Tonight I Would Be Thankful Lord For Any Dreams At All (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Mission In The Rain")

          This is a very unique weekend for North America. Both Canada and the United States celebrate share a common long weekend. In Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving.  Schools are closed, banks, federal and provincial government buildings are closed. Many stores are closed or have adjusted hours. The summer crops have been harvested, the days are getting shorter, the season has changed and fall is definitely in the air. Thanksgiving in Canada offers a genuine sense of nature, agriculture, the delicate balance of water, light, crop strain, technology, and labour to bring forth a plentiful harvest. Growing up in the U.S., this weekend was known as Columbus Day. Like Canada’s Thanksgiving Day, public schools and private schools were closed. It was a Bank holiday as well as a federal and state government holiday. Unlike Canadian Thanksgiving, every store was open and usually, it was an excuse for a weekend sale of merchandise.  However, one could very well imagine that upon making landfall in the Caribbean, before he realized that he did not find what he originally set out to find, he probably gave thanks for his safe arrival.

          This Shabbat we read from Parshat Noach. Comprised of two distinct narratives; both deal with the theology of chaos and confused boundaries. First, we read the story of  Noach, God’s disenchantment with Creation and mankind’s behavior, the instruction to construct the Teva (the Ark), the Flood as punishment for mankind’s unethical behavior, the covenant made between God and Noach, and the resulting offering to God, and then an odd story about Noach’s drunkenness and one’s sons inappropriate behavior. The second distinct narrative is also about chaos and confused boundaries. This time mankind confuses boundaries and trying to build a tower up to the heavens. The result is that God scatters mankind across the earth by making mankind speak numerous languages and making communication difficult.

          Noach was good at following instructions. He built the Ark-Teva according to God’s specifications. He brought in the animals according to God’s instructions. He and his family boarded the Ark when God told him to. After the flood, after the rains stopped, the water receded and the earth dried, Noach, his family, and the animals disembarked from the Ark only when God told Noach to do so. However, God does not show Noach the rainbow, God does not make any covenant to refrain from bringing another flood, God doesn’t even bless Noach until Noach does something for which he was never commanded. VaYiven Noach Mizbeach L’Adoshem VaYikach Mikol HaBHeima Ha’T’Hora U’Mikol Ha’Of HaTaHor VaYa’Al Olot BaMizbeach - Then Noach built an altar to HaShem and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar (8:20).  Noach built an altar to AdoShem, however, it was Elokim who told him to leave the Ark. Why does the Torah change aspects of God from Elokim to AdoShem? Why do we need to be told that Noach built an Altar and then “offered burnt offerings on the altar”?  How did Noach know to make burnt offerings using only the ritually “clean” beasts and fowl? Chizkuni, the 13th century Rabbi/biblical commentator explains and derives an important lesson from this one verse.  He [Noach] acted similar to the sailors in the story of Jonah, who after having been saved from a great storm and returned to dry land, immediately offered offerings to G-d for their deliverance. (Jonah 2,16). From Chizkuni's comment, we learn that anyone who has been miraculously saved from dangers beyond his control is expected to offer tangible thanksgiving offerings. One offers thanks to the Merciful aspect of God - Adoshem. The expression of gratitude is incredibly personal and only results when one feels the need to express gratitude. Gratitude, real gratitude is expressed wholeheartedly. Using only the “ritually clean beasts and fowl” indicates Noach’s intuitive understanding that his sense of gratitude is pure of heart. The only previous offerings with any detailed narrative are those offered by Cain and Abel. Cain withheld the best of his flock and Abel offered the best of his harvest. God was pleased with Abel’s and less than pleased with Cain’s.  God’s response after Noach makes his pure-hearted, completely voluntary demonstration of gratitude is a covenant, a rainbow, and the 7 Noahide laws.

          There is still a Canadian Thanksgiving, however, in many parts of the United States, Columbus Day has been replaced by Indigenous People’s Day. Despite changing the name of the Federal holiday, it seems that we can understand the importance of offering thanks both for religious purposes and even secular purposes. Perhaps the real lesson is having enough humility and enough perspective to understand that gratitude needs to be expressed. Only by expressing and demonstrating a sense of gratitude does a community and the individual realize greater meaning and purposefulness.

Peace,
Rav Yitz

Saw Your First Ship Sink And Drown From Rocking Of The Boat (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Ship of Fools")

It’s been approximately six weeks since Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. As of now, only 15% of the island has power. There is still a shortage of drinking water. Recently the President has stated that it was not his job to use the military to transport and distribute food, nor was it his job to make sure that power returns to the island. Simultaneously, tensions continue to rise with North Korea, I can’t help but think of the late President, Harry S. Truman, who was President when the Korean War was fought and the 38^th Parallel became part of the Western lexicon. President Truman used to keep a paper weight 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 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 female of every species will be saved in order to re-create after the flood. God instructs Noach to build a Tevah, an Ark. Noach, his family, and each species of animal is saved. In a sense, a second creation ensues, and Noach and is family begin the narrative of re-creation. Generations pass, and eventually mankind becomes corrupt. This time, the corruption is the result of the 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 1/8^th of your life preparing for the future. Imagine spending roughly 1/8^th of your life engaged in a single endeavor. Imagine putting off gratification for 1/8^th of your life and then knowing your sense of accomplishment is predicated on the destruction of so much. Imagine spending 1/8^th 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 he 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 anymore 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 the 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, it seems that more people suffer as is the case in Puerto Rico. Hopefully those in a position to make a difference will remember President Truman’s paper weight that sat atop his desk: “The Buck Stops Here”.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

If You Get Confused, Listen To The Music Play ( Robert Hunter, Jerry Garcia,& Bill Kreutzman - "Franklins Tower"

Our eldest daughter has been quite busy these past few months and for the next week, until election- day she has explained that she is so busy that 18 hour days are quickly becoming normal. She explained that she no longer works in her office but now with days before the Presidential Election, she works in something called “The Boiler Room”, and a “War Room”.  When we speak, and she can barely afford 2 – 3 minutes of precious time, during which I ask her about the polling in Pennsylvania, and how Philadelphia and it suburbs look. She is responsible for voter registration and turnout for parts of Philadelphia and it suburbs. I have started to sense that she has grown tired of her family calling, nervous and anxious for her, and how the result will impact upon how well she is perceived to have done her job. Has voter registration increased? Has more people voted? Was voter turnout high? Were the precincts she was responsible for, voting resoundingly Democratic or Republican. Amid all the chaos that is her job, amid the chaos of her boss’s emails, she has reminded me of an August 25^th Bloomberg Market report “Citigroup claims that a “Trump victory in November could cause a global recession,” and at the very least lots of political and economic uncertainty with trade partners and countries with whom the U.S. has treaties and cooperative relationships. Whenever my conversations get a little too long and she becomes a little impatient, our daughter reminds me that she is trying to prevent the chaos and that I really need to hang up and let her get back to her work.

This Shabbat we read from Parshat Noach. Comprised of two distinct narratives; both deal with the theology of chaos and confused boundaries. First we read the story of  Noach, God’s disenchantment with creation and mankind’s behavior, the instruction to build the Teva (the Ark), the Flood as punishment for mankind’s unethical behavior, the covenant made between God and Noach and the resulting offering to God, and then an odd story about Noach’s drunkenness and one’s sons inappropriate behavior. The second distinct narrative is also about chaos and confused boundaries. This time mankind confuses boundaries and trying to build a tower up to the heavens. The result is that God scatters mankind across the earth by making mankind speak numerous languages and making communication difficult.

While both narratives can conceivably stand alone; both narratives are related. As manifested in the previous Parsha, God is a god of creation and order. Therefore, in order for God to destroy, order must be removed or chaos must become firmly entrenched.  Meivi et HaMabul Mayim AL HaAretz L’Shacheit Kol Basar Asher Bo Ruach Chayim Mitachat HaShamayim Kol Asher Ba’Aretz Yigvah – I will bring the flood of waters upon the earth  to destroy all flesh, in which is the breath of life from under heaven, and everything that is on earth shall die. Clearly from the text there must be other kinds of floods besides water, otherwise we do not need to be told that this particular flood is one that involves water. The message is that God will punish creation by instituting chaos for a period of time. Later in Chapter 11 as mankind begins building a tower up to heaven God becomes disappointed again. Vayomer Adoshem  Hain Am Echad V’Safah Achat L’Chulam V’zeh Hachilam La’Asot V’aAtah Lo Yibatzeir Mei’hem Kol Asher Yazmu La’Asot – Behold the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be withheld from them which they have schemed to do. Hava Neirdah V’Navlah Sham Sfatam Sher lo Yishmu Ish Sfat Rei’eihu – Come let us go down and there confound their language, that they may not understand on another’s speech. Instead of the flood of water, God created the flood of language and confusion the flood of a cacophony.

The flood of chaos and the struggle to handle chaos is part of our human condition. The first narrative, the Noach narrative, teaches that chaos is now part of creation and in a sense a type of punishment. The second narrative, the Tower of Bavel, teaches us that chaos is part of the everyday human life. It is part of our task as human beings as we struggle to elevate ourselves from the animal aspect of our existence to the spiritual aspect of our existence that we create order from chaos. To do so is a Godly endeavor. To do so allows us to transcend the physical world. Who would have thought that a presidential election, no matter how un-likeable each candidate might be, could be distilled into chaos and order? I just hope that no matter what happens, our daughter can continue to maintain order in world amid the chaos that she will be experiencing over the next several days.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

I Will Walk Alone By The Black Muddy River ( Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Black Muddy River")

As our thirteen year old becomes more social; she prefers to spend time more time with her friends out from the watchful eye of her parents. Recently she found herself confronted with a choice: go along with her friends and disobeying her parents or adhering to the rules and the values she had learned and accepted and not be included by the group friends. I would like to think that most parents share the same attitude regarding their child dealing with peer pressure as we have with our young teenager. We have spent so much time trying to instill a sense of self and sense of purpose. We have attempted to teach her the importance of sometimes having to act alone rather than go along with the crowd. We have tried to teach her the importance of thinking for herself and making decisions that are best for her and not to worry about what everyone else thinks. As parents, we never really know if the lessons are penetrating our child’s brain. We can only hope and pray that when our child gets put into a difficult situation, they will respond the way we have taught them. As our daughter found out, sometimes having lots of friends and being a social butterfly can lead to feeling all alone. Recently she had to make a difficult decision which meant losing a “popularity contest” with her friends. We talked about it over dinner and welcomed her to officially being a teen-ager and dealing with peer pressure. We also explained that this was a good lesson in leadership as well.  Sometimes a person leads by being out in front of an issue. Sometimes a person leads by sitting on ones hands and waiting for the right opportunity to make a point.  Sometimes a person leads by having enough patience and confidence and faith that things work themselves out while simultaneously being minimally invasive. Sometimes a person leads by making sure to cause the least amount of tumult, anguish or divisiveness. Perhaps the great leaders are the ones who know when to sit on his/her hands and knowing when to be aggressively proactive. Noach is an excellent case in point. Certainly he was proactive. He prepared for the Mabul, the Flood. However he didn’t enter into the Ark when the first drops arrived. He waited until the last possible second when there was no hope of saving anymore of God’s creation.

 This week we read Parshat Noach. Noach’s story should be familiar to all of us. God sends a flood as a means of dealing with the growing disappointment in mankind 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 female of every species will be saved in order to re-create after the flood. God instructs Noach to build a Tevah, an Ark. So Noach becomes proactive and begins building. 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. Frequently, during these 120 years, Noach faced ridicule from others and death threats. Yet Noach persevered. Imagine spending roughly 1/8^th of your life preparing for the future. Imagine spending roughly 1/8^th of your life engaged in a single endeavor. Imagine putting off gratification for 1/8^th of your life and then knowing your sense of accomplishment is predicated on the destruction of so much. Imagine spending 1/8^th of your life hauling Gopher wood up a mountain. Imagine spending a 1/8^th of your life contending with the ridicule of others or death threats. 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. Yet despite it all, he continued building even though the gratification from the project would not occur for many years.

For most children, making decisions that allow them to be part of the crowd is much more prevalent than making decisions that sets them apart. For most kids, fitting in is much more important than being the best possible person. To be righteous in one’s own generation is no easy task. One must have a strong sense of self, a strong sense of purpose, and a sense of mission to know when to be aggressively proactive and know when to let all that pieces that one worked so hard to prepare to fall into place. Our daughter found it re-assuring that these issues don’t stop when we finish our teenage years. She was relieved to find out that her 23 year old sister still deals with these types of issues. She was ecstatic to find out that both of her parents routinely have to make “unpopular” decisions, even if it means some people very close to us, might be upset. She smiled and immediately realized what we were saying, then thanked us for being good parents even if it means that she gets angry with us some of the time.

Peace,

Rav Yitz