I Samuel Perek 2 (1969)

/ I Samuel Perek 2 (1969)

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1969

I Samuel Perek 2 (1969)

Neviim

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This address is dedicated – as is my shiur tomorrow – to the memory of morenu ve-rabbenu Dr. Samuel Belkin, zikhrono livrakhah, whose tenth yahrzeit we will commemorate in a few weeks, during Chol ha-Moed Pesach. Because Dr. Belkin was not only my teacher for one year – the last year he taught – but also my predecessor as President, I had the opportunity to appreciate the full scope of his prodigious talents and insights – his greatness not only as a talmid chakham and as an educator, but also as a leader. And it is this quality of leadership that I choose to discuss on this, his tenth yahrzeit and the one hundredth birthday of our Yeshiva. Dr. Belkin taught us by example that to be a talmid chakham you need lomdus; to be a yerei shamayim you need emunah; to be a teacher you need love of your pupils as well as your subject matter. But to be a rav, a rabbi in the classic Jewish sense, you need all these – and much more: you need the gift of leadership.Dr. Belkin himself was an orphan from Lithuania who became a renowned תלמיד חכם at a young age, wandered to the U.S., got himself a doctorate at Brown University, and then came to Yeshiva as both a rosh yeshiva and professor of Greek. His contribution to the |ewish world, however, was not confined to what he knew and what he taught, but was distinguished by the way he combined these with his vision, his goals, his determination, his readiness to use either gentle persuasion or confrontation —in a word, his leadership. It was the ability to integrate his Torah and his Mada with his leadership qualities that ensured his place in Jewish history.Dr. Belkin was blessed with great gifts, both intellectual and personal, and few of us indeed can aspire to equal his achievements. But we can learn from him, each in his own way and in accordance with his own personality, to exercise leadership in our careers as rabbis; to bear in mind that the rabbinate is neither a service profession nor a lifelong kollel at the expense of a co…

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The Bible Views a New Administration (1969)

The eve of the inauguration of a new American President and Administration is not an inappropriate time to speak of another incoming Administration on which our Sidra comments: ויקם מלך חדש על מצרים, “And there arose a new king on Egypt.” Let me make it clear: I shall be attempting in this sermon to derive instruction from the biblical narrative, not to draw parallels between the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, who has been an execration for the past 3,300 years of Jewish history, and the democratically-elected President of a great nation who has not yet been tested in his exalted office. The fact of the newness of Administration – ויקם מלך חדש – is what both have in common. Thereafter, all similarities are empty conjecture, irrelevant and impertinent. Our text, therefore, is primarily a pretext for a Scripturally inspired commentary on the fateful world events of the past several weeks.The Torah teaches us: ויקם מלך חדש על מצרים אשר לא ידע את יוסף, “There arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, ‘Behold, the people of the children of Israel are too many and mighty for us; come, let us deal wisely with them, פן ירבה – lest they multiply, and the Israelites prove disloyal to the ruling circles of Egypt.’” The Pharaoh and his advisers therefore, decided to enslave the Israelites and oppress them. However, וכאשר יענו אותו כן ירבה וכן יפרוץ , “the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad.”What does it mean that the new Pharaoh “knew not Joseph?” Certainly he should have known about a major part of recent Egyptian history, even if he had not met Joseph personally. One of the most perceptive commentators on the Torah, the author of “Keli Yakar,” explained these five words: The new Pharaoh did not know what happened to Joseph, he did not make it his business to learn the appropriate lessons from the biography and the history of Joseph. And what the Pharaoh primarily failed to learn was that there wa…

Synagogue Sermon

There is a Prophet in Israel (1970)

The Haftorah offers us a fascinating view of life in ancient Israel of over 2800 years ago. It takes us back to an era when there flourished in Israel a King and a Prophet. It is a time when the Kingdom of Israel was in essence a satellite of Aram or Syria, and the Israelites’ King was a vassal of the King of Syria. The Prophet was Elisha, disciple of Elijah. The Haftorah’s narrative may be summarized as follows: Naaman, the General of Syria, was a leper. A captured Israelite girl, who was taken as a handmaid for Naaman’s wife, told Naaman that he could find relief by consulting the Prophet. The King of Syria thereupon sent his General to the King of Israel asking that the latter provide for his cure from his leprosy. The King of Israel panicked, for he had no idea on how to cure lepers, and suspected that the Syrian King was using this as a pretext for destroying him. When Elisha heard about that, he sent word to the King that he, the Prophet, will effect the cure: וידע כי יש נביא בישראל, “and let him know that there is a Prophet in Israel.” Elisha then sent a messenger to Naaman telling him to dip into the Jordan seven times and he will be cured. Naaman was offended, because the Prophet did not personally greet him at the door, and because the prescription he offered seemed so ridiculous. I thought, the General said, that the Prophet would wave his hand and cure me magically. Furthermore, I have much better rivers in Syria than this little rivulet called the Jordan! Nevertheless, his advisors prevailed upon him to follow the Prophet’s advice, which he did, whereupon he was healed. The Haftorah then reaches its climax in the words of Naaman: הנה נא ידעתי כי אין אלקים בכל הארץ כי אם בישראל, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world save in Israel.” It is the act of Kiddush Hashem, the glorification or sanctification of God’s Name.Now, this is more than just a flashback to a fascinating piece of ancient history. As we say in our blessings over the Haftorah, …