Shabbos: Destruction from Within
Height Matters
Maybe so. But back in the day, the Sages knew how to put their earnestness in perspecctive:
The Code of Mechasya
The teaching of Rava bar Mechasya regarding synagogue roofs is but the first of several to be presented on this folio. Most are aphorisms (e.g., “Any evil and not an evil woman!”). However, three stand out for their obscurity.
The first is the one already cited. Its obscurity derives from the perspective of Rav Ashi’s experience: even if the teaching is true by its own terms, Rav Ashi’s experience clearly demonstrates that it is far from being the primary danger facing any Jewish town in Talmudic times. We need strong character, not strong buildings! Rava bar Mechasya seems to be teaching one thing and is in reality teaching another.
Likewise, when he teaches “Work under an Ishmaeliete and not under a stranger; under a stranger and not under a Chabar; under a Chabar and not under a Torah scholar; under a Torah scholar and not under an orphan or widow,” what are we left with beyond the impression that all potential employers will destroy the worker in this world or the next? It is an indirect but compelling argument that each of us must strive to become our own masters.
Finally, there is this one:
Rava bar Mechasya said in the name of Rav Chama bar Gurya who said in the name of Rav: Any city whose roofs are higher than its synagogue will ultimately be destroyed. (11a1).For those who believe that there are no coincidences, consider that I read the above Gemara on the same day that I read Ben Dreyfus’s article, Profile of An ‘Uniaffiliated’ Jew, (published in the Spring 2005 issue of CAJE's Jewish Education News), wherein he begins by writing,
When Jewish organizations talk about "unaffiliated Jews" in their 20s and 30s, who do not belong to synagogues, they often equate this lack of affiliation with being secular, Jewishly uneducated, and finding Judaism to be irrelevant.Is this merely a simple proof that there is nothing new under the sun? Has the Jewish establishment been insisting for 2000 years that the roof of the synagogue must overshadow all other sanctuaries of Jewish consciousness?
Maybe so. But back in the day, the Sages knew how to put their earnestness in perspecctive:
Rav Ashi said: I made sure that Masa Mechasya would not be destroyed, for I prevented its citizens from building their houses taller than the synagogue.Meanwhile, Ben reports,
The Gemara exclaims: But Masa Mechasya was destroyed!
The Gemara answers: It was not destroyed on account of that sin.
On Shabbat I don't do any work or spend money. Typically, I will go to Friday and Saturday services at one of the new independent minyanim that meet once or twice a month, or pray with a group of people in someone's apartment, then share a Shabbat meal in that apartment. . . . Oh, and I don't belong to a synagogue, nor do most of the young adults crowded into those apartments on Friday nights.Read Ben’s article. Consider the young man who feels that the only options for a committed Reform Jew of a certain age are to go to Rabbinical school or become orthodox. It seems to me that, as the Gemara suggests, it has always been a struggle to keep this situation from becoming frozen; that keeping all other houses lower than the synagogue was never a satisfactory solution.
The Code of Mechasya
The teaching of Rava bar Mechasya regarding synagogue roofs is but the first of several to be presented on this folio. Most are aphorisms (e.g., “Any evil and not an evil woman!”). However, three stand out for their obscurity.
The first is the one already cited. Its obscurity derives from the perspective of Rav Ashi’s experience: even if the teaching is true by its own terms, Rav Ashi’s experience clearly demonstrates that it is far from being the primary danger facing any Jewish town in Talmudic times. We need strong character, not strong buildings! Rava bar Mechasya seems to be teaching one thing and is in reality teaching another.
Likewise, when he teaches “Work under an Ishmaeliete and not under a stranger; under a stranger and not under a Chabar; under a Chabar and not under a Torah scholar; under a Torah scholar and not under an orphan or widow,” what are we left with beyond the impression that all potential employers will destroy the worker in this world or the next? It is an indirect but compelling argument that each of us must strive to become our own masters.
Finally, there is this one:
If all the seas were black ink, and the marshes were quills, and the heavens were parchments, and all the people were scribes, they would not suffice to record the depth of the mind of the government.ArtScroll’s review of the commentaries on this teaching reflect its potential to be read along the entire continuum between patriotism and treason. This is indeed a prime example of the Jewish code of irony and ambiguity. We often mean what we say without exactly saying what we mean. [Insert 'wink' here.]
1 Comments:
Yes, read Ben's thoughtful article. The great majority of "unaffiliated" Jews in their 20s are, unfortunately, not like Ben at all, and are in fact uninvolved with, uninformed about and indifferent to Judaism. Also, it's a stretch to call Ben an "unaffiliated" Jew. He has many affiliations with Jewish institutions, including those he founded himself. It could even be argued that he is a member of a Synogogue or Beit Kneset (the words mean assembly in Hebrew and Greek, respectively) since he and other Jews assemble to daven in living rooms, and sometimes even in rooms within established Synogogue buildings. It would be cruel to point out that most boring schuls also got started in somebody's living room.
For all of these reasons, I don't think Ben is risking New York's destruction by building up Kol Zimrah. If New York will be destroyed, like Mata Mechasiah, it will be destroyed for other sins.
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