Musings Of A Shliach From Montana
We are a small community, but quality Torah offerings shouldn’t be decided by quantity. There should be no price tag when it comes to touching the neshamah of a fellow Yid. People, including fellow shluchim, will occasionally wonder about our line-up of speakers: “How can you afford it?” they typically ask me. Or I hear things like, “How can you justify it?” or “Do people enjoy it?” Actually, to Chavie and me, it’s a no-brainer.
We have Jews who seek our guidance, our inspiration, our perspective, and ways to expand their Torah knowledge. To help them appreciate the layers of Judaism’s depth, we expose them to teachers and speakers who broaden their scope of Jewish knowledge and drive to be more connected.
This past Shabbos, we hosted just such a person. Rebbetzin Rivky Kaplan from Tzfat, Israel joined us for a lively, informative Shabbos. I’ve known Rivky’s family my entire life, and while attending yeshiva in Tzfat for two years, I got to know her and her husband Rabbi Chaim pretty well. She’s a teacher at multiple seminaries and institutions of higher learning and she’s a certified Yoetzet Halacha, a woman who specializes in the intricate halachos of Family Purity, including infertility. To thousands of women, she’s a source of wisdom and guidance, and she and Rabbi Chaim are the directors of Chabad Lubavitch in the holy city.
This week’s Torah portion, Behar, includes the mitzvah of shemittah, the sabbatical year, a Biblical law observed by Jews in Israel every seven years. In the seventh year of the agricultural cycle, the Jews are commanded to rest and to give their fields a rest as well. The parashah begins with these words: “The Eternal spoke to Moshe at Mount Sinai, saying…”. Rashi, the preeminent commentator on the Torah, writes, “What is the special connection of the sabbatical year to Mount Sinai that the Torah expressly states that it was spoken there? Surely, all the commandments were stated at Sinai! Rather the association is that just as with regard to the sabbatical year, its general rules and details were all stated at Sinai, so too, regarding all the other commandments, their general rules and details were stated at Sinai.”
I thought about the Torah “details” a lot because last Shabbos morning, my son Menny demanded to know whether he could rollerblade to shul or not. Chavie and I gifted him rollerblades last week on his birthday and he’s enjoying them immensely, so he figured it’s a good means of transportation to shul. I told him that I didn’t know but we could go together to my library and look it up. To be honest, it got a little confusing. Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchoso clearly says that, “Unlike bicycles, rollerblades are not muktzeh, but that doesn’t solve the “going to shul” aspect without an eruv. It only addresses the “using” aspect. I kept searching in Igros Moshe and Yabia Omer, in Reb Gedasi’s sefer on Shabbos and in other sefarim. It was all over the place. “It’s Mutar” if it’s not a legal reshus harabbim (A public domain that has 600,000 individuals passing by daily), “It’s Assur” because of uvdin dechol (weekday type of activity),” and “it depends on if the child is nine and younger or nine and up.” I’m still not sure what I’m going to tell him for next Shabbos, but for this Shabbos, he walked without them.
My point about the rollerblades is that the details of the Torah are numerous. Every mitzvah has so many scenarios, so many potential sha’alos (questions) that need clarification, and even just the basic observance of a mitzvah takes on a whole world of study. Recently, in the daily study of Rambam, we were learning the laws of shvisas asor (the laws of Yom Kippur) and shvisas yom tov (the laws of resting on yom tov) and the details are innumerable. Certainly, when it comes to Taharas HaMishpacha, the foundational laws of Family Purity, which is the foundation of Jewish marriage and family life, the laws and potential scenarios are complex and in need of expertise.
Chavie and I learned the hard way that not only can it be super uncomfortable to discuss these questions with a rav, but most rabbanim aren’t familiar with the intricate medical, emotional, and invasive aspects of this world and are sometimes not very well-equipped to be able to answer it from a place of confidence. In addition to the basic laws of menses samples that have to be shown to an expert to assess the accurate color for the laws of purity, there are many other real-life challenges in this intimate part of people’s lives and they need to be treated with sensitivity, modesty, and knowledge.
What if there is an irregular cycle? What if they need a semen analysis? What if they need to do IVF on Shabbos? What about surrogacy? What about abortion in the early stages of pregnancy when there is knowledge about a genetic disease? What about adoption? What about freezing eggs? There are thousands of questions and situations that can make a couple’s married life very complicated. Of course, many rabbanim are incredible on these issues, but too often, women want to talk to other women about this because they can be there with them in their challenge and guide them while holding their hand literally and figuratively. When needed, the yoetzet consults with rabbanim who work with them, and in my opinion it’s a fabulous development for Klal Yisrael.
Interestingly, Rebbetzin Kaplan’s talks were about how to live life more intentionally, learning from the giants who came before us. She spoke about the Prophetesses Miriam, Moshe’s sister, and Chana, Shmuel’s mother, and it was deep, enlightening, and powerful. Our community got together on Friday night for dinner, Shabbos day for Kiddush lunch, and again for the women on Shabbos evening (Shabbos ended last week at 9:47 p.m.), and each lady gained so much from the Rebbetzin, who is a brilliant orator, G-d fearing, and possesses impeccable Yiras Shamayim, and shared with us how one can we live life and write our own narrative with the letters that G-d gives us. Every community should have guest speakers who come and help upgrade the community’s Yiddishkeit.
Over the years, we’ve hosted close to seventy-five guest speakers. The speakers, who range from Rabbi Shais Taub of the Five Towns to Mrs. Olivia Schwartz of the Chai Center in Los Angeles, all bring a unique approach to Torah and Yiddishkeit that is a blessing to our community. But there is something about a feminine voice that does great things in a community seeking to grow spiritually. As Rebbetzin Kaplan spoke, I looked at the members of our community and realized that she was opening a pathway in their soul, bringing them closer to our Father in Heaven. While she shared ancient Biblical stories with her insightful presentations, she also shared amazing current stories from Israel, uplifting the souls of those in attendance.
Like most of you, I didn’t grow up with women being part of the halachic world, but studying Jewish history all the way back to Devorah the Prophetess opens our eyes to the fact that women were incredible Torah scholars and experts in female-related sections of halacha. To a frum Jew, halacha is sacrosanct and I have no tolerance for movements that break these sacred systems of halacha, no matter how they label themselves or market themselves, but within the beautiful box of halacha, there are innovative ways to reach the masses by being out-of-the-box within the box, making Torah guidance available for Jewish women living in our modern times. If we can enhance Yiddishkeit through these thoughtful opportunities without breaking an iota of Toras Hashem, we should, because Hashem deserves leaders on earth who are willing to share His word with everyone who seeks Him, even if it makes them slightly uncomfortable.
Winston Churchill said “Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.” While we need to keep the fences of Torah strong and untouched by the winds of assimilation, secularism, and modernity, the fear of “slippery slope” shouldn’t be the impetus for how we make rabbinic decisions. Rabbanim should make decisions based on halacha, hashkafah and masores Yisrael, everything else is nothing short of ego, fear, and ignorance. I think every beis din should have a Yoetzet Halacha on staff to ensure that Jewish women of all flavors have someone they can turn to discreetly, to discuss the details of these halachos. It would increase the observance of this sacred mitzvah and the success of Jewish marriages, tenfold.
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.
