Back to the Basics: Let's Go Home!
This past Sunday my neighbor donated a Sefer Torah to one of the local Queens synagogues. As is the age old custom, a "welcome ceremony" known as the Hachnasat Sefer Torah was held. Here, all rejoice over the huge Simcha of the completion of a brand new Sefer Torah. And what a beautiful Hachnasat Sefer Torah it was! Live Jewish music being played from the back of a colorfully decorated truck, blasted through the area. Some Jews wore equally colorful festive robes.
Scores of local Jewish children held torches as hundreds of Jews marched through the neighborhood. As we past more and more houses, the number of marchers grew. There was much singing and dancing in the streets all along the way as the joyful precession made its way from my neighbor's house to the synagogue about a half a mile away.
And what a medina shel chessed! A true nation of kindness! Not only did lots of New York's Finest escort us all along the way. They actually stopped traffic at every intersection, including at two major thoroughfares, just so we could march and dance through safely!
Where else in the world throughout history were Jews able to stop traffic and dance in the street with torches flaring and music blaring?
And that's the catch. With all this kindness we receive in America it becomes so very easy, so very very easy, for us to forget we are not Home. A while ago, as a public service, Kumah posted some printable handouts that sum things up nicely. One flyer reads:
Dear America,
Thank you and Shalom.
We have to go home now.
Your Friends,
The Jews
It's important to get back to the basics and to remember while America can provide us with almost everything we need to be good Torah Jews there is one small thing that she will never be able to provide us. (See it in Yishai's post below.)
Let's go Home!
