What a long strange trip it's been (Hunter, Garcia, Weir,Lesh - Truckin')

As an American living in Toronto, I could not have been anymore proud as when the United States Women’s soccer team made it to the World Cup Finals only to lose in penalty kicks to Japan. As an American living in Canada, I could not be any more disgusted as I watch a group of first year congressman and woman play chicken with the United States economy, the world economies, and the United States credit rating. Thankfully I am living here in Toronto. Sadly, this political game with the debt ceiling, and budget deficits, will hurt financial markets, the American people and negatively affect the economies throughout the world. Equally as sad is the apparent divisions within the United States when it comes to the role of government. This division is so powerful that it truly threatens the governability of has been the bastion of freedom for many generations. This division of states is routinely symbolized between Red states and Blue states. Red States tend to be the Southeast, Midwest and Western states. The Blue states tend to be the Northeast, the West Coast, the Pacific North West, and some states in the industrial Midwest. The assumption is that Red States tent to be culturally conservative while blue states tend to be culturally liberal. Red States, those dominated by the Republican Party tend to be anti-abortion, pro-life, pro-family, pro-small government and pro-Christian right. Blue States, those dominated by the Democratic Party, tend to be pro-choice, pro-government, and tend to avoid the Christian right. With this clear dichotomy in mind, it is quite revealing that the states with the highest rates of divorce are Red States, in the west and south east. And the states with the lowest rates of divorce are those bastions of Northeast liberalism: Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Sociologists point to the link between education and divorce rates as well as these more culturally liberal states tend to acknowledge and deal with problems in a way that is quite different from other states.

This Shabbat, we read from parsha Maasei. It is the final Parsha of Sefer BaMidbar. Maasei begins with Moshe’s recording of all the places that Bnai Yisroel had traveled during the course of its 40 years of wandering. Moshe makes the final preparations for Bnai Yisroel’s entrance into Eretz Canaan: including the establishment of national and tribal boundaries. Also, Moshe gives his decision to the Daughters of Zelophchad (Parshat Pinchas) who have inherited their father’s tribal holdings. Moshe informs Bnai Yisroel of inter tribal marriage while simultaneously retaining the integrity of tribal boundaries. Also six cities of refuge are established for those individuals who have committed manslaughter, (and accidental death) and are fleeing the avenging family member.

It is interesting to note that west of the Jordan River; three cities of refuge are established and east of the Jordan River, three other cities of refuge are established. However, west of the Jordan, there were 9 ½ tribes requiring only 3 cities of refuge. East of the Jordan there were 2 ½ tribes requiring 3 cities of refuge. On a per capita basis, more cities of refuge were needed for the 2 ½ tribes that did not enter into the land. Eit Shalosh Heh’Arim Asher Titeinu Sheish Arei Miklat Hihyehnah Lachem. Eit Shalosh Heh’Arim Titnu Mei’eiver La’Yarden V’Eit Shalosh He’Arim Titnu B’Eretz Canaan Arei Miklat Tiheyehnah – As to the cities that you shall designate, there shall be six cities of refuge for you. Three cities shall you designate on the other side of the Jordan, and three cities shall you designate in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge (Num. 35:13-14). The Talmudic Sages in Tractate Makot 9b infer that killing was more commonplace on the east bank, so that despite its smaller population more cities of refuge were required.

Remember that these 2 ½ tribes were the tribes that wished to remain east of the Jordan River because the grazing lands were plentiful. These were the tribes that demonstrated greater concern for the expressions of wealth (cattle), than their children’s place within the tribal covenant. While many of us can easily identify with a group that wishes to become financially better off for the sake of the children, these 2 ½ tribes did so at the expense of their children. The Midrash teaches us that these 2 ½ tribes were the first to become assimilated and disappear. Meanwhile the majority of the tribes were able to create a society that, on a per capita basis, had little need for cities of refuge. These tribes seem to have a common sense of purpose and mission. These tribes understood that the more educated the people, the better the chance of passing the covenant to the next generation, the greater the possibility of maintaining the values of a holy nation. Indeed, the secret to our survival has been and will continue to be our desire and effort to remain a holy nation. This can only be accomplished through Jewish education and Jewish engagement of the Jewish community.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

Wonder Who Will Water All The Children of the Garden ( Hunter/Garcia, Lesh - Saint Stephen)

It always impresses me when parents sacrifice for their children. Perhaps it re-affirms my own belief of what parents are supposed to do. Parents do for their children. Nowadays it seems that many parents do a lot for their children. Parents want their children to be well-rounded individuals participating in a myriad of activities. Parents want their children to fulfill their non-academic interests whether in athletics, drama, and community oriented activities. Very often, parents’ and children’s desire to do more outside after school non-academic activities. Parents schlep their children to soccer, cheer leading, band, scouts, and part time jobs. More often than not, both parents work. More often than not, parents work because they desire to afford the expenses of their children’s outside interests. Very often both parents work to just get by. Some commute long distances, wanting their children to grow up in the safe suburbs and in a beautiful home. The cost has been enormous. Typically, children don’t spend quantity or quality of time with their parents. Typically, everyone is running around so much, families forget what families, relationships and growth is about. Eventually, and very often, families grow further and further apart as priorities become misplaced.

This Shabbat we read from the second to last Parsha of Sefer B’Midbar, parsha Matot. Matot speaks of the laws of Oaths and Vows, God commands Moshe and B’nai Yisroel to attack and utterly destroy the Midianites. After all, the Midianites were the cause of the most recent plague because of their successful in bringing idolatry to B’nai Yisroel. This battle had all the elements of a holy enterprise as the priest Elazar and Pinchas went out to the battle. Soldiers needed to be spiritually purified afterwards because they had come into contact with death, so they remained outside the camp for seven days. Then the Torah informs us as to the boundaries that each tribe was to inherit.

There is one troubling moment when two tribes ask Moshe if they can remain on the eastern side of the Jordan instead of entering into Eretz Canaan. Each tribe had various sources of wealth, but the tribe of Reuven and Gad had an abundance of livestock. They were under the impression that the land of Yazer and Gilad, east of the Jordan River, was Mkom Mikneh, a place for livestock. So the leaders of each tribe approach Moshe and request to remain on the eastern banks of the Jordan River and not enter into Eretz Canaan. Atarot v’Divon v’Yazeir v’nimrah v’Cheshbon v’Elalei Usvam Unvo Uv’on Ha’aretz Asher Hikah adonai Lifnei Adat Yisroel Eretz Mikneh Hi V’lavadecha Mikneh – Atarot and Divon, Yazeir, and Nimrah, and Cheshbon and Elalei and Svam and Nebo and Veon (territorial names of various sites on the eastern and northeastern side of the Jordan river) the land that Hashem smote before the assembly of Israel – these lands are for livestock and your servants have livestock (Num. 32:3-4). These tribes wanted this land for one purpose, for the purpose of increasing their flocks, increasing their cattle. In the Torah scroll there is an empty space between the end of that verse and the next verse. This space does not connote the end of an aliyah, a chapter or the end of the parsha. This empty space connotes silence. It connotes an angry silence at Reuven and Gad’s request. Moses essentially sits there, seething in anger and waits. The two tribes then re-state their request using the formula Im Matzanu Chen b’Einecha – If we have found favor in your eyes (Num. 32:5). Again the request is couched in terms of cattle and wealth. Moshe gives an angry answer questioning these tribes’ priorities and their sense of responsibility to the rest Adat Yisroel, as well as their sense of ancestoral obligation. Finally, the tribes huddle together and restate their request a third time. Gidrot Tzon Nivneh Lmikneinu Po V’Arim l’Tapeinu – Pens for our flock shall we build here and cities for our small children, v’Anachnu Neichaleitz Chushim Lifnei Bnai Yisroel – We shall aim ourselves swiftly in the vanguard of the Children of Israel…(Num. 32:16-17). Finally, the tribes of Reuven and Gad understand. Inheritance of the land is not about flocks and wealth. It is about passing this inheritance, this land to the children.

The same holds true for Judaism. Judaism, Torah and Mitzvot are our inheritance. Our lives are not only and cannot only be about wealth, and extracurricular activities that come at the expense of Torah Mitzvot and Judaism. It took these two tribe three attempts to realize that they are responsible for the future. We are responsible for our children’s Jewish future. Our job is to pass Judaism, Torah and mitzvot to our children. Soccer, cheerleading, as well as our own extracurricular interests are not what we are supposed to pass down to our children, none of these insures their spiritual future.

As we are in the midst of the three weeks that will culminate in the commemoration of the destruction of the Holy Temple, let us get out priorities in order. As we are in the midst of our children’s summer vacation and we begin filling up their schedules, let us re-affirm what our priorities are and what our children’s will be. Make Torah our priority, then and only then can we make Torah our children’s’ priority.

Just Want to Have a Little Peace to Die ( Hunter & Garcia - Black Peter)

Last Sunday, I conducted a funeral, and my seven year old wanted to join me. Conceptually, I think it is important that children are exposed to these various life cycle events. I explained that I could not bring him this time because: this was a funeral for a person he didn't know, and I wouldn't be able his Abba, I had to be the mourners’ Rabbi. He understood. However I was intrigued by the request nonetheless. For my son, and for all our children, we want them to understand and accept these life cycle types of moments as a way of understanding how to live with the subsequent emotions due to the event. The most important gift my wife and I can provide for our children is the emotional strength to treat life and death as "matter of factly" as possible. That doesn't mean there are no emotions, rather those emotions are part of the process of dealing with these life cycle issues in a matter of fact type of way. In a sense we want them to be whole and complete people. We don't want them being scared of life and death, we don't want them to grow paralyzed by life and death, and we don't want them to become emotional basket cases or emotional zombies in regards to life and death. We don’t want their souls and their beings to remain stuck in the emotional intensity and extremes of life. This is our Brit Shalom - Coven anent of Peace for our children.

This Shabbat we read from Parsha Pinchas. The first few Psukim of the Parsha are a direct continuation of the previous Shabbat Parsha Balak. There is no elapse of time in the narrative. Balak concludes with a plague upon Bnai Yisroel for its worship of Moabite/Midianite god, Baal Peor. Aaron’s son Pinchas zealously acts by killing Zimri from the tribe of Shimon and Cozbi the Midyanite woman. God tells Moshe to reward Pinchas for his behavior by giving him the Brit Shalom, the Covenant of Peace. This covenant is only for Pinchas and his descendants. Keeping in mind that B’nai Yisroel has now concluded it 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and are poised upon the eastern bank of the Jordan River; a new census is taken. Just like we needed to know how many left Egypt, we now need to know how many will enter into Eretz Canaan. After the census is taken Moshe must judge a legal case concerning the laws of inheritance when a man has only daughters. This brief narrative is about the “Daughters of Tzelophchad”. Following this narrative, God commands Moshe to teach the new generation the laws for time bound offerings including the Shabbat offering, the Rosh Chodesh offering, the offerings for the Shelosh Regalim (Three Pilgrimage Festivals etc).

Isn't it odd, or perhaps even disturbing, that Pinchas' zealousness, his subsequent spear throwing and impaling his targets is rewarded with a Brit Shalom - a Covenant of Peace and Brit Kehunat Olam - a covenant of an everlasting Priesthood? (Num. 25:12). Through our modernist lens, I imagine that most people consider or at least can understand why some may consider Pinchas act to be nothing more than fanaticism or vigilantism. If we consider Pinchas' behavior to be no different that some fanatic or vigilante; then have a difficult time in understanding Hashem’s rewarding Pinchas. To offer Pinchas Peace and the Priesthood becomes seems incomprehensible. Ibn Ezra (Toledo, Spain 1090 – 1164) explains that God's Brit Shalom was a pledge that Pinchas would be protected from Zimri's kinsmen (the tribe of Shimon) and their desire to kill Pinchas.
The Torah Temima (Rabbi Baruch HaLevi Epstein – Russia 1860-1940) explains that the reward of Peace and the Priesthood was God's way of demonstrating to Moshe, and the rest of the Elders, as well as ChaZaL - Our sages of blessed memory, that such a deed was the result of unadulterated zeal to advance the glory of God. Yet as I read that all I can think of is a terrorist perpetrating a similar act in God's name. The Torah Temimah explains that since we are unable to determine who acts selfishly thereby committing murder and who acts selflessly (advancing the glory of God); the Brit Shalom and the Brit Kehunat L'Olam would only have been given to Pinchas if he indeed acted selflessly. Again, The Torah Temimah's comment makes the assumption that God would never have rewarded someone for committing a heinous act; rather a reward could only have been the result of an act that had been deemed as "good".

However there is another way of looking at this "reward". The Neziv (Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Berlin Poland 1817-1893; the Rosh Yeshiva of the Volozhin Yeshiva) explains that the Brit Shalom is a guarantee of peace from an inner enemy from whatever lurked within Pinchas that caused him to kill another human being without due process. "The Holy One Blessed He blessed him [Pinchas] with the attribute of peace, that he should not be quick tempered or angry. Since it was only natural that such a deed as Pinchas' should leave in his heart an intense emotional unrest afterward, the Divine blessing was designed to cope with this situation and promised peace and tranquility of the soul." We can now begin to make some sense of these covenants. Once Pinchas committed his first act of zealous defense of God's glory, perhaps it becomes easier and easier to commit a second third of forty-eight act of zealous defense of God's glory. At some point, from the Neziv's perspective, the zealot's soul becomes damaged, the zealot's emotions are incapable of feelings, and the zealot's eyes become unseeing except through the lens of their zealousness. The zealot by definition is an extremist and we know that extremism in Judaism is frowned upon and Halachically unacceptable (see the laws of the Nazarite). Precisely because the zealot does not know peace when he/she commits such an act, in Pinchas' case the only gift God could give was that the tumult of his own soul should cease and he should be whole, complete and at peace.

From this perspective, that Brit Shalom was not so much a reward of external gain as it was a reward for internal “normalcy”, the Brit Shalom and the Brit Kehunat L’Olam seem much more appropriate. Isn’t that what we wish for our children? We know that during the course of their lives there will be moments of tumult. We know that they will experience tension between their belief system and the realities of daily life. We know that they will be exposed to extreme emotions of joy, of sadness, of anguish and of anger. Like Pinchas received a Brit Shalom, we offer that same covenant to our children. Indeed when they do experience extreme and intense emotions of life, we want pray that they will be able to return to a state of peace and contentment with themselves and their lives.

Peace,

RavYitz

Red and White, Blue Suede Shoes I'm Uncle Sam, How Do You Do? (Robert Hunter / Jerry Garcia - U.S. Blues)

It truly has been a cultural awakening for my son as Canadians celebrated Canada Day and America celebrated Independence Day. Last Sunday we spent a couple of hours at our neighbor’s pool. Our neighbor had some guests over as well whom we met for the first time. As we were talking they realized that we were American. As my son came out of the water, one of the women began asking him questions. Soon the questions left the general polite questions of “What is your name? “How old are you?’ “What is your favorite subject?” and veered into six year old boy’s impression of Canada, the United States and some of the differences. One woman asked my son “Do you like living in Canada?” My son responded yes. Then she asked him if he saw any differences between America and Canada. Our six year old pointed out that in “America we celebrate Independence Day with watching baseball and fireworks. Canada celebrates Canada Day with fireworks and Hockey news. Canada is nice but I like baseball better.” Of course, I agreed. Nothing beats celebrating the 4^th of July than going to a baseball game during the day and fireworks at night. While the calendar suggest that summer is just a couple of weeks old, the season for the “Boys of Summer” heads towards the halfway mark of the season. For baseball fans this means that the trade deadline is approaching. Teams have the opportunity to upgrade talent or discard expensive and or unproductive players. In a sense the fan can either have a renewed sense of hope or despair will not begin to replace the hope that existed way back in the spring. There is something fascinating in watching players switch teams in the middle of a season. There is something fascinating about an older player traded from a bad team to a playoff contender. Frequently, a player that is coveted and available in a trade, while having performed at a high level with the former team, joins the new team and is a complete bust. Sometimes the exact opposite is the case. A player performing at a low level is traded and begins playing wonderfully with the new team. A change of environment seems to have an enormous effect upon these professionals.

This Shabbat is we read Parsha Balak. In the Parsha we read an interesting narrative that is filled with suspense, humor, intrigue, an apparent “midseason trade” and even a happy ending. It is interesting to note that throughout the Parsha, the focus is upon the outside world as it relates to the Bnai Yisroel. That is to say, Balak, the king of Moav and the tribe of Midian are the subjects of the Parsha. Bnai Yisroel hovers as the main reason for why the narrative is pertinent; however for once, Bnai Yisroel is not doing something wrong, they are not recipients of God’s anger. Instead they placidly and temporarily settled on the plains of Moav waiting to enter into Eretz Canaan. Not until the end of the Parsha and only after the narrative of Balak and Bilaam concluded, does the Torah return to a narrative style with Bnai Yisroel as the subject of poor behavior and God’s anger.

Bilaam, a soothsayer is hired by Balak to curse Bnai Yisroel. By cursing Bnai Yisroel, Balak believed that this was the only way to defeat Bnai Yisroel since they had successfully waged war on all the indigenous tribes thus far. The donkey that Bilaam rides upon on his way to cursing Bnai Yisroel refuses to respond to Bilaam, Bilaam grows angrier and angrier. The donkey is able to see an Angel of God in the road and Bilaam the soothsayer cannot. So a humorous conversation between Donkey and Soothsayer occurs (this is the funny part). Bilaam eventually realizes that he is unable to curse Bnai Yisroel. Finally when he is looking from the hills down upon Bnai Yisroel and sees a peaceful, God-fearing community he utters praise instead of curses. Imagine Balak’s anger and frustration? He hires Bilaam to curse B’nai Yisroel, and instead he blesses Bnai Yisroel! Vayomer Balak El Bilaam Meh Asita Li Lakov Oyvai L’Kachticha V’Hinei Beirachta Vareich – Balak said to Bilaam, “What have you done to me! To curse my enemy have I brought you – but behold, you have even blessed!” (Num. 23:11)

Balak’s frustration is something we can all understand. He believed that Bilaam, a powerful soothsayer/prophet was capable of communing with God and deriving the appropriate sign in order to curse Bnai Yisroel. Bilaam’s response is quite revealing: Halo Eit Asher Yasim HaShem B’Fi Oto Eshmor L’Daber! Is it not so that whatever Hashem puts in my mouth, that I must take heed to speak! Essentially Bilaam explains that he can only say what God would have said. Clearly With his plans stymied, Balak leaves Bilaam in great frustration. If Balak could have traded Bilaam for another soothsayer, he probably would have. As awful a person as Balak is, and as mercenary a person Bilaam is, we can learn a lot from the exchange of both men. Balak hired the soothsayer to do a job for which Bilaam was renowned for doing. Bilaam did not live up to his reputation. Had Balak issued a curse himself, even if it failed, at least he would have felt empowered. Remember, Balak is afraid. He knows of Bnai Yisroel’s reputation. He doesn’t stand a chance in a conventional confrontation. If Balak had been educated and was knowledgeable in the arts of “curse issuing”, then Balak’s frustration would have been directed at God and himself.

How often do we blame others for our shortcoming and our ignorance? How often do we feel uncomfortable in shul, sitting in prayer, neither understanding neither what we are saying nor why we are saying it? How often do we read the Parsha and not realize how these words and its message connect to our soul? How often do wait to be inspired by the words of a Rabbi or the notes sung by the Shaliach Tzibbur? The fact of the matter is that we need to turn inwards, towards our soul. There in our own soul we will find holiness. There in our own soul will we derive the impetus to ask questions, to learn, and to make Judaism more meaningful. Rather than trading for another player –looking outwards; teams decide to stick with the personnel that they have and commit to playing better, commit to exerting greater effort, working harder. They look inward and renew the sense of commitment and purpose.

Peace,

Rav Yitz