A Tale of Two Brothers: A Paradigm for Jewish Unity in Diversity - Rabbi Yitzchak Botton

you know it's interesting the torah begins with the letter bet which were taught means blessing and the very last reading the portion that we read is called resort america which of course again is the word blessing we begin and end with the concept of a blessing now let us appreciate a deep deep understanding and appreciation to really one of the most important blessings that we get from moshe rabbeinu in this final partial before he leaves us the verse speaks about his Saha and Zev alone two brothers two of the twelve tribes it says smoth zevulun Burt cetera the Sahara bollocky that the Loon should be rejoiceful in his departure and his saga should be happy in his tent smoke has vomited heckuva Sahaba allaha both Buddha land and the sucker should be happy with their role in creation with their role in life that Hashem gave them what the villains role as appreciates the villains role zulan is mentioned to happy departing leaving well that is appreciate where is he leaving from and of course his sucker is told to be happy in his tent what does that mean what is his tent what is it exactly they were thought that he should be so happy about in his tent so really if we look at the day every day begins with the idea of going for the same place we all are meant to go to hashem and take a you know take a good few moments or even an hour or so you know connecting with hashem when our day starts you know it really begins with the modere on a prayer which is this idea of connecting to our source connecting to our purpose which is kebab and the reason why we're here taking it one step further we have the idea of the morning prayers rahama vino Abraham you know founded the concept of turning to God at sunrise and praying and connecting to a sham then and we following in that idea whether it's actually sunrise or a little bit later because you know of course these days we are up much later with electricity you know so we're up late at night so sometimes we don't pray exactly with sunrise but the idea of the morning prayer that takes a lot more time but that's again what we got from a from Aveeno the idea of praying to wash em in the morning and that's how we all start our date now the Shahana talks about after one prays one should again take the next step and learn about the ways of life the ways of Hashem and then really what is our purpose in our particular way they were supposed to function and and behave in this world and that's the idea of learning Torah and so our day really begins with this concept of connecting to our sham with prayer that's us talking to Hashem and then learning about and listening to what God has to tell us through his Torah now with that in mind let's appreciate so he's a fool une starting the day that way is really leaving so what does it mean that he's leaving means that he's leaving the base Madras and the bit Knesset the place of prayer and learning he's leaving this wonderful unbelievable what we would call a heaven on earth opportunity situation so and this is a bit confusing so the verse is telling him to be happy about this departure truth is you know one is better off maybe staying or one would I maybe think that the best place the safest place in the holiest place to stay is in the bed capacity and the Midrash the place of learning and crane but ultimately that's not the purpose of creation the purpose of creation is just has to be in this world and that's what the departure of the rule represents the idea of leaving the the that like the secure environment of of the four walls of Torah and of the holy place like the base I make - and going out into the mundane world the worldly pursuits and it's important how we take that departure so the verse here is telling us to be joyous to be happy about that departure which is a little bit puzzling because really maybe we should say we should be at least be sad or brokenhearted about the departure you know very common and very accepted Torah perspective is that even though we have to leave the Beck Midrash we shouldn't be happy about it now let's take a look a little bit at the Sahara Sahara has a different role yes AAHA represents the idea of Jewish leadership which for Jewish leadership very mundane or sort of what's equivalent to our mundane for them is the idea of guiding and educating the Jewish people and the world to follow the ways of a sham so for them there is a essentially no departure from the tent of Torah we find this back with Yaakov Aveeno Jacob because he's called a man that dwells in tents you know the plural over their tents could be an understanding of the hidden and and revealed parts of Torah so the Jewish leadership which is what the soccer represents they're men of tents meaning they stay all the time in the base mesh in order to really learn and guide the Jewish people and so these two brothers represent really the totality of the Jewish people now really if we want to appreciate the depth of this we should go back to Jacob Yaakov and his brother ASA we're taught essentially that really Yaakov and ice have represented this type of relationship this type of partnership that Yaakov's role was to be a man of the tents which is to sit and learn God's Torah and being a spiritual guide that the spiritual adviser and really to draw down the spiritual blessing from above by being a holy man that's really a little bit secluded and isolated in that divine role like the Kohen Gadol that we see in the future what was a subzero eighths's role was to go out into the field he's called a man of the field and that's represents the idea of going out into the ways of the world mundane and really you know using the physical world utilizing and harnessing all of the potential in the physical world to service the the what's necessary for the Jewish people and so really what we see in this story of Yaakov and ASA is the idea of this partnership which we can then connect with body and soul soul of spiritual body is physical there to dwell together and have to really live in function and harmony to see the real full purpose of the unity of body and soul that God intended and that was essentially the real purpose of the uniting ace of and yako to be this partnership one dealing with more the physical and one the spiritual but really working together as brothers you know helping this world and the Jewish people reach what they needed to reach now unfortunately ace have rejected that role and rebelled and became a wicked man a man that was you know murderous man the Toro Accords many sins that he has done so as a result of ace of departing from his divine role so we see this idea of ISA and zaroon meaning later on in history we fight too others sons of Jacob sons of Yaakov that it's they split the duties of spiritual and physical and they really represent like what would have been a sub and Yaakov and that's how we could appreciate really what it means that the Jewish people have to really have both responsibilities now and and again when we look around you know we have to be careful not to criticize you know there's a whole idea of people that want to learn especially in Israel people that are devoting their life to learning and of course we have enough an army to defend Israel we have certainly many many successful Jewish people in business and you know they donate some of them donate a lot of their money or portion of their money to helping different worthy causes you can help hospitals you can help you know you shiva's you can have a lot of things but really they and that's that's really the idea of the Jewish people and how they're meant to mesh together to fuse together as one beautiful people as we're compared to sometimes the colors of a rainbow we all have different purposes but together we we make the completion of a people that are self-sufficient helping each other respecting each other building each other up not never never putting each other down and that's the beauty of this blessing from Moshe to your soccer and civil mind says that you saw her and the woman should both be happy Rulon should be happy in his departure from the base mattress because that's ultimately his purpose in life is to go out and take with him all of what he learned in that strong connection that he built by praying and connecting to Hashem and bring it out into the world be a godly man make a example be an emissary for God in the world in the way he does his business and his personal relationships and everything that he does he represents and reflects that light of God in the world and yes also represents the idea of the Jewish leadership judges rabbinic leadership you know that's also without that we really would never know our way we would become very lost and so that's also needed and that's really the idea of the full-time person is devoted to Torah like the coin garland priests and the times of the racemic - and they're really necessary for both aspects both roles in among the Jewish people so we cannot really look at the other side putting each other down rather we must realize that we need each other we need to help each other support each other respect each other above all love each other and that's the blessing of motion that the sovereign Zulu should be happy together knowing that together they fulfill the Divine Will and create and facilitate a healthy beneficial life for all of college so for all of people and ultimately for all mankind [Music] you [Applause]