When The Voices Of The Storm Sound Like A Crowd ( Bobby Peterson & Phil Lesh - "New Potato Caboose")

            

          I have always been fascinated by Post-Holocaust/Post 1948 Jewry’s establishment of Jewish observances/commemorations. This is especially the case immediately following the Pesach Festival. Approximately five days after Pesach, five days after the Jewish People celebrated a holiday that is thousands of years old, a holiday in which the Jewish People observe and celebrated its redemption from ancient Egyptian slavery, the Jewish People observe Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. First established by the Israeli Rabbinate in 1951, Yom HaShoah has been part of the Jewish Calendar for 71 years. For these seven decades, we have not only listened to the testimony of the survivors who bore witness to the Holocaust, but we also listened to historians, sociologists, political scientists, and philosophers explain to us how this happened, the rise of fascism, the rise of nationalism, the scapegoating of a minority, the anonymity of an angry mob, the dissemination of conspiracy theories and disinformation, and the failure of leaders to exert courage to shine a light on wipe out the festering grievance politics. After 71 years, I can help but notice the irony that we are once again focused on that part of the world. However, it appears that some nations have figured out how to spiritually atone for their behaviour 70 years ago, while others have not. 

          This Shabbat we return to the weekly Torah cycle and read Parshat Acharei Mot. The two previous Parshiot: Tazria and Metzorah interrupted the narrative with the laws of individual purity and impurity.  In Acharei Mot, the Torah now teaches the laws for the spiritual purity of the nation. We have focused on the impurities of individuals, now we focus on the community. 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 on the holy and unholy relationships within the family. However, the list of inappropriate behaviors between family members is taught within the context of the other nations. Other nations do these things and B'nai Yisroel must refrain from imitating those other nations.

           While providing the laws regarding holy and unholy relationships, God invokes Egypt and Canaan. B’nai Yisroel had been enslaved in  Egypt and now it prepares for its journey 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 practice of the land of Canaan to which I bring you, and do not follow their traditions. (Lev. 18:3) For the past two centuries, B’nai 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. Why would God bring us to a place that is just as morally decadent as the place from which he brought us out?  Why would God promise land that was as morally bankrupt as Egypt? One would have assumed that Canaan was already a wonderful place otherwise God wouldn’t have brought B’nai Yisroel there nor would it have been part of a covenant. The Be’er Yitzchak, the 19th 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 and the future viability of our relationship with God through the 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. B’nai Yisroel’s survival ultimately depends upon remaining separate and apart from the cultural majority. B’nai Yisroel’s survival depends upon remaining spiritually distinct from the majority. B’nai 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”.

         At the core of Judaism is the recognition that Judaism constantly establishes distinctions between itself and everything around it. Creating distinctions and separation between the holy and the mundane occurs every day, every week, and every season. Creating distinctions between the holy and mundane occur during the most basic activities of eating and procreation. Creating distinctions between the holy and the mundane occurs in our relationships with the world around us. Judaism also understands that as human beings and as communities there will be moments when fail at observing those distinctions between the holy and the mundane.  So God and Torah established a mechanism for individuals and communities to do “Teshuva” to repent,  return to God, and continue striving toward holiness. After seven decades, during this week of Yom HaShoah, it is interesting to see which nations have engaged in some degree of Teshuvah and atonement while others have continued to remind contaminated by fascism, nationalism, populism, conspiracy theories, misinformation, and scapegoating of minorities.  

Peace
Rav Yitz

And Touching Makes The Flesh To Cry Out Loud ( Bob Petersen & Phil Lesh - "New Potato Caboose)

Last week, we drove to New Jersey and attended a Bat Mitzvah. It was a bit of a re-union for me, my wife and children as the Bat Mitzvah was in a Synagogue where I served as the Rabbi seven years ago.  The Bat Mitzvah girl is a very close friend to my daughter so it was very nice watching the two of them remain inseparable over the course of last weekend. The Bat Mitzvah girl invited both boys and girls to her party. Although both boys and girls attended the party, were actually in the banquet room sharing space, and breathing the same air; I was amazed by the lack of interaction between the boys and the girls. As an overprotective father, I was also quite relieved to see that there was a lack of interaction between the boys and the girls. They girls sat with the girls; the boys sat with the boys. The girls talked with the girls; the boys talked with the boys. While there was no physical barrier separating the boys and the girls, there might as well have been because neither group went near the other. It reminded me of my childhood. We didn’t go near the girls. Maybe we were scared of them. Not for the nothing, the girls didn’t go near us either. They probably thought we were “gross” and “disgusting”.

This Shabbat we read from Parsha Tzav. While the previous Parsha, VaYikra spoke of the various rules and regulations for the number of offerings; the Parsha focused upon Bnai Yisroel, the types of animals that are brought for Korbonot (usually animal offerings) and what happens to the animal at the time of the Korbonot. In Parshat Tzav, the first two chapters, focus is upon the role of the Kohanim, the priests, their entitlements, their privileges and the responsibilities in the sacrificial process. Some offering are to be burned completely and the Kohen is not entitled to anything, and some other offerings are NOT to be burned completely and the Kohen is entitle to the food that is left over.

Two consecutive chapters remind us of the importance purity, for both the Kohen as well as Bnai Yisroel. The Torah text suggests that the transfer of purity and impurity is similar to our “little boy” perceptions of girls. All we needed to do was touch or be touched and we could be rendered as pure or impure, or have “girl germs”. Kol Asher Yigah Bivsarah Yikdash Va’Asher Yizeh Midamah Al Beged Asher  Yizeh Aleha T’Chabeis B’Makom Kadosh – Whatever touches its flesh becomes holy; and if its blood is sprinkled upon a garment, whatever it has been sprinkled upon you shall wash in a holy place (6:20).  The area of the clothing that is stained with blood needs to be washed. Physically that area is stained and needs to be cleaned. Spiritually, if the offering itself touches the Kohen, the he and his clothing retain their purity. Later on we read V’HaBasar Asher Yigah B’Chol Tamei Lo Yei’Acheil BaEish Yisareif V’Habasar Kol Tahor Yochal Basar – The flesh that touches any contaminated thing may not be eaten, it shall be burned in fire; but of the uncontaminated flesh, any uncontaminated person may eat the flesh (7:19) Both the meat that was offered, and the Kohen must be in a spiritual state of purity in order for the Kohen to partake of the meat.

Unlike the children at the Bat Mitzvah party, or the children of my childhood”, we adults have a difficult time with this notion of purity and impurity. Yet from a spiritual perspective it makes complete sense. If we touch things that are not holy, we are rendered unholy. If we touch things that are holy, we have become holier. There are certain behaviors, certain foods and certain people we avoid because it we may be harmed. The same holds true in the spiritual realm as well. It is nice to know that if we are indeed receptive to it, when sacred moments touch us: a life cycle event, a holiday, Shabbat, a beautiful sundown, an inspiring word, a moving piece of music, or the peaceful slumber of our children, we achieve a higher degree of holiness, a holiness that washes away all the mundane aspects of weekly life and allows us a taste of spiritual life.

Peace,

Rav Yitz