful to all my teachers.
But there’s another lesson that we should draw from this story. Rabbi Preidah taught this passage 400 times because there are many different ways to learn Torah and to acquire the spiritual lessons necessary to approach Hashem. In the previous paragraph in the Talmud we were told that even Moshe Rabbenu had to review each passage four times. Some explain that this is because each passage of the Torah must be understood on four levels called Pardes: Peshat, Remez, Derash, and Sod (see Lehorot Natan to Mishpatim).
For Moshe Rabbeinu there were four ways to learn Torah. But for some of us there can be as many as four hundred different ways—or even 800 ways--of acquiring Torah.
Just as there are multiple ways to approach Hashem through Torah study, so too there are multiple paths when it comes to service of Hashem. We see this in the different ways in which we celebrate the holidays. Each of the holidays represents a different path to Hashem.
Consider the four holidays that we celebrate in the month of Tishrei.
First, two weeks ago we celebrated Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is the most formal of all the holidays. We crown Hashem as King of the Universe. It is a coronation, symbolized by the blowing of the shofar in obedience to Hashem. Rosh Hashanah is a formal spiritual experience.
Second, we observe Yom Kippur, which represents a spiritual cleansing. We atone for our sins and are given a second chance. Yom Kippur is a cathartic spiritual experience.
Third, we celebrate Sukkot—a holiday of pure joy. On a typical year we would entertain many guests and hold festive events in our sukkot. We also have daily parades where we walk around the bimah (hoshanot) and proudly display the fruits of our harvest (arbah minim). Sukkot is a festive spiritual experience.
And, fourth, following Sukkot, we have Shemini Atzeret, which represents a retreat from the many rituals of sukkot. It is a form of spiritual contraction (tzimtzum). Shemini Atzeret represents an embrace of minimalism as a form of spiritual experience.
A basic message of the multiple holidays in Tushrei is that we need to recognize that within our tradition there are multiple paths to service of Hashem.
Indeed, this central idea is contained within the main symbol of the holiday of Sukkot—the arbah minim.
The Torah describes the arbah minim as follows:
“On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days” (Vayikra 23:40).
The Midrash interprets the symbolism of the arbah minim as relating to four types of Jews.
The etrog has taste and smell and it represents Jews who have both Torah knowledge and performance of mitzvoth.
The lulav has taste but no smell and it represents Jews who have Torah knowledge but are lacking mitzvoth.
The haddasim have smell but no taste and it represents Jews who perform mitzvoth but are lacking Torah knowledge.
Finally, the aravot have neither taste nor smell and thus represent the Jew who sadly lacks Torah knowledge and mitzvoth.
The Holy One says, “Let them all be tied together and atone for each other” (Vayikrah Rabbah, 30).
In order to fulfill the mitzvah of arbah minim one must bind them together and hold them. Significantly we rule that these arbah minim are essential for each other. So if one has three of the species, but is missing the fourth, then a blessing may not be recited at all (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 651:1).
This is a very powerful concept. Each of these minim represents a Jew who has a powerful spiritual value to bring to the community. Surprisingly even the Jew who finds representation in the aravah and is devoid of Torah knowledge or performance of mitzvoth is considered essential to the spiritual health of the community.
The holiday of sukkot reminds us to embrace the multiple paths to Hashem through Torah study and observance of our ritual.
But actually the holiday is so much broader even than that.
A major theme of Sukkot is the universalistic themes of the holiday that remind us that practicing Judaism is not the only path to serve Hashem. According to the Torah we are commanded to bring seventy bulls in the Beit Hamikdash as sacrificial offerings on the holiday of Sukkot. These bulls represent the seventy nations of the world (see Rashi, Numbers 29:33) and are being brought as a reminder that our holiday and prayers are a celebration for every nation in the world.
This too is the theme of the prophecy of Zecharia that we read on the first day of Sukkot.
The prophet tells us that there will be a battle in the end of days between the forces of good and evil. It will eventually become clear that the evil forces in the world will be destroyed and then the nations of the world will come forward every year to observe the holiday of Sukkot. “They will ascend annually to prostrate themselves to the King, Gd of Hosts, and to celebrate the festival of Sukkot” (Zecharia 14:16).
The Talmud explains that the nations of the world will ask Hashem for a specific commandment to fulfill in order to take part in a redeemed world. Hashem will assign to the nations of the world the mitzvah of dwelling in Sukkot (Avodah Zarah, 3a).
Thus, the messianic vision of the world is a world in which Jew and Gentile live together in sukkot in appreciation of Gd’s glory.
The goal is not that we dwell alone in sukkot but that eventually we will dwell with our neighbors of different faiths.
Even though covid has brought so many difficult months to our world one blessing that it has brought is that we have become closer with our neighbors.
By being forced to move our sanctuary into our parking lot, we have been able to recite our prayers in a public space and thereby get to know our neighbors and appreciate each other in a more beautiful way.
I felt this so powerfully on Yom Kippur Day. As we stood outside and prayed many of our neighbors stopped by and wished us a happy holiday or simply said Shalom.
Our neighbors have been so gracious in making space for our prayer services. For example, I noticed their tremendous sensitivity in avoiding driving through the alleyway on Yom Kippur so as not to disturb our prayers.
Yom Kippur with our shul was a very special day. We had amazing prayers, amazing kavvannah, and it was wonderful to see so many friends. But the most powerful moment for me was after mussaf—at around 1:30 pm when everyone had left except for me, the chazzan, and the police officer– when our amazing neighbor walked out of his house for the first time all day. I thanked our neighbor for being sensitive to our faith since their garage opens into our lot and I had noticed that no one from his house exited from the garage all day. I said to him I am sure it was because you didn’t want to disturb our prayers. I told him that it wasn’t a disturbance in the slightest. He told me he still didn’t want to interfere in any way. He then asked me what time the fast ended. I told him the time and then asked why he wanted to know. He said: “Isn’t today, the Day of Atonement? I am fasting with you.”
Our neighbor fasted in solidarity with us! What a blessing! What an inspiration about what it means to be a neighbor! What a recognition by our neighbor of the powerful idea that there are multiple spiritual paths to Gd.
This Yom Kippur I feel like our neighbor taught us the true meaning of the holiday of Sukkot. We all dwelt in a sukkah together!
Shmuel Herzfeld
