The Short Vort by Rabbi Eisenman

The other day, someone asked me, “Rabbi, How long do you think this newfound Achdus in Klal Yisroel will last?”

I pondered his question and wondered about the reality of this so-called newfound Achdus.

What follows are some thoughts on the topic of Achus.

There is no doubt that people right now are united.

However, there are two types of Achdus.

There is Achdus “for” something positive, and Achdus “against” something negative.

Meaning “all” of “us” are united in our revulsion over the massacre and need for retribution over the events on Shabbos October 7.

We are all united in being “against” what happened to the Jewish people on October 7.

However, is that Achdus?

Does it take great effort for the entire Jewish people to be passionately united in their utter condemnation and need for retribution against those who perpetrated the single most brutal pogram against the Jewish people since the Holocaust?

Is this real Achdus?

Does anyone in Israel not feel the need to be united as Israel faces its greatest existential threat since the founding of the State?

If the meaning of “Achdus” means having a sense of unity against a common enemy. In that case, indeed, we will have Achdus as long as the common enemy exists.

In times of danger, we all band together.

Yet, a much more elusive state of Achdus is when people join together to advocate for something.

This more elusive example of Achdus is achieved only when we are willing to join together and be prepared to compromise some of our positions for a united front to accomplish something.

Let me give an example:

Imagine if 100 people move together to a new neighborhood.

They are free to daven wherever and whenever they want to.

Perhaps a group of people will daven at 7, another group at 8, and so on.

However, if those 100 people decide that instead of twenty people davening at 7, twenty davening at 8, twenty davening at 8:30, and another forty daven at 8:45…. imagine If they would all compromise and daven together at 8:10?

That would be an example of Achdus ‘for’ something.

Namely, they are willing to sacrifice their preferred time for davening for greater unity and one stronger, larger Minyan.

Chazal celebrated that unity by saying, “B’Rov Am, Hadras Melech”- “When the many gather together- that is a greater honor to the King.”

However, how often is such unity ever realized, even among us as true Torah Jews?

Unity, which involves compromise, even for the sake of the Klal and even when we are all on the “same page,” is quite elusive.

One more point on “Achdus”.

I have also found that when people talk about Achdus, they often mean that others should join “their” way of thinking.

Besides the difficulty of achieving Achdus in attempting to act together as a unified group, the term Achdus is often misused when we really mean “convincing.”

And to be brutally honest, too often, we, as Orthodox Jews, utilize (or misuse?) the concept of Achdus for the agenda of Kiruv.

I don’t want to offend anyone; however, when we say “Klal Yisroel needs Achdus” (regarding our non-observant brethren), don’t we mean that they should be more unified with us in Mitzva observance and they should come around to our way of thinking?

We certainly don’t mean we should unify with others whose behavior is antithetical to our lifestyle.

Rather, we actively seek to promote, disseminate, and convince others to abandon their lifestyle choices and adopt ours.

Is attempting to change people from their mode of behavior and convince them to adopt our way of thinking truly a manifestation of Achdus?

Or is it an example of convincing people to abandon their former lifestyle and join us?

In what way are we showing unity with them?

I am not advocating that we abandon our mission to teach and attempt to direct people toward Torah observance; quite the contrary, I am all for teaching and outreach.

However, I am also for honesty, and perhaps we should not appropriate the “not-so-accurate-term: “ACHDUS” when we really mean “persuasion?”

We are united against our common enemy.

However, we are far from united with most of world Jewry regarding what is considered a proper and moral lifestyle.

We care for them.

We attempt to help them.

However, what we promote regarding what a proper mode of living is and what they encourage can never be considered a united front.

Should the term Achdus be dropped when we mean “they” should join us unilaterally?

I have no agenda and am not being provocative.

Just a thought on Achdus.