BBC Trending’ is a weekly production that looks at what the world of social media is sharing. The more something is clicked on, the more popular it appears and the more people will view it, until suddenly it explodes, erupts, and is shared by millions. One such example came last spring when one unassuming person took a picture of a dress. The lighting caused an optical illusion which clouded its true colour. Some people thought it was gold and white while others thought it was black and blue. What started as a family debate soon became an internet sensation! Millions viewed this image, simply because this was what was ‘trending’ at the time.
This phenomena is not at all new, in fact it has a precedent in our Parsha. The Torah instructs that time and money be invested in erecting road signs to directing inadvertent murderers to their nearest city of refuge. In light of this it seems strange that no parallel command exists to signpost the roads to Jerusalem where most of the nation would visit for the festivals! Surely, from a numbers perspective we can assume that many more people visited Jerusalem than killed someone by accident. Surely the former is more necessary?
Rabbi Kagen of Radin (died 1933) explains that Hashem was creating the right environment for a social explosion to occur. Once the first pilgrims began their journey they would start to ask people ‘we are performing the mitzvah of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, how can we get from here to there?’ (Tom toms weren’t yet invented). Since there were no signs to Jerusalem, more and more people started asking for directions. This eventually created a buzz and became the talk of town, inspiring others to follow suit. Thus Jerusalem was ‘trending’ and this glorified the mitzvah.
We too have a similar opportunity at hand. Shabbat UK is not far away. The shul Rosh Hashanah post will be sent this week with a flyer explaining what will happen. Let’s give Shabbat the attention it deserves! Let’s re-invoke that special buzz that was palpable last year. Let’s get Shabbat UK ‘trending’. The more it is spoken about and prepared for, the greater and wider reaching it is likely to be. So please join the Rabbi, the Shul leadership, Dovi and Myself in attending the forthcoming open community meeting for Shabbat UK, on Monday September 7th at 8:30pm, at 1 Park Hill Drive.
Good Shabbos – Mychiel