Mickey, Minnie and Minyan
This past week I went with my family to Orlando for a vacation. Knowing there was a Jewish community I was sure I would be able to pray every day with a minyan. I looked up the list of the local services on the website godaven.com (translation: "go pray") and sure enough saw my options.
My first morning I went to the local Chabad and was surprised at how many people were there - close to 100 people! Only a handful were local residents; the vast majority were tourists like myself. The attendees were of all stripes and backgrounds. People from all different cities and even different countries. Some were Ashkenazi, others were Sefardi. Some were Chassidic and others were not. There were a handful of people that I knew but most of the people were strangers.
It got even better. On Monday we went to Disney’s Magic Kingdom (believe me, it’s “magic” - they made my money disappeared faster than you can say “Mickey Mouse”!). Among the vast crowd, there were several dozen noticeably Jewish families walking around as well. I met one of those people and he told me that there was a plan to congregate behind the Magic Castle at 6 o’clock to pray mincha and ma’ariv - the afternoon and evening service. As we walked around we would occasionally meet another Jewish person and we would give him the same message. Sure enough at 6 o’clock I went to the designated location and there were about 25 adults and we prayed all together. Having heard that Walt Disney was reputed to have been an anti-Semite I felt a sense of sweet revenge knowing that he was probably turning over in his grave knowing that a group of Jews were praying in his park!
I walked away from these encounters feeling very inspired. Here I was, far away from home and still able to pray with a large group of like-minded people just the same as if I was at home. I was struck by the thought that here are a group of individuals who all want to serve G-d the same way they would at home. No matter where we are we can observe the laws to the best of our abilities.
Further, it was so beautiful to pray with a group of people who were all complete strangers to each other. Despite the fact that in each one’s own home turf most of those folks would not belong to the same synagogue as the others in the crowd, being “stuck” in a distant city where the options were limited everyone joined together as one unit – regardless of the differences in backgrounds.
I have to say I was filled with a sense of pride. A Jew is a member of a special fraternity and no matter the setting or circumstances can always instantly connect with a fellow Jew, despite being total strangers, and come together to serve G-d in the way our people have done for 3000 years. I was proud of being able to meet a total stranger and yet feel like we know each other and are related to each other.
The Jewish nation is referred in Torah literature as “one person” because we are a multitude of disparate individuals who together create one unit known as “the Jewish people." When the Jews received the Torah they camped at Mt. Sinai as described by the Torah “like one person with one heart." Only because we displayed a tremendous sense of unity were we worthy of receiving the Torah.
In fact, throughout history when we have come together as one unit we have merited salvation. When unfortunately we have been divisive and adversarial we have not fared as well.
Besides the pictures and memories, the thing I hope most to take away from my trip is to remember the feelings of brotherhood and unity that I experienced in Orlando. If we as a people can always act and feel like “one person with one heart” we would surely merit G-d bringing the redemption and restoring the Jewish people to the ultimate Magic Kingdom, with the rebuilding of the Holy Temple and living in peace forever. May it happen speedily in our days!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yosef Koval
