Gleanings of Shavuot
Fields, Harvey
GLEANINGS OF SHAVUOT "A Jewish life is lived against the demands and urgings of Torah. It is not enough to hold Torah in esteem, or to honor it with processions and professions of praise. Torah is...
...All we are concerned with is ritual, prayer and pension plans...
...I nod...
...Episode One...
...Oh yes, Shavuot...
...The speaker is late, held up by heavy traffic on the road from the airport into the city...
...I nod and thank her for her thoughtful gesture...
...That's really kind of you," I say, "but what with Shabbat tomorrow, and then Shavuot in the evening and on Sunday, I am not going to have any time to get out into the garden...
...she squeals with delight...
...Give in to the Commies in Vietnam and they will take over all of Asia, and who knows where else in the world...
...You know this weekend is planting timet The best time to get your plants in the ground...
...Sha-vu-o-ot...
...Something tells her that we question the propriety of tearing pages out of books meant for public use...
...I would like to do a mitzvah for you," she declares...
...Then, suddenly, he paused and walked from the lectern to where the woman HARVEY FIELDS with all the angry questions sat...
...On Rosh Hashanah, I had spoken opposing United States involvement, and she had stood up just after I had made clear my direction and had taken one of her own, straight for the door...
...She is active on our Sisterhood Educational Committee, an intelligent and kind soul...
...I answered her politely and we smiled at one another each time we met at Temple...
...Yet no one present will ever forget the demonstration of how Torah is meant to function in our lives, how it is meant to save us from theyetzer ham (the evil inclination), and mold us into more decent human stuff...
...Our calendars are in conflict...
...There are four of us, all rabbis, discussing a number of items...
...I think they said it was on Wood Street...
...Lady, I am talking now...
...With that the rebbetzin reaches into her handbag and pulls out two torn pages removed from the local telephone directory...
...Prophetic Judaism with an emphasis upon the application of ethics to society is his compulsion...
...My correspondent was sitting in the first row in front of about 200 people...
...It defines the eccentricity of Jewish existence...
...I would like to buy some for you...
...I have forgotten how the rabbi ended his speech, or all the dramatic points he made that evening...
...Just then his bubbling, happy wife appears...
...A long letter followed excoriating me and questioning my loyalty to flag and freedom...
...She has prepared for the guest rabbi's lecture on the topic: "Judaism and the Vietnam War...
...They are about hearing and responding to the Voice that speaks through Torah...
...We rove from the state of society in Israel, to where our kids are going to school, to the upcoming Presidential elections...
...Torah is home base for the Jew...
...I want to know where you get such outrageous claims...
...It is 4:30 p.m...
...The woman is bursting with questions...
...He put his hand on her shoulder and said to her: "The Torah teaches me that 'a person who insults another, even with words, must seek forgivenness.' Please forgive me...
...As he rounded the corner and pulled into the last stretch of his speech, the woman could no longer contain herself...
...Without flinching she declares: "I brought some Scotch tape with me...
...Smile...
...At that point she looks up at us, the torn Yellow Pages held between her fingers...
...Torah is not an antique embellishment to be appreciated, but rather a meeting place for confronting the ultimate questions and choices of our lives...
...Oh here it is...
...With that she stuffs the pages back into her purse, kisses her husband lightly on the lips, and floats off with the promise that she will see us in a few hours...
...Then she turns to her husband, the Rabbi of Social Action...
...Three episodes leap to mind...
...She pronounces it slowly, rounding off each of the vowels as if searching for some familiar resonance that will reveal its meaning...
...What was the name of the restaurant they recommended...
...He glared at her and then exploded...
...And what about the use of Scotch tape...
...That's nice," I respond, not having the slightest idea what she has in mind...
...Prove that point...
...The rabbi continued his discourse, picking up where he had been cut off...
...Haven't seen you in ages," she says...
...If you have questions I will take them later...
...Rising in her place she shouted at him: "I don't believe you...
...The rabbi fell silent...
...She is against the protesters and is for winning the war to keep Southeast Asia free from Communism...
...A thick mist of embarrassment filled the room...
...I pause after writing that paragraph...
...Sha-vu-o-ot...
...Now would you mind sitting down and being quiet...
...something like that...
...He thinks for a moment, rubs his chin and looks out into the distance...
...The silence was stunning...
...Shavuot reminds us of that, and of the Voice that spoke at Sinai and continues to speak—if only we will sensitize our struggling flesh to listen and respond...
...You are a nice young man," she wrote, "but your way will lead to the destruction of democracy...
...Certainly, I read about it in the Temple Bulletin...
...Does "You shall not steal" apply to Yellow Pages in phone books when you can't remember how to spell the name of a restaurant...
...Some Jews are oblivious to the Voice and urgings of Torah...
...She runs her painted red finger nail down one column and then the next...
...Pointing toward the door he says, "Look how few are here...
...R-ustrated with the interruption, I descend the three flights of stairs to find a cheerful neighbor waiting to greet me...
...Episode Three...
...He spoke for about four minutes...
...There is a quizzical look on her face...
...after a long day of meetings and study sessions...
...Hard to argue with such cutting criticisms...
...I am at home in my study when the door bell rings...
...Episode Two...
...As she walks away I hear her saying to herself, "Of course, Shavuot...
...The timing is a problem...
...She took notes and, I was certain, was fuming at my colleague's razor-sharp denunciation ofU.S.foreignpolicy...
...She had heard it, was now pronouncing it, but Shavuot was not yet something she Harvey J. Fields is senior rabbi of Toronto's Holy Blossom Temple.' was going to be doing that weekend...
...It is just two days before the celebration of Shavuot...
...We greet one another warmly...
...If you are striving to allow the sparks of Torah to light your way, need you be concerned with such petty questions...
...I am on my way to purchase some plants...
...No one was quite sure who deserved the most sympathy, the speaker interrupted or the woman humiliated...
...It was now mid-November and our guest was arguing the ruin of the United States of America if Nixon did not get our search-and-destroy missions out of Vietnam...
...Later the question pesters me...
...The tension mounted...
...She is operating on Canadian Plant Time, and I am on Jewish Celebration Time...
...I know that it sounded like Tamborine, or Tambino, orTambarin...
...Anyway it's 4:30, and I am hungry...
...I hesitate...
...One of the rabbis standing with us bemoans the low state of social action in our movement...
...We are standing just outside of a scheduled Peace Now meeting...
...He is known as a liberal activist...
Vol. 7 • May 1982 • No. 5
