Fraternity Brothers
There are times I am struck with a reminder of how special it is to be a part of this unique fraternity that I belong to. No, I am not referring to a fraternity that contains a bunch of Greek words or that conducts wild and crazy parties in some house on a college campus. I am referring to the fraternity known as the Jewish People (Phi Weara Yarmulka might be a good name though).
What brought this to mind was a sequence of events occurring over a 7-day span. More accurately, it was the same event repeating itself, but in a different setting each time.
For many years I have been a “ba’al korei” – the person who reads the Torah for the congregation. (Special shout-out to my wonderful father for encouraging and pushing me to continue reading after my bar mitzvah so that I am now at a point where I have become a ba’al korei!) There is an ancient custom that, in addition to reading the entire Torah portion on Shabbat morning, we also read the first segment of the upcoming portion three other times during the week: at the afternoon service on Shabbat afternoon (mincha); on Monday morning; and again on Thursday morning. This custom was instituted by none other than Moses to ensure that the Jewish people would never go more than 3 days without a communal bit of Torah study. Moses was pretty passionate about the importance of the Torah and its connection to the survival of the Jewish people!
Getting back to my story, two weeks ago I was in Israel for a week-long trip together with my wife. On Shabbat afternoon I went to a local synagogue for the mincha service. When the time came to read from the Torah, no one present knew how to do it, so I volunteered my services. Afterwards, I thought of how special it was to have the opportunity to read from the holiest object in the holiest city on the holiest day of the week!
I returned home to Cleveland on Sunday, tired but full of wonderful memories from my trip. On Monday morning I went to my regular synagogue to pray the morning services. As I usually do, I once again read from the Torah, the very same reading as I did just two days before in Jerusalem.
Fast forward two more days and I was once again on a plane, this time together with my entire family as we traveled to Orlando for the kids’ mid-winter break. The development where we stayed is a popular one among Jewish families, and there were over a dozen such families staying there. In fact, we were able to procure a Torah scroll from the local community and we held a daily minyan in one of the houses in the development.
Thursday morning came and I went to our newly created “synagogue.” When the time came for the Torah reading, there was once again no movement being made by anyone to step up and read. Of course, I immediately volunteered my services and read the portion. The rest of the group was so excited to have someone there to read, and about 20 seconds after I finished, I was immediately delegated by the group to read again on Shabbat morning, which of course I was happy to do.
On Shabbat we got together and prayed again. It was such a beautiful sight. Some 40 people from different cities, most of us strangers, but coming together to pray the same way each did in our respective hometowns. People of all backgrounds and personalities gathered together to do one thing that we all shared in common – a desire to pray to our G-d. It was a beautiful demonstration of unity and it deeply moved me.
Walking back to my rental house after the prayers, I reflected on my past week. I had traveled a total of about 15,000 miles in just over a week and been in 3 radically different cities and settings during that time. I had the privilege of reading the Torah in 3 different places to 3 very diverse groups of people.
All 3 settings represented different backgrounds, cultures and even languages. Yet there was one thing that was steady and consistent. The reading itself. Those timeless words, Divinely spoken over 3,000 years ago and still read devoutly around the world by Jews of all stripes. From Jerusalem to Cleveland to Orlando, it matters not the location or the people.
What matters is the common object that binds the members of this special fraternity. That object is the Torah, which not only binds but has preserved the members of this fraternity throughout the millennia and ensured our survival through pogroms, Inquisitions, Holocausts and being thrown all over the globe like a rag doll. Despite the attempts to eradicate and ravage us they have never been able to sever our fierce commitment to the Torah.
As I write these words I am now back home in Cleveland, Ohio and have no travel plans for the near future. What I do have is a new appreciation for this fraternity of mine and for our very treasured possession that binds all members of our fraternity.
Want to learn more about this fraternity that you are a member of? I encourage you to pick up a Jewish book or attend a class. We may not have beer kegs and parties like some other fraternities - well, sometimes - but the spiritual high you will get is even greater (and won’t leave you with a hangover either!)
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Yosef Koval
