And Brave The Storm To Come, For It Surely Looks Like Rain (John Barlow & Bob Weir - "Looks Like Rain")

          While at major intersections in Toronto, one cannot help but notice all the signs for candidates running for local office. There are also mid-term elections that are occurring in the United States. In fact, early voting has already commenced in many states. It has been reported that some 12 million people have already voted. The issues that face perhaps the most powerful democracy and largest economy seem overwhelming. Internally, it appears that one set of candidates will deny election results, and prohibit abortion even in the case of rape, incest, or the mother’s health. There are a slew of candidates that try to scare the electorate with talk of rampant crime, ironically, the top ten crime-ridden states are those that have the most relaxed gun laws run by state legislatures that deny elections, want to restrict the rights of women’s health choices and have a large constituency that belief that the January 6th riot was a peaceful gathering. There is a rise in racism and antisemitism. Externally, there is a war between Ukraine and Russia, there is worldwide inflation, and a rise in fascism and totalitarianism throughout the world. Amid all this tension, North Korea fired more rockets into Japanese airspace, rockets that were able to fly further, faster, with a more destructive payload. Indeed Democracy seems to be under attack both from the inside and outside.  I can’t help but think of the late President, Harry S. Truman, who was President when the Korean War was fought and the 38th Parallel became part of the Western lexicon. President Truman used to keep a paperweight on his desk with the saying “The Buck Stops Here”. In a sense, it became indicative of President Truman’s view of leadership. The leader is ultimately responsible and therefore must assume that responsibility.

           This week we read Parshat Noach. Noach’s should be familiar to all of us. God sends a flood as a means of dealing with the growing disappointment in mankind's abysmal behavior. However one man, Noach, is deemed Ish Tzadik B’dorotav – a righteous man in his generation and God makes a covenant with him and his family.  As a result, Noach, his family, and the male and females of every species will be saved in to re-create after the flood. God instructs Noach to build a Tevah, an Ark. Noach, his family, and each animal species are protected. In a sense, a second creation ensues, and Noach and his family begin the narrative of re-creation. Generations pass, and eventually, mankind becomes corrupt. This time, the corruption is the result of mankind’s passivity by permitting, a certain kind of person to become the leader and never questioning or opposing his desire to build a Tower. A Tower is built, God views it as a violation of boundaries, and rather than destroying the world, multiple languages come into being and people are unable to communicate. As a result, the leadership which lacked respect for boundaries scatters across the earth. The Parsha concludes ten generations later with the birth of Avraham Avinu, Abraham the Patriarch.

           The narrative appears quite straightforward and simple. God is unhappy with the way people behave. He identifies Noach as a worthy partner and instructs him to build the Ark.  However one should keep in mind that Ark wasn’t built in a few days or weeks. According to the Midrash, the ark was built over the course of many decades. Even worse the flood didn’t come right away, that too was decades in the making. According to the Midrash Tanchuma, it took Noach 120 years to build the Ark. Also, the Ark was built atop a mountain in order to give Noach the greatest amount of time to complete the project. This meant hauling all the materials up a mountain. Imagine spending roughly 1/8th of your life preparing for the future. Imagine spending roughly 1/8th of your life engaged in a single endeavor. Imagine putting off gratification for 1/8th of your life and then knowing your sense of accomplishment is predicated on the destruction of so much. Imagine spending 1/8th of your life hauling Gopher wood up a mountain. Every day Noach spent his time engaged in one activity, building the first aircraft carrier. Eventually, the project would become the purpose of living. During this time, Noach’s life was not so easy. In fact, from a practical perspective, Noach’s life seems quite depressing. According to Midrash Tanchuma, Noach faced ridicule from others and was threatened with death. Yet despite it all, he continued building even though the gratification from the project would not occur for many years. Even with the first raindrops and the first opportunity to enjoy the fruit of his life's work and enter the Ark; he didn’t. Rather, he delayed his sense of accomplishment and gratification. Noach waited until the last possible second when there was no hope of saving any more of God’s creation, and then he finally entered the Ark.

           Being the leader can be a rather lonely job. Whether it’s the leader of a family, a tribe, or a community; it can be lonely. By no means was Noach a perfect leader. In fact, one of the criticisms was that he really didn’t lead, instead, his concern was limited to himself, his family, and the animals that entered the Ark. That being said, Noach offers a valuable lesson in leadership.  Leaders cannot be concerned with immediate gratification. Rather, a leader takes a long view of history and destiny. A leader has the strength of his belief and convictions which allows him to worry about the long term and not be concerned with the short term. When undo attention is given to the short-term perspective, it seems that more people suffer as is the case with leaders and politicians who are concerned with power instead of saving democracy. Hopefully, those in a position to make a difference will remember President Truman’s paperweight that once sat atop his desk: “The Buck Stops Here”.

Peace,
Rav Yitz

 

Well You Know, Hate's Just The Last Thing They're Thinking Of (John Barlow & Bob Weir - "Looks Like Rain")

Earlier this week, the Jewish People celebrated Chag HaShavuot, the Festival of Weeks, and the celebration of the Giving of the Torah. One of the rituals that occurred in many synagogues on Shavuot and occurs on the other two Jewish Festivals: Pesach and Sukkot, is the ceremony known as Duchening. The Kohanim of the congregation stand upon the bimah and with Talis covering them, the make blessing known as Birkat Kohanim. In Israel, the Duchening ceremony occurs every Shabbat. On Friday night, before sitting down to the Shabbos dinner, the father makes the Birkat Kohanim upon his children. When I have attended my first church wedding, I was surprised that the Catholic Priest made the Birkat Kohanim, in both Latin and English. When I made the Birkat Kohanim this past Friday, our dinner discussion included the recent events in Gaza and Hamas call for Gazans to march toward the security wall in the hopes of breaking it down.  There were reports of Gazans flying kites with incendiary devices to be dropped upon the other side of the fence in Israel.  Our daughter asked if there was an Islamic equivalent of Birkat Kohanim that a parent offers his/her child, or to the community for that matter.

This Shabbat we read from Parsha Naso. The Parsha’s 176 psukim make it among the longest parsha in the entire Torah.  Its length is also reflected in the wide variety of topics covered including:  the census for the tribe of Levi, the Priestly tribe, the responsibilities for the maintenance and operation of the Mishkan, the purification of the camp,  the treatment of the wayward wife (the Sotah), the vow of the Nazir ( a vow that limits the behavior of the individual as a means of elevating oneself to a higher level of holiness for only a limited time),  the identical tribal offerings made by each leader in order on twelve successive days that celebrated the fact that the Mishkan was “open for business”. Inserted in these seemingly disparate rules and narratives are the priestly benediction. A quick glance at the different components of Parsha Naso suggests that each is connected to each other because of the idea of Naso – “lift up”. Indeed each component discussed issues of how we can raise ourselves up in holiness, either through our own actions or the actions of the other.

The Priestly benediction is an example of a third party elevating us, or at least offering a supplication to God on our behalf that we indeed are worthy of blessing.  From that perspective, I can’t imagine a more powerful ritual for parents to do with their children. Yevarechecha Adoshem VaYishmarecha, May Hashem bless you and keep you. Ya' eir Adoshem Panav Eilecha VaYichuneka, May Hashem make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you Yisa Adoshem Panav Eilecha VaYaSem Lecha Shalom May Hashem lift his countenance upon you and give you peace.( Num 6:24-26). What does it mean that God should “keep" our children or “guard” our children? Naturally as parents invoking Hashem to protect our children seems like a great idea given all the tsuris in the world. Yet Rashi, the great 11th-century French commentator explains that this first blessing is not Hashem protecting our children. Rather the “blessing” should be the blessing enumerated in the Torah, that our children should be materially well off and Hashem should “protect” our children and their material blessings from those who might take such blessing. The second blessing which speaks of “shining Hashem’s face upon” our child is our desire for our children to become enlightened by Torah and a meaningful relationship with Hashem. The “gracious” is the subliminal understanding that all we can ask for is that our children have an intellectual and spiritual ability to learn Torah and connect to Hashem; we hope Hashem was gracious in giving our children plenty of ability in order to receive such “light”.  The third blessing is perhaps the most relevant for parents and children. Rashi explains that “lifting His countenance to you” means that Hashem should suppress His anger. One could also understand that that the light or the enlightenment we seek is the gift of God raising his face up towards us so that we can cast aside or let go of our anger and hatred in order that our souls shall be at peace in this world.  Both interpretations suggest that we desire for our children to at peace, to be Shaleim, to be whole and complete. Anger and hatred prevent Shleimah – wholeness, harmony, peace.

I thought about our daughter’s question, I thought about my own childhood dutifully walking towards my father and receiving this blessing. I thought about the blessing itself with its invocation of peace, of God’s shining his glory about the person receiving the blessing. I thought about God raising his face towards the person receiving the blessing.  Maybe I am ignorant, however, I remain unfamiliar with any equivalent in Islam where a priest stands before the community and issues Birkat Kohanim or an equivalent.  I even looked to see if there was an equivalent. I couldn’t imagine why parents of Gaza would listen to Hamas and place their children in harm’s way. I can’t imagine hating so much that I am willing to harm my own children in order to feed that hatred. I thought about the words that Golda Meir purportedly said: Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”  When the Palestinian people stop listening to Hamas, when they stand up to Hamas rather than offer their own children to Hamas’ hatred, then Israel will know there is a partner for peace in Gaza.  

Peace,

Rav Yitz

Well You Know, Hate's Just The Last Thing They're Thinking Of (John Barlow & Bob Weir - "Looks Like Rain")

Over the past few weeks, we have witnessed a human tragedy unfold in Aleppo. Actually what is happening in Aleppo has been going on in Syria for the past five years. Only now has it become starker, crueler, and more brutal and with more callousness and hatred that what previously existed as hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed, wounded or displaced. Now, not only has it been the Syrian army and air force indiscriminately killing its own. We have witnessed several attempted ceasefires in order to evacuate the innocent civilians from the wanton death and destruction.  We have witnessed tens of thousands killed. We have watched as the some countries, Russia, explicitly aid and abet the Assad loyalists. We have watch as the other countries, like the rest of the world remain silent as this Assad does to Aleppo what his father did to Hama in the 1980’s. As we watch the evening news, as we see the footage, our children admit to confusion. They understand a leader putting down a rebellion and they understand a civil war. What they don’t understand and what I can’t comprehend is a leader so focused on putting down a rebellion that he doesn’t care how many of his own innocent civilians are part of the “collateral damage” or are actual targets. I told our children to google Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot as they all turned on their own civilian populations and killed hundreds of thousands of their own. Just when it seems that a leader can’t be filled with any more hate; the leader manages to find even more in order to engage in such heinous behavior. 

This Shabbat we read from Parsha VaYeishev. We begin the Joseph story. Loved more than his brothers, Joseph is eventually sold into slavery by his brothers. He works for a powerful Egyptian only to wind up in prison. While in prison, he helps the warden and the prison becomes very profitable. The Parsha begins with Joseph interpreting dreams and the Parsha ends with Joseph interpreting dreams.  In between, we read about Yehuda who presented with an opportunity to engage in public repentance.

  For the first time in narrative in Book of Genesis, we encounter hatred. Regarding Joseph’s brother’s feelings towards Joseph, the Torah is clear. They are not jealous nor angry. V’Yavei Yosef et Dibata Ra’ah el Avihem – Joseph brought and evil report of them (this might mean only Leah’s son’s or it might refer to all the brothers). V’Yisroel Ahav et Yosef Mikol Banav Ki Ven Zekunim Hu Lo V’Asah Lo KeTonet Pasim – Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was the son of his old age and he made him a coat of many colors. Va’Yiru Echav Ki Oto Ahav Avihem MiKol Echav VaYisnu Oto  V’ Lo Yachlu Dabro L’Shalom – And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all the brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. VaYachalom Yosef Chalom VaYaGeid L’Echav VaYosifu Od Sno Oto – and Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it to his brothers and they hated him even more (Gen.27:2-5). Normally one goes through a series of emotions before arriving at hatred. We might have assumed that the brothers were at first angry or jealous before we learn that they hate Joseph. However, not only do these brothers hate Joseph they couldn’t speak civilly to him. They had to avoid speaking to him for fear that they might hurt him. That seems like a lot of hatred. Yet they managed to find even more hatred in their souls after Joseph told them about his dream of their bowing down to him. What is the difference between the first hatred that the brothers felt prior to hearing of the dream and the hatred they felt after hearing about the dream? Perhaps the first hatred really was the culmination of emotions. That the normal anger and jealousy, over time, evolved into a hatred for Joseph. Certainly that “hatred” seems to be justified as the Torah text offers reasons for their hatred. It seems that by trying to ignore Joseph, the brothers are aware that their hatred is passionate based upon jealousy, anger and rage. The second hatred is more than the first. This hatred seems like a cold calculating hatred where they stop seeing Joseph as a brother. Hinei Ba’al Chalomot HaLaZeh Ba – Behold the dreamer comes (Gen. 27:19). How much do the brothers hate their brother? They hate him so much that they don’t see him as a brother but as something else. Because he is seen as and considered to be something else, something other than a part of their family, they see Joseph as threat. Without passion but rather with a cool hatred they can coolly, calmly and rationally discuss killing him and leaving him in a pit.

                The Torah narrative almost seems to acknowledge that the human soul has a large capacity for hatred. However as large a capacity for hatred we may have, that doesn’t mean we should act upon it. The brother’s discuss killing Joseph but they don’t. They sell him to Midianites on their way to Egypt. Hatred is one of the seven basic emotions. We are not supposed to succumb to our emotions, no matter how justified, no matter how cool and calculated those emotions may be. They are still emotions. The narrative reminds us and we see it with the development of Joseph and Judah. We are supposed to be governed by something more than our emotions. We are supposed to be governed by our desire to be holy and sacred. Leave it to an Israeli youth group to understand and appreciate that lesson, a lesson that they understood and anticipated two years ago. Two years ago they asked the Chief Rabbi who told them to recite Psalms 37 and 120.  Hopefully the rest of the world can catch up and pray for the civilians of Aleppo and the victims of this horrible civil war.

Peace,

Rav Yitz