There's A Fear Down Here We Can't Forget, Hasn't Got A Name Just Yet, Always Awake Always Around (John Barlow & Bob Weir- "Throwing Stones")

           For the past couple of weeks,  after dinner, my wife will go onto her social media, become visibly upset and report to me and our son the numerous Anti-Semitic attacks that have occurred. My son and I have sent the New York Times, The Times of Israel, and Washington Post Op-Ed pieces from Brett Stephens and Tom Friedman to our family "chat". This current round of Anti-Semitic attacks has come from those who view the conflict between Israel and Hamas in terms of racial justice, minority rights, and the “woke Left”. From this perspective, Hamas is an organization of “freedom fighters'' with no alternative but to respond to Israel's treatment of Palestinians except through justified violence. This lens conveniently leaves out an important but inconvenient truth; Hamas is a fundamentalist Islamic terrorist organization that routinely persecutes Gays and Lesbians, enslaves its citizens to build tunnels, and hides behind civilians and civilian institutions such as mosques, hospitals, and schools in order to launch its rockets and carry out its terrorist agenda. Regarding Israel, Hamas only desires Israel’s destruction and a Palestinian homeland that adheres to strict Islamic law.  Indeed the anti-semitic attacks from the “woke Left" have managed to conflate anti -Zionism and Anti-semitism.  Earlier this week,  a U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia compared the rules for mask-wearing similar to the Nazis making Jews wear a “gold” star. By the way, she is the same Georgia Congresswoman who claimed that the wildfires from last autumn were a result of an outer-space laser beam created by and controlled by Jews.   A few years ago, Nazis marched in Charlottesville, Virginia. There were Anti-Semitic attacks in Pittsburgh, outside of San Diego, in New Jersey. These comments, these attacks had very little to do with Israel, but everything to do with Jews as “other”, part of a conspiratorial group that runs the media, controls international finance and is a threat to the right-wing White Christian world. Extremism on the Left and extremism on the Right extremely is bad for the Jews and bad for Israel.  Indeed, extremism is a darkness that allows Anti Semitism to grow and thrive.

          This week we read the third Parsha from The Book of Numbers, Parsha BeHA'alotcha. In the previous two parshiot: Bemidbar and Naso, B’nai Yisroel takes a census and prepares for its upcoming journey from Sinai to Eretz Canaan. This week, the final preparations are ordered and executed and the departure from Sinai begins. Aaron, Moshe’s brother and the Kohen Gadol, lights the lamp for the Mishkan, the entire Levite tribe is purified, offerings made and their service for maintenance of the Mishkan begins. Final instructions for observing Pesach under these new conditions, (they were not leaving Egypt anymore nor had they arrived in the land) were offered, including the case of coming into contact with the deceased and becoming spiritually impure. The narrative tells us the manner in which B’nai Yisroel traveled: sheltered by a cloud during the day and protected by a pillar of fire at night. Then the complaining begins. They complain about the Mannah. They complain about the food. They complain about Moshe’s leadership. Moshe’s sister complains about his wife.

          The first few verses, from which the Parsha gets its name BeHA'alotcha seem rather disconnected from the rest of the narrative. B’Ha’Alotcha et HaNeirot El Mul P’nei HaM’norah Ya’Iru Shivat Ha’Neirot - When you kindle the lamps, toward the face of the Menorah shall seven lamps cast light (Num. 8:2)  According to Rashi, the flames on either side of the middle are bent towards the middle, and the middle flame burns brightest and longest.  Aaron is given the job to light the Menorah, the Neir Tamid, the eternal light, every day. According to the Talmud in Menachot 88, Aaron didn’t just light the Menorah, he had to clean the seven lamps out every morning prior to lighting the lamps. He would have to lean it over to clean it and the stand of the Menorah back up prior to lighting, thus ensuring complete functionality: Ya’Iru Shivat HaNeirot - so that the seven lamps will cast light (Num. 8:2) If only six of the seven lamps function properly, Aaron will not have fulfilled the commandment. Why is it necessary to make sure that all seven lamps are fully functional and lit? Will one unlit lamp on the candelabra really make a difference in terms of light? Rabbi Isaac Luria, “The Arizal”,  a 16th-century mystic, explained that the central shaft of the seven-branched candelabra (menorah) represents God’s divine light as manifest in Torah. The three branches on either side of God’s Torah represent science and other academic pursuits such as philosophy, and theology. For Sforno, the great Italian Renaissance biblical commentator, the right three branches symbolize the pursuit of enlightenment through spiritual endeavors and the left three branches symbolize the pursuit of enlightenment through secular and worldly knowledge. Like The Arizal, Sforno interprets the middle trunk of the Menorah to be the Divine Light of God, as illuminated throughout creation, and as a result, all the other flame leaned toward this Divine primordial light of the middle branch.

            By fulfilling the mitzvah of the Menorah, and making sure it was completely lit each and every day, Aharon understood what it meant to be a light to the people. Knowledge and enlightenment embrace both the Holy and the Secular, as does a complete and meaningful life. Like Aaron, the High Priest, the Jewish people are supposed to be  “a light unto the world”, a “nation of priests”. Judaism has a long history of being “woke”. Judaism is the original “truth to power”, and has always challenged authority and the status quo. The very foundation of Judaism is a response to extremism. Regarding the Torah, Jews are reminded to avoid drifting too far to the left and too far to the right, but rather stick to the middle (Deut. 28:14). Indeed, it seems that Judaism is the ultimate “canary in the coal mine” when it comes to mankind’s darkest recesses of the soul, inhabited by hate, extremism (political or religious), fanaticism, ignorance, and self-loathing. Perhaps the only response to Anti-Semitism is to continue lighting the seven branches of the Menorah and shining the light of Godliness upon those who are surrounded by the darkness of hate, extremism, and fanaticism.

 Peace,
 Rav Yitz

Full Of Hope, Full Of Grace Is The Human Face (John Barlow & Bob Weir- "Throwing Stones")

           Earlier this week, the Jewish People celebrated Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, the celebration of the Giving of the Torah. A synagogue ritual that normally occurs on Shavuot, as well as on  Pesach and Sukkot, is the ceremony known as Duchening. The Kohanim of the congregation stand upon the bimah and with Talis covering them, and bestow a blessingknown as Birkat Kohanim upon the congregation. In Israel, the Duchening ceremony occurs every Shabbat. On Friday night, before sitting down to the Shabbat dinner, it is traditional for the father to give the Birkat Kohanim upon his children.  Many years ago, I attended  a wedding and  a baptism in a Catholic church.  During both ceremonies the Catholic Priest invoked the words of the Birkat Kohanim, both in Latin and English. When I made the Birkat Kohanim this past Friday, our dinner discussion included the recent events in Gaza and Hamas’ continued rocket fire targeting Israeli citizens. Even more disturbing than Hamas’ rocket fire has been the street violence that occurred in Lod, Haifa, and other Israeli towns where Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs live near each other.  Our son asked if there was an Islamic equivalent of Birkat Kohanim that a parent offers his/her child, or to the community for that matter. I explained that I did not know. I assumed that there is probably a blessing that a parent gives a child but I did not think that such a placing was also the same as a “Priestly Benediction” since Islam did not have “priests” like Judaism or Christianity. 

          This Shabbat we read from Parsha Naso. The Parsha’s 176 psukim make it among the longest single parshiot 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. This ritual offering celebrated the fact that the Mishkan was “open for business”. Inserted into these seemingly disparate rules and narratives are the priestly benedictions. A quick glance at the different components of Parsha Naso suggests that each blessing is connected to the other by focusing upon the image and the theme of Naso – “lift up” or "raise up". Indeed, each of the three blessings focuses upon the idea of  issues of spiritually uplifting our souls, spiritually uplifting  ourselves in holiness. We accomplish this 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 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 an expression of  Hashem protecting our children. Rather the “blessing” expresses a blessing that had already been enumerated in the Torah, namely, that our children should be materially well off. Also we ask that Hashem (the loving and kind aspect of God) should “protect” our children and their material blessings from those who might usurp such a blessing. The second blessing which speaks of “shining Hashem’s face upon” our child expresses our desire for our children to become enlightened by Torah and experience a meaningful relationship with Hashem. The “gracious” is the subliminal understanding that we can only request 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 to be worthy enough 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 the light or the enlightenment we seek is God's gift raising his face up towards us. With God's countenance before us, we sense God's love and we are able to cast aside or let go of our anger and hatred. Only after we, only after our children are capable of casting aside their anger and hatred will our souls be complete, whole and at peace in this world.  Both interpretations suggest that we hope and pray that our children are at spiritual peace, their souls will be  Shaleim, to be whole and complete. Anger and hatred prevent Shleimah – wholeness, harmony, peace.

          I thought about our son’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.  I remain unfamiliar with any equivalent in Islam where a priest stands before the community and issues Birkat Kohanim - a “Priestly Benediction”  or an equivalent. To this day, I can’t imagine why parents in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, or mixed Israeli Arab and Jewish neighborhoods (Haifa for example) 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 

Paint By Numbers Morning Sky, Looks So Phony (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Touch of Grey")

           Frequently, numbers are more than just numbers. Frequently, numbers become a shorthand for a narrative. For the past year, we have grown increasingly aware of the asking “about the numbers”.  Regarding the Pandemic, we are concerned about numbers that tell us the rate of spread,  the total number of Ontarians that received one vaccine, the total number of Ontarians that are completely vaccinated.  Lately, we are focused upon the number of new cases that will indicate an end to the current lockdown in Ontario. Numbers of course are not confined to the Pandemic. The number 6,000,000 is shorthand for the Holocaust. Unfortunately, there are those who look at numbers in order to justify their own bias or moral relativism. The current rocket attacks and violence in Gaza and Israel are a case in point.  For those who see numbers as the narrative,  at the time of writing this stood at a death toll of 62. 15 children have died. 1 Israeli child, 15 Palestinian Gazan children. Hamas has fired over 1000 rockets over the last several days. When looking at the numbers, those living in Gaza have experienced more loss of life and more injury than those living in Israel. No, numbers don’t lie. However, numbers also don’t offer a complete explanation. So when the chief prosecutor for the ICC (International Criminal Court),  Ms. Fatou Bensouda tweets: “I note with great concern the escalation of violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as well as in and around Gaza, and the possible commission of crimes under the [ICC’s guiding] Rome Statute,” then numbers have lost their original objective empirical value and instead have become a subjective tool for moral relativism. The manipulation of numbers does not undo the criminal nature of what Hamas has perpetrated with its numerous rocket launches. In fact, the only number that should matter to the ICC is the number “1”.If even one rocket launched by Hamas that targeted a civilian location,  a crime occurred and Hamas ought to be prosecuted for perpetrating crimes of humanity upon both Jew and Arab. Any country that experienced just one such launching would be well within its right to defend its population and dismantle or destroy the possibility of any future launching.  

          This week, we begin reading the 4th of the 5 books of the Torah, Sefer Bemidbar, the Book of Numbers. This week’s Parsha is the same name Bemidbar. The Book of Numbers is aptly named; the book begins with counting, the counting of people, a census. God commands Moshe to take a census, MiBen Esrim Shana V’Mala Kol Yotzei Tzava B’Yisroel – of all males over the age of twenty, everyone who goes out in the Legion of Israel (1:3). Once the number of fighting age males has been established by tribe, each tribe is placed in a specific formation around the Ark. This will be the formation in which B’nai Yisroel travels from the foot of Sinai to Eretz Canaan. Finally, in the Tribe of Levi, the Priests are counted. However because Levi’s only responsibility is the Ark and the Mishkan; they will not be able to hold land in Eretz Canaan, nor do they fight. Rather they are now counted and assigned specific functions in terms of maintaining the Mishkan.   

           God ordered a census of people. However, for whom is the counting?  Certainly, God is God and already knows the number of souls that comprise B’nai Yisroel as well as those able to fight. When God wants Moshe and Israel, or anyone for that matter, to do something for himself the language indicates it.   In the Book of Genesis,  God commanded Avraham to Lech Lecha – Go for yourself.  Later in the Book of Numbers God will command Moshe to  Shelach Lecha send for yourself.  Here in Parsha Bemidbar, the first parsha in the Book of Numbers, God commands Moshe to Se’u et Rosh Kol Adat Bnai Yisroel - count the heads. Since Lecha- for you does not appear; it would seem that the counting is not for B’nai Yisroel nor Moshe, but rather for God. So, why does God need or want a counting? We have already been told that B’nai Yisroel is Am Segula – a treasured nation.  A "treasured nation", by definition, must possess some type of intrinsic value. Each individual has value and from that, each individual has a purpose. Parshah Bemidbar demonstrates that there is an intrinsic value in the individual.  Halachically, we know this because the legal principle of Pikuach Nefesh, Saving a Soul exists. This principle appears in the Babylonian Talmud Tractate Shabbat, “the saving of life supersedes the Sabbath (Shabbat 132a). There is a Midrash in Tractate Sanhedrin which expresses the individual’s importance to God, and therefore God’s desire to count us. “If a human being stamped several coins with the same die, they would all resemble one another. But the King of kings stamps all human beings from the mold of the first person; and yet not one of them is identical to the other one. Therefore every individual has merit and is obliged to say “for my sake the world was created”. (San4:5).

          Indeed, numbers are important. Numbers are necessary to have a society remain organized. Governments routinely take a census of their population in order to understand demographics and political representation. It would seem that it is very easy to lose oneself and an individual’s narrative amid all these numbers and statistics. Indeed, numbers can serve as a shorthand for understanding a narrative. Unfortunately,  numbers can be manipulated to justify moral relativism and cloud the differences between good and evil. Each individual has a narrative, a code that allows survival.  The same holds true for societies and nations, The numbers that are coming from Israel and Gaza speak of pain and suffering, fear, and terror. It is our sincere hope that the pain, suffering, death, fear, and terror ceases.  Perhaps those that want to investigate the criminality of recent events in Gaza and Israel should be reminded that the numbers don’t speak of the criminality;  narrative and context do. 

Peace,
Rav Yitz

What Truth Is Proof Against All Lies When Sacred Fails Before Profane (Gerrit Graham & Bob Weir -"Victim Or The Crime")

Prior to Israel and Jews throughout the world observed Yom HaZikaron (Remembrance Day), and Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day) Israelis had to endure rocket fire from Gaza. This wasn’t just a couple of rockets that were shot down by the Iron Dome. This was over two hundred rockets fired over the course of about 36 hours. Schools in Ashkelon and along Israel’s southern border near Gaza were closed. With our daughter in Israel, my wife felt compelled to remind me that our daughter was in the North parts of Israel with her program so I shouldn’t be overly worried. Yet, I did worry. Maybe not so much for my daughter but for YouTube videos that showed Israeli children listening to sirens, running to bomb shelters, and clutching to their parents. I also saw YouTube videos and numerous Palestinian teenage boys standing near the border with Israel hurling slingshots, and trying to float incendiary balloons across the wall. Can I empathize with their frustration? Yes. Can I empathize with their anger? Yes. However as my children point out, and I agree, those angry frustrated Palestinians were aiming their slingshots, and rockets and directing their frustration and hopelessness the wrong way. How do we know this? It was self- evident from all those YouTube videos filmed by the Gazans and Hamas who clearly support and instigate the unrest and the rocket fire. The videos indicate that Hamas rockets were launched from schools, hospitals, apartment buildings and houses of worship.  Videos indicate that the mothers and the daughters, dressed in traditional observant Muslim clothing, remain behind their sons and their brothers, encouraging and supporting their sons and brothers slingshot stones and float incendiary balloons over the wall. When I saw that, any empathy I may have had dried up. I couldn’t imagine my wife and my daughters running behind her son and their brother all the while encouraging and supporting him as he endangered his life and the lives of those around him.  Rather, I could imagine my son’s mother and his three older sisters walking up to him and dragging him out of harms’ way.  I thought about Golda Meir’s words: “Peace will come when the Arabs start to love their children more than they hate us.”  

This Shabbat we read from Parsha Kedoshim. Kedoshim is the plural form of the adjective Kodesh, which means holy.  In this particular case, the antecedent for Kedoshim is Kol Adat B’nai Yisroel – the Entire Assembly of the Children of Israel. All of Israel is Holy, why? As we will read over and over again in a mantra-like fashion, Ki Kadosh Ani Adonai Eloheichem – Because Holy am I, Hashem your God. We are holy because of our sacred relationship to God. Interestingly, the rest of the Parsha does NOT concentrate on the relationship between God and humanity. Instead, the Parsha outlines the moral and ethical behavior that we are commanded to display towards our fellow human being. Keeping in mind that we are all created B’Tzelem Elokim – the Image of God; we are urged to imitate God. We are reminded to treat others as we would treat God.

The plethora of ethical behaviors outlined includes “do not place a stumbling block before the blind”, or “a workers wage shall not remain with you overnight until morning”. Even the Golden Rule, urging us to treat others as we hope to be treated is part of Kedoshim. The great Talmudic Sage Rabbi Hillel, explained to an individual who wanted to learn Torah while standing on one leg that this one rule embodies the essence of Torah “the rest are the details” (Shabbat 31a). V’Ahavta L’Rei’echa K’Mocha – You shall love your fellow human being as yourself (Lev 19:18).  Rabbi Akiva, another Talmudic Sage, explains that this is the fundamental rule of the Torah (Jerusalem Talmud Nedarim 9:4). Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heschel explained that this commandment does not mean to love saintly and righteous people – it is impossible NOT to love such people. Rather God commands us to love even people whom it is hard to love. However we do not “love” to our detriment. These ethical statements and the re-iteration of many of the commandments are put into the context of human relationship because it is much easier to see the immediacy and relevance of these commandments in human terms while aspiring to and appealing to the Godliness in each soul.

How different would Gaza, its inhabitants, and Israel be if Gazans sought Kedushah, holiness here on earth rather than in death? How different would Gaza, its inhabitants, and Israel be if Gazan sought Kedushah and understood the words Loving your neighbor as Heschel understood it: even if he is difficult to love? How much poison, how much hate can an organization have that uses its own people for fodder in order to promote despair and death?  How many Gazans need to be enslaved by Hamas to build tunnels? How much money and supplies does Hamas need to for tunnels rather than hospitals, schools, and community centers? How many children need to be poisoned with hate in order to convince them to fight? How many mothers need to be rewarded/bribed with funds in order to allow their children to be “martyred”?  The tragedy is that Hamas and every organization like Hamas have placed a stumbling block in front of the blind. The tragedy for Palestinians in Gaza is not Israel. Rather, the tragedy is that they allowed themselves to be fooled when they voted for Hamas all those years ago. They chose to unholy poison offered by Hamas rather than the nectar of Kedushah and peace with Israel. As tragic as all that is; I find Golda Meir’s words even more tragic: We can forgive [them] for killing our children. We cannot forgive them from forcing us to kill their children.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

You Know All The Rules By Now (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Uncle John's Band")

          I admit it. I am a news junkie. I deeply believe that we should know what is going on in the world, not just our neighborhood, not just Israel, but the world.  It just so happens one of the more ironic news stories that I made my children watch had to do with the UN and the investigation of war crimes that it wants to conduct against Israel and its execution of it war in Gaza. After the story ran, our children were incredulous. They wondered what “war crimes” were. They asked if there was going to be an investigation of war crimes against Hamas. I added not only would Israel be investigated, but Israel will do everything it can to cooperate with this investigation. Our children wondered if Hamas was to be investigated for war crimes, would it be as cooperative?  My short answer is no, Hamas would never be cooperative in investigating itself.  However in terms of Israel, as painful as it may be, Israel’s ability to investigate itself actually reflects the strength of Israel and democracy in another wise totalitarian part of the world.  I reminded our children that Israel is very similar to the United States, and Canada. Justice and Law are the bedrock foundations upon which Israel is built. No individual and no institution is above the law but all members of Israeli society are responsible to maintain the integrity of the law. Unfortunately, no one has the ability within the Arab world, no one has the legal framework or the foundation to hold the leadership of Hamas responsible for civilian deaths both in Gaza or Israel. There will never be an investigation, there will never be a self-reflective process that examines corruption or decision among the leadership of Hamas since laws don’t apply to Hamas leadership.

                This week, we read from Parsha Shoftim. Moshe has completed his lecture on the values of monotheism and covenant. Now he begins telling B'nai Yisroel all the nitty gritty details of living a Jewish life within this community. What a downer! B’nai Yisroel is inspired and ready to enter into Eretz Canaan and begin living the life in the land that God had promised their ancestors. They are now ready to begin fulfilling the dream that allowed them to survive centuries of slavery. So what does Moshe Rabeinu do? He brings them crashing back to reality. Now they will listen and understand laws concerning war, punishments for idolatry, choosing a king, jurisprudence, priestly entitlements and unsolved murders. Moshe gives B’nai Yisroel a healthy dose of reality by supplying all the details required to uphold the Covenant.

            Implicit in Moshe’s lecture, implicit in a society, any society for that matter, is the role of justice. Justice provides a check and balance to corruption. However the concept itself let alone the reality of it can also become corrupt and perverse. Hence it is not enough for Moshe to tell us Shoftim v’Shotrim Titen Lecha  Sh’Arecha Asher Adoshem Elokecha Notein Lecha Lishvatecha  V’Shaftu et Ha’Am Mishpat Tzedek – Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your cities- which Hashem, Your God, gives you -  for your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. Moshe must explain what “righteous judgment” means, its foundation for a civilized society, its difficulty to maintain, and the brutal honesty required. Lo Tateh Mishpat – You shall not pervert judgment, Lo Takir Panim – you shall not recognize a person’s presence, V’Lo Tikach Shochad Ki HaShochad Ye’Averi Einei Chachamim Visaleif Divrei Tzadikkim – and you shall not accept a bribe, for the bribe will blind the eyes of the wise and make just words crooked (Deut 16:18-19).

            Justice, as we have learned, is supposed to be blind. Whether poor or wealthy, whether blue collar crime or white collar crime, justice is supposed be oblivious to our tendency to automatically side with the downtrodden or the wealthy and privileged person. Why? Because corruption is blind as well. The poor can be corrupt and so can the wealthy. Corruption knows no barriers to color, religion, gender or nationality. The only barrier to corruption is our own individual constitution and desire to Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof – Righteousness Righteousness shall you follow (Deut. 16:20). For Bnai Yisroel and for the Jewish people, our sense of Justice comes from Torah, these laws and the fact that justice must remain utterly pure without a blemish. Later on in the Parsha we are taught that a king, the one person who must wield justice, must write two Sifrei Torah. One he carries one he keep pristine and locked away only to be used to check against the “everyday Torah”.

            So with tremendous irony, Israel will be investigated for war crimes, and a known terrorist organization will not be investigated for war crimes. As our children contemplated this awful irony, they then asked what was wrong with the United Nations that are not investigating Hamas. I let them think for a moment to see if they would come up with their own answer.  A light went on and they understood, there are more countries in the UN that are not governed by the democratic ideals of justice than those that are governed by the democratic ideals of justice.  Hopefully, those nations that are governed by the democratic ideals of justice will prevail.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

Your Tongue Is Twisted With Words Half Spoken ( Robert Hunter & Phil Lesh - "Box of Rain")

Like most of the world, I have been watching the news and paying particularly close attention to the current conflict going on in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Yes, the loss of civilian life has been absolutely horrible. While the news has tended to focus on the loss of Palestinian civilian life in Gaza, it has not focused upon the loss of civilian life in Syria. If anyone wanted to keep track, the average loss of life in Syria has been, on a monthly basis in the thousands! There are civilians being killed in Iraq, and Libya as well.  Yet the press and the world focus upon Gaza and the civilian loss of life. I have started to wonder why the press focuses upon Gaza as opposed to all these other places where Muslim civilians are being killed. Cynically, of course, we in the west probably don’t care so much about what one Muslim sect does to another Muslim sect. After all this internecine war between Sunni and Shii’a has been going on for approximately 1200 years.  For the non- Muslim world, fighting about who is the rightful heir and authentic interpreter of Mohammed’s words is rather tedious. However words such as “occupation”, “siege”, and “blockade” are words that are certainly pithier than words associated with some esoteric theological disagreement that probably could have been resolve at some madrassa or some university with an outstanding Islam department. Words such as “blockade” “siege” and “occupation” are words that could have applied to the British immediately prior to the American Revolution. Of course when we teach our children about the American Revolution these words are vital. These words such as “blockade”, “siege” and “occupation” were words used by the confederacy during and even after the American Civil War. These words are so powerful, that for several generations after the Civil War, and even to this day, these words enable many in the South to see the North as a threatening entity. So is it any wonder that Hamas has figured out that words such as “blockade”, “siege” and “occupation” carry so much meaning in the western press and the more frequently Hamas perverts the meaning of these words, that eventually the words lose meaning and Hamas becomes more legitimate in the eyes of some in the West as well as among some of the Palestinian people.   

This week we begin the final book of the Torah, Sefer Devarim, with Parsha Devarim. Traditionally known as Mishnah Torah – or the repetition of the Torah, Parsha Devarim is the introductory Parsha to Moshe’s formal teaching of the Torah to this new generation. Moshe Rabeinu, now only a few weeks from the moment of his death, imparts his teaching and his wisdom upon B’nai Yisroel like a dying grandparent or parent would to his/her children. Moshe begins with a history lesson, recounting B’nai Yisroel’s history. Moshe begins with leaving Mt. Horev (otherwise known as Mt. Sinai). Then Moshe shares with B’nai Yisroel his version of appointing judges, the mission of the spies and, and his punishment (that he was forbidden to enter into Eretz Canaan. Moshe then leaps ahead and reminds them of the more recent history: the avoidance of war with Edom, the war with Moab, the conquest of Og, and finally the 2 ½ tribes request to remain on the eastern shore of the Jordan River.

This fifth and final book of the Torah, makes it abundantly clear that we are hearing a recounting of history from Moshe Rabeinu’s perspective. Commandment that are re-iterated are prefaced with the reminder that “God told me (Moshe), to tell you (B’nai Yisroel). Words are vital and Moshe Rabeinu understands that it is his words that will live far longer than he will. Eilah HaDvarim Asher Diber Moshe El B’nai Yisroel B’Eiver Yarden-These are the words that Moshe Spoke to all Israel, on the other side of the Jordan…(Deut. 1:1). The words that follow are not God’s but rather Moshe’s. Some of these words, especially those that immediately follow this verse are harsh words of rebuke. They are words that remind B’nai Yisroel of some of their national shortcomings. Later, these words will become more prophetic. In either case, Moshe’s wisdom can only be passed down through words. Therefore both the speaker, Moshe, and the listener, B’nai Yisroel, must be on the “same page” in terms of the meaning of the words. There can be no confusion otherwise the message will become something different than how it was originally expressed.

Indeed words have meaning. If Hamas continues to use words like “occupation” “blockade” or “siege” frequently enough when talking about Israel, and the world doesn’t question it, then it becomes a fact. However Israel left Gaza in 2005, so Israel cannot now  “Occupy” Gaza; Israel is not in Gaza! A “blockade” suggests that  the means by bringing goods and services across a border are blocked. The only “blockade” exists at the Rafa crossing which is the border between Egypt and Gaza. Goods and services do move across the Israeli and Gaza borders, those goods include, medicine, electricity, steel and concrete (the same steel and concrete that Hamas used to build its tunnels).  When Hamas complains to anyone who will listen that Israel makes it too difficult to bring other things across the border, someone might want to remind Hamas that the checking goods and services prior to crossing a border even occurs at the Canada/US border; a border between two friendly countries! A “siege” suggest that a particular group is surrounded and will ultimately be captured, assumes that Egypt or Israel wants to capture Gaza. When in fact “siege” also means “a prolonged illness that besets an individual or a group.” Yes the Palestinian people have been under siege, but it is Hamas, a terrorist organization, an illness, a virus that has affected thought and speech, and has hurt its own people and continues to do so. Yes language matters. Language can be become perverted, twisted to such a point that it loses its meaning. Ultimately, when language becomes perverted enough, it can corrupt, poison and destroy a society.

Peace,

Rav Yitz