Rabbi's Blog

At Sheva Brachot for Ben and Aliza Welkovics, I was schmoozing with my dear friend Yidel Fischer. He shared a beautiful idea that I would like to share with you. At the burning bush there was fire, yet the bush was not consumed. In this context, fire is a metaphor for Torah. While the Torah has the power to refine, purify and warm us, its job is not to consume our identity and turn us into mindless robots. The Hebrew word shechina, divine presence, has the same root as the Hebrew word shachayn, neighbour. The goal of the Divine Presence, manifested in the Torah, is not that we should be completely absorbed and lose our personalities, but it should live beside us, to direct and purify our true individual selves. Yidel's idea, which is found in the Hirsch Chumash, is so important when we are embracing the Torah. Let’s never forget that Hashem created each of us with a unique personality and the moment we become Torah robots is the moment we forget what it really means to have the shechina dwell among us. Update this content.