H eadlines
Torah Continued from Page 1
to say?
“Yes,” answered every single
rabbi interviewed for this story.

But the real question, and
the real answers, came in the
follow-up to the obvious “yes”
response. If modern Jews can
benefit from doing more Torah
reading in 5782, why is that
the case?
Rabbinical answers to this
question were both varied and
equally wise.

Rabbi Valman Lipsker runs
the Chabad Lubavitch Center
in Philadelphia. He said the law
and guidance of the Torah can
eliminate plagues and floods.

“God said it,” Lipsker added.

“If you follow my guidance, I
will give you all you need.”
But unfortunately, according
to Lipsker, not enough modern
Jews are reading Torah.

“If we read it more, we
would have more recognition
of the beauty God is giving us,”
he said. “It’s time we return to
Him.” Rabbi
Aaron Gaber,
who leads the Conservative
Congregation Brothers of
Israel in Newtown, generally
agrees with Lipsker.

Gaber explained that, in
Deuteronomy, the last book
Rabbi Aaron Gaber of Congregation Brothers of Israel in Newtown
Courtesy of Rabbi Aaron Gaber
of the Torah, Moses transmits
God’s ethical will through
speeches to the Jewish people.

In those speeches, Moses
discusses our covenantal
relationship with Him.

“God promises to care for
us and keep us as his chosen
people,” Gaber said. “Our
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12 SEPTEMBER 23, 2021
responsibility is to live by the
mitzvot.” Then, in Genesis, the
first book of the Torah, by
punishing Adam and Eve, God
makes clear to humans that
we’re holding the pen to “write
the story of the world,” the
rabbi said.

“It’s up to us to treat that
world with love and compas-
sion,” Gaber added. “And if we
don’t, there are consequences.”
The Conservative rabbi
denied the literal interpreta-
tion that God punishes humans
with natural disasters. But he
did conclude that, in a modern
context, living by the mitzvot
requires us to consider our
relationship with the machine.

There is a tension between
humanity’s ability to advance
and the health of the environ-
ment, Gaber explained. And
right now, we’re out of balance,
and humanity’s advancement
is at least partially responsible
for the climate change we’re
experiencing. “How do we make advance-
ments and at the same time be
JEWISH EXPONENT
Rabbi Eliezer Hirsch of Mekor Habracha in Center City
Courtesy of Rabbi Eliezer Hirsch
stewards of the world?” he asked.

“We have to work at that.”
Rabbi Albert Gabbai, who
guides Congregation Mikveh
Israel in Philadelphia, said we
need to work harder to under-
stand our moral relationship
with the larger world.

That requires us to read
Torah so we can grasp one core
principle in particular — one
we repeat during Yom Kippur
services. That every individual
action matters. Nothing is
meaningless, and nothing goes
unnoticed by Him.

“When I go to the dust, is
it all meaningless?” Gabbai
asked. “Absolutely not.”
But today, according to
Gabbai, too few Jews are taking
the time to deeply consider
this principle and others.

He believes we’re too often
choosing superficial, junk
food-like alternatives, from
social media to television, over
our water, which is the Torah.

“Torah doesn’t change. It’s
the principles. Everything
emerges from it,” he said.

Rabbi Eliezer Hirsch of
the Orthodox congregation
Mekor Habracha in Center
City supported Gabbai’s micro,
individual-level interpretation.

He thinks we can benefit
from more Torah reading
because it should guide our
actions every day. But he also
rejected direct causations
between individual actions and
macro-scale events.

“To pin exact behavior to
events is dangerous,” Hirsch said.

Rabbi Eliott Perlstein,
who leads the Conservative
synagogue Ohev Shalom
of Bucks County, offered a
similar refrain. That said, he
still believes our behavior has
consequences, and that Torah
can help us be cognizant of
that. “Sooner rather than later,
those who wreak havoc will
have havoc wreaked in their
own lives,” Perlstein concluded.

“We ought to be very aware of
that.” l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
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