RABBI YAAKOV ASHER SINCLAIR (Ohr.edu)
“...a man who would die in a tent” (19:14)
We saw a lot of hashgacha pratit (Divine supervision) when our daughter got married a few weeks ago, but one of the more amazing events was the following.
When the uncle of the groom, Julian, opened his invitation to the wedding, he exclaimed, “My rabbi is the groom’s father-in-law!” The fact that I was Julian’s rabbi was news to me. I’d never met him. Julian is a professor of physiology and biophysics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. As Julian explained at the Shabbat Sheva Brachot, he has a fifteen-minute ride from his office to his home. He doesn’t have a lot time, and so every Elul he chooses one rabbi from Torah Anytime to be his rabbi for the year. And this year, out of more than one thousand Torah Anytime rabbis, he chose me.
The modern media has brought a communication explosion. The virtual classroom means that you can now give a shiur, a lecture, that millions of people can join. Your audience is limitless. But it also has a drawback. Sometimes you feel, “Hello! Is there anyone out there?” When you speak to a live audience, you sense their reaction and it nourishes you. It gives your presentation life. When you make a video, you’re not speaking to flesh and blood, you’re speaking to a piece of glass, a lens that is as responsive as one would expect a piece of glass to be.
Baruch Hashem, I’ve had the merit to be able to make Torah videos for over four years on an almost weekly basis, but there’s no denying that some weeks I’m using more perspiration than inspiration. It gets more and more difficult to keep coming up with something original. There are just so many clips of desert landscapes to depict the Exodus, just so many videos of ancient Egypt. So, it’s really nice when someone steps out from “behind the lens” and gives you the encouragement to carry on.
“...a man who would die in a tent”
When you feel you’re in your own tent and there’s no-one out there, it’s great to know that someone’s listening.’
As Rabbi Noach Orlowek once remarked, “Rabbis need encouragement too.”
Thanks, Julian!
