Dear Matzav Inbox,
We Americans have a funny way of looking at ourselves. We like to think that we are a little more sophisticated, a little more open-minded, a little more “with it.” Israel is wonderful, of course, but somehow, in the back of our minds, we sometimes imagine that we Americans have figured out certain things that they haven’t. We know how to bridge communities. We know how to be inclusive. We know how to look beyond labels and backgrounds.
And then you see a scene like the one that took place in Belz.
The Belzer Rebbe hosted Sefardic Selichos, with Rav Yitzchok Yosef and Rav Yitzchok Dovid Grossman present.
Think about that for a moment. The Belzer Rebbe. In Belz. Hosting Sefardic Selichos. There was something so beautiful about it, and something that, at least to me, was also a little uncomfortable. Because I found myself wondering: Could I picture this happening here?
Could I picture one of the great American Chassidishe courts or yeshivos hosting a full-blown Sefardic Selichos, with leading Sefardic rabbonim participating? Could I picture everyone simply appreciating the beauty of another community’s mesorah, without worrying whether it was “ours” or “theirs”?
Maybe it could happen. I hope it could. But I have trouble picturing it. And that should make us think.
We talk endlessly in America about achdus. We have dinners about achdus, speeches about achdus, panels about achdus and organizations devoted to achdus. We know all the terminology. We know how important it is.
But sometimes achdus is much simpler than that.
Sometimes it is a Belzer Rebbe opening his doors to Sefardic Selichos.
Sometimes it is recognizing that another mesorah does not threaten yours. You can be completely Belz and still make room for something that comes from a different part of Klal Yisroel. You can be fiercely loyal to your own minhagim and still celebrate somebody else’s.
In fact, perhaps that is what real confidence in your own mesorah looks like.
There is a tendency in America to confuse being “advanced” with being modern. But maybe being advanced has nothing to do with how modern you are. Maybe it means being secure enough in who you are that you can embrace another Yid who looks different, davens differently, pronounces the words differently and comes from a completely different mesorah.
The Belzer Rebbe did not deliver a lecture about unity.
He showed us what it looks like.
So the next time we American Jews congratulate ourselves on how progressive, sophisticated and broad-minded we are, perhaps we should remember that scene in Belz.
Who, exactly, is more advanced?
I say we Americans could learn a few things from the Belzer Rebbe.
C. B.
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It’s not fair to label all of American Jews the same.
Where I’m from (Starts with a B & ends with an E) it’s not like you described at all.
Go to our schools where kids from across the Orthodox spectrum go to school together. White shirt or colored shirt, no one cares. Knit yarmulke, leather yarmulke, Black velvet yarmulke, no one cares. Jacket or no jacket, no one cares. Hat or not hat, no one cares.
Since he’s in the news. When Rabbi Silbers proud Modern Orthodox Religious Zionist Shul had a ground breaking event the 1st guest speaker was R’ Ahron Feldman.
A few years ago a Chasidish Rebbe in town invited Rabbi Silber to speak in his Shul Eruv Yom Kipper.
What the Belzer Rebbe did is wonderful but you don’t need to bash American Jewish communities to make your point.