The Kosher Bookworm

In an interesting and somewhat engaging collection of essays, a British lecturer in math and a shul gabbai, Martin Stern reveals in his interesting book, “A Time To Speak” [Devora Publishing, 2010] his frustrations with the callous attitudes many have as to the dignity we must preserve within the precincts of our shuls.

With the use of both the sharp edge of humor and anger, Stern goes forth to admonish all with the goal of the enhancement of the atmospherics in our synagogues.

Consider this:

Someone complains about how a meshullach demands his due while this individual is putting on his tefillin. Stern extends to this person his sympathies and goes on to state the following:

“At this time of the year we all try to accumulate extra mitzvoth and give extra tzedakah, but I think you were quite right to be upset over that incident with the meshullach. Unfortunately, it was not so atypical. After all, he should have seen that you had just put on your tefillin shel yad and were about to put on your shel rosh. A donation for his yeshiva could have waited an extra minute. A similar thing happened to me once when I was about to say Shema with my hand over my eyes and someone shouted, ‘Hachnassos kallah’ down my ear. It completely destroyed my kavanah. Admittedly, he would have had to wait a bit longer than in your case, but that hardly excuses such behavior.”

This problem, an increasingly growing one at that, is something that is making daily worship in some of our area synagogues an unpleasant experience. And, it is not only our shuls that are affected, but also the front doorsteps and stoops to our very homes.

Recently, Rabbi Herschel Billet, one of our community’s most senior and respected rabbis, issued a series of strongly worded missives concerning what these dangerous unsolicited solicitations and visits have come to represent to the very safety of our community. Hopefully, others will emulate Rabbi Billet’s words and efforts before it is too late.