Building Fences
Fences are meant to define a property line. Perhaps they even offer some privacy and as the saying from Robert Frost goes, “Good fences make good neighbors.” However, if you think about this idea of a fence, it might bring people closer together—not from kindness, but from lack of fighting.
Perhaps there is another kind of fence. A fence that comes from personal growth, a fence that can teach us how to be a better person.
In this week’s Torah portion, we are taught that when we build a new home, we should build a fence – not necessarily on the property line, but on the roof! Why on the roof? For practical reasons. Roofs were used as porches (we are talking about flat roofs) and someone could easily fall off the roof; therefore, the Torah is teaching us that it is our obligation to protect those who live in, or visit, our home.
Question: Is a synagogue or public building obligated to build a fence on its roof? Since it is “ownerless,” the question becomes who is obligated to build one? Since no one really owns the building, there is no obligation to have a fence. However, the Temple that was not only supported by the public, but the public was “invested” in it by partnering and making the Temple their “home,” did in fact have a fence.
We should look at ourselves as mini-temples. We too must invest in our own wellbeing, and make sure that we are well fortified. As we build our own self-confidence, we should keep in mind that we also need to have a fence to keep our self-confidence in check so that it doesn’t turn from confidence into arrogance. Especially as we reach the roof, the highest level of success, we might start to think of ourselves in the most flattering terms. The Torah teaches us that when we reach the “top floor” – or to use the Torah’s terminology, the “roof”— it is of utmost importance to put up that fence, so that we don’t fall off.
The Torah doesn’t say to stop doing what we are doing – just the opposite: We must continue being successful, but we should do so with humility. The fence is a reminder.
Think about this as we prepare for Rosh Hashana.
Shabbat Shalom.