Promises Made In The Dark Dissolve By Light Of Day (Robert Hunter & Bob Weir - "Easy Answers")

           With the new year set to begin on Shabbat, there is a wonderful opportunity to look back on the year that was, and hold out hope for the year that will be.  Looking back at the year that was, the tragic loss of life, and the continued spread of Covid, some might question his/her faith in God. In looking forward to the new year, some might put his/her faith in God, in mankind, in both, or in none. Some may question faith. For others, their faith remains firm and unbending.  With two University age daughters home (one on winter break and one online heading into final exams) and our 12th-grade son who cannot wait to go to university, there is a lot of discussion regarding “authority”, “faith”, and there is a lot of questioning “authority” and “faith”. During one discussion with our children, I was reminded of an event that took place several years ago.  A congregant came into my office crying. “Rabbi, Rabbi, I have horrible news and I don’t know what to do!” My thoughts immediately went to the worst-case scenarios: her husband had been stricken with a terminal illness or that she discovered that one of her children was addicted to drugs, or she was deciding to get out of her marriage. Of course, all of my “worst-case scenario” thoughts were particularly troubling because this family was a pillar in the community. They were an extremely generous family, generous with their money and their time. They were in Shul all the time. Each of their two children was a mentsche, smart, Jewishly aware, and observant. I could not imagine what possible could be the crisis that this distraught woman brought into my office. “What is it?” I asked. With a heavy sigh, and eyes welling up in tears she explained that her son, who was a sophomore in college (2nd-year university students for Canadians), called her the other night and he told her that he no longer believed in God. I breathed a sigh of relief and said, “For a minute there some horrible tragedy had occurred in your family. So, Nu? What’s the problem? What’s the crisis?” She could not understand why I was smiling. Her son’s declarative statement expressing disbelief in God, apparently made her feel inadequate as a parent and challenged the foundation of her own belief system. I explained that for an intellectually honest and curious college student to think and express such thoughts is not only healthy and normal but also vital to the process of developing and strengthening faith. Most 19-year-old young men feel neither mortal nor limited. Everything is possible,  and they feel all-powerful as if they can “handle anything”. Under such circumstances and with such an attitude, who needs God? Instead of a belief in God, there is a profound belief in oneself.

           This Shabbat is Parsha V’Eira. In this Parshah, God reassures Moshe after Pharaoh and mocked and dismissed both him and Aharon. God explains the plan to Moshe, that Pharoah’s heart will be hardened after each plague but eventually Pharaoh will capitulate. God explains the various stages of redemption. The plagues begin. We are supposed to understand that each of these first seven plagues is more severe than the previous plague: Blood, Frogs, Lice, Wild Beasts, Animal plague, Boils, Hail. Moshe requests that Pharaoh allows B’nai Yisroel to worship God for three days, Pharaoh sometimes acquiesces sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes he asks Moshe to pray on his behalf and sometimes he doesn’t. One thing is clear, that whenever Pharaoh gets his way (a plague ceases), something that would clearly indicate the power of God, Pharaoh acts almost like a child. He reverts right back to his nature.

          Hail, the seventh plague, devastates the land. Hail destroyed any living being, person or animal that was outside during the plague. Witnessing the devastation and destruction of land and life; Pharaoh’s belief system appears to have evolved. Rather than dismissing the plague, rather than demonstrating a self-centered attitude in which Pharaoh is all powerful, Pharaoh seems to have acquired a degree of humility.  Vayishlach Paroh Va’Yikrah L’Moshe U’le’Aharon Vayomer Aleihem Chatati HaPa’am Adonay  HaTzaddik v’Ani V’Ami Harsha’im – Pharaoh sent and summoned Moshe and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; Hashem is the Righteous One, and I and my people are the wicked ones (Ex. 9:27). Pharaoh asks Moshe to pray on his behalf to end the plague. He seems to be genuine in his belief. By acknowledging sin, by explicitly calling God the Righteous One, Pharaoh not only acknowledges the fact that God exists but admits that Pharaoh is not a God. Unfortunately, as soon as the plague ends, Pharaoh sins again and refuses to let B’nai Yisroel leave. However, now Pharaoh is choosing to ignore that which he has come to legitimately accept. The Parsha concludes with Pharaoh committing the sin of ignoring God based upon his own willful stubbornness not ignoring based upon the failure of recognition.

           Pharaoh, like the 19-year-old college student, obviously believes he is the center of the world. Time and History begin and end with him. Pharaoh, like the 19-year-old, believes he is immortal and without limitations. At times, it is our process as well. We constantly question and wonder about God. Like Pharaoh, ultimately our belief in God cannot be solely confined to experiencing miracle after miracle. Rather our belief, our complete and devoted faith in God will evolve from the small things in life. Unlike Pharaoh, hopefully that 19-year-old son of my former congregant learned what so many learn as they mature. Hopefully, he has a sense of mortality, hopefully he understands that he is not all powerful, hopefully he has come to learn to rely on on others. Hopefully, he understands that he is not the center of the universe, nor has much control over the universe.  Hopefully, as he developed his own faith, he was able to sense God in the presence of his life and his family’s life.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rav Yitz

Please Forget You Knew My Name, My Darling, Sugaree (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Sugaree')

            According to the school calendar, winter break began earlier this week.  With my wife and son both off from school, we drove our son to his grandparents in Upstate New York. My wife and I continued our drive to New York City.  We planned to pick up one daughter who was also beginning her semester break from university and visit our other daughter. It was also an opportunity to visit my sister and my wife’s aunt. However, there were some clues that our time in New York City was going to be a bit different. ‘ My niece spent her final days of school attending “online” classes before her winter break. My sister spent her last few days of work online before her winter break. Several Broadway shows were canceled, Saturday Night Live was not live in front of a studio audience, but rather live before a skeleton stage crew. Sporting events were being canceled throughout North America.  As I walked around Manhattan, I noticed a curious sight. I kept seeing lines of people form. No, these lines were not in front of Madison Square Garden or Broadway theatres, these lines were on various street corners.  It turned out that the lines were of people waiting to get tested for Covid. Indeed, with the powerful resurgence of the Delta variant and the new arrival of the Omicron variant, the number of people becoming ill quickly grew and the number of people dying has started to increase as well. During this resurgence, the empirical evidence has been clear. Those who are fully vaccinated with a booster may contract Covid, but their illness is relatively mild with an extremely low chance of hospitalization and death. Those who are unvaccinated suffer a far worse fate with a 20%  increased chance of hospitalization or death. As I walked around New York and saw people standing in line for testing, walking into pharmacies for their vaccinations, I thought about those hundreds of thousands of people who died needlessly because they either waited too long to get vaccinated or they refused to get vaccinated. These people had names. They had families, They had friends. Their lives touched others’ lives.  Yet through ignorance, naivete, hubris, obstinancy, or procrastination, their awful choice turned each of these people into a statistic, into one number of the over 800,000 people who have died from Covid in North America.

           This week we begin the second book of the Torah; the Book of Exodus – Sefer Shmot, literally translated into “The Book of Names”. This second book begins with the Parsha Shmot. The first few verses essentially recount the ending of the Book of Genesis. Shmot re-iterates the names of Jacobs’ sons and the fact that Jacob and his sons came to Egypt. We are reminded that Jacob had already died. We are reminded that the next generation, Jacob’s sons (including Yosef) passed away. A new king assumes the mantle of power and does not know of Yosef’s great deeds. Instead, the new Pharaoh believed that this foreign population was tantamount to a fifth column. Therefore this tribe must be enslaved to prevent their uniting with Egypt’s external enemies. We read about the birth and growth of Moses, and his flight to Midian. We read about his becoming a husband, a shepherd, a father. We learn of his epiphany with the Burning Bush and God’s instructions plan to redeem B’nai Israel from slavery and Moshe’s role in the redemptive process.

          Considering, that this is a completely new Sefer, a new Book of the Torah and that the dominant theme of this new book is redemption from slavery and the national revelation at Mt. Sinai, why should the text be known as a Book of Names and why should it begin with a re-iteration of the names of Jacobs’ sons: V’Eilah Shmot  B’nai Yisroel Ha’Baim Mitzrayaima Eit Yaakov Ish U’Veito Ba’u- And these are the name of the Children of Israel who were coming to Egypt with Jacob, each man, and his household came, Reuven Shimon, Levi, Yehuda; Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; Dan Naphtali; Gad and Asher. We don’t normally begin a new book with a conjunction, especially the conjunction “And”.  Instead of beginning the Parsha and the Book of Shmot with Eilah (These), the Parsha begins with V’Eilah (And these).  Based upon the Sefer Breishit's conclusion, the sons, along with Jacob, arrived in Egypt decades before (Gen. 46:8-30). Why do these opening verses repeat the concluding verses of the previous book? RaMBaN, (the great 12th-century Spanish doctor, commentator, and Halachist), and R’ Bachya (late 13th early 14th century Torah commentator), explain that the conjunction which begins the Parsha purposefully connects this new book to the previous book.  “B’nai Yisroel”, the term now used for the extended tribe owes their existence and their future existence to V’Eilah –“and these”…. these sons of Jacob, these sons who were “with Jacob” in his descent into Egypt. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsh (19th Cent. Germany) explains that these twelve sons and their resulting twelve tribal families were intimately attached to Jacob, and this was the secret of Israel’s strength and survival in Egypt. Although each son had his own family, he remained connected and united with Jacob. Implicit to these opening verses we understand that the secret to B’nai Israel’s survival in Egypt as slaves: past, present, and future were connected through values and covenant of the name of Jacobs twelve sons, Jacob, and his father and grandfather, Isaac and Abraham. The strength of those connections, the strength of being connected to the past with an eye towards a hopeful and positive future kept B’nai Israel spiritually free despite physical hardship and bondage.

          The names explicitly mentioned, Jacob and his son’s, stood for something. Implicitly, these names stood for and symbolized a covenantal relationship with God. These names stood for inheriting a land, as well as making a great name for itself. For their descendants, the names gave them an identity, an identity that kept them spiritually free despite their physical bondage. Every one of the over 800,000 deaths due to Covid had a name, a life, and touched others' lives. Yet those who died needlessly because they refused to be vaccinated because they erroneously thought that their personal liberties were the issue, suffered from a form of enslavement.   However, there is another kind of slavery: slavery to misinformation, slavery to obstinancy, naivete, ignorance, that carries with it a very real possibility of becoming an unnecessary statistic, or another unnecessary death. Perhaps all the unavoidable deaths are the greatest tragedy of this Pandemic.  

Peace
Rav Yitz 

I Swear It On My Very Soul; If I Lie May I Fall Down Cold (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Reuben and Cerise")

          Every religion, every society acknowledges the importance of making a vow, or swearing an oath, or “giving one’s word”. To accept a vow, oath, or another person’s “word” was a demonstration of trust, an act of faith that the other person would keep their vow, oath, or word. Without a mechanism for people to trust business would cease to occur, relationships would end,  and anarchy would reign. Where society and religions differ is the premium place upon the vow, oath, or a person’s word. The Judeo-Christian and Muslim cultures and traditions consider vows and oaths tantamount to invoking God’s name and violating an oath or a vow, therefore, is tantamount to “Taking God’s name in vain”. For the less observant or those who don’t affiliate with a religion, a violation of an oath or a vow destroys a sacred trust. In a democratic society, trust is the lubricant,  that allows governments to govern. When the populace doesn’t trust its institutions there is chaos. Certainly, that is what we have watched occur in the United States over the past several years. Sadly, over the past week, once again we witnessed, elected officials who swear an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic…” fail to live up to that oath. A former Chief of Staff and former congressman who swore such an oath decided to protect and defend a former president instead of the Constitution. An entire political party, except for a handful of Congressman and Senator have pledged their fealty to authoritarianism instead of fulfilling their vows and oaths to the Constitution.  

          This morning we read from Parsha Vayechi. This is the final Parsha in the book of Breishit. The Parsha begins with Yaakov calling Yosef and making him swear an oath that he will not be buried in Egypt. He also blesses his grandsons Ephraim and Menashe. He gathers his sons together and offers each son a blessing or a prophecy. Yaakov dies and his sons take him out of Egypt and fulfill their vow. They bury their father in Heron alongside Avraham and Yitzchak and Sarah Rebecca and Leah. Afterward, the brothers fear that Yosef will finally take vengeance for their mistreatment of him. Yosef doesn’t, and the brothers and their families continue to grow and prosper in Goshen. As Yosef prepares for his death, he makes his brothers vow to take his bones out of Egypt and bury his bones in Eretz Canaan. 

          Yaakov’s final dying wish is to be buried in Canaan, in the Caves of the Machpela with his ancestors, Avraham/Sarah, Yitzchak/Rivka, and Leah his wife. Yaakov shares this wish with Yosef. Given his position within Egypt, Yosef would be the most likely of the sons who would be able to arrange this final wish. After sharing his final wish with his beloved son Yosef; Yaakov asks Yosef to swear to him that he will carry out this final wish. To demonstrate one’s “swearing a vow,” Yaakov tells Yosef: Im Nah Matzati Chein M’Einecha If now I have found grace in your eyes Sim Nah Yadcha Tachat Yereichi put, I pray of you, your hand beneath my thigh v’Asita Imadi Chesed v’Emet –,and deal kindly and truthfully with me. However, Yosef does not do as his father asks; Yosef does not put his hand beneath his father’s thigh as an indication of swearing an oath. Rather, Vayomer [Yosef] said, Anochi Eseh Chidvarecha – I personally will do as you said. The text clearly conveys that Yosef did not make a “vow” to Yaakov. Yosef did not put his hand beneath his father’s thigh as an indication of making a vow. Rather his said that he would take care of the matter personally.  Rabeinu Chananel, a tenth-century Egyptian Talmudic commentator, briefly and succinctly explains that the statement: Anochi Eseh M’Atzmi – I will take care of it myself suggests there is no need for swearing an oath. Rav Ovadia Sforno – the 16th Italian Renaissance Torah Commentator adds a more in-depth comment over the fact that Yosef did not at first swear an oath to Yaakov’s final request. Anochi Metzad Atzmi Eseh Kidvarecha B’Chol Chai – As far as I am concerned, I will do as you say with all my power. Yosef’s response suggests a built-in excuse in case he cannot fulfill the dying wish. “I will do everything in my power” suggests that if Yosef entreats Pharaoh to let him bury his father in Canaan, and Pharaoh refuses; then Yosef still fulfilled his father’s final wish since Yosef did everything he could.  Yaakov senses his hesitation and tells Yosef: Hishava Li – Swear to me, Vayishava Lo – and He [Yosef] swore to him [Yaakov]. Yaakov does not want any excuses nor does he want Yosef to have to rely solely upon his own relationship with Pharaoh. Pharaoh will understand a son swearing an oath to his dying father and would never refuse a request of that nature. As a son, as a free person, as the second most powerful person in Egypt, Yosef is only bound by his conscience. He is free to question. The Malbim, the 17th-century commentator explains that Yosef was acting as a son should be bound by filial piety and integrity.

          There are moments where one’s own volition is not enough in fulfilling a final wish. Yaakov makes Yosef swear the oath because he wants Yosef to acknowledge an authority greater than his own. He also wants Yosef to acknowledge an authority greater than Pharaoh. Yaakov wanted Yosef to be completely powerless and act solely on behalf of his father. Under normal circumstances, according to ChaZaL – our Talmudic sages of Blessed Memory, the acceptance of Torah and its commandments are an acknowledgment and acceptance of an external authority greater than ourselves. Intrinsic to that acceptance is a humbling awareness that we are not all that powerful or in control of every aspect of life. As more and more information comes becomes public about the January 6th Capitol Hill attack and attempted coup, it becomes more and more clear, that numerous people who had sworn an oath to the U.S. Constitution, due to political expediency, violated that oath and pledged fealty to authoritarianism. They continue to do so to this day. Unfortunately, history provides many examples from the last century when elected officials violate their oaths, trust wanes, institutions cease to function and authoritarianism wins the day. Hopefully, bringing light and attention to that day will remind elected officials of the importance of their oaths, vows, and keeping their word to support and defend.

Peace 

Rav Yitz

Arabian Nights Our Gods Pursue Their Fights; What Fatal Flowers of Darkness Bloom From Seeds Of Light - Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Blues for Allah"

           This week was the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States’ entrance into WWII when the world was divided between the forces of fascism/authoritarianism and democracy. Ironically, this week President Biden met with the largest democracies in Europe prior to his meeting with Europe’s most authoritarian regime: Russia. Russia has amassed approximately 100,000 soldiers and equipment along its border with Ukraine. It seemed that the President wanted to confront Putin using the language of sanctions and diplomacy, so he needed to know the position of Europe’s largest economies regarding any such diplomatic response. Also, the President responded to another authoritarian regime by announcing a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming winter Olympics in China. On a global diplomatic scale, we witnessed the confrontation or a clash between liberty/democracy and suppression/authoritarianism.

          This week’s Torah portion is VaYigash.  The confrontation between Yosef and his brothers is about to occur. The Parshah begins with Yehudah approaching his brother Yosef, whom he does not recognize, and pleads for Benjamin’s freedom.  Yosef reveals his identity. Then Yosef and his brothers hug and kiss each other. They cry and they forgive each other. Yosef asks about his father’s welfare. The brothers return to their father, Yaakov, and tell him that Yosef is alive. The brothers explain that everyone, the entire clan, should go down to Egypt. So this clan, including Jacob, the brothers, their wives, and children, heads down to Egypt. Yaakov meets Pharaoh. Yosef’s family is given a parcel of land outside of Egypt in a place called Goshen, where they can tend to their flocks. Yaakov is reunited with his beloved Yosef in the land of Goshen.

          For the ChaZaL, the Sages of Blessed Memory, the Sages of the Talmud, the confrontation between Yosef, the second most powerful man in Egypt, and Yehudah, the leader of Yaakov’s sons; the confrontation is much more than just two brothers meeting up after a couple of decades. For ChaZaL, the word VaYiGaSh refers to Yehudah girding himself for war. Remember, Yehudah does not yet know the identity of the man standing before him. For all Yehudah knows, this man, who looks Egyptian, dresses Egyptian, and speaks Egyptian embodies the most powerful empire and the most dominant culture in the world. However, according to the Or HaChayim that is not the plain meaning of the word. The Or HaChayim, Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar an early 16th Century Moroccan Kabbalist and Talmudist,  explains that if Yehudah was “girding himself for war” then he would not have spoken so respectfully and politely to Yosef: Bi Adoni “if it pleases my lord”. Nor would Yehudah be concerned with antagonizing Yosef’s anger. Instead, Yehudah approached  Egypt’s second in command diplomatically, not girded for war with his sword unsheathed or his gun drawn so to speak,  but confidently,  striding powerfully towards Yosef bypassing guards and advisors, and then quietly and privately speaking into the minister’s ear. Make no mistake, when Yehudah tells the minister that he is just like Pharaoh he is not paying the Minister a compliment. Yehuda speaks truth to power,  without subtleties, coldly and brutally honest. However, Yehudah confronts the minister in a  whisper, privately, without causing embarrassment to the second most powerful man in the Egyptian empire.

          For the Talmudic Sages, Yehuda’s approach to this representative of Egypt was not an approach between two men but a clash between two cultures, a clash between idolatry and monotheism, a clash between two diametrically opposite worlds. Most of history, at least European History is a similar clash albeit, between religions or between sects of the same religion. This week, we are reminded that these powerful clashes are not solely confined between religions. These “cosmic” sorts of clashes also occur between the force of democracy and the forces of authoritarianism and tyranny. In either case,  depending on the diplomatic skills of both sides, such “cosmic” clashes can either exacerbate tensions or diminish tensions.

Peace,
Rav Yitz