Where Is There? Reimaging Jewish Life Post-COVID

 Where Is There?

Reimaging Jewish Life Post-COVID

 Rabbi Jim Rogozen

 

This short prayer is found in traditional Siddurim (prayer books): 

 

יְהִי רָצוֹן  Yehi Ratzon….May it be your will God….that the Holy Temple will be rebuilt speedily in our days… וְשָׁם נַעֲבָדְךָ בְּיִרְאָה  and there we will serve You reverently as in the days of old, and in earlier years.”

 

The word שָׁם /there in this prayer refers to the Holy Temple that stood in Jerusalem many centuries ago. For some, the longing to return there – to that specific place and to the system of animal sacrifices – is very real. For others, the prayer is simply a reminder of Jewish rituals that are no longer practiced.

 

Jewish history, since the time of the Temple, and especially in the last year, has proven, time and again that “there” can move.

 

שָׁם /there -  is more than a simple preposition indicating a location; some consider it an “adverbial demonstrative pronoun.” In the Bible, שָׁם /there refers to places of importance, an event, a particular situation (“that is the place where….”)

 

שָׁם /there is also found in the Genesis Chapter 21 story in which God takes notice of the banished Hagar and her son Ishmael.

 

כִּֽי־שָׁמַ֧ע אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶל־ק֥וֹל הַנַּ֖עַר בַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר הוּא־שָֽׁם׃                                                                                      

“Fear not, for God has heeded the cry of the boy as he is (there)”

 

The words הַנַּ֖עַר בַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר הוּא־שָֽׁם “the boy as he is (there)” are superfluous in that God surely knows where the boy is. Thus, Rashi’s commentary:  the word “there” means one’s present situation - God looks at (judges) the child “according to the actions he is doing now…not based on what he may do in the future.”  Ramban says it means immediacy - God helped them right where they were, without the need to delay help by travelling elsewhere to find water.

 

This idea of “בַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר הוּא־שָֽׁם/the boy as he is (there)” - assessing the needs of the moment – writ large – has become a consistent theme throughout Jewish History - at both the halakhic (legal) and communal levels.

 

As early as the 6^th century BCE, the prophet Jeremiah pointed out that the sacrificial system being practiced in the Temple was problematic:

 

עֹלֽוֹתֵיכֶם֙ לֹ֣א לְרָצ֔וֹן וְזִבְחֵיכֶ֖ם לֹא־עָ֥רְבוּ לִֽי:  “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasant to Me.” (Jeremiah 6:20)

 

Jeremiah saw first-hand that Judaism’s central, and most public, rituals were לֹ֣א לְרָצ֔וֹן – not acceptable - because of the rampant paganism and immoral behavior of the people. Jeremiah’s suggestion was to stop the practice of sacrifices: they were not in line with where people were at the time.  Later on, though, the practice was restored.

 

Fast forward to the first century CE, when the Second Temple was destroyed. Our ancestors lost their sacred space and rituals and were forced, once again, to reimagine religious expression.  Judaism went from korbanot to kavanna (sacrifices to internal intentionality), from Hattat to Hesed (sin offerings to kindness), from Trumah to Talmud Torah (tithing to study.)

 

These were creative and necessary pivots, and the Jewish People embraced them. Over time,

 שָׁם /there relocated: to the home, the synagogue, and the school. Later on summer camps, JCC’s, and the Modern State of Israel joined the list of core Jewish spaces. In many countries where Jewish life thrived, Jews came to believe that these programmatic relocations were לְרָצ֔וֹן - acceptable and pleasant to God.

 

In the last year, our concept of שָׁם /there has, once again, been thoroughly challenged. COVID required much of Jewish life to take place in alternate locations: Zoom, backyards, on the sidewalk, in the park, etc.  As we navigate these changes, as well as those that will accompany increased levels of vaccinations, it is natural to think about what Jewish life will look like. What will our new שָׁם /there look like?

 

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l pointed out that from the time of the Bible Jewish practices have had outer and inner layers of expression. When it came to connecting with God, animal sacrifices originally served as an outer-layer expression: it was limited in terms of time, authorized participants, and a specific location. Prayer, on the other hand, takes place in an inner or personal layer: it is open to everyone, anywhere. When the Temple was destroyed, the outer layer disappeared while the inner layer was able to evolve into a central part of Jewish life.

 

As we navigate our post-COVID Jewish lives we must ask: What are our inner layers that need to be engaged and cultivated? What do we care most about? What are our core beliefs and commitments? What would it look like to ‘hearken to God’s voice and keep God’s covenant’ in this new time and place?  In Jeremiah’s words, what would be לְרָצ֔וֹן - acceptable and pleasant to God? What do we want and need? Finally, as the theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel would ask: what does God want and need?

 

The pivot from the old “there” to the new “here” is happening quickly. Let this opportunity be met with flexibility, creativity, and wisdom.