It is mid-February, and we have just returned from a month-long visit to the east coast of the U.S. Last Shabbat we joined with our family to share in the simcha and nachas of celebrating our granddaughter becoming a Bat Mitzvah. The celebration took place in the Washington, D.C. area, which that week was hit with a snowfall that broke the record as the most amount of snow to hit Washington since 1898. However, the Bat Mitzvah celebration, ritually and socially, was a wonderful event. Margalit did us all proud in the manner in which she participated in the Shabbat Service. It was a delight to see all her aunts and uncles together sharing in the celebration, as well as many – but not all – of her cousins. Despite the bad weather, the atmosphere was warm and loving, and, in the words of the cliché, “A good time was had by all.”

On the El-Al flight to the U.S. i was witness to a very interesting phenomenon.

In front of me sat three charedi frum women of the same family. What i found fascinating was that amongst themselves they spoke Yiddish, but when they had to communicate with the El-Al flight attendants or other Israeli passengers they were quite capable of doing so in Hebrew.

i struggled to understand what was it that caused them, and the community they represented,  to  personally prefer speaking  Yiddish, though they are very well able to communicate in Hebrew.

Based on past information regarding this community, i was aware that they think of Hebrew exclusively as Loshin Koydesh, i.e., a language to be used for holy things only, such as davvening and Toyrah, while Yiddish can be used for ordinary matters, speaking Hebrew only when necessary.

What this represents to me is that they view the holy and the mundane as two distinct, irreconcilable this-world realms. This is in contrast to the world-view of the Dati-Leumi (National Religious) observant, who generally follow the outlook of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook z”l, the first Chief Rabbi of modern Eretz Yisrael, that the separation is not between “holy” and “mundane” but rather between “holy” and “not-yet holy.” (Take a glance at the banner of print version of this newsletter, where you will find a quotation from the same Rabbi Kook z’l about sanctifying the new.) This gives us the obligation to strive to unify all of this-world existence into a single realm of holiness.

The difference between the communities is whether we choose to live bifurcated or integrated lives. Personally, i prefer, and suggest, living an integrated life.

EZ