You're Lost Sailor You've Been Too Long At Sea (John Barlow & Bob Weir - "Lost Sailor")

           The Winter Olympics have been all the talk in our house. The Olympics have also been about the only thing on our television as well. Among the most fascinating aspects of the Olympics has been watching my children watch the various events. Certainly they have been exposed to a myriad of sports. My son cannot wait to start doing the snow board half-pike course. Seriously though, our children were amazed when they heard the story about the Canadian Men’s speed skater give up his place in a particular event and gave his spot to a teammate that had a better chance of winning a medal. That speed skater’s sacrifice proved prophetic as the teammate earned a medal. Our children were in awe of this selfless act, they were in awe of placing the team before the individual. They were in awe of all those hours of practice and the opportunity to shine replaced by the opportunity for the team to earn a medal. We talked about the importance of placing the team before the individual as well as the joy of being part of something greater than just individual goals.

This week’s Pasha is Vayakahel. Following the sin of the Golden Calf and Teshuvah (repentance), B’nai Yisroel begins executing God’s instructions for the Mishkan, the Ark, and the Tent of the Meeting. We recall that when God gave these instructions to Moshe, God started from the middle of the structure (the holiest point of the structure) and worked out towards the outer walls of the structure. God gave instructions beginning with the building of the Aron (the Ark), and concluding with the walls of the Tent of the Meeting. When B’nai Yisroel begins the building process, they begin with walls of the Tent, and then conclude with the altar and finally the Ark. 

After the destructive behavior of worshipping the Golden Calf, B’nai Yisroel comes together, and shares a common constructive experience bound by a common goal. Their goal is to complete the construction of the Mishkan. The common experience is their contributions to of raw materials. V’Yavo’u  kol Ish Asher Nasahu Libo V’chol Asher Nadvah Rucho- Every man whose heart inspired him came; and everyone whose spirit motivated him brought the portion of God for the work of the Tent of the Meeting, for all its labor and for the sacred clothing (Ex.35:21). By participating in this constructive process, everyone had an opportunity to repent for the sin of the Golden Calf and for its lack of faith. First, B’nai Yisroel began on the fringes with its idolatrous activity. Then, and after Bnai Yisroel repented, it began moving towards the Holy of Holies. First they built the walls of the Tent of the Meeting; then the altar, and, finally, the Holy of Holies.

When the community shares a commons sense of purpose, something wonderful happens. We achieve that balance between God and ourselves. The result, of course, is that God will dwell among us. God’s dwelling among us makes our community a little warmer, a little kinder, and more significant. Third, we also learn that the actual process of building requires hard work. B’nai Yisroel, like any team, shared in the task’s difficulty. Greater participation made the experience that much more meaningful. When the experience is more meaningful, then the reward will be greater. What is the reward? The reward is a community that shares simchas and tsuris, victories as well as defeats. The reward is that no individual member of the community should ever feel alienated and alone. The reward is a community that strives for growth and improvement. This brings more meaning to the life of the individual, the family, and the community.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

Everybody Is Playing In The Heart Of Gold Band (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Scarlet Begonias")

Our twelve year old daughter made the school basketball team. This is the first time she has played an organized team sport. This is the first time that she has sweated with teammates, bonded with teammates, and shared a common purpose with teammates. Right now they are 0-2 and they have a lot of work to do in order to be more competitive. However as parents, we have notice a huge change compared to before her tryouts. Before she would get sick and the whole world would have to stop and take notice of her being sick. Now if she is sick she wants to be healed immediately so as not to let her teammates down. Before, the world revolved around her. Now she is so much more helpful around the house because she understands that we, as a family, share common goals and we each have our jobs to do in order to achieve those goals – just like her basketball team. Our oldest daughter started in a full time job this week. It is interesting that she played team sports in middle school and in high school. She also enjoyed playing intramural sports while attending university. She is now works for an organization called Mayors Against Illegal Guns –spearheaded by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York. She is part of team. Like her younger sisters, she realizes the merit of working with people towards a common goal. She understands that everyone on the team has a job to do and success in the individual job translates into success for the team. Both have learned that there is something powerful when individual success is put aside for the success of the group as a whole. Perhaps this is the transition from childhood to adulthood, from the centrality of the individual to the centrality of more than the individual: to the team, to the group or to the family.

            This week’s Parsha is Vayakahel/Pekudei. Following the sin of the Golden Calf and Teshuvah (repentance), B’nai Yisroel begins executing God’s instructions for the Mishkan, the Ark, and the Tent of the Meeting. We recall that when God gave these instructions to Moshe, God started from the middle of the structure (the holiest point of the structure) and worked out towards the outer walls of the structure. Moshe gave the instructions to Bnai Yisroel in the same manner, beginning with the most sacred spot, the Aron and concluding with the least sacred spot, the Ohel Moed 0- The Tent of the Meeting.  However when Betzalel and Olihav begin organizing the construction of the project,  they begin with walls of the Tent, and then conclude with the altar and finally the Ark. 

After the destructive behavior of worshipping the Golden Calf, B’nai Yisroel comes together, and shares a common constructive experience bound by a common goal. Their goal is to complete the construction of the Mishkan. The common experience is their contributions to of raw materials. V’Yavo’u  kol Ish Asher Nasahu Libo V’chol Asher Nadvah Rucho- Every man whose heart inspired him came; and everyone whose spirit motivated him brought the portion of God for the work of the Tent of the Meeting, for all its labor and for the sacred clothing (Ex.35:21). By participating in this constructive process, everyone had an opportunity to repent for the sin of the Golden Calf and for his/her respective lack of faith. If viewed as a process, B’nai Yisroel began on the idolatrous fringes in its relationship to God, after repentance, after bringing the materials, after organizing individuals, families and tribes into cohesive construction units, they began moving towards the Holy of Holies. First they built the walls of the Tent of the Meeting, the altar, then the holy of holies.

For the vast majority, we approach God in a similar way. As we become inspired, we are drawn towards Judaism. As we become motivated, we dedicate a greater portion to God, both in terms of tzedakkah and time. It is very rare when our motivation or dedication comes as a result of a “bolt of lightening” or some existential metaphysical sign or wonder. No, our motivation and dedication is a result of our recognition that there is something missing in our lives. We miss meaning in our lives. We miss contentment in our lives. We miss peace in our lives. Certainly we can be happy without meaning. Certainly we can be happy without contentment. Certainly we can be happy without peace. Why? Happiness is rather fleeting and quite often it is the result of some external factor. Meaning, contentment and peace are ultimately internally influenced and far less fleeting.  Our movement towards God, our movement towards greater observance, is a series of steps. We don’t begin as a Tzaddik observing all mitzvot.  Rather, one mitzvah leads to another, learning leads to more learning which eventually leads to doing.

We learn several vital lessons from this Parsha. First, we learn that Judaism works best as a communal experience. Certainly we all have our own individual lives to lead and Mitzvot to follow. However, observance is much easier when its shared. Experience is more meaningful when it is shared. Whether sharing it with the family on Shabbat and Holidays or sharing it with members of the community during prayer, Judaism works best when it is done as a team sport. We learn that when the community shares a commons sense of purpose, something wonderful happens. We achieve that balance between God and ourselves. The result, of course, is that God will dwell among us. God’s dwelling among us makes our community a little warmer, a little kinder, and more significant. Third, we also learn that the actual process of building requires hard work. B’nai Yisroel, like any team, shared in the task’s difficulty. Greater participation made the experience that much more meaningful. When the experience is more meaningful, then the reward will be greater. What is the reward? The reward is a community that shares simchas and tsuris, victories as well as defeats. The reward is that no individual member of the community should ever feel alienated and alone. The reward is a community that strives for growth and improvement. This brings more meaning to the life of the individual, the family, and the community.

Peace,

             Rav Yitz

Some are Building Monuments, Others Jotting Down Notes -Bob Dylan "The Mighty Quinn"

Due to some scheduling conflicts, I flew with my three small children to Los Angeles while my wife went to San Francisco and then met us in Los Angeles the following evening. As we stood on line to check our baggage, each child began to complain about how heaviness of his/her knapsack, how hungry they were, how long the line was and a whole host of other complaints that I had absolutely no control over. The thought of listening to six hours of this let alone six minutes inspired me to call a family huddle. I knelt down with my three children surrounding me. I looked them in the eye and explained to them that we are now a team. “There will be no sentence or whining tone beginning with the words: ‘I am…’ I continued, “from now on we will help each other carry the bags, walk with or next to each other, look out for each other, and do what we can to make our getting to the gate as easy as possible. Once we are on the plane, we will share food, crayons, papers, and the DVD player. We are a team.” You know what? The kids were amazing. No one complained. They helped each other, they looked out for each other, they figured out how to put their own personal needs asides for the greater good of the family and the task at hand: getting through the airport and behaving on a transcontinental flight from Toronto to Los Angeles.

This week’s Pasha is Vayakahel. Following the sin of the Golden Calf and Teshuvah (repentance), B’nai Yisroel begins executing God’s instructions for the Mishkan, the Ark, and the Tent of the Meeting. We recall that when God gave these instructions to Moshe, God started from the middle of the structure (the holiest point of the structure) and worked out towards the outer walls of the structure. God gave instructions beginning with the building of the Aron (the Ark), and concluding with the walls of the Tent of the Meeting. When B’nai Yisroel begins the building process, they begin with walls of the Tent, and then conclude with the altar and finally the Ark.

After the destructive behavior of worshipping the Golden Calf, B’nai Yisroel comes together, and shares a common constructive experience bound by a common goal. Their goal is to complete the construction of the Mishkan. The common experience is their contributions to of raw materials. V’Yavo’u kol Ish Asher Nasahu Libo V’chol Asher Nadvah Rucho- Every man whose heart inspired him came; and everyone whose spirit motivated him brought the portion of God for the work of the Tent of the Meeting, for all its labor and for the sacred clothing (Ex.35:21). By participating in this constructive process, everyone had an opportunity to repent for the sin of the Golden Calf and for its lack of faith. If viewed as a process, B’nai Yisroel began on the fringes, idolatry, and after repentance, began moving towards the Holy of Holies. First they built the walls of the Tent of the Meeting; then the altar, and, finally, the Holy of Holies.

For the vast majority, we approach God in a similar way. As we become inspired, we are drawn towards Judaism. As we become motivated, we dedicate a greater portion to God, both in terms of tzedakkah and time. It is very rare when our motivation or dedication comes as a result of a “bolt of lightening” or some existential metaphysical sign or wonder. No, our motivation and dedication is a result of our recognition that there is something missing in our lives. We miss meaning in our lives. We miss contentment in our lives. We miss peace in our lives. Certainly we can be happy without meaning. Certainly we can be happy without contentment. Certainly we can be happy without peace. Why? Happiness is rather fleeting and quite often it is the result of some external factor. Meaning, contentment and peace are ultimately internally influenced and far less fleeting. Our movement towards God, our movement towards greater observance, is a series of steps. We don’t begin as a Tzaddik observing all mitzvot. Rather, one mitzvah leads to another, learning leads to more learning which eventually leads to doing.

We learn several vital lessons from this Parsha. First, we learn that Judaism requires two parties, God and B’nai Yisroel. Both must exist together in a balanced relationship. When God and Torah become so far out of reach, B’nai Yisroel will become alienated and turn to idolatry, such as the Golden Calf, crass materialism, money or some other type of “God”. When B’nai Yisroel fails to elevate itself in Kedusha, in holiness, then we fail in our dual mission: make our lives more meaningful and spiritual; “be a light among the nations”. However when we enter into a highly participatory and shared communal experience, such as building the Mishkan, or any project or program that we build, we must sacrifice some of our personal needs for the well being of the community. Second, we learn that when the community shares a commons sense of purpose, something wonderful happens. We achieve that balance between God and ourselves. The result, of course, is that God will dwell among us. God’s dwelling among us makes our community a little warmer, a little kinder, and more significant. Third, we also learn that the actual process of building requires hard work. B’nai Yisroel, like any team, shared in the task’s difficulty. Greater participation made the experience that much more meaningful. When the experience is more meaningful, then the reward will be greater. What is the reward? The reward is a community that shares simchas and tsuris, victories as well as defeats. The reward is that no individual member of the community should ever feel alienated and alone. The reward is a community that strives for growth and improvement. This brings more meaning to the life of the individual, the family, and the community.

Peace,

Rav Yitz