HaRav Uri Deutsch - Achdus: A Nice Idea or a Real Obligation? - Project Inspire Convention 2025

the last moment just a few short days before the convention har called me that there was a uh family situation that unfortunately resulted in him having to um having to um board a plane to go to Israeli Family Matter and uh regretted not being able to be here not being able to be here together with us however he is joining us live from Mar Israel via zoom and without further Ado it's my great coved to introduce from fromes thank you so much for allowing me the chance to participate in the project Inspire weekend and Convention again the hasn't allowed me to be with you in person but it's my pleasure and honor to be able to participate in this way and I hope in some way this more limited participation in the convention should nonetheless achieve and should achieve a for all of you who have participated in This Magnificent expression of kesem the topic of our discussion today is Aus a nice idea or real obligation it's difficult to imagine a more appropriate time to discuss this topic because standing on the threshold of the Y of purm we know one of the most poignant and emotive sukim verses that there are in the mcgilla describe how hon the Paradigm of the Semite the Paradigm of someone who seeks to undermine all the greatness of the Jewish Nation argues his case with a the then ruler of the world and says the words he doesn't even give the Jewish people the credit and the respect of naming them but defines them and labels them by a nation who is scattered and fragmented amongst the other nations and as many of the commentators of the Milla point out that as esta and M discussed the steps that would lead to the Salvation of the of the Jewish Nation the expression that used was go and gather the Jewish people and the commentators juxtapose these two expressions and contrast them and explain that what would be the antidote the solution and the source of salvation for the devastating and denigration of the Jewish people at the hands of hon by describing them as there's a nation which is both scattered and fragmented the antidote would be to gather the Jewish people in an expression of unity and so the commentators underscore the theme of unity as part of the story and The Narrative of PM as one of the key components which led to the Salvation of CLA is and in the same way as in that era the unity was key to the Salvation of clais we have in many places in kazal in the rinic literature mes gar where the unity of clol is a prerequisite and a condition and something necessary in order that the Jewish people should experience both blessing and the beneficience of God's Providence daily as well as what the Jewish Nation lives for which is for ultimate Redemption we have aish in as yov gathered the tribes together shortly before his passing and there the verse uses the words heosu gather as our patriarch Yakov pulled all his children together and the medish comments is and says jakob's deathbed instructions to his children was be considered one Gathering and he says if that can be accomplished that will be means by which you will be preparing yourself towards ultimate for ultimate Redemption so too we find in other places in the medish where the emphasis of allowing all parts all elements all levels of the Jewish people to be able to be in the words of the med in in the book ofra where the med says what allows God what allows the re revelation of the Divinity in creation what allows the elevation of the creation and the cosmos as a whole when are formed into one bound entity that when are bound together when all the elements can be included including what the med calls people whose observance and whose practice is not yet as complete as perhaps God has designated for them ultimately to reach nonetheless if they're able to be bound into one bind into one then each one of them contributes strengths to the other which leads to that the unity of the the unity of God then gets revealed in our world and this theme is repeated as we said in medes in many places and so we understand that the unity of clis is not just something which as we describe in the of rash is and is what CL in its perfect state will look like like that we look towards an era in which will be one entity with all its elements bound together we understand that that's a prerequisite for ultimate Redemption and as we mentioned we learned from the Milla that that is the source The Vessel through which blessing and light comes to the Jewish nation and through which salvation peace comes to us but the question is provocatively is that just a nice idea what does unity really mean I think it's helpful to begin with a remarkable piece of Mahal in his work where the Mahal in the 25th chapter of his work fascinatingly engages in with the question of someone outside the Jewish people who he describes as someone from the um someone from the nations of the world and he engages with a very provocative and very challenging question that this person sort of threw at the marel I'll pray see the way the marel presents this question the questioner the non-jew said the following you claim as the Jewish people that you represent the values of goodness kindness and so on in the world and if that's true he says why then do we find that the Jewish people are so Rife with disagreement why is it that so many people or groups with in the Jewish Nation see each other as somehow superior to the other and he says aren't you commanded with the Mitzvah of aren't we aren't you commanded to love each other and if you'll retort and say but that's only Kam if the person is somehow similar to me so then haven't we allowed for the Jewish people to become fragmented with each person labeling the other person as not being like me and therefore the injunct of doesn't apply and the morale actually goes on to say and it's unclear what his source for this statement is but he says that that question is a question that has been asked in many earlier times and the Jewish people has been challenged by this and he says and I'll read his original language because it's so powerful he says this would almost seem to be something which is a stain on the Jewish people the degree of infighting says the morale that the Jewish people seem to be subject to doesn't have a parallel amongst the other nations of the world how do we understand this so first the moral says that the Jewish people being fragmented to the degree that they are is part of the condition of Exile and he says that part of what causes us to be fragmented to be a part to be different in our thinking and our opinions is part of what golus what Exile what fragmentation means to the Jewish people he says when am are unified in a land around the B mikdash with all the institutions that unify clais like his son hedin like the highest courts or the institution of kunun and a and a m a Jewish King where all of those will be as the rambam describes the Jewish King as the heart of the king becomes the unifying heart of the Jewish people then we've created a system and institutions and means by which the Jewish people rally around central focal points both physical and spiritual but in the absence of those he says he says the by definition has imposed on us an exile that we are challenged in terms of our [Music] unification and he says the marel that in general whenever we find the appearance of something negative in the structure of clais we also have to understand that what it source is is something which is a aspect of cla's greatness which in some way has become corrupted or isn't being brought to fruition in the way that it was originally intended and he says the following he says when CLA challenge each other it's because the natural Drive wish and ambition of every yid is to forge the most complete path towards fulfilling his Divine Mission and the intensity of the debate and the intensity of the dismissal of the approach of others the intensity of the factionalism with which CLA can be beset comes from every person striving to be able to define the most accurate the most consecrated the most complete way in which to approach the and therefore as every person seeks his own most complete path it then can sometimes be taken to the degree that establishing my own unique path in a sometimes spills over in dismissing or being somewhat in some some respect being contemptuous of the approach of someone else but he told the nrw that the proof that the source of the factionalism with which CLA beset is beset is because of the natural striving that clais has to reach and to be confident of their approach towards Divine service can be evidenced by the fact that when clis is beset by its sorrow where they're beset by tragedy or there's a need to extend to extend loving kindness from one to another then the nation becomes unified when CLA R is faced by tragedy when they're faced by outside challenges when they're faced with danger then those are the points in which the morale says CLA unifies and therefore he doesn't seek to apolog olizee to the questioner the outside Observer of the Jewish people and explain away or Justify necessarily the differences but he's making two points one that it comes from every group and every individuals striving to be confident and to assert that they have found the right path towards Divine service and second that within ourselves when needing to be there for each other to provide for each other those differences Melt Away We therefore understand from the marel that the morel has given us at the same time both a and a challenge on the one hand he's told us that to some extent the challenge that CLA R faces in achieving Unity is part of the condition of Gus itself and as we look forward to the ultimate Redemption and to God reinstating to the Jewish people those key rallying points around which the Jewish Nation unifies the temple in Jerusalem the land the institutions that are part of the magnificence and the structure of clais then unification ultimately in its completeness will follow but at the same time he's also challenging us to work at what unifies us which is providing for each other being there for each other loving each other and allowing each of us the space and the independence the self-determination to find our unique path in AEM in the approach towards Divine service and the approach the world of divine without the need to having to having to prove that our approach is right for us by putting down or dismissing the approach of anyone else and I think here we come to a key point which is not just one of semantics but one of essence the term that's used is a term that we often colloquially use Oneness perhaps those in the audience who are ethologically inclined will be able to fully validate this but in my limited knowledge the term ofus doesn't appear in kazal it doesn't appear in Ric literature of the tanak and amaric periods and nor does it appear to the best of my knowledge in the original texts of the r and the early commentators it's a term that begins to appear in that what we call the the later commentaries I believe that one of the earliest uses of the terms is in the work and in the in his commentary to where we find the being used what we do find and that was language that we mentioned before is the term of or or for example at we say and I think the key here is that when we speak about we are speaking about meaning a multiplicity of individuals of approaches of expressions of spirituality and closeness to the but you ified under one ideal and the source of this is from the structure of clais of the Jewish Nation from its very Inception when our progenitor Jacob yakob ofu had 12 tribes 12 shim it wasn't merely that he had 12 children and with that created the basis of the Jewish people the Aral explained that there are 12 so to speak speak shaim gates in Heaven through which every tribe's every tribe's prayers are received the differences in the positions of the tribes of theim as they traveled through the desert indicates specific tasks and specific expressions of divine service that each shabet represented each shed inhabited a specific region of the land of Israel each sh had its own Sedin as we learn about in and that indicates that in fact the actual structure of the Jewish people is a multiplicity of tribes and expressions and approaches but unified as we mentioned with under certain and rallying around certain key ideals which unify the Jewish people as maral often points out in his work the sanctity of the land the sanctity of the temple and the sanctity of the Torah and divine service when we speak about as we say our the rabic literature uses the term an an audo means a number of items which are held together by a unifying Band by a unifying thread there are certain key immutable them without which am is not am for example s in his work says the Jewish people became a nation as they stood at the foot of Sinai the Jewish people are the nation and the bearers of T and within that there are 12 SW and multi mcity of approaches of expressions and like the maral says every faction and every group The gives it blessing and light because they're striving for their own unique expression of how to approach God and to achieve his closeness but where we carry it or it gets carried too far says the moral is the striving to prove the correctness of one's approach Ro by having to dismiss the approach of another that the moral says is where the greatness of Amis risks being corrupted and descending into faction factionalism and argument and so if you return to the question of a nice idea or real obligation it's an absolute obligation and in order for the obligation to be fulfilled and not remain a nice idea we want to be able to allow every group at space to allow those who appear more radical than us to have their space to allow that to be their expression of and to see that those who appear in our eyes lack are merely on a journey to be able to find their own expression and their own way of being close to the r because if we all share the ideals of Torah observance of achieving communion with Hashem of striving for B mikdash for the land for prophecy for Kahuna for the Divine service in the temple then we can form an AA we can be 12 tribes 12 unique expressions of AEM all surrounding and all being bound together with one ideal of revealing God's magnificence in creation as we began with the mad that in order to create and in order to enable the plan the Divine intent for creation to be able to be fulfilled to allow erat to allow the material to allow the mundane to be able to be consecrated that depends on a Unity of expression where where Judaism doesn't need to be monolithic it doesn't need to be a single strand it's a b a Binding Together AB on the on the one hand recognizing not just tolerating but appreciating the unique strength expression and intensity that every group brings to the Jewish people and recognizing and being confident that one's own approach to the Divine if faithful to T if faithful to the ideals of sin if faithful to be if faithful to be accomplishing that ultimate goal of bringing the Divine glory to the mundane then we can allow for an Auda we can allow for a multiplicity of approaches whereas the maral says I was striving to find the most complete relationship with Hashem doesn't cause us to have to denigrate and to dismiss anyone else's and so if we would want to argue and present a definition ofus which will lead us to be able to fulfill that real obligation and at the same time not remain a nice idea is if each one of us can adhere to a simple principle that the most dominant force and ideal that guides Our Lives is how we we have intended and how we intend in the future to place our relationship with Hashem our relationship with God and our part in bringing about the revelation of his glory at the center of our Lives then there a place for each and every one of us in the audo if our lives are dedicated to that ideal to living individually and collectively our divine Mission would dedicated to that in a Wholesome Way then there's no question that each one of us can integrate with every other one of us and to achieve that magnificent goal of to complete the revelation of the Divine in our world and to bring about the thank you very much of everybody here want to thank you for joining us live mer Isel everything should go well and we look forward to seeing you another time M AEM live at the project Inspire convention