How Beautiful Our Heritage
Jewish continuity has long been a phrase that has buzzed throughout the American Jewish community. Our lived heritage, as it continues to grow and evolve, exhibits that continuity. Our Tradition is the framework for constructing our modern Jewish world, for helping us create our Jewish identities, forging our Jewish values and commitments, and fashioning our Jewish life styles.
It’s hard to trace the development of our Tradition, but its persistence can be shown in the following true story. The Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), where I was ordained, owns one of the first printed Hebrew books. Printed by Avraham ben Hayyim del Tintori (“the dyer”), known as Dei Pinti,[1] In Italy in 1477, the work was a code of halacha (Jewish law), known as the Arba’ah Turim.[2] As was the practice at the time, the book had to be submitted to the Church censor, who carefully inked out all the complimentary references to Judaism. When the librarians at JTS went into the rare book room to check on all the precious volumes, they found that a remarkable thing had happened to this particular volume. The ink used by the censor had almost faded away, but the original Hebrew text of Jacob ben Asher is still as clear as ever!
We, too, author, edit, publish and print our very own book, a book of life. As we go through life and turn the pages of the days of our years, occasionally we find lines that are glossed over, censored, or perhaps inadvertently smudged. However, if we go back after a period of time and reconsider and reevaluate, and edit and reshape, our lives, we find that who and what we were originally meant to be as human beings and as Jews will become clearer than ever.
And you know what is most fascinating of all? One of the phrases in that treasured 1477 volume that the censor tried to blot out unsuccessfully was: Ashreinu ma tov chelkeinu, u-ma na’im goraleinu u-ma yafa y’rushateinu. “How fortunate are we evolving, how good our portion, how pleasant our lot, how beautiful our heritage!” We sing this every Shabbat and holiday morning at CAH.
These words were destined to speak to each of us with clarity, so that we could stand up with pride and great clarity about who we are and how we might live our lives. As Rabbi Emil Hirsch[3] wrote, “The Greeks stressed the holiness of beauty; the Jews emphasized the beauty of holiness.”
As we approach Hanukkah and the new calendar year 2023, let us continue to insist on forging our place in the continuous 4,500 year old chain of a Judaism that continues to evolve, edify, challenge and inspire.
Rabbi J.B. Sacks
[1] Avraham ben Hayyim (dates unknown) was the pioneer of Hebrew printing. In 1482, he printed what is accepted as the first Chumash(1482) and Tanakh (1488) printed with vocalization (vowels) and cantillation (trop marks), the latter for Soncino Press.
[2]The Arba’ah Turim, by the rabbinic authority Jacob ben Asher (1269-c. 1343), was so influential that its structure was adopted by the Shulchan Aruch and later codes.
[3] Rabbi Emil Gustav Hirsch (1851-1923) was a Jewish-American biblical scholar (although born in Luxemburg), contributor of numerous articles to the Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), and a founding member of the NAACP. He served Chicago Sinai Congregation for over 40 years, was a professor of philosophy and rabbinic literature at the University of Chicago, and served as a presidential elector in the 1896 presidential election.