KIRUV

KIRUV: Jewish Outreach
Reaching Out With "Targeted Chastisement"

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    What exactly de we mean by "kiruv". What is the Jewish obligation to "reach-out" to his fellow Jew? In this section of www.tumms.org we will examine the commandment to "chastise our fellow Jew", not in order to humiliate him, but rather to draw him closer to G-d. There is a verse in the Jewish scriptures that comes from the Book of Vayikra/Leviticus:

    "You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him."
                                                                                                                                                        (Vayikra/Leviticus 19:17)

Other verses from the Jewish scriptures which use this root-word are:

     Shmuel Beis/2 Samuel 7:12 " When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 "He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 "I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men."
     Iyov/Job 5:17 " Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
     Mishlei/Proverbs 3:12 For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
     Mishlei/Proverbs 24:25 But those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, And a good blessing will come upon them.
     Mishlei/Proverbs 25:12 Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold Is a wise rebuker to an obedient ear.
     Mishlei/Proverbs 28:23 He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward Than he who flatters with the tongue.
     Mishlei/Proverbs 19:25 Strike a scoffer, and the simple will become wary; Rebuke one who has understanding, and he will discern knowledge.

    But why is kiruv/chastisement an important concept within the context of the Jewish people? Isn't each and every one of us responsible for our own sins? Hadn't we better work upon ourselves, rather that worry about the next guy? We will answer this question with two examples, one from the Jewish scriptures, and one from Rav Moshe Tuvia Lieff. First for the example from Tanakh:

    Yehoshua/Joshua 4:13 About forty thousand prepared for war crossed over before the LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho... 6:1 Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in... 15 But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times. 16 And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: "Shout, for the LORD has given you the city! 17 "Now the city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction, it and all who are in it... 18 "And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. 19 "But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the LORD; they shall come into the treasury of the LORD." ...24 But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD... 7:1 But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the LORD burned against the children of Israel. 2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, "Go up and spy out the country." So the men went up and spied out Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few." ...5 And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water. 6 Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening... 10 So the LORD said to Joshua: "Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? 11 "Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff."

     We see from the above verses from the Book of Joshua that one man -- Achan -- sinned, yet G-d held all of Israel accountable. From this we learn that Israel is only as righteous as her most distant Jew. Thus we must strengthen and fortify each other to the extent that we eradicate -- to the fullest extent possible -- the sinful actions of those amongst us who are breaking G-d's commandments.

     (NOTE: Judaism does NOT believe in perfect people -- "Surely there is no one on earth so righteous as to do good without ever sinning" (Kohelles/Ecclesiastes 7:20). We all have our "problem areas" to work upon. But, again, to the extent possible, we must work upon ourselves and our fellow Jews so that the end result is that we are "perfect" to the extent that is humanly possible.)

    Rav Moshe Tuvia Lieff puts it this way: "The destruction of the Second Temple and the exile of the Jews to the four corners of the earth can be likened to the sinking of a great ocean liner. All of the survivors of this ocean liner find themselves occupying a single life boat. One of the passengers aboard this life boat just happens to have a mechanical drill in his possession. This passenger -- for reasons unknown -- decided to use his drill and begins to bore a hole in the bottom on the life boat. The other passengers begin to express their concern: 'What are you doing?' they ask. The man with the auger replies: 'What concern is this of yours? This is my seat, and I can do anything that I want within the confines of my seat!' The lesson of the story is evident without explanation. What one person does aboard the life boat DOES have an effect upon the others. It's just that the man with the auger does not understand that he is about to take the rest of the survivors down with him."

But, while we are charged with being vigilant over our own actions and those of our fellow Jews, we must not do anything which will drive a fellow Jew further away! Our Scriptures warn us:

Mishlei/Proverbs 9:7 " He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, And he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. 8 Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
Mishlei/Proverbs 15:12 A scoffer does not love one who corrects him, Nor will he go to the wise.

Thus we must adhere to the teachings of our sages when they tell us:

A tanna recited before R. Nahman b. Isaac: He who publicly shames [(19) Lit., ‘makes pale’.] his neighbor is as though he shed blood. Whereupon he remarked to him, ‘You say well, because I have seen it [sc. such shaming], the ruddiness departing and paleness supervening.’ [(20) Thus the blood is drained from the victim's face, which is the equivalent of shedding his blood.]
Bava Metzia 58b

R. Zera said to R. Simeon, Let the Master rebuke the members of the Resh Galutha's suite. They will not accept it from me, was his reply. Though they will not accept its returned he, yet you should rebuke them. For R. Aha b. R. Hanina said: Never did a favourable word [(7) Lit., ‘a good attribute’.] go forth from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, of which He retracted for evil, save the following, where it is written, And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark [taw] upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof, etc. [(8) Ezekiel 9:4 and the LORD said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it."] The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Gabriel, [(9) Gabriel, ‘man of God’; he was regarded as God's messenger, who executes His will on earth.] Go and set a tav [(10) The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.] of ink upon the foreheads of the righteous, that the destroying angels may have no power over them; and a taw of blood upon the foreheads of the wicked, that the destroying angels may have power over them. Said the Attribute of Justice [(11) Justice was often hypostasized as an independent being.] before the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘Sovereign of the Universe! Wherein are these different from those?’ ‘Those are completely righteous men, while these are completely wicked,’ replied He. ‘Sovereign of the Universe!’ it continued, ‘they had the power to protest but did not.’ ‘It was fully known [(12) Lit., ‘it was revealed and known’.] to them that had they protested they would not have heeded them.’ [(13) Lit., ‘accepted (it) from them’.]
Shabbos 55a

But let Israel [go their way]: it is better that they should err in ignorance than presumptuously;[[(15) And therefore we do not tell them this, since in any case they would go on doing the same thing.] here also [I say], Let Israel go their way: it is better that they should err in ignorance than presumptuously. This, however, applies only to a Rabbinical [prohibition] but not to a Biblical [prohibition]. But it is not so; whether it [the prohibition] is Biblical or Rabbinical we do not tell them anything; for the additional time to the Day of Atonement is a Biblical injunction, [(16) The injunction against eating, etc. commences a little before evening, and in Yom. 81b (q.v.) it is deduced that this addition is required by Scriptural law.] yet people eat and drink until dusk and we do not say anything to them.
Beytza 30a

It is from this last quote from the Talmud that we learn the adage that it is better to allow someone to sin "unintentionally" than to chastise them and have them sin intentionally.... (to be continued)

One of the Rabbis said to Raba: [Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart:] hokeah tokiah [thou shalt surely rebuke] thy neighbour. [(28) Leviticus 19:17 ' You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.] Perhaps hokeah means once, tokiah twice? — He replied, hokeah implies even a hundred times. As for tokiah: I know only that the master [must rebuke] the disciple: whence do we know that the disciple [must rebuke] his master? From the phrase. ‘hokeah tokiah’, implying under all circumstances.
Bava Metzia 31a

Whoever can forbid his household [to commit a sin] but does not, is seized [(1) Just as a pledge is seized for non-payment of debt. I.e., he is punished.] for [the sins of] his household; [if he can forbid] his fellow citizens, he is seized for [the sins of] his fellow citizens; if the whole world, he is seized for [the sins of] the whole world. R. Papa observed, And the members of the Resh Galutha's [household] are seized for the whole world. Even as R. Hanina said, Why is it written, The Lord will enter into judgement with the elders of his people, and the princes thereof: [(2) Isaiah 3:14 The LORD will enter into judgment With the elders of His people And His princes....] if the Princes sinned, how did the elders sin? But say, [He will bring punishment] upon the elders because they do not forbid the princes.
Shabbos 54b/55a

The word kiruv (to "draw near"; to "bring close") comes from the root (br;q') meaning "offer", "near", "draw near", "approach" (Genesis 12:11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: Leviticus 1:3 If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD. Other words in the Jewish scriptures with the same root are: (hb'r>qi) also meaning to "draw near" (Isaiah 58:2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Psalm 73:28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.) (bArq') meaning "near", "at hand", "kinsmen" (Leviticus 10:3 Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. Deuteronomy 4:7 "For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? Deuteronomy 30:14 "But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. Psalm 34:18 The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit. Psalm 119:151 You are near, O LORD, And all Your commandments are truth. Psalm 145:18 The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.) And (!B'r>qo) meaning "offering" or "sacrifice" (Leviticus 1:2 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of the livestock -- of the herd and of the flock. Leviticus 2:1 'When anyone offers a grain offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour. And he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it. Leviticus 2:12 'As for the offering of the firstfruits, you shall offer them to the LORD, but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet aroma. Numbers 31:50 "Therefore we have brought an offering for the LORD, what every man found of ornaments of gold: armlets and bracelets and signet rings and earrings and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD." Nehemiah 10:34 And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law:) The reason we have gone to the extent we have in defining this important term with examples from the Jewish scriptures is that a word -- any word -- can be co-opted and have a new meaning poured into it. We need to be painstakingly clear about the concept and application of kiruv as it pertains to us today, and as it pertained to out forefathers.

Jews do not proselytize. There are 613 commandments, and not one of them suggests that we are obligated to seek converts from amongst the non-Jews. (to be continued....)

Notes:

#1) We would all like to believe that we are in touch with reality. We would all like to think that it's the other guy who does not have the correct picture of what's going on in the world. Whether one is an evolutionist who believes his great-grandfather was an ape, a Hindu who believes that the Brahman bull running down the street is his reincarnated uncle and thus refuses to eat him, a Muslim who accepts the Quran as the final redaction of G-d's Word, a Christian who through faith believes in the concept of vicarious atonement, or even a Torah observant Jew who lives according to the Torah System that G-d gave at Mount Sinai, we all like to think that we've got life figured out. But the reality is, that each of the above "systems" of thought contradicts the others to some degree. Thus we may all "think" that we have the correct purview, but the reality is somewhat elusive.
    But where do we get our views of the world? Don't they come from our parents, teachers, friends, and acquaintances? And if one happens to be influenced by one particular group over another, isn't it most likely that his thoughts about any particular issue will reflect those of his support group? Perhaps the support group is wrong? Perhaps we are all destined to be agnostics who look at the plethora of competing systems in the world and end up not knowing which direction to turn. How can we break free of having to "check our brains at the door" and relying on others to do our thinking for us? How can we ever know that what we believe is "truth" really is the truth? One thing is for certain: we are endowed wind minds, and if we are even to stop second-guessing about what we accept as truth, the brain is the first place to start.
    The Jewish scriptures warns us of the dangers of merely "following the followers". The prophet Isaiah chastises us: Therefore the LORD said: "Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, (Isaiah 29:13). Our Sages teach us that what the prophet means by this is that we cannot take another's word for it that G-d exists -- we are required to KNOW that G-d exists, and that the Torah System He gave us at Mount Sinai is Divine in nature and content.
    It happens all the time. The parent tells the child about the parent's version of reality, but actually the parent is merely giving over what he was taught by his parents, teachers, friends, and acquaintances. The child detects that the parent doesn't really know what's going on, and the child rebels... (to be continued....)

The Order of Engagement
1) Does G-d exist?
2) Did G-d reveal Himself at Mount Sinai?
3) What did that Revelation consist of?
4) What was the purpose of that Revelation?
5) What is the longevity of that Revelation?
6) The Jewish People (3314 years since Sinai, and still going strong)
7) Evidence of the Divine Nature of the Torah (both Oral and Written)
8) "More than the Jews have kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept the Jews"
"More than the Jews have kept the Torah, the Torah has kept the Jews"

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
1) "What? Me do kiruv?" (see the "Life Boat" analogy above)
    --"Words that come from the heart, enter the heart"
2) "Torah is the 'cheat sheet' to life? Give me a break!"
    --Torah gives meaning to the physical, and nourishment to the spiritual
3) "Orthodox Jews are so snooty."
    --We are all tinnok shenishba (children kidnapped at birth). We have all grown up in a world that looks down at the Torah observant Jew as an anachronism, and we all -- to a certain extent - have accepted part of these stereo-types as valid. (We must be able to discern the truth from the "window dressing" of those who would paint us as backwards religious fools!)
4) "But haven't the non-Jewish nations contributed to the world?"
    --On seeing the Sages of other nations, one says, Blessed be He who hath imparted of His wisdom to His creatures. (Berachos 58a)
     --"The nations have knowledge/wisdom but not Torah"

"Rebuke/Chastisement" & The Age of the Messiah:
     Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
     Isaiah 2:4 He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.
     Isaiah 11:3 His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; 4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
     Micah 4:3 He shall judge between many peoples, And rebuke strong nations afar off; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more... 6:2 Hear, O you mountains, the LORD's complaint, And you strong foundations of the earth; For the LORD has a complaint against His people, And He will contend with Israel.

Kiruv is NOT Proselytizing

NCSY: National Council of Synagogue Youth