Megillah 12
The
Orthodox community has been asking itself how we should respond to the
devastating 2013 results of the Pew report on Jewish Life in America. A
number of the respondents have suggested that Orthodox Jews take it upon themselves
to be more proactive in inviting unaffiliated Jews for a Shabbos meal. This suggestion was made by Rabbi Steven Weil
at the RCA convention in 2014 and by Rabbi JJ Schacter in Jewish Action
magazine of summer 2014, amongst others.
But who do
these Orthodox rabbis think they are?
Don’t they realize that they’re not the only ones doing Shabbos? I know many unaffiliated Jews who light
candles and make Kiddush on Friday night.
Yes, they might turn on the TV after dinner, but at least they’re doing
something! Why should a Shabbos
invitation help our assimilation problem?
The Megillah states, “On the seventh day, when
(Ahasuerus) the King’s heart was gladdened with wine (he asked that Vashti be
brought before him).”
The Gemara asks, “Until now, was his heart not
gladdened with wine?”
Rava explains: The seventh day refers to
Shabbat. On that day, when Jews eat and
drink, they begin with words of Torah and praise of the Almighty; whereas when idolaters
eat and drink, they begin with licentious talk.
And so it was in the feast of that wicked man
(Ahasuerus): there were those who were saying “Median women are the most
beautiful” and others who were saying “Persian women are the most beautiful.”
Ahasuerus replied, “The utensil that I use is
neither Median nor Persian, but Chaldean.”
While it’s
true that many Jews have some sort of family dinner in honour of Shabbos, is it
truly a Shabbos dinner? Rava teaches us
what a Shabbos dinner should look like. “Words
of Torah and praise of the Almighty” – that turns Friday night into Shabbos!
How does
your Shabbat table sound? Is it a time
to catch up on politics and current affairs or is it infused with
spirituality? Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski
writes that the Shabbos meal should be all about teaching Torah to your children. He says, ‘I don’t care if you have a dozen adult
guests sitting around the table. They
have to know what Shabbos is about. And
they will be impressed and moved when they witness a true, holy Shabbos table.’
That’s
certainly not an easy task for any of us.
We feel compelled to talk about other things, to engage our guests in
talks of business, world travels and hobbies.
But even if you must, remember that it is only incidental to the primary
subject matter of the Shabbos table, “words of Torah and praise of the
Almighty.”
“Praise”
means singing zemiros (Shabbos songs)
– we have booklets dedicated to that exciting part of Shabbos! And, thank G-d, today we have no shortage of
accessibility to “words of Torah” – there are numerous books in English on the parsha (Torah portion of the week), as
well as countless divrei Torah (Torah
talks) on the web that you can print off before Shabbos!
And of
course, if it’s all about the kids, you need to make sure that your Torah is
age-appropriate. One of our favourites
at home is Torahific! by Rabbi Maimon
Elbaz. Each week he asks questions about
the parsha and then provides kid-friendly
answers from our great commentators across the millennia. We also look forward to hearing the kids give
over their own divrei Torah. When you first do it, it feels a little
weird making the guests listen to your seven-year-old read off her parsha sheet for five minutes, but after
a few times you realize how inspired they are watching this kid become
passionate about Torah.
Shabbos is
not just Friday night dinner! Make
Shabbos Shabbos! You will be
inspired! Your kids will be
inspired! Your guests will be
inspired! And Shabbos is what makes us
special and holy!
