My Words Fill The Sky With Flame; Might And Glory Gonna Be My Name (John Barlow & Bob Weir - "Estimated Prophet")

        

          For the past several weeks, my kids have been asking me questions about food. No, I don't get too many questions about Kashrut. However, I am asked numerous questions about food, calories, fat content, and exercise. Apparently, I have a new job in our family. Perhaps I have a certain degree of "street cred" with my kids because of my weight loss and because of my daily work-out; a regimen including push-ups, crunches, and an hour on the elliptical machine. I have become our family's personal trainer/nutritionist/life coach/guru. Before I was just a dad. Primarily their questions are about food, nutrition, exercise, and anatomy. Invariably my answers drift into making sure to get enough sleep, avoiding stressful situations, developing healthy outlets for stress so that no one becomes emotionally overwrought and overwhelmed, being extremely disciplined in these new behaviors. They listen, and engaging in trial and error, they figure out what works for them, and only then do they realize that the hardest part is putting it into disciplined practice.

            This week's Parsha is Yitro. Named after Moshe father-in-law, who happens to be a Midianite priest, the Parsha begins with Moshe leading B'nai Yisroel toward the wilderness of Midian where he meets up with his father-in-law, his wife, and his two sons. Yitro suggests that Moshe should create a bureaucracy whereby others administer the small everyday rulings required of a judge. Difficult legal issues would be administered by Moshe. Moshe is then commanded by God to bring B'nai Yisroel to Har Sinai. For three days they will purify themselves, clean their clothes, not have marital relations, and purify their souls for a revelation. There with the mountain smoking and thunder billowing from the heavens, God begins to speak. B'nai Yisroel is absolutely petrified and fearing death, they beg Moshe to go up the mountain as their Shaliach (appointed messenger). Moshe ascends the mountain and receives the Aseret HaDibrot (the Ten Commandments), then descends. Upon his descent, he tells B'nai Yisroel the Aseret HaDibrot. The Parsha concludes with B'nai Yisroel readily accepting the Ten Commandments, Moshe re-assures the people not to fear the thunder and the flames, God attests to the fact that B'nai Yisroel has accepted these commandments and then commands Moshe to build an altar of earth.

         The Ten Commandments are bound by several themes. The first five commandments are God-oriented. The second five commandments are people oriented. Violation of The Aseret HaDibrot is punishable by death. Through our modern perspective, we may not agree but we can understand the concept of capital punishment in terms of murder, testifying falsely, (in which false testimony leads to death), or even kidnapping. However, how do we explain capital punishment as a punishment for not honoring your parents, keeping the Shabbat or committing Avodah Zarah (Idolatry)? Certainly violating Shabbat or violating the first five commandments that are all God oriented does not necessarily hurt someone else. Even not honoring one's parents might not warrant capital punishment in today's day and age. So how do we understand that each commandment is punishable by death? We know that if we do not take care of our bodies, there is a chance our bodies will be hurt. If we don't eat right, get enough sleep, and exercise then our resistance is low and there is a chance we will get sick. If we don't fasten our seatbelts then there is a chance that we won't be able to walk away from an accident. If we drink too much and too often or if we smoke, we know that we are doing damage to our body. As human beings, we also have a soul. Just like we know to do things that help our physical existence, there are things that we do to help our spiritual existence. Failure to take care of our souls is also detrimental to our existence. Failure to take care of our souls leads to emptiness, purposelessness and a misguided existence. The first five commandments are about the welfare of our souls in the context of our direct relationship with God.  The first five commandments give us a sense of purpose for own existence in relation to God. The second five commandment is also about the welfare of our souls, however, these second five commandments are within the context of our relationship to our fellow man beginning with our parents. By violating these second five commandments, we not only hurt the other person but in a sense, we damage ourselves, we diminish the holiness within our souls. As such, we are sentencing ourselves to a spiritual death.

            In a sense, our own ignorance, our own anxieties, our own insecurities, our lack of purpose and our lack of focus imprison us. The Aseret HaDibrot offers us a means to transcend that which imprisons us. We are provided a blueprint to live a life that is part of a community (the second five commandments) and accounts for our own sense of self-worth and purpose (the first five commandments). The Aseret HaDibrot teaches us and commands us to transcend time and space by adding meaning and holiness to our lives. The Aseret HaDibrot teaches us that our spiritual well being is just as important as our physical well being. When our soul is complete, filled with a sense of purpose, filled with love, and filled with the acknowledgment that there is God, we are able to transcend the physical.  As I continue answering my kids' questions about nutrition, exercise and trying to be healthier, I find that my answers not only focus upon their physical health: their nutrition, their physical fitness, their physical development, and the habits that support their physical beings. My answers and my deep-seated concern focus upon their spiritual, emotional, and moral health: their ability to handle stress, their positive demeanor, their sense of faith, their concern for others, their tolerance for those who are different, and to be part of the world rather than retreat from it. Finally, I remind them that health is as much a physical orientation as it is a spiritual/emotional orientation.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

You'll Break My spirit, You'll Wreck My Heart (John Barlow & Bob Weir - "Picasso Moon")

I guess my son watches a little too much television. He has a new hobby. He sings commercial jingles, or actually recites entire commercials. Needless to say, if he ever gets into a car accident in Buffalo, he knows which attorney to call. If he wants to have laser surgery, he knows which eye doctor to call. I admit it; it is kind of cute when he does this. However the fact that our 8 year old knows which lawyer to call depending on legal issues, or which doctor to go to depending upon medical concerns indicates something quite fascinating about society in general. Our society has become very specialized. If we have a legal problem, we go to a lawyer. If we have a specific legal problem we go to a specific kind a lawyer. Going through a divorce? See an attorney who specializes in matrimonial law. Want to get your affairs in order prior to death? See an attorney who specializes in probate and estates. If we have a medical problem, we don't just see a doctor. Concerned about cancer? See an Oncologist. Having pain your legs? See an orthopedist. Concerned with your heart? See a cardiologist. Having difficulty in managing emotions? See a psychotherapist. We are conditioned to seek answers from those who we assume to know more than us. We are conditioned to seek answers from those who have had more experiences than we have.

This week's Parsha is the double Parsha of Tazriah/Metzorah. God tells Moshe the laws of purity and impurity as it relates to birth. God instructs Moshe about the appropriate korbanot (sacrifices) that a mother should make as she re-enters the camp. God also instructs Moshe about Tza'arat. We are told what it is, we are told how it is to be dealt with, and we are instructed about the treatment of those who suffer from it. Basically, Tazriah is a type of Tza'arat, a type of skin ailment which is commonly thought of as leprosy. However this skin ailment is not treated by the resident dermatologist. Even if they had dermatologists in the Torah, we would not bring someone suffering from Tazriah to the dermatologists. Why? The skin ailment was not a symptom of any type of physical malady. Because we bring the person with the skin ailment to the Priest, the Kohen, we know that the skin condition was caused by a spiritual malady. Adam Ki Yiheyeh V'Or B'Saro S'Eit O Sapachat O Va'Heret V'Hayah V; Or B'Saroh L'Negah Tzara'at V'Huvah El Aharon H'Kohen O el Achad Mi'Banav Ha'Kohanim - If a person will have on the sin of his flesh a swelling, a rash, or a discoloration and it will become a scaly affliction on the skin of his flesh; he shall be brought to Aaron the Kohen, or to one of his sons the Kohanim (Lev. 13:2-3). The rest of the Parsha teaches us the appropriate protocol for treatment. The Kohen check again to determine if that person has become ritually impure. If so they must be sent out of the camp in order to avoid the risk of the skin ailment spreading to others. The quarantine would last for seven days. Afterwards, the Priest would check again, if there was no contamination the person was brought back into the camp, However if the contamination remained, then the quarantine would continue for another seven days. Then the process would begin all over again. We also learn that if this contamination spreads to the clothes or vessels: pots, pans, clothing; then everything would be burned and destroyed.

While we know that this skin ailment is caused by a spiritual malady, and we learned how to treat the malady, Torah does not tell us the cause of the spiritual malady. For anyone who has ever suffered from an ulcer understands that emotional stress causes physical ailments. Anyone who has suffered from depression understands that emotional stress causes physical ailments such as low energy, lack of sleep etc. So what spiritual sickness that exhibits physical ailments do we learn from the Book of Leviticus? On one hand the Book of Leviticus concerns with the ritual slaughter and laws of the Tabernacle. On the other hand, these laws are based upon the ethical behavior which must exist within human relationships and in our relationship with God. In the Talmudic Tractate of Arichin, which primarily focuses upon the laws of valuations; we learn that the skin ailment is a punishment for the sins of bloodshed, false oaths, sexual immorality, pride, robbery, and selfishness (Arichin 16a). All of these physical occurrences have a spiritual aspect. These occurrences all demonstrate the offender's failure to empathize with the needs of others. It is fascinating to think that in an ideal community, we are not only concerned with our own well-being. We should also be concerned about others as well. Our failure to do so leads to a spiritual sickness. It leads to an artificial sense of self-importance, it leads to a sense of entitlement, it leads to a petty jealousy, it leads to the alienation of others and it eventually leads to erosion of community and society.

By removing the contaminated offender from the community two positive results occur. First the welfare, integrity and holiness of the community are spared from spiritual sickness. This is the primary concern since we fear that God will cease dwelling in a community that becomes spiritually sickened or spiritually dysfunctional. The second positive result is that the contaminated offender has experienced the isolation and concern from others. This is exactly what he/she wrought upon the community with such behavior.

How much of what physically troubles us is stress related? How does stress manifest itself in terms of our physical health? Like stress, we also have spiritual shortcomings. Like stress, our spiritual shortcomings affect our relationships with our loved ones. Does our inability to attain spiritual contentment leave us wondering about others and their lives? Do our spiritual maladies affect our community? The answer is yes. Now the question is what can we do about it? It is ironic but we as a people have taken a very different perspective than what the Torah instructs.  Instead of removing people from the community, many Jewish organization concerned with Kiruv and outreach understand that rather than removing people from the community, perhaps it is time to bring them into the community and give people a sense of belonging.