Sh'lach L'cha: the wood-gatherer

[cellio]

Last week during the Sh'liach K'hilah program I gave a d'var torah. I spoke from notes rather than fully writing it out in advance. Now I'm writing down very approximately what I said from those notes.

The portion of Sh'lach L'cha records the incident with the wood-gatherer. To review, on Shabbat two men find a third outside the camp gathering wood, a clear violation of the laws of Shabbat they have been given. The men bring the wood-gatherer to Moshe and ask what to do. Moshe, in turn, asks God, who pronounces a death sentence. Pretty harsh!

The talmud, in tractate Sanhedrin, elaborates the laws of capital offenses. These laws are designed to prevent capital punishment; Rabbi Akiva said that a court that executes one person in 70 years is a bloodthirsty court. In order for a death sentence to even be possible, the following conditions have to be met: there must be two witnesses; they must warn the person that he is about to commit a capital offense; he must acknowledge that warning and say he intends to do it anyway; and they must then directly see him do it.

If I understand rabbinic tradition correctly, that the wood-gatherer was executed means that all of that happened in this case. So why didn't the two men prevent this? Where did things go wrong?

When the men bring the wood-gatherer to Moshe, the word in the text is karov. This means "bring" or "draw near". We know this root from other contexts: a korban, usually translated as "sacrifice", is the means by which b'nei Yisrael draws closer to God. And the word kiruv is generally understood to mean "outreach". You know how, when you're walking down the street, a Lubavicher might stop and ask you if you light Shabbat candles, and then give you candles and teach you the blessing? That's kiruv. When an observant family invites you to Shabbat dinner so that you'll experience the joy of the day, that's kiruv. Kiruv is about bringing Jews closer to Judaism -- by drawing them in, not admonishing them. While many of our congregations have outreach programs of various sorts, true kiruv is one on one, one Jew to another. It's not really about adult-ed classes and congregational dinners, nice as those things are too.

I had always understood the witnesses against the wood-gatherer as trouble-makers -- "look what he's doing! stop him!". But I think what we're seeing here is a failed kiruv attempt -- they weren't prosecuting a case; they were saying to Moshe "do something to help this person". Why did this fail? Perhaps because the men failed in their own responsibility, making it Moshe's problem instead of taking a more active role themselves. Our leaders can't be everywhere nor can they solve all of our problems personally; we have to do some things ourselves. We are taught kol Yisrael arevim zeh l'zeh, all Israel is responsible one for another. The men made a good start by recognizing a need, but they didn't follow through.

Next week after Shabbat services, look around at the oneg. Do you see the guy standing in the corner, the one no one talks to because he's socially awkward? What about the 30-something single woman who doesn't have kids and maybe feels a little out of place in a family-focused congregation? What about the 90-year-old who has no local family, but he's been a member of this congregation all his life? And these are the ones who came -- how many others in the congregation don't even show up?

What can we as individuals do for these people? We could invite them over for Shabbat or for a meal in the sukkah. We could invite them to a Chanukah party or a Yom Kippur break-fast. Or it could be something secular, going out to a group dinner or to a movie or the like. Or, more simply, we could talk with them. Do you know their names? Do they have families? What do they enjoy doing in their free time? Do you know why someone who's usually there every week hasn't been around for a month? Is he on vacation, or is he sick?

Kiruv doesn't have to be big and official; in fact, it shouldn't be. It's the small, individual acts that will draw the people on the fringes of our community toward the center. And these small, individual acts are things we can all do without relying on our leaders. Sure, it's not always easy -- but we don't have to do it all at once. Any step we take is better than taking no step at all.

May we develop the ability to treat the outliers in our communities better than the men in this portion treated the wood-gatherer. Kein y'hi r'tzono, may this be God's will.

Comments

May I post a large quote of your text?

[(Anonymous)]

I usually restrict quotes to the "fair-use" two lines in my blog. But I would love to quote a chunk of your article (along with a link)-- the fifth paragraph (assuming I can count).

This is a concept I've been trying to explain to Christians for years, and you've accomplished it (with Biblical references) quite wonderfully.

Also, I would appreciate an e-mail from you. I have a question I need to ask in private about how to gently encourage someone to do the right thing. Thanks.

Rob of UnSpace (http://www.unspace.net/)
unspace@unspace.net

Re: May I post a large quote of your text?

[cellio]

Quoting (with link) is fine. Glad you found it helpful!

Email sent.