I Hope You Will Believe What I Say Is True (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "They Love Each Other")

           It was an especially bittersweet week this week. It was my grandfather’s yahrzeit this week and it is our son’s Bar Mitzvah Parsha. Being the only one in the house,  I found myself gazing just a little bit longer at some of the pictures of my son and my grandfather. One picture, in particular, kept catching my eye, 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 a 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. There we are, four generations: a great grandfather, a grandfather, a father, and a young son, all in tuxedos, and all smiling. All at very different points in life.

          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, care 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 comes from 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 the 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 ignore those in authority if they 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.  

Seven years and four months after the picture was taken, the great grandfather passed away. A year after his death, the young son stood before the Kotel next to the father, received an Aliya, read from Parsha Re’Eh, and became a Bar Mitzvah. The grandfather,  long retired, had been too sick to travel so he and his wife watched as we streamed everything from Jerusalem.  It is now four years since the young son’s Bar Mitzvah and he will be entering grade 12,  and his grandfather, who turns 80 in a few months, is in good health. The father tears up when looking at a picture of a moment when four generations stood together, worrying about the health of the elder generation, worrying about the decisions and life choices facing the younger generation.  As I look at the picture, I am keenly aware of the wisdom I received from my elders and I do everything I can to transmit their wisdom, their truth, their wariness of moral relativism, and their suspicion of anyone who claims to have all the easy answers to complex problems and issues. There, in that picture, are three generations, who received the elder’s moral code, lives by it, and tries to remain true to it. For that is truly the greatest gift he left us.

Peace,
Rav Yitz

 

Pretty Soon Won't Trust You For The Weather ( Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "They Love Each Other")

Lately, my son has been sitting with me watching many of the news shows that I watch. Maybe he wants to spend time with me.  This week we learned of a Times of Israel article about the U.S. President’s upcoming trip to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Rome. This is President’ Trump’s first overseas visit as President so the eyes of the world will be on Trump. America's allies will be watching and so will America's enemies. For the first time ever, a U.S. President plans to visit the Kotel (Western Wall). This is a very big deal. It is a big deal for the Israel. It is a big deal for the Jewish People. Israeli Government representatives asked the White House representatives if Prime Minister Netanyahu could accompany the President. Could the Israeli press cover this historical moment? Normally, before the President arrives, representatives of the from the State Department usually arrive a week or two ahead, work out the itinerary, security, meetings according to  all the necessary  international protocol. Unfortunately, the State Department is only minimally staffed as the President decided to severely cut its budget. As a result, the White House has sent representatives to make these preparations and they are not quite as well trained as the State Department. During a meeting with their Israeli counterparts, the Presidents itinerary was discussed. With great ignorance and arrogance, the White House representative declined Netanyahu’s offer to accompany the president and couldn’t understand why Israel and the Israeli press cared so much about the President’s visit to the Wall since the Wall and Jerusalem were part of the West Bank. Not only did the ignorant comment make the news in Israel it made the news in the United States and Canada. By the next day the White House put out an explanation. As our children watched the news with me that night and saw me shaking my head; our son asked me why I seemed so disgusted. Like a good father, and a typical rabbi, I answered his question with a question. “Why do you think?” He thought for a moment, I could see him thinking. He astutely remarked that over the past couple of weeks, the President, otherwise known as the leader of the free world, fired the Head of the FBI, the day after during a meeting with the two Russian official in the Oval Office, verbally passed along classified information, White House representatives are making asinine comments about Jerusalem and the Wall as being part of the West Bank and the classified information that the President shared with the Russians in the Oval Office came from Israeli intelligence sources. My son told me that I probably shook my head out of disgust because the Leader of the Free World was so untrustworthy, and if the President is not to be trusted, that diminishes America, and a diminished America is not at all good for Israel.

This week, we again read a double portion, Parsha Behar and Parsha Bechukotai. These are the last two Parshiot of Sefer Vayikrah (Book of Leviticus). Throughout the entire book, we have read how to elevate our lives with holiness. We elevate our lives by thanking God and atoning to God, through a variety of Korbonot. We elevate our lives by avoiding behavior that defiles us; we don’t marry our sisters. We elevate our lives in everyday physical behaviors; we only eat certain types of food. We elevate our lives by consciously setting aside holy times throughout the day, week, and season. In Parsha Behar we elevate our lives and our land with holiness by setting aside another type of sacred time, Shmita (the seventh year.) Just like the seventh day (Shabbat) is a day of rest. Shmita is a year of rest. Every seventh year, all outstanding debts are cancelled. The land lies fallow. Slaves and servants are set free. Agriculturally speaking, there is a benefit. Resting the soil for a year allows for replenishment of nutrients. Rabbinically speaking, less time devoted to agricultural concerns meant more time devoted to Torah study! Parsha Bechukotai, being the end of Leviticus, tells us the ramifications for behavior. “If you’ll keep the commandments… then I’ll send the rains in their time, the earth and trees will give forth their produce, you’ll settle securely in the land…I will multiply you…I will walk with you” (Lev. 25:3-10). If we don’t live up to these standards, if we neglect adding Kedushah (holiness) to our lives, if we “don’t perform these commandments, if we consider these decrees loathsome, if we reject these ordinances, if we annul the covenant, then I will do the same to you…. (Lev. 26:14:17) God will annul us. All blessing will become curses.

            While the Torah does not paint a very pleasant picture, both parshiot reflect the vital importance of Bitachon, trust in God. In Behar, we may consider this notion of Shmita to be quite nice. All debts are cancelled. On the other hand, if the land is to lie fallow, what would people eat? We are urged to trust God. “I will command my blessing upon the sixth year and it will bring forth (enough) produce for three years (Lev. 25:20-21).  The Chatam Sofer, (Rabbi Moshe Shreiber from Frankfort on the Main, Germany 1762-1839) explained the importance of reminding us that the Mitzvah of Shmita originated from Sinai just like the Mitzvah of gathering the Manna while B’nai Yisroel wandered and traveled to Eretz Yisroel.  God provided a double portion of Manna on Friday thereby guaranteeing enough food for Shabbat during their time of wandering; so too God will “guarantee” enough produce in the sixth year when they are living in the land. B’nai Yisroel won’t starve in the seventh (Shmita) year nor will they starve in the first year of the next cycle while they are waiting for that year’s harvest.

            So what does the Torah teach us? We learn that every rung climbed towards Kedushah, confirms our trust in God. Rather than diminishing ourselves out of ignorance and arrogance, we remind ourselves of God’s presence in all aspect of our lives including the harvest, the Jubilee year, and helping those most vulnerable. Because of this constant reminder, we trust that God is Holy, otherwise we would have no need to be holy. We trust that everything pure and good is attributable to God. Otherwise, we would constantly defile ourselves. We trust that we are created in God’s image. Otherwise, there is no reason to treat people with kindness first. Trust in God, in a sense, is a spiritually individualized Mishkan. The Mishkan was built so that God would dwell among us. Similarly, if our purpose is to attain higher and higher levels of Kedusha, we trust that the end result is God’s dwelling within us. Leviticus teaches us that God is involved in our daily routine. Our struggle for Kedusha is our way of reminding ourselves of this fact. Failure to remind ourselves means we fall away from God and our faith diminishes. When we lack in faith and trust in God, it diminishes the Jewish people. When the Leader of the Free World cannot be trusted, well, my son will watch me continue shaking my head in disappointment as the diminished of the United States and in concern for the welfare of Israel.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

They Love Each Other; Lord, You Can See It's True (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia- "They Love Each Other")

With three daughters, every so often I get anxious regarding that moment when they discover boys. Our youngest daughter is now twelve and while most boys are still considered “gross” or “immature” like her little brother, a tiny select few have enter the category of “cute”. Our oldest daughter, several years removed from her college graduation is focused entirely upon her career in politics.  Right now she has absolutely no interest in boys and a relationship.  That leaves our fourteen year old. No, she is not boy crazy in the least bit, but it has been fascinating watching her leave the “boys are gross” stage and talking with boys at the Shabbat table, or hanging out with them at the movies. For our fourteen year old, boys are no longer “gross”; some of them are actually “people.” Of course, all this gives me reason to worry, first the boys become “people” and then one or two becomes friends, and then comes “adorable” and then  comes “puppy love”, and then? Then I try to stop thinking about it and try to end my anxiety attack.

This Shabbat is the last day of Pesach. Among the additions to the Shabbat/Pesach service is the fact that we say Yizkor and commemorate the deceased. Because we are celebrating a Festival that did not have an intermediate Shabbat, but rather the last days fall on a Shabbat; we read a Megillah - a Scroll that corresponds to Pesach.  ChaZaL – our sages teach us that we read Shir HaShirim, the Song of Songs. This biblical text, taken from Ketuvim (Writings) is attributed to Shlomo HaMelech – King Solomon.  The eight chapters, which are song in a melody different from both Torah and Haftarah speaks of the young romantic love between a young couple.  I imagine that this young couple is in their early twenties but there is no evidence that suggests a specific age. One thing is for sure, because the text begins with the words: Shir HaShirim Asher L’Shlomo – The Song of Songs by Solomon. ChaZaL explains that only a young man in throes of romantic love would write such poetry. A middle age man wouldn’t write such romantic poetry since some of the idealism  of that romantic love would have waned, and certainly a older man, towards the end of life wouldn’t write of romantic love since an older man would be more scarred by life’s experience. Nevertheless, this beautiful poetry and the illusions of green meadows, deer, trees and fruit, portray a romantic vision that would great poets such as Shakespeare and Keats jealous with its use of language.

The question is why we read Shir HaShirim during the Pesach Festival. How is a nation attaining liberty remotely connected to Romantic poetry?  R’Akiva, the same R’Akiva that we all read about in the Haggada at our respective sederim, comments that the Song of Songs is the holy of holies (Midrash Tanchuma).  We understand that something becomes holy when it has been separated from the mundane and ordinary and elevated to a higher purpose.  Certainly, Bnai Yisroel fits such a description. Throughout the story of the Yetziat Mitzrayim, when Moshe request of Pharaoh that Bnai Yisroel be released from bondage, Moshe repeatedly says to ‘Let me people go… Asher Ya’Avduni  “So that they may serve me.” Clearly the purpose of being released from Pharaoh’s slavery enabled Bnai Yisroel to enter into a relationship with God. As long as Pharaoh declined Moshe’s request, the more Pharaoh prevented Bnai Yisroel from separating itself from Egypt and elevating itself for the sole purpose of entering into a sacred relationship with God. Now that Bnai Yisroel has been freed from Egypt, it can return to the sacred relationship with God, a relationship that it had not experienced for over two centuries.  From that perspective, the relationship, with this generation of Bnai Yisroel is novel, idealistic and romantic. After all, within our tradition we view Hashem as our protector, we view Hashem as bound to the Jewish people much like a husband is bound to a wife. On Friday nights, we have a Kabalistic tradition of viewing the Shabbat Queen as our spiritual mate. After all, Sunday has Monday, Tuesday has Wednesday and Thursday has Friday. Can Shabbat really be left alone? According to Midrash, Shabbat is paired off with the Jewish People.  (Breishit Rabbah 11:8)The Shabbat Bride serves as a symbol of that pairing off.

As Pesach draws to a close,  our story doesn’t end, nor does our relationship with God draw to a conclusion. Because we are counting the Omer each evening up until 50, we understand that our job is to prepare ourselves for our long, awaited re-union with Hashem.  That re-union will occur on Shavuot when we stand at Sinai to receive the Torah. Shir HaShirim merely marks the beginning of a loving relationship, a courtship prior to a marriage,  a time when we should be full of romantic visions prior to entering a relationship built upon obligations.  As a father of three daughters, someday all three will grow into relationships that culminate in the sanctity of marriage. For now, however, I have enough anxiety just dealing with their interest in boys!

Peace,

Rav Yitz