Hillel said: Be from the students of Aharon: love peace pursue peace love humanity and bring them close to Torah (Pirkei Avos 1:12).
The injunction to draw others closer to Torah is highly relevant to Rosh HaShanah. Every year the Alter of Kelm hung a yellowing poster in the beis medrash of the Talmud Torah of Kelm that concluded with the following words: “We for our part are called upon to crown the L-rd as King of kings. With what shall we crown him? With love for others and charitable acts as Moshe said in his parting blessing: ‘There will be a King in Yeshurun when the leaders of the people gather together with the tribes of Israel as one’ (Devarim 33:5).”
Hillel teaches us that there can be no greater act of love for our fellow Jew than to draw him close to Torah. And nothing is more essential to the unity of the Jewish People which the Alter saw as fundamental to Hashem’s Malchus (Kingship) than recognition of our shared receipt of the Torah.
Yet any honest evaluation of the efforts of the Torah community to draw other Jews close would conclude that we are falling far short of our potential. Worse too often certain elements of the community seem to be engaged in a conscious effort to drive away Jews thirsting for dvar Hashem.
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