What Truth Is Proof Against All Lies ( Gerrit Graham & Bob Weir - Victim Or The Crime)

          It was an especially bittersweet week this week. It was my grandfather’s yartzeit this week. It is also our son’s Bar Mitzvah Parsha. I found myself gazing just a little bit longer at my grandfather's pictures in our house. One picture, in particular, kept catching my I and I found myself gazing at it just a bit longer. The picture was taken during my sister’s wedding. It is a picture of my grandfather and his legacy: his son, grandson, and great-grandson. The three adults, my grandfather, father and I are standing shoulders straight across, but my son is situated between his grandfather and great-grandfather. The picture embodies the dual loyalty that we were all raised with, a dual loyalty that was never at odds with each other, a dual loyalty that was never contradicted each other, the sanctity of the American Dream and the sanctity of transmitting the values of Torah and Judaism to the next generation. My grandfather a member of what Tom Brokaw referred to as “The Greatest Generation”, grew up at a time when Jewish loyalty was always questioned. My grandfather was drafted and quietly served his country during the War. He dutifully paid his taxes claiming that it was a privilege to help support democracy. He also believed that paying taxes indicated if one “had a good year or a bad year”. Yet, as American as he was, his soul was distinctly Jewish. His love for America, his love for democracy, his powerful belief in the “American Dream”, his faith that tomorrow will be better than today were all informed by his Judaism, and Jewish Values. Never did he think or behave as if these dual loyalties conflicted with each other. If anyone ever questioned his “dual loyalty”: his love of country and his loyalty to Judaism, then he regarded that person with suspicion and disdain. 

          This week's Parsha is Re'eh. Moshe continues his discourse. He has already explained the Mitzvot, and he continues to do that. Moshe has alluded to the blessings of life if B'nai Yisroel follows God's commandments. He has and continues to allude to the curses that will befall B'nai Yisroel if they violate the most important commandment-idolatry. Moshe presents B'nai Yisroel with two pictures, a world when B'nai Yisroel lives up to its covenant with God and one in which they don't. He reminds Bnai Yisroel of the sanctity of Eretz Yisroel (the Land of Israel), the consumption of foods that are consecrated to the Kohanim and he warns Bnai Yisroel to avoid imitating the Rituals and Rites of the Egyptians and the Canaanites. Moshe reminds Bnai Yisroel to be careful of false prophets, avoiding non-kosher foods, not living in wayward cities, forgiving loans after seven years, caring for the less fortunate and celebrating the three pilgrimage festivals of Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

          Moshe’s dire warning concerning false prophets and listening to family members that follow false prophets is quite peculiar. First, the false prophet and dreamer come from among B’nai Yisroel. Second, Moshe presents the warning in an “if” then statement. Ki Yakum B’Kirbecha Navi O Chalom - If there should stand up in your midst a prophet or dreamer, and he will produce a sign or a wonder… (Deut. 13:2). The “then” part of the statement is straightforward and simple. “Lo TIshma” - Don’t listen, even if the prophecy or the sign and wonder comes true and apparently supporting the false prophet and dreamer. Moshe tells us to ignore the sign and the wonder, then Moshe continues by telling us that the false prophet is really God testing us, testing our loyalty and the integrity of our relationship with God. Moshe tells us what to do with the false prophet and the dreamer but there doesn’t appear to be any punishment for following the false prophet. Why are no punishments presented? Why would we ignore the “miracle” the sign and wonder? The false prophet and dreamer must be telling us something that we want to hear rather than what we need to hear. The false prophet must be telling us something that is easily demonstrable and provable yet, fails to appeal to the “holiness’ of our relationship with God. Rather, the false prophet and dreamer appeals to our ‘human nature’, our natural instincts. God, Torah, and the covenant always appeal to our godly and spiritual instincts. Moshe reminds us to help the stranger, help the poor, don’t behave like the dominant culture, not to “press” a borrower if they have difficulty repaying, and ignoring those in authority if they to convince you to do what you know is wrong, even if it makes us feel better. Moshe reminds the B’nai Yisroel that the punishment for disloyalty, for following the false prophet and the dreamer, is to end up like the rest of the nations that used to inhabit Canaan. The punishment for B’nai Yisroel’s failure is to lose the land. 

 
          My grandfather was a salesman. Maybe he intuitively knew when someone was trying to “sell” him. As a result, he knew when to ignore and he knew not to listen. He knew to be suspicious when someone expressed moral relativism. He knew to be suspicious when someone claimed easy answers to complex problems, He knew to be suspicious when someone told him not to trust his moral code and his value system. He knew never to trust a corrupt person and he was always wary of those who were only concerned with obtaining and retaining power. His loyalty was to his family, his moral code, and a deep and abiding sense of right and wrong as well as being intellectually honest enough to see the grey and complexity in life. So as we commemorated my grandfather’s Yartzeit and recalled our son’s Bar Mitzvah, we are reminded that the lessons that my grandfather imparted to me, I am obligated to impart to our son.

Peace,
Rav Yitz

Man Oh Man Oh Friend Of Mine; All Good Things In All Good Time (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Run For The Roses")

     It was an incredibly busy week for our family. I picked up our 15-year-old and 17-year-old daughter from summer camp. Upon our return, laundry was brought in, and then my wife and three teenage children had our first and last family dinner. The next morning, we dropped off the two teenagers, who had just returned from camp, at their grandparents home in Upstate New York. After about a 30 minutes visit, my wife, our 19-year-old daughter and I got back into the minivan and drove to New York City. By 9 P.M., we dropped our daughter’s bags off at her dorm room. After a nice dinner and a nights sleep; we returned to her dorm, stood in line for her key and then mom and daughter got our daughter settled into her dorm room and began her week of orientation before she starts classes at University. As Mom was helping our daughter get settled, I drove back to pick up our two kids who had spent 36 hours with their grandparents. Mom flew back from New York and while we drove back home. The next morning, the two high school age kids went to the oral surgeon and had their wisdom teeth removed. After everything was finished, and the oral surgeon told me about the post-op care, she commented about the fact that we had brought two kids in on the same day to remove wisdom teeth. She thought that it was very smart to do because it was time for both of them to have the teeth removed, and everything happens in its due time. So why wait?

     This week’s Parsha is Eikev. Here, in his second discourse, Moshe explains to the new generation how the second set of tablets that contain the Aseret Dibrot came into being. He explains how God forgave the parents of their idolatrous behavior in regards to the Eigel Zahav (Golden Calf), and all B’nai Yisroel must do essentially refrain from Idolatry, serve God, worship God, and the nation will be rewarded with water, grass and quality lives. Moshe also reminds B’nai Yisroel that they have nothing to fear when they enter into Canaan and conquer the land even if they are outnumbered. God already demonstrated that he will protect his people. He did so during the Yetziat Mitzrayim (Exodus), and he did so over the past 40 years in the wilderness. As long as B’nai Yisroel keeps its side of the B’rit, God will continue to protect his people. V’Haya Im Tishma’u El Mitzvotai Asher Anochi M’tzaveh Etchem Hayom L’Ahavah Et Adonai Eloheichem Ul’Avdo B’Chol Levavchem Uv’chol Nafshachem. V’Natati M’tar Artzechem B’Ito Yoreh Umalkosh V’Asaftah D’Ganecha V'Tiroshcha v’Yitzharecha – It will be that if you hearken to My commandments that I command you today to love Hashem your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I shall provide rain for your Land in its proper time, the early and the late rains, that you may gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil. V’Natati Esev B’Sadcha Livhemtecha V’Achalta V’Savata – I shall provide grass in your field for your cattle and you will eat and be satisfied (Deut 11:15). Among the rewards is grass for our cattle and we will eat and be satisfied. In this second paragraph of the Shema, we are told that there is a reward for our obeying God’s commandment.

     The reward for obedience is so simple and perhaps so uninspired. The reward for obedience is rain in its due time. V’Natati M’tar Artzechem B’Ito- then I shall provide rain for your Land in its proper time (Deut. 11:14). Rashi, the great 11th-century French commentator, explains that “in its proper time” means that the rain will come at night so as not to cause inconvenience. Alternatively, Rashi explains that “in its proper time” means late Friday night when everyone is in their homes. For farmers, that is truly a relief. For those of us who are not farmers, the reward as simple as it is explicitly stated; it is incredibly profound. Rain in its due time means that there is order, that life and nature will progress in an orderly and natural manner. Things will happen in due course and our job is to respond and behave appropriately.

     Moses reminds the people that life happens in due course, That our reward for observance is the reassurance that the life So as our 17-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son lay on the sofa recovering, as we change their gauze, and feed them ice cream, I am reminded of the oral surgeon’s comments. Everything happens in its due time. Children grow up, they go off to college (university), they get their wisdom teeth out, they graduate, they make a life for themselves. For some reason, as I watch my kids sitting quietly, eating some ice cream, amid the incredibly busy week, the nearly 1000 miles that were driven in three days, I have found great comfort that life’s reward seems to be that life happens in its due course.

Peace,
Rav Yitz

And You Of Tender Years, Can't Know The Fears That Your Elders Grew By (Graham Nash -"Teach Your Children")

          Our university-bound daughter returned from summer camp this week. With only a few days to get her clothes washed and packed before being dropped off at University next week; I reminded her that one of the important aspects of being a “college student” is the opportunity to question, question authority, and to question the dominant culture. The idea of questioning is incredibly Jewish and in a sense, “counter-cultural”. As we spoke, I happen to be listening to a band who played for only the second time together fifty years ago before several hundred thousand people. As she listened to the lyrics, I reminded her that fifty years ago this week, in August of 1969, on a farm dairy farm owned by Max Yasgur the Jewish son of Russian immigrants, outside the small town of Beth El, NY, a music and arts festival took place known as Woodstock. Hundreds of thousands of “college-age kids” gathered together. Woodstock would eventually come to represent the counter-cultural movement of an entire decade and generation. Forget for a moment that the nearest town was Beth El, named after the Bet El in Torah. Max Yasgur, the Jewish Dairy farmer, was a member of the Republican Party, a supporter of the Viet Nam war, and he essentially disagreed with everything that the Woodstock came to represent. When asked why he leased his fields for the Woodstock festival, Yasgur explained: “that if the generation gap is to be closed, we older people have to do more than we have done.” ("Farmer With Soul: Max Yasgur". The New York Times. 1969-08-17)

          This Shabbat, we read from Parsha V’Etchanan; it is also known as Shabbat Nachamu “Shabbat of Comfort”. Parsha V’Etchanan is always the Torah portion that immediately follows Tisha B’Av. Certainly, after commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples, B’nai Yisroel needed spiritual comforting. Certainly, in this week’s Parsha, V’Etchanan, Moshe’ reassures B’nai Yisroel of its destiny and in doing so, comforts them. After concluding a brief history of B’nai Yisroel’s wanderings and a gentle rebuke of this generation which is about to enter into Eretz Canaan, Moshe now provides a framework for all the laws he will teach in succeeding weeks. Moshe presents the Aseret Dibrot, the Ten Commandments to this news generation. Moshe infuses the people with self-respect. He reminds this generation that the entire basis for our nationhood and our relationship to God is avoiding idolatry at all costs. Avoiding idolatry ultimately distinguishes us from the rest of the world. Finally, Moshe reminds the people that if they follow the advice, then everything will go well. From that perspective, Moshe is re-assuring the people that the future is possible and plausible.

          Certainly the re-iteration of the laws, the inspiring words of the inevitable entry into the land and the realization of a covenant that God made with B’nai Yisroel’s ancestors are considered to words that are both comforting and inspired. However, those words provide comfort in the short term immediate future. Moshe understands that insuring a future is not about the next day, week, month or year. Moshe needs to provide comfort, inspiration, and sustainability for not only the generation that is ready to enter the land but all the generations that will be born in the land, born while in exile and all the generations that transcend time. First, Moshe invokes the two witnesses that embody the infinite. Heaven and Earth are the witnesses to B’nai Yisroel’s acceptance of covenant (Deut 4:26). Moshe reminds this generation that they will become parents and grandparents (Deut. 4:25). Moshe reminds this generation that their primary responsibility is to teach these ordinances, these laws to their children and grandchildren. Moshe reminds this generation that it must teach “how” to observe, “when” to observe, and “why” to observe, and every parent must be prepared for the inevitability that the children will question (Deut. 6:7; 6:20). For Moshe, the most important way to sustain the generational commitment to the covenant is for parents and grandparents to teach and transmit the data, the information, and the values to the next generation.

          Moshe understood and warned B’nai Yisroel that the success of the covenant is depended upon B’nai Yisroel remaining separate and apart from other people. Moshe understood that the covenant remains viable as long as and as effective as parents and grandparents are able to teach it to their children. Moshe also understood that children’s curiosity, children’s desire to learn, to question and to seek reminds parents and grandparents of their sacred task. Then it is up to the older generation to do what it can to pass along their experiences, their wisdom, their knowledge and diminish that generation gap. Fifty years ago, a Jewish dairy farmer in Beth-El, New York understood that and fifty years later, with our daughter preparing to head off to university, we understand that as well.

Peace,
Rav Yitz

Nothing To Tell Now; Let The Words Be Yours, I'm Done With Mine (John Barlow & Bob Weir - "Cassidy")

Last Saturday there was a mass shooting in an El Paso Walmart. More than twenty men women and children were murdered and dozens were wounded. The murderer was arrested. It turned out that he posted a racist screed upon a website that is utilized by White Supremacists, Neo-Nazis throughout North America and Europe. The perpetrator of the Christchurch, New Zealand, mass shootings, also posted a similar racist, anti-immigration screed on the same website. Also this week, a man Florida man who had been arrested for sending pipe bombs to those politicians and wealthy Jewish liberals who oppose the President's immigration policy and rhetoric was sentenced to 20 years.

This week’s Parsha is Devarim, which is the first Parsha of the Book of Deuteronomy or Sefer Devarim. Moshe recounts in very wide brushstrokes, the experience of the generation that fled Egypt. Very few details are given. In fact Moshe begins the story at the foot of Sinai; however, the name is changed from Sinai to Horev. In his recounting, Moshe speaks as a participant in this national experience not in the third person, as was presented in the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. This is quite different from the Moshe we have seen. Until now he spoke as a prophet. God spoke to him and he spoke to B'nai Yisroel. Now Moshe displays a certain amount of freedom as he shares the experiences of the past from his perspective. Parsha Devarim is the introductory Parsha to Moshe’s formal teaching of the Torah to this new generation. Moshe begins with a history lesson beginning with the most recent events and working backward to the Exodus. Moshe Rabeinu, now only a few weeks from the moment of his death, imparts his teaching and his wisdom upon B’nai Yisroel like a dying grandparent or parent would to his/her children.  This re-telling or repetition of history and laws to a new generation inspired the Talmudic Sages to call Sefer Devarim (The Book of Words- Deuteronomy) the Mishnah Torah or the repetition of the Torah.

The Parsha and the Book of Devarim begin with a narrative statement.  Eilah HaDevarim Asher Diber Moshe El B’nai Yisroel B’Eiver Yarden-These are the words that Moshe spoke to all Israel, on the other side of the Jordan…(Deut. 1:1) For the next 5 verses, the Torah’s text is in the third person narrative form in which a time and place are clarified. Finally, beginning with verse 6, the third person narrative shifts to Moshe’s words.  What follows in Moshe's teaching and Moshe’s repetition of the Torah embodies tradition. Moshe’s teaching and his repetition of the Torah, exemplifies every parent’s responsibility to strengthen the child’s connection to Judaism, to Torah, and to God. Why do we need to be told that for five verses, Moses’ words will be arriving shortly? Since there are no wasted words in Torah, why don’t the words Eilah Devarim appear immediately before Moshe begins speaking? The Or HaChaim, Chaim Ibn Attar (1696-1743), was a leading Moroccan Rabbinic Commentator of his day, explained that the word Eilah implies “only” and is therefore restrictive and separates that which came before from that which follows. The words that preceded this Eilah were God’s the words, and the words that proceeded this Eilah were Moshe’s and are of his own volition.  Citing the Talmud in Tractate Megillah 31, we are reminded that Moshe personally recorded the curses and admonitions in this book and even the legislation which he repeats, he does so voluntarily; not because he was commanded to do so.  The first five narrative verses clarify time and space as Moshe’s words are about to follow because we might conclude that just as Moshe felt free to say what he wants here in Devarim, he might have felt free to say what he wanted in the previous books of the Torah. “Only these words” that Moshe spoke of his own volition. Here was Moshe Rabeinu, the elder statesman, the individual that unquestionably had the closes relationship with God, speaking before the younger generation. He speaks to them about their connection to their past, he speaks to them about their ancestors, their heroic deeds and their backsliding. He speaks to them about a covenant, he speaks to them about the inheriting the land of Canaan.  Moshe begins the process, with his words, to connect the present generation to past generations and to connect this present generation to the original covenant that God made with the Patriarchs, Moshe, and B’nai Yisroel at Sinai. 

One of the roles of leadership is to speak to people in a way that binds the people and the community together. They can be bound together through a common experience (either positive or negative), a shared history, or a common purpose. All of “these words” would transcend differences and make individuals part of something much bigger and more meaningful. So when a leader is afforded the opportunity to present Eilah HaDevarim only these words to communities that are grieving,  it is an opportunity for words to inspire, educate and motivate instead of using “Eilah HaDevarim” only these words; words of moral relativism, words that absolve self responsibility, words of blame and words that lack sincerity and integrity when taken in the context of all the words of hate and vitriol. Such a lost opportunity teaches us the power and the importance of words.

Peace,

Rav Yitz