Divrei Emmanuel a Devar Torah by Rabbi Emmanuel Viñas, Yonkers, NY. Is our trouble a lack of leadership? How she has become a harlot, a faithful city full of justice, in which righteousness would lodge but now murderers! Your silver has become dross your wine diluted with water. Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves, everyone loves bribes and runs after payments, the orphans they do not judge and the quarrel of the widow does not come before them.(Isaiah 1:21) According to the Talmud the destruction of the Temple occurred through ‘Sinat Chinam’ baseless hatred of our brothers and was compounded by Rabbinic complicity in not intervening to correct injustices. According to the Talmud the process of destruction began during the following story; There was a man who made a party for all the great Rabbis of Jerusalem. He instructed his servants to invite his friend Kamtza. His servants erred and invited his enemy Bar Kamtza. (apparently Kamtzas son). When Bar Kamtza arrived at the party the host was furious. He instructed his servants to oust him. Bar Kamtza, being very embarrassed pleaded with his host to allow him to stay and even offered to pay for his meal. The host wouldnt hear of it, Bar Kamtza must leave. The guest begged him not to create a scene and offered to pay for half of the whole party. No way. He upped his proposition and offered to finance the entire price of the party but the host was still adamant. Bar Kamtza was totally humiliated. He looked around and saw a room full of friends. At the head table were all the Rabbis. No one said a thing. The party went on. Bar Kamtza was so deplored that he went to the government authorities to complain about the Jews. One thing led to the other and Jerusalem was destroyed. The fact that the Rabbis said nothing added to this man’s debasement. According to the Rabbis of the Talmud he became a Roman collaborator against the leaders of Israel and was instrumental in our downfall. While many Rabbis focus their attention on the sin of baseless hatred I would like to focus on the sins of the Rabbis of the past and the present. Why didn’t the Rabbis say anything when the host of the party was abusing his unwanted guest? How could they remain silent as one man pleaded and the other demanded his removal? What motivated them not to say anything how could they be so callous? These questions point to everything that stinks about religion and the institution of the synagogue and its major leaders - the Rabbis. We all know that synagogues are dependant on money. In order to keep our doors open we need to collect funds to pay the bills. In fact the Rabbi’s salary is dependant on the collection of these communal funds. It appears that the host was a major contributor to the synagogues and maintained the houses of learning and contributed great sums which directly and indirectly went to pay the Rabbi’s salaries. Oh how the city that was destined to be righteous became a harlot! The Rabbi started out with intentions to help, to teach and to guide but then “real life” caught up with him. When he was young and idealistic he was like a “city full of righteousness” now he sits as an accomplice to people who murder each other by “ripping each other’s kishkas out” hurting each other’s feelings and devaluing each other’s contributions and importance. He remains silent afraid that the crowd will turn against him and rip him apart also. The things that caught his imagination, that he dreamed of changing have become dull and lack luster. Instead he deals in trivialities that are “acceptable” subjects of sermons. He avoids putting the “sparkle in the silver” choosing instead to measure his words so that all who hear him will love him and feel comforted by his words rather than challenged. He has become a harlot, saying whatever her customer wants to hear and remaining silent at moments of truth. Rabbi means “teacher” or “Master.” His job is to inspire, to teach, to lead and if need be to remonstrate and guide Israel back to the path of the Torah. His job is to serve as the modern prophet of Israel, calling the nation back to the ways of its fathers. But today he is filled with fear. We live in a ‘topsy turvy’ generation everything is backwards. Today the teacher is graded by his students not the other way around. They grade him and exercise power over him afraid that he might succumb to the lure of his responsibilities as a minister of God and remind them of their failure to comply with their mandates as a nation of priests and ministers. But they should not worry so much he won’t chastise them because he is afraid that his head will be removed like the prophets of old. He knows that all too often the messenger is killed and replaced with a messenger that brings sweetness and the status quo. They provide “virtual junk food” to their congregation week in and week out. They only say “sweet things” that everyone will agree with and that is how they keep their jobs. Modern Rabbis have become “life cycle functionaries.” They know when it’s proper to say kaddish. They know how to prepare a child for Bar Mitzva and to perform a wedding but they do not get involved in issues that disturb the peace. Rabbis who do are branded as “radicals” or “reactionary” and are set aside. The Modern Rabbi lives in fear of being replaced by a more “acceptable” Rabbi therefore he is careful not to say things that are controversial. He doesn’t go out on a limb. He doesn’t take the side of the destitute unless it falls into fashion then he embraces it fully. Rather than take up the issue of the agunah (a forsaken woman who does not have a get) or the ger (a convert or stranger). He concentrates on “important halachic issues” like the proper time for the Shema, or whether or not “mezonot bread” is “mezonot or hamotzi.” They worry about bugs in the public water supply rather than the bugs in the system that keeps poor children paying exhorbitant tuitions at yeshivas who already have endowments. The orphans they do not judge and the quarrel of the widow does not come before them. Your Princes are rebellious and companions of thieves, everyone loves bribes and runs after payments. He says nothing as the values of the Jewish nation are replaced by greed and avarice. The princes (young generation) are raised to succeed materially at all cost, even if it means violating the rules of the Torah and he says nothing. They accept donations from “white collar criminals” and name schools after them. After all they are considered excellent role models for the children since they are financially successful aren’t they? They allow parents to spend enormous sums of money acquiring college degrees for their children but say nothing as they watch the Jewish education stagnate and fail. After all isn’t it every Jew’s dream to be a doctor? A Torah scholar (ha ha)? How will you make a living? They ask. Our Rabbis tell us that the reason the temple has not been built and that the messiah has not come is that each generation has continued the sin of ‘sinat chinam’ hatred of our brother in a similar fashion as the generation of the destruction of our holy temple. We call out to each other to do teshuva and change. We make commitments to love each other more. Maybe it’s time the Rabbis did teshuva also. Maybe it’s time for the leaders of Zion and Jerusalem to repent and reassess their values. If we did so it might help the Jewish nation climb out of this moral pit that we have fallen into. It might even bring Mashiach. Rabbis who tell the truth must be supported by congregations that are “comfortable being uncomfortable.” Intelligent people thrive on confrontation and challenge. They stagnate without it. Maybe it’s time we empowered our Rabbis to assume their duties as leaders and prophets and that we allow them to teach us the true path of the Torah empowering them to challenge us. Rather than support the immoral Rabbis who launder money for yeshivot and for themselves, let’s empower Rabbis who stand for change and progress, for inclusion not exclusion, for spiritual growth not the status quo. Isn’t it embarrassing that the goyim (in the form of the FBI) has to clean out our house of these scoundrels and thieves rather than our own community disempowering these villains? Bring us back to you Hashem and we shall return to you, renew our days as of old. (Lamentations 5:21)
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 22:12:45 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015