Walking in the garden

Essays, Judaism

Borukh Gorin

``Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: the children of Israel were eager for the Shechinah, as it was said: “Let my beloved enter his garden (le-gano)” (Shir HaShirim, 4:16) — under His wedding canopy (leginuno).`` ``Gan``, “garden” is a favorite metaphor of the Tanakh. The sages love ``pardes``, also a garden, but clearly of Persian origin in Mishnaic Hebrew. ``Gan`` is also 53 in gematria, numerical value. And 53 is a special number, because there are 53 chapters in the Pentateuch. The Beloved in the Song of Songs calls her betrothed to enter the garden. Interpreters see in this a metaphor for the relationship between the Bride, the Community of Israel, and the Bridegroom, the Almighty. We are betrothed to Him by the Torah. She is our life. With her we ``walk in the garden``, under His wedding canopy. Walks in the garden are always relevant. This is not an excursion into the glorious past, but life here and now. In the weekly Torah portions we can and should find our own paths, timely today. ``Let my friend enter his garden``.

Borukh Gorin was born in 1973 in Odessa. In 1991, he founded the monthly literary and journalistic magazine "Lechaim". Ten years later, he opened a publishing house of the same name. Since 1999, he has been the head of the Public Relations Department of the FEOR. In 2007, he founded the publishing house "Knizhniki", which deals with the Jewish segment of world literature. Today, it is the largest Russian-language publisher of Jewish literature in the world. Under the auspices of the publishing house, Borukh Gorin conducts weekly Torah lessons.

Boruch Gorin was born in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1973. He studied in a yeshiva in Moscow, Russia, in 1990-1994. In 1991 he founded a monthly magazine "Lechaim" and a publishing house under the same name. He has been heading Public Relations department of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia since 1999 and since 2000 he has been heading the press service of the Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar. He has been a Chair of the Board of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center since 2012. Boruch Gorin lived in Odessa until he was 16 years old. Even now, having lived most of his life in Moscow, he feels as an Odessan. Even during the years of stagnation of his childhood, there were mezuzahs hanging in his home and Pesach celebrations were held. As many Odessans, he did well for himself: making a living doing what he loves doing the most, reading. Boruch published a lot of books, wrote a few, and translated a handful. The main event for Boruch was meeting a Lubavitcher Rebbe. His outlook on the purpose of a person combined with a jovial Odessa personality is what made Boruch who he is now.