Dear Friends:
After Jacob tricked Isaac into giving him Esau's blessing, Jacob fled to Haran to escape his brother's wrath.
 One night he stopped to rest. He lay his head on a stone, fell asleep, and dreamed. In his dream he saw a ladder with angels going up and down. God appeared to Jacob and reassured him that he would be with him and bring him back to Eretz Yisrael. Jacob awoke and said: "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it...How awesome (Hebrew: nora) is this place!" (Gen. 28:16-17)
The Hebrew word nora can be translated in one of two ways. It can mean "awesome," which is how the JPS translation interprets it. However, it can also mean "awful or terrible."
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Polish soldiers
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One day the soldiers of the Kaiser of Austria came to the town of Rimonov, Poland, and looked for a house to requisition for their arms and supplies. The only place that met their needs was the Rimonov synagogue. The townspeople and their leaders were aghast and sought the advice of Rabbi Mendele, hoping he could help them avert the disaster.
During the talks one of Rimonov's leaders said, "Perhaps there is still hope that the army will change its mind. Once they see the sorry state of our synagogue, with its leaking roof and structural defects, they will decide it will not meet their needs."
 | Polish synagogue
in ruins |
When Rabbi Mendele heard this he said, "Up until now I did not understand why this tragedy had befallen us, but now I know. Now I know why we are being punished by having our synagogue overrun with soldiers! If we don't care about our own holy places, why should God! Surely God has turned his eyes from our shul, just as we have! Today we must clean up and fix our synagogue and make it worthy of God's great and holy name."
The residents of Rimonov took the Rabbi's words to heart. They quickly donated their time, money, and talents to beautify their synagogue. By the end of he day it was filled with light and splendor. The turned it from an "awful" place to an "awesome" place.
Shortly afterwards the officer of the Kaiser's regiment returned to reappraise the synagogue. He decided that it was too small for their needs after all, and moved his soldiers to another town.
While we may debate the miraculous outcome of this story, its central lesson remains unchanged: we need to take care of our holy places. It takes a lot of time, energy, talent, money, volunteers, and staff to keep Tifereth Israel's sanctuary and synagogue beautiful. It is well worth the effort.
Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal
Tifereth Israel Synagogue
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