Mindful Torah...and more

Parshat Balak - between two suns

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 22:35:00 +0000

This week's parashah/portion Balak can be found in the book of Bamidbar/Number 22:2-25:9.

We read in the fifth chapter of Pirkei Avot (the Ethics of the Fathers) that there were ten things which God created bein hashmashot - at twilight (literally, between the two suns). Though it does not specify which twilight, the Babylonian Talmud assumes that it is the twilight before the first Shabbat. In other words, these were the last things which God created prior to resting on the first Shabbat.

Each of the things created could be viewed as miracles which superseded the laws of nature in some way. Maimonides stated the reason for this text is to teach us that they were actually not defying the laws of nature. Rather, they were actually part of creation, created by God at that last mystical moment and then pre-programmed to occur or be used at a specific time. Being part of creation Maimonides could claim, in Aristotelean fashion, that the world never changes.

The interesting thing about this liminal time period, bein hashmashot - twilight - is that the human eye and mind cannot perceive exactly when one day ends and the next begins. Only God was aware when that sixth day ended. Hence the fact that Shabbat always starts before sunset and ends after sunset in order to avoid a mistake.

During this uncertain, liminal, and mystical time before the first Shabbat the rabbis believed that one of the things created was the mouth of Balaam's donkey found in this week’s parashah.

When the sorcerer Balaam is on his way to see the Moabite king Balak in order to curse the Israelites his donkey stops and refuses to move. After beating the donkey and trying to get it to move, the donkey suddenly speaks, basically saying to Balaam "I've been your donkey all these years. Have I EVER acted like this before? Don't you realized there's a reason? Open your eyes! Look in front of us!" At that point Balaam saw an angel standing before them. The angel then tells Balaam that when he meets with Balak he will only be able to bless, and not curse, the Israelites. Which is what he does.

This miraculous speaking donkey was created bein hashmashot because God knew what was going to happen and had things ready for that moment, if one is to follow Maimonides. And so this creation at twilight, literally between the two suns, is what eventually allowed Balaam to bless the Israelite people.

This particular interpretation is dedicated to all those who fight injustice of every kind. It is also in celebration of the final Shabbat in Pride months, reminding us that it is our job to bring light, freedom and joy into the world.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Steve

between two suns

I finally spoke

after all these years

waiting to turn potential into reality

it finally happened

so many times I wanted to speak

when he would do stupid things or ignore me

but I knew I had to wait

until this moment

when my voice did not simply express

my frustration my needs

but helped him to open his eyes

so he could finally see

what was real

what was right before him

what God wanted him to do

now I will be silent again

until my last twilight

when I breathe my last

knowing that I fulfilled

my purpose

that my life had meaning

I was meant to help

bring blessing into the world

I was part of the plan

that brought him here

not to curse God’s people

but to blessed them three times

so that all would realize

blessings can be created

even when the desire is to curse

my mouth was able to speak

the truth of the moment

for being born between two suns

my eyes my mind my heart was able to

see to feel to embrace

the divine blessings

even when my so called master could not

supposedly a beast of burden

I was chosen to open the eyes

to release his burden

so he could fulfill his task

so often human beings think they know

what is in front of them

when they do not

it is the unseen

those they see as beneath them less than other than

are the ones able to see the real truth

the enlightened ones

perhaps also born between two suns

and when they open their mouths as I did

the possibility for change begins

ii.

perhaps the miracle that was really created

in that cosmic moment of unknown transformation

from day of work to day of rest

was the miraculous ability for humans to transform themselves

the donkey's power of speech was only the catalyst

like the power of speech within all

those who are oppressed mistreated

forgotten ignored othered

by those who think they know

the truth when they do not

for it was the donkey the slave the oppressed the beaten

born between the two suns

that was able to see and speak the truth

not his master

we must all look around and see every day every moment

the difference we see between light and dark

is an illusion if we are living between two suns

enlightened in the divine light

realizing that

we transform ourselves our world

from ignorance to knowledge

from indifference to compassion

from hatred to love

from shame to pride

from rejection to acceptance

from prejudice to equality

the list goes on

we have made this happen before

we can make this happen now

for if we look with our hearts

we will see know

we are in a continual state

bein hashmashot between two suns

not in a twilight leading

into a night of darkness and despair

but in a liminal moment

not between days but between epochs

bringing into a new and brighter light

with the potential to transform

ourselves our world

we can see it around us

people in the streets our communities

protesting racism

homophobia transphobia sexism misogyny

anti semitism islamophobia xenophobia

the list is endless

of things to which we must all open our eyes

to truly see them

their voices our voices were also created by the divine

in that moment between the suns shrouded in mystery

giving us the ability to see and feel the pain

so we can then

fight injustice work for peace struggle for harmony

we were all created to create change

then and now

our voices our ability to seek justice

are divine in origin

the forces we are fighting

are simply the creation

of human beings

rooted in ignorance

created in darkness

not in light

so if we work together as beings wrapped in divine light

enfolded in the wings of the divine presence

joining hands in human divine partnership

we will prevail we shall overcome

for we really have no other choice

it is why we were created

it is why we are here

it is what we must do

Parshat Beshallach: Bringing About Our Redemption

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 30 Jan 2021 15:01:00 +0000

Covid-time related confusion took hold of me yesterday.

I posted my commentary on Parshat Bo, which I forgot to post last week, and did not post my commentary on this week's Torah portion. So here it is....a day late. Shabbat Shalom!

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This week's parashah is Beshallakh (Exodus/Shemot 13:17-17:16) week's parashah is Beshalach. Pharaoh has not just allowed the Israelites to leave, but he almost forced them out of the land after the tenth plague, the death of the first born. Now they are standing on at the shore of the sea of Reeds waiting to see what comes next. Once again, Pharaoh has had a change of heart. Suddenly they see that him and all of Egypt's chariots bearing down upon them at the shore of the Sea of Reeds. The people are crying out to Moses in fear. His basic response is to tell them to watch as God performs a miracle for them.

God then replies to Moses “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.” God seems more than a little perturbed with Moses. This seems at first a strange response. In his commentary The Heart of Torah Rabbi Shai Held writes basically that God is angry because Moses is telling the people to be passive and wait for a miracle to be performed for them. Instead, God wants them to be more active and participate in the creation of the miracle. To paraphrase R. Held, even when a miracle is about to occur, God wants the people to take action and not just to rely on God. Or Moses.

The rabbis imagined (at least) two different versions of what happens next. R. Meir believed that the tribes were arguing with each other about who was going to go into the sea first before it even split. The tribe of Judah decides to take action first and enters the sea first. It then splits.
R. Judah disagreed. He believed that, as Moses is talking to God, the tribes are arguing because no-one wants to enter the sea first. Finally, God says to Moses, “stop talking to me already! Turn around and see what my children are doing!”

At that moment Moses turns around and sees Nachshon ben Aminadav, head of the tribe of Judah, enter the sea. Only then does it split.
In both of these narratives someone enters the sea before it even splits. However, in the first, everyone wants to go in first. It seems to be more about status than community. The entire tribe of Benjamin just decides to ignore everyone else and rush towards the sea.

In the second narrative, everyone is afraid. No one wants to enter. Only Nachshon has the guts to take the first step in order to hopefully save the entire community. He doesn't follow Moses's command to sit back and wait.

Does he enter the sea because he has complete faith that God will save him? I don't know. I think maybe not. I believe he knew that he was taking a risk. But just standing there was also a risk.

However, he also realized that he had agency. He had the ability to make a decision on his own. He didn't have to wait for someone else to tell him what to do. This was something they probably didn't understand when enslaved. And so, risking all, he takes his first true step as a free man; in doing so, he is the catalyst for divine redemption.

We can passively wait for a miracle to happen. We can argue with one another about who is in charge, who will help whom, or whose needs get met first. Or we can each be Nachshon. We can realize that we each need to take action. We must each fight for justice and work for change. And and the action that each one of us takes to bring justice and redemption has the potential to bring us closer together as a people, as a country, and as a world. Only be each of us taking that step to make a change will that change ever come. That is our responsibility as individuals, as Jews, and as human beings.

We must each move forward. We don't know what actually is in front of us. But if we each step forward both alone and together we can succeed in making the world a different and a better place for all. week's parashah is Beshalach. Pharaoh has not just allowed the Israelites to leave, but he almost forced them out of the land after the tenth plague, the death of the first born. Now they are standing on at the shore of the sea of Reeds waiting to see what comes next. Once again, Pharaoh has had a change of heart. Suddenly they see that him and all of Egypt's chariots bearing down upon them at the shore of the Sea of Reeds. The people are crying out to Moses in fear. His basic response is to tell them to watch as God performs a miracle for them.

Finally, God says to Moses, “stop talking to me already! Turn around and see what my children are doing!” At that moment Moses turns around and sees Nachshon ben Aminadav, head of the tribe of Judah, enter the sea. Only then does it split.

In both of these narratives someone enters the sea before it even splits. However, in the first, everyone wants to go in first. It seems to be more about status than community. The entire tribe of Benjamin just decides to ignore everyone else and rush towards the sea.

Does he enter the sea because he has complete faith that God will save him? I don't know. I think maybe not. I believe he knew that he was taking a risk. But just standing there was also a risk. However, he also realized that he had agency. He had the ability to make a decision on his own. He didn't have to wait for someone else to tell him what to do. This was something they probably didn't understand when enslaved. And so, risking all, he takes his first true step as a free man; in doing so, he is the catalyst for divine redemption.

Today we are all standing at the shore of the sea as a people, as a people, a country and a world. We have forces bearing down on us, whether because of Covid, anti-semitism, racial inequality, white supremacy, economic inequality, or any of the other myriad of forces surrounding us on all sides.
Standing here in this particular moment we all have a choice. We passively wait for a miracle to happen. We can argue with one another about who is in charge, who will help whom, or whose needs get met first. Or we can each be Nachshon.

We can realize that we each need to take action. We must each fight for justice and work for change. And and the action that each one of us takes to bring justice and redemption has the potential to bring us closer together as a people, as a country, and as a world. Only by each of us taking that step to make a change will that change ever come. That is our responsibility as individuals, as Jews, and as human beings.

Parshat Bo: Reconciliation, Repentance, and Redmption

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 22:37:00 +0000

This week parashah/portion is Bo (Exodus 10:1 - 13:16). In the beginning, God sends the eighth and ninth plagues, locusts and darkness, but Pharaoh still refuses to free the Israelite slaves. God then tells Moses that the 10th plague will be killing all the firstborn Egyptians. God commands each Israelite home to slaughter a lamb and spread the blood on their doorposts, in order to protect their firstborns. After the death of the firstborns, Pharaoh demands that the Israelites leave.

Then God commands Moses “...have all the Hebrews ask the Egyptians for their objects of gold and silver. God disposed the Egyptians favorably toward the people. Moreover, Moses himself was much esteemed in the land of Egypt, among Pharaoh’s courtiers and among the people. (Exodus 11:2-11:3)” This last line implies that the Egyptian people willingly gave up their gold and silver when asked.

This passage has confused, interested and disturbed rabbis and scholars through the centuries. What is happening here?

Some rabbis have stated that the taking of the gold and silver from the Egyptians was a form of reparations being paid for 400+ years of slavery. This idea of reparations has played a part in modern Jewish history as well. In the early days of the State of Israel, receiving reparations from Germany was hotly debated. Some felt that it was the least that the new German government could do after murdering six million of their brothers and sisters. Others felt strongly that they didn’t want the money and that receiving it was actually a desacration of the memory of the six million. Ultimately the State of Israel accepted reparations in order to help resettle the survivors of the Shoah, and the family members of those murdered by the Nazis also were able to receive reparations as well.

In the case of the Israelites the same dilemma is discussed by the commentators. Was the gold and silver reparations? If so, was this desirable? Rashbam (12th century France) believed that the gold and silver were not actually reparations. He believed that it was a gift freely-given by the Egyptians to their neighbors upon leaving. Nahum Sarna (20th century USA) and others viewed them as justified “spoils” in response to the Israelite victory over the Egyptians, who had treated them so cruelly.

I can see the later interpretation speaking to Jews after the Shoah. Yet, the former interpretation really makes more sense, given how the Torah describes the relationship between the Egyptians and the Israelites and Moses.

Meanwhile, as the Egyptians seem to be sharing their wealth with the soon-to-be former slaves, Pharaoh is seathing in his palace. His stubbornness is about to cause the death of his eldest son and all of the first born Egyptians. If only Pharaoh and his advisors had looked outside of the palace and seen what was happening between the people, perhaps the tenth plague could have been avoided. Perhaps then Pharaoh’s heart would have been softened.

One interpretation which fascinated me was that of Polish-German Rabbi Benno Jacobs (1862-1945). Jacobs believed that actual healing happened between the Israelites and the Egyptians. To adapt a phrase, God turned the hearts of the Egyptians towards the Israelites and the hearts of the Israelites towards the Egyptians. He believed that this “was of major importance to the Torah in our drama of liberation, as it showed a moral change; the receptive heart of the Egyptian people was now contrasted to the hard heart of Pharaoh.”

In addition, in Jacobs’s commentary, the Israelites’ hearts were softened as well. They did not gloat or lord it over the Egyptians because of their victory. Rather, they accepted the gifts with gratitude and as neighbors.

According to Jacobs, “God’s primary concern during the Israelites’ final hours [in Egypt] was ‘peace between the two peoples’. And this was in fact achieved: ‘The Israelites stretched out their hands in friendship and the Egyptians responded with farewell gifts’.” (Rabbi Shai Held, The Heart of Torah, pg. 153)

Rabbi Shai Held views this interpretation with skepticism. I too think it’s a bit of a stretch to imagine this lovefest between the Egyptians and their former slaves as the tenth plague was about to descend upon the slaying their first born.

However, Held reminds the reader that Jacobs was a rabbi living in the time of the Shoah, witnessing the murder of his people having fled to London in 1939. And so, it is not surprising that he might imagine this rapprochement in spite of all that happned the centuries prior.

As Held wrote “In a world suffused with bigotry and hostility, a world in which people of faith often marsha sacred texts to legitimate acts of cruelly and to extol hatred as virtue, there is great power in reading Jacobs’s words and being reminded: At the heart of the religious enterprise is the attempt to soften, and open, one’s heart, to God and to one another. If even the Egyptians and the Israelites can be (successfully!) called to love one another, then perhaps, even in the darkest of times, slim glimmers of hope are available to us.” (pg. 154)

This description of the world could easily be applied to the recent situation in the USA.

The conversation about reparations is a very real one for the African American community. Just as the Israelites in Egypt, enslaved Africans and their descendants have been in the USA country for over 400 years. As with the Israelites, they too were freed from slavery. However, here the parallel ends. For the Israelites went out into freedom and into the unknown eventually to enter the land which was promised to them by God in which they could live freely. At least for a while.

Unfortunately, the reality for African Americans is that they were never truly freed after emancipation, nor are they truly free today. First enslavement was enshrined in both custom and law, whether during the days of slavery or the days of Jim Crow. Today when the law is still used as a weapon against BIPOC (Black, Indegenous, and People of Color). It is still a form of enslavement, even when there is supposedly equal protection under the law.

In addition to repairing a broken racist system, I believe that true repentence and reparations are needed. What form the reparations take, whether actual money or something more symbolic, I don’t know. But we need to acknowledge what we have done as a nation, and as White people, and truly make ammends. Only then can we move on to the next step and follow in the mythical footsteps of the Egyptians and Israelites on the night of the first Passover.

As Pharoah and his entourage plotted and schemed in the palace, the people were finding their way to reconciliation through reparations and through and with softened hearts. I imagine this process would have had to start long before that night, because that type or reconciliation does not happen in one night. But Phaoraoh never saw it because Pharaoh didn’t care to look outside his own little world.

I agree with Rabbi Held’s critique that Jacobs’s belief that God’s main goal that night was to bring peace to these two peoples is a bit of a stretch. Still, what a beautiful image it is. Just imagine, if that spirit had pervaded our land over not only the last 4 years, but long before then.

What if, as our leaders plotted, planned, and fought one another, often using their understanding of God and religion as a weapon against our citizens, the people were to stop and realize “this is ridiculous!” What if the sprit of the divine, in the form of moral leaders, prevailed and were able to bring about peace regardless of what our leaders were doing. What if Martin Luther King, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and so many others were able to turn the heart of the haters toward others. What if their prophetic vision were to become the vision of all people. Then freedom would truly ring.

Impossible? Perhaps. But as the rabbis said 200 years ago in Pirkei Avot (the Ethics of our Ancestors) “it is not up to us to finish the work, but that does not mean were are free to desist.”

Now is the time to begin the work of listening to prophetic voices. At the same time politicians need to hold people accountable for their actions and people need to acknowledge their wrongs. Whether they be white supremacists, domestic terrorists, people in uniform, or elected leaders in our land, they must be held accountable and they must be punished appropriately. After that, let the people start the difficult work of finding a path towards peace and reconciliation.

Maybe it will never happen completely in our time (I doubt it will). Maybe it will barely happen. And yet we must persist. We must do whatever we can to bring bring justice,in all of its forms, to our land. We must continue the fight. Only in that way can every American truly live freely as if they have crossed the sea into a new land.

Parshat Shemot: From Pharaoh to President (a Response to this Past Week's Riots in Washington)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 00:06:00 +0000

This week’s parashah is Shemot (Shemot/Exodus 1:1 - 6:1). Shemot means names and it begins with a list of the names of the Israelites who came to Egypt with Jacob after reuniting with his beloved son Joseph. The Israelites then multiply greatly in numbers until we are told that a new king/Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph. He was afraid that the Israelites were becoming too powerful and so he enslaved them. Not remembering that their ancestor Joseph was the one who saved Egypt from famine he had no problem exercising his royal prerogative to do this.

Why did Pharaoh fear the Israelites so much that he enslaved them? Perhaps it was not that he didn’t remember Joseph, but that he chose to erase him from history. Perhaps he intentionally desired to forget the past. He wanted to be in complete control. He wanted to be the only person the people thought about. And knew that the Israelites, not only because of their numbers, but because the people remembered their ancestor Joseph, were a threat to him. The word used to describe the Israelites literally means that they “swarmed” the land. The same word was used to describe insects who desired to devour everything around them. That is how Pharaoh saw the Israelites and what led him to erase the memory of Joseph and enslave his descendants.

Erasing the past and creating a new reality enabled him to convince his subjects that the Israelites were a danger and not real Egyptians. He convinced them to fear the swarming of the Israelites. So they assisted Pharaoh in his new endeavor, which was based on fear, a need for power, a disregard of and disrespect for the past, and the desire to create a new society which satisfied the Pharaoh’s megalomaniacal wishes.

Some things never change. We saw the proof this past Wednesday when the President of the United States fomented a crowd of followers and urged them to riot and storm the Capitol building. This was the logical conclusion of the last two months in which he created the false narrative of a stolen election. It was also the logical conclusion of the last 4+ years during which this president chose to erase the past, create an alternative reality, and encourage his followers that there were “others” trying to destroy their country. There were “others” trying to come here illegally and ruin our way of life, “others” who wanted to create a socialist of communist country, “others” who dared to claim that our country was built on racism, and worst of all, “others” who did not think that he was the greatest president of all time whose only concern was the welfare of our great country and its people.

Both he and Pharaoh believed the reality that they created in their minds and that they were under attack, and by extension, the country. Pharaoh forgot that Joseph, himself initially a slave brought to Egypt against his will, was responsible for the salvation of Egypt and the development of its great economy. The current president forgot that slaves brought here against their will from Africa, were responsible for the economic success of our country. He forgot that immigrants from all over the world, some who arrived legally and others who did not, were responsible, together with the descendants of African slaves, for the continued success of our country. Therefore, rather than fighting against the forces of white supremacy which tried to keep those populations either enslaved or oppressed, he denied that white supremacy even existed and created a fictional narrative in which those who have been oppressed, along with white people who supported them, were responsible for the “carnage” in America. And they would be our ultimate downfall if he did not save “us” from “them.”

He saw these oppressed as a swarm trying to take the country away from “real” Americans, the white and the wealthy. From these beliefs he stoked people’s fears and created swarms of white supremacists and xenophobes who were truly dangerous. This past week we truly saw them in action. We saw them swarming the Capitol building and attempting to overtake the symbol of American freedom and democracy. We saw the unavoidable results of the unethical actions of the man that currently resides in the White House.

Of course, we know that the freedom and democracy represented by the Capitol has always been beyond the reach of many of the oppressed in our country. And yet it represents the potential for America to truly someday become one nation with liberty and justice for all. But that is not what the modern Pharaoh and his followers want.

The chilling presence of a confederate flag in the Capitol, a hangman’s noose on the grounds, and people wearing t-shirts emblazoned with “Camp Auschwitz” and SMWNE (Six Million Were Not Enough) is proof of what so many of them and their leader truly believed.

Yet, in the end, I don’t think that either Pharaoh or the president really cared about the good of the people or the country except for how they could be of benefit to them and their family. By stoking the fears of many, both men believed that they would be assured of their sycophants’ loyalty, otherwise they couldn’t amass power and receive accolades, even though neither man didn’t truly care about them. They only cared for maintaining their status and their power.
Of course, we know that eventually Pharaoh and his minions learn that they are not really in power. God shows them who’s the real boss and Pharaoh is eventually fired. This doesn’t occur until the people are either mourning the loss of their first born, trying to recover from the decimation of their land, or drowning in the sea.

But what will become of those following their modern day Pharaoh? When he eventually leaves office I assume that most of them will still believe the false narrative that he has created. They will still see real science and real news as fake and dangerous lies as truth. They will continue to believe revisionist history and current events.

We also don’t know what happened to Pharaoh after his army was drowned? One can imagine that he hid himself away, embarrassed and dejected. Or perhaps he rewrote the history and told the people that the army had defeated all the Israelites and so he gave them a long holiday to relax and celebrate. That’s certainly what the current president would have done if he were in that position.

But he is in that position. He has been defeated, though he refuses to admit it. Who knows what he is going to tell the swarms of people who still follow him after he leaves Washington? And who knows what he might do before then in order to wreak havoc on our country?

We don’t have God leading Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. We are not going to see a miracle. But we can hope that together with our new democratically elected leaders (which is real, not fake, history) they will find a way to act in a godly way. They will turn not only to their supporters, but even to those who see them as enemies, and work to eventually bring redemption to our country.

They will work to put us back on the path of righteousness. The path which will eventually lead to the realization of the dreams represented by the Capitol. They will work towards the creation of a country with true liberty and justice for ALL.

The journey will not be easy. Pharaoh is not going off into the sunset. His followers will not immediately see the light and change their ways. But we must never give up hope. We must remember that together we can split the sea of hatred, and division and reach the other side. But it can only happen if we realize that we are all America and America is all of us. That is what is waiting on the other side of the sea. Let us hope that we reach it speedily and in our days.
All of us.

Parshat Vayishlakh: Showing Mercy....if when we don't want to!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 03:10:00 +0000

This week’s parashah/portion is Vayishlach (Bereshit/Genesis 32:4-36:43). It contains within three important central events in the narrative of the patriarchs and matriarchs of Bereshit/Genesis. First, Jacob prepares to reunite with his brother Esau decades after he had stolen his blessing and his birthright. The night before the reunion Jacob wrestles with a man/angel. At sunrise, before, before leaving Jacob, he blesses him and gives him the name Israel, meaning one who has struggled with the divine.

Not long after this we read the disturbing incident of the rape of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter. She is raped by Shechem, the regional prince, who then asks to marry her, because he supposedly loves her. Jacob and his sons agree to this on the condition that Shechem and all the men of his community agree to be circumcised. While they are recovering, her brothers Shimon and Levi lead an attack and slaughter Shechem and all the men of his community. They do so supposedly in defense of their sister. But in saying “we cannot allow our sister to be treated as a whore" it is clear that their real reason is because they feel as if they have been disrespected because of the treatment of Dinah. Dinah’s welfare does not appear to be their concern. Dinah is never heard from or mentioned again in the Torah.

Finally, Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel dies in childbirth on the road to Bethlehem. Before she dies she names her second son Ben-Oni, the son of my suffering. Jacob changes his name to “Ben-yamin” (Benjamin), meaning the “son of my right (hand),” or “the son of my good fortune or power.”

When I have written about this parashah in the past I have always focused on Jacob wresting with the angel, the reunion of Jacob and Esau, or the Rape of Dinah. Yet, in reading Rabbi Shai Held commentary in the collection The Heart of Torah, I was drawn to the death of Rachel.

In his commentary we are reminded that Rachel, though the favored wife of Jacob, was the one who was unable to bear children. Her sister Leah, and their handmaids Bilhah and Ziplah were the ones able to conceive. Rachel pleaded with God to let her die if she could not have sons (not just children, but sons). Finally she is granted a son, whom she names Yosef/Joseph; his name is basically a plea to God to give her another son. One is not enough. When she finally is granted another son she dies and is buried in Ramah, on the road Bethlehem. She is the only matriarch or patriarch not to be buried in Hebron in the cave of the Machpelah.

According to tradition, it is her plea for mercy to God when the Israelites walk past her tomb on their way to exile in Babylon which causes God to have compassion, even though the patriarchs had also pleaded with God. Thanks to Rachel’s cries, God promises that they will eventually return to the land.

According to a midrash, it is also Rachel who saves the Israelite king Manasseh when he places an idol in the Bet HaMikdash/Holy Temple in Jerusalem. In this midrash once again the patriarchs and Moses plead with God on the king’s behalf. However, it was Rachel’s unique plea which brought forth God’s compassion. Rachel reminds God that, after Jacob had worked for her father for seven years in order to marry her, Laban tricked Jacob by placing the veil on Leah so she would actually marry Jacob. Jacob then agreed to work for him for another seven years in order to marry his true beloved, Rachel. In her plea to God she makes the case that, even when she was the victim of her father’s actions she did not act out of jealousy or envy towards her sister. Instead, according to the midrash, she actually teaches Leah the special sign that she and Jacob agreed upon in order to convince Jacob that it was indeed Rachel beneath the veil.

If she could show compassion towards her sister when her beloved Jacob married her, why couldn’t God be compassionate towards Manassesh even though he placed “another god” instead of the one God in the Temple. Especially when God was well aware that this wasn’t a real “god” anyway. As Rabbi Held put it “Rachel does more than behave compassionately towards someone who finds herself in a vulnerable situation (Leah). She musters empathy and mercy even in a situation where her own needs and desires are at stake….a moment when it would make sense for self-assertion to crowd out the possibility of compassion.” If Rachel, a mere human could show such compassion, why couldn’t God?

This text, as well as the text in Jeremiah which states that it was the cry of Rachel heard in heaven when the Israelites were being exiled could be linked to the traditionally feminine quality of mercy. After all, the Hebrew word for mercy, rachamim, is derived from the same root as the word for womb, rechem. And so mercy is seen as a maternal, or feminine quality. Yet, Rabbi Held also reminds us of another instance where mercy which has nothing to do with the feminine or female nature of compassion.

There is Talmudic tale in which there is a terrible drought in the land of Israel. R. Tanhuma pleads with God to end the drought. He tells the people that if they act with compassion God will surely answer their prayers. Following this the people begin to give tzedakah/charity to “their poor.” However, one man is seen giving money to his ex-wife. The people complain to R. Tanhuma because they believe that he must be paying her for sex (a discussion for another time). R. Tanhuma brings the man before him and the man explains that he could see what difficult straits his ex-wife was in. Therefore, even though he was not required to provide her any financial help, he did so. As Held says, he was able to truly see the suffering of someone who he could have seen as an enemy, where the people only thought the worst because they thought they knew what they were seeing.

According to the story, when R. Tanhuma calls on the man’s compassionate actions when praying to G0d the heavens open up and the rain pours down. This was precisely when the man acted from a place of true compassion and mercy, whereas the other people were simply giving tzedakah because of obligation not because of any true sense of compassion.

The power of human compassion and mercy to affect God was clear to the rabbis. As it was written in Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 115b), “when one show mercy to others, mercy is shown to them by heaven.”

In reviewing the entire parashah, when Esau and Jacob reunite Esau forgives Jacob having tricked him all those years earlier there was no real sign of mercy or compassion. There was forgiveness, but, it was in name only. After all, they end up leaving separately and never see one another again.

In the case of Dinah’s rape, the brothers imply that they are acting out of compassion for their sister. Yet, in reality, their words and actions show they are acting out because they feel that they and their family have been disrespected and they desire revenge. They certainly show no mercy or compassion for Dinah in deed or word. And, just as with Jacob and Esau, Dinah and her brothers never see each other again.

It is only Rachel who is portrayed in her life as showing true mercy. She has shown compassion to her sister when it would have been much easier, and understandable if she were to seek revenge, or certainly not to show compassion. This enabled her to plead on behalf of the people numerous times and to still be viewed as a source of mercy who can affect God in our tradition.

We live in a time when true mercy and compassion are often difficult to find and to show. Yet, we need to try and find our own ability to show mercy and compassion. It is so easy towards others, even when they might not show it towards us. It is important to treat others as human beings created in the image of God even if they do not see us that way.

I am not saying that it is easy to bring compassion to our world. I certainly have had a difficult time doing it on many occasions in recent years. It might be easy for us to give lip service or to show perfunctory care for others, as did the people who gave tzedakah to “their poor.” It might not be so difficult for us to show charity towards the poor and needy, or to those who are the victims of violence and prejudice, simply by saying a few words or giving a few dollars. And certainly that is better than nothing.

No, it may not be easy. It’s often far from that. Yet, it was not easy for Rachel either and still she was able to find mercy and compassion in her heart. So too in the case of the man who gave money to his ex-wife. Like them we must find the ability to truly look into the eyes of those whom we might see as other, or even as an adversary, and instead see their humanity and their need for compassion.

As I wrote above, this is still a struggle for me at times. I’m still often stuck in a place of anger and even hatred when I look at certain people whom I believe have also looked at me with anger or hatred. Often I am sure that they are unable to see my humanity, or the humanity of anyone they see as “different,” so why should I try to see theirs?

Still, in spite, or perhaps because of, it all we must do the hard work if trying to treat others with compassion. We must hear the voice of Rachel crying within us and we must care for others. That is one of the lessons from this week’s parashah. It’s not an easy one to learn or to truly put into practice. But we can do our best to try one person and one day at a time. That is the only way that we will eventually be able to create a world of compassion, mercy and understanding.

After all, as Rabbi Hillel wrote more than 2000 years ago, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?” It’s easy to view this quote as overused. And yet, it’s used so frequently because it is still an essential truth today, as it was then,

Now is the time to not only care for ourselves, but to care for others. This is not contingent on how they treat us. It is simply what we must do. It is how healing can begin.

Shabbat Shalom.

Parshat Chayei Sarah: Receiving Our Mothers' Blessings

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 02:22:00 +0000

This week’s parashah/portion is Hayei Sarah, or the life of Sarah. It begins by telling the reader that Sarah dies at the age of 127. Abraham searches for a place to bury her and settles on the cave of Machpelah outside of Hebron. Isaac is in deep mourning for his mother, so Abraham sends his servant back to his homeland to find a wife for Isaac from among his kin. The servant meets Rebecca, Abraham’s niece, at a well, where she provides water for him and his camels. The servant tells Rebecca who he is and why is there. Sarah tells her father Bethuel and brother Laban that she is ready and willing to return to Abraham’s tent with the servant and to marry her cousin Isaac. Upon their return, Isaac and Rebecca meet. He then takes her to his mother’s tent, they marry, he loved her and found comfort with her after Sarah’s death.

Sarah, after whom the parashah is named, and Rebecca oare really at the spiritual core of this story. This is true in spite of the fact that it is the men who technically have the power in this patriarchal society.

When Abraham’s servant arrives in Aram-naharayim, he prays to God for a woman to arrive who will offer water to his camel and to him. He wants someone with a caring soul. When Rebecca sees him she first offers him water and then offers to water his camels. In this way, she actually goes a step further than his prayer, as he had prayed for someone who first would offer water to the camels. Finally, when she takes the servant to her father and brother they ask her if she wants to return with him to Isaac. In this patriarchal world she is still granted some agency. She states that she will leave and marry her cousin (her agency, unfortunately, is limited, and so they return together.

When Rebecca arrives at Abraham’s camp, Isaac takes her into his mother’s tent where she comforts him. This essential part of the story. According to Rashi (12th century France), Sarah’s tent had always been open to visitors and the light of God shown above. Upon Sarah’s death, the light of God disappeared and her tent was closed. When Isaac took Rebecca into the tent it was once again open to all and the light of God reappeared.

In so much of the Torah, and in ancient society, women were valued for their ability to procreate,for the beauty, or for the dowry they might bring with them. Though procreation does play a major role in the narrative of Rebecca, that is not the emphasis in this week’s parashah. Rather, it is Rebecca’s desire to care for others and her ability to comfort Isaac that matter. She is ready to continue the tradition of caring and hospitality that was so much a part of Sarah’s personality as well, according to the Torah and commentaries.

However, one might think that Rebecca was chosen because of her physical beauty. After all, she is first described to the reader as tovat mareh. This usually translates as beautiful in appearance. However, it can also refer to her inner beauty, as some of the classical commentaries mention. This might be seen as a stretch if it were not for the fact that most of what we know about Rebecca is that she is kind, compassionate, and caring It is those inner qualities that make her not only a fitting wife for Isaac, but a fitting successor to Sarah and matriarch for what is to become the Jewish people. In that way, she is not only a role model for women, but a role model for us all.

If it were not for her compassion Isaac might have stayed in mourning and the story might have ended there. It would be as if he had been born and then saved from being sacrificed for naught. So, in truth, Rebecca is Isaac’s savior, and ours.

It is said that Isaac exists simply as a conduit from Abraham to Jacob. For it is Jacob who becomes Israel, the father of the 12 tribes with Rachel, Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah. However, this is an oversimplification of Isaac’s role. But in addition, none of this would have happened without Rebecca.

And so we must see Rebecca as not only our matriarch, but our role model. Her ability to show compassion and to care for others is what we should emulate in our lives. Yes, this will be balanced with her steely determination, and even some manipulative and questionable behavior in the future (none of the matriarchs or patriarchs is perfect!). But what Abraham’s servant and Isaac both saw in her was her inner self.

Right now we are at a time when the qualities of Rebecca are sorely needed in our world. We need to care for others and not just ourselves. We need to have compassion for others.

As with Sarah’s tent, so many in our world have closed the doors to others unlike themselves. Not only is there no longer a big tent, there is no tent at all. Or, at least it is closed off. And so the light of God has been extinguished for so many.

Instead of focusing on people who are beautiful on the inside, so many people look at people and judge them based on their external appearance, whether that is their skin color, their gender, or their apparent wealth. These people are not trying to bring beauty into the world through caring and compassion. Rather, they bring hatred and ugliness into the world through their actions in judging others.

This is the struggle we are facing in America and elsewhere. We need to not only find our own inner beauty, but we need to choose leaders who possess that beauty as well. We need to ask ourselves, what would our leaders do if they were Rebecca at the well? Would they help a stranger without asking or would they turn their backs on them and walk away. Or even force the stranger to flee from whence they came.

And if they somehow made it to Abraham’s tent by hiding who they really are, would the spirit of God and the spirit of Sarah return to the tent? Would the light of God shine above welcoming all or would the tent remain shut? Would the light of God remain dark? Or perhaps would it ignite and burn the tent to the ground rather than letting them in.

We must choose the right leaders, as well as act in the right ways ourselves. Let us hope that those who don’t do so eventually become enlightened so they can see that there is beauty within us all and may they see where their own beauty is lacking.

For only if all of our eyes are open, only if we are all able to see the truth and the beauty in everyone, will the light of God shine for us, will the tent of Sarah open itself to us, and will the world become a place that will receive Sarah and Rebecca’s blessing.

Parshat Vayera: Building a New World

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 21:30:00 +0000

This week’s parashah/portion is Vayera (Bereshit/Genesis 18:1-22:24) . It begins with the arrival of three divine messengers (or angels) at Abraham and Sarah’s tent. They inform Abraham that God will give the elderly Sarah a child. The prophecy comes true, and they name their son Isaac. God then informs Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah will be destroyed, though Abraham attempts to convince God otherwise.

Abraham convinces God to spare the cities if there are at least 10 righteous people. Unfortunately, he could not. And so the three messengers went to Sodom and Gomorrah in order to save Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family, who lived there. As the messengers , Lot and his family flee the cities, Lot’s wife looks back, even though they were commanded not to. As a punishment she was turned to a pillar of salt.

Later, God’s promise is fulfilled and Sarah becomes pregnant and bears a son, Isaac. Eventually, God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham takes Isaac to Mt. Moriah and prepares to sacrifice him. At the end an angel tells him to stop. He is told that it was a test of faith and Abraham offers a ram to sacrifice instead. He then returns to Sarah alone.

I would like to focus primarily on the story of Sodom and Gomorroah. These two cities have come to represent evil and wicked behavior in our culture. Yet, what made these particular cities so evil? What was their sin? The Torah never makes this clear, so we must look to the rabbis.

We read the following in Pirkei Avot/The Chapters of Our Fathers, a classic rabbinic text from the 2nd century:

"There are four types of character in human beings:

One that says: “mine is mine, and yours is yours”: this is a commonplace type; though some say this is a Sodom-type of character.

[One that says:] “mine is yours and yours is mine”: is an unlearned person;

[One that says:] “mine is yours is yours is yours” is a pious person.

[One that says:] “mine is mine, and yours is mine” is a wicked person."

At first the opening line might seem strange. After all, to say “what’s mine and mine, and yours is yours” does seem commonplace and not evil. However, the rabbis believed that this represented the sin of Sodom.- that people cared only for themselves to the extreme. They would not do anything to help another person, nor share with them. According to Rabbeinu Bachya (1255-1340), “the sin which sealed the fate of the Sodomites was that they despised charity, i.e. they legislated against people who practiced the virtue of giving charity or being otherwise charitable. They did not even take care of their own needy who were suffering from hunger.”

To step back for a moment, I must confess that when I sat down to write this week’s commentary, I was trying to figure out how to connect it with the current situation in our country. I don’t just mean the election, but the crisis in our country which is rooted in how people behave towards others. This includes racism and other forms of prejudice, as well as the hatred that people are showing towards one another and how that is tearing us apart.

The truth may be that our country needs to be torn apart, as is happening, in order to eventually become whole. Racism and inequities have always been deeply rooted in our society. But until recently most people were able to at least feign civility or hide their true feelings. That is no longer the case.

Like in Sodom and Gomorrah, so many people care only about themselves, This includes their thoughts and beliefs. Their ideas have become like precious possessions. In terms of beliefs and actions our society has gone beyond “what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours” to a warped version of “what’s mine is mine, and yours is mine.” This could be summed up as “what’s mine (possessions, beliefs, actions etc) is mine and what’s yours should be mine as well.” In other words, you should believe and act as I do. That is the only way. If not, then you're wrong. You are not a part of society. unless you embrace my beliefs, act as I do, and vilify those who do not as evil, then we’ll be just fine.

This type of thinking has always been true of extremists of any kind, such as the KKK, white supremacists, etc. However, it has become true of many seemingly ordinary people. They don’t wear white hoods or swastikas, yet their beliefs and actions have their roots in the same soil of bigotry, hatred, xenophobia, and hyper-nationalism.

In a country filled with division and hatred what are we to do? We can’t, nor would we want, to suffer the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet, just as those two cities were destroyed, we somehow need to destroy the society we’ve built from the roots up in order to build a new, just, and equitable society.

This won’t be easy. After all, systemic racism has been growing and thriving for over 400 years. It’s not going to disappear overnight. And yet, we must work towards that end. The same is true for other types of hatred which have been growing for years: homophobia, antisemitism, misogyny, Islamophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and more. We must all work to rid our country and our world of them.

This can only be achieved through both a systemic and an individual approach. Together we must work to dismantle the oppressive systems in our country and our prejudice and bigotry. For only by doing both can we, our country, and our world truly change. Only by addressing the personal, can we truly change the communal.

As Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, Lot, his wife, and their children were instructed not to look back as they fled. Lot’s wife disobeyed these instructions and, when she looked back to see the place she called home being destroyed, she was turned to a pillar of salt.

But the story doesn’t end with destruction, for Sarah and Abraham eventually give birth to Isaac. With that miracle the creation of the Israelites, and eventually the Jewish people, has now truly begun.

What happened to Lot’s wife is a cautionary tale. For though she was looking back with morbid curiosity, I also believe she looked back because she still had an attachment to that place, in spite of all the evil. And that destroyed her, as attachments to the past often do.

Just as the incident of Lot’s wife represents attachment to the past, no matter how destructive, the birth of Isaac is about focusing on the future. It is about the creation of a new world of love and joy. After all, in Hebrew his name Yitzhak means “he shall laugh.” The future may not be easy, but it will be joyous and filled with laughter if we do it right.

We can’t look back to the past. The “good old days” were never really good, except for the privileged few. But even for them they were built on the backs of those who were suffering. If we try to look back we may not turn into a pillar of salt, but we can easily get stuck and unable to move ahead.

Just look at the people who are so adamant about holding on to confederate statues and monuments, or the celebration of Columbus Day. They don’t see the hatred, oppression, and violence those represent. And so, they might as well be pillars of salt. They are stuck. They are unable to hear and move on.

If we move ahead and create a new world, a new reality, we will all be reborn anew. We will be able to laugh and to celebrate. And we will be able to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah that they’re descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. All of humanity will shine brightly. Each casting it’s light on the other.

In this new world our characters will be represented by the new rule “ there is no mine. there is no yours. There is only ours, there is only God’s. This is how it meant to be.” Amen.

Parshat Lekh-Lekha: Out of the Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 21:32:00 +0000

This weeks parashah/portion is Lekh-Lekha. These are the words by which God commands Avram (he will later become Avraham) to go to the land which God will show him. And so Avram and Sarai (latter Sarah) begin the journey that will eventually lead to creation of the Israelites and then the Jewish people.

The Torah provides no reason as to why God chose this particular man to go on the journey. However, later the rabbis filled in the gap with a plethora of midrash as to why Avram was chosen.

Basically, what they all come down to is that Avraham knew that idols were false and that there had to be some greater power that created and "ran" the universe. In one of the most famous midrashim we read that Avram's father Terakh sold idols for a living. One day, when Terakh went out and left Avram alone in the shop, Avram smashed every idol except the largest one. When Terakh returned he asked Avram what had happened. Avram told him that the big idol smashed all the others. Terakh replied that this was foolish, because the idols were just made of stone. This simply proved Avram's belief that the idols were worthless.

Many people know that part of the story, but they don't know what happens next. For Terakh takes Avram to King Nimrod to teach him a lesson. To make a long story short, Avram continues to challenge Nimrod and will not back down in his belief that the idols and gods are not real. In the end, Nimrod throws Avram into a furnace. But, of course, Avram emerges unscathed.

Avram is portrayed as a man of perfect faith in God. And yet according to tradition, God tested his faith 10 times. He always passed the tests, but there were certainly moments of questioning and doubt. But the episode in the furnace was not one of them.

This poetic midrash is one possibility of what might have going through Avram's mind and heart while he was in the furnace:

Out of the Furnace

it’s hot flames surround me

yet I am not consumed

i don’t understand what is happening yet within i do

i know i am meant to be here

to pass the test to teach others so they too will pass someday

though exactly what test i do not know

staring at the flames I close my eyes

i see red against my eyelids

like looking into the sun burning rotating celestial orb

a clue to me that there must be something more

a power a force a being seeing knowing controlling all

fools do not know they do not believe

even my own father does not

or he does but is afraid to admit reality

it’s easier to punish to admonish to frighten me

than to admit to himself that his truth is a lie

perhaps that is why i’m here

sweating thinking waiting to be retrieved

hoping to discover the truth

then i recall

i see the idols smashed by their kin or so I told him

i see the look on my father’s face shock and disbelief

i see the look on the idol’s face stony cold blank stare as always

i expected nothing more i wonder did he

for a moment i laugh as i remember

suddenly the light of the flames is gone it is as if I am transported

i am standing alone yet i am not

I feel a presence but cannot see anything

i think i hear a voice a promise

confused unclear

i try to listen pay attention

the words make no sense

i understand each individually together they only confuse me

sands on the shore stars in the sky

my seed a great nation enslaved rescued

i open my eyes with a start hoping to see the flames

but they are gone replaced by deepest darkness

unable to see i grasp at nothing as fear descends

suddenly i hear a voice the same voice that spoke those

unintelligible words just moments ago

avram avram

i am here

but why

as a punishment i think

for what

i smashed the idols challenged my father

why

to prove that there was more

more than what

than what people think they see

more than i can see

you are right says the voice

I am the proof you seek

I stand there frozen confused scared elated to hear those words

confirming i was right all along

still not knowing exactly what that means

yes you were right

some day you will understand the meaning

the voice said

as if hearing my unspoken thoughts

but the people are not ready

they can only believe in what they can touch and see

someday they will be ready to follow you

and you shall be a great nation

I promise said the voice

you will have children as numerous as there are grains of sands

as there are stars in the sky you will be followed by many

the words i heard in the dark silence

how do I know that what you say is true

why am i the one i asked

why should i believe why should i trust you

answer me show me a sign

no said the voice not now

but I will in the future

to your children those who follow you

till then you must believe have faith persevere alone

until I call to you again

to go forth on your journey to the place i will show you

why

because you have passed the test

You can see the truth behind the lies

you are to be saved kept alive for the real tests to come

but i wanted you to know to believe not to lose faith as you wait

to know it was not some cheap magic that rescued you from the flames

but when I emerge

who should i tell them saved me from the flames

you will say nothing to them for they will not believe

but in your heart

know that I am the one the creator the compassionate one

the one who will be what I will always be

I am the one who is releasing you

and who will watch over you for all times

before I had a chance to reply the voice the darkness were gone

the heat the flames returned

plucked from the fire

I was brought into the light

everyone astounded I had survived alive unharmed

a miracle

i wanted to tell the others what i had heard what i now knew

but i remembered the command

instead I simply returned to life swept up my father’s shop

cleared away the debris of the false gods

he thought he had taught me a lesson

but the lesson was given by him

so now I wait preparing for the day when i will be called on my journey

I hope I still don’t know

it could have been the heat or a trick of the mind

no way to be sure no one to ask

until the the time finally comes

hopefully I will believe it then

Parshat Noah: Children of the Rainbow

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 23:34:00 +0000

Today’s Torah portion is Noah (Genesis/Bereshit 6:9 - 11:32). Though it begins with the story of Noah, the ark, and the flood, it also contains within it the story of the Tower of Babel.

In the middle of the Noah narrative, after the flood has subsided and Noah, his family, and the animals begin to repopulate the earth, one of the first things Noah does is to plant a vineyard. He then makes wine (we won’t discuss the time lapse) and passes out drunk. While lying naked in his tent when one of his sons, Ham, enters the tent and sees him. He runs out to tell his brothers Shem and Yaphet what he has seen. They then go into the tent and cover up their father.

When Noah awakens and hears what Ham has done, he curses him saying, “Cursed be Canaan, son of Ham, a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers. Blessed be God, the God of Shem and may God extend Yaphet to live in Shem’s tents. And to them both, Canaan shall be a slave.”

This short passage was one of the roots of Christian religious support of slavery in America and elsewhere. For you see, one racist origin theory claims that all Black people are descendants of Ham. Therefore, in a perverted way, their abduction and enslavement was merely fulfilling the Bible's will.

And yet, when I look at the entire story in context, I have to wonder if the wrong person was being punished. For Noah’s punishment of Ham was really the first example of scapegoating. It then resulted in the Noah commanding the enslavement of an entire people rather than looking at his own shortcomings.

I agree that Ham should have covered Noah rather than running to tell his brothers. However, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. He was shocked by what he saw. Here was their father, the man chosen by God to save the world, lying drunk and naked in his tent. In shock, he turns, runs away and tells his brothers what he saw. His brothers, since they have already been warned of the situation, have a moment or two to think it through and respond appropriately, whereas Ham did not.

When he awakens, rather than expressing shame for what he did or asking his sons for forgiveness after putting them in an awkward situation, he instead turns on Ham and curses his offspring, also Noah’s descendants, with perhaps the ultimate curse (variations of it appear elsewhere in the Torah): his children shall be enslaved to his brother’s children. And so, the seeds of the enslavement of Africans are planted.

But if you look at Noah’s behavior, he had already set the wheels in motion. We read that Noah was a righteous man “in his generation." Rashi commented in the 12th century France, that it was only in comparison with the all the wicked people in the world during his times that he seemed righteous. If he were to have lived in the days of Abraham and Sarah, he would not have appeared so righteous. This is certainly borne out by the fact that the first thing he does after planting a vineyard is to make wine and get so drunk that he passes out naked!

Not long before that, God put a rainbow in the sky as a promise that the earth would never be destroyed again. But this was not just a promise. The rainbow was a covenant, a binding agreement, between God and humanity transmitted via Noah. Yet, even after receiving the covenant from God, he on enjoying himself by drinking wine, getting drunk, and then blaming things on his son Ham.

And yet, Noah’s curse actually still acknowledges that Ham is part of the family. He has not been disowned. Therefore, Ham’s descendents, as well as Shem and Yaphet’s descendants are all family. They are inherently equal in the eyes of God. It is only Noah’s curse which creates the the subordination of one by another.

And yet, even the curse seems to be quickly forgotten, since all of the people of the earth, the descendants of all three of Noah’s sons, work together to build the tower. When God sees what they are trying to do, God says “ “Lo! They are now one people and they have all one language and this is the first thing they undertake!”

In order to punish all of humanity for their ego and chutzpah, God creates languages so that they can no longer communicate and work together. And so their project falls apart.

One could say that it is then that the various peoples are created which also allows for prejudice and racism. And yet, according to the rabbis, this is not the case. For we read that the problem with the Tower of Babel was not that all the people were trying to reach the heavens. It was something much more insidious.

According to a classical midrash, the Tower was of such great height that it took a person a year to climb from the base up to the top. Every brick that was baked on the ground and brought to the top of the Tower was, therefore, considered extremely valuable—it represented a huge investment in energy and time. As the Tower grew taller, according to the midrash, its builders began to see bricks as more precious than people. "If a person fell and died they paid no attention, but if a brick fell they sat and wept, saying, 'Woe upon us! Where will we get another to replace it?'" (Pirke De Rabbi Eliezer 24:7).”

It was the fact that the masters and the wealthy viewed a brick as more valuable than a human life which enabled the curse of Ham to truly take hold in their minds. This allowed the enslavement of those whom they know longer saw as their brother’s children, but simply as “the children of Ham,” who were less than them and whose destiny it was to serve and be enslaved. If some of them were to die as a result, what did it matter to them? That is the true curse of Noah!

The question still remains, “how do we break this curse?” Actually, that’s not the question at all. The question is, how do we realize that we are all (metaphorically speaking) children of Noah. Yet, in spite of that, it was his ego and self-centeredness that caused him to divide his family as he did rather than acknowledge his own sin? How do we help those who still see division as part of “God’s will” to realize that it is merely a result of our hubris which dates back to Noah? How do we help those who may still believe in the misinterpretation of the origin story realize that, in the year 2020, it really does not matter.

We know that biologically we are all related. There is no real genetic difference between what we have come to refer as “different races.” We are all human beings. None is better than another merely by their birth, the color of their skin, or the language that they speak.

We can do this by returning to the covenant between God and Noah, and his children, before Noah went and created chaos, sowing the seeds of racism and slavery. That covenant of the rainbow.

When God puts the rainbow in the sky, not only does God say that it is a promise to never again destroy humankind by flood, but God says that “this is the sign of the covenant that I give between Me and you and between every living soul that is with you for the generations forever (Genesis 9:12).”

The rainbow is for all the children of Noah and their descendants. Not only for certain people who act or look a certain way. The rainbow is an eternal covenant, regardless of Noah and his curse.

The rainbow is a covenant of Peace/Shalom for all of us, but the ancient rabbis also believed it was so important that it was one of the 10 miraculous things that God created before twilight at the end of the sixth day of creation. These ten things were then used later at special times in the biblical narrative. The rainbow was the first of these.

The rainbow is a sign of peace as well as a reminder that everything and everyone, with all of our attributes, are part of the greater whole. This supersedes any spurious curse which an irate and embarrassed Noah issued against one of his sons.

Let us do our best as human beings and, as specifically as Americans, not to let ego, hubris, or the belief in any kind of superiority or hierarchy among humans guide us. Instead, let us remember that we are all children of the Rainbow, infinitely beautiful and eternally connected through the Divine and with each other.

Shabbat Shalom

Parshat Bereshit: The Sixth Day (A Midrash on the Creation and Nature of Humanity)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 23:52:00 +0000

This week’s Parashah/portion is Bereshit. It takes its name from the first book of the Torah, Bereshit/Genesis, because it is the first parashah in that book. And so, of course, it begins with some of the most familiar words in our tradition B’reshit barah elohim...In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The rest, shall we say, is history. Or at least religious mythology.

As most of us have been taught through the years, God created Adam, the first man, on the sixth day. This was followed by the creation of the first woman Havah/Eve who was taken from Adam's rib. We all know the story. And yet, we don’t.

In the first Chapter of Genesis we read that on day six “God created Adam/the human in God’s own image, in the image of God was [Adam] created; male and female God created them.” In other words, a singular human being, Adam, was created, but that Adam was male and female.

It isn’t until Genesis Chapter 2 where we read that, after God has created all the animals and Adam has named them, that God made Adam go to sleep, to a rib from him and then “ God fashioned into a woman the rib which God had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.”

This would seem to contradict the narrative in Chapter 1, as the man and woman were here were created at two separate times. However, the early rabbis reconciled these two seemingly contradictory stories by the creation of a midrash. Midrash was meant to either fill gaps in the biblical story or reconcile differences. It was also a window into the beliefs of the rabbis, as there was no such thing as systematic theology then.

And so we read in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of midrashic writings on Genesis: “... Said Rabbi Yirmiyah ben Elazar: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, God created them androginous, as it is said, “male and female God created them. Said Rabbi Samuel bar Nachman: When the Holy Blessed One created the first person, God made [Adam] double-faced, and sawed [Adam in half] and made for [Adam] two backs—a back here and back there. (Gen. Rabbah 26:20). And so it was not that God took a rib from Adam, but rather, God removed one side from Adam to create Havah/Eve.

Another midrash about the creation which intrigues me is a commentary on the fact that God says “Let us create Adam/the human in our image (Gen. 1:26)” rather than using singular pronouns. About whom was God speaking? Many rabbis believe it referred to the angels. Rabbi Shimon said “When the Holy Blessed One decided to make the first person, the ministering angels formed themselves into groups and parties, some of them saying: “Let the human be created!” and others saying, “Do not let the human be created!” ...[The angel of] Lovingkindness said: “Let the human be created, because he will do acts of love,” and Truth says, “Do not let the human be created, because he all lies.” Justice says, “Let him be created, for he will do acts of justice,” and Peace says, “Do not let him be created, for he is all strife.” What did the Holy Blessed One do? God took [the angel of] Truth and cast it to the earth (to the ground)… As the ministering angels were arguing and disputing with each other, God created him [Adam], and said to them: “Why are you arguing! Adam has already been created.” (Bershit Rabbah 8:5)

Putting these two midrashim together (and switching the order in which I presented them) the creation narrative could read like this:

After creating the universe, the plants, and the animals, God decided it was time to make a new creation who would be in the divine image: Adam/the human. God asked the angels what they thought about this. An argument ensued regarding whether the creations of human beings be beneficial or detrimental to the world. Finally, God distracted the angels and in that moment God created Adam.

That human contained both male and female elements. Everything was contained within Adam. Then God put Adam to sleep and divided Adam into two distinct beings: male and female. And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.

This narrative presents as many questions as it does answers, not just about the idea of sex and gender, but also about the nature of human beings.

In rabbinic fashion, rather than mapping out a system of questions and answers in the form of statements of philosophical or theological beliefs, I will use midrash to raise my own questions and perhaps provide some answers, at least from my perspective. For in Judaism, the questions are often more important than what answers one might offer.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this as well, perhaps in the form of your own midrashim or your own questions. No answers are necessary.

The Sixth Day

As the sixth day began, God realized that there was something missing in this new world They had made. Looking around, there was more beauty than They ever imagined. The trees, the grass, the flowers, the stars and planets, the sky. The fish, birds, and other animals….the list could go on for as long as the universe. So what was missing? Eventually God realized that They needed to put something of Themself into the universe. For whatever reason, none of God’s creations at that point had the ability to think, feel, and converse in the same way as God. This was not to say that they were unimportant or inconsequential in any way.

On the contrary, everything which God had created was an essential part of the universe, from the smallest pebble to the largest waterfall, from the stream trickling down the mountain to rivers which then flowed to the seas to the stars, and planets, from the tiniest ant to the elephant, and from plankton to the blue whale. If any one of those creations were to disappear there would be an imbalance which could eventually bring about destruction. Yet there was still that one piece missing for God.

Why? God was able to talk and argue with the angels. They did that all the time. But they were all beyond the created world, not part of it. God needed to create something that was part of Them and part of the universe as well. And so, God decided to create something new whose form would be taken from the earth and then to make it divine, yet not divine. This was a way for God to stay deeply and eternally connected to the world of creation while still transcending it.

And so God decided to create a new being, Adam, from the earth, adamah, and then bring it to life by breathing the Divine breath into it. In that way the goal of eternally connecting the universe and the Divine would be achieved.

Before doing so, God decided to share Their plans with the angels. In hindsight, this was not a good idea. Or perhaps it was. For as soon as God told them, the angels divided themselves into factions and began to argue with each other, as angels were wont to do.

“Why are you bickering once again,” God asked? It’s not like you are going to persuade me. My mind is made up. That remark only intensified the disagreement.

First the angel of Justice spoke, “Eternal one, I know what will happen if you create Adam. They and their descendants will think only of themselves. Justice will not be on their minds. They will think how their actions will affect others.” “This is not so,” responded the angel of Mercy. “It may be true that there will be injustice and suffering in the world, but humanity will also show Mercy and Compassion. They will root out injustice and make the world a place which reflects our Divine image.”

Then the angel of Love spoke, “But Divine Spirit, you cannot put your breath into something that is not truly divine. These creatures will think that they are above all else and care nothing for the world around them. They will not show love to other fellow beings, let alone to the animals and plants which preceded them in creation. They will hate that which is not them. They will scorn anything that gets in the way of achieving that which they desire. They will pretend to show love, and yet it will be selfish ego; the desire for glory which will guide them.”

“What you have said is only a small part of the truth,” replied the Angel of Truth. “There may be some who are guided by ego, a desire for glory, and who will not care for others. These humans will lie to themselves in order to achieve that for which they thirst. And yet, in the end, truth will rule the earth. For the forces of truth will help to show them that they are wrong. The lovers of truth, will enable all to see the reality of what existence means. They will be able to see what a gift it is that they are created from the earth and yet animated by divine spirit. They will understand and teach others that everything and everything in the universe is connected through the divine.

In the end, Adam and their descendants will make the world a place of love, peace, and compassion. It will be a world in which humans, animals, and the natural world will dwell together. It will be a world of which we divine beings can be proud.”

As God listened to the angels arguing, They knew that each one was right. Adam would be a gloriously imperfect creature. Adam and their children would do everything they could to make the world a better place. They would also do everything wrong and then they would try their best to do everything right. But that is what God wanted. God did not want everything to be neat and perfect (not that the divine world was exactly that either).

God wanted a world where God's creations would be challenged to make choices and in which they would both fail and succeed. Being a part of that world would truly be exciting.

And so God did what They knew they had to do, and what only They could do. God froze time. The angels were quiet. The rivers ceased to flow. The planets stopped in their orbits. In that moment God willed a new being, Adam, to spring forth from the earth, the adamah, below. God looked at this creature and was truly amazed.

God being God, They were able to look at this creature and see into its future before it was even fully alive. Within Adam God saw more infinite variations than even They believed possible. And, God being God, they were able to recognize, acknowledge, and name each of these variations. That is one of the perks of being divine.

God saw within Adam what was to be known as male and female, and yet so much more. A multitude of variations existed in that moment between those two polarities. This made for a being that was truly unique and glorious.

But these were not the only variations which God could see. For looking at Their creation God also saw a plethora of shades and colors, not only of their skin, but of their soul. God knew that as this creation grew and procreated, each individual new Adam would be different. There was no limit to what was possible for these creatures in terms of how they would appear, how they would feel, and how they would individually merge inner and outer selves to give birth to a new and beautiful creation. And even though Adam had yet to come to life God could hear words and languages flowing forth from them. Each was like an individual stream, each unique, but ultimately flowing into one, flowing back to the source from which they all were created. Even though they looked, sounded, and felt different from one another, they would eventually come to understand what God already knew. That they were all One.

In that very moment when God was able to see every one of the infinite possibilities of the human, God let out a sigh of wonderment mingled with ecstatic joy. The breath of that sigh entered Adam and they began to breath.

They looked around in wonder, just as God had done. They could feel, see and hear within themselves the multitude of realities which God had seen. In doing so, Adam became overwhelmed and afraid. How could one being contain so much within themselves? It was too much to bear.

God realized that was true. And so, no sooner had God created Adam, then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon them. In that moment all the possibilities that were within the one split into the many, and thus the creation of the human became the creation of the human. In one glorious moment everything was within the one creature. And in one more glorious moment the one was split into a multitude of beings, each connected to one another and to the divine.

Once the creation of humanity was complete God awakened them and unfroze time. God looked down and saw humanity rejoicing in its diversity and it’s divinity. At the same time, the angels began to argue again. However, God said quietly, “my sister/brothers cease your fighting. My creation is now complete. Look down at the earth and marvel at my handiwork.”

The angels did just that. And in that moment they realized what God had known all along, that they were each both right and wrong about humanity. It was both right and wrong, to create not just one human being, but all of humanity.

In looking down at these amazing creatures the angels uttered a blessing as one, “Blessed are you, Divine Spirit, Divine parent who has created everything in the universe and who, with overflowing love, has created these fabulous beings who will continue the work of creation each and every day, together with you and with everything else in creation, in order to give glory to you and to every single one of us. And to themselves and the world.”

And God replied, “amen.”

The Binding - a 5-part poem on the Akeidah (Binding of Isaac)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 16:36:00 +0000

The story of Akeidat Yitzhak, or the Binding of Isaac, is one of the most suspenseful, and probably problematic, narratives in the Torah. For a father to be asked to sacrifice his son in order to prove his faith in God seems to be an almost sadistic test. Yet, I have always wondered who was really being tested. Was it merely Yitzhak or was it also his father Abraham. What about Sarah, who is not even mentioned in the narrative? And perhaps God was testing God's self.

This poem imagines what what have been going through the minds of all four "characters" in the story at that time and ends with my own thoughts and response to the events in the narrative.

As you read it, think about your own reactions and how you might see yourself in the story.

L'shanah tovah u'metukah - a happy, sweet (and meaningful!) New Year,

Rabbi Steve

-----------------------------------------------------

The binding

a poem in 5 parts

I. bound faith

Yitzhak

my name
Yitzhak

a verb

he shall laugh
I cannot laugh
the name itself

a cruel joke

they made a mistake

it should have been

Yitz'ak
he shall cry out

not even that is right
I am not a verb
I do not act
I simply am
I know not

precisely who what

let father decide
let mother decide
let God decide

letting me decide
is absurd

it makes me laugh

but there is

no one to hear
I am alone

I have left my parent’s house

still I carry it within me
I have left

the place of my birth
Perhaps now I can finally be born

I have left

my land

my piece of earth
never really mine

Only one spot belongs to me
the place

where I was bound
the place

where I was willing
to give up

my life

my self
for my father
for his God my God
the place

where I was prepared to act
to finally become
a verb
a man
by doing nothing

inactive action
courageous folly

in that place

at that time
I became human
I became one with

God

father

mother

brother

all

I realized in that moment
I am alone yet not alone
in that moment I was bound

not to the altar of fire
I was bound

to the altar of faith
bound faith

not blind faith

faith

in the One who gave me life

upon that altar
the moment I surrendered
is when I chose
to act

to do

to make a difference
to live

by allowing my self

to die

I pray

I can continue to act
to make a difference
to become a blessing

I begin my journey
to the place not shown
to the place

I will find on my own

step by step

perhaps that is the point
each step of the journey is

the destination
the place
of the Divine
where we are meant
to be to live

each place both end and beginning
in each place

able to bind ourselves
to the One

the All

the moment

that is

the essence of the sacrifice
the journey

of being

alive

ii. sarah's test

why did I let him leave

how could I not

my son
my only one
whom I love
more than life
is no longer

here with me

I could not look
I could only hear

sitting in my tent
surrounded by God’s light

afraid
I would fail the test
rise up from my place
run to him
embrace him

prevent him
from going
growing

living

leaving

but I did not

I passed the test

I held my screams

tears fear self
inside
I allowed

him to leave
with his father
knowing only one

would return

this was the only way

to fulfill God's promise
to let him go
into the wilderness

the unknown
from where we came
trusting in God
trusting in Abraham
trusting the voice in my soul
a soul torn

from my body
the moment

I could no longer hear his voice
see his face
feel his touch

the moment I realized
he was no longer mine
as he should not be

perhaps now

he will become

who he was meant to be
Yitzhak
a child of laughter

I remember

my laughter disbelief when told I would give birth Abraham's laughter incredulity joy

but did Yitzhak's laughter ever exist

yes a memory

a shadow

a childhood

long ago cut short
the moment

he realized he was not
to be like others

in the days before

my fear jealousy hatred
masquerading as love
tore his brother

away from him

the one

the only one he loved

made him feel

he was not alone

perhaps now he will l

augh live
fulfill the promise
create a people like

sands on the shore

stars in the sky
shining brightly

with the faith of his father

able to shift to change

like his mother
with ebb and flow
constantly changing impermanence

trying to build a life

on hopes and dreams
that never turn out as we imagine

I do not know
I can only pray
this shall be

now
I am alone
sitting in my tent
God's light shining above

this is more than enough

these days have been longer

one night lasting an eternity
the sun

remained in hiding
never rising never setting
only darkness my last night

in the distance

I see three figures
two servant boys I do not know

a man I know well

with whom I have shared lifetimes

bent over with sorrow and age

he has passed his test

I see no one else
that is enough it is done
nothing more to do
but breathe and wait
for God to descend
to return my soul breath to its source

to someday be reunited with the soul

that came into the world through me
filling me with laughter joy blessing
who will now do so

for those yet to come

I am ready
to die to be reborn to wait
to see what comes next
for him
for me
for us all

III. after the ram

the slaughter was easier than I had imagined

the sacrifice was not what I had thought

or was it

I did not need to kill him

I needed to kill

the part of him within me

the ram

trapped in the thicket

by its horns

a father

trapped in the moment

by his fear and joy

a son

set free at last

by the one

who kept him bound all these years

I saw the ram

I knew what to do

as in a dream

I untied the boy

looked at him

he turned away

I turned my back

knowing I would never see him again

I took my time

not wanting to turn around

to see the inevitable

nothing no one

he was gone

the ram struggled

to be free

I struggled

to give freedom

I bound the ram

I saw his face

I slaughtered the ram

I saw my tears

I burned the body on the altar

I saw God smile

I returned home

I saw her scream

At that moment

I knew the journey was over

the journey had just begun

Yitzhak

my child of laughter

not that day

I had only

to slaughter a ram

to sacrifice a relationship

I had no choice

but to choose this path

now we are each on our journeys

destinations the same

unknown

as I walked

down

the mountain

to return

I feel something

in my hand

I look down

I see a horn reminder

of what happened

of what did not

of my test and his

I still have it still sound it today

to remember that moment

all that I lost then

all that I have now

which will also be lost

as everything is

after the ram

nothing was the same

before the ram

nothing was different

so it is

before each moment

after each moment

a life continuing

trial to trial

sacrifice to sacrifice

joy to joy

sorrow to sorrow

breath to breath

until it ends

which it never truly does

iv. the trial of God

it is finished

it is just begun

neither both

it simply continues

why did I test them

why did need to test me

why could I not have faith in my creations

why did I need to know

the answer

which really remains unknown

even after the test is over

my children showed me

the meaning of faith

what have I shown them

the meaning of

testing trying manipulating

not really faith

but no

I have shown them

the meaning of mercy forgiveness

trust in the moment

in which they each chose

each one unique

the test the subject the response

each one bears witness

to faith in me

in the part of me within them

that is them

faith in relationship

interdependence

unity

at least that is what I tell myself

the answer we are one

I thought I knew that then

I truly know that now

they did not forsake me

I did not abandon them

I tested them

they turned to me for strength

knowing I was the source

of their pain

what amazing creatures I have made

to be separate

yet a part of me

of everything

I know

I have caused suffering

son torn from father

father sacrificing son

mother sacrificing all

soon to die

to rejoin her source

a family

torn asunder

always bound together

with me within me

through their faith

perhaps this is not a consolation

in this moment

perhaps one day it will be

does that matter

after all is finished

I know

I do not want or is it need

to test anymore

yet I know I will

continue testing them and me

one and the same

so I can remain certain

of the only thing that is

certain permanent reliable

relationships

all are bound

together for eternity

no them no other

only one

that is the answer to the test

the divine human equation

one

I passed the test

so did they

they always will

if they

look within to our soul

and not without

to find the answer

the truth

of one

v. what about me

why

who

what

I do not understand

why I should care

about any of it

they are foreign

strange unknown

I pity them

father

sacrificing son and self

mother

sitting in silence

enabling all

son

risking all

for what

god

self-centered

manipulative

needing to know the truth

even if it kills

them

leave me alone

I do not want to know you

yet I must I do

for you are all within me us

our spiritual DNA

I refuse to believe this

is the truth

I would not

sacrifice for any god

I would not abandon

a child

I would not risk my life

to prove my loyalty

I would not ask the unaskable

of those I claim to love

merely to serve my needs

or calm my insecurities

or would I

have I

will I again

don’t we all

I do not believe with complete faith

that this is the truth

yet I know with complete faith

that it is

love sacrifice pain surrender

fury resignation

all are part of life for us

because we are human

we make mistakes

but what about god our image

our source

we do not want to cause pain

still we do

we do not want to test

the limits of faith of love

still we do

we do not want to sit inactive

allowing the plot life

to unfold before our eyes

unable or afraid to stop it

still we do

we do not want

to sacrifice the self

to find the truth

the one

still we must

why

why can it not be simple

no pain no test

no sacrifice no surrender

because without

pain

testing

sacrifice

surrender

life would not be life

we would not act

we would simply exist

without truly being

we would be

like Isaac without laughter

never able to leave home

Abraham in his tent

sitting welcoming guests

never going beyond

comfortable boundaries

Sarah protecting precious possessions

maintaining the status quo

never allowing for freedom growth

living

God uncertain testing

how far each will go

what each will do as proof

to surrender to divine will

to walk the path step by step

to continue the work of creation

I do not like them

yet I love them

I know them

their actions feelings

are a part of me

I am a part of them

part of the plan

whether I accept it or not

living brings pain

but pain becomes suffering

when we do not take action

when we do not try in our hearts to connect

to something greater

when we deny the truth

of the call of the divine whatever that is

within us

perhaps this is what they

are all are trying to teach us

their descendents and creations

Still

I don’t like the players

I don’t like the author

I don’t like the plot

yet I watch it unfold

within around

even now

I feel the pain

and know there is something greater

I must learn

so it does not become suffering

I wish there were an easier way

to learn it

maybe

year

Mourning on Tisha B'Av in the Time of Covid-19

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 21:47:00 +0000

Though these tragedies took place millenia ago, they represent not only the destruction of the holiest of sites in Judaism, but the destruction of the community and the death of countless innocent people. The kinah/dirge in 

    Following the first destruction the Jewish people were eventually allowed to rebuild the Temple and Jerusalem. However, after the 2nd destruction the Romans made certain that the devastation was so complete it would take a miracle to rebuild their society as it had existed. Luckily, the rabbis of the time were able to rethink, reimagine, and rebuild a new Judaism which did not depend on sacrifices or the presence of a central holy place. This Judaism focused on prayer, study, and acts of kindness instead. This is the Judaism of which we are the inheritors today.
   As we navigate our way through the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic it is good to remember that eventually we too we be able to rebuild our society and our world. And as our country finally grapples with the tragedy that has been wrought by systemic racism and white supremacy which has been infecting our country for over 400 years we must also have faith that we can create a better nation. Together we must all find new ways to communicate, new ways to live, and ways to build a world built on justice for all.
  We don't know what this world will look like, but I am confident that it will be better. We are already developing new ways to communicate and connect with others even during isolation. We are also fighting, protesting, and revolting against to bring the long-overdue changes to our society. We are no longer willing to settle for the status quo.
   Years ago, Tisha B'Av lost much of it's meaning for me. I no longer mourned for Jerusalem, because it had been rebuilt. And yet, I knew that I should never forget the innocent people who were killed, as well as the destruction of the city. It then began to take on new meaning for me as I watched as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continue and I witnessed the treatment of the Palestinian people that was sanctioned by the Israeli government. The sorrow deepened as I began to realize the other inequalities which exist in Israel today. These include the lack of religious equality for non-Orthodox Jews and for women rooted in the hegemony of the ultra-Orthodox establishment. It also includes the fast-growing economic inequality and increased poverty, especially among people of color and immigrants, not dissimilar to what exists in America. All of this has only been exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic.
    Neither America nor Israel is the country I want it to be. Both are being destroyed from forces within and not by external enemies. And our world itself is being destroyed because of the careless way in which we have treated our environment. This is not being helped by the fact that the current US administration has intentionally turned a blind eye to environmental justice and treated it as a myth. This too has severe consequences for those who are already oppressed or living in poverty.
   The ancient rabbis taught that the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans was a punishment for the sin of sinat hinam/baseless hatred which existed within the Jewish community. Let us not allow baseless hatred and ignorance to destroy the USA, Israel, or any place in our world.
   As we face the pandemic and all the other troubles in our world, let us remember that if we bact from a place of love, compassion, and respect the end result will be a world where equality and equity truly exist. The Jewish people were able to recreate an entire religion in the aftermath of tragedy. The people of the USA, Israel, and everywhere in our world can rebuild and recreate our world as well. These times may be difficult, but I can only pray that in the end our response will create a better world for people, for all creatures, and for our planet. 
   As we read in the Pirkei Avot/the Ethics of our ancestors, "it is not up to us to complete the work, but neither are we free to ignore it." Let us each do what we can to make the world a better place by fighting for justice and calling out all injustice when we see. Let us begin to repair our world by treating the environment with respect. And let us each do our part to eventually bring this pandemic to an end by wearing masks, following social distancing, and staying home as much as we are able. Then eventually the world that today is only a dream will truly exist.

Parshat Devarim: Preparing for the Promised Land Together in 2020

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 22:30:00 +0000

This week's parashah/portion is called Devarim (Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22). It is the first portion in the final book of the Torah, Devarim/Deuteronomy, a book which consists primarily of three addresses that Moses makes to the people of Israel in preparation for his death and the people's entrance to the Promised Land.

During this initial address, Moses recounts the story from the book of Bamidbar/Numbers of the 12 spies. In the original telling God commanded Moses to appoint one scout from each of the 12 tribes to reconnoiter the land and bring back a report. When they returned, they all agreed that the land was flowing with milk and honey. However, ten of the spies also reported that the people were like giants and that they would not be able to conquer them. Only Joshua and Caleb reminded the people that God was with them, so they will indeed be able to conquer and inhabit the land. Because the people followed the negative report of the ten spies, rather than that of Joshua and Caleb, God decreed that none of the adults, except for Joshua and Caleb, were to enter the land. And so they were doomed to wander for 40 years until that entire generation died out.

This week the Israelites find themselves near the end of the 40 years of wandering. The older generation is gone. Now Moses recounts the events to this new generation. As he does so he alters the details of the story.

In the retelling he states that the idea of sending the scouts came from the people, not from God. Furthermore, he tells them that the scouts brought back a positive report, but it was the people who did not want to listen to their words; instead they refused to follow God's command to conquer the land out of fear. However, the result was the same, as they were still forbidden to enter the land.

The name of the portion, Devarim, means both words and things. This reminds us that words are so powerful that they can easily take on a life of their own. Words can bring comfort and peace, just as they can create strife and disagreement. In the initial telling, it is the words of the ten spies that create fear and doubt in the people and cause them to rebel. In the retelling, it is the people themselves who refuse to listen to the positive words of the spies. It is their words and thoughts of fear and doubt which causes them to act as they did.

I believe that the change in the narrative was intentional. Moses is now speaking to a people who had never known slavery, as opposed to their parents, who had been freed from Egyptian bondage, and so the message was different.

It is not surprising that their ancestors were portrayed as following bad news provided by a group of strong leaders. After all, they were accustomed to listening to the instructions and commands of others. Even though Joshua and Caleb had a different report, as recently enslaved people they did not believe in their own strength enough, nor did they fully trust Moses, or even God.

After 40 years of wandering, though the people still challenged and complained, it came from them as individuals and as a community. They did not need leaders with greater power to influence them, though they still did so at times. They relied more on themselves, sometimes for better and other times for worse. These people, poised on the brink of a new passage in their life, had the power, as individuals and as a nation, to create discord and strife of their own accord. If they did so, their entry into the Promised Land could be disastrous. Moses's retelling of the narrative points to this.

However, at the same time, he reminds them that they do have a leader who is poised to take them into the Land, if they trust him - and themselves - and God. This leader, Joshua, was one of two people able to see clearly 40 years ago. And so he has the vision to lead them today, as long as they are willing to listen and follow.

As they prepare to enter a land filled with promise Moses wanted them to remember to listen to his devarim/words as they follow Joshua into the land creating other devarim/things or actions. They must also remember that they are being led by Yehoshua/Joshua, whose name means "God shall save!" This name was a message to them all.

They are also reminded by Moses that settling the land will not be easy. They will face adversaries whom they must fight and conquer. And of whom they will be afraid. Yet, led by Yehoshua they will do just that, if they don't fill their minds with words of doubt and turn those doubts into destructive actions.

At this moment we are like the Israelites waiting on the other side of the Jordan. This is especially true of Black Americans, for whom the narrative of the Israelite slaves journey to freedom had a powerful meaning.

Our country has been wandering for over 400 hundred years since the first enslaved Africans stepped foot on our soil.

Throughout these centuries of wandering we have been trying to create a nation. Yet, this nation, such as it is, has been built by and for some on the backs of many.

During the times of slavery and even afterwards, Black Americans, and their allies, were convinced by seemingly caring and benevolent white leaders either to fear change or to believe that it had actually occurred and all was well. After all, they were no longer enslaved. Legally. They were free - to an extent.

It became clear that equality was ruse. Black Americans learned this quickly thanks to Jim Crow laws, as well as the unequal systems of policing and incarceration. The "war on crime" which began in the 1960s, exploded in the 1990s, and continues to today, only made the inequity and injustice worse.

It took a little longer for most White people to finally acknowledge these truths, though some still deny them (especially in our government). But today it is clear to all whose eyes are open what "freedom" has really meant. Through years of wandering through on different and unequal paths, in the desert the desert we call the United States of America, it became clear that the "more perfect union" is a fantasy; it is a Promised Land in which all can live freely and equitably - and which does not yet exist.

Through these centuries, and especially in the last 150 years, Black Americans have fought and struggled. They did not complain because of a lack of faith or because of ego, like the Israelites. They revolted and rebelled because of the denial of civil and human rights.

After years of travelling these separate paths, more of us are finally joining together to stand on the other side of the Jordan as a nation still in formation. Led by Black Americans, and along with all people of color, we are ready to cross the river into the Promised Land. We have the power to bring salvation. We do not have to listen to the words of so-called leaders who tell us that change has already come, for we know that's a lie!

And so we must listen to our own hearts and to the leaders who are truly dedicated to salvation and freedom. We must listen to the words within us which tell us it is time to tear down the walls, rebel against injustice, dismantle the structures that keep people enslaved, and turn those words into actions that will bring about real change. We can protest in the streets, we can write to our politicians, we can teach others, and we can vote to make the change happen!

Yehoshua/Joshua's name reminded the Israelites that God would bring salvation. We must find the Yehoshua, the source of salvation and freedom, within our leaders and within ourselves. That is what we must continue to do.

We are ready. We are ready to cross the Jordan. We are ready to fight the battles together that need to be fought. We are prepared for revolution. And when we enter the Promised Land together it will truly be a land flowing with milk and honey, a land of equality and equity, and a land of justice and compassion; a land in which we can finally proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all its inhabitants.

Shabbat Shalom.

Personal Commentary: Proudly Jewish. Proudly Gay. Reluctantly White

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 20:36:00 +0000

I wrote this piece recently in response to what is happening in our country. It has been published online in The Forward, one of the oldest Jewish national publications. However, I needed to edit in on order to fit their guidelines.

Below is the unedited version.

Though this is not about mindfulness per se, it is regarding an issue of which many reading this blog need to be mindful. As you may have noticed, the heading on the blog page now reads "Mindful Torah...and more." That is because I want to use this blog as a way to talk not just about my interpretation of Torah and Jewish texts, but about life in general.

All questions and comments are welcome.

Shalom/Salaam/Peace,

SPN

---------------------------------

Proudly Jewish. Proudly Gay. Reluctantly White.

For as long as I can remember, being Jewish has been my primary identity. Whether I was at home, in synagogue, or in settings where most of the people around me were Christian, this was always true. I was, am, and will always be a member of the Jewish people. It’s a forever kind of thing.

Up until I officially “came out” in my early 40s, I would not have considered being Gay or Queer as a primary identity. After all, it was something which I wanted to hide. And yet, once I exited the closet, I became an active and proud member of the LGBTQ community in general, and specifically the Jewish LGBTQ community.

But why am I reluctant about being White? As a child growing up in Scranton, PA, I never thought about it. All my friends were White and you could count the number of non-White students in my High School on two hands. One hand would have probably sufficed in Elementary school or Junior High. I suppose I saw myself as White because, well, what else could I be? And, let’s face it, I received all the privileges that came along with being White. This included the luxury to claim that I wasn’t White if I didn’t feel like I was, which is what I came to realize as I matured!

As I grew into adulthood I came to clearly identify myself as Jewish. And Gay. Period. I’m not sure when I realized this, but the reason was clear. In my mind, White was equated with White Christian—I was not part of the Christian majority, therefore, I wasn’t truly White. I remember being told by my parents that if you scratch deep enough beneath the surface of most (maybe all?) Christians you will find an Anti-semite. I always challenged them about this. However, since they grew up in a time when Jews could not join certain communal organizations, enter restricted venues, or pledge non-Jewish fraternities or sororities, this was their worldview. Of course, living through World War II and losing so many relatives in the Holocaust only exacerbated those feelings.

Yet even 20 or 30 years after the end of the War and the Holocaust, even after the clubs and organizations were no longer restricted, that sense of being “other” was strong. They had non-Jewish business friends and acquaintances, but all of their true friends were Jewish. I implicitly learned that being White was not an important part of my identity; being Jewish was what really mattered.

Not seeing ourselves as White is not a new phenomenon for Jews. After all, for years neither Jews nor other immigrants were seen as White by society. We were considered to be a different race. Which, we are not. We are a people. It wasn’t until the mid-twentieth century that this began to change, as Jews became more successful and well-educated and, in spite of restrictions and quotas in the education system, began to be “accepted” as White.**

Not considering myself to be White is not about skin color per se. It is about my inner sense of identity and belonging. This leads me to the issues which prompted me to write this article: White privilege and White supremacy. After all, if I don’t see myself as White, how can I benefit from White privilege or in any way support White supremacy?

Following the events in Charlottesville in 2017 I wrote a blog post which addressed the fact that Jews were targeted by White supremacists together with Blacks and other “minority groups” while at the same time, because most of us present as White, we are part of the problem. Then, as now, I know that I benefit from White privilege regardless of how I identify. However, as an African American friend reminded me, this particular conversation has nothing to do with the fact that Jews or the LGBTQ community are targeted by White extremists and other hate groups. It has to do with what it means to be seen as White by others.

Because of this reality, I am not pulled over for driving in the “wrong neighborhood,” nor am I followed by security guards in a department store because I look “suspicious. ” As someone perceived to be a White man, I am not ignored, spoken over, or unseen by others in the room. I don’t have the elevator door shut in my face because others are scared of me, nor do others cross the street when they see me walking towards them. People don’t challenge my right to be swimming in a pool, watching birds in the park, or walking in my own neighborhood; they don't assume in a restaurant, hotel, or other public space that I am a server or janitor; my job application would not be ignored because of the sound of my name. (See this powerful video for an example of what Black Americans have to face and this article to understand how this would be different if I were a Jew of Color)

Perhaps most powerful and frightening of all: As a parent, I never needed to have “the Talk” with my children, especially my son, about how to act if they are stopped by police. I have never needed to worry when my children are out at night (or even in the day, as we’ve seen) whether they might get profiled, pulled over, accused, arrested, or even killed because of the color of their skin.

That is White privilege. It has nothing to do with socio-economic status or how one is raised. It is simply based on skin color.

Historically, our government—our unfair system of policing and incarceration, real estate restrictions, inequitable property taxes, and employment regulations—has benefited White Americans over Black Americans and other People of Color. This is still true today. That is what I mean by White supremacy. I am not talking about dangerous White supremacist groups, such as the KKK. I am referring to the fact our country was not created on the belief that all people are created equal, but on the idea that White people, especially White men, reigned “supreme.” And so, once considered White, my ancestors were allowed to achieve new status, even as Anti-Judaism continued. The descendants of enslaved Africans who were here decades or centuries longer have not achieved that level of communal acceptance, nor have indigenous people and other People of Color.

I have always thought that acceptance of Jews as White was something that just occurred over time. However, as my friend pointed out, allowing members of previously “non-White” minority groups to “become White” simply ensured that White America would gain more power in order to maintain the racist system of oppression and continue to subdue the descendants of enslaved Africans.

I could claim that, as a Jew whose ancestors arrived here between 1890 - 1915, I bear no guilt for our national sin of slavery or the creation of systemic racism. However, in the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, “in a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.” For although my ancestors may not bear direct guilt, I still bear responsibility for either maintaining or dismantling the system as someone who has been “accepted as White.”

I also feel similarly as a Gay man. I know that Anti-Jewish and Homophobic rhetoric and violence are both very real today and on the rise. Yet, I also know that unless I am wearing my kippah/yarmulke on my head there is no way when walking down the street people will know that I’m Jewish. Nor will they know I’m Gay unless I am holding a man’s hand. People will simply assume that I am White, Christian, and Straight.

And though there was a time one could have been arrested for being Gay or Transgender in America (and still can be elsewhere), and Jews were restricted from certain activities, the entire structure of our system was not created to oppress us the way it was created to oppress Black people. However, it’s important to note that systemic racism also rears its ugly head in the LGBTQ world—homophobia and transphobia, including violence and murders, disproportionately affect LGBTQ People of Color.

I am proudly Jewish, proudly Gay and reluctantly White for a simple reason. I am proud to be Jewish and Gay, even though both groups are traditionally oppressed, because we have faced prejudice and persecution. We have risen up and we continue to prevail even in the face of continued hatred and violence.

However, I am not proud to be considered part of the White establishment. I have no pride in being "accepted" as part of the people that have built our unjust system and created racism. I have no pride in the fact that I can “pass” and not have to worry about the types of prejudice and hatred mentioned above simply because of the whiteness of my skin. In fact, there is a degree of shame attached to all of that.

Yet, it doesn’t matter what I perceive myself to be. It doesn’t matter how proudly I embrace being Jewish and Gay or how reluctantly I accept being seen as White. What is important to remember is the responsibility I have to fight against what is wrong with our society, because of White privilege and White supremacy and how I am seen.

It is my responsibility alone to learn as much as I can about the insidious effects of racism as well as White privilege and White Supremacy. It is not the responsibility of Black people to teach me this. It is also my responsibility to help others who identify as or are seen as White to understand this reality. Once I do that, we need to work together with Black Americans and all People of Color to break down the system and then rebuild it from the ground up. Only then can we all truly dwell in one nation under God. Only then can all of us realize the eternal Truth that every human being is created in the image of God. Only then will everyone in our country truly treat one another with equity, compassion, and justice for all. Only then will America truly be great.

** I am well aware that not all Jews are seen as White. Between 12-20% of the American Jewish population identifies as People of Color. However, as this is a personal reflection, I am speaking as an Ashkenazi (Eastern European) American Jew. I also know that Sephardic Jews whose families came from Spain and North Africa, or Jews from the Arab world (Mizrahi) have a different experience. I don't have the experience nor the right to speak about for any of these groups.

Parshat Pinchas: Creating a Covenant of Peace

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 19:28:00 +0000

This week's parashah/portion is Pinchas (Numbers/Bamidbar 25:10 – 30:1) It begins by mentioning an incident that occurred at the end of last week’s parashah where Pinchas, son of Eleazar the priest and grandson of Aaron slays the Israelite man Zimri and the Midianite woman Cozbi after they enter a tent to have sexual relations. This takes place after the text tells us that the Midianites have led the Israelites into whoring, both in terms of women and also after other gods (especially the Midianite god Baal Peor). At the start of this week’s parashah we are told that upon killing Zimri and Cozbi the plague that was ravaging the camp ceased. Furthermore, God gives Pinchas a brit shalom/covenant of peace as a result of the slaying of Zimri and Cozbi.

Throughout the ages rabbis and scholars have both lauded and criticized Pinchas for being a zealot for his cause (the term used by the Torah). Some believe that he acted justly in the name of God. Others believe that he acted in an extreme manner. Certainly, the cessation of the plague would imply God’s approval of Pinchas’ actions. And the covenant of Shalom is not given as a reward, so much as it is a gift so that Shalom/Peace rather than violence and retribution will rule in the future.

Still one has to wonder what other messages we might find on a communal level in the receiving a covenant of peace as the result of using an extreme and violent measure not only to punish Zimri and Cozbi for their behavior, but to end the plague and press a “reset button” for the future.

On a more personal level, I wonder what we can learn if, as in our dreams, all everything that occurs in the communal narrative can be seen something within each of us, showing us. In that way, it shows us what can we learn from this text about ourselves – whether we like it or not!

Given all that is happening in our world today I wanted to look not at the political and social upheaval around us, but rather how we can approach the uheavel within, as well as break through the barriers we build around our hear that prevents us from truly connecting and truly brining about a Covenant of Peace for us all.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Steve

-------------------------------------------

The Covenant of Peace

everything everyone is within us
     we are in everything everyone
        Moses teacher
      Aaron priest
Pinchas zealot
          Zimri Cozbi

idolaters blasphemers

lust filled human beings

they are all part of us
we are part of them

the story is within each of us

within our society our world

we all

learn teach attempt

to achieve holiness
yet we also
desire lust

after false gods

believing in them

worshiping them

through our actions

how do we let go

leave the world of idolatry and passion

and bring

order balance harmony

peace wholeness

to our world and ourselves

actions born of hate or fear

jealousy anger hatred revenge

never bring peace harmony wholeness

they are rooted in ego

love of self over all others

masquerading as protection of self

in the face of danger

not born of love care compassion for all

these actions divide self and other

they do not embrace

that there is only One

that we are all one

and all is within us

guided by ego feeling superiority

in the name of protesting profanity sin evil

our ego calls to us to seek

revenge out of fear of changing

the world our life

losing our status quo to those we see as less

needing to hold on to what we believe is true

rather than embracing what truly is

grasping on to what has been

rather than creating what it should become

leading to more pain suffering

a plague of the heart the soul the world

as we remain stuck

unable to move from the past to the future

in order to create a new present

how do we create change for all
perhaps rather than simply allowing waiting

for change to happen

we must strike out in revolution protest

originating in the heart the soul

not the ego

born from trust compassion

openness love acceptance

for everyone for the world

not from hatred or fear

if we simply wait for it to happen

we allow the world to continue

on the path of
destruction decimation desolation
destroying our souls

and the souls of all

through the plague of the spirit

resistant to treatment

small minds closed eyes shielded hearts

preventing the light of love compassion

to heal us all heal our world

embracing the past embracing our passions desires

we become enclosed within a cocoon of fear and hatred

eventually it becomes a hard shell around the heart

containing poison

which will destroy us

the shell must be pierced

run through with the spear of

violent justice love compassion acceptance

shattering what is so we can create what should be

allowing in
     light
       love
         openness
            acceptance
   peace wholeness shalom

within ourselves within the world

how do we find the strength
to pierce the shell

we must use our divine-human strength

within us all
to pierce the shell

destroying ego selfishness fear desire

releasing compassion love connection
saving us and our world

letting in the light
releasing what has been held in bondage within

preventing us from achieving true peace

for all for One

destroying the wall we’ve built

around ourselves our heart

separating us

allows       shalom peace
     sh’leimut wholeness
to enter heart mind    soul

connecting us to one another

to the divine

if we wish to live with
truth compassion wholeness

united by the colors of the rainbow

to all within ourselves and within humanity

we must accept the covenant of Peace

within each of us

that is the only way to destroy the plague of

ego passion hatred prejudice fear

then we are finally able to rejoice

acknowledging the divinity within us all

the essence that connects us all

with equity love and justice

eternally

it is the only way to change to save

ourselves

so we may change

the world

Parshat Balak. To Bless or To Curse (and why I have decided not to celebrate July 4th)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 02:14:00 +0000

This week's parashah/portion is Balak (Bamidbar/Numbers 22:2-25:9). In this narrative, Balak, king of Midian, hires the magician Bilaam to curse the Israelites. However, Bilaam tells Balak that he may only utter words provided to him by God.

Three times Bilaam tries to curse the Israelites. No matter where he stands or what he is ordered to do, he may only utter the words which are placed in his mouth by God. His final utterance curse is instead a blessing: “How good are your tents Jacob; your dwellings Oh Israel.” These words are the ones with which the traditional morning service begins every day.

To bless or to curse? That was the question. Balak desperately wanted the Israelites to be cursed. Still, all Bilaam could do was bless the beauty of the Israelite camp. Yet, I wonder what the camp was really like. Was it all beauty, peace and harmony, as the blessing suggests? Or perhaps, based on the Israelites' history of bickering and complaining, was it a place of utter chaos? Or was it simply a bit of both? Things are rarely so clear. Yet, in the end it didn’t matter what the situation was on the ground, nor what Balak wanted Bilaam to do, or even what Bilaam himself may have wanted to do. The only thing that mattered was what God told Bilaam to do.

Today I feel a bit like Bilaam, though in a more conflicted way. I am looking out on a land struggling with illness, afraid of it’s future, and reckoning with it’s past and I don’t know whether to bless or curse what I see. Some moments I want to curse. I want to rail at those who are risking their own lives, and the lives of others, by ignoring the rules and regulations concerning the wearing of masks and social distancing simply because they think only about themselves, they believe it is a hoax, or they simply don’t care. Yet, at the same time I want to bless those who are suffering from Covid-19 or have lost loved ones, as well as the overburdened first responders and everyone who is struggling with unemployment, depression, uncertainty, and fear.

I am also looking down upon a land where people of all races, creeds, sexual orientations, gender identities, and more are marching together for justice. We are protesting together. We are challenging the status quo together. We are shouting as loudly as possible the simple truth that “Black Lives Matter.” We are protesting to bring an end to our unjust police system, prison industrial complex, and to the effects of white privilege and white supremacy. I want to bless all who are protesting and working for justice. I want to bless their holy work. For I believe they are doing what God wants all of us to do (because it's what brings justice and goodness to our world)!

This holy work is desperately needed because we live in a land where racism is not just “something that happens to people,” but it is one of the foundations of our government and our society. And so, we fight and we remember. We protest in memory of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Elijah McClain, Atatiana Jefferson, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Trayvon Martin, and all the other Black Americans who been murdered by police or by fellow citizens because of the color of their skin. We are protesting and marching not only because of them, but because of the legacies and history of Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Goodman, Schwerner and Cheney, and Emmett Till, most of whom were killed because they were black, and some because they were trying to be allies in in the fight for civil rights.

Because of their legacies, as well that of countless others, in memory and in honor of the 4000 blacks murdered by lynching, who are remembered at the National Monument for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL, people are marching. People are protesting and demanding change. After 401 years of living in a country where Black people were treated first as property, then as less-than-human, and then simply as expendable, change is long overdue. And those of us who see ourselves as white, or who are seen as white, must both accept our responsibility for perpetuating an unjust system and do our best to dismantle it.

It is our duty to march and to act to end systemic racism. Or we must do what we can by talking to and teaching others, contacting our senators and representatives. Otherwise we are simply helping to maintain the status quo. To paraphrase Ibram X Kendi in his essential book How to be Anti-Racist, if we are not actively being anti-racist then we are de facto being racist. If we are not actively fighting against our racist system in some way, large or small, then we are ultimately supporting it.

And so the dilemma for me is that I want to bless and celebrate all those who are marching and protesting, while still cursing the systemic racism, police brutality, and white supremacy that make the protests necessary. This conflict is coming to a head because this Shabbat is July 4th, "Independence Day."

This day is celebrated in the United States because according to the national mythology our ancestors were freed from British tyranny and created a new country based on the principle that “all men are created equal.” And yet, we know that is a lie. Only the chosen ones were truly freed from tyranny. Only white male landowners were seen as truly being created equal, even though we read in Genesis that all human beings were indeed created in the image of God. Black slaves, women, indigenous peoples, and others were not treated as equals.

Due to this conflict I, as someone who presents as a "White man" related to Bilaal. I imagine many of us do. For our the force of everything labeled "history" that we've learned since childhood, as well as what our “leaders,” are telling us today is telling us that this is a day to bless and celebrate. Yet, when I look around me today, and when I think about true history, all I want to do is curse! I want to yell, I want to scream and I want to call for justice. I do not want to celebrate or bless. However, unlike Bilaam, I am not limited to one option. I can both celebrate and scorn, bless and curse.

Yet, the Fourth of July remains problematic since, by celebrating the original founding, we are also celebrating its unequal treatment of African Americans, women, and others. I cannot truly celebrate this day for, as the great civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer stated “nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” Or as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put it: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.” Too many people are still not free and there is still too much injustice in our country and our world. And so my role is not to celebrate, but to work for change and to help teach others who are still unable to see the injustice and inequity that is at the root of our nation's history.

Personally, I would prefer celebrating Juneteenth, since it was the day when legalized slavery of African American ended in all states. Yet, as a white man I don’t feel that is my holiday to celebrate, since white America has kept blacks oppressed in many other subtle and insidious ways long after June 19, 1865. This continues today thanks to the abuses of our injust policing and prison systems, both of which have direct historical links to white Americans’ treatment of black Americans after “emancipation” (I recommend the documentary 13th on Netflix for a more detailed explanation).

This morning on National Public Radio I heard someone talking about observing July 5th, as this was the day when the Declaration of Independence was signed and the day when famed abolitionist, politician, and activist Frederick Douglass, once enslaved himself, delivered a speech in Rochester, NY entitled "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" There is also a moving video of some of Frederick Douglass's descendants reciting excerpts from that speech, as well as commenting on today's reality.

His speech he began, “Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, too, great enough to give frame to a great age...[Though] the point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory….”

He then points out the hypocrisy of the “founding fathers”. He continues, "…Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

“... such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn..."

With his renowned passion and eloquence Douglass too is like Bilaam, but in reverse. There he stands looking down on the land of his birth, the land of his enslavement, and the land of his freedom. He is told to utter a blessing in his praise of the founding fathers, who achieved an almost superhuman feat. He does just this. However, more importantly, he then curses the inequality and the racism that has forbidden him from being able to truly rejoice and celebrate what white people call “Independence Day.”

Douglass may have spoken these words in 1852, but his words ring just as true today. For me, they are a call to us that we must dedicate ourselves as not only allies of the Black community, but as fighters who are dedicated to equality and to anti-racism.

For myself, as someone who could celebrate July 4th, and who has done so in the past, I choose not to this year. For I truly believe I cannot be free if everyone is not free. I cannot be free if I am in any way complicit in the system that oppresses others. The Torah teaches numerous times that we are not to oppress others because we knew oppression as slaves in Egypt. That means not only directly oppressing others, but supporting oppressive structures in any way.

I urge all of us who are seen as white, or see ourselves as white, to take stock and to consider rejecting the celebration. And even if you do decide to celebrate the day in some way, make it different than in the past. Take some time to learn more about racism, white privilege, and white supremacy in our society. Take at least one action to show that you know that Black lives matter. Go to a march. Make a donation. Watch or read something that educates you. Though it may seem trite, post something meaningful and challenging on social media to teach about the realities of the day and of our times. Social media is a powerful tool, for better or for worse. If I didn't think that, I wouldn't have taken the time to write this blog post. And so, let us use it for better, since so many others are using it for worse.

On this Shabbat, let us each see ourselves as descendants of Bilaam, poised to do what we have been told and what we have been taught, but instead choosing to do what we know is right.

Let us listen to the voice of God, the voice of conscience, the voice of justice, the voice of freedom. Let us bless and celebrate that which deserves to be blessed and celebrated, and let us curse and denounce that which does not deserve our blessing.

Always being willing to push yourself beyond your comfort zone as well. Find a way to commemorate July 5th, the speech of Frederick Douglass, with its call for justice, equality, and an end to racism, as well as its criticisms of our nation. Perhaps you can read the speech aloud with others (with social distancing, of course) or find some other way to remember the mandate Douglass has given us.

Then, on July 6th, let us continue the work together so that one July 4th in the future together. For on that day we will be able to look our upon our country and see an America where “liberty and justice” is truly “for all” and which is dedicated to the proposition that all human beings are created equal and treated as such.

Shabbat Shalom.

Parshat Korach: What Kind of Leaders Do We Need?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 23:01:00 +0000

This week’s parashah/portion is Korach (Bamidbar/Numbers 16:1 - 18:32). It tells the story of a revolt against Moses’s leadership led by his cousin Korach and 250 elected leaders of the community. They didn’t revolt because Moses was an unjust leader or because the people were being oppressed. Rather, the reason for the revolt can be found in Korach’s statement “All the people are holy...why then do you [Moses] raise yourself above God’s congregation?” In other words, this is a revolt based on jealousy and ego.

Centuries later the rabbis of the Talmud asked what constitutes an “argument for the sake of heaven?” The arguments of Korach and his followers are the prime example of an argument that is NOT for the sake of heaven, which I will define as “for the good of the community.”

Moses’s response to Korach, after his initial shock, is to tell him that “God will make known who is holy and who is not.” And after a ritual which proves to the whole community that Moses is God’s chosen leader, the earth opens up and swallows Korach and all his followers. If that’s not proof that they were in the wrong, then what is?

When Korach and his followers challenge Moses’s authority, it is God’s authority and decision making which is ultimately being challenged. For it was God who chose Moses as their leader, just as it was God who chose the Israelites to be God’s treasured nation.

The concepts of chosenness, leadership, ego and revolt are central to this narrative. However, I couldn’t help but think that this week’s narrative have something important to teach us during these uniques and difficult times.

As we celebrate this Shabbat this week there are three forces interacting in our country and beyond. We are in the midst of a week which has seen a significant increase in cases of Covid-19, even as our president, some governors, and others continue to downplay this and obscure the facts. At the same time, the movement for peace and justice for people of color in the face of police brutality and systemic racism continues unabated.

Finally, this is the culmination of Pride month, when we both celebrate the LGBTQ community and remember the work that still needs to be done. This is actually “Pride Shabbat” in many places and this weekend is the 50th anniversary of the first Pride March in New York City, one year after the Stonewall uprisings.

And so this is a time when equality, protest, and community are in the forefront of our minds. This also reminds us that leadership is of great importance. It was grassroots leadership chosen by the people, and not by some higher authority, which is at the forefront of the LGBTQ rights movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and all social justice movements. It is the leadership of those willing to act for the good of the community that has caused the Black Lives Matter movement to continue to grow, rather than die off. It is leadership for the sake of heaven which continues to fight for the rights of LGBTQ people as well.

At the same time, it is a lack of governmental leadership which has brought us to where we are in terms of the Covid-19 epidemic. And it is a lack of governmental leadership, as well as unethical leadership, which has brought us to the point we are in terms of racial inequality and systemic racism. And is the leadership of our broken justice and policing system which has allowed things to get where they are today.

And yet, it doesn’t have to be this way, because it has also been through governmental leadership, specifically the past administration and, somewhat surprisingly, the Supreme Court, which has allowed us to celebrate successes in the LGBTQ movement in terms of marriage, and more importantly, the right to work. And it is the biased leadership of the current administration which has slowly tried to erode the rights achieved by LGBTQ people, including access to health care. It has also been this administration and others who have tried to prevent and suppress the BLM movement to express itself through free speech and protest. Like Korach and his followers they are leaders serving their own personal agendas and their public perception rather than thinking of the good of all. Instead of being motivated by a love of community, equality, and compassion, they are motivated by a sense of entitlement, privilege, and inequality.

In the Torah narrative the people are chosen to be God’s “treasured nation” and Moses is chosen by God to be their leader. Neither chose their roles voluntarily. The leaders of the LGBTQ rights movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and all movements for social justice were not chosen by some higher power. They were not chosen by God. Today's protest movement was brought about by the systemic racism that is ingrained in our country, just as Stonewall was brought about by unjust laws which punished people for their sexual orientation or expression of gender identity. In both cases the people were drawn to protest and revolt. And it was from those people protesting that leaders were choses.

However, our political leaders have been chosen. They’ve not been chosen by God, though some might want you to believe that they were. Rather, they were chosen by the people (even if they did not receive the majority of actual votes). That means their mandate is to serve and protect the people, just as Moses’s responsibility was to God and, by extension, to the people as well.

However, so many governmental leaders and their followers are dividing the people and instead serving themselves and their warped ideology that they are truly following in Korach’s footsteps.

This is even true in terms of the Covid-19 pandemic, where the role of our leaders should be to protect the people, even when it may be inconvenient or isn’t good for “optics.” There are many state and local leaders who have done just that. Governor Cuomo of New York is just one example. He’s certainly not someone without an ego or a desire to be popular, after all what politician is? Yet, it is the health and safety of the people that is guiding him and not his ego.

However, the president, much of his administration, and many state and local leaders, seem to see their role as either serving the privileged or maintaining their approval ratings. All of this is being done in the name of defending individual rights. But individual rights to not give permission to individuals to act in ways that are potentially harmful to others. And reviving the economy does not take precedence over protecting the lives of the people. If those prioritizing the economy did so in order to support those most in need, I might be willing to listen to them. But even then, those people can be helped right now by increased government assistance rather than being forced to go back to work and risk their lives.

But I don’t truly believe that those pushing this action have the good of the people in mind. For if they were truly looking out for the people they would realize that the recovery of the economy is IMPOSSIBLE without first controlling the pandemic. And so, those so-called leaders are willing to sacrifice the lives of thousands more and provide a false sense of security rather than keeping people safe and at home, while being provided for by the government, until the pandemic is truly under control. It will cost, rather than make, money. But that is not a reason to ignore what is necessary.

As a Reconstructionist, I have problems with the doctrine of chosenness. I reject it. I believe it causes us to act in a superior way, even if that is not it’s intentions. I also believe it implies that acting in a holy way is not a personal choice, it is something that is foisted upon us by God. This is the antithesis of how we need to look at the world today. We each must choose how to serve our community and how to heal our country and our world. We need to make the personal choice to fight for justice for all oppressed groups. We need to make the choice to protest and act for change because we know that we are equal and created in God’s image.

We must choose leaders now who want to lead because they want to work to achieve equality for everyone. We must also do the same in November when we choose who is to lead our country. If we choose those who have the good of the community, our country, and our world we will once again be on the right path.

If we instead elect those who believe that they are the chosen ones and act from that place we risk repeating the punishment meted out to Korach and the other rebels, all of whom were supposed to be leaders of the people. The only difference is that we will all be swallowed up, and it will be our unjust leaders who will be left standing. And that will mean destruction for our country and our world.

Parshat Shelach. What a Difference One Month Makes: Reflections on Covid-19, Racism and the Dream of Juneteenth

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 20 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This week's parashah/portion is Shelach (Bamidbar/Numbers 13:1-15:41). It contains within it the story of the 12 spies who Moses sends to scout out the land of Canaan before crossing the Jordan. Upon their return they all agreed that the land was “flowing with milk and honey.” However, ten of the spies reported that the land was occupied by "giants" which made them feel “like grasshoppers.” Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, disagreed with that negative assessment.

The ten spies were able to join together in order to convince the people that they could never conquer the land. That is why the text refers to them as an "evil community."

Joshua and Caleb were the only true leaders. Yet, even they may have been just as afraid as the other ten. We don't know. However, they had faith that God would help them face the unknown and guide them to victory as a true community.

I first wrote these words in early May as part of a commentary that was to be published in the local Jewish newspaper on June 1, 2020.

At that time I continued by comparing the text to the Covid-19 crises. I observed that all of us are afraid of the unknown. We look around us and it is easy to see our current situation as insurmountable. We could easily view ourselves as insignificant like grasshoppers in the face of such an enormous challenge. And yet, the role of our leaders is to help us see that this is not the case.

Our leaders' role is to be realistic about the uncertainty we feel as we face Covid-19, while also being realistically optimistic that in the future we will eventually “cross the Jordan.”

We must not follow "leaders" who are trying to instill fear among us, nor those who try to convince us that there is nothing to worry about. Instead, let us listen to the voices of those who are leading us to work together for the good of our community even when uncertain about the nature of the future.

We must look for the Joshuas and Calebs in our communities, our country, and our world. Let us allow them to guide us as we continue on our journeys. For they are acting for the greater good of our communities, our country, and our world.

Our ancestors were unable - or unwilling - to do this. Hopefully we can.

That was the end of my original commentary. Only one month ago.

Since then things have changed. Since then we have witnessed the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Rayshard Brooks not long after the murder of Breonna Taylor and so many other people of color. We have been faced with the epidemic of racism and violence in our country.

Yet, that epidemic has been present and growing unabated for over 400 years. It is one about which I have written and spoken numerous times. And yet, part of my privilege is the ability to forget about this epidemic until faced again with the news of the killing of another black person. After all, I don't have to fear that I will be a victim of this particular epidemic on a daily basis.

Then, when another killing or act of violence would occur, I would again write or speak. It was all very well-intentioned and hopefully meaningful. Yet, eventually life would continue and the injustices of our country against people of color would no longer be at the top of my list. Until the next time. Then the cycle would continue.

But that cycle cannot be the status quo for me or for any person who cares about the taking of black lives in our country. It never should have been status quo in the first place.

If black lives truly matter, if people of color's lives truly matter, if the life of all oppressed people truly matters, if our country and human life tuly matter, then this fight must be a constant one. It cannot be cyclical.

As someone who is the beneficiary of white privilege, even if I don't see myself as white (click here for more on this), and as a person in a public position, I must speak out and take action whenever possible.

I see some similarities between this and what I wrote one month ago. For when addressing the issues of systemic racism and white privilege in our country, it is also easy see myself as a grasshopper. After all, we are just tiny individuals. We don't have the power to either maintain or destroy a 400 year old racist system.

And yet, in the parashah we see how ten individuals can have an enormous impact when they work together. Ten people can persuade an entire people to follow them without any questions.

We too have the ability as individuals to join together as a community and use our power. But instead of acting as did the ten spies, we need to act wisely and justly. We need to find the Joshua and Caleb within each of us.

As I wrote before, perhaps Joshua and Caleb were afraid. Perhaps they even saw themselves as grasshoppers. Perhaps they believed that as individuals they couldn't do anything. But they had faith in the power of God. I also believe they had faith in the power of community, which is really the same thing.

They also knew from the ten plague that even a small insignificant creature such as the locust, which is a species of grasshopper, can have immense power when they join together in a swarm! And so, those of us who are seen as white must work together as a community built on justice. We must do our part to dismantle systemic racism. Only then can all people work together to build a truly just society based on the principle that all human beings are created equal!

If we truly work together in community, then we all have power. Working together we are no longer grasshoppers. We are significant. We can make a difference. We can defeat an epidemic, whether biological or societal. For we are all created in the Divine image!

Communities of color have known for a long time that there is incredible strength in numbers. So have other historically-oppressed communities, including the Jewish community.

Now those benefit from privilege must finally acknowledge the power that we have to either maintain or destroy the systems of oppression from which we benefit, whether intentionally or not. Without dismantling the system it will be that much harder for communities of color to achieve the dream of freedom and equality which all human beings deserve and which many believed was a dream fulfilled on Juneteeth, June 19, 1865, when the last state finally ended legalized slavery of black people.

But our country has not allowed that dream to be truly fulfilled. Now is the time to finally do the difficult and painful work necessary for it to happen. This begins by people seen as white acknowledging our responsibility for the system that has evolved and then using our privilege responsibly to bring it to an end.

That is the only way the dream of Juneteenth will ever be truly be fulfilled. That is the only way the dream of America can ever be truly great.

Parshat Behaalotkha: Compassion, Rebellion, and Healing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 21:21:00 +0000

This week’s parashah/portion is Beha'alotkha (Bamidbar/Numbers 8:1 - 12:16) In the parashah Moses calls together 70 elders whom he has chosen to assist him in his duties to join him at the Tent of Meeting. Then the presence of the Divine descends in a cloud and mparts the divine spirit to Moses, which he then then passes to the 70 elders. In this way it was assured that they would rely on the spirit of God in making their decisions.

Not long after, it is reported that two men, Eldad and Medad, had remained in camp rather than going to meet Moses at the Tent of Meeting. Still, the Divine spirit had rested upon them and they too spoke prophecy (Numbers 11:26). A messenger comes to Moses and Joshua to inform them of this. Upon hearing of this, Joshua calls on Moses to “restrain them.” However, Moses responds instead ““Are you upset on my account? Would that all the Eternal’s people were prophets, that the Eternal put the divine spirit upon them!”

In his commentary on this incident, Rabbi Dr. David Frankel focuses on the fact that Eldad and Medad did not go out with the 70 elders to the Tent in order to meet Moses, yet they still received the spirit of prophecy from God. He proposes that Eldad and Medad chose to stay back in the camp in conscious defiance of Moses.

“There was no place in this arrangement for individual spiritual voices that might speak independently of the figure of Moses and bring a diversity of opinions into the public domain. Eldad and Medad challenged not only the centralized and exclusive authority of Moses, but also, at least implicitly, the attempt to wield political control over the divine spirit.” (www.thetorah.com/article/eldad-and-medad-prophesied)

In other words, Eldad and Medad were rewarded for challenging authority and acting independently. Their subversive actions were then rewarded with the gift of prophecy.

Therefore, challenging the establishment, speaking one’s truth and showing a diversity of opinions are to be admired. I would add the caveat that this is true if the goal is truly to serve the community. After all, if God’s presence was with them and allowed them to prophesy, they must have had the right intention. The story also shows us that Moses was secure enough in his own position that he was not afraid of others outshining him or sharing his power. Rather, he wished that everyone were able to do that.

Of course, in the end, there was a hierarchy, just as there is today. However, this interpretation reminds us that even a hierarchy must exist for the good of all people and not just for those at “the top.” However, we see something different towards the end of the parashah.

Not long after the incident with Eldad and Medad, Moses’s siblings “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married: “He married a Cushite woman!” They then continue, “Has the Eternal spoken only through Moses? Has God not spoken through us as well?” (Numbers 12:1-2)

God is angered by their challenge to Moses, even though Moses seems not to be. Therefore, God speaks directly to Miriam and Aaron reminding them that it is that decides to whom prophecy is given. God may speak to them in order to chastise, but God never spoke to them “in a dream,” as God does to true prophets. That privilege belongs to Moses and not to them. And so they are punished. For, as “the cloud withdrew from the Tent, there was Miriam stricken with snow-white scales! When Aaron turned toward Miriam, he saw that she was stricken with scales.” (Numbers 12:10)

What was Moses’s response to Miriam’s punishment? Did he rejoice? Did he tell her she deserved it? No, instead, he offers the first prayer of healing in our tradition, “Oh God, please heal her.” Once again Moses shows humility and compassion in response to something which another more egotistical leader might have seen as a challenge to his authority deserving of punishment.

Just as Joshua had responded to the incident of Eldad and Medad with anger and indignance, so too God responded in a similar way to Miriam and Aaron. It is only Moses who acts with compassion and humility in both instances. Moses knew that he wasn’t a king. He wasn’t a Pharaoh. He wasn’t really even in charge. He was simply the chosen leader and God’s messenger. His ultimate responsibility was to his people and to God, and not to his own power or ego. This is the sign of a true leader, and it is something we see too rarely today.

God did not only punish Miriam because she and Aaron questioned Moses’s authority. It was also because they complained about “that Cushite woman.” In the Torah a Cushite was someone from deeper in Africa. However, we must remember that this takes place in the desert between what is now Egypt and Israel. The Israelites originated what we now call the Middle east. They had lived enslaved for 400 years in Egypt. They clearly would have been dark skinned! They were people of color.

And so the criticism of Moses having married an African woman was not necessarily a criticism of her being dark skinned. They were all dark skinned. As my friend and colleague Rabbi Sandra Lawson reminded us when she spoke at a vigil the other day, "there are no white people in the Torah!" This is the "only time where whiteness shows up." There are different opinions as to exactly who this Cushite woman was and why Miriam and Aaron mentioned her when challenging Moses. But the important aspect to remember is the actual nature of the punishment.

As Rabbi Lawson phrased it, her punishment was that “she was struck with the disease of whiteness!” We know that in most stories, movies, books, etc throughout centuries, it is blackness or darkness which represents punishment or evil. How many children and adults, of color have cringed throughout the centuries that the color of their skin was used to represent evil or ugliness, rather than goodness and beauty.

Here it is whiteness which is the punishment! It is whiteness which is to be feared. This can serve as a reminder that the color of one’s skin or the place of one’s origin should never be a reason for criticism or ridicule. This is an area in which there should be no hierarchy nor prejudice. However, there is an even greater significance to this punishment, for the punishment of whiteness represents the erasure of her identity. She is no longer recognizable as the human being she is. It is the “Cushite woman” who retains her identity, her darkness. Her beauty.

In our world, being rooted in the narrative of 400 years of white supremacy, racism, and white privilege it is people of color and others who are seen as “marginalized” who often have their identities erased. This can be seen in our country’s history of slavery, racism, mass incarceration, anti-immigration, homophobia, transphobia...the list seems endless. These are the result of living in a society that erases or demeans anyone seen as “different” or “other” by those who view themselves as being at the top of an artificial hierarchy.

Miriam’s punishment was having her identity erased. Her color, her unique attributes, her physical and spiritual beauty, her essence were taken from her. Without her true color it was as if she was a non-person. It was as if she were dead.

What returns her essence and allows her to recover is not the action of an authoritarian or capricious deity, but the prayer of Moses. Not Moses the leader or Moses the prophet, but Moses her brother. Moses who was God’s beloved. For true healing can only come when human beings act out of compassion and when there is a sense of connection. Without Moses’s love, caring, compassion, and mercy his prayer would not have been efficacious. He did not say. He did not appeal to God as ruler or judge, nor did he speak as leader. He spoke to God as God’s beloved and Miriam’s brother. Caring and connection between Moses and Miriam, and between Moses and God, are what brought about the healing. It is what returned Miriam’s color, her essence, to her.

In these difficult times, this narrative provides many teachings. First, it reminds us of the importance of righteous protest, maintaining individuality, and challenging the system when it’s for the greater good. Second, it reminds us that it is humility and compassion which makes for a good leader in any context, not fear, suspicion or ego.

The parashah also teaches that we all have the potential to be prophets. We can all bring the word of God, the power of goodness and love, into the world. It’s not just up to one person, or even 70! It’s up to each of us to act and speak in a way to make this happen.

Finally, it reminds us that we must come from a place of compassion, even when anger, fear, or hatred might logically or understandably be our first response. Only through compassion and connection with all sentient beings can we bring true healing to the world. It is compassion and connection which can allow everyone’s true colors, their true self, to shine through. Then no one will be viewed as other, no one will be seen as less than another, no one is invisible, and no one’s existence will be erased.

Compassion, connection, and being present to one another is the only true path to peace and healing. This journey is not easy, but is up to all of us, especially those who have been responsible for oppression, intentionally or not, to make the change can only imagine Moses, and God, would want for us.

I end with the prayer that Moses uttered for Miriam, el nah refah na lah. Divine Spirit, heal her. Heal our world. Heal the broken hearted. Help us to connect with each other, to stand up for what is right, to see and value each other’s uniqueness. May no one ever again be neglected nor their existence erased again. That is our wish for our future. Amen.

Shabbat Shalom.

we all must breathe

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 20:39:00 +0000

In watching events unfold over the past two weeks the image which constantly came to my mind was that of being able to breathe the air freely.

In Central Park, a white woman tried to prevent Christian Cooper from breathing the air and occupying the space, even though both belonged to him as much as they did to her.

In Minneapolis, George Floyd cried out "I can't breathe," just as Eric Garner did in Staten Island six years ago. In both cases the police ignore the cries and their ability to breathe was taken from them.

Finally, in the early days of the protests in Minneapolis, New York, Washington, and elsewhere, tear gas, pepper spray, and other means were used to prevent the protestors from being able to breathe freely with the hope that they would disperse. They did not. They have not. They will not. Until justice is acheived.

No justice. No peace. We must continue with the cry and remind everyone that until the lives of black people, all people of color, and all who have been denied there rights truly matter to everyone we will not have justice nor peace.

Shalom/Salaam/Pace/Peace to all,

Rabbi Steve

-------------------------------------------

we all must breathe

In memory of George Floyd, Eric Garner, and the countless other people of color whose breath was stolen from them
In honor of Christian Cooper whose ability to breathe freely was threatened

and in honor all those who have protested in spite of having the air taken from them by tear gas and other militaristic methods. And yet they still breathe. They still survive. They still fight to reclaim the air, which belongs to us all.

walking through the park

feeling the warmth of sun

smells of blossoming trees and flowers

crouching behind the bushes

watching the birds

illness discord violence hatred

have disappeared momentarily

in that moment you are

at one with grass trees flowers birds

the world the air

then peace is shattered

your presence in that place of serenity

is questioned

your right to existence

is threatened

because of fear of the color of your skin

because of the fragility the privilege

the entitlement

attached to the color of hers

you stand your ground

you bear witness to the travesty the tragedy

the utter insanity of that moment

once again someone is

claiming the space the air

belongs to them not to you

finally you leave

do you wonder what might have happened if you had stayed

if you had been there when the police arrived

or do you know do you fear

your ability to breath the air

would have been taken permanently

ii.

in the street

you are lying there

thrown to the ground

crushed beneath the weight of

racism hatred privilege

you try to breath

you cannot

you smell the asphalt filth rubber sweat

fear confusion anger

you cry out

they are not listening

they do not care

you want to breath

you need to breath

you deserve to breath

it is your right as a human being

the air is yours it is all of ours

then you are no longer able

to smell to breath

the world turns dark

screams around you

people trying to save you

but all you can feel is the weight

the burden

the hatred of

401 years

8 minutes

46 second

piled on top of you

your people your ancestors your children

choking you enslaving you

it’s knee digging into your neck

forbidding you from breathing

ever again

III.

we cannot breathe

the air

is filled with smoke gas screams

we came here to

tell the world

we all deserve to breathe

instead we gasp choke vomit

we are afraid

we fear for our lives

still gasping choking

you hear the sounds

the shouts the cries

no justice

no peace

but justice has died beneath the knees

of oppression

peace cannot be found

in this moment of mourning anger frustration

no justice no peace

until we topple the barricades of

anger hatred disgust rage fear

until we tear down the walls that

racism has built

that privilege has maintained

preventing those without

from breathing

so we can discover together

what was the other side

hope grace mercy love

eventually leading

to justice to peace

for us all

in this moment it is

a dream we dare not dream

and yet we must

we cannot even start to imagine

and yet we shall

even though we are still

unable to breath

unable to see

unable to take the first step

on the journey

to freedom

the air belongs to all of us

we belong to the air

it is the source of life

what sustains us

connecting us to one another

to the world

to the Divine

the air belongs to all of us

no one can claim it as theirs

no one has the right to take it away

yet in this moment only some

seem to have the privilege that is not a privilege

to breathe freely

others cannot breath

the air has been filled with toxic hatred

the stench from the flames of racism

we all must all be able to breath free

we all must be able to dwell free

we all must be able to live free

but the air has been stolen rationed polluted

by those trying to kill to destroy

the lifebreath of our country

stealing the air the speech the rights

claiming only they are allowed

to breathe the air freely

the victims of injustice must reclaim

what belongs to all of us

those of privilege need to

walk beside behind them

we must all pray for the day

prayers are insufficient

we must act

in partnership with God

with all of humanity

to tear down the walls topple the barricades

open the door the windows

letting in the air

for all of us

then we can live in a world

where no one will be denied air

denied their place

denied their life

a world where we can all breath

free at last

Racism in the USA, White Privelege and a Response to the murder of George Floyd

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 20:37:00 +0000

This is not exactly about mindfulness, but it is about everything that is on all of our minds this week.

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This past week has been a frightening and tragic one for our country. In response to the senseless killing of George Floyd, another African American man who died at the hands of police, protests and riots have erupted throughout our country. This is on top of the devastating effects of Covid-19, which has disproportionately impacted communities of color.

Racism is ingrained in the fabric of our country. Peaceful protests have been routinely ignored. And so, as in the past, people have taken to the streets. It is perhaps the only way to be heard by those in power.

As the Director of Jewish Student Life at Lehigh, I feel it incumbent upon me to respond to this current crisis in our nation.

The Jewish people have been oppressed throughout our history and we are still hated by many. Just see the statistics of the rise in antisemitic incidents in the last 4 years for proof. Therefore, we must stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of color in response to the killing of yet another African American man at the hands of police.

We must also remember that there are Jews of color who are also affected by the systemic racism in our society, as well as by antisemitism. They must not be forgotten and they must not be ignored. They represents 12-15% of American Jewry. And we must all stand together.

Enzi Tanner, a black Jewish social worker reminds us that, “As the Jewish community reaches in and says how do we support [the protestors’] cause and how do we support the black community, it’s really important that people reach in to black Jews and other Jews of color and realize that we’re here,” Tanner said. “And we need our community.”

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched and protested with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. because Judaism calls on us to speak out for all the oppressed, as we were once oppressed as slaves in Egypt. It is an essential part of our communal narrative. Heschel wrote that “in a free society some are guilty, but all are responsible.” We each must take a look at ourselves and see how we are responsible. In what ways have we allowed systemic racism to continue both within our country at-large, and within the Jewish community?

It doesn’t matter if we have actively participated in perpetuating racism or if we just stood by and allowed things to happen. As Edmund Burke wrote in 1770, “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing.” This is an eternal truth.

The American Jewish community has long had a complicated relationship with the idea of race. In America, we didn’t start to think of ourselves as white until the mid-20th century. The same was true of other immigrant minorities.

In white supremacist ideology we are still not considered to be white. Yet, the majority of us can pass as white. The majority of us don’t have to worry when our teenage son is walking down the street that he might be in danger. As the father of a post-teen boy I recognize this privilege all too well. Therefore, most of us exist and are seen both as minority and majority depending on the context. Of course, this is not true for Jews of color, who have no choice in terms of how they are viewed by others.

As the African American community, other people of color, and all members of marginalized and disenfranchised communities rise up in protest against the violence and deadliness of systemic racism, we must not only support them. As a people who have known oppression we must stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of color, whether Jewish, Christian, Muslim, of other religions, or none. We must provide whatever support we are told is needed. Let us not assume that we know what is best. We don’t.

We who are seen as white must also acknowledge the privilege that we have and use it to speak out and act out against racism and hatred. We must do what we can at the ballot box, in our actions, and in all our responses to racism. We must prove through our actions that we know that black lives matter. If we do not, we must remember that our silence will not only be deafening, it will be deadly.

In Deuteronomy 16:18 we read “Justice, justice, shall you pursue.” The repetition of the word justice reminds us of its importance. It is something that we must actively pursue with every action we take. One rabbinic commentary teaches that the repetition of the word is meant to remind us that we must pursue justice whether the outcome of the process is in our favor or to our detriment. It doesn’t matter. What matters is the achievement of justice.

We read in Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 that “Whoever destroys a single soul scripture accounts it as if they have destroyed an entire world; and whoever saves one soul, scripture accounts it as if they had saved a whole world.”

Countless worlds have been destroyed with the unjust taking of the lives of people of color since the first slaves stepped onto the shores of America in 1619. It is up to us to do the important work of stopping the violence and protecting future souls from destruction in order to create infinite worlds of love, justice, and equality that are free from racism, all forms of hatred, and prejudice

It won’t be easy, but we must believe that together this goal can be achieved. Let the work begin.

Beneath the Mountain in 2020: in memory of George Floyd and all victims of racism in our country

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 30 May 2020 16:06:00 +0000

I just posted an original poem which drew on the traditional rabbinic midrash/commentary that the Israelites accepted the Torah at Mount Sinai sight unseen, at least in part, because God had lifted the mountain over their heads. The people were told that they had the freedom to accept or reject the Torah. However, if they were to reject the Torah then this place would be their grave. This midrash makes it clear that, in the ancient rabbinic mind, God knew that the people needed some persuasion, perhaps because they were reluctant to give up any of their freedoms after having been slaves for so long. But with liberty comes rules and responsibility. And responsibility for the greater good of the nation and the world often means relinquishing some of your personal freedoms. Or at least our privileges.

I wrote about this in last week’s Torah commentary in response to those who were protesting about giving up some of their privileges, such as being able to go wherever they want and not wear a mask, in order to keep everyone safe.

This week, as we celebrate the festival of Shavuot, which celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai (according to rabbinic tradition) once again I am looking at this image of the mountain hanging over our heads. However, this week the image is that of our country beneath the mountain. We live in a land where so many of the privileged don’t realize or believe that the mountain is hanging over their heads, while the poor, people of color, and others marginalized people are all too aware of the present danger. For our entire country is indeed beneath the mountain and I truly fear that it may be dropped on us at any moment.

The size and the weight of the mountain continues to increase as the strength to hold it up continues to weaken. Yet, how can that be if it is God that is supposedly holding the mountain? Isn’t God all powerful? Not in my theology. For I believe that the power that makes for goodness, which I choose to call God, is only able to bring goodness, healing, and salvation into the world if we choose to use it.

The analogy that I have used for years is that of an electric lamp and a household electrical circuit. The electricity which runs through the house is what allows the lamp to light. However, if we don’t plug the lamp in and turn the switch it’s just a pretty piece of furniture and the electrical current, which is always running, serves no purpose.

God is the eternal power source, but we have to make the choice every day to “plug in.” If we don’t, then the power holding up the mountain and which can then return it gently to earth loses its strength. This means that eventually the mountain will come crashing down on us.

Currently, 0ur world is in a state of crisis because of Covid-19. Our country is especially in crisis because of the lack of leadership and adequate response to this virus. And this crisis is even worse for those who are marginalized or disenfranchised by our society because of systemic racism, classism, etc.. But that is only one way in which there is a mountain over our head.

This week we have witnessed the death of another man of color, George Floyd, at the hands, or should I say beneath the knee, of a Minneapolis police officer while being witnessed by other police officers. This follows only weeks after we learned of the murder of Auhmad Arbery in Georgia, and at the same time as Christian Cooper, anAfrican-American birder, was threatened by a white woman in Central Park. Even though that incident did not end in his death, there was a reason why she told 911 that there was an African American man “threatening”her in Central Park. And I have no doubt that, if they were still in the park when the police arrived, there was a good chance the encounter could have taken a turn for the worse for Mr. Cooper. Of course, we can add so many names to this list going back not only to Trayvon Martin in this last decade, but to Emmett Till and beyond, who was murdered because of the false accusation of a white woman.

I see the reaction of the the African American community of Minneapolis, as well as other people of color and their supporters, in response to the death of Mr. Floyd and it reminds me of the reactions to the death of so many people of color in our country, including Philando Castile in Minneapolis just four years ago. It would be easy as someone who is seen as white to criticize those who are protesting violently. And certainly I don’t believe in violence. But we must all ask ourselves what it would take for any of us to cross that line of no return? At what point do otherwise peaceful people simply say “enough is enough” and turn to violence because it seems the only thing that might get the attention of those in power and the only way to truly express the rage which they rightfully feel.

And yet, some of the responses to the protests and riots have me even more concerned about the state of our country. The fact that Twitter had to flag a post from the President of the United States because it violated their policy against inciting or encouraging violence is horrifying. The president’s decision to enact an executive order to curb the free speech of the internet because Twitter and others have finally to label his speech exactly what it is is infuriating. And the fact that the Minnesota State Police arrested CNN reporters who were covering the violence in Minneapolis makes me afraid for our country as well and that they lied about the reason, just as the police first lied about the circumstances of Mr. Floyd’s death made it even worse. After all, a free press (even if it is flawed) is essential to maintaining democracy and fighting tyranny. And now, the military is being called in. This only a few weeks after the 50th anniversary of the Kent State shooting. Didn’t that teach us enough of a lesson?

Today Jews around the world continue celebrating the festival of the receiving of the Torah, the laws and rules meant to help create a civil society, and also celebrating Shabbat (the Sabbath). Shabbat calls on us to remember that the original creation of the world was not in our hands. God was the creator, whether one believes that literally or metaphorically. However, Judaism reminds us that we are partners with God in maintaining and creating the world each and every day. Yet, refraining from creative acts on Shabbat reminds us of the fact that we are ultimately not in control. In this day and age it also reminds us that we have an even greater responsibility to use our creative forces for good, which is the godliness within us, to make the world a better place. If we choose to be apathetic and not do our part, take action, and make our voices heard, we are participating in the destruction of the world rather than continuing the work of creation.

And so, here we are as a nation with the mountain over our heads. Our actions will determine if God has the strength to hold it there and gently lower it where it belongs or if it will come crashing down and destroy us.

Those of us who consider ourselves to be white, as TaNehisi Coates call us, must hold those in power accountable for their actions that are damaging and destructive to human lives and to our country as a whole. We must take responsibility for our role in allowing things to get to the point where they are now, whether by direct action, inaction, or apathy. As the late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “in a free society, some of us are guilty, but all of us are responsible.” Let’s remember that any time we are prone to respond “I’m not guilty” or “it’s not me,” etc.

Let us take this day of celebration and day of rest, and every day that follows, to take stock of ourselves. Let us remember that we have the ability to create and destroy through our actions and our words. Then let us do what we can to move the mountain so that it is no longer hanging over our heads. Let us work together to lower it to the ground so that we can then help each other begin the difficult work of climbing to the top. The journey is difficult. The terrain is steep and dangerous. But if we make the climb together we can eventually reach the top and change our country and our world.

Beneath the Mountain: a poetic midrash for Shavuot

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 May 2020 20:07:00 +0000

The Israelites did not accept the Torah until the Blessed Holy One held the mountain over them like a vessel, as it is said: And they stood beneath the mountain (Exod. 19:17). R.

Dimi the son of Hama stated that the Blessed Holy One told Israel: “If you accept the Torah, well and good; but if not, your grave will be there….As soon as God [finally] asked them, “Will you accept the Torah?” they all responded, “We will do and hear,” - Midrash Tanhuma

In this midrash the rabbis implied that the people’s response to God “we will do and we will hear” (Exodus 24:7) was not so simple, as the mountain was being held over their head at the time. Still they could have decided that death was better than becoming slaves to a new master, even though this master would be God and not Pharaoh.

This midrash reminds us that, even when the right choice may seem clear, sometimes the situation in which we find ourselves can cloud our ability to see clearly. That is the essence of this midrashic poem which I share with you today as we celebrate Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks) on which, according to rabbinic tradition, the Ten Commandments and the entire Torah were given by God on Mt. Sinai.

Hag Shavuot Sameah - a joyous Shavuot,

Rabbi Steve

beneath the mountain

three months

I have led the people

out of egypt through the sea

into the desert into freedom

three months

they thank and praise

complain and threaten

are human

three months

it is as if I have been mother and father

wetnurse and protector

to this people

three months

and here we are

standing at the foot of the mountain

ready to receive God’s word

the ultimate gift

or are they am I

three days now i have told them

prepare to encounter the divine

to hear God’s voice

now they stand afraid unprepared human

now instead of God I begin to hear

mumbling

ever so slightly

questioning what they are doing there

should we have stayed in egypts

has this all been my doing

the sorcerer of sorcerers

turning rods into snakes

rivers into blood

splitting the sea

they know it was not me

and yet they doubt

how could they not

even i do

after all I have seen and heard

as the mumblings continues

the mountain begins to smoke and quake

with divine fire

it begins to rumble

the people quake they cannot move

though they try

suddenly the mountain rises from the ground

no longer rooted to the earth

it floats above them

a heavy cloud of earth and iron

it stays above their heads

for minutes maybe hours

not a word is heard not any sound

Even the thunder cannot be seen or heard

suddenly a blast comes forth from the heavens

piercing sound of the shofar

unlike any heard before

as if the entire universe were calling

listen pay attention

as if they really had any choice

with a mountain over our their

I wait to hear the voice

but nothing comes

again it is silent

then suddenly I hear the voice coming from within me

as before in the desert it is the voice us one of comfort

the voice of my father

gently calling my name moses

I look around see the faces of the people

each one is hearing the same but different voice

the voice of god emanating in a voice each can hear

mother father comforter

speaking clearly simply without fanfare or menace

the voice proclaims the simple truth of the moment

listen to and obey the words I am about to speak

accept the gift I am about to give

and all will be well

reject this gift and what is above shall fall

and this shall be

not the place of your birth as a community

but the place of its death

I hear the voice the words

and wonder

what will the people do

what would i do if really given the choice

does freedom mean enough

that they are willing to live with rules

as servants to God not slaves to pharoah

or do they value independence so much

that they are willing to die

rather than lose a drop of

what they see as their liberty

I no longer hear God’s voice

nor do they i am sure

I do not hear a word from any of them

no cry of assent or rejections

just stunned silence

the mountain dangling above them

then rumbling thunder lightening

are heard again

the piercing blast of the shofar

even louder than before

I fear the worst ego has defeated spirit

that the people have responded heard only by God

that death is better than serving anyone even God

that choice will be their one and only

exercise of their freedom

I prepare to watch my children die beneath the mountain

wanting to tell them how foolish they are

wanting to tell them what a gift it has been to lead them

in spite of all and for such a brief time

then the mountain begins to move

no longer over the people’s heads

it descends to its rightful place

and the voice of the people is heard as one

we shall obey we will hear all that god will say

we are your people you are our god

we accept your gift freely and with joy

the laws that allow liberty to exist

I feel a sense of elation

they have chosen right they understand

I feel a sense of dread

knowing that they are not quite ready yet

and I am prepared to face the difficult journey

from freedom to covenant to peoplehood to home

I only hope they are

I am also ashamed

for doubting that they would give the right answer

perhaps because

I didn’t know if I would have if I were one of them

yet I am one of them

as I begin to climb the mountain

to receive the words of God

I am moses who heard the voice of his father

just as each of them has heard their father or mother

I hope that I can remember during the difficult times

that this is the one truth

we are all one we all are on this journey together

perhaps they were a little coerced

but sometimes people need a little help

to accept to embrace

the difficult things that are best for them

the things that will help them become

the nation they are meant to be

Parshat Bamidbar: Wandering in the Wilderness

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 May 2020 19:11:00 +0000

Bamidbar 5780

This week we begin reading Bamidbar/Numbers, the next book of the Torah, with Parshat Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20). In this parashah/portion, God instructs Moses to conduct a census of all the Israelite men over the age of 20. Moses takes up a second census to count all of the Levite men. God then gives specific instructions to the Levites about their roles in the constructing and caring for the Tent of Meeting

The name Bamidbar means “in the wilderness,” which is where all of the events the exodus through the end of Deuteronomy take place in the wilderness. Through the centuries, various rabbis and scholars have pondered why God didn’t give the Torah in the land of Canaan. Why didn’t the people spend 40 years on their journey?

Of course, we know that the 40 years is ultimately a punishment for the people believing in the negative reports of the 10 spies who scouted out the land and ignoring the positive reports of the other two (see Parshah Shelach). However, putting that aside, what meaning and purpose can be found in the wilderness journey?

Rabbi Akiba believed that the suffering and pain that the people were to go through in the harsh wilderness “allowed them to merit the priceless gift of Torah.” (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 101a) Rabbi Harvey J. Fields suggests that perhaps this is alluding to the belief that the reward for experiencing pain and suffering is a greater sense of compassion and empathy, which are essential qualities for becoming a people or nation.

Modern British interpreter Rabbi M Miller stated that the wilderness was the perfect place for the people to receive that Torah (and ultimately become a nation) because “the Torah is given to those who make themselves as a wilderness, who purge themselves of impure influences and desires, of all aspirations and interests that are incompatible with the spirit of Torah.” These influences include selfishness, coveting others possessions, impatience, cruelty to others, and prejudices which blind us to new ideas and cripple us with dangerous habits (Shabbat Shiurim, 5729, pp. 215-221).

Finally, Rabbi Morris Adler believed that the wilderness was meant to remind the people that “there is no human condition...so dark [or difficult] that it can completely shut out God…[for sometimes] God speaks most clearly in the wilderness” where people are in difficult and painful situations (The Voice Still Speaks, New York, 1969pp. 265-269). Adler wrote that we should each listen for God’s voice in whatever our particular wilderness at any given moment.

Right now we are living in a kind of wilderness, even if we are living in our homes and in our cities and towns. After all, though we may be surrounded by familiar places or people, the fact is that everything has changed so drastically in the last two months and that the future is so uncertain. This makes it feel like we are living in an uncharted wilderness. If s0, then what can these commentaries teach us about our wilderness?

In terms of R. Akiba’s teaching, I have never been one to believe that we are given suffering in order to “receive the gift” of learning something, even if what we learn is how to be more compassionate and caring. However, I do believe that it is possible to find meaning in our wilderness, even in the midst of pain, discomfort, and difficulty.

As Miller wrote, we must make our minds like a wilderness. We must do our best to empty ourselves of petty and harmful emotions. We must open ourselves to new ways of acting and thinking that are beneficial to everyone and not just to ourselves. The first step of doing this is simply paying attention and acknowledging our fears, our insecurities, our petty quarrels and harmful feelings. Once we acknowledge them we can also acknowledge that we do not need to hold on to them. Rather, we can replace them with love, compassion, caring for others, and joy. These are all feelings we can possess and actions that we can take even as we are also feeling discomfort, uncertainty, and even fear. They are also what enable us to think beyond ourselves and connect with others. In short, these practices make us ready, in Adler’s terms, to hear the voice of God even in the midst of chaos, uncertainty, and pain. We can hear God even as we wander through our own harsh, empty, and often scary, wilderness.

But what is God’s voice? For me it is the voice of humanity at its best. It is us when we remember that we were created b’tzelem elohim, in God’s image. It is when we remember that we are all meant to be holy. God’s voice is the voice calling us to work together as a community, a country, and a world. It is a voice which calls on us to acknowledge the suffering of everyone and everything. It also reminds us that there are others who are suffering even more than we are. Then it is calling us to reach out to others as best we can.

The voice of God is the voice which tells us that this is not about me. It is not about you. It is about us. It is the voice which tells us that we must forgo some of our comforts in order to make the world better for others. It is the voice that tells us we must make sacrifices, and even do things of which we are not particularly fond, in order to make things better for all. This is not about giving up our “inalienable rights.” Rather, it is about giving up our privileges, at least for now. It is about letting go of any sense of entitlement in order to help our world to slowly make its way out of the wilderness.

Towards the end of the 40-year wilderness journey Moses tells the people that God has put before them “ life and death, blessings and curses. Therefore, choose life, so that you and your children may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19)

We can view being in the wilderness as a blessing, a curse, or both. This depends on how we view each moment. The objective truth of the moment is that people are sick and dying, perhaps even us or our loved ones. And yet, we need to find a way to be present and hear the voice of God even in these most difficult of moments.

We are all well aware of the literal difference between physical life and death; we are all aware of how many lives have been and will be lost due to this pandemic. It is scary. It is sad. However, all of us can also determine whether we are spiritually alive or dead through how we live our lives and how we view each moment.

Even in the wilderness of Covid-19 we can make choices to find blessings and to truly live our lives. We can also see only the curses and exist as spiritually dead. The choice is up to us.

I am not naive. I don’t think this is easy. And sometimes it may not be possible. However, life is not easy; this is especially true right now. That is why we need to walk through this wilderness together, even when alone. We must help each other listen for God’s voice.

Let us do our best in each moment to hear the call for compassion. The call of sacrifice. The call of justice. The call of love. And let the voice and its messages lead us through and eventually out of the wilderness.

We may not know where we will end up, but at least we will arrive there together and prepare to take our next steps into the unknown.

Shabbat Shalom.

Parshat Behar-Behukotai: Finding Meaning in the Rest of Isolation

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 16 May 2020 00:15:00 +0000

This week we finish reading from the book of Vayikra/Leviticus with the double parashah/portion Behar-Behukotai (Leviticus 25:1- 27:34).

Parshat Behar begins with the laws regulating the sabbatical year and the jubilee year. The Israelites are instructed that, once in the Promised land, they are to grow crops and tend their fields for six years. The seventh year is to be a Sabbath for the land during which they may eat whatever the uncultivated land happens to produce during that year. However, they may not plant, sow or harvest any crops. In addition to the Sabbatical/Shemitah year, they are to count seven cycles of seven years and then in the fiftieth year they are to proclaim a yovel/jubilee year. This is to be a year of release in which all Israelites were to take possession of the original lands which will be given to their ancestors at the time of entering the land.

In Parshat Behukotai, God promises that the Israelites will flourish in the land if they obey God's mitzvot/ commandments. However, if they do not, they will suffer terribly, as will their children. Repeatedly, God tells them "if you still do not obey me" they will suffer seven-fold punishments for their sins. The ultimate punishment, if the people continue to disobey God's commands, is that they will lose everything they have and "the land shall be forsaken of them, making up for its Sabbath years by being desolate of them, while they atone for their iniquity; for the abundant reason that they rejected My rules and spurned My laws …" (26:43). In spite of this, God still proclaims that in the end "I will remember in their favor the covenant with the ancients, whom I freed from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God, the Eternal" (26:45).

In viewing Behar and Behukotai as one unit, there are two clear links that I see between them. The first is the connection between the laws of the sabbatical for the land in Behar and God's promise that the land will make up for it's neglected sabbaticals in Behukotai. The second is that God states numerous times in Behar that the reason Israelites are not to be enslaved eternally, nor treated as slaves, is that God brought them out of Egypt to serve God – and no one else. This connects with the verse in Behukotai in which God proclaims that, even after all punishments and curses have been meted out, God will not forget the people because God freed them from the land of Egypt.

The idea that both we and the land are meant to rest points to the importance of letting go. As "God's people" we are commanded to let go of any notion that we are in control of the world around us or that the creative forces in the world are in any way our domain. We do this by resting from all forms of physical creation or destruction each Shabbat. On that day our inaction allows us to be mindful of the fact that the world continues to exist and creation continues without any action on our part.

Refraining from working the land every seventh year then reminds us that, even if we cease to work the land for an entire year, creation continues and food will be provided, precisely because we are are not in control. We are merely the caretakers of God's earth. Of this we must be mindful from year to year, month to month, week to week, day to day and moment to moment.

When we neglect to remember that we are not in control, then we are in fact neglecting the reality of the Divine Presence that is the source of all. In doing so we place ourselves, our egos and our sense of self-importance above the Self of the Universe. This is one way of understanding the punishments that come from disobeying God's mitzvot.

Though translated most commonly as commandments, I choose instead to understand mitzvot as behaviors that serve to remind us that the Divine Presence is within all creation. When in paying attention to the mitzvot (or at least those we do not find anachronist or anethema in our times) we treat each human being and everything within creation as part of the Divine. As Jews, we do this using the uniquely Jewish language and traditions as our guide. But living a life of mitzvot is simply the way our Jewish language describes something everyone should do.

In Behukotai we read that each time we ignore the mitzvot we will be punished. Each time we ignore the mitzvot concerning the treatment of our earth, the animals upon it and/or our fellow human beings we are to be punished seven-fold. Though this number is meant to represent an excessive punishment, the use of the term seven-fold was quite deliberate. Seven represents the cycle of creation and of rest. Therefore, it is as if the Torah is saying: "ignore the wisdom that teaches you to rest and acknowledge your powerlessness at the end of each cycle of seven, and creation will wreak havoc on you." In a way this is the Torah's version of a karmic response. Or, in the vernacular, what goes around will inevitably come around!

The final warning in the parashah brings all of this to a conclusion: If we continually neglect humanity and all of God's world we are doomed. If we continually ignore the divine within all creation and act as if we are the master of all that we see, then creation will teach us a lesson. For all the times we ignored the Truth and simply kept working the land …or human beings … or ourselves … without taking rest … we will be forced to rest. The land will not yield its fruits. We will not yield our fruits. God will not sustain us and we will be left alone and destitute. When this happens we will be forced to face the reality that there is indeed something greater than us. We will be forced to realize that ultimately we are not in control. This is simply a warning of what will happen if we ignore our world and all its inhabitants. If we ignore the world, we will indeed experience the consequences. Looking at our environment today, we know that all too well to be true.

In Behukotai we read that during that time of ultimate punishment, human beings will be afraid of "the sound of a driven leaf." We will reach the point where we are afraid of even the slightest sound. As individuals, we all have probably experienced this kind of fear. It is the sense that the world around us is such a dangerous and frightening place, that the slightest movement – or the slightest thought within our minds – will cause fear to arise. This is a fear that we cannot easily escape, for it comes from within us. For many of us, it is the fear that we are feeling now.

Though the current pandemic is in no way a punishment from God for our behavior, the results can be the same for us. We too are afraid of a driven leaf. We are afraid of the uncertainty and the unknown. All we can do as a community is to follow the guidelines, the civil mitzvot of social distancing and caring for ourselves. But when we are doing this it is a good time for introspection. As the pollution clears and the earth is allowed to rest, let us think of how we can allow this to continue. As we are forced into a variation of a sabbatical year, let us look at how powerless we are over the universe, be grateful for what exists, and do our best to appreciate every creature in the world.

In the face of the anxiety that we might be feeling, our urge might be to run. But we don't need to run from the sound of a driven leaf. Instead we should recognize and acknowledge the fear for what it is. The fear of the unknown. The fear of uncertainty. The fear that comes from realizing that, in so many ways, we are not in control. The fear of acknowledging what we have done to our world.

By acknowledging the reality of our fears we can then let them go. We can then see clearly the truth of our world. Only then can we see that all things and all people are part of God and that it is our obligation/mitzvah to behave in a manner that acknowledges this. We must act in a way that truly respects ALL of God's creation and not just humanity, or even a chosen few.

Even though we have been forced into this position by a pandemic, we can still learn the lessons of Shabbat and the sabbatical year and take those lessons with us into the post-pandemic world. When we do this, we bring ourselves to the acknowledgement of what is stated in both Behar and Behukotai: that we have been freed from our enslavement to the need to control so we can act in a way that serves the greater good of the world.

When we come to this place, then we can truly experience a Shabbat for our soul and for our world. If only we could have learned these lessons without being put in isolation, and some have. But the reason for coming to these realizations doesn't matter. Remembering them and putting them into practice now and in the future that is ultimately of importance which will give meaning to everything we are experiencing today.

Shabbat Shalom.