Message from R’ Schonfeld: R’ Yoel Schonfeld

A few days ago, my son Simcha sent me a video clip of scenes from Mars taken from various American spacecraft that are parked there long-term. It was quite incredible to watch. I had a hard time digesting that I was looking at the daily landscape of a planet 40 million miles away from our own.

How often have you heard the question asked: “Why don’t the Jews have their Al Sharpton? We need someone who will speak up for us with force!”

The other day, I was discussing our shul’s Tish’ah B’Av schedule with our gabbai. I had proposed two minyanim for Minchah, one in the early afternoon and the other around 8:00 p.m. He reminded me that we need time for people to go home and eat the S’udah HaMafsekes, the customary meal before the fast begins. I was frozen in my tracks. I had completely forgotten about that. How could I?! It’s a basic custom, part of this most solemn day on the Jewish calendar.

I was in high school as a junior and senior back in the late 1960s. Here we are in 2020, over 50 years later, yet I see a connection – a line that connects the generations.

Many years ago, when I started applying for a position in the rabbinate, my father half-jokingly told me to watch out for shuls that have self-aggrandizing names. For example, if a shul is named “Rodfei Tzedakah” (pursuers of charity), they are likely miserly. If they call themselves “Anshei Shalom” (people of peace), they are probably strife-ridden. Naturally, this was just whimsical and should not reflect on any particular shul in reality. As a young cynic, I asked my father if that means that Young Israel synagogues are really for the elderly. At least he had a chuckle.

One of the rarities in today’s society is honest conversation. If we had honest conversations about our political, religious, and racial differences, we would be in far better shape. The turmoil in which the country currently finds itself is because we will not talk to each other honestly.