Tales of Two Cities

I left Yerushalayim Thursday night for Boston. The plan was to fly to New York and from there to take a flight to Boston, and that is exactly what happened.

A few details about the flight. Frequent flyers (GL card members) often get bumped up to Business class. This is a great advantage for people over the age of thirty who generally don’t fit into economy class seats anymore. However, on the late night flights there is lots of competition for the bump and I didn’t get it. Instead, I was promised that the seat next to me would be empty. This is good, but not good enough. Imagine my joy when I found that the two seats next to me were empty and I was the possessor of an entire row. I knew that the other passengers on the flight would never let me keep this advantage (they would move in immediately after takeoff) unless I stretched out on the three seats and went to sleep. Reluctantly, I did that as the plane levitated, and I had the best flight in years. I am generally a horizontal sleeper, and sleeping in a seat (even a business seat) is not the same. I slept for seven hours, (more than usual), and came into New York.

I transferred to United, you know the friendly skies.

The plane was only a little bigger than my car and I wasn’t sure that they would be able to get the luggage aboard. I had to stoop to walk to my seat, but there were a few others on the plane who seemed calm and I assumed the look of a seasoned traveler, ready for any emergency. Fortunately, there weren’t any glitches and we arrived in Boston. I think that the co-pilot also stowed the luggage, but I might be mistaken. By the way we (several of us) davened in the United waiting room. I am not sure that they were happy (probably would have been happier if we davened in some other friendly sky) about that, but everyone was cool.

More recently I was davening again in the United waiting room, waiting for a flight to SFO. When I finished a little lady came over to me inquiring if I was in charge of the Kosher meals on United. She had ordered (she said), but the computer disagreed and could I help her out. I told her that I had the same problem and if I figured it out I would take care of her as well. Needles to say there was no Kosher food on the NY- SFO flight. Everyone was sorry.

Back to Boston. This flight was short and no food is served, so I was not disappointed.

I was supposed to arrive in Boston, rent a car and drive to somewhere. I knew that I had to get near the Harvard Hillel but hadn’t a clue as to where I was supposed to go. I was expecting to call various Harvard-ites on my rented (from Israel) phone and try to get directions to somewhere. My previous experience clearly indicated that this was not a great idea. Imagine how happy I was to see David Wicks waiting for me at baggage. Bea Roth in the Ohr Torah Stone New York office, realizing my incompetence, browbeat David into coming and he actually made it. This I felt was an auspicious start. We rented a car and drove to the place where I was supposed to stay, and got set up.

Another word about ELAL. There were some people over the years who didn’t want to eat a real meal (such as it is) on the flight to NY at 2:30 in the morning (Israel time) . On my flight we had the following option. A meal or a bagged sandwich with fruit and an El-Al ball point pen. When I woke up from my slumber, I realize that I hadn’t eaten the sandwiches and commandeered them for lunch on Fri when I arrived in Boston. This turned out to be a great idea.

Let us skip to Friday night. Davening was as I remember it. Very nice. Lots of young people who have been to Israel and some who want to go. After davening, dinner. I sat with David W. and David Wolkenfeld and others of that ilk. Mrs. W. was also present, as it was freshman parents shabbos.

That evening I spoke to about fifty students about the mitzva of Talmud Torah. Part of the talk was technical, but I ended by telling the assemblage that everyone had the obligation to teach torah. At least one hour a week would be good for starters. I distinguished this goal from learning with a chavrusa or in a volunteer class. I stressed that we are all obligated to teach, and that this obligation has to be accepted by all. We may decide to do this in different professional directions but this obligation will continue to follow us irrespective of our choice. Just as Hashem taught Moshe and Moshe taught the people of Yisrael, we are directed to teach. Each one of us, to teach those who have to be taught. This is a duty, but also necessary in order to give the students of today positive reinforcement and good feeling about learning. I also suggested that anyone can teach. Not professionally, as an official teacher, but intimately and sincerely. It is important to remember only two rules. First, don’t teach anything that you don’t know. Second, always remember that there is someone else who does know whatever you are missing.

I suggested that a national organization be set up to encourage everyone to teach. Imagine if all the young people who have studied in Israel in the last ten years (example) would agree to teach someone for one hour a week - what a change that would make in Torah study.

I think that the talk was well received and I decided to promote this new program wherever I would be traveling.

We schmoozed a little and everyone went of to sleep.

Shacharit. Kiddush. I gave a shiur to assembled crowd, which was very nice. Lunch and Seudah Shlishit (another dvar torah) and the Harvard Shabbat came to an end.

While I realize that the Ivy League College / YU debate will continue for many years unresolved, there is no doubt that the Orthodox community in schools such as Harvard indicates a strength of purpose which was unimagined thirty years ago. The American Jewish community has managed to turn University campus into and Orthodox-friendly place. Amazing.

On Sunday I spent some time with Jeremy Fiebert, and I shouldn’t forget that I learned with David W. on Shabbat afternoon.

On the Motzai Shabbat I went to the Brown home (Dr. Jeremy and Erica, residents of Efrat), and gave a community shiur which was very enjoyable.

My trip to Newton was uneventful. I lost my way twice but managed to recover. The test of a good scout is not whether he gets it right the first time, but whether he can reconnoiter. I made it to Newton but finding the street was another matter. I called Dr. Brown who insisted that I was around the corner, but this did not clarify my situation as there were many corners in the vicinity of the car I was driving. Finally he came out of the house and saw my car and started reeling me into his driveway. This also was not simple, since I couldn’t really see him, but finally the problem was solved and we arrived with minutes to spare. Erica had a group of very nice and interested parents who participated actively in a shiur that I gave and afterwards I had the opportunity to meet old friends and to make some new ones. I heard about the developments in the community and was surprised at the remarkable energy that that people seem to have and their dedication to provided good Jewish education for their children in a difficult situation. We all agree that the issue is getting good teachers but there is no clear vision about how to get them.

On Sunday morning we davened in one of the two Orthodox shuls in Newton. The interesting sidelight is that they are next to each other. The Jews seem to need to have the shul that they don’t daven in nearby. In shul I met Mr. Hornstein, a musician composer and teacher of music (from Jerusalem), who is spending the year in Boston, and Prof. Gilby whose son spent some time in the yeshiva. The professor is now a at Dartmouth (formerly from England) and is excited by the developments of Jewish life on his campus. This is certainly remarkable, and the strong community at Harvard seems to be echoed to some extent on other campuses as well.

Sunday found me back at Harvard, a remarkable navigational effort, and I spent some time with Jeremy Fiebert (somehow we didn’t connect with David Wickes as planned). He explained about young married student life and the difficulty in making certain decisions. He explained that egalitarianism is all the rage, though he doesn’t go for it at all. I told him that was because he was one of the landed gentry, and he agreed. I told him that I thought that women should certainly have equal opportunities (such as learning Torah, an opportunity which I think is crucial) but that I didn’t think that the women had to take their equal opportunity at the same time or the same place as the men. This is especially true when the halacha is at odds with the equal rights position. He said that he understood, and I am sure that he did.

Later in the day when I was trying to return to Newton, navigating by intuition, I passed a large serious looking building which seemed to have a parking opportunity right outside. I parked and then tried to read the instruction posted by the city about the legal status of parking between 3PM-6PM on Sunday’s in Boston, but couldn’t figure it out. I decided that there must be some advertising agency which does this to enable the city to extract fines from the car parkers who can never really figure out what the status of the street is at any particular moment. Distressed, but because I had already parked, I got out of the car to discover that I was in front of the MFA. It seemed providential to me. I had read in he newspaper that morning that there was a special exhibition of and artist named, Martin Johnson Heade, who only painted orchids and hummingbirds. This I also considered to be providential. This combination of providence drove me into the museum and I spent some time with the orchids and the hummingbirds. I enjoyed both. When painted separately and together. About the paintings at another time.

Monday morning was spent at Maimonides – more on that next installment…

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