By Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky in San Diego, California
There are several staple items that exist within the realm of a Jewish community, particularly within the Shul. During my thirty-four-year rabbinic career, two in Binghamton, three in Charleston, and the remaining twenty-nine in San Diego, I experienced many of them front and center. One of those standard Shul or Rabbi things we do is sing during Shalosh Seudos, the third meal of Shabbos. There is no doubt this ranked among the top five things a Rabbi works to encourage to the point of almost begging his congregants to do – to join in and sing. At the same time, it ranks among the top five things a Rabbi fails miserably at achieving. Personally, I can fully understand the situation from the point of view of those being asked to sing. When I attend another Shul and am seated among the congregants, I also prefer to shmooze and enjoy the camaraderie that is so important. For many years, I would introduce the singing of zemiros and emphasize the spiritual impact and the sanctity of the time as Shabbos ebbs steadily away. During the quarantine period of COVID, I made it a point to open my windows and sing Shalosh Seudos zemiros at the top of my lungs so everyone could hear me and understand that we still need to sing. Perhaps now that I have left the Rabbinic position of heading a shul, people may be wondering, perhaps asking, ”Does Rabbi B. still sing those same old archaic tunes?”
The simple answer is. “YES!” In fact, I actually took it upon myself (bli neder/without a vow) to always sing the exact Shalosh Seudos zemiros I had asked everyone else to sing. Baruch Hashem, I sing zemiros every week, even if I am alone (things haven’t changed), and I also introduce the ‘program’ by inviting everyone to sing, concluding the singing by thanking everyone who participated. I am all too familiar with another reason people are anxious about not joining. I would suggest that either the tunes are outdated and monotonous, or perhaps consider that “Askinu Seudasa” followed by “Bnei Heichala” are written in Aramaic and not fully understood. In life, the best technique to overcome fear or anxiety is to face it head-on. In this case, you can change the tune (but of course not the lyrics) and learn the deeper meaning of Askinu Seudasa and Bnei Heichala. I decided to understand a bit more with regard to the meaning of these sacred words. I therefore chose to focus on the following passage: לְבַר נַטְלִין וְלָא עָאלִיןהַנֵי כַלְבִּין דַחֲצִיפִין Outside, let them remain, never to arise – those brazen dogs. Artscroll, in its Siddur on page 589, interprets the words “the brazen dogs” as those who seek to accuse and persecute Israel before God – they are likened to dogs in their brazenness. “At this hour of Divine favor, they are given no leave to come before the Divine Presence”. The ‘Divine hour’ is symbolic of the precious moments of Shabbos quickly coming to an end, symbolizing a place and time when the Jewish people savor every moment being connected to Hashem. This place and time is Shabbos, spent right up to the final minutes before Havdalah, honoring our Creator while our enemies are forced to remain outside, excluded from our rendezvous with the Almighty. And so, I find myself asking why our persecutors are compared to dogs?
In this week’s Parshas Mishpatim, the Torah states in Shmos 22:30 “ואנשי קדש תהיון לי, ובשר בשדה טרפה לא תאכלו לכלב תשלכון אתו” “And you shall be holy men unto me, and you shall not eat any flesh that is devoured in the field; you shall cast it to the dogs.” Reb Tzadok HaKohein connects this passuk to the line in Bnei Heichala through the Zohar and casts light regarding the significance of the dog used in the metaphor. Dogs are strong in spirit, the Nukva. (Please note that the Nukva is a foundational concept in Kabbalah/Jewish mysticism. It is not a person.) Nukva describes the concept which explains the animal that became a treifa in the verse is called a bullock., The Zohar Beshalach, 7a states that when an ox and a donkey are together, when they mate, they produce a male goat from the force of a bullock, and from there comes Amalek, The skin of Amalek is called a dog, the middle letters of the words שור and חמור is a vav = 6 and mem vav = 46, together equals fifty-two, which is the gematria of the word כלב a dog. And so, the beginning of the nations that attacked the Jewish people was Amalek. The skin of Amalek is the dog, “this against this,” the skin of Amalek, the dog, is against the keter/crown in the kedushah from the potential of the bull. Therefore, the meat of this treifa cow has lost its sanctity to be consumed and, more so, to be offered as a Korban to Hashem.
A more pertinent and practical message of this passuk relates to Shalom Bayis and relationships. Typically, Jews would raise kosher animals, cows, bulls, sheep, goats, chickens, etc., but not non-kosher ones, such as a dog. Nevertheless, farmers and farms that raised animals would have dogs to protect their livestock. The scenario the Torah describes is that a farmer’s animal was torn apart by a predatory animal. The slain animal was no longer kosher and therefore a complete loss. The farmer realized that his dog, whose job it is to protect the flock, failed. It was not able to prevent the cow or sheep from being attacked and killed by the predator. At that point, the farmer would likely be furious at the dog for not doing its job, causing financial loss to the owner, and wanting to punish the dog. Berating the dog would be worthless; beating the dog would not bring back the slain cow or sheep. Instead, the Torah commands us to give the actual treif meat to the dog to eat! That sounds as though the Torah is rewarding the dog for failing to serve and protect! As strange as this sounds, it is not. The dog is not getting the meat as a reward for failing this time, but rather for the thousands of days that it DID protect the cattle and sheep from predators.
There are times when a husband, wife, child, parent, or even a friend lets us down and fails us. Our initial reaction is anger, disappointment, and disbelief, causing us at times to lose control and show our anger. The lesson here is not to yell and scream, not to ‘lose it’, but rather to buy some flowers or something special to show our appreciation for the hundreds of times our spouse, our parent, or our child DID something for us, yet only now do we recognize and appreciate all that we’ve received. It is our duty, our responsibility to alter our behavior – and also to control our anger through helping and guiding those we love when they have made a mistake, working always to guide ourselves and our families to serve Hashem at the highest levels.
Wishing you and your family Ah Gutten Shabbos
*
Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky is the emeritus spiritual leader of Beth Jacob Congregation and author of Developing a Torah Personality