Shalom magazine - The Atlantic Jewish Council

a married person and a widow/er, a king
and a judge, a free person and a slave, and
the list goes on...
This is why most of our prayers, as well,
are in the plural form: ‘Avinu’, ‘Malkenu’
and ‘Hoshieinu, (that would probably be
the only difference between the movie
and the real life – we, in real life, would
have found that message in the plural
form).
Tishre 5771 - Vol 35 No. 2
rabbi’s CorNer
We pray as a community that Hashem
should answer our prayers and bestow
upon us and the whole world a Happy
New Year!
What do we do when something
doesn’t go our way? How do we treat
people whom we don’t agree with
or get along with?
by Rabbi Ari Sherbill, Rabbi, Beth Israel Synagogue, Halifax
There is a story of Rav Aryeh
Levin, who while living in
Israel around the time of the
establishment of the state was famous
for his compassion and kindness.
Among his many acts of kindness was
paying visits to the local jail where the
British officers often took in Israeli’s
before we were given our own control
of the land. Once while visiting the
jail, there was a large group of Neturei
Karta, Satmar Chasidim who were
brought in because of a demonstration.
This group was very against Rabbi
Levin because he was close friends
with Rav Kook. For those who know,
Rav Kook, who later became the first
Chief Rabbi of Israel, spoke highly of
the loftiness and holiness of the land of
Israel, and especially how important it
is for every single Jewish person to live
there. Israel is so essential to the Jewish
soul, said Rav Kook, that it makes sense
that it was established by people who
claimed to be secular, not religious and
even anti-religious. These views were
considered holy to Rav Kook and his
followers, but absolute treif to groups
like the Neturei Karta.
So when Rav Aryeh Levin went to
visit the jail and found the group
from Neturei Karta, Rav Aryeh went
out of his way to make their stay as
comfortable as possible. He told the
officer who watched over them that,
“these are pious Jews, they should be
taken extra
good care of.”
One of their
rooms was
dark so Rav
Aryeh asked
that they be
moved to a
lighter room.
One room
was cold so
Rav Aryeh
asked that they be moved to a warmer
room.
One time, as Rav Aryeh was leaving the
jail, one of the leading members of the
neturei Karta group covered his eyes
and exclaimed, “Close your eyes and
don’t look at his face! It is prohibited
to look at the face of an evil person,
and he is friends with Rav Kook!” The
officer was so appalled, he almost hit
this man. After all that Rav Aryeh had
done for them, the kindnesses that he
showed, the generosity of spirit and
time- they scream that he is an evil
person and can’t even look at him?!
Rav Aryeh said, “Can’t you see how
pious these men are? They are
absolutely men of truth -for all my
kindnesses cannot bribe them to change
their views ... what pious Jews...”
Most of us have been to Rosh Hashana
and Yom Kippur services - perhaps
every year. It seems like the same old
thing - we force ourselves to go, wait for
the extremely long services to end, year
after year. Some songs we like, some
songs we don’t, words that are more
understood in English, etc.
The truth though is, Rosh Hashana is
not about what happens in Synagogue,
but what happens in our own lives.
It is not about going to a service but
rather having a time to think about how
my life is going-and should it be going
better?
I invite you to think about the above
story with Rav Aryeh this year. Let’s
for a moment forget about whatever
we might think we know about the
High Holy Days -and think how these
holidays can make me higher in the
following way: The kindness that Rav
Aryeh showed, his brilliant, honest,
calm, compassionate patience that he
showed to someone who insulted him
so vehemently - is that a quality that I
live with? Of all the things I do in my
life- how much is filled with the kind
of qualities that we so appreciate in the
above story?
If the entire world lived and thought in
the way that Rav Aryeh did-our world
would be a better world, a more perfect
and enjoyable world. If our homes were
filled with family members who lived
like Rav Aryeh, our homes and family
lives would be more perfect, more
peaceful.
continued on page 58
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