Parshat VaYetze – Dream a little dream of ….

On the second day of creation HaShem creates a rakyia (usually translated ‘firmament’) that separates the upper waters from the lower waters.  The rakiya is called shamayim (’sky’ in the physical sense, ‘heaven’ in the religious sense).  This is the only act of creation and naming that takes place on the second day.  this day is the only day which HaShem does not see as “good.” If HaShem can be said to reside anywhere, it is above the shamayim in a place where humans cannot reach. After starting his own lech-licha journey, Yakov stops in “a place”.  The Hebrew is  וַיִּפְגַּע בַּמָּקוֹם (usually translated as “he lighted” or “he stayed” in a place.  The word paga can also mean wounded, injured, or afflicted, and surely Yakov is all of those, even if his wounds are self-inflicted. About this place Rashi comments that it is Mount Moriah, where Yakov’s grandfather had almost sacrificed/killed Yakov’s father.   It is at Mount Moriah that we see one of the last creatures made during the first week of creation; the ram which is created in the moment between the end of the sixth day and the beginning of the first Shabbat. Rashi  – quoting from Midrash and Talmud – also points out that the wording of our verse is  unusual.  He says that the verse should have said that the sun set, so Yakov stayed in that place.  Whether simply a pretext for the comment or not, the point is that it is not accidental that Yakov spends the night in this particular place.  It is as if only in this place do heaven and earth meet; where perhaps the rakiya does not completely separate the domain of HaShem from the earthly domain of humankind. Yakov dreams – as we know – of a very unusual ladder on which messenger/angels ascend and descend. The ladder reaches toward the heavens. After Yakov’s dream of a visitation from HaShem, he awakes and proclaims (in translation) “Surely HaShem is in this place, and I did not know this.”  Yakov recognizes the place as a gateway to the heavens.

Three verses later Yakov has reverted to his deal-making negotiating self.  If HaShem will be with him, and guard him, and feed him, and if he returns peacefully to his ancentral home, then he will accept HaShem as his god and then he will act as a believer. It is painfully easy and tempting to slam Yakov for his deceitful behavior and his conditional (at best) acceptance of HaShem’s promise and presence in his life.  But if we reflect on our own lives, we are likely to see ourselves in Yakov.  It is the rare person who does set conditions and make deals.  It is even more rare (but how fortunate) to have a constant and steadfast belief in and sense of HaShem’s presence in our lives. For most of us (or should I just say – for me!) a clear  sense of G-d’s presences is infrequent and transitory.  There are moments when we an see, like Yakov, “surely G-d is in this place”, but there are many more moments when we are in a state of  “I knew it not.” On the pshat level this story is simply about a wounded man fleeing his misdeeds who has a powerful dream and a moment of enlightenment.  But at a deeper level, Yakov’s story is one that we all share, and it delivers a reassuring message.   Verse 16 comes to tell us, that whether we know it not – HaShem is in “this place.”  And the place where we are, wherever it is, can be the gateway to heaven. Why is the usual proclamation of creation – HaShem saw that it was good – missing from the second day?  Because the second day marks the =separation of G-d and humankind.  In HaShem’s regarding of the design, this separation is necessary – but it is not good. Yakov’s dream reflects Hashem’s desire for humankind; that we dream of a ladder to climb, that unites and cements our partnership with HaShem in creating and finishing our world.   Shabbat Shalom

Parshat Vayetze – Jacob Left

Our parshah begins with a simple six word verse that seems to merely set the scene for what is to follow. וַיֵּצֵא יַעֲקֹב, מִבְּאֵר שָׁבַע; וַיֵּלֶךְ, חָרָנָה Yakov exited from Be’er Sheva and headed toward Haran. The Hebrew word vayetze is simple in meaning; “he went out.” When we think about the story that comes before it immediately takes on a variety of shadings and meanings. וַיֵּצֵא Yakov exited.  He exited his relationship with his brother.  After seducing his brother out of his birthright for a bowl of soup and stealing his rightful death-bed blessing, he has abandoned any relationship with his brother.  He will not even see his brother for twenty years, but he will carry with him a burden of guilt and a palpable fear of what his brother would do to him.  Perhaps he knows of Esav’s vow to kill him as soon as the mourning period for his father is over. וַיֵּצֵא Yakov exited. He exited his relationship with his father. Yitzhak, we are told by the text, had always favored Esav. After realizing how Yakov had deceived him, could he have felt any love for him?  This relationship too was damaged, if not completely destroyed. וַיֵּצֵא Yakov exited. He exited his relationship with his mother. He had done what his mother told him to do.  She had said she accepted the responsibility; that the curse be upon her. He had always been a mama’s boy, but now he would have to become a man. וַיֵּצֵא Yakov leaves his family behind him.  He is estranged from his father, his mother and his brother. He is not just leaving a geographical location called Be’ersheva; he is leaving the life that he has known behind him.

מִבְּאֵר שָׁבַע Avraham dug wells in Be’ersheva, had a dispute and resolved it. Yitzhak dug the same wells that his father dug before him, and called them by the same names his father had called them.  (The Philipstines had stopped up the wells in the interim).  Yakov will not dig the wells of his father and his grandfather. He is estranged from his family history and traditions. וַיֵּלֶךְ, חָרָנָה Where does Yakov head? Toward Haran. This too is a powerful reminder from the text of the loneliness of Yakov.  When his grandfather gathered his family and went toward Haran he was leaving his native land, his birthplace and his familial home. This seemingly simple and straightforward verse that looks like it is nothing more than a restatement of “where we were before commercial break” is meant to tell us something about the heart of Yakov’s existential condition. Yakov is a man who  is all alone in the most fundamental part of his being. If he is to go anywhere at all, he can only go upward from this point. So of course this wounded and broken man dreams of a ladder that reaches into the heavens. In this the Torah gives us a powerful message; in the moment of our hitting rock-bottom, it is not only the case that we have nowhere to go but up; rather – the Torah tells us – we will go up; all we have to do is get on the first rung of the ladder. Iin the story of the ladder Yakov quickly finds a deeper and more fundamental truth; he is not alone.  We are not alone; rather HaShem is with us, waiting for us to begin our own ascent. And… if we do, HaShem will send messenger angels to help and accompany us. Shabbat Shalom

Aleh Toldot Yitzhak Now the Jewish story begins #Torah

Torah students everywhere know that (how many? can you name them?) a small handful of parshiot are named after individuals. Last Shabbat was one of these – chayei Sarah. This week we read toldot. It opens with these words -  וְאֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת יִצְחָק    – but it quickly moves on to the story of Jacob and Esau.  Yitzhak gets almost no respect.  Pinchas gets a parshah named for him, Balak gets a parshah named for him. Even Korach gets a parshah named for him?Why not Yitzhak? About all we can say is that neither his  famous father nor his famous son get a parshah name. Given he seems to be a pale shadow of either one, it doesn’t seem that unfair. Who is Yitzhak and what is his role in the founding of our people?  It is in his generation that the uniquely Jewish story begins to unfold   Yitzhak and Yishma’el are both on the receiving end of some brutal treatment by their father, and they go their separate ways.  The half-brothers are joined together  again only when they reunite to bury him in the double cave of Machpelah, and the text is at pains to mention that they are – still – the sons of Abraham. וַיִּקְבְּרוּ אֹתוֹ יִצְחָק וְיִשְׁמָעֵאל, בָּנָיו, אֶל-מְעָרַת, הַמַּכְפֵּלָה Yitzhak and Yishma’el, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah Immediately afterward, the Torah gives us a geneology of Yishmael, followed by its resumption of Yitzhak’s story.  Unless we believe that the Torah thinks we don’t know who these men are, it is clear that they are specifically associated with their father Abraham in order to teach us something. In verse 12 we read  וְאֵלֶּה תֹּלְדֹת יִשְׁמָעֵאל, בֶּן-אַבְרָהָם  (these are the generations of Yishma’el, son of Avraham) and in verse 19 we read וְאֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת יִצְחָק, בֶּן-אַבְרָהָם   (these are the generations of Yitzhak, son of Avraham). The brothers are equal in relationship to their father, but not equal in their treatment by the text, for in verse 11 we read that – after Avraham’s death- HaShem blessed Yitzhak his son. Nothing is said about blessings for Yishma’el. Until the opening of our parshah (or, if you prefer, the last aliyah of chayei Sarah), the Torah’s story is “universal”.  Everyone is still part of the same family, even if only at funerals. We probably all know families like this; estranged but not separated, meeting at funerals and saying “we should be together in happier times.” But sadly, never carrying through this vague thought, or perhaps never meaning it at all; merely finding something to say at an awkward moment.

From this point forward in the Torah, the line of Yishma’el is a story that can only be separately told, because this is now “the story of Yitzhak”.  One brother is in, and one brother is out. As if to be sure we understand what is happening, the Torah moves in the short space of a single aliyah (full reading version) to the next pair of brothers who will separate. The quarrel begins over soup and will explode into a fight over Yitzhak’s death-bed blessing.  The second brother is banished from the family, off to create a legacy of his own. He departs in hate and with a promise to kill his brother as soon as the mourning period is over.  Once again, one brother is in, and the other brother is out. The story of our people seems to be getting off to a problematic and troubling start. All drashot, and all drasha-makers, look to see what we should learn from the parasha. This parsha is challenging, with its tales of brothers quarreling, and with “the Jewish brother” behaving in a rather deceitful and despicable manner.  Certainly the Torah does not intend for us to learn that we should lie and cheat in the service of our people!  That would be unthinkable. Like all parshiot, the story resonates with the events we live out in our own lives. The unfortunate quarrel between the descendants of Yitzhak and the descendants of Yishma’el are very present in our time, and as distressing to consider as it is to read of Yakov purchasing birth-right and stealing blessing. Because we reread the Torah each year, we know how this particular brotherly conflict turns out, even though the re-meeting of the brothers will not happen until two Shabbatot hence.  But when we arrive at that point in the story, we see a humbled and apologetic (though fearful) Yakov and a generous and forgiving Esav. Perhaps the teaching of this parshah is simply that while conflict and in-fighting occur, there is always the hope for for forgiveness and reconciliation.  For has not HaShem created enough blessing for all the world to share? We should only be blessed to live long enough to witness peace and harmony between brothers being lifted up off the parchment of Torah, and brought powerfully and completely into our lives, speedily and in our day - bimherah ubiyamenu. Amen Shabbat Shalom

Rosh Hodesh – Does HaShem Sin!?! Really! #Torah

The first commandment given to the community of Israel is to observe Rosh Hodesh. Unlike the festival holidays, no specific reason is given for this observance. Rashi opens his commentary on the Torah by asking why the Torah does not begin with this verse, since the Torah appears to be given for the purpose of articulating the mitzvot. (Rashi is actually setting up a straw man which he then proceeds to demolish, but that’s a different conversation.)Why is observing Rosh Hodesh the first communal commandment? Could it be possible that HaShem sinned in connection with Rosh Hodesh? Is it heretical to even ask such a question? Do we not read elsewhere that “the Rock is perfect in all his works, and all his pathways truth”?Answers to follow, but first this non commercial message. If you haven’t heard of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies go check it out and watch this video. I’ll wait.Inspired? I hope so. Please think about supporting this wonderful institution, and now, back to the drash. Traditionally – Rosh Hodesh is understood to be a day of human renewal, just as it marks the observance that the moon has started to renew itself after its disappearance at the end of the prior month. In fact, the Jewish month begins precisely at the moment when the moon begins its new cycle; while it is yet not visible to the human eye.   The Torah mandates that a sin offering be brought on Rosh Hodesh. BaMidbar 28:11-15 describes the offerings for Rosh Hodesh, concluding in verse 15 by specifying that “one male goat shall be brought for a sin-offering l’adoshem along with the continual burn-offering and the drink offering. וּשְׂעִיר עִזִּים אֶחָד לְחַטָּאת, לַיהוָה, עַל-עֹלַת הַתָּמִיד יֵעָשֶׂה, וְנִסְכּוֹ. The word l’adoshem does not appear in connection with other sin-offerings on other festive holidays, giving license to midrash makers and kabbalists to read that this sacrifice is not made to HaShem, but by HaShem. A radical notion to be sure.

This startling interpretation has its basis in Talmud. On Hullin 60b we find a discussion of the sun and moon which begins with an exposition of Breshit 1:16. According to R. Shimon ben Pazzi the moon and sun were created at the same size, whereupon the moon pointed out to the Creator that “two kings cannot wear one crown.” The KBH responded by commanding the moon to make itself smaller. The moon’s feelings were hurt, and the moon was inconsolable, so the KBH finally said “Bring an atonement for Me for making the moon smaller.” Resh Lakish sums up the discussion by saying “Why is it that the male goat offered on Rosh Hodesh has the additional phrase l’adoshem? Because the Kadosh Baruch Hu said – Let this male goat be an atonement for Me for making the moon smaller!”   R. Avi Chermon points out that the Gemarah passage should not be taken literally. He in turn learns this from Rav Kook. HaShem created a world in which it is possible to sin. Often this is understood to be a natural consequence of free will, but in this case, it has a different purpose. Quoting from another great rabbinic teacher – the Ramchal – “Hashem’s wisdom decreed that in order for the good to be complete, HaShem wanted the one who benefits to be the master of his good. One must acquire the good on his own, not through an external means.”The world is full of both destruction and creation (hmmm… sounds like capitalism a bit). Both can be part of the kedusha that is inherent in HaShem’s design of the world. When Moshe destroys the first set of tablets, he makes it possible for Israel to “earn” the commandments. So when the Gemara says that HaShem asks for an atonement for making the moon smaller, HaShem is really saying that HaShem has deliberately created a world in which sin is possible, because atonement for sin repairs and completes the world – tikkun olam. In this reading, HaShem has created a world in which the destructive impulse can be harnessed for creation and construction. Our role is both to sin – because we are human and fallible – and then to atone. This is the way HaShem has designed for us to partner in the works of creation.

The Life of Sarah – and what a life it was #Torah

Consider the journey of Sarah. We meet her for the first time when Avraham’s father takes the family out of Haran, intending to go to Canaan, but settling in Haran. Having gotten the family that far, her father-in-law dies, never to reach Canaan.Having settled with the family in Haran, she is uprooted again, this time by her husband, who hears and responds to a strange and mysterious voice who invites Avraham on a journey to a far off unknown place; a place that – the voice says – “I will show you”.   We often focus on Avraham and wrestle with the times when he argued with HaShem and the times that he stayed silent.  Notice that we hear nary a word of complaint from Sarah when she is uprooted not once but twice. What do we know about Sarah? Apparently, she was quite beautiful in her physical appearance. When we consider the not once but twice episodes where Avraham has her masquerade as his sister rather than his wife, we might wonder if, had Sports Illustrated been around at that time, she might have been the first Jewish woman to make the front cover of the dreaded Swimsuit Edition. The Torah – and our tradition – places little emphasis on physical beauty, preferring to put the focus on – and value – inner, might we say spiritual, perfection. Here the life of Sarah begins to get more complicated. The Torah chooses to be a bit mysterious about what when on when Sarah was “taken into Pharoah’s house. וַיִּרְאוּ אֹתָהּ שָׂרֵי פַרְעֹה, וַיְהַלְלוּ אֹתָהּ אֶל-פַּרְעֹה; וַתֻּקַּח הָאִשָּׁה, בֵּית פַּרְעֹה. The Pharoah’s officers saw her, and praised her to Pharoah, so she was taken into Pharoah’s house. All we know was that Avraham did pretty well as a result, and HaShem punished Pharoah on account of Sarah, because she was in fact Avraham’s wife.

Sarah is barren, unable to conceive, so she performs an act of great selflessness, which she quickly comes to regret.  Once Hagar produces a son for Avraham, Sarah treats her ever more harshly, ultimately demanding that mother-and-child be exiled from the family. She blames her husband for the problem. Finally, Avraham is promised by HaShem that Sarah will bear him a son. When she hears the news for herself she laughs! Or maybe she rejoices. Or gets playful – in a good way. Whatever, a woman barren all her life, well into menapause, has a child. As the child starts to grow, Sarah acts as any fierce mother might, protecting her child, banishing his rival. Yet when father takes son off on a journey of sacrifice, Sarah is once more silent. As Avraham and Isaac walk off, she must be thinking that she will never again see her son.  But…she is silent.  And the next thing we know…she is dead. The midrash on our parsha’s opening verse is so familiar the reader has probably been waiting for it to show up. Rashi’s version (Breshit Rabbah is not available on line as far as I know) is here. The claim is made that even when Sarah was one hundred years old she was without sin.  Perhaps the midrash is carefully sliding over the last twenty seven years of her life, when – most likely – the incidents of Hagar and the binding of Isaac occurred. The midrash also has it that Sarah died at the very moment Isaac was saved.  A life for a life as it were.  Perhaps this is where Sarah’s inner beauty is revealed, at least in a midrashic reasoning-backward kind of way.  We might ask Sarah if we could, or we might ask any mother “would you give your life to save your child”. I think we are safe in deciding we know what the answer would be.  Surely she would have said to HaShem “take me but spare my child.” Here (if the reader is with me so far on this) is the spiritual perfection of Sarah that we might emulate any way we can – putting the interests of others ahead of our own. Not to the point of death except for those closest to us, but in significant ways that matter. Would that make the world we live in more conforming to HaShem’s plan in creating it?  Yes.  It would. May we learn from this parshah to emulate the most perfect part of Sarah’s beauty, and by doing so, make our contribution to Tikkun Olam – the perfecting of the world. Shabbat Shalom

Still Studying Breshit (#Torah)

Our Torah Study Chavurah meets once a month on Motzei Shabbat. We study one parshah each time in order. We have been blessed to finish one complete cycle of the Torah and are beginning again this Motzei Shabbat. I have the honor of facilitating. We’re going to consider Rashi’s opening comment, and then examine how HaShem creates the world. How does HaShem create the world? With pure speech – and note the symmetry of the language, which is difficult to capture in English translation. 3. Spoke Elohim: “Be Light”, therefore there is Light. :וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר; וַיְהִי-אוֹר. These six words reveal the intention with which the world is created; that everything in it should be in accordance with the will of HaShem. By thinking/speaking and making stuff. Or is verse 7 simply a commentary on verse 6? (compare also verses 21-22) וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי רָקִיעַ בְּתוֹךְ הַמָּיִם, וִיהִי מַבְדִּיל, בֵּין מַיִם לָמָיִםז וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-הָרָקִיעַ, וַיַּבְדֵּל בֵּין הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר מִתַּחַת לָרָקִיעַ, וּבֵין הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר מֵעַל לָרָקִיעַ; וַיְהִי-כֵן. 6. Spoke Elohim: (let there) Be a rakiya in among the waters so it will divide between water and water. 7. Made Elohim: the rakiya {choose a meaning, either} “which divided”  {or} “He divided” between the waters below the rakiya and the water above the rakiya. By commanding action וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יִקָּווּ הַמַּיִם מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמַיִם אֶל-מָקוֹם אֶחָד, וְתֵרָאֶה, הַיַּבָּשָׁה; וַיְהִי-כֵן. 9. Spoke Elohim: The water should gather from under the sky to a single place so the ground (dry land) can appear. It happened exactly like that.

By causing self-perpetuating actions וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, תַּדְשֵׁא הָאָרֶץ דֶּשֶׁא עֵשֶׂב מַזְרִיעַ זֶרַע, עֵץ פְּרִי עֹשֶׂה פְּרִי לְמִינוֹ, אֲשֶׁר זַרְעוֹ-בוֹ עַל-הָאָרֶץ; וַיְהִי-כֵן.  יב וַתּוֹצֵא הָאָרֶץ דֶּשֶׁא עֵשֶׂב מַזְרִיעַ זֶרַע, לְמִינֵהוּ, וְעֵץ עֹשֶׂה-פְּרִי אֲשֶׁר זַרְעוֹ-בוֹ, לְמִינֵהוּ; וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים, כִּי-טוֹב.  יג וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר, יוֹם שְׁלִישִׁי. 11. Spoke Elohim: The earth should grow perennial grasses and self-reproducing fruit trees organized in species, upon the earth. It happened exactly like that. 12. The earth produced perennial grasses organized in species and self-reproducing fruit trees that put their seeds back into the ground, organized in species, and Elohim judged that it good. (liked the results) By granting blessings and giving commands וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים, לֵאמֹר:  פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ, וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הַמַּיִם בַּיַּמִּים, וְהָעוֹף, יִרֶב בָּאָרֶץ. 22. Blessed them (did) Elohim, saying “multiply, mulitply” to fill the waters in the water, and with fowl fill the earth. We learn from the creation of light how the world is designed to unfold and operate. HaShem wishes that there should be light in the world, so therefore there is light in the world. HaShem desires that there should be dry land (for us to live on), and commands that the waters make way for dry land.  Dry land appears. HaShem organizes the world so that living things shall bring forth their own progeny. They do, and we see that they do. HaShem reveals HaShem’s self to be the source of blessing.  This is the great hidush of creation. From the beginning we find a blueprint and the build-0ut of it. HaShem creates light. We live by the natural light and learn to make out own light. HaShem makes land in among the water; my neighbors live on landfill (fortunately, living in California, my house is on bedrock). HaShem creates living things that sustain us; tonight we are eating fowl and (harvested) living produce. (Among our friends are familes with their own vegetable gardens, and one urban-dwelling family that has its own chickens; grow them, slaughter them, then eat them). HaShem is a source of blessing. To quote Joe Pesci from one of my favorite movies (My cousin Vinnie). “I think I get it.”  To state the obvious (then why state it, you ask).  We should be a source of blessing. Shabbat Shalom u’movorach.

וַיֵּרָא – Parshat VaYera – Why do we Eat our Young?

In the space of one parshah Avraham Avinu is promised a son by Sarah, celebrates the birth of Isaac, institutes brit milah and then… some time later… takes his son, his only son, the son that he loves, Yitzhak, to be sacrificed. As every reader knows, Yitzhak is saved by a messenger of YH-WH, and Avraham Avinu escapes the necessity of sliding the ma’achelet across the throat of his only remaining son. A mystery for the ages? Yes. It is. According to Midrash, Avraham responds by attempting to negotiate with HaShem and avoid signing up for this terrible and terrifying journey. You can read Rashi’s version of the Midrash here. Can we trust Avraham when he says – in reference to Ishama’el and Isaac – “I love them both”?  Did Avraham display love for Ishma’el when he banished him and his mother? We wonder, but that’s a different exploration. Midrash Tanhuma tells the story of the Devil himself trying to stop Avraham from carrying out this dreadful and terrifying mission. Satan puts up one obstacle after another, finally forming himself into a river that Avraham must cross, so deep that the water rises to his neck. Even Satan knows eating our young is a very bad idea. Yet Avraham perseveres until he reaches that mysterious mountain of which HaShem will tell him. In just five chapters Avraham is gifted with two sons. He manages to chase the first out of his household and almost completely out of the Torah. He almost kills the second. In each case he believes himself to be doing “what G-d wants”. How much do we believe it is safe, advisable or admirable for individuals to act based on our belief that we know what G-d wants? My Hebrew name is Avraham, but I am not Avraham Avinu. Neither is anyone else. How can any human say “I know what G-d wants” and I will kill and kill because I – and only I – have this unique knowledge. Some commentators have suggested that Avraham simply mis-understood HaShem’s command. וַיֹּאמֶר קַח-נָא אֶת-בִּנְךָ אֶת-יְחִידְךָ אֲשֶׁר-אָהַבְתָּ, אֶת-יִצְחָק, וְלֶךְ-לְךָ, אֶל-אֶרֶץ הַמֹּרִיָּה; וְהַעֲלֵהוּ שָׁם, לְעֹלָה, עַל אַחַד הֶהָרִים, אֲשֶׁר אֹמַר אֵלֶיךָ. The customary translation of the operative phrase is “…and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell you of”

The word “olah” comes to mean a “burnt-offering” when the sacrificial laws are given.  Did it have this meaning in our story?  Impossible to know.  But judging from Avraham’s reaction, he knew this command was a bad idea.  His instincts led him to immediately demur. Avraham Avinu almost kills his son. It is impossible to read this parshah and not think about all the sons – and daughters – being sent to death because parents or commanders “know” they are right. What guidance can we take from Parshat Vayera on this matter? Perhaps these are the lessons we can draw from Akedat Yitzhak. Trust our instincts.  If a proposed cause of action feels wrong at a deep emotional level, it probably is. Be cautious in killing our children. Be very cautious.  When a voice says “we must send our children to die” because the world will be better for it, we should ask lots of questions, demand compelling answers, and then find more questions to ask. Whether it is “send our sons and daughters to depose a dictator”, or to fight the terrorists, or to kill the innocents in the name of our cause, we must ask the simplest more powerful question of all… “Why?”. We must be the messenger of HaShem and call out to stop the killing.  This is the call to which we must answer “Here I am!” No more estrangement between father and son. No more walking on separate paths. No more killing. No more hatred. The intent of the Torah is the words we proclaim when we put the sacred scroll back in her holy container. etz chayim hi l’makhazikim ba…v’chol netivotehah shalom! She is a tree of life when we hold on to her…therefore all her paths are peaceful. There must be a better way. Our sacred mission is to find it. Shabbat Shalom.

Ha’azinu – How do we listen to each other?

This year on Shabbat Shuvah we read one of the most dramatic and literary parshiot in the Torah – Ha’azinu. Living in the age of spin as we do, the text of the parshah, especially its opening call, is especially relevant and compelling. Moshe, nearing the end of his life, has been embroiled in the politics of wandering for forty years.  Although the Torah only describes the beginning and end of this journey, we can be sure that the behavior demonstrated by the stories we have is continuous throughout the journey.  Our ancestors had nothing on the political complainers of the current time.  Everything was questioned, everything was argued. Leaders were under constant challenge from those with their own agendas. What comes first?  Speaking or listening? We cannot speak if no one will listen. Even the greatest teacher and prophet, the only one ever to speak with HaShem face-to-face, needs a listening ear and an open heart. Otherwise, the falling rain and the gentle showers might as well be falling on to parched ground that cannot hold it. Read the text carefully, especially the opening verse.  Moshe asks for the heavens to listen, and then he will speak.  He calls on the earth to hear, and then his speech will be more than just mere lips flapping.

Is there a lesson in this beautiful poem and appropriately short parshah? Do the heavens and skies listen? Aren’t they nothing more than inanimate objects? Well… yes, maybe and maybe not.  What we can learn is that when heaven and earth “listen”, they aren’t busy preparing a response that will underscore their own point of view.  In that sense, they are better listeners than human beings. What we could learn from this parshah is the value of really listening, of putting aside our own agendas and debate points.  Of the five senses, listening/hearing is the most passive, but also the most active.  To see you must look. To taste you must eat. To smell you must inhale. To touch you must…touch.  To hear you need do nothing, but to listen you must really do a lot.  Above all, you must turn off your arguing mind and open your listening heart. As one of our text says, “open our hearts, so that we might get wisdom.” This Shabbat Shuvah (repenting, returning, changing) – in the interim of the new year and the day of at-one-ment, let us learn to be like shamayim and aretz and listen to each other with perfect attention. Shabbat Shalom Hatimah Tovah

Between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur

It begins with a story. Everything begins with a story. Parents long for a child, but are unable to conceive. The father in particular needs a son to take delivery on promises made to him earlier by G-d. A still-hoping-to-become-mother makes a selfless act – as mothers will always do.   She appoints her handmaiden Hagar as a surrogate. A child is conceived. Yet even before the son is born, selflessness has spawned contempt and jealousy. Hagar’s pregnancy makes her triumphant, and she looks down on Sarai. Sarai responds by blaming her husband, who takes – perhaps – the easy way out, cedes control of the handmaiden back to her.   It appears from the text that Sarai does everything she can to make Hagar’s life miserable. To the point where Hagar flees and is found in the wilderness by a running stream. A new set of promises is made. Hagar’s son shall be her own and produce a multitude of descendants. Why? HaShem has listened and heard Hagar’s affliction. She must only return and submit to her mistress. This seems to go well for a time. The physical symbol of the covenant is cut into all the men of the extended family, including the son, Ishmael. In fact, as this chapter of our story ends, the Torah speaks of him as -referring to Abraham – Ishma’el his son. In the background is simply the reiterated promise that Sarah will have her own son. Amidst laughter and rejoicing the new son is born. He is called Yitzhak – whose name can mean many things; laughing, or playing, or rejoicing. When he has grown sufficiently, he goes out into the field to play with his brother. The text is deliberately ambiguous – we do not know what they were doing; only the reaction it causes. Sarah demands that Ishmael and Hagar be kicked out of the family. G-d agrees, and Abraham goes along. The story that began with love, sacrifice and selflessness has turned to love lost, estrangement and banishment. A story of a family torn apart, each fulfilling its own destiny. Yitzhak is followed by Yakov who produces twelve sons from four women; two wives and two handmaidens. There are good times and bad, and eventually worse. They have their own Great Recession, and preceded by Yosef, take refuge in Mitzrayim. In this story things are going very well, but then… וַיָּקָם מֶלֶךְ-חָדָשׁ, עַל-מִצְרָיִם, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָדַע, אֶת-יוֹסֵף There arose a new king – over Mitzrayim – who knew not Joseph. In the background, a jealous fearful king develops an attitude toward the not-yet-known-as-the-Jewish-people Israelites. There are too many of them to live here, they are a danger, but if there is a chance during war, they might leave. Soon mothers – the midwives – are commanded to kill but instead safely deliverf new-born Israelite sons. Asked to explain themselves, they claim that Hebrew women deliver babies to fast; before the midwives can come to help them. The midwives, and the people, prosper. But soon the story takes a turn for the worse.  We descend into servitude, but we are rescued and set free. And we are commanded to tell the story of our escape, and to fulfill the purpose of our freedom. We take our own walk in the wilderness. Moshe climbs a mountain.    We find out where we are going, and why we are going there.  In the words of Devarim …כִּי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, מְבִיאֲךָ אֶל-אֶרֶץ טוֹבָה: אֶרֶץ, נַחֲלֵי מָיִם–עֲיָנֹת וּתְהֹמֹת, יֹצְאִים בַּבִּקְעָה וּבָהָר וְאָכַלְתָּ, וְשָׂבָעְתָּ–וּבֵרַכְתָּ אֶת-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, עַל-הָאָרֶץ הַטֹּבָה אֲשֶׁר נָתַן-לָךְ HaShem your g-d brings you into a good land, a land of flowing water, of springs and fountains in the valleys and the hills (a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranites, a land of olive-trees and honey, a land wherein you will eat bread with no shortage, you won’t lank anything at all, with iron in the ground and brass in the hills. And you shall eat, and be satisfied and bless Adonai Elohecha for the good land which he gives you. And to bless HaShem we have, among other practices, the celebration of Shabbat, an echo of creation and apiece of the very design of the world. This is turning into a good story! We set up a nation, we struggle with building a just and righteous society. Kings and priest and prophets all try to set the course for the Israelite nation. We have our ups and downs. Battles with hostile forces. We are invaded, conquered and sent into exile. But in almost no time we are set free to return to what we now call aretz yisra’el. Not everyone goes back, but everyone adopts the story “Next year in Jerusalem”. Even before we are completely defeated and exiles, we already have a story of returning. The Great Defeat comes at the hands of Rome who view the Jewish nation as this strange people unlike any other. Worshiping an invisible g-d and giving over one day in seven to an unseen master. This is what our story looks like to people living outside of it, people living in a story mostly about power, triumph and mastery to a human ruler. Yokhanan ben Zakkai creates a new story, turning Temple Sacrifice into study and tefilah. Biblical Judaism turns into Rabbinic Judaism. Roman occupation is only a “small” problem in ben Zakkai’s story. Bar Kochba – last of the revolutionaries – wants a different story. In his story, a small insignificant people throws off the greatest military power in the world. But the story turns out to not have a Hollywood ending.We, the Jewish people, are sent wandering into the wilderness, not near Be’ar Sheva, but over almost the entire planet; all of G-d’s creation. We sometimes prosper, but too often suffer, at the hands of a King who knows not Joseph.

The theme repeats itself for almost two thousand years, so often it seems that is has itself become the complete story. In a serious vein, the situation becomes labeled “The Jewish problem”. On a lighter note, is has become an oft-repeated and well-known holiday time joke. What’s the theme of the holiday? “They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat.”In 1875 a German journalist – Wilhem Marr – publishes a pamphlet and forms a society whose purpose is to combat the alleged threat to Germany posed by the Jews and their influence. The society is called “The League of antisemites.” Let’s not spend any time on their story, because we know it all to well and we know how they proposed to deal with “The Jewish Problem.”   At more or less the same time, Jews are deciding to change the story on our own. The heck with waiting for the Mashiach to bring us out of exile, let’s just get up and go – to Palestine. One such group pretty much adopts that as its name – Bet Ya’akov L’Chu V’Nelchu – the BILU movement. It means “House of Jacob, let’s get up and go”. Their solution, articulated by the early Zionists? That the Jewish problem would be best solved by creating a jewish country, a normal state like all others. How is a normal state defined? One well-known saying, ascribed to David Ben Gurion among others, is that there would be a Jewish country that was normal when a Jewish cop chased a Jewish criminal down a Jewish street. Well… that ship sailed a long time ago. There is street crime, and there are Jewish cops, in Israel.  But that didn’t make Israel a normal country, judging by how Israel is looked at and treated around the world and most especially in certain world forums that don’t need to be named. So like economists in the past year looking for signs of “green shoots” in the economy, I went on a search for signs of Israel being “normal” and treated in a normal way on the world stage.  Where Israeli public figures could go around and not be subject to protests, agitation and being singled out for “special treatment’. Living in the Bay Area we are accustomed to a high level of criticism directed at Israel, to the point where in a community not too many miles away the current Prime Minister of Israel could not even give a speech because of the threat of conflict.  So I went looking for “non-controversial” Israeli figures. I eliminated politicians and religious figures right off the bat.  The the SF Jewish Film Festival and the protests around the Toronto film festival celebrating Tel Aviv made me rule out the fine arts.  Academics in the UK have been in the forefront of discriminating against Israelis, so I had to rule that out. Even an organization like Oxfam – on all its webpages describing its good works – has one page that is not like all the other pages, so I had to let them go. The search for normality was not going too well.  Remembering Rabbi Bloom’s comment about watching MTV to stay in touch I decided to consult my favorite secular magazine – Sports Illustrated – and being a red-blooded male (praise HaShem and rabbinical authorities for having a healthy attitude toward sex) in particular the Swimsuit Issue.  And who should be on the cover – last February – but none other than arguably the most well-known Israeli in the world, supermodel Bar Rafaeli (sorry guys, no links to pictures here ) .  And when the NBA draft came around in June and the Sacramento Kings drafted Omri Caspi in the first round, I looked into him as well. Sports Illustrated (thank you Chris Mar) reported that in the three years that Israeli models have appeared in the swimsuit issue they have not received so much as one protest letter.  The Sacramento Kings Director of Basketball Operations told me that they drafted Caspi and didn’t give a second thought to his being Israeli. They don’t expect to require extra security, and they don’t expect protests for having an Israeli on their roster.  (Good thing they don’t play in an arena in Berkeley!) Finally!  Two Israeli figures safe from protests.  Well, only one, because Bar Rafaeli has been protested by Israelis (remember – two Jews, five opinions…minimum) for dodging military service.  So that left one… Omri Caspi… as an example of a citizen of the one Jewish country in the world, who could answer my search for “normality” among the Jewish people. (Added after Yom Kippur – we were watching the TV show “NCIS” when it occurred to me that this show has an ongoing plot line involving not just an Israeli but a Mossad lisason agent as an ongoing character. but I’m not going to attempt to ascertain if they have received protests from the usual suspects because it is clear that “normality” is not something the Jewish people or the Jewish country should aspire to or ever will be.) The only problem left was… what’s so great about being normal?  Is being normal what Moshe led us out of Mitzrayim for?  Is being normal why we have the Torah? Do Jeremiah and Isaiah issue ringing prophetic calls for Israel “to be normal”? And… does anyone really think the Jewish people or Israel will be treated like any other people; like any other country?  I don’t think so. “Normality” is not the story of the Jewish people; I don’t think it ever will be. We are special. Dare we say it, we are “chosen”.  We are a light unto the nations. So if not normality how about hope?  Hope for living in the world that is the blueprint of the Torah, and in the Torah that is a blueprint for the world.  Or in the words of the Alenu prayer (in translation of course). “On that day the Lord shall be one and His Name One”.  (even to secularists and atheists). I found hope on a bicycle ride in the Negev, at a place in the Negev desert, at a place where Jewish Israelis, Palestinian Israelis (a new term, see the September/October edition of Moment magazine, Palestinians and Jordanians all study together and form lasting friendships without giving up their own stories. I’m going back for another Israel bike ride in October 2010. I hope some of you will join me.  You know who you are, but maybe I don’t know who you are, so contact me and help me form an East Bay or even a California team. May we all be inscribed in the Book of Life for a healthy, peaceful and holy year. Hatimah Tova

The Siddur and Health Care

I was sitting in shul this morning thinking about  the Torah and healthcare.   Thinking about the Torah portion’s repeated admonitions to be mindful and take care of the most power-less classes in society, I was lamenting that there was not a verse that spoke directly about taking care of the sick.  The siddur addresses this mandate in a number of places.At our shul we daven from what is now the “old” Siddur Sim Shalom. Like many siddurim it includes the traditional mishna and gemorah passages to be read in the very early part of birchot hashachar. In our version of the passage found in Talmud Brachot 127a, we read about the deeds that yield immediate fruit and continue to yield fruit in time to come – הקרן קימת לעולם.  Sure enough, right in between attending the house of study and helping the needy bride is visiting the sick. (Here’s a great article about this mitzvah, including that there is a dispute – of course – whether it is one of the official 613 mitzvot.) I suppose one could argue that the existence of a mitzvah of bikur holim even if officially one of the 613 mitzvot, doesn’t mean that rabbinic Judaism, or the Torah for that matter, mandates a particular healthcare system, or any kind of “right to healthcare.”  The mitzvah is based – as Rabbi Tranin’s article points out – on HaShem’s visit to Avraham Avinu on the third day after his (Avraham’s) circumcision.  The other Torah source for this mitzvah is Vayikra 19:18’s commandment – v’ahavta l’re-echa kamocha - you shall love your fellow human person as you love yourself.

Therefore we visit the sick because HaShem visited the sick, and because we would want to be visited when we are sick.So what about healthcare for all? (BTW – Does this mean that its advocates want to turn the U.S. into a socialist country.  State ownership of all means of production, state ownership of all capital?  It’s a great boogeyman, for people who check under their beds and in their closets each night looking for same.) In the second paragraph of the amidah, daily, festival and shabbat, we read that HaShem heals the sick – rofei holim – along with lifting up the fallen, clothing the naked, and freeing the bound.  What does the tradition say?  We should strive to be like – in a human way – HaShem.  As HaShem heals the sick, we should heal the sick. Again, how can one take the Siddur seriously, take וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ seriously, and have an attitude of “you don’t have health care?” too bad for you?  In a country where so, so many people take pride in saying that it they are “religious”, or where people take pride in claiming the Unites States is a “christian country”, then how can these same people turn a blind eye to all the failures of our health care system?  Yes, it is from 2000, and the World Health Organization has stopped doing these rankings, but in 2000 the richest, most well-off country in the world ranked all of 37th, two spots ahead of Cuba.