RABBI NACHMAN (NEIL) WINKLER PROBING BY Faculty, OU Israel Center THE PROPHETS l
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his week, we have the opportunity to read the haftarah of Parashat Re’eh, a selection that we were able to read only twice over the past six years on this parasha. For four years out of the six, Parashat Re’eh coincided with Rosh Chodesh and the widespread minhag is to read the special Rosh Chodesh haftarah on this Shabbat and combine this selectionfrom the 54th and 55th perakim of Sefer Yeshayahu, with the beginning of chapter 54, which is read for parashat Ki Tetze. Despite the fact that the reading is often omitted on Parashat Re’eh, it is familiar to us from both Parashat Ki Tetze and Parashat Noach, when we read the entire perek 54 (and the beginning of 55) as the haftarah of that parasha. I included this short introduction only because I wondered over this week whether I could find a new idea or thought to share with you. But, as we learn in Pirkei Avot: “Hafoch bah v’hafoch bah-d’kula bah”-if we review and revisit the text, we will find everything in it! And I believe that I did. Throughout the 40 plus years I served in the Rabbinate, I have been blessed with lasting relationships and impactive experiences. This is especially true of the last 37 years which I spent in Fort Lee, New Jersey where I was privileged to lead a congregation made up of many “Nitzolei 16
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Shoah”-Holocaust survivors. Among them was a most remarkable individual who, even as he approached his ninetieth year, would be the first to arrive at the 6:30 morning minyan, unlocking the shul for all of the attendees. He was particular in remembering each member of his family who perished (read: “was murdered”) in the Shoah and reminded me each year how the Rav of his community was shot before his very eyes-and he observed that yahrzeit as well. One quiet evening, he told me how he felt upon his liberation. He was relieved, he was joyous, but he was concerned and he was angry. So when the men gathered to daven in their first minyan after liberation in order to thank G-d for saving them, this man, brought up as a Belzer Chasid, refused to join. He was angry-and, after the losses he suffered, we understand why. After the service, a former inmate said to him: “So, will you give H***** the
