Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
Greetings and Shalom.
Nov. 11 is Veterans Day. We honor those who have given service to our nation, many making the ultimate sacrifice.
We do not hear enough about service today, especially when many are having difficulty making ends meet. In Judaism, service is one of the three pillars that the world stands upon. The other two, the Talmud teaches, are devotion to God and the study of His Torah.
The cute story is told of Sadie, who walked over to her Synagogue one day and saw that the shrubbery was on fire. She called the volunteer fire department and frantically told them what was occurring. The volunteer fire chief said, "Let me see if I got this right. There is a burning bush in front of the Synagogue, and you want us volunteers to put out the fire!?"
When we volunteer, and help others, called doing acts of ahavath chesed (loving kindness), we not only benefit the person or community we are helping, but chesed also acts like a boomerang and helps us grow spiritually.
The Talmud tells us that Jerusalem was destroyed because Hebrews stuck to the letter of the law, and did not perform actions that went beyond the letter of law. A wholly legalistic society, which does not practice acts of altruism, simply cannot exist for long. Judaism teaches that it was "baseless and unwarranted hatred towards others" that caused Judea's exile.
As Jews, regardless of a poor economic situation, we do not stop or decrease performing acts of chesed. In fact, we should increase such acts. Judaism is an "action" way of life. We have no oath or creed that is universal to all Jews. But our insistence on treating our fellow as our self is universal with all Jews.
We comfort not only the mourner, but one who is in need of comfort for any reason. When one needs a job or a loan, the Torah commands us to "uphold him." When people travel or when holidays come, we are commanded to give shelter and food. When someone is sick, we do not just visit them, but we do Bikur Cholim, which means to "inspect" the ill and take care of whatever needs they may have. When someone is hungry, we must feed her. Judaism obligates us to bring joy to a bride and groom. We do not wait for an invitation.
Indeed the entire Torah, our sages teach, can be summed up in one word, Chesed. Rabbi Hillel of circa 100 BCE taught that: "What is hateful unto you, do not do to your fellow. This is the whole of Torah. The rest is commentary. Now go and study."
Regardless what our beliefs are, truly loving our fellow will help our American society weather any storm.
Rabbi Arthur Segal, teacher, Hilton Head Island/Bluffton,SC. RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net.
www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
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