'Cause I'm a Jew

Baruch Dayan Emet, Dayan Ehrentreu

Growing up, I’d listen to Country Yossi and the Shteeble-Hoppers, and one of my favorite songs was ‘Cause I’m a Jew, which was a parody of Johnny Cash’s I Walk the Line.

The song is about performing weird actions as a Jewish person. The chorus goes:

‘cause I’m a Jew, cause I’m a Jew, I do that too.
Because the Torah tells me to I do that too,
I do the strangest things a man could ever do,
’cause I’m a Jew, I do that too.

These actions include “twirling a chicken around my head”, and “shak[ing] a Lulav, which my neighbors think insane.” I personally don’t perform all of these actions. Thus, I don’t shlug kapparos with a live chicken, but use money, or a rubber chicken. I don’t “eat horseradish until I’m turning blue” because I think romaine lettuce is preferable. Because I hold different shiurim for matzah, I don’t “eat Matzah till I have no strength to chew.” But I do agree with the sentiment, that we do things which other people might judge us for, thinking us weirdos, but we perform them anyway. “Because the Torah tells me to I do that too.”

On my lengthy commute to and from work, besides podcasts and daf yomi, I often listen to Rav Herschel Schacter’s daily gemara shiur via YU Torah, though I’m a bit behind because of technical difficulties with my phone connecting to my car via Android Auto. This year, they are learning Gittin, and this past Wednesday, I listened to the shiur posted November 9th, about Ohel Zaruk.

The tie-in to Gittin is that on 8b, a brayta discusses the ritual impurity of lands outside of Israel, and entering via a chest, box or cabinet.

דְּתַנְיָא הַנִּכְנָס לְאֶרֶץ הָעַמִּים בְּשִׁידָּה תֵּיבָה וּמִגְדָּל רַבִּי מְטַמֵּא רַבִּי יוֹסֵי בְּרַבִּי יְהוּדָה מְטַהֵר וַאֲפִילּוּ רַבִּי לָא קָא מְטַמֵּא אֶלָּא בְּאֶרֶץ הָעַמִּים דְּגָזְרוּ עַל גּוּשָׁהּ וְעַל אֲוִירָהּ אֲבָל סוּרְיָא עַל גּוּשָׁהּ גָּזְרוּ עַל אֲוִירָהּ לֹא גָּזְרוּ

As it is taught in a baraita: With regard to one who enters the land of the nations, i.e., any territory outside of Eretz Yisrael, in a chest, a box, or a cabinet, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi deems him ritually impure, and Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Yehuda, deems him pure. And even Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi deems one who did not touch the ground itself impure only in the land of the nations, concerning which they decreed impurity upon both its clumps of soil and upon its air. However, with regard to Syria, everyone agrees that they decreed impurity upon its clumps of soil, but they did not decree impurity upon its air. Therefore, it is possible to enter Syria and remain in a state of ritual purity if one does not touch the ground itself.

Tosafot there (d.h. שידה) discuss the reasoning behind it. One potential explanation is that outside Israel, corpses are buried all over. The chest, box, or cabinet is in motion, and the base of the moving chest may not be considered a valid partition to block this ritual impurity.

At about the 23 minute mark (and picking up after a lot of setup at the 33 minute mark), Rav Schachter spoke highly of Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu, and related a story about how Rav Ehrentreu, a kohen, was flying on a plane. There wasn’t a corpse on the plane itself, but on takeoff, it would fly over the Jewish cemetery in Chulon, Israel. And El Al didn’t want to divert the plane, so he sat inside a zipped-up plastic clothing bag, for plastic cannot become impure, so therefore also blocks impurity. He knew when they were going over the cemetery, and put himself in the sack for a few minutes, and after they finished passing over the cemetery, took himself out of the sack.

[Edit: To stress the point, in case this was missed, he wasn’t in the body bag for the entire flight. It was only for the few minutes during takeoff they were flying over the cemetery.]

They wrote about this incident in the Jewish Chronicle (November 2nd, 2001). See also Contemporary Halachic Problems, Volume V, by Rabbi Bleich. And a picture of the incident was shared on social media in 2013, with false guesses that it was to prevent contact with women, for the full duration of the flight (link to Gothamist).

I heard the shiur on last Wednesday night, and Rav Ehrentrau passed away Thursday morning. (Covered by the Jewish Chronicle here; also Yeshiva World and Matzav.)

I recall the reaction of some frum Jews at the time as condemnation. In large part, they didn’t understanding the halachic complexities driving his behavior (even if it is possible for others to find alternate solutions, or hand-waving to dismiss the concern). But another large part may have been embarrassment, for here was a visible Jew acting weird in public. My neighbors are going to think I’m nuts too.

Particularly in our modern age, where online shaming is the rage, and people are afraid to express their true convictions and beliefs for fear of being dismissed or cancelled, Rav Ehrentreu zatza’l acted boldly. I’d imagine that he knew that people would wonder at his strange behavior (even on an El Al flight) and laugh. Still, this was what halacha demanded. I am much less bold — sometimes, downright bashful of behaving religiously in public. For instance, I’ve davened minchah with a Bluetooth headset. While I didn’t know him, and he surely can be praised for his Torah and leadership, I can look to him for modeling this particular trait, when the situation demands it. Yehi zichro baruch.