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

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

 

You've All Been Asleep, You Would Not Believe Me (John Barlow & Bob Weir- "Estimated Prophet")

           Perhaps it’s nature or maybe it is nurture, but I grew up with an incredibly low threshold for listening to people whine. I recall as a boy hearing my younger sister whine, it drove me crazy. My wife knows I have a low threshold for listening to and tolerating whining. My children always understood that whining about or for something was never a good strategy to illicit my empathy and understanding. As I have grown older, I have very little patience for adults who whine. Rabbi Levi, in the Midrash Tanchuma also talks about a spoiled brat: “A child is riding on his father’s shoulders. When the child sees something he wants, he asks for it. His father gets it for him. This happens again and again. They encounter a person approaching from the opposite direction, and the child asks the stranger, ‘Have you seen my father?’ The father responds incredulously, “You ride on my shoulders, and everything you want I get you, yet you ask, ‘Have you seen my father?’ The father then takes the child down from his shoulders and a dog comes and bites the child.”

          This week’s Parshah, Beshalach, is also known as Shabbat Shira (Shabbat of Song). Bnai Yisroel leaves Egypt. Pharaoh, realizing what he has done, gives chase with the Egyptian army in hot pursuit. Trapped by the Sea, Bnai Yisroel looks to Moshe for an answer. Moshe prays and God tells Moshe to take Israel and start walking through the Yam Suf.  So as they begin walking into the Yam Suf; it splits and Bnai Yisroel arrives safely on the other side. Meanwhile, the Egyptian army is trapped in the water as the sea closes upon them.  B’nai Yisroel sings throughout this Parshah. Upon successfully completing their crossing of the Yam Suf, the headline song begins (Ex. 15:1): Oz Yashir Moshe u’Vnai Yisroel et Ha Shira Ha’zot L’adonai va’Yomru Leimor Then Moses and the Children of Israel chose to sing this song to God and they said the following. In this song, B’nai Yisroel praises God as protector of his people. After the song, Miriam, Moshe’s sister, tells the women Shiru L’adonai Ki Ga’oh Ga’Ah Sus v’Rochvo Ramah Va’Yam Sing to God for he is exalted above the arrogant, having hurled horse with its rider into the sea. (Ex.15:21) When tradition referred to this Shabbat as Shabbat Shirah, clearly this is what was meant.

          However immediately following these songs of praise, B’nai Yisroel begins another kind of singing. Instead of songs of joy and praise, known as singing, there are songs of discontent and complaint, which always sounded to me as whining. No sooner does B’nai Yisroel cross the Yam Suf and sing Oz Yashir Moshe, then they complain about the lack of good water. Moshe puts a tree into the water and it becomes sweet (15:25-26). They whine about the lack of food. God provides the manna from Heaven (16:6-8,16-36). They complain about the lack of meat. God provides them with quail (16:13). They complained about the lack of water upon their arrival in Rephidim. Moshe strikes a rock as God instructs, and provides water for the people. They wanted it now. So God gave it “now”. The complaining and the lack of patience seem to indicate B’nai Yisroel’s lack of patience. Although liberated from slavery, B’nai Yisroel still has the mentality of slaves. After generations of slavery, B’nai Yisroel has grown used to living passively. As slaves, they ceased struggling for freedom. They performed their tasks and returned to their slaves’ quarters and ate their slave food that the master provided. There is no sense of responsibility for the future. There is no sense that improvement is possible. The slave looked to the master to take care of everything. Upon leaving Egypt and crossing the Yam Suf, B’nai Yisroel looks to God to take care of everything. They have no sense of taking take care of themselves. So they sang or whined, “But Daddy we want the water and meat and we want it now!” God gave them another miracle.

          Like the impudent boy who asked the stranger if he had seen his father, while all the while sitting upon his father’s shoulders; B’nai Yisroel demonstrates the same impudence. Hayeish Adonai B’kirbeinu Im Ayin? “Is God among us or not?” The father put the boy on the ground. God put B’nai Yisroel upon the ground. Just like the dog bit the boy, Amalek attacks. B’nai Yisroel.  B’nai Yisroel stopped whining. They finally do for themselves.  “Moshe said to Joshua, ‘Choose people for us and go do battle with Amalek; tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand’. Joshua did as Moshe said to him, to do battle with Amalek” (Ex.17:9-10). B’nai Yisroel fought, God gave them strength. This is the first time in the Parshah where we read that B’nai Yisroel acted first. God helped them when they helped themselves.

         Emunah (Faith) in God depends upon faith in ourselves. Before we seek God’s help, we must help ourselves. The spoiled brat is the child who won’t do for his/herself. The spoiled brat expects others to do for him. Instead of trusting in and doing for itself first, B’nai Yisroel relied upon God to do for them. Thank God, we are no longer slaves in Egypt, yet we remain slaves. We are enslaved by our fears, enslaved by our anxieties, and enslaved by our own passivity. At first, it may always seem easier to be passive, do nothing, be uninvolved, and not improve the world around us. The first step in freedom is conquering our own passivity, and doing for ourselves. Only when we take that first step will we feel the support and strength that God offers us. Then we can conquer Amalek. Then we conquer our own fears. Then improvement is possible for both the individual and the community.  Most importantly, we eventually stop whining.

Peace,

Rav Yitz