DIVREI HARAV - Re'eh 5786

Rabbi Howard Finkelstein

This has been a terrible week for the family of our beloved Holly Engelman, zichrona livracha,  her extended family at Kesher Israel, the Harrisburg Jewish community, and the Riverdale Jewish community in New York City. At her funeral service, one of her eulogists cites a sentence that appears in this week’s parasha, which sums up Holly’s dedication to Judaism and Jewish learning:

תמים תהיה עם ה אלקיך.  You shall be complete in the eyes of Hashem. In respect to and admiration of Holly’s love of Torah, I wish to dedicate this article to her memory in analyzing this text according to rabbinic sources that she would have loved to explore. Rashi poignantly indicates that an individual should not attempt to investigate the future, but whatever comes on that person should be accepted wholeheartedly. (based on a Sifrei Devarim 173:3)

On the other hand, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik in his comment on the command given by Hashem to Abraham to ‘walk before G-d and be complete’ points to a partnership between the human being and G-d, a partnership which elevates the person from a ‘brutish’ existence bereft of meaning and purpose.

In analyzing these two sources, one must come to the following conclusion: Rashi’s commentary on the above cited quote from our parasha is a salute to the importance of faith. While we bear responsibility to live our lives in consonance with the tenets of our faith, we are expected to contribute to that future what we can in looking after ourselves, our loved ones, and the community in general. We are not fatalists in our approach to life’s challenges. We are optimists with a shade of realism.

That sense of optimism manifests itself with the awareness that we are indeed, in the words of Rabbi Soloveitchik, partners with Hashem, in that we bring meaning to our lives, and a sense of purpose in making them productive and flourishing. Holly, zt’l, walked with Hashem, partnered with Hashem in reaching out to her community and family. May her memory be a blessing.