Page 2 - Announcements Mon. March 8

26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck, NY 11023 (516) 487-6100 Shabbat Announcements Vayakhel-Pekudei 5781
instructions from Hashem had a clear message for us. Hashem Rabbi Yochanan said, in the name of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai:
was saying, “I am going to give the Jewish people two What did David Hamelech mean when he said in Psalm 19, Ve’ani
sanctuaries, not one. The first is the Mishkan, a sanctuary in tefillati lecha Hashem et ratzon “Let my prayer to you God be at
space, in place, and the second is Shabbat, a sanctuary in time.” a time of favor”? Said Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. What exactly is
Why do we need both? Because we have a principle in Judaism. ‘a time of favor’? Answered Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. B’sha’a
Before God ever brings a sickness to the world, He brings the shehatzibbur mitpallelim, “The time when the community are
cure. davening.” In other words, even if you’re at home, even if you
are not able, like Rabbi Nachman was unable, to get to shul,
God knew that the day would come when Jews might suffer exile please try to daven at the same time as the community because
and dispersion. They would be scattered to the winds, to the ends there is a concept of community in time, as well as a community
of the earth. They would no longer be able to come together. In a in place. And Rav Soloveitchik z’l explains the Gemara, saying
Mishkan or a Mikdash, in a Temple in Jerusalem, they would no that there is virtue in an individual making the effort to pray
longer have Jerusalem, that would no longer have a land, that when the community is praying. Ve’afilu im mitpalel b’beito, Even
would no longer have a home. And says, God, “Even so, however if he’s davening at home, because if he davens at the time that
dispersed you are, you will still have a sanctuary. But it’ll be a the community is davening, his prayer is joined to that of the
different sanctuary. It will exist not in space, but in time. The community, and it is counted as if he were praying in a
sanctuary is called Shabbat. “It will happen not because you are community. I won’t go now into the detail of his nuance there,
together physically in one place, but spiritually you’ll be together but he quotes that Gemara and the view of Rabbi Shimon bar
at the same time.” And so it happened, uniquely Jews. No other Yochai, that the time of favor is the time when the community
people has ever experienced anything like this, were dispersed prays.
around the world and yet they saw themselves and were seen by
others as one people. They’re the world’s first global people, 2000 David Hamelech only says, et ratzon, ‘a time of favor’. He doesn’t
years before the word ‘globalization’ had even been coined. How talk at all about a community praying. But it seems to me that
did it happen? After all they had none of the attributes of the Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is basing his interpretation on the
people. They weren’t living in the same place. They weren’t living principle set out at the beginning of Vayakhel that there can be a
under the same conditions. They weren’t living within the same community in time as well as in place. And therefore, if for some
culture. What connected Rashi in Christian France with the terrible reason we are not able to go to Shul this Shabbat, then
Rambam in the Muslim city of Fosta just outside Cairo? Well, by praying at the time that the community prays, our prayer is
connected the Jews of Spain with the Jews of Russia. I mean joined to theirs and we become k’ish echad b’lev echad, all of us
these are different cultures, languages, circumstances, fate. What together, like one person with one heart. Now, heaven knows
brought them together? What forged them as one people? The that this is not ideal. This is bedieved, not lehatchilah, this is
answer is they said the same prayers, at the same time, all facing something you only do if you have no alternative. But let me
towards the same spot, Jerusalem. They observed the same repeat. Hikdim Hakadosh Baruch Hu lerefua lemakah, God gives
festivals, kept the same laws, honored the same days. They were us the cure before the disease. He gives us the consolation
a community in time, not in space. And that was why God gave before the crisis. And it is davkah here in the parsha of Vayakhel
them Shabbat, the sanctuary in time, even before He gave them that Hashem already provides the answer before we even had
the Mishkan, the sanctuary in space. the question. The question that we have this year specifically:
how do we pray as a community when because of disease,
Now this is a broad and abstract idea, but does it have halachic because of contagion, because of risk of life, we can’t actually
implications? The answer is, it does. And specifically for this pray as a community? And the answer is that Vayakhel teaches
Shabbat for all of you who are not able to go to shul this Shabbat. us that there is such a thing as a community in time, even if we
Here is the sugiya in Brachot, (daf 7b-8a) It goes like this. Rabbi can’t gather it together in a place. And the way to do it is to
Yitzchak said to Rabbi Nachman, “Why don’t you come to shul to daven when others are praying, and our voices will combine as
daven?” Rabbi Nachman explained, “It’s hard, I’m unwell, I can’t they wing their way to heaven.
do it…” Rabbi Yitzchak says to him, Do me a favour. If you can’t
come to shul, speak to the chazzan, shaliach tzibbur, let him I hope we will come through this whole experience realizing that
come and tell you exactly what time the community is going to be there are bigger things than the things that have divided us so
davening. He was davening that if Rebbe Nachman needed to badly in recent years, whether individually or collectively. The
daven alone at home, he should still be davening at the same Rambam is telling us collective grief, collective danger, banishes
time as the community. Rebbe Nachman said to Rabbi Yitzchak, some of the negative individual emotions that we are prone to at
“What are you talking about? Why should it make a difference easier and safer times.
what time I daven?” Rabbi Yitzchak gave him the quote that
All of this is tied up in four words that define our experience on
Pesach at the Seder table. The Mishna asks itself, asks us, a very
Great Neck Synagogue simple question. How do you tell the story of the going out of
26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck , NY 11023 Egypt? And it answers in four words: “Matchil beganut umesayim
516-487-6100 beshevach”. You begin with the bad news, but you end with the
good news. And that is for me the clear definition of what it is to
Rabbi Dale Polakoff, Rabbi tell a story the Jewish way. We don’t deny the bad news, we
Rabbi Ian Lichter, Assistant Rabbi don’t ignore it, but we say that’s only the beginning and the end
Rabbi Yehoshua Lefkowitz, Intern Rabbi is going to be an ending of hope. Yes, we begin with the bread of
Dr. Ephraim Wolf, z”l, Rabbi Emeritus affliction and bitter herbs of slavery. But as we go on, we drink
Yitzy Spinner, Cantor the four cups of wine each, a further stage on the road to
Eleazer Schulman, z”l, Cantor Emeritus redemption, and we end with a glorious song, Chad Gadya whose
Rabbi Sholom Jensen, Youth Director last first verse is one of the most moving I know. All the more
Zehava & Dr. Michael Atlas, Youth Directors moving because it is a young children’s song. Ve-ata Ha-Kadosh
Mark Twersky, Executive Director Baruch Hu ve-shachat le-mal’ach ha-mavet “God will come and
Dr. James Frisch, Assistant Director end the Angel of Death.” May that be true for us. Bimheira
Jordan Wolf, President b’yameinu.
Dov Sassoon, Chairman of the Board