This week our congregation was able to gather in person and on zoom to listen and respond to the kaddish being said to commemorate the fifth yahrtzeit of Dr. Hal Brodsky, z”l. Hal was a brilliant, sensitive, and wise president of our shul. He was a great father, husband, friend, scholar, and community leader. He taught me so much about Torah and life. I loved his zeal for mitzvot. For example, I will never forget the tutorial he gave me on how to do hagbah.
Here he is pictured with his beloved wife Naomi (my hero!--May she be well!) as we dedicated a new Torah scroll to our congregation: https://www.facebook.com/RabbiHerzfeld
This week we came across a teaching in the daf yomi that Gd creates a special individual room reserved for each of us in the World to Come (Shabbat, 152a). This means that Gd creates us with our own special talents and that we should strive to maximize our unique gifts. Hal is certainly filling up a beautiful and large room in the World to Come with his unique approach to life.
Hal loved to study and teach the prophets. I remember the intensity with which he would chant a Haftorah passage and the amount of study he dedicated to understanding each Haftorah. He loved to cite the prophets as a voice of inspiration.
I also remember when I visited our community for the first time. It was a snowy Shabbat morning. There was barely a minyan present. At the conclusion of the service, Hal rose and shared a vision. He said, “I know that right now you see an empty room devoid of any children, but I believe that before too long there will be children hanging from the rafters desiring to hear the Torah reading.” I remember rolling my eyes at the possibility for at the time we were worshipping in a cavernous empty building. But before too long, indeed, Hal’s vision became a commonplace reality.
Hal loved to study the Haftorah and he used to produce for our community a “blue sheets” haftorah teaching every week. In tribute to him I set aside time on the day of his yahrtzeit to immerse myself in this week’s haftorah. I was fortunate to be able to do it bechavruta with a member of our congregation who is a doctor in the US Army and has been assigned to a far off place to treat patients with coronavirus. By studying with our congregant I felt that I was somehow connected to the tremendous mitzvah that he is performing by representing our country in caring for the sick.
Our Haftorah this week is part 2 of the “7 haftorot of comfort” that we read during the shabbatot from Tisha Beav until Rosh Hashanah. All of these haftorot come from the end of Isaiah and are uplifting words of comfort and redemption. I encourage everyone to immerse our souls in these passages during this difficult time as they have been enormously helpful to me.
As I read this weeks’ Haftorah I thought of Hal’s vision that snowy Shabbat morning. The prophet Isaiah declared, “Vatomer tziyon azavani Hashem, and Zion said that Hashem has abandoned me” (Isaiah 49:14). The image is a powerful one of Jerusalem after it has been ransacked and laid bare. The prophet Isaiah imagines that Jerusalem is crying and saying, “I have been abandoned by Hashem. I am alone. There is no one here.”
And yet, the prophet declares that Zion should not cry because there will soon come a time when not only will Zion not be alone, but it will be so full that there will be no place to stand. As the prophet declares:
“The children you thought you had lost shall say in your ears, ‘The place is too crowded for me; Make room for me to settle’” (Isaiah 49:19).
Anyone who has ever been to the Jerusalem shuk in Israel knows that Isaiah’s vision has come true as there is often no place to stand on the crowded streets of Jerusalem’s market.
So too, I pray that Isaiah’s words may come true with respect to our community. I pray for the day when we can gather in Jerusalem. But in the meantime, as I look at our empty synagogue building I pray that before too long Isaiah’s words will also apply to us here in DC.
This vision of Isaiah offers us further direction so that his vision will be even more beautiful when it does come true.
Here are three powerful examples:
First, Isaiah says that Hashem declares to us: “Where is the bill of divorce that I granted your mother?” (50:1).
This means that Hashem is telling us that even though we are isolated and removed from the presence of Gd we are not formally divorced. It is more like a couple that separates, instead of divorcing. There is a clear path for us to return.
The Chidushei Harim explains that when a couple divorces by Jewish law the woman must formally walk away indicating that she is separating from her husband and not returning. In contrast, the Jewish people always have a path of return as we can never be divorced from Hashem. No matter how empty we feel or how far we are from Hashem, we can always return to Hashem (cited in Maayana Shel Torah, volume 5, 59).
Second, Isaiah also declares:
“Who among you reveres Hashem and heeds the voice of Hashem’s servant? Though he walks in darkness and has no light, let him trust in the name of Hashem” (50:10).
Rashi reads this verse to mean that when we are in times of trouble we should call out to Gd for help and Gd will surely answer us.
I find great inspiration in an alternative interpretation of R. Aharon ben Chayim of Izmir. He interprets this verse to mean – “Who is the Gd fearer?” It is one who turns to Gd in darkness. When darkness comes, we can run from our relationship with Hashem or we can run towards it. Isaiah is telling us that the true Gd-fearer is one who runs to Hashem in the darkest times to take refuge in Hashem’s embrace. If we adopt this approach, then it means that ironically we are closest to Gd at those moments where Gd seems most distant. The promise of Isaiah is that if we turn to Hashem when the times are the most challenging then not only will Hashem support us in these difficult times, but that our future will ultimately be much brighter.
There is a third verse in this Haftorah that offers great guidance for our times.
Isaiah says: “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who birthed you. For he was only one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many” (51:2)
Isaiah is telling us that when we are feeling lost we should gain strength from the experiences of our ancestors.
The Midrash Tanchuma says that this is an allusion to Gd remembering Sarah’s cries for a child. Sarah and Abraham had their deepest prayers answered when Gd arranged for Sarah miraculously to give birth to Isaac. We too should never give up hope that our deepest prayers may be answered.
We will read about this story of Gd remembering Sarah on Rosh Hashanah.
This week our congregation sent out a note that would have been unimaginable last Rosh Hashanah. We informed our community that our shul’s services on the High Holiday will be severely limited and nothing like we have typically expected. They will be muted.
This is sad and disappointing but Isaiah reminds us that we should look at all events with perspective. This situation is not permanent and will Gd willing be different next year.
Furthermore every situation we are in creates an opportunity. Although this coming holiday season is not ideal, it also presents an opportunity to look within our selves and find strength from our relationship with Hashem. Perhaps it will mean that we have more time for private meditation? Perhaps it will mean we will spend more time learning the meaning of the prayers? The situation of the pandemic is not in our control but the choice of how we react to it is ours.
Ultimately Isaiah reminds us that if we have the right perspective everywhere around us there is great inspiration. We just have to open our eyes.
This week I was especially inspired by two interactions.
First, one of our members sadly lost their grandmother, Sophia Schwartz, to coronavirus. Sophia was born in Ukraine in 1926. During the war she watched as her parents and siblings were murdered. She bravely ran to the forest and survived as a partisan under the most brutal conditions. After the war she also did not have it easy. Living as a proud Jew in the Soviet Union she raised three Jewish children in accordance with the laws and traditions of our faith.
The reason I was able to learn about Sophia’s story is because her children joined our zoom minyan to say kaddish. I felt so honored that our congregation was able to facilitate and listen to the kaddish being said in memory of this incredible hero.
A second inspiring moment for me this week came when I was able to visit in a socially distanced manner with a beloved member of our congregation, Gerry Steinkeller, and wish him a happy 93rd birthday. Gerry is a holocaust survivor whose family was murdered in the Shoah. Gerry looked at me and said, “what’s going to be with yuntiff?” He was sad to realize that he would in all likelihood be unable to attend services on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur—it is too difficult for him. Yet, Gerry’s response lifted me. Gerry said, we have survived in the past and maybe we will be together next year. He said, “Am Yisrael Chai!”
Indeed, Am Yisrael Chai!
Shmuel Herzfeld
Ohev Sholom - The National Synagogue
1600 Jonquil Street NW
Washington, DC 20012
