Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Elul Smackdown
I got a letter from a Yeshiva. They don’t feel that their dinner is worthwhile so they are just sending out nice letters asking everyone to match last years donation. The assumption is that nobody is really interested in Dinner anyway.
In contrast, two guys in Norfolk had a face-off this week to see who could sizzle the best steak. They prepared the marinade on Friday and spent the entire shabbos among friends, talking trash and feeling manly. They had a Native Texan taste the steaks and rate them expertly based on Taste, Texture and Presentation.
Through it all I heard a voice from my (now dinnerless) yeshiva yelling “ELUL!!” My heart told me that the carnivorous competition was good, but my memory told me that T-bones and Teshuva do not usually go together.
My fellow Norfolkians finally ended their personal drama in a draw (the southern type - not the dueling type), but I think that when it comes to Elul activities, they won against the foodless fundraiser without question.
Anything worth doing is worth doing right. If you don’t think that your dinner is worthwhile, make it worthwhile - or skip it. Why ask people to pretend that you had a dinner if it wasn’t worthwhile anyway? The focus of the Bar-B-Q may have been dead meat, but at least the goal was perfection.
I believe that Hashem wants to see our best steak. In ancient, holier, times men would spend their entire year raising cows, slaughtering them, preparing them and finally bringing the creme de la creme (so to speak) to the Bais Hamikdosh. They would eat in holiness, put a portion on the Mizbe’ach and donate cuts to the Kohanim. It was known as the Korban Shelamim. Bikurim (featured in Parshas Ki Savo) were not very different: the First Fruits would be proudly presented in fancy baskets and placed on Oxen with gold-plated and elaborate necklaces. Proudly and joyously, they would march up to Yerushalayim. Nobody sent a check or skipped the food and entertainment portion of the event. The inspirational and the mundane worked very well together to create a spiritual experience.
Of course there is a very big difference between a BBQ in the Backyard and Bikurim in the Beis Hamikdosh. The point is that we need to train ourselves to do things right. If something is worthwhile then it is worthwhile to do it right.
(Warning: This blog is getting popular. Watch for upcoming Kollel Cookoffs: BLT with BMG, Smackdown for Stamford, Brisket with the Soleveitchiks...)
