[Avodah] Sandakos

[Jonathan Baker]

From: "Marty Bluke" <marty.bluke at gmail.com>
> R' Jonathan Baker wrote:

> <...Now, any given kohen cannot offer incense more than once (presumably aside
> <from the kohen gadol, who deals with it every year at Yom Kippur).  So
> <too today, any given person does not serve as sandek for two brothers
> <from the same immediate family.
 
> The Gra in Shulchan Aruch points out the fallacies in this reasoning.

Fine, fine, of course if you look at minhagim rationally, they
often come up short.  So?

It's all a way of giving more metaphorical importance to a guy who
is basically playing a stand-in for a table.  The other half of it,
why they're called sandek, from syndikos, or advocate, is probably
more important.  But you want some nice homiletical material, and
a bit of added kedusha, so you attach it to the midrash about Avraham
and the 320 foreskins.  And how many people today take seriously the
"syndic" part of being a "sandek"?  As in, making sure the nimol gets
some kind of Jewish education?

Now, can we come up with some nice homilies for the guys who hold
the chuppah poles?