Parshas Rosh Hashana Issue
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
King Solomon, the wisest of all men, writes in Proverbs (28:9): “If one turns aside his ear from hearing the Torah, his prayer, too, will be [considered] an abomination.”
Rabbi Chaim ben Betzalel of Friedberg, 16th-century Torah scholar and mystic - and brother of the famed Mahara"l of Prague – asks the following question in his classic work Igeres Hatiyul:
Are we not taught by our Talmudic sages in Tractate Nazir 23b that the Holy One, Blessed is He does not withhold the rightfully deserved reward of all His creations - even the reward of a totally wicked person? If so, while it is true that this person “turned his ear aside from hearing Torah”, thus duly deserving punishment for that wrongful deed, why is it fair that his daily prayer should be considered an “abomination” and that he should therefore lose the reward for the mitzvah of prayer that he performed?
Rav Chaim provides us with a beautiful answer:
He writes that the verse in Proverbs 28:9 mentioned above in which G-d considers man’s prayer an abomination is referring specifically to a situation where one attempts to share words of Torah with his friend, and in the middle of doing so, his friend cuts him off and says, “I heard that already!” (or “I know that already!”) instead of listening to the words of Torah that his friend has to say. In such a case, when he recites the same prayer (the Amidah) three times a day, every day, without any change – G-d cuts him off and says, “I heard that already!”
[Ed. note: I once shared this Torah insight with a friend of mine, and in the middle of repeating it to him, he actually cut me off and said, “I heard that already!” – to which I replied, “No, you didn’t!” -dz]
In truth, one can ask what is really so bad about cutting some off (when done in a polite way, of course) when he is sharing words of Torah with you – especially if you have already heard them before.
On a simple level, it is a mistake to cut your friend off in the middle of his sharing a Torah insight with you – even if you heard it already – because he might say it differently the second time and you will be missing out.
However, on a deeper level, it is wrong and ill-advised to interrupt Torah that one has already heard – not so much because of the possibility that the Torah insight was changed and presented differently this time than in previous times - but because of the likelihood that the one who is interrupting has (hopefully) changed and is not the same person he was when he first heard the insight and is now hearing it on a whole new level.
Allow me to explain this idea based on a fundamental concept in the Torah – the Jewish concept of time (and please don’t interrupt me …).
According to our tradition, the Jewish calendar with all its many holidays is not linear. We do not simply move through time, where a holiday "commemorates an event." Rather, Jewish time is cyclical; each Jewish festival on the calendar we return to that higher spiritual reality, tap into the energy of the holiday, and relive the experience – hopefully this time around at a higher and more sophisticated level than in previous years. In this way, each holiday and event on the calendar is meant to be an opportunity for personal change and growth and not merely a commemoration of events past.
This idea that Jewish time is cyclical – and that each holiday with its own nuances and spiritual energy repeats itself each year - can be illustrated in the Hebrew word for “year”, shanah. Shanah means year, but it also means “change” (as in the word shinui) and “repetition” (as in the words Mishneh Torah – see Deuteronomy 17:18). This highlights the fact that each year in Jewish time is both a cyclical repeating of the previous year and a great opportunity for change as well.
[For a deeper understanding of the Jewish concept of Time, see Michtav M’Eliyahu (Hebrew Edition) by Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, vol.1 p.103; vol. 2 p.21]
We now can better understand why we should never interrupt our friend while he shares words of Torah with us – even if we heard them already in the past. After all, the whole purpose of time and the Jewish holidays (and really of life itself) is to grow and change and not to be the same person we were before. And on our new higher level we have not heard our friend’s words of Torah already.
However, if we fail to realize this crucial point about our spiritual growth – and we are still learning Bible stories and praying the way we did in Hebrew School - then G-d says to us that our prayer is an “abomination”, as we keep on reciting the Amidah and repeating it on the same level every day, three times a day, every day, without any change – and G-d says “I heard that already!.”
As we are about begin yet another Rosh Hashanah (the holiday starts this coming Sunday evening at sunset) it would be a great time for us to stop saying to ourselves and to those around us “I heard that already!” - and to start studying Torah and praying to G-d on a deeper and more sophisticated level the way it should be.
[Ed. note: It’s really as easy as signing up for a daily Torah podcast or e-mail – or even by hooking up with a zoom or live class – and taking our understanding of Judaism to a higher level! -dz]
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