Sermon Review: Congregation Orach Chaim (New York City)

Each of us has a unique contribution to make—and each of us must persevere in our efforts to realize that contribution. This was the message that Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, a contributor to First Things , conveyed in a guest sermon at Congregation Orach Chaim in New York, at Shabbat services on Saturday, January 16. He preached in the absence of Orach Chaim’s rabbi, Michael Shmidman. Rabbi Soloveichik is associate rabbi at New York’s Congregation Kelilath Jeshurun and is studying for a Ph.D. in Jewish Philosophy at Princeton University. He has written widely on Jewish issues and on the relationship between Judaism and Christianity.

Founded in 1879 by German Jewish immigrants, Orach Chaim is one of New York’s oldest Orthodox synagogues. Its present small but well-appointed building, remodeled from two townhouses, opened its doors in 1907. It stands on Lexington Avenue near 94th Street, in Manhattan’s historically German Yorktown neighborhood. The sanctuary of Orach Chaim is arranged in the traditional manner, with a women’s section in the balconies. Although the shul is Modern Orthodox, prayers are led every second Shabbat (this was one such week) by Hasidic cantor Yaakov Stark, an inspired practioner of traditional Ashkenazic chant.

Rabbi Soloveichik, who was raised in Chicago, began his sermon by recounting the perpetual frustrations of Cubs fans, whose team, in several recent years, has missed playing in the World Series by the narrowest of margins. Each time the Cubs miss an opportunity to win a pennant, the rabbi noted, many Chicagoans experience periods of depression and feelings of worthlessness. Such feelings are not uncommon, he added, because most people encounter periods of great frustration in both their work and personal lives—periods in which their efforts seem to produce no results and their sense of personal worth is called into question.

Rabbi Soloveichik then drew attention to a detail in the sections of the Torah from the Book of Exodus that are read this month in synagogues. In ancient Egypt, the onerous labor of the making of bricks was forced on the Hebrew slaves. In a number of biblical passages, including those that tell of the building of the Tower of Babel, brick has a negative association. According to a classical Jewish commentary, when a worker fell from the scaffolding during the building of that tower, the overseers ignored the death because one worker is like another, just as one brick is like another.

By contrast, the Torah compares the Jewish people to natural stones: The stone that the builders despised has become the cornerstone of the foundation, says the psalmist. The patriarch Jacob, who is called the Stone of Israel, built an altar of stones at Beth-El. The altars of ancient Israel were built only of uncut natural stone. This, Rabbi Soloveichik continued, has symbolic significance: Whereas every brick is alike, every natural stone is different. In this sense the Jewish people are like natural stones because every individual is created for a purpose, and each, in his or her own way, is unique and indispensable.

No matter what our frustrations, the rabbi concluded, we must keep in mind that all of us—each unique, each indispensable, and each with his or her own contribution to make—must persevere in our efforts to realize those contributions.

I nformation:

City: New York
Borough: Manhattan
Neighborhood: Yorkville
Address: 1459 Lexington Avenue (94th Street)
Phone: 212-722-6566
Religion: Jewish
Denomination: Orthodox
Rabbi: Michael Shmidman; guest sermon at this service delivered by Rabbi Meir Soloveichik