Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!lsuc!watmath!clyde!caip!elbereth!rutgers!seismo!umcp-cs!cvl!umd5!dzoey From: dzoey@umd5 (Joe Herman) Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish Subject: Re: Yom Kipur thought Message-ID: <1275@umd5> Date: Wed, 8-Oct-86 12:52:53 EDT Article-I.D.: umd5.1275 Posted: Wed Oct 8 12:52:53 1986 Date-Received: Thu, 9-Oct-86 21:44:42 EDT References: <1092@sunybcs.UUCP> Reply-To: dzoey@umd5.umd.edu (Joe Herman) Organization: University of Maryland, College Park Lines: 53 Rabbi Haber writes: > ROSH HASHANA 5746 > >Rabbi Tanchum said: "If someone, who has recited the Shema >every day of his life, misses it just one evening, it is as >if he has never said the shma at all. (Berakhot, 63a). . . >How can we understand this? The Dubnow Magid explains it >with an analogy.... >...suppose we have a chain of fifty men on mountain tops from one town >to the next, and one man in the chain does not shout the >message, or light the fire, when it is his turn. We can't >say: Well, it's only one man out of fifty, the message >system is still 98% perfect. The failure of that one man >spoils it for everyone else, before and after him, down the >line. So it is with that one missed recitation of the >Shema. I have a problem with this. Suppose one day I forget to say the Shema. According to Rabbi Tanchum (and I assume Rabbi Haber), I may as well never say it again. What's the point to saying it, I've alreay blown it. If this were true, no one I know should be saying the Shema. I cannot view each Shema as dependant on the all other Shema's. Every Shema is important, not just the sum of all the Shema's. I understand that the article was really about commitment and the problem that many people face in keeping commitments. But rather than berate people for not being able to keep some commitments, why not try and help them keep those commitments? In todays world, I find it is very hard to make a commitment because I am so unsure of what the future (even the immediate one) will hold. Not only that, by pressuring people into making commitments they are not ready for, or not willing to give freely, you are just asking for that commitment to be broken. > May you all be inscribed and sealed for a good year: Ditto! :-) > CSNet: haber@buffalo.csnet > UUCP: ...!{decvax,watmath,ihnp4!kitty}!sunybcs!haber > Bitnet: haber@sunybcs Joe Herman DZOEY@TRANTOR.UMD.EDU {seismo, allegra, inhp4}!umcp-cs!cvl!umd5!dzoey HERMAN@UMDD.BITNET -- "Everything is wonderful until you know something about it."