This question is answered by the Jewish New Year for trees: Tu b’Shvat.

Tonight (Sunday January 24) starts the Jewish New Year for Trees. It is commonly referred to as Tu b’Shvat which simply means the 15^th of the Hebrew month of Shvat.

It almost was known as Echad b’Shvat, the first of Shvat.

2500 years ago, two of our great sages, Shammai and Hillel, argued over when the new year for trees should be.

In our sacred text called the Talmud, Rashi, a sage from 1000 years ago explained that what they were arguing over was when we celebrate conception.

To summarize the debate: In Israel, Shvat is the middle month of winter and most of the rain has fallen by the first of Shvat. Nobody questions this, or the analogy that the rain is like sperm coming down and impregnating mother earth.

Since most of the rain has fallen by the first, everyone agrees that the earth has conceived by then.

Shammai believed that we should not wait to celebrate conception and so the new year for trees should be on the first.

Hillel disagreed with him. He believed that we should wait until we could see some outward appearance of conception, and then celebrate.

One of the interesting things about the Jewish tradition is that it can hold multiple truths at the same time, even when they contradict. Hence both opinions are true and accurate.

If it was possible, we would celebrate conception both when it occurred and when it was first noticeable.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where a second celebration of a wondrous event is like a balloon with all of the air let out of it.

So, we have to make a decision as to which day to celebrate. 2000 years ago, our sages decided to celebrate worldly conception on the 15^th of Shvat, on Tu b’Shvat. It makes sense to celebrate global conception on a communal level.

But what about on a personal level?

When will you celebrate conception, when it happens or when it starts to show? Please leave your answer below and keep in mind this does not have to be conceiving of just a child. It could also be the conceiving of an idea or a dream or a goal or a project, or even watering a single seed that germinates.

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Why does Hanukah fall during the darkest week of the year?

Hanukah is about standing up when things are darkest and defeating your biggest challenge, the one that has been growing for a while and feels insurmountable.

What great obstacle is standing before you trying to convince you to give up and that you can’t win?

Back in the day, it was the Syrian Greeks, the biggest, baddest army in the world. They defamed the temple and were trying to wipe out the Jews. A ragtag group of Jews, led by the Maccabbees, not only defeated this powerful army (a miracle), but also retook the temple and cleaned it and rededicated it.

You too can defeat the big bad menace and rededicate yourself to your vision for the coming year. This is what Hanukah is here to tell us.

Maybe you have been falling down from moving forward in your plans. Maybe thing after thing after thing has come forward demanding your time and energy and money.

Along comes Hanukah to tell you not to let those things get you down, not to give up. It is now time to rededicate yourself to the cause and get back on track.

Go ahead. Take another stab at your goals and desires. This is the time for the miracle of success!

Part of rededicating the temple was lighting the holy menorah and shining a light into the darkness.

You can do this by getting back on track with going after your hopes and dreams. In doing so, you will generate a little hope, a little light – just like the menorah in the temple.

It might only look like a tiny light; you might feel like you barely have the energy to keep it lit, to keep yourself going for one day.

Let me tell you a secret.   At this time, a light that you think will last barely one day can last 8 days. After all, this is the second miracle of Hanukah: there was only enough pure oil to light the menorah for 1 day and it took 8 days to make new oil. Still, they believed and didn’t give up and lit the menorah… and the light lasted 8 days until new oil was ready to be added.

In Judaism, 8 represents eternity.

So, if you can just keep the light of hope and the energy and desire of getting back on track and going after your dreams for just one day, during Hanukah, it can stretch beyond your expectations and keep you going for 8 days (or until you have the energy to keep going)… and an eternity.

Yes, you can have this miracle.

In fact, you can have both miracles.

All you need to do is believe in yourself and what you want and that it is too important to let anything stop you.

Hanukah starts Sunday night, December 6 this year, at sunset.

Light a candle that night and meditate on the miracles. The Hanukah candles you can buy in stores are perfect for this as they last about 40 minutes.

Happy Hanukah.

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This is a very special month; it is the only month on the Jewish calendar where we are not celebrating something or doing something different. It is 4 weeks of 6 ordinary days and a shabbat.

It is also part of the longest period of mundane-ness in the Jewish calendar. We go two months, starting the day after Simchat Torah (the end of the High Holy days period) until the first day of Hanukah doing nothing unusual, nothing out of the ordinary.

I believe that this extendended mundane time is as important to us as the holiness of Rosh haShannah and the rest of the High Holy Days.

What?  Why?

I’m Jewish, so I have to ask. In fact, to me, the question begs to be asked:

Why? Why do we have such a long mundane period? What is so special about now, that both the Creator and the sages felt that it was best not to add anything special to this completely ordinary 2 month period?

Another way of asking this question is:

What was God and the sages afraid of messing up by adding something else to this 2 month period, and this month called Cheshvan in particular?

In order to answer this, we need to go back and remember what the High Holy days, the period just before our current 2 month period, was all about.

In short, the High Holy days are about planting our intentions of who we want to be, and how we want to be living; and, we are planning to have the change completed, and really be living that future, in a year’s time.

Now that we have stated our intentions, it is time to start living them.

For anyone who has ever made a Western World’s New Year resolution, this is the hard part.

It is easy to make the resolution, such as getting into better shape. It is another thing to actually get to the gym every day or every other day and do the work.

It is even harder when your routine is constantly interrupted by things like: Martin Luther King Jr. day, Super bowl Sunday, Ground Hog’s day, President’s day, Valentine’s day, etc.

The Divine Source, and later our sages, realized this and also knew how important it is to get a new routine started and made into a habit, before adding something new to the mix.

And so they acknowledge our big challenge of beginning to create a consistant change in our lives and ourselves, by leaving a long mundane period so as not to interfere with our important mission of change.

I even hazard that they would agree that these 2 months of mundane time are as important as the holy time that preceded it.

May you be and stay focused as we begin to manifest the changes we want, and planted, barely a month ago.

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And I sit back and relax in my succah and contemplate.

This moment really sums up the holy week we call Succot.

Just as I am now relaxing and enjoying the results of my work in building my succah: putting up the walls, cutting the branches that make up the roof, and putting them on the succah, buying a lulav, adding furniture to make it more homey…

Succot is about relaxing and enjoying the results of the work each of us has done the whole prior year, including Rosh haShannah, and Yom Kippur!

Historically, Succot is the time of the final harvest and the rejoicing that is done after the completion of a successful harvest.

However, it is not just about the final harvest of fruits and vegetables. It is also about the harvesting of all the work we have done on ourselves.

And now it is time to sit back for a week, and enjoy the fruits of our labors.

It is time to rejoice in all the work I have put in to make myself a better person and to acknowledge that work and the wonderful person I am today (and when I say “I” here, I don’t mean just me, I mean it for each Jew to being doing this for themselves).

After all, our most sacred text, the Torah, tells us that to be in Succot, we must be in joy.

So find yourself a succah, take at least an hour for yourself, bring along a cup of coffee or tea, and sit and relax and enjoy YOU and the world around you and all you have done to make you who you are today and get to this moment in the succah.

And raise your cup and give yourself a toast – you’ve earned it!

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How can I say such a thing about a day that a fast day full of long and boring services?

Can you keep a secret? (if you read to the end, you will find that  I am revealing 2 secrets)

Yom Kippur is one of the most joyous days of the year.  It is the day we give our souls its annual bath.

Think back to when you were a child and had to take a bath after spending the day playing in mud puddles.  You came in the house and your mom told you you had to march upstairs and take a bath.

The Horror!

I don’t know about you, but I would argue and delay… anything to avoid having to get into the bathtub.

Of course once I got out, all squeaky clean and shiny, I felt so alive and happy to be clean.

The difficulty we feel on Yom Kippur is the same difficulty we feel as a child having to take that bath.

And the joy of Yom Kippur, at the end of Yom Kippur, is the joy of the child after the bath, feeling fresh and clean.

This is one aspect of Yom Kippur.  This is the not-so-secret, secret.

Are you ready for the secret secret?

Remember a couple of weeks ago, in my last blog post, I mentioned that Rosh haShannah is about planting your intentions for the coming year?

After you plant something, you need to remove the weeds to give what you planted space to grow.

Same with your intentions.

Yom Kippur is the weeding process.

Here is a way to do it:

Think about who you want to be at this time next year.  You might want to review what you planted on Rosh haShannah (if you planted your intentions at that time.  If you didn’t you can also do that on Yom Kippur morning and do the weeding in the afternoon).  Then imagine how this future you will respond to different people and things that happen in life.

Next think about how you currently respond to people and things that happen in life and make a list of the ways that are similar between the current you and the future you, and a second list of how your respond differently.

It is important at this point not to judge your actions.  There is no good or bad in any of this – there just is.

On Yom Kippur, ideally in the late afternoon (during the n’eelah service if you go to services), imagine you are having a private audience with the Divine Source of Life (whatever you wish to call it) behind locked doors.

Take the second list you made, the list of how you will behave differently between your current self and your future self.  This is the list of things you want to weed out of your life.  Not that they are bad; on the contrary, they are part of who you are today!  Rather, they just are in the way of allowing you to become who you wish to be and need to be weeded out to make room for your ways of being.

Share this list with the Divine and ask for help in weeding out these old ways and taking on the new ways you wish to be.

As a bonus, you can also ask for any help you want from Divinity at this time.  Open up and share; the doors are locked and it is just the two of you.

And enjoy the new clean you.

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However, it also is the beginning of the 7th month of the year, not the first month of the year.

So, I prefer to translate Rosh haShannah as the Head of Change. Rosh means head and shannah can mean to change or transform, as well as year.

I prefer calling Rosh haShannah the Beginning of Change because it is the beginning of a 22 day period of change that connects last year with this year and this year to next year.

It starts with Rosh haShannah which is a time to plant your intentions of who you want to be, and what kind of life do you want to have at this time.

I recommend you take some time between now and Monday to think about who you want to be at this time next year, what do you want to be doing, where do you want to be living, what kind of friends do you have.

Listen to the blowing of the Shofar (Ram’s horn) and let it break you out of your shell of stagnation. Then declare to the universe the type person you want to be at this time next year.

If you are really bold, you might even ask the Divine Creator, the one who knows everything having created everything, to be your guide for the coming year.

Do you think you can trust that the Master of the World will have your best interest in mind? If so, who would know the best path for you to become the new you of this time next year.

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Why?

Because you never know if it will break and lead to your falling and hurting yourself.

Yet, sometimes this is precisely what you need to do.

Why?

Because it is the right thing to do.

This week’s parsha (Torah portion) is called Pinchas. He is the grandson of Aharon the late high priest and brother to Moshe (Moses).

Our parsha is named after Pinchas because he epitomizes this kind of risk-taker, in a parsha that is all about doing the right thing.

Pinchas is so honored because he is willing to do the right thing in front of an entire nation, including its leaders, even when they won’t act. He does what he thinks is right, knowing that if he is wrong, he will suffer the death penalty. He does not hide or hedge his bets. He takes bold action. And for this he is rewarded.

Let’s see how this plays out inside our parsha.

At the end of last week’s parsha, Pinchas stops a plague by skewering a leader of one of the tribes, who publicly took a Midyan woman into his tent.

This week starts by giving us more detail of this event and its aftermath. We are told that Pinchas skewered a prince from the tribe of Shimon and the daughter of a national leader of Midyan as they lay together in his tent.

Can you imagine how hard it must have been for him to grab a spear and go into the tent of such an important man when not even Moshe, the supreme leader of the Children of Yisrael, the man who stood up to Pharaoh, was willing to do such a thing?

Imagine being the only member of a family who never went to medical school. Your own father is a foremost brain specialist. His colleague, another world-class brain specialist, announces, during a live press conference, that the President is brain dead and cannot live without life support because his brain will not tell his lungs to breath and his heart to pump. Your father and the rest of the family say nothing.

Suppose, deep in your heart, you know this is not true, that the President can live and does not need life support. Are you willing, in front of live TV cameras, and reporters, to stand up, go to the President’s bed, and pull the plug on the life support?

This is the equivalent of what Pinchas does.

His uncle is the leader of the people, and he does not move to prevent Zimri, a leader of the tribe of Shimon from taking Cozbi, into his tent. Pinchas grabs a spear and enters the tent and kills them.

Some commentators of the Torah say that the children of Yisrael were ready to give him the death penalty for this act.

Talk about going out on a limb.

Instead of receiving capital punishment, the Torah informs us that haShem (god) rewards Pinchas by giving him a Covenant of Shalom (peace), and making him a cohen (priest). The Torah also tells us that his act stops a plague that killed 24,000 people.

Let’s see another example within our parsha of people taking a big risk and going out on a limb for what is right.

After informing us how Pinchas is rewarded for his heroic act, we read of a new census. This census will be the basis of how to divide the land up.

After Moshe relays haShems’s words to the people regarding how the land will be inherited, 5 sisters step forward to challenge haShems words.

To put this in perspective, suppose you were one of 5 Native Americans sitting in front of the Supreme Court of the United States as it publically rules that the Native Americans will not be given their sacred land. Would you be willing to stand up and challenge that decision?

This is basically what these five sisters did.

And they won.

HaShem agreed with them and changed the rules of inheritance.

It would be like the Supreme Court in the example above, stopping and talking amongst themselves for a few minutes, and then turning back and telling the public that they were wrong and the Native Americans will have their sacred land returned to them.

My last example of going out on a limb for what is right is found in the next section of the parsha. Hashem tells Moshe that it is time to go up a mountain and die.

When god says it is time to die, I would find it hard to argue with him.

So, what does Moshe do?

He argues with her. Moshe tells haShem he is not going anywhere until a suitable leader is found to replace him, and that person is installed as the new leader.

And haShem capitulates.

Moshe gives us an addition lesson: one is never too old to learn something new from other people. He learns from Pinchas and the five sisters how to go out on a limb for what is right.

For the sake of completeness, the parsha ends with a detailed listing of the additional sacrifices for the holy days haShem has told the people to celebrate.

I hope you will comment below and tell the rest of us how you think these sacrifices that occur during the holy days fit with this particular theme in the parsha.

I look forward to reading your ideas.

If you care to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.

Here is a quick recap of this week’s parsha. It starts with the rebellions of Korach and 250 men, and of Datan and Aviram. The rebellions end with Korach and his men getting killed by the fire of haShem (god) while offering incense, and Datan and Aviram getting swallowed up by the earth.

The next day, the people freak out thinking they are next, a plague breaks out, and Aharon saves the day by stopping the plague with incense.

With the intent to stop the people from complaining, haShem commands that the leaders of the 12 tribes bring their staffs and give them to Moshe (Moses) who will put them in the tent of meeting. The next day, Moshe will take the staffs out and the owner of the one that blooms is the one that haShem has chosen as high priest.   Aharon’s staff is part of the collection and represents the tribe of Levi, and (super) naturally not only does it bloom, but it even produces almonds.

The people are now afraid they die because they know they will again anger haShem, and haShem comes back with a solution. The parsha ends by telling us what the priests and Levis will be doing to protect the people and how they will be compensated by the people for their work.

So what is going on here, besides the simple story? What might the Torah be trying to tell us?

I think it is trying to tell us that in life, we can start off on new path full of hope, but somewhere along the way, those little voices of negativity will start to show up and try to undermine us.

In Judaism, we have a term for these voices. We call them the yetzer harah, or the evil inclination.

The Torah is teaching us that each time these voices, these little rebellions, or crisis of faith occur, we need to face them head-on and give them an opportunity to change. If they don’t, we need to stand up to them and give back to them the very thing they are complaining about, that they are afraid of. This is how we get rid of them – we give them what they say and watch them get destroyed by the very thing that they say will destroy us.

We saw this last week when the people said that haShem was bringing them to the wilderness to die.   God turned it around and said, in effect, as you say, so it shall be. You will die in the wilderness.

This week we see Korach and his 250 men are given a chance to act as priests and offer incense, and have their incense accepted. The result was their death.   Same with Datan and Aviram; they did not want to follow Moshe’s leadership; they preferred to stay holed up in their tents. So, haShem took it one step further and holed them up in the earth, thereby guaranteeing that Moshe could not rule over them.

Fortunately the teaching of the Torah does not stop there. It continues by pointing out that after the crisis of faith, the doubt, and the challenges are dealt with, all is not lost. There is hope. It is time to move forward.

We see this first with god demonstrating who he wanted as high priest by having each tribe give over a staff and the one that bloomed (Aharon’s) would signify the one haShem chose. The Torah does not stop there. It continues talking about how this chosen group will interact with the community and seals these instructions with a brit (covenant) of salt.

Why salt? Because salt preserves things forever. HaShem wants it known that this pact made with the people and with the tribe of Levi is not going away anytime soon.

To sum all this up, one thing the Torah is teaching us over these last couple of weeks is not to be surprised when the yetzer harah shows up in your head after you have started on a new adventure. In fact, if you are doing anything real, you should expect it.

The Torah also is telling us how we can deal with the yetzer harah. First, offer it a chance to change. When it doesn’t, then turn what it is claiming will happen back onto itself. This will effectively get rid of it.

Once it is gone, it is a good idea to check and see what other fears you might be having, and then come up with a way to alleviate those fears while still staying true to your goals, beliefs, and processes.

If you care to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.

I do believe Spock (a good Jewish boy, bless his soul) in one of the Star Trek movies essentially said the same thing when he declared, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.”

I am jumping ahead though. Let me give you the background.

This week we read the parsha (Torah portion) called Shlach, which is the command form of the verb to send.   It starts off with haShem (god) telling Moshe (Moses) that it is ok to send spies into the Promised Land. 40 days later, and after their report, the men within the children of Israel are crying because they are convinced they will be killed by the inhabitants of the land.

God hears this and is not happy and declares that if they believe they will die in the wilderness, they will in fact die in the wilderness, and that it will take 40 years for all the men to die off. The children and the women will be allowed to enter the land.

After this, and a misguided attempt by the men to try to go into the land (they get soundly spanked), the Torah talks about various sacrifices including those for unintentional sins.

After mentioning unintentional sins, the Torah tells us what happens to those who deliberately sin, and then tells us a story of a man who breaks a law of Shabbat by gathering wood.

We end by being told to put tzitzit (a string knot-work) on our 4 cornered garments, along with the benefits we will get from them.

Where in this does it talk about the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the one?

In the story of the man gathering sticks on Shabbat.

Earlier, back in the second of the 5 books of the Torah (we are currently in the 4^th book), we learned not to do a particular category of work (called Malachah) on Shabbat. Included in this is the prohibition against gathering or collecting sticks.

A particular man deliberately gathers sticks, and is brought in front of Moshe and Aharon and the assembly of the people. Moshe does not know what to do, so he asks haShem, and is told that the man must be stoned to death. The people then carry out the sentence.

What does this have to do with sacrifice?

According to our sacred text called the Talmud (Bava Batra 119b), Tosophot (a group of commentators from around 800 years ago) tell us: The wood-gatherer’s intention was for the sake of heaven. For when it was decreed that the people would not enter the Land, due to the sin of the spies (B’midbar (Numbers) 14:21-23), they thought that they were no longer obligated in mitzvot (commandments). So, this person took the stance by transgressing Shabbat, in order that he people should see him be punished by death for his transgression, from which they would learn that the mitzvoth were still obligatory.

In other words, the people were afraid that they had gone too far; they had screwed up and angered god one too many times, and that god’s decree of killing off a whole generation was god’s way of saying that not only was the covenant broken and no longer valid, but the whole relationship between god and the children of Israel was over.

If the relationship between god and the people was over, then the mitzvot would no longer apply.

The wood-gatherer of the story deliberately sacrificed himself by collecting wood on Shabbat, a sin punishable by death only if the mitzvot still applied, in order to show everybody that the mitzvot did in fact still apply, and that the covenant between god and the people was still intact.

What a selfless act of restoring the faith of a broken people.

If you care to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.

This week, the Torah begins with Aharon being told to light the menorah. It then continues with the initiation of the Levites into their service with the mishcan (tabernacle). We then have the story of how we received a second Pesach (Passover) for those who could not do the first one, and then, after last minutes instructions, we leave Mount Sinai and go on our first journey.

The parsha ends following this first trip with lots of complaints, too much quail, god getting angry, people dying, and Miriam getting tzaarat and having to be in quarantine for a week.

If you get a sense there is more than just what I have written, you are right. I thought about putting in more detail, and I realized for me to even begin to do it justice, I would almost have to write out the whole parsha. I doubt I could do as good as job as haShem did, so I believe it would be better for you to read the parsha yourself and not rely on my to fill it what I have left out.

Now, the most obvious thing to talk about is the transition that happens to the people after we leave on the first leg of the journey. I have, in fact, written about this here, and I do not wish to repeat myself, so if you want to read it, just click here and you will be taken to my thoughts on the matter.

Today I want to talk about what it means to be humble. Most of us are taught to believe it means being self-effacing and being a doormat. And yet, verse 3 of chapter 12 in B’meedbar (Numbers) tells us that Moshe (Moses) was the most humble man in the world.

How can the most humble man in the world write that he is the most humble man in the world?

Maybe our definition of humble is wrong. If so, we need a new definition.

Given that the Torah has called Moshe the most humble man, perhaps if we look at his actions, we can learn what humble really means.

In chapter 8, just as the nation is preparing the Pesach, some people ask Moshe how they can participate after burying a deceased relative. Moshe does not know the answer to their question and what does he do? Does he make something up? No. He tells them he does not know, and then he goes and finds the answer (by asking haShem). He then stops the whole nation from their preparation, and shares with them this new law about a makeup Pesach.

In Chapter 10, Moshe’s brother in law wants to return to Midian. Moshe does his best to persuade him to stay.

In Chapter 11, the people complain about the lack of meat and variety of food. God starts to get angry, and Moshe sees this and knows if he does not do anything, things will not end well. He approaches haShem and reminds god whose idea it was to bring the people out in the first place, and then admits that he needs help in keeping the people on a positive track. He then is willing to give up some of his power and share his ability to talk with haShem to 70 other people.

Later, when two other elders start to prophesize in the camp, and his young attendant wants them punished, Moshe responds by saying that he was touched his attendant was concerned about Moshe’s authority, and it was ok that they prophesized. In fact, Moshe continues to say he wished everybody was a prophet, even if it meant that he was no longer special as the main prophet.

And in chapter 12, after haShem gives Tzaarat to his sister Miriam after she accused him of not acting appropriately, he prays to god to heal her.

What I see haShem trying to tell us is that a humble person is one who admits to their shortcomings (I don’t know, I need help), does his job to the best of his abilities (telling the people what haShem wants from them, and trying to keep his brother-in-law, who is an excellent scout, with the people), and wants people to be the best that they can (I wish everyone was a prophet, Miriam needs to be healed).

This definition of a humble person is certainly different from the one we were taught. Tell me, which do you prefer?

If you care to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.