His Job Is To Shed Light, And Not To Master (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Lady With The Fan")

For the most part, being American and living in Toronto is an exercise in reflecting upon some of the cuter cultural differences between American and Canadians, American Jewry and Canadian Jewry, and even cute cultural eccentricities. However there are those moments when I roll my eyes as an American citizen embarrassed at certain “American” behavior. There are also moments when I roll my eyes as a Jew embarrassed by certain “Jewish” behavior. I can’t remember the last time I hit the daily double, embarrassed or better yet, repulsed by Jewish American behavior. Not all American Jews think like, or behave like Donald Sterling, the owner for National Basketball Association (NBA) Los Angeles Clippers. Donald Sterling was born in Chicago as Donald Tokowitz to Jewish immigrants in the early 1930s. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was a small boy.  He added the last name Sterling when he was an adult. I don’t know how and when Donald Sterling became a racist.  Being a child of immigrant parents, one would think that he might have empathy in terms of what is to be different, to be discriminated against, to avoid being too Jewish in order to gain social acceptance in the late 1950’s and 1960’s America. It wasn’t so long ago that being Jewish did not possess a great amount of cache or “cool”. Yet this billionaire, who has been accused of discrimination before, seemingly has forgotten the vitally important lessons of Judaism and American history.  As an American, with immigrant parents, he better than anybody should know the evils of discrimination and the importance of living in a society in which the rule of law,  the content of character, and one abilities and gifts, must be the standard by which one is judged. As a Jew, with parents who came over from Eastern Europe, who just barely escaped the Holocaust, Mr. Tokowitz –Sterling, ought to keep in mind not only Jewish history of the past several centuries, centuries marked by anti-Semitism and slaughter, but even some of the more basic ideas of the Judaism, ideas that have made the Jewish people the greatest advocates of civil rights, anti-discrimination and defender of the downtrodden.

This week we read from Parsha Emor. The four chapters that comprise Parsha Emor focus on the various aspects of Perfection. First the Torah focuses upon the importance of the physical and spiritual perfection and purity of the Kohen. He must remain in a perpetual state of purity. He is restricted in terms of whom he can marry. He is restricted in regards for whom he can mourn. He cannot go to a cemetery. He cannot make sacrificial offerings if he has physical abnormalities. The second of the four chapters reminds B’nai Yisroel that when approaching God with an offering, the individual must be spiritually pure and perfect and so must the offering. These offerings must come directly from the individual making them and not from “the hand of a stranger” (Lev.22:25). The third chapter of the Parsha deals with the perfection and the purity of time. Time is define as perfect in the season follow an order, the holidays such as Shabbat, Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur are designated to come in a particular order. That order is both pure and perfect since time and the designation of “Sacred” time comes from God. The fourth chapter speaks about maintaining purity and the perfection of physical space in this case the Mishkan, and all that is in the Mishkan. The Torah even deals with perfection and purity of human relationships and the punishments meted out when that perfection, purity and holiness is violated. In a sense, this last chapter reminds us of God’s charge to B’nai Yisroel.

Everything we do is designed to sanctify God’s name through deed. Whether attending to the Mishkan, the treatment of animals or of our fellow man, it all boils down to the sanctification of God. It is quite evident that the Parsha deals with both the “big picture” of human behavior.  V’Lo T’Challelu et Sheim Kodshi V’Nikdashti B’Toch  B’Nai Yisroel Ani M’Kadishchem – You shall not desecrate my Holy Name, rather I should be sanctified among the Children of Israel; I am Hashem who sanctified you. HaMotzi Etchem Me’Eretz Mitzrayim Liheyot Lachem Leilohim, Ani Adoshem – Who took you out of the land of Egypt to be a God unto you, I am Hashem.  (Lev.22:32-33). We are being reminded of our rather humble national origin, slavery. We are being reminded that because Hashem took us out from slavery, Hashem can make demands upon us. (RaMBaN).

Among those demands is that we are a nation of priests and a light to the nations. Throughout Parsha Emor, we have learned that besides the offering needing to be pure in order to be accepted by Hashem,  the Priest, the conduit, needs to be pure as well.  So when the conduit between the people and God, the Kohen Gadol, is impure, then the offering cannot be pure and therefore unacceptable. Mr. Sterling sadly forgot that very important fact. We are all examples to our families, our communities and the outside world. As a people, we are supposed to be a “light unto the nations”. We are supposed to be role models for the rest of the world. When individual Jewish behavior fails to sanctify the self, the other, and the relationship with Hashem, then the individual  forgets the raison d’etre for being brought out of slavery. When Donald Sterling and those like him are allowed to continue their behavior, then it becomes the responsibility of the Jewish community to shine an even bright light and to drown out that darkness of ignorance. Thankfully, Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, seems to recognize this.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

The A B C's, We All Must Face, And Try To Keep A Little Grace (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Touch of Grey")

We finished celebrating Pesach and our home will soon return to normal. For a week, our kids lived on Matzah Pizza. For a week they managed to get by without a bowl of cereal for breakfast. As Pesach departed and our family did Havdalah, our children quickly screamed “Bring on the Chametz” and desperately wanted us to order Pizza. Too bad the wait time for Pizza was nearly two hours which was way past everyone’s bedtime.  The disappointment was palpable and they asked what could be done to solve the problem. From their perspective, a solution would have been to run to the store, buy pizza dough, and make pizza for everybody.  However Mommy and Daddy’s solution was a bit different.  “You can have Chametz in the morning! Now go to bed.” Their request as absurd as it was revealed so much about human nature.  When a restriction is lifted, or permission granted, it is human nature to want to be first in line. When a new I Phone is released, a group of people are always in line to be first. When tickets go on sale for Beyonce, apparently people stand in line. I remember when I was in college near Philadelphia and the tickets for the Grateful Dead Philadelphia shows went on sale, a group of us quickly organized ourselves to camp out for the few days so that we could get tickets. People want to be first in line to a premiere and some run to be first on the block to buy the newest car model or gadget.  Although it may be human nature to desire and strive to be first, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is smart or even cost effective to be first. Sometimes we need to be smart enough and mature enough to put aside human nature.

This week we read from Parsha Kedoshim, which literally means Holiness.  Hashem speaks to Moshe telling him that he should gather all of B'nai Yisroel and tell them that every aspect of life must be infused with Holiness. From the treatment of the stranger, the widow, the orphan, an employee and even our parents, there is a way to behave that is infused with Holiness and there is a way to behave that is less infused with holiness.  We are reminded that certain relationships are inherently unholy. We are reminded that certain types of worship are unholy as well. Throughout the Parsha the Mantra Ki Kadosh Ani Adonai Eloheichem – Because Holy am I the Lord your God is repeated. Of course the underlying message aimed at B’nai Yisroel was to remind them that they needed to strive beyond human nature. They needed to act differently than other people. Being involved in a covenantal relationship with Hashem means striving towards holiness; something that is beyond human nature.  

This idea of acting beyond human nature and striving for something more is emphasized at the very beginning of the Parsha. Imo V’Aviv Tira’u – Your mother and Father you shall fear.  This Commandment appears quite similar to the one of the Ten Commandments: Kabeid et Avicha v’ Et Imecha – Honor your father and mother. However there are a few differences. The first difference is that Parsha Kedoshim talks about “Tira’u” or Fear, while Ten Commandment version talks about “Kabeid” or Honor. The Second difference is the order of the parent. Regarding the commandment that invokes “fear”; “mother” appears before father. Regarding the commandment that invokes “honor”; “father” appears before “mother. At first glance we might think that the Torah is telling us that the Father is more important than the Mother hence the father should be honored first. Rashi, the 11^th Century French commentator and vintner, citing the Talmud Kiddushin 31a explained that “mother precedes father, because God knows that the father is feared more than the mother. In the Fifth commandment, which commands us to honor our parents, the mother, who generally comforts the child and is therefore honored more, is preceded by the father.” Generally speaking, children are more fearful of fathers therefore the Torah commands us to be fearful of mother. Generally speaking children honor their mothers more therefore the Torah commands us to honor fathers.  Striving towards Holiness means that we are supposed to transcend our human nature and instinct.  By doing so, we emulate God and are able to achieve holiness.

Our kids eventually had a pizza after Pesach. They eventually got their fill of Chametz. No it wasn’t the first thing they did after Pesach. By waiting, even for one extra night, there was a deeper appreciation of what they were doing, rather than the rush of being the first do it. Maybe the first bite of Pizza was not necessarily a holy act, but having them wait a few extra hours to begin ingesting Chametz added a little holiness to what is otherwise a rather mundane event known as cleaning up after Pesach.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

I Would Slave To Learn The Way To Sink Your Ship Of Fools (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Ship of Fools")

For the past  couple of weeks, I have watched my wife, like many Jewish women who clean for Pesach, who make a Seder (or two)  act as if  they are not only slaves in Egypt but slaves in their respective homes. With a sick cleaning lady, my wife had even more aggravation and cleaning to do than normal, as she scrambled to find some extra help. As time slowly ticked away towards the First Night of Pesach, my wife would look up from what she was cutting, mixing, cooking or cleaning and wonder aloud, “How will this ever get done?” In other moments of anxiety, she would exclaim, “I am so far behind my schedule!”. Yet my wife managed to get everything done.  Granted if we were really slaves in Egypt, I think she, like so many Jewish Women would have been too exhausted to leave! Indeed the first two days of Pesach focus upon our bondage in Egypt and our preparations for Yetzitat Mitzrayim and eventual freedom as symbolized by the Sedarim. However Pesach is an eight festival. Certainly it makes the beginning of the festival should focus upon our national experience of slavery and the immediate moments that led to our ancestors freedom. Once B’nai Yisroel left Egypt and began making their way toward The Reed Sea (The Yam Suf), they were free. They were free to travel, free to worship, and free to serve God. Yet, the process of becoming a free people was still in its nascent stages.

Now we have entered into the intermediate days of Pesach, commonly referred to as Chol Moed. On this Shabbat, Shabbat Chol HaMoed Pesach, our focus begins to shift from the Yetziat Mitzrayim, the Exodus from Egypt, to B’nai Yisroel’s return to the land that God promise to our Patriarchs. The language has subtly shifted from leaving slavery and entering into freedom to leaving our exile and returning to our covenantal home. We see this in our reading of Shir HaSHirim the Song of Songs. While the text is clearly about the Springtime love of a young man and woman; ChaZaL, our Sages of Blessed Memory, explain that Shir HaSHirim is a Metaphor for this mutually very new and loving relationship between God and B’nai Yisroel. This is a love that has been renewed and this is a love in which both return to each other. Likewise the Haftorah, from the Prophet Ezekiel (37:1-14), also focus upon B’nai Yisroel’s return from Babylonian exile to its covenantal land.

Ezekiel does not focus upon the intensely loving relationship between God and the B’nai Yisroel. However he does focus upon slavery as another form of exile and redemption from exile as the ultimate form of liberation from slavery. Ezekiel lived before and after the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash HaRishon, the First Holy Temple. It his here in this Haftorah, that Ezekiel shares with the people his prophesy of the “Dried Bones” that are in the land. Ko Amar Adoshem Elokim L’Atzamot HaEilah  Hinei Ani Mavi Vachem Ruach Vichyitem – Thus say the Eternal God to those bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live (Ez.37:5). From a literal perspective, Ezekiel is prophesying that God will bring these bones, the thousands of Jews that perished in the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple, back to life. These bones will experience the ultimate a return from exile; they will return from death to life. However Judaism doesn’t generally subscribe to re-incarnation or a physical life after a physical death. Rather Ezekiel’s prophecy invokes a very powerful symbol. Slavery, in its ultimate and most devastating form is spiritual slavery. Spiritual slavery is a function of being exiled from God, exiled from that fundamentally loving relationship based upon a covenant. When we are exiled from God, when we are spiritually afar from God, we are spiritually lifeless. We are only bones. We are not human. To be human means to be close to God for we are created B’Tzelem Elokim – in the image of God.

We all experience spiritual slavery yet our own personal redemption; our moving closer to God’s presence is a direct function of God breathing Ruach HaKodesh – his Holy Spirit into our Neshama. This occurs through Study of Torah. This occurs through prayer. This occurs by engaging in Gemilut Chasadim, by giving Tzedakah, and by Bikur Cholim – visiting the sick. This occurs by making the Jewish community, a more learned, and a more caring community and less enslaved by the greed, selfishness and  arrogance.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

Esau Gave Me Sleeplessness And A Piece Of Moral Land (John Barlow & Bob Weir - "My Brother Esau")

This past week, my family and I had the opportunity to get in touch with our American heritage. I had the opportunity to pass the tradition and history of college basketball to my children. However, I had an eye opening experience that indicates that perhaps we have been living in Canada for a long time. This past Shabbat, one of the final four teams playing was the University of Connecticut. They won their semifinal game and eventually were crowned National Champions on Monday night with their victory over the University of Kentucky. Among the people who live in New England and New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania: the University of Connecticut is also known as UConn. When my children kept hearing UConn, the dominant cultural context of our lives: Jewish Culture and Canadian culture became quite apparent. Until the championship game began, my children couldn’t’ understand why we weren’t cheering for the University of Kentucky when after all, they knew that Kentucky was one of the 50 States. When I asked them why they would cheer for Kentucky, a team that I grew up cheering against, my three children looked up at me and said in great patriotic fervor, “How can we root for UCONN that is one of the provinces in Canada!” I looked my children blankly and responded UConn is in Connecticut not the Yukon, but UConn - University of Connecticut!”

This Shabbat is Shabbat HaGadol; the Shabbat that immediately precedes Pesach. The Parsha is Acharei Mot. After two Parshiot, Tazria and Metzorah, which essentially interrupted the narrative and the laws that had been focused upon the Kohanim, we now return to the Kohen as the central focus in the Parsha. Now that he has become spiritually pure, the Torah is now ready to teach the laws for the spiritual purity of the nation. We have focused upon the impurities of individuals, now we focus upon the community. The Kohen acts on behalf of the nation just like he acts on behalf of the individual. The Torah teaches us the laws for the offerings of Yom Kippur, national atonement, and Azazel otherwise known as the Scapegoat. The Scapegoat is not offered as a sacrifice to God, but rather is sent out from the camp and left to wander in the wilderness eventually succumbing to the elements.

The second half of the Parsha focuses upon the holy and holy relationships within the family. However the list of inappropriate behaviors between family members is taught within the context of the other nations. What is particularly troubling is the fact that our interaction with the two nations was a direct function of God’s plan. God invokes Egypt and God invokes Canaan. We went down to Egypt and now we were being brought to Canaan.  K’Maasei Eretz Mitzrayim Asher Y’shavtem Bah Lo Ta’Asu UchMa’Asei Eretz Canaan Asher Ani Meivi Etchem Shamah Lo Ta’Asu UvChukoteihem Lo Teileichu – Do not practice of the land of Egypt in which you dwelled; and do not perform the practices of the land of Canaan to which I bring you, and do not follow their traditions. (Lev. 18:3) For the past two centuries Bnai Yisroel dwelled in Egypt, a morally decadent community. Now B’nai Yisroel is about to head into Eretz Canaan, which was also a morally decadent land inhabited by the Moabites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Jebusites and the Edomites to name a few. I can justify using Egypt as the example. First our descent into slavery both physical and spiritual was hardly overnight but rather a gradual process. Second, our experience in Egypt serves as the origins of our becoming a nation. Invoking that experience is at the core of our national memory. We remind ourselves of Yetziat Mitzrayim three times a day when we say the Shmah. We are reminded of Yetziat Mitzrayim when we make Kiddush on Shabbat and all festivals. We reminded ourselves of Yetziat Mitzrayim and pass down that collective memory to our children at the Pesach Seder. But Canaan? Canaan is God’s covenant with us, originating with Avraham Avinu. So why would God promise us a land that is as morally bankrupt as Egypt? Why would God bring us to a place that is the equivalent to a place where God brought us out?

The Be’er Yitzchak, the 19^th Russian Rabbi offers a comment that is relevant to today’s Jewish experience. “The reason for mentioning Egypt and Canaan is simple: if you imitate the Egyptians – then why did I take you out of Egypt? And if you behave like the Canaanites- why should I expel them before you; it was on condition that you will not do so that I took you out of Egypt and that I shall expel the Canaanites… do not imitate even their innocuous practices, for these lead to total assimilation.” The experience in Egypt was an incubation period to prepare for Torah at Sinai. Our experience in Egypt would constantly serve as a reminder that we ultimately rejected physical slavery and that we ultimately rejected the institutions and behaviors of that master. It is certainly easy to reject all things Egyptian while we are reminded of how damaging the experience was. It is quite another thing to reject the behavior, and culture of a society when one is free, when one is not scarred by such a damaging experience. Yet, the success of our people, the future viability of our relationship with God through Torah could only occur if we are able to reject a dominant culture’s behavior as a free nation and not as an enslaved nation. Bnai Yisroel’s survival ultimately depends upon remaining separate and apart from the cultural majority. Bnai Yisroel’s survival depends upon remaining spiritually distinct from the majority. Bnai Yisroel’s survival depends upon the spiritual strength needed to reject the behaviors of any dominant culture, to refrain from behavior because “everyone else does it”.

It is always nice to feel part of something. It is always nice to feel included. It is always nice to be culturally recognized. From an individual perspective, going along with the crowd means never feeling left out. For our children, there is always the tension of fitting in to Canadian culture and still retaining a sense of individuality and their American cultural heritage and history.  For the Jewish people, historically it has been a similar issue. How much of the dominant culture to we integrate into Judaism, how much Judaism to we give up into order to fit into the dominant culture? Our national sin, our national mistake is our individual yearning, our desire to be like everybody else, to assimilate.

Peace,

Rav Yitz