Adina Roth – Head of Jewish Life

Parshat Tzay, a lesson in innovation 

This week’s parshah, Tzav, takes us into the difficult and vegan-unfriendly terrain of animal sacrifices. While these sections of the Torah may rightfully offend our modern sensibilities, they give me pause for thought to consider how much has evolved in Judaism since the year 70CE and the destruction of the Temple, when temple worship and animal sacrifice came to an end.

Many years ago, I heard a story about a Jewish educator in New York City who was given an audience of four minutes with the Dalai Lama. He was more than thrilled at the opportunity to ask the Dalai Lama some of life’s most pressing questions such as “what is the most effective spiritual practice?” and “what is the meaning of life?”. However, he was caught off-centre when as the Dalai Lama laid his kind and crinkly eyes on him, he asked the Jewish educator, “And who are you?” The man proceeded to tell the Dalai Lama about himself, his studies and his aspirations and suddenly the four minutes were almost up and the opportunity was gone. Desperate for something, he turned back to the Dalai Lama and said, “And, who are you?”. The Dalai Lama looked at this educator directly in the eyes and said, “I am Rabbi Yochanan the son of Zakai”.

It would not be untoward to describe the Dalai Lama’s answer as unexpected! How could the Dalai Lama claim to be one of the oldest Rabbis of the Talmud?! What did he even mean? Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai had been the great innovator of Jewish practice and worship after the destruction of our Temple in Jerusalem. He left Jerusalem in flames and, with his students, set up a house of study in Yavneh. There he came to terms with a colossal Jewish loss, that the world of sacrificial worship in a centralised temple was over. He also grappled with a new reality, the Jewish people living in exile, in diaspora. However, Rabbi Yochanan was innovative (not unlike an Emanuel student), and he said instead of temple service, we will evolve and create service of the heart, also known as tefilah or prayer.

With this, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai and the wise people who came after him established the concept of Jewish prayer, corresponding to the sacrifices of the Temple. Importantly for the Rabbis, prayer is meant to be a heart experience, heart worship if you will. For 2000 years, Jewish people have built community around gathering at shul, singing holy words, expressing our deepest most personal longings, practising gratitude and awe and coming to moments of stillness and calm (in between schmoozing).

The Dalai Lama was not joking when he said he was Rabbi Yochanan the son of Zakai. Responsible for keeping Tibetan Buddhism alive in exile, he felt the same weight our Rabbis felt 2000 years ago; how to perpetuate a religion that is decentralised and diasporic, how to evolve while remaining strong.

When I read about the Temple Sacrifices in this Parshah, I marvel at how far we have travelled. I also wonder how we will continue to evolve and innovate our prayer and spiritual practices in these complex times! Rabbi Yochanan’s agility is always with us – and so is his offering, avodah she’balev, service of the heart.