OUR HAPPY PLACE

“Rather, only at the place that Hashem, your God will choose from among all your tribes to place His Name there, shall you seek out His Presence and come there.” (Devarim 12:5)

Moshe informs the Israelites that in the Land of Canaan there will be a place that “God will choose” and it is to this place that they are to bring their sacrifices. This is a reference to the Temple in Jerusalem. Rambam took the name of the section in his halachic code that deals with the Temple from this passage. He called it Hilchot Beit HaBechira, the Laws of the Chosen House. In the opening paragraph of those laws, he writes: “It is a positive commandment to construct a House for God, prepared for sacrifices to be offered within. We [must] celebrate there three times a year, as [Shmot 25:8] states: “And you shall make Me a sanctuary.” The sanctuary constructed by Moshe is already described in the Torah. It was only temporary, as [Devarim 12:9] states: “For at present, you have not come unto [the resting place and the inheritance].”

The Temple was the focal point of Jewish worship for centuries. According to our Sages, the First Temple stood for 410 years and the second for 420 years. Historians put the latter figure closer to 585 years. All agree, though, that the Second Temple was destroyed in the year 70 CE. That means that we have been without a central sanctuary in Jerusalem for some 1955 years! As such, the concept of the Temple is rather foreign to us. For Jews of the diaspora, the central place of worship is their local synagogue or shul, in Yiddish. The concept of a shul began while the First Temple was still standing. Yehezkel comforted those who had been sent into exile from Judah to Babylon with this prophecy (11:16), “Say then: Thus said the Sovereign God: I have indeed removed them far among the nations and have scattered them among the countries, and I have become to them a small sanctuary in the countries where they have gone.” The Talmud (Megillah 29a) asks what is meant by a “small sanctuary” and answers: “Rabbi Yitzchak said: This is referring to the synagogues and study halls in Babylonia.” 

Our shuls are the Temple in miniature. Indeed, many components of a shul correspond to the features of the Temple. In the Temple, there was a curtain that divided the Heichal (sanctuary) into two areas: the Kodesh (Holy) and the Kodesh HaKodashim (the Holy of Holies). That curtain was called the parochet and that is the name we still use for the curtain in front of the Ark. Speaking of the Ark, the Holy of Holies held the Aron HaKodesh, the golden Ark of the Covenant which, in turn, held the tablets of the Ten Commandments and the Torah scroll that Moshe wrote. In our shuls, we refer to the cabinet that holds the Torah scrolls as the Aron HaKodesh, the Holy Ark. In front of the parochet was the seven-branched Menorah with the ner tamid, the eternal flame, testifying to God’s eternal Presence. We recall this ner tamid by hanging a special lamp in front of the Ark. In the azara, the outside courtyard of the Temple, stood the altar upon which the sacrifices were burned and the wine libations were poured. In our shuls, there is an elevated platform upon which stands the bimah. It is upon the bimah that we read the Torah so that our studying about the sacrifices is in some way tantamount to the Temple service (see Megillah 31b). On the festival of Sukkot, the cohanim would circle the altar with their lulavim and etrogim. We mimic their behaviour by making a revolution each day of Sukkot, and seven revolutions on Hoshana Rabbah, while reciting the Hoshanot prayers. There are many other similarities between the Temple and a shul that are beyond the scope of this essay.

Rambam writes (Hilchot Tefilla 11:1), “Wherever ten Jews live, it is necessary to establish a place for them to congregate for prayer at the time of each prayer service. This place is called a Beit K’nesset. The inhabitants of a city can compel each other to construct a synagogue and to purchase scrolls containing the Torah, the Prophets, and the Sacred Writings.” Here Rambam focuses on the central purpose of a shul: a place of prayer where a minyan (or more) can gather and pray. But he also hints to another purpose: the study of Torah. There is actually another structure that is dedicated for Torah study, namely a Beit Midrash. A Beit Midrash has a loftier status than a shul and one may transform a shul into a Beit Midrash but not vice versa (ibid, halakha 14). In practice, these two structures are often combined in a single facility, such as our Rivkah Berk Beit Midrash. Although it is primarily used for prayer, there are also numerous shiurim that take place there every week, not to mention occasional learning programmes.

There is a third purpose for a shul and once again, Rambam hints to it in the name he uses for a shul: Beit K’nesset. This phrase means “a house of gathering.” Shuls are where Jewish people gather for a multitude of reasons: to pray and learn; to rejoice and to mourn; to socialise and to eat; to network for work reasons (see Sukkah 51b where the Talmud describes the massive shul in Alexandria where the seating was laid out according to different professions) and to meet potential marriage partners. There are also numerous mitzvoth that we perform at shul including: tallis; tefillin; shofar; lulav and etrog; the Priestly Blessing; reciting the Shemah; dwelling in a Sukkah; counting the Omer; reading the Megillah and lighting Chanukah candles.

My Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Azriel Chaim Goldfein, of blessed memory, citing his teachers, would refer to a yeshiva as a “place of refuge”, borrowing the term from the biblical cities of refuge. I believe the same can be said about a shul. It is our place of refuge from the noise and the craziness of the outside world. It is a place where we find support, friendship, inspiration, bonding with God, wisdom and serenity. This is what we celebrate this Shabbat. Eighteen years since the coming together of two wonderful shuls, both of which existed independently for over one hundred years. Here’s to many more years of prayer, study and gathering together. L’chaim!

Lee, Chani Merryl & Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom. Rabbi Liebenberg.

Rabbi’s YouTube message: https://youtu.be/in7iOEQz10g?si=yWUtcO_RJm3L41V5

18/120 Video: https://youtu.be/6_6wok_E3h0

*Sunday 24 and Monday 25 August – Rosh Chodesh Elul

The month of Elul is a time of Divine Favour. In the first year after the Exodus, Moshe spent forty days on Mt Sinai receiving the Torah. When he descended, he discovered the betrayal of the golden calf. He broke the Tablets and returned to seek forgiveness for a further forty days. Hashem then informed him that He would forgive the Israelites. Moshe descended, fashioned a new set of Tablets for Hashem to engrave, and ascended for a third period of forty days. He ascended on Rosh Chodesh Elul and remained on the mountain for forty days, descending with the new Tablets on the 10th of Tishrei, Yom Kippur (see Rashi Shmot 33:11). During Elul, we sound the shofar daily; we add Psalm 27 at Shacharit and Maariv and towards the end of the month, we recite Selichot, prayers for forgiveness. The Molad (appearance of the new moon) for Elul is on Saturday night 23 August at 23h26 and 6 chalakim (a chelek, literally a “portion”, is a Talmudic measure of time equal to one-eighteenth of a minute, or 3 and 1/3 seconds).