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Kol Yisrael Chaverim – All of Israel are Friends – Sukkot

Rav Hanan Schlesinger

Were we to be transported 2000 years back in time to the Land of Israel during the period
of the First or Second Temples, we would now find ourselves on the road, riding on
donkey back or trekking along on foot, as we make our way towards Jerusalem. Sukkot is
one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, and we would have to make it to Holy City long
before nightfall this Friday.
There is a verse in Psalms that describes Jerusalem as a city that is connected all together.
What that means is not clear at all. There is a midrash that asserts on the basis of this
verse that Jerusalem is a city that binds Jews together. The festivities of the pilgrimage
festivals bring all the Jewish People together in Jerusalem, and we celebrate together as
one happy family.
One of the more celebrated rabbis of the 19th century, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Hayot,
elaborates on this theme. He reminds us that when the Temple was standing, one was
forbidden from entering it or touching anything associated with it, while in a state of
ritual impurity. And the law stipulated that usually people who are not among those
known as adhering to a very high level of observance, should not be trusted as far as their
ritual purity. You should not buy their food, nor eat with them. However, on the
Pilgrimage Festivals, the law states that anyone who claims to be ritually pure is to be
believed.
Rabbi Hayot explains that religious differences very often come between Jews.
Scrupulous observance of mitzvot sometimes prevents us from enjoying the company of
our co-religionists. Jerusalem is the city that binds Jews together because it is within her
that some of the laws that keep us apart are relaxed. We purposely let down our guard in
order to foster and facilitate Jewish unity.

Schultz Rosenberg Campus, 12324 Merit Drive, Dallas TX, 75251

Phone: 214-295-3525 Fax: 214-295-3526
Email: kollelofdallas@sbcglobal.net Web site: www.kollelofdallas.org

The Community Kollel of Dallas is an affiliate of the Center for the Jewish Future of
Yeshiva University
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We have here an extremely deep insight. Religious norms are critically necessary, but so
is brotherhood and fraternity. There is sometimes a tension which cannot be ignored
between these two important values. The solution lies in a sort of compromise: During
the whole year we are willing to sacrifice the latter for the former; we maintain religious
standards even at the price of building walls between Jews. But three times a year, and
only in Jerusalem, the fences are lowered, and Jewish unity wins out over the caution
mandated by scrupulous observance. Bridges take the place of barriers.
So rather than champion one of the two values over the other, our tradition validates both,
and demands of us that we lose sight of neither. We are called upon to embrace both the
law and our fellow Jews as well. We must stand firm in our commitment to all the
minutia of Jewish law, and at the same time remember that Jerusalem symbolizes and
embodies Jewish unity and brotherhood.

Schultz Rosenberg Campus, 12324 Merit Drive, Dallas TX, 75251

Phone: 214-295-3525 Fax: 214-295-3526
Email: kollelofdallas@sbcglobal.net Web site: www.kollelofdallas.org

The Community Kollel of Dallas is an affiliate of the Center for the Jewish Future of
Yeshiva University