Perhaps this story holds a meta-lesson. Often, it is more important to wrestle with hard questions than it is to find the “right” answers. Indeed, when the questions are hard, sometimes there are no “right” answers in the traditional sense, but only a long list of potential solutions that we accept, reject, and revisit as we discuss, debate, and consider each of the “forty-nine reasons” supporting or undermining each answer.[2] Ambiguous passages invite us to invest in understanding the Torah’s messages by grappling with uncertainties, and in doing so each of us carves out a personal chelek, an interpretive stake, in the Torah. When we become so invested in the Torah, we also tend to appreciate and internalize the lessons it teaches to a greater degree.
But, it is worth observing that we tend to be impacted not only our conclusions, but also by the process of questioning and interpreting. “L’fum tzara agra,”we grow by actively developing our understanding of what the Torah is trying to tell us. As one of my teachers has observed, “The goal of the process is the process.”
* * * * *
The New Toco Shul is a dynamic new congregation located in the vibrant and growing Toco Hills community of Atlanta, Georgia. Established in August 2014, NTS is founded on shared rabbinic and lay commitments to reflective tefillah and sophisticated Torah learning, framed by a rigorous and nuanced commitment to halakha.
Georgia’s first Jews arrived in Savannah in 1733, making the Jewish community as old as the state itself. Today, Atlanta is home to a vibrant, learned, and diverse Orthodox community that includes numerous shuls, schools, and kosher eateries and groceries located across the metro-area. The Toco Hills neighborhood in particular has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years, and now hosts five shuls, elementary and high-school yeshivos for boys and girls, two kollelim, a mikvah and eruv, and several kosher groceries and restaurants. Atlanta boasts many of the amenities of larger Jewish communities and metropolitan living alongside southern charm, affordable housing in suburban settings, and a friendly, welcoming, and accepting out-of-town feel.
Georgia
Capital: Atlanta
State Nickname: Peach State
State Motto: Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation
State Flower: Cherokee Rose
State Bird: Brown Thrasher
First Shul: Kahal Kadosh Mickva Israel, Savannah, Georgia, established 1735
Baseball Team: Atlanta Braves
Basketball Team: Atlanta Hawks
Football Team: Atlanta Falcons
Hockey Team: Atlanta Thrashers
___________________________
[1] See Bereishis Rabbah 80:6; Ramban, Bereishis 34:7 (s.v. “v’chayn lo ya’aseh”); Rambam, Mishnah Torah: Hilchos Melachim 9:14; Ran, Sanhedrin 56a.
[2]
See Ritva, Eruvin 13b (s.v. “eilu v’eilu”).
