Last week I found myself surveying Manhattan from the top of the Empire State Building—1250 feet high. I was there with 12 severely sounded IDF soldiers as part of our Belev Echad trip.
Wherever I go, I carry a pair of tefillin with me in case I meet a Jew who has not yet had the opportunity to put them on and say the blessing. On this particular day, all 12 soldiers had already done the mitzvah, except for one—Nitzan.
This seemed like an opportune moment and Nitzan agreed. I wrapped the tefillin around Nitzan’s arm, and then around his head. I took out my phone and launched the prayer app so we could say the Shema.
The view was breathtaking and praying there felt exhilarating. Looking down like that can make one feel closer to G-d. Everything on the ground looks so small and insignificant—one wonders if this is how G-d feels all the time from His view.
So we stood there together, basking in the spirituality of the moment, as Nitzan said the Shema, when a security guard approached us. “Praying isn’t allowed here,” he announced.
Now, this was no ordinary group of people. These IDF soldiers were all injured in serious combat with Hamas terrorists, and they were not about to back down. They explained to the security guard in no uncertain terms that they would, indeed, pray right here, right now.
And so, Nitzan finished praying in peace.
In this week’s Torah portion we read about Jacob and his children moving to Egypt, which essentially marks the onset of the Egyptian exile. This exile was the worst, because it was the first, and because all Jews were under Pharoah’s jurisdiction (as opposed to the later exiles, where the Jews were dispersed and did not all suffer at the same time).
The first thing Jacob did was send his son to Goshen (the area in which the Jews would be living) to establish a yeshiva—a house of prayer and Torah study. The very existence of our nation depends on Torah study, and Jacob knew for the Jews to survive as slaves in exile for over 200 years, there had to be a yeshiva.
Likewise, in 2015 we need Torah study and prayer to survive our current exile. So when the security guard at the Empire State Building tries to interfere, we make sure to demonstrate loud and clear that we will pray to our G-d even on top of the Empire State.