by Rabbi Pinchas Winston
Friday Night
WHEN I WATCH a conductor lead an orchestra, I always wonder what he is actually doing. He just stands there scanning the instrument players back-and-forth while animatedly, some more than others, waving a wand in all kinds of directions. It’s a little entertaining, but what does it have to do with the music being played, especially when so much of the time the musicians don’t seem to be even looking at their conductor?
So, for the sake of this dvar Torah, I looked it up. This is what it said. It said that a conductor directs rehearsals and performances by the orchestra, and their primary responsibilities are: accuracy—The conductor must ensure that the composer’s intentions and instructions are faithfully carried out—that is, everybody is playing all of the right notes and rhythms; ensemble—The conductor must make sure musicians play together, in precise rhythmic and musical coordination; tempo and dynamics (speed and volume)—The conductor’s job is to interpret the composer’s—that is, choosing general levels of tempo and volume as well as to ensure the realization of the composer’s intentions, and it least four more other similar aspects of quality of performance. THAT takes a lot of background knowledge, experience, and expertise.
In the end, it is not so much what the conductor does at the performance itself as what they do to prepare for it. By the time over 100 musicians show up to work in amazing synchrony to produce a magnificent rendition of some classical piece of amazingly composed music, the conductor has already made his mark. What they do at the live performance seems to be more symbolic than actual. They may get move frenetically, but that is probably more for them and the audience at that point than anyone else.
It is not unlike how it works for the greatest Conductor of the greatest and largest orchestra there is, mankind. At the performance, He is there as well directing all that is happening, like the way in the Ukraine. But the bulk of His work and expertise is what He did out of the eyeshot of the audience, and well in advance of the actual performance, making sure that each player knows their part just so in order to work in synchrony with the others to properly execute God’s masterpiece called “History.”
Shabbos Day
WHAT DOES THAT mean? To begin with, consider the primary characters playing out history at this time, you know, the people in the news, for good or for bad. They did not just show up on the scene all of a sudden. They were developed over time, they think by themselves or by circumstance, but really by God. He directs and develops all of us, but some people have more pronounced missions than others. Like any conductor, the Conductor of history has been working with everything and everyone since Creation.
This is what the Midrash says:
There was a time for Adam HaRishon to enter Gan Aiden…and a time for him to leave there. There was a time for Noach to enter the ark…and a time for him to leave it. There was a time to give Avraham milah…and a time for his descendants to circumcise themselves in two locations, once in Egypt and once is the desert, as it says, “For all the people that came out were circumcised, etc.” (Yehoshua 3:5). There was a time to give the Torah to the Jewish people, etc. (Koheles Rabbah 3:1)
Of course that always brings up the question about free will, but I have dealt with that in the past and it is not really the point here. The point is that whatever is going on today was planned back at Creation, and the people carrying it out were born to play their parts, small or major. Even the background people in a major motion film didn’t just happen to wander onto the set.
So what? What difference does it make if what is happening today is organic or scripted? Either way it will do what it will do, and affect the people it will affect.
The difference is Purim, which makes the timing of world events quite significant. It is also a Shmittah, adding to the significance of what is happening today. It is significant not just because of what it might lead to, but it is also a form of divine communication, which we so sorely need today.
Purim has come to mean many things to many people, not all of which was what Chazal had in mind when they established it as a yearly holiday. But the one thing it was always meant to be, since the era of prophecy was ending, was a history lesson. It was to leave an impression on the collective mind of the Jewish people about how God runs Jewish history, from exile to redemption. It was meant to teach us that even after God stops talking to us He nevertheless continues the dialogue with us through the events of the day.
But it’s more complicated. It’s in code. The person interpreting the message has to be able to recognize the patterns and references to know what is being communicated. That means knowing the navi, midrashim, and the gemoras and various other sources that have been bequeathed to us specifically to help us navigate the end of days.
It’s funny how these words were so real for Ya’akov Avinu in his time, and his sons too. They lived so long ago, and yet they could imagine history coming to an end, including a War of Gog and Magog. We however live so close to the end of history and yet act as if it could be thousands of years away, not because we can be, but because we never take the time to familiar ourselves with it. Now we have to scramble to deal with it.
Something is very wrong with that.
Shalosh Seudot
THE WORD MISHKAN is mentioned twice at the beginning of the parsha, and Rashi explains that this alludes to the two temples that would eventually be built and destroyed. We’re just building the Mishkan and God has yet to dwell in it, and we’re already alluding to future destroyed temples? How depressing is that?
The Talmud also mentions something similar. For example, it says that when Shlomo HaMelech married the converted daughter of Pharaoh, the seeds of the destruction of the Second Temple were planted. He had just built and inaugurated the First Temple, and we’re already talking about the destruction of the Second Temple! Are we doomed to suffer until Moshiach finally comes?
It depends. If we stay awake, no. But if we sleep, then yes.
When Achashveros worried aloud to Haman that God might to him as He did to the king’s predecessors, Haman answered him, “Not to worry. The Jewish people are asleep, and so their God is as well.”
And when God threatened to sink the ship on which Yonah fled his prophecy, the sailors frantically fought the stormy sea while praying for mercy. As for Yonah, apparently, he was sound asleep. The person whom Eliyahu HaNavi had revived as young boy and who became Moshiach Ben Yosef in his time, somehow was able to sleep soundly while a chaotic sea wanted to drown his ship and everyone on it. It took a bunch of terrified gentile sailors to arouse Yonah to deal with the problem he had himself created.
We read that Maftir on Yom Kippur. A couple reasons are given, but I think the most important one is the most overlooked one. I mean, who can sleep in the hold of a ship that is being tossed around from wave to wave? Likewise, who can go about their normal activities when the rest of the world is worrying about the next world war?
I get it. We don’t want to get all excited for no reason. We don’t want to get all messianic because we worry that it is too early. After waiting for Moshiach for thousands of years now and getting wrong a few times, we’re cautious.
Cautious is good. Ignoring the potential of redemption is not. That’s called sleeping, and we know who usually wakes us up when we do that at the wrong time. Everything that is happening today was prepared long before we even got into bed. But that is no reason to pull the cover over our heads to go back to sleep. Adar Sheini is about to begin, and Purim isn’t far behind, b”H. Is that not enough of a wake-up call?
Friday Night
WHEN I WATCH a conductor lead an orchestra, I always wonder what he is actually doing. He just stands there scanning the instrument players back-and-forth while animatedly, some more than others, waving a wand in all kinds of directions. It’s a little entertaining, but what does it have to do with the music being played, especially when so much of the time the musicians don’t seem to be even looking at their conductor?
So, for the sake of this dvar Torah, I looked it up. This is what it said. It said that a conductor directs rehearsals and performances by the orchestra, and their primary responsibilities are: accuracy—The conductor must ensure that the composer’s intentions and instructions are faithfully carried out—that is, everybody is playing all of the right notes and rhythms; ensemble—The conductor must make sure musicians play together, in precise rhythmic and musical coordination; tempo and dynamics (speed and volume)—The conductor’s job is to interpret the composer’s—that is, choosing general levels of tempo and volume as well as to ensure the realization of the composer’s intentions, and it least four more other similar aspects of quality of performance. THAT takes a lot of background knowledge, experience, and expertise.
In the end, it is not so much what the conductor does at the performance itself as what they do to prepare for it. By the time over 100 musicians show up to work in amazing synchrony to produce a magnificent rendition of some classical piece of amazingly composed music, the conductor has already made his mark. What they do at the live performance seems to be more symbolic than actual. They may get move frenetically, but that is probably more for them and the audience at that point than anyone else.
It is not unlike how it works for the greatest Conductor of the greatest and largest orchestra there is, mankind. At the performance, He is there as well directing all that is happening, like the way in the Ukraine. But the bulk of His work and expertise is what He did out of the eyeshot of the audience, and well in advance of the actual performance, making sure that each player knows their part just so in order to work in synchrony with the others to properly execute God’s masterpiece called “History.”
Shabbos Day
WHAT DOES THAT mean? To begin with, consider the primary characters playing out history at this time, you know, the people in the news, for good or for bad. They did not just show up on the scene all of a sudden. They were developed over time, they think by themselves or by circumstance, but really by God. He directs and develops all of us, but some people have more pronounced missions than others. Like any conductor, the Conductor of history has been working with everything and everyone since Creation.
This is what the Midrash says:
There was a time for Adam HaRishon to enter Gan Aiden…and a time for him to leave there. There was a time for Noach to enter the ark…and a time for him to leave it. There was a time to give Avraham milah…and a time for his descendants to circumcise themselves in two locations, once in Egypt and once is the desert, as it says, “For all the people that came out were circumcised, etc.” (Yehoshua 3:5). There was a time to give the Torah to the Jewish people, etc. (Koheles Rabbah 3:1)
Of course that always brings up the question about free will, but I have dealt with that in the past and it is not really the point here. The point is that whatever is going on today was planned back at Creation, and the people carrying it out were born to play their parts, small or major. Even the background people in a major motion film didn’t just happen to wander onto the set.
So what? What difference does it make if what is happening today is organic or scripted? Either way it will do what it will do, and affect the people it will affect.
The difference is Purim, which makes the timing of world events quite significant. It is also a Shmittah, adding to the significance of what is happening today. It is significant not just because of what it might lead to, but it is also a form of divine communication, which we so sorely need today.
Purim has come to mean many things to many people, not all of which was what Chazal had in mind when they established it as a yearly holiday. But the one thing it was always meant to be, since the era of prophecy was ending, was a history lesson. It was to leave an impression on the collective mind of the Jewish people about how God runs Jewish history, from exile to redemption. It was meant to teach us that even after God stops talking to us He nevertheless continues the dialogue with us through the events of the day.
But it’s more complicated. It’s in code. The person interpreting the message has to be able to recognize the patterns and references to know what is being communicated. That means knowing the navi, midrashim, and the gemoras and various other sources that have been bequeathed to us specifically to help us navigate the end of days.
It’s funny how these words were so real for Ya’akov Avinu in his time, and his sons too. They lived so long ago, and yet they could imagine history coming to an end, including a War of Gog and Magog. We however live so close to the end of history and yet act as if it could be thousands of years away, not because we can be, but because we never take the time to familiar ourselves with it. Now we have to scramble to deal with it.
Something is very wrong with that.
Shalosh Seudot
THE WORD MISHKAN is mentioned twice at the beginning of the parsha, and Rashi explains that this alludes to the two temples that would eventually be built and destroyed. We’re just building the Mishkan and God has yet to dwell in it, and we’re already alluding to future destroyed temples? How depressing is that?
The Talmud also mentions something similar. For example, it says that when Shlomo HaMelech married the converted daughter of Pharaoh, the seeds of the destruction of the Second Temple were planted. He had just built and inaugurated the First Temple, and we’re already talking about the destruction of the Second Temple! Are we doomed to suffer until Moshiach finally comes?
It depends. If we stay awake, no. But if we sleep, then yes.
When Achashveros worried aloud to Haman that God might to him as He did to the king’s predecessors, Haman answered him, “Not to worry. The Jewish people are asleep, and so their God is as well.”
And when God threatened to sink the ship on which Yonah fled his prophecy, the sailors frantically fought the stormy sea while praying for mercy. As for Yonah, apparently, he was sound asleep. The person whom Eliyahu HaNavi had revived as young boy and who became Moshiach Ben Yosef in his time, somehow was able to sleep soundly while a chaotic sea wanted to drown his ship and everyone on it. It took a bunch of terrified gentile sailors to arouse Yonah to deal with the problem he had himself created.
We read that Maftir on Yom Kippur. A couple reasons are given, but I think the most important one is the most overlooked one. I mean, who can sleep in the hold of a ship that is being tossed around from wave to wave? Likewise, who can go about their normal activities when the rest of the world is worrying about the next world war?
I get it. We don’t want to get all excited for no reason. We don’t want to get all messianic because we worry that it is too early. After waiting for Moshiach for thousands of years now and getting wrong a few times, we’re cautious.
Cautious is good. Ignoring the potential of redemption is not. That’s called sleeping, and we know who usually wakes us up when we do that at the wrong time. Everything that is happening today was prepared long before we even got into bed. But that is no reason to pull the cover over our heads to go back to sleep. Adar Sheini is about to begin, and Purim isn’t far behind, b”H. Is that not enough of a wake-up call?
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