Musings Of A Shliach From Montana
In 1994, when I was twelve years old, I was sick at home for two weeks and my principal, Rabbi Hershel Lustig, came to visit and gifted me a Hebrew book entitled, “HaRamban” about the life of Nachmanides that was printed in Israel in 1976. I still have the book and I was reading it this past Shabbos.
I’ve always loved the stories of the Rishonim, the incredible sages who lived between the 11th and 15th centuries. The Ramban, who was born in Girona, Spain in 1195, was not only a brilliant Torah scholar, physician, and defender of Judaism against the abusive Catholic clergy, he also believed in defending the original Rishonim. Though the Rif, Rabbi Yitzchak Alfasi—born in Fez, Morocco in 1013—died in Spain in 1104, ninety years before the Ramban was born, he considered him to be his teacher (as did the Rambam, Maimonides). The Ramban defended the Rif from the sages who disagreed with him. He spent enormous time writing books defending the Baal Halachot Gedolot, one of the Geonim, from the Rambam; defending the Rif from the Raavad and Rav Zerachiah ha-Levi of Girona (the Baal HaMaor), ensuring that the later Rishonim didn’t misunderstand his “teacher,” the Rif.
He wrote fiercely, but respectfully, and did everything he could not to offend Rav Avraham Ben David (Raavad) and Rav Zerachiah ha-Levi personally, but rather just to argue the fact in defense of the Rif’s writings. He was a class act and though he eventually moved to Eretz Yisrael, he made a deep impact on Spanish Jewry and gave Klal Yisrael so much Torah insight to study for all eternity.
Baruch Hashem, we have community rabbis who provide the necessary guidance for their flock, and when they need further input, can consult with the Gedolei haDor. Saying “I don’t know” is not a sign of weakness; rather, it’s a sign of humility and strength.
I remember calling one of my beloved rabbanim, Rav Mordechai Farkash of Bellevue, Washington, with a halachic dilemma and him telling me in Yiddish “S’vet mir nemen a por teg adurchtun dem inyan—It will take me a few days to delve deep into this question and get you an answer.” I wasn’t annoyed, I wasn’t impatient, I was happy that my rav was honest enough to say, “I don’t have the answer, but I will get it for you.” I don’t want a rabbi who shoots from the hip. If they have the answer, great. If they know this issue well, that’s awesome, but if they don’t, I need honesty and their bluntness in saying “I don’t know.”
This week’s parashah, Bamidbar, is referred to in the Gemara as Sefer HaPekudim, the Book of Numbers, due to the counting of Klal Yisrael, but we know it as “Bamidbar—in the desert.” We always read Bamidbar before Shavuos to remind us that one of the primary reasons the Torah was given to us in the desert, not in Israel, is so that no single individual can claim ownership of the Torah. A desert is hefker, ownerless, and each Jew received the Torah equally no matter what tribe he belonged to. We are one nation and each one of us has a unique way of studying and disseminating the Torah.
Yet, many have misunderstood this teaching, believing that it’s a free-for-all, just making up their own concoctions, misinterpreting Judaism, or using the Torah to destroy the fabric of Torah itself. The Midrash didn’t mean that we should just make up our own Judaism. It meant, obviously, that within the parameters of halacha, of the thirteen hermeneutical forms in explaining Torah according to Rav Yishmael, to delve deep and reach conclusions without G-d forbid breaking any of the mitzvos and basic tenets of Judaism. Torah is open for exploration, it has seventy forms/layers of understanding, but it’s not open for us to destroy the basics of our faith.
Some of you may remember that in late February we merited to purchase a new property in Bozeman, close to our home, that will allow us to welcome more and more Jews not only for Shabbos meals, but for lodging, providing good, old-fashioned hachnasat orchim. Just last week we had three Israelis, just out of the IDF, who came through Bozeman and joined us for Shabbos dinner. Chavie and I wished to host them for the entire Shabbos, in warm, hotel-like quarters, but we didn’t have the space. Very soon we will have a place for them along with younger Jews who are struggling in the “system,” who head out West soul-searching, families with babies, guest speakers coming for Shabbos engagements in our community, and so many others.
Baruch Hashem, we raised the $750,000 needed for phase one, which was buying the home and having it mortgage-free within three years, but we need another $200,000 to make it livable. The cost of landscaping, a new roof, central air, proper RV connections, electrical work, additions, and upgraded kitchens all add up. If you are able to dedicate a room or perhaps dedicate the center itself in memory or honor of a loved one, please reach out to me as your partnership would go a long way toward making this open sooner than later and bring true nachas ruach to Hashem and provide a practical expression of love to our brothers and sisters.
We wanted to fence in the property, to make it one yard halachically, so we can carry to and from the two houses on Shabbos. Of course, a fence sounds super basic, but with two driveways, a highway behind the house, and a few other details, I decided I wasn’t going this alone, and I’m not doing it over Facetime. Sure, I read the amazing sefer on Eruvin from Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer a few years ago, but it’s not my expertise; I don’t do this day in and day out, and I wanted to have a qualified posek on sight to give me a psak on how it should be built.
One of the rabbanim I consult with often is Rabbi Sholom Ber Shuchat, a brilliant Lubavitcher rav who is younger than me, and is a dayan in Brooklyn, Queens, and Monsey, and sits on the beis din of Agudas HaRabbonim. He flew out to Bozeman from New York for a few short hours, inspected the premises, gave me guidance, and then flew back to New York. I needed it because it’s so easy to have personal bias get in the way of objective halachic perspective. There is a good reason why in the first perek of Pirkei Avos, Ethics of our Fathers, we read twice the powerful teaching of “Asei Lecha Rav,” ensuring that we each have a rav, a guide, a mentor, a posek, so we don’t allow our subjectivity to get in the way of our decisions. (It’s not a bad idea for all areas of life, personal growth, marriage, raising children, business, and of course spiritual decisions.)
The Rebbe, zt’l, in his Biruim L’Pirkei Avos, explains that when Rav Yehoshua Ben Perachya taught this idea, it was a big deal as he was the leader of the generation, the chief sage, and he recognized that having a rav above you, having a halachic advisor to turn to, ensuring that we aren’t mistaken, is so powerful and humbling, it helps you to remember that it’s about Hashem’s word, and training us to be humble before the Author of the Torah, Hashem Himself. In the late 80s, the Rebbe emphasized the idea of having a rav strongly, as it’s so fundamental to counter the self-love that gets in the way of our objective service of Hashem.
Last week, my in-laws, Rabbi Chaim and Rebbetzin Rivkie Block visited us from San Antonio where they have served as shluchim for thirty-nine years. While they were in town, we visited the Hyalite reservoir in Bozeman and enjoyed a few hours immersed in nature. I love chatting with my father-in-law, as he’s been one of my shlichus mentors since the day we moved to Montana in 2007. Yet, he’s not a posek. So, I call him for advice on complicated matters of shlichus. For difficult halachic issues, we call recognized poskim. Each one of us must have a “village.” Those who can lift us up, guiding us to making the right decisions, and to live meaningfully until we merit the time of universal clarity with the coming of Mashiach when we will merit an even greater G-dly revelation than Matan Torah.
Amen! n
Rabbi Chaim Bruk is co-CEO of Chabad Lubavitch of Montana and spiritual leader of The Shul of Bozeman. For comments or to partner in our holy work, e-mail rabbi@jewishmontana.com or visit JewishMontana.com/Donate.
