The Children of G-d Must Be United

This Shabbat, we are going to bless the new month of Elul, that is, the last month of this Jewish year 5785.

There is a fascinating verse in this week's Torah portion, Reah:

You are children of the Lord, your G-d…

The Torah says the custom of many pagans was to cut themselves in demonstration of grief over the death of a loved one. The Torah prohibits this behavior.  There must be limits to grief.

The Talmud, however, adds a second meaning to this commandment: the Torah is saying: Do not splinter yourself into separate groups. This is a prohibition against the Jewish people becoming divided.

One practical example, if a synagogue has a certain tradition of how to pray, one may not come and begin praying in a different tradition without the consent of the community. 

But there is something strange here, and the question was first pointed out by the 16th-century Jewish sage and leader, known as the Maharal, chief Rabbi of Prague. The Talmud and the Midrash often present various interpretations for one biblical term or verse, but nowhere do we find two interpretations that are completely disconnected.

On the simple level, it means scraping off your skin. Now the Talmud tells us that it means, "don't split up into separate groups." How do these two divergent instructions come together in a single word? Why would the Torah communicate such two disparate ideas in one word-lacerating your body and dividing a community?

In the words of the Maharal: "Every man of wisdom will be amazed at the relationship of their words with the simple meaning of the text, at a truly awesome depth. Yet, the man who is a stranger to this wisdom will wonder at their unlikely reading of the verse, their words seeming implausible to him."

Yet it is here that we can once again gain insight into the depth of Torah wisdom. 

The truth is that the two interpretations are not only not divergent, but they are also the same. They both represent the same truth-one on a concrete, physical level; the other on a deeper, spiritual level.

The Torah prohibits us from cutting our skin as a sign of bereavement. Our bodies are sacred; our organism is integrated, precious, and holy; we must never harm it. We must not separate even a bit of skin from our flesh. Even difficult moments of grief don't allow us to give up on our lives and the beauty of our bodies. 

But that is exactly what we are doing when we allow our people to become splintered. The entire Jewish nation is essentially one single organism. We may number 15 million people, and come from different walks of life, profess extremely different opinions, and behave in opposite ways, but we are essentially like one "super organism." When I cut off a certain Jew from my life, when I cut myself off from a certain Jewish community, I am in truth cutting off part of my own flesh.

When I cut my skin, I am lacerating my body. When I cut you off from me, I am lacerating my soul. Because our souls are one.

I once read the following powerful story.

In the late 18th century, in Eastern Europe, there was a terrible conflict between the Chassidim and their opponents, who suspected the Chassidim of heresy and blasphemy.

Rabbi Refael Hakohen Katz, the Rabbi of Hamburg and author of Toras Yekusiel, refused to sign against the Chasidim. This was his response:

There is a famous question on the story of the Akeida, the binding of Isaac, in Genesis. G-d instructs Abraham to bring up his son, Isaac, as an offering. Abraham complies. At the last moment, as he is about to slaughter Isaac, the Torah states: "And a heavenly angel of G-d called out to him and said: Abraham! Abraham!... And he said: 'Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, nor do anything to him." At the last moment, Isaac is saved.

There is something strange about this story. The instruction to bring Isaac as an offering came directly from G-d.  G-d Himself told Abraham to offer his son to Him. Why did the reverse stop-order come from an angel and not from G-d?

The answer, said Reb Refael, is this. If G-d wants to tell you not to touch a Jewish child, sending an angel will suffice. But if He wants you to "slaughter" another Jew, an angel can't suffice! G-d Himself needs to come and tell you to do it. If you are going to "slaughter" another Jew, make sure you hear it from G-d Himself.

To let Isaac live, the instruction could be communicated via an angel. To let Isaac die, G-d needed to show Himself.

I will not sign a ban against another Jew," even when an angel tells me to do so.. To "slaughter" a Jew, I need to hear it from G-d Himself.

It is also interesting to note that, according to many sources, the famed Chafetz Chaim, Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan, who dedicated his life to increasing Jewish unity, and his works spread among all Jews, was a grandson of Reb Refael of Hamburg.

Sometimes we get into fights with people over idealistic reasons. We "slaughter" people with our words or actions, and we feel that we are acting on behalf of an angel. We feel angelic about our actions.

Be wary, says the Torah! If you are going to cut someone off from your life, you want to hear it from G-d Himself. If not, let it go.

In the name of "holy" reasons, parents stop speaking with children, or children cut off their parents, and complete families get shattered in the fighting. It is an absolute and painful disaster, one that the people might regret for decades to come. 

Of course, sometimes we need healthy boundaries between ourselves and others to protect our sanity and life-energy.

But before you are about to "slaughter" a fellow Jew, through words, actions, or even a comment, make sure you are 100 percent sure this is what G-d wants from you. Make sure you are aligned with your deepest Divine, regulated core, before you make the next move.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky