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

It's Got No Signs Or Dividing Lines And Very Few Rules To Guide (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "New Speedway Boogie")

           Last week, I drove our twenty-year-old daughter to the University of Maryland. Along the way, we stopped to see my parents. We pulled into the driveway, just like I had done hundreds of times before. Because the weather was nice, my father was standing outside watching us pull up, just as he had done hundreds of times before. We stepped out of the car and then everything was different. This was the first time we had seen them in nine months. We put on a mask. Rather than walking into the house, my daughter and I walked around to the backyard and stepped onto their porch. With masks on, we sat down about 10 feet apart. We didn’t hug, we didn’t kiss. We looked at each other, we spoke. On one hand, the conversation that my daughter and I had with my parents was similar to the hundreds of conversations that I have had with them since I became a parent. There was a reassuring order to the conversation. However because of the masks, and the social distancing we were reminded of the chaos in which we live. For the next 7 hours, we drove through some of the most beautiful autumn foliage imaginable. Indeed I was reminded of the order of the season. I was driving to a University campus in the fall. Normally, I would be driving in order to visit my daughter at Univerity. Now however I was dropping her off. Normally when I drop my daughter off at school, we unload the car, bring her stuff to her room, go to the store and pick up some essentials and take her out for a meal. I was reminded just how far removed from normal we are instead being near chaos. We arrived at her apartment building, her friends met us with masks on.  We put our masks on and then I unloaded the car, brought her stuff into the lobby, walked outside with my daughter. We took off our masks and then I  hugged her and kissed her goodbye.

          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 instructions for building 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. Yet both narratives are related. As manifested in the previous Parsha, God is a God of creation and order.  For God to destroy, Order must be removed and Chaos must become introduced and 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. Certainly, 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. Instead of confused and blurred boundaries of heaven and earth, God created a confusion of 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 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. In any case, my departure was hurried and chaotic. In a matter of minutes, I was on my way driving north from Maryland heading back to Toronto facing two weeks of quarantine, two weeks of altering family responsibilities and schedules. In a sense, I drove back north facing two weeks of a different sort of chaos.

Peace, 

Rav Yitz 

It's Got No Signs Or Dividing Lines And Very Few Rules To Guide (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "New Speedway Boogie")

          Well, it was the first full week of regular, mundane activity. There were no Jewish Holidays, there was no cleaning up from Jewish Holidays, and there were no days off because of Jewish Holidays. Life returned to routine ebb and flow of school, work, errands, and paying bills. Our dinner conversation reflected this return to the mundane. There was no discussion about menus, sukkah building, grocery lists, and more grocery lists; instead, discussion focused upon everything that we had missed in the world while dealing with three weeks of holidays. Apparently, the world has been in a bit of turmoil and chaos. Forming a coalition government in Israel, Brexit, Impeachment, California forest fires, Kurds, Syria, Turkey, and Putin. As this broad-ranging discussion wound its way from issue to issue; the phone rang. It was my mother asking how everyone was doing now that we had returned to our regular routines and schedules. Our son happily reported life was back to being quiet and boring. Then he added how much he loves living in Toronto because life, in general, was “quiet and boring”.
          This Shabbat we read from Parsha 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 covenant made between God and Noah and the offering to God. Then there is a brief narrative about Noach’s drunkenness and one son’s inappropriate behavior. The second distinct narrative is also about chaos and confused boundaries. This time, mankind confuses boundaries and attempts 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 hinder communication.
          When describing the world, when describing the net result of God’s creation ten generations after Adam and Chava, two words are utilized. V’Tishacheit Ha’Aretz Lifnei Ha’Elokim, VaTimalei Ha’Aretz Chamas - Now the earth had become corrupt before God; and the earth had become filled with robbery, VaYar Elokim et Ha’Aretz, v’Hinei Nishchata Ki Hishchit Kol Basar et Darko Al Ha’Aretz- And God saw the earth and behold it was corrupted for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. The two words Sha’ChaT - corrupt and ChaMaS- robbery are not necessarily the words we envision when describing a miserable uninhabitable, dystopian place. Certainly, the Torah could have said that the world was "uninhabitable" or "an empty void" as it said in the Breishit. ShaChat literally means wanton harm to self and to others, twisted, pervert, ruin. Ten generations after God had created by separating light & dark, day & night, heaven & earth, land & water, fish & fowl, six workdays & one day of rest (Shabat); all that order had become twisted and was wantonly destroyed. Apparently, mankind wantonly hurt mankind's’ self and mankind’s environment. The second term ChaMaS means to do violence, to extort. Both words allude to the notion of chaos, wanton destruction. There is no rhyme nor reason and therefore one is unable to plan and exist within chaos. Extortion also alludes to chaos. A person has to “re-purchase” what they already own but had been stolen ie. kidnapping. Rashi explains that these terms suggest that corruption means immorality and idolatry, and “violence/extortion” suggests robbery. In other words, there were no boundaries, no separations nor distinctions. Recalling that HaVDiL, separation was the key to God’s creation, then chaos, no order, no boundaries are the means by which we destroy.
          Both the story of the Flood and the Tower of Bavel suggest the tension of humanity. God’s world is one of order. Mankind struggles between the godly instinct of order and ungodly instinct of chaos and wanton violence. Given all the news, whether it is the raging wildfires (controlling chaos) or Syria and the Turkish border (perpetrating chaos); stable societies and communities fear chaos. Families and especially children try to avoid chaos. Perhaps the human condition is to figure out how to create order amid chaos. So as our children spoke to their grandmother, they extolled the virtues of life in Toronto “that it was quiet and boring”. As they said these words to my mother, I heard her say the same words she has said to me my whole life. “I love to hear that my children and grandchildren’s lives are quiet and boring.”
Peace, 
Rav Yitz