This evening, I had the opportunity to hear one of the renowned international תלמידי חכמים, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, who spoke at Congregation Ahavas Achim in Highland Park, NJ. He is currently promoting a new book, We Jews : Who Are We and What Should We Do.

Rabbi Steinsaltz spoke about the need to find our lost brethren, not the lost tribes, but all those Jews assimilated in the world. He referred to them as the 5th son of the הגדה, which is a direct reference to the famous דרש by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, זצ"ל about the 4 sons and the 5th who doesn't even show up. We need to cause our meta-family to not just be continuous and remain in existence, but to grow, one person at a time.

I found something interesting the other day in the משנה ברורה which if anyone can verify seeing it done, I would be greatly appreciated. In the first chapter of אורח חיים, when discussing the recitation of קרבנות in the morning, the משנה ברורה discusses why we would still say קרבנות on שבת even though we don't usually recite נדבות, voluntary prayers, on שבת. He argues that קרבנות on שבת fall in the category of לימוד תורה. As proof, or as a separate הלכה, the משנה ברורה then quotes from one source, תבואות שור, which says an אבל therefore doesn't recite קרבנות. I asked one person in town if during שבעה anyone had mentioned this to him and he told me that he had never heard this הלכה before.

I am wondering, at least on some level, if the הלכה of קרבנות not being recited by an אבל would not apply if we assume קרבנות, even on שבת, are part of the process of תפילה when we see it as a spiritual journey through the עולמות.

Last night was a very wonderful evening as my brother, Ensign Eric Kinzbrunner USN married Suri Hoenig. The evening was a coming together of many different strands of humanity (we think). For many of us, the highlight of the evening, other than the marriage itself, was the military sword ceremony following the Huppah, where 6 of Eric's fellow Navy and Marine officers from the United States Naval Academy stood at attention with their ceremonial swords as Eric and Suri passed through on their first step into married life.

Mazal Tov!!!

משנה מסכת אבות פרק א משנה א
משה קבל תורה מסיני ומסרה ליהושע ויהושע לזקנים וזקנים לנביאים ונביאים מסרוה לאנשי כנסת הגדולה הם אמרו שלשה דברים הוו מתונים בדין והעמידו תלמידים הרבה ועשו סייג לתורה

1. Be deliberate in judgment. – הוו מתונים בדין – Think carefully before making decisions. Don’t be rash.
2. Raise up many students – העמידו תלמידים הרבה – Don’t hide one’s thoughts from others. The goal of studying and learning and living is to impart one’s knowledge and experience to the next generation.
3. Make a fence around the תורה – עשו סייג לתורה – Following the simple law is not enough. It is easy to make mistakes if one isn’t careful. Therefore build fences, but remember what you’re fence is guarding. If you don’t understand why you are stringent about something, you could just as easily let your guard down.

How do these relate three things relate to each other?

אנשי כנסת הגדולה, the transitional body from the time of נביאים to the time of Rabbis, is providing a certain series of principles to carry the nation forward. They were the leadership during the early years of בית שני. While historians are unsure as to how long this organization lasted, suffice it for now to assume we are dealing with a group that lasted until some time during the Greek/Hellenism period. As the transitional group from the prophets, they had a simple goal, the need to train halachic decisors and leaders for the future. To do this, they recommended three steps.

1. Be deliberate in judgment. Since we no longer can rely on direct communication with G-d, whether through נביאים or through the אורים ותומים (which were hidden before the destruction of the first Temple), we must rely on our own judgment. Therefore, be careful with making decisions. Decisions have consequences and the chance for mistake is greater. One must be slow and methodical, making sure to check as much as possible before making the best decision possible.

2. Raise up many students. As part of being deliberate, don’t be quick to drive people away. Give everyone a chance. The goal is to raise up students who can be the future of the Jewish nation. Since the teacher is not all-knowing, one can never know who might be the leader. Therefore, raise many students and don’t abandon anyone before giving the person the chance to succeed. Also, the raising of many students assures the greater chance for survival of the system of oral law.

The use of the word raise and opposed to teach is important to highlight. The goal is not just to teach students but one also needs to raise students to become teachers. Knowledge alone is not the only goal of making many students.

3. Make a fence around the תורה. The final step in strengthening Judaism, helping it survive the change, is to guard the תורה, done through actively setting up guard posts. Some of the guard posts are changes, such as תפילה, which eventually replaces sacrifices as the mode of worship. However, realize that making fences around the תורה is not the same as adding new laws. The making of a fence, in a literal sense, is that we put up a structure to surround another structure. This makes the fence integral to the survival of the structure, yet the structure is still the main focus. Similarly, in the case of תורה, the true fence is when we can remember the original law and know why the additional stringencies were added. This is not like divine law, which Israel accepted נעשה ונשמע, by doing and asking questions later. This is the establishment of “man-made” law, which needs to be understood because without understanding, it will be easier to simply say, its not G-d’s law, therefore we don’t need it.

Therefore, the simple explanation is that אנשי כנסת הגדולה believed that to keep Judaism alive, we need fences around the law, handed down by one’s students, who then become the next generation of teachers, and which are determined by careful deliberation. Random stringencies and decisions without slow judgment can lead to utter neglect.

For the few of you that are still keeping tabs on my blog, I will be posting later today short synopsis of my first of two recent פרקי אבות classes. Also, hopefully before שבועות I will have up my class for 4 am. on תיקון ליל שבועות and the second פרקי אבות class.