And It Speaks Like A Life That Passes Like Dew

          Over the past two weeks, one nation mourned the loss of its Prince and several days later acknowledge the 95th birthday of its Queen. Another nation, as it does every year, remembered those who gave their lives for their country and the next day celebrated its independence. Our eighteen-year-old daughter has been studying in the latter country, Israel. she called us to describe the moving experience she had while attending a Yom HaZikaron ceremony and Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration. It is a yearly phenomenon. Yom HaZikaron is otherwise known as Israel’s Remembrance Day or Israel’s Memorial Day. Like Canada, the United States, and nearly every other country, Israel set aside a day in which it remembers its fallen heroes, those who made the ultimate sacrifice, those who gave their lives for their country. Yom Ha'Atzmaut is otherwise known as Israel's Independence Day. Like Canada, the United States, and nearly every other country, Israel set aside a day in which it celebrates its independence. Unlike Canada, the United States, and nearly every other country, only Israel observes and celebrates these Civic holy days consecutively. The juxtaposition between the solemnity of a Remembrance Day and the joy of an Independence Day occurs in the moments between  Mincha/ The Afternoon prayer service, as Yom HaZikaron (Remembrance Day) concludes, and Maariv/The Evening Service,  as Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Independence Day) commences. As Yom Ha’Zikaron drew to a conclusion, our daughter and her classmates attended a special ceremony which included the Mincha service a candle lighting ceremony, mourner’s Kaddish, a moment of silence, and the sounding of a siren. With that, Yom HaZikaron concluded and a new day began. Moments later, our daughter and her classmates now participated in a special Maariv service full of singing, and dancing that marked the celebration of Yom Ha’Atzmaut. 

          This Shabbat, like last Shabbat, we read two Parshiot. This week we read the double Parsha of  Acharei Mot/ Kedoshim. The two previous Parshiot, Tazria, and Metzorah, essentially interrupted the narrative and the laws that had been focused upon the Kohanim. In Acharei Mot/Kedoshim, we now return to the Kohen as the central focus in the Parsha. Now that he has become spiritually pure, the Torah is now ready to teach the laws for the spiritual purity of the nation. We have focused upon the impurities of individuals, now we focus upon the community. The Kohen acts on behalf of the nation just like he acts on behalf of the individual. The Torah teaches the laws for the offerings of Yom Kippur, national atonement, and Azazel otherwise known as the Scapegoat. The Scapegoat is not offered as a sacrifice to God, but rather is sent out from the camp and left to wander in the wilderness, eventually succumbing to the elements. The second half of the Parsha focuses upon the holy and unholy relationships within the family. It is interesting to note that the list of immoral behaviors between family members is taught within the context of other nations. Also, the list of immoral behavior in terms of worship,  labour relations, and the treatment of the vulnerable are all taught within the context of other nations. Essentially other nations offer examples of immoral behavior and immoral societies.

          The paradigms for immoral behavior and immoral societies were Eretz Mitzrayim - Egypt and Eretz Canaan. One was a place of slavery where  B'nai Yisroel's national journey began. The other place was Eretz Canaan; the place where B'nai Yisroel's national journey will eventually conclude. The Torah considers the behaviors of the inhabitants of each place to be impure,  unholy, and an abomination. In both places, Eretz Mitzrayim and Eretz Canaan, the dominant culture worships death and does not sanctify life. Human sacrifices are made, the vulnerable are not taken care of, and there is no mechanism in place for a community to repent, to return to a previous point of spiritual purity and sanctity - T’Shuvah (repentance).  In fact, both places, the place of origin and place of destination are so impure, the abominations are so deplorable that to mimic such behavior is tantamount to spiritual death. Instead, the Torah implores B’nai Yisroel to mimic and imitate God, the embodiment of spiritual purity, holiness, and life. Vi’Heyitem Li Kedoshim Ki Kadosh Ani Adoshem Va’Avdil Etchem Min Ha’Amim Li’heyot Li – You shall be holy for me for I, Hashem, am holy; and I have separated you from the People’s to be mine. (Lev. 20:26). Holiness is the act of sanctifying life. Even if touched by death, as Aharon had been touched by the death of his sons, a person can engage in behaviors that sanctify life. Alternatively, a person could wallow in misery and sadness engage in behavior that demeans or desecrates life allowing his/her own spirit to die.

          Our daughter described the moments between Mincha and Maariv, the moments between the end of one day and the commencement of another day as “stark”. She described the sorrow and sadness of death in one moment and the joyous celebration of life in the next moment.  Only Israel, only Judaism, which marks the end of one day and the beginning of another day with the setting sun,  demonstrates that life and death are inextricably connected. Yes, the memories of those who died, Acharei Mot, after their deaths,  in Israel’s war and victims of terrorism were remembered. Remembering those men, women, and children had a distinct purpose. The purpose was Kedoshim, to make a place holy, and to make a particular time holy. By engaging in the solemnity of remembering, Israelis and those who observe and celebrate with Israel,  celebrated more than Independence. Israel and those who observe and celebrate with Israel celebrated the holiness of life itself. As our daughter and her friends stood in silence, couldn’t help but acknowledge celebrate the miracle that is the State of Israel.

Peace,
Rav Yitz

Touching Makes the Flesh To Cry Out Loud - (Bobby Peterson & Phil Lesh - New Potato Caboose)

This has been a very troubling week for college football fans, for those of us who believe in universities that run clean programs for student athletes, for students and graduates of Penn State University for the residents of Happy Valley, Pennsylvania and the surrounding areas of Western Pennsylvania. It has been a troubling and disturbing week for Joe Paterno, a man, a coach, and mentor to hundreds if not thousands of young people over the course of a 45 year football coaching career at Penn State. As troubling and disturbing as the week has been; for a group of disadvantaged boys who were allegedly raped by one of Coach Joe Paterno’s assistant coaches, the past 15 years has been an unspeakable hell: lost childhoods, shattered lives and unimaginable emotional damage and scars. As I watched the news unfold over the past few days and listened to sports talk radio out of New York City, it is difficult to explain just how big a deal this is to my Toronto community. This is not only a story of one man, a pedophile committing unspeakable crimes to young boys. I remember arriving in Toronto a few years ago and hearing about a Junior Hockey coach engaging in “sexually inappropriate” behavior with players. I remember hearing NHL players admitting that they were victims of these predatory types of coaches. What makes the 15 years worth of criminal activity at Penn State so troubling was the role of a highly revered institution and the role of the de facto leader of that highly revered institution. This highly revered university, revered for running a clean program, revered for embodying the definition of the student athlete, revered by young boys in Pennsylvania and parts of New York and New Jersey as the ideal place to play college football; this highly revered institution proved to be morally decadent and consumed with self image than caring for the disadvantaged. This highly revered leader, Coach Paterno, by all measures a decent, moral, religious, upstanding individual who prided himself on making sure his players graduated and made something of their lives outside of football, this highly revered leader misplaced his moral compass and perversely showed more concern for his program, his reputation, the University’s reputation as opposed to the welfare and the safety of those so disadvantage. This highly respected and revered leader showed more concern for the institution than for the victims of these heinous crimes and lending a voice for these victims.

So how do I explain just how big this is to my Toronto community? Perhaps the best modern day comparison is the recent case of the Catholic Church covering up the pedophile behavior of a very small number of priests and the Church’s misplaced concern for the priests and institutional welfare at the expense of the victims. The similarities between what occurred at Penn State and the Catholic Church is absolutely stunning. Just as stunning is the fact this news story occurred this week during Parshah Vayeira and the narrative of Sodom and Gomorrah. We are all familiar with the narrative. God tells Avraham that Sodom and Gomorrah must be destroyed. Avraham negotiates with God and God agrees that if ten righteous people can be found in Sodom and Gomorrah then he will not destroy the city. Meanwhile two of the three men (Rashi explains that these two men were angels) head towards Sodom in order to warn Lot of the impending disaster. Lot, like his uncle Avraham demonstrated Hachnasat Orchim (hospitality) and offers food and lodging to these men. However the residents of Sodom demand that Lot sends the guests out to the mob so that they can have their way with them. Lot pleads with the mob and offers his own daughters instead. The mob desires the two guests. The guests save Lot and they manage to keep the mob at bay until morning. The guests urge Lot, Lot’s wife and daughters to flee to the nearby mountain without looking back. Lot and his family flee; his wife looks back and turns to a pillar of salt.

If we read the narrative closely, God never tells us Sodom and Gomorrah’s crime. We understand from the narrative that the mob wanted Lot to Hotziem Eileinu V’Neidah Otam (to bring them out to us so that we may know them Gen. 19:5) Biblical scholars and the classical commentaries agree that the mob wanted to engage in sexual relations with Lot’s two guests. However nothing happened, the mob was turned back and nothing actually happened to these two guests. Besides God was intent on destroying Sodom and Gomorrah even before this event. So what was crime of these two cities?

The prophet Ezekiel offers some insight. "Behold this was the sin of Sodom…She and her daughters had pride, excess bread, and peaceful serenity, but she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy" (16:49). Quite clearly Ezekiel pointed out that the sin of Sodom was the failure of its institutions to help the needy, to care for the vulnerable, feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. Sodom’s sin, according to Ezekiel was the city’s failure to look after those people who lived out on the socio-economic margins of life. A Mishnaic opinion in Avot 5:10 further strengthens this picture of moral depravity when it defines the Sodomite as one who says, "What's mine is mine and what's yours is yours." The Mishnah decries a man who wishes to remove himself from the social responsibility of welfare by closing himself and his wealth from others. For ChaZaL, (the Sages of Blessed Memory) the perversity and the moral depravity is the assumption that in Sodom the goal is to just worry about and take care of oneself. The perversity and the moral depravity is the assumption that one should not care about the welfare of anyone else. However the Mishnah only communicates the behavior of an individual citizen of Sodom.

More revealing and perhaps more indicative of the institutional perversity that transpired for 15 years at Penn State is a Midrash of Pirkei D’ Rebbi Eliezar. In examining the 18:21 God speaks to Avraham and states: Eirah Nah V’Eireh Haktza’akatah Eilai Asu - I will descend now, and see whether they have done all together the cry of it, which has come to me… The word Haktza’akatah – the cry of it is in the feminine form. It is unclear what feminine noun is being modified by this feminized verb. The previous feminine noun is Ir or city (i.e. Sodom and Gomorrah). This would suggest that the cry came from the city of Sodom and Gomorrah itself. However this common understanding diminishes just how twisted, perverse, amoral and evil Sodom was. The Midrash of Pirkei D’ Rebbi Eliezer explains that the feminized “cry” came from an actual female and this is her story. “They issued a proclamation in Sodom, saying: ‘Everyone who strengthens the hand of the poor and the needy with a loaf of bread shall be burn by fire. Lot’s daughter, Pelotit, was married to one of the noble citizens of Sodom. She happened to see a pauper in the street and her soul was so grieved by the sight of this man. Every day when she went to the well she put all kinds of provision in the water pitchers. She would empty the provision that were in the pitchers to the pauper and then continue on her way to the well and fill the pitchers with water. The Sodomite nobleman wondered how this poor man managed to still be alive as they assumed that he should have been long dead. They realized that Pelotit was bringing him food. She was arrested and brought to forth to be burned. She cried out ‘Sovereign of all worlds! Maintain my right and my cause at the hands of the men of Sodom!” And her cry ascended before the throne of glory. In that hour the Holy One blessed be He said ‘I will go down and see whether they have done altogether according to her cry which has come up to me.’ The Midrash teaches us that the perversity, the moral depravity was institutional. The very laws that should have been designed to help the needy and care for the most vulnerable members of society were now turned upside down. “They issued a proclamation”. The deplorable and depravity were not done in secret suggesting embarrassment or shame. Rather this proclamation suggests that it was the law of the land and punishable by death.

No, there was no legal statement or proclamation saying that Penn State football coaches were permitted to commit heinous crimes to young boys. However, when the most powerful person at Penn State, the face of Penn State, merely reports the issue to his the Athletic Director (in fulfillment of his legal obligation but certainly not his moral obligation) then what proclamation is being made? The fact that no action was taken back in 2002 except for removing the keys from the assistant coach suggests that for nearly the last ten years, the institutions concern was for itself, and Joe Paterno’s concern was for his record of most football victories in Division 1A and his reputation. Sadly how many more victims were there because of a coach’s and a university’s silence. Finally, the deafening cry of these victims as well as the Grand Jury’s report were heard by Penn State’s board of Directors. With the immediate removal of Coach Paterno, and the school President, perhaps the Penn State football program can right its moral compass. Hopefully now, and in the future trial of Mr. Sandusky, the perpetrator of these crimes, may these victims some of whom are young men, know some semblance of peace and begin putting their lives back together.

Peace,

Rav Yitz