Dear Friends,
Torah can be learned anywhere, and likely, everywhere.
When I lived in California, we had a monthly Shabbat morning hike, called Torah on the Trails, in which we explored a local hiking trail, and then studied while relaxing amid the trees or beside the ocean, nibbling on challah.
On Tuesday of this week, a minyan of Rabbis taught Torah while sitting on the hot pavement on 2nd Avenue in Manhattan, across the street from the Israeli Consulate. To the crowds gathered in protest, they taught texts about feeding the hungry. They were arrested and led away in handcuffs for disrupting traffic, but they taught Torah: that our Tradition does not sanction starvation.
And, Moses seemed to know this, too. Early in our Torah portion this week, we find this verse, “On the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this Teaching…” (Deuteronomy 1:5)
Fascinatingly, standing across the Jordan River from the Promised Land of Canaan, now Israel, Moses taught Torah. It was one of the last things he did in his life, as he was near to death and would die on the other side of the Jordan, disallowed from crossing with his people to the new land. But, even though he was limited to life on the other side, he could still teach Torah.
Torah not only can be learned anywhere, but it can be taught anywhere.
Some of the most fascinating places where I learned Torah have included sitting with an elderly Jew in February snow on the steps of the synagogue in Leningrad (when it was still the Soviet Union). He eyed my knitted, Israeli kipah, so I took if off my head, removed his wintry cap and put it on his head and replaced his cap. It now was his. His massive smile was gratifying, and his Spaciba – Thank You in Russian, was equal to all the words of Torah.
Likewise, decades ago when my mother died as I was in my first year as a rabbi, I went from shiva in California directly to a week at a Reform Jewish summer camp. At the close of the Shabbat service at camp, I informed the campers that my mother had died, and that I needed to say Kaddish. You could hear a pin drop. The usually rancorous kids were silent, and in that sweet moment of support, I recited my first Kaddish away from my family. Those children taught me the Torah of respect and kindness, while in a field up in Ontario, Canada.
We can learn and teach Torah anywhere. Where have you learned or taught Torah?
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
Torah can be learned anywhere, and likely, everywhere.
When I lived in California, we had a monthly Shabbat morning hike, called Torah on the Trails, in which we explored a local hiking trail, and then studied while relaxing amid the trees or beside the ocean, nibbling on challah.
On Tuesday of this week, a minyan of Rabbis taught Torah while sitting on the hot pavement on 2nd Avenue in Manhattan, across the street from the Israeli Consulate. To the crowds gathered in protest, they taught texts about feeding the hungry. They were arrested and led away in handcuffs for disrupting traffic, but they taught Torah: that our Tradition does not sanction starvation.
And, Moses seemed to know this, too. Early in our Torah portion this week, we find this verse, “On the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this Teaching…” (Deuteronomy 1:5)
Fascinatingly, standing across the Jordan River from the Promised Land of Canaan, now Israel, Moses taught Torah. It was one of the last things he did in his life, as he was near to death and would die on the other side of the Jordan, disallowed from crossing with his people to the new land. But, even though he was limited to life on the other side, he could still teach Torah.
Torah not only can be learned anywhere, but it can be taught anywhere.
Some of the most fascinating places where I learned Torah have included sitting with an elderly Jew in February snow on the steps of the synagogue in Leningrad (when it was still the Soviet Union). He eyed my knitted, Israeli kipah, so I took if off my head, removed his wintry cap and put it on his head and replaced his cap. It now was his. His massive smile was gratifying, and his Spaciba – Thank You in Russian, was equal to all the words of Torah.
Likewise, decades ago when my mother died as I was in my first year as a rabbi, I went from shiva in California directly to a week at a Reform Jewish summer camp. At the close of the Shabbat service at camp, I informed the campers that my mother had died, and that I needed to say Kaddish. You could hear a pin drop. The usually rancorous kids were silent, and in that sweet moment of support, I recited my first Kaddish away from my family. Those children taught me the Torah of respect and kindness, while in a field up in Ontario, Canada.
We can learn and teach Torah anywhere. Where have you learned or taught Torah?
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
