Parshat Vayeitzei: Taxi! - Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair

the following is a true story after his Bar Mitzvah Reuben decided that he would never dove in' he'd never pray without a minion without a prayer quorum one night he came home at 3 o'clock in the morning from an out-of-town wedding he fell into bed exhausted and as soon as he turned off the light he realized he hadn't prayed Meyer if the evening prayer with a tremendous effort he dragged himself out of bed and started to dress where could he find a minion of this time of the morning no problem as anyone who lives in Jerusalem can tell you you can always find a minion at any time of the day or night at the sh t block of zippor emotion he drove over to sakra Moshe and that night there was a miracle Zipporah Moshe was deserted no one was there not a hobo nada taking out his cell phone he dialed the number of a large taxi company hello he said can you please send five taxes to the sh t block in zip promotion ardougne said the voice on the other end of the phone it's three o'clock in the morning you think I have five taxis what do you think I am a magician I only have four okay said so send me four Reubens out another number hello please send five taxis to Z from OSHA within twenty minutes there was a procession of nine taxi cabs parts neatly outside the Stila outside the synagogue a donee said one of the drivers why do you need nine taxes there's no wedding here there's no bomb it's for nothing he said Ruben said to them I want you to all turn on your meters and come inside with me we're going to pray together Aarav eat the evening prayer dusty kaput emerged from glove compartments some awoken from a hibernation stretching back almost to their own owners Bar Mitzvahs it wasn't easy despite being fluent in Hebrew the drivers had absolutely no idea how to pray when to answer when not to answer when they should pray aloud when it should be in silence it took them quite a while when they'd finished everyone went out into the street and the meters in the cars were pushing upwards of 80 shekels each the drivers turned off their meters and Ruben pulled out his wallet how much do I owe you he said to the first one I don't you what do you take me for do you honestly believe that I would take money from a holy Jew like you who just gave me such an opportunity do you know how long it did since the last time I prayed he moved down the line to the second rank same thing and the third and the fourth all the way down the line to the ninth not one of them would take a penny however distant that you may be from his heritage there's a little Jewish spark a little Pinta lead as it's called in Yiddish and that little spark never goes out why Judaism is not just a religion Jews are our people our faith is not just intellectual it's hereditary we are the children of the children of the children of those Jews who came out from Egypt who receive the Torah and ultimately we are the children of three fathers Abraham Abraham Yitzhak Isaac and Yaqub Jacob according to one opinion in the Talmud it was the father's Abraham Isaac and Jacob who instituted the three daily prayers the word in Hebrew for a father is out it's an interesting word it connects the first two letters in the Hebrew alphabet Aleph and Betty the Torah itself begins with the letter Beth as it says were a vara elokim in the beginning why didn't the beginning begin with an Aleph the first letter of the alphabet why does the beginning of creation start with the letter the second letter of the alphabet with the bet wouldn't it be more appropriate to start with the first letter of the alphabet Aleph the olive is always beyond the numerical value of Aleph is 1 there is only one existence that is truly one and he is infinitely beyond this world begins with a father is someone who connects the bet back to the allah the patriarchs instituted prayer for his prayer prayer is to connect the BET everything in this world back to the olive back to beyond that was their request to us the spark that lives in the hearts of the children throughout all the generations so the next time you see a line of deserted taxicabs in Jerusalem where their meat is running outside the synagogue know that the children are alive and well and still connecting to their fathers and beyond [Music] [Applause]