JULY 16 • 2020 | 35

Spirit
torah portion

R

abbi Menachem Mendel 
of Vitebsk, (1730-1788), 
was one of the earliest 
Chasidic masters. He, together 
with other leading figures, left 
their homes in White Russia 
and emigrated to the Holy 
Land in 1777. They settled 
in Safed but later were 
forced to move to Tiberias 
(where Rabbi Menachem 
Mendel’
s burial site is 
today).
It is fascinating to read 
his description of an epi-
demic that took place in 
Tiberias and neighboring 
cities in 1786. According 
to his writings, the epi-
demic caused the entire 
community to remain in 
complete lockdown from 
Purim until Shavuot. 
A story is told that several of 
the rabbi’
s followers came to him 
to complain that their spiritual 
standing had weakened ever 
since they had not been able to 
attend the synagogue and other 
Jewish community events. Rabbi 
Mendel responded with the fol-
lowing:
“The verse in this week’
s 
Torah portion (Numbers 35:34) 
states in relation to not wavering 
on the punishment deserving to 
a murderer, ‘
And you shall not 
defile the land where you reside, 
in which I dwell, for I am the 
Lord Who dwells among the 
children of Israel.
’
 The commen-
taries understand the meaning 
to be that God dwells among the 
Jewish people regardless of their 
status (‘
even within their impu-
rities’
 — Rashi), and we should, 
therefore, act in accordance with 
His will so that we can create a 
welcoming atmosphere for His 
presence.
’
” 
Rabbi Mendel concluded 
by saying it is unfortunate that 

these disciples did not appreci-
ate this perspective and could 
not imagine any other way for 
God’
s presence to dwell within 
their midst. They simply could 
not understand that God is to 
be found wherever we 
are found; our task is to 
make this a reality.
I’
d like to share one 
thought resonating with 
me for some time during 
this COVID-19 expe-
rience. Perhaps we are 
currently tasked with 
making God feel com-
fortable in our private 
and personal spaces. 
During normal living, it 
is easy to divide between 
our community life (in 
shul, school or office) 
and our personal life in terms of 
meaning and spiritual purpose. 
Quarantine gives us the oppor-
tunity to inject an extra dose of 
holiness and meaning into our 
personal spaces (our homes, 
relationships and ourselves). 
“For I am the Lord Who 
dwells among the children of 
Israel” is telling us that God is 
everywhere, regardless if we 
consider that space to be holy or 
mundane. Now it is our task to 
make that a reality. 

Rabbi Mendel Polter is a rabbi at the 

Woodward Avenue Shul.

Parshat 

Mattot/

Massei: 

Numbers 

30:2-36:13; 

Jeremiah 

2:4-28; 3:4.

Rabbi Mendel 
Polter

CONVERSATIONS
How does the content and 
name of this week’
s double 
Torah portion connect to the 
three-week period in which 
we find ourselves? The verse 
states, “These are the jour-
neys of the children of Israel 
by which they went forth out 
of the land of Egypt”; doesn’
t 
it take one journey to leave 
the land of Egypt?

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