I Made A Choice That Soon Became A Stand (John Barlow & Bob Weir - "My Brother Esau")

            When the lead story in a Canadian evening news telecast is the same as an American evening news telecast, it is safe to say that the lead story must be important. When the lead story in a Canadian evening news telecast is about a leaked Supreme Court Draft Opinion that the majority of Justices (5-4) have agreed to, then I am intrigued. After all, a U.S. Supreme Court Decision regarding individual rights and criminalization of abortion in the United States does not affect Canada except for the fact that there might be American women who come to Canada from those states that restrict abortion (Peter Zimonjic, CBC News. “American Women Can Obtain Abortions In Canada If Roe v. Wade Falls, Minister Says” Posted: May 3, 2022.) As troubling as the leaked draft opinion for those who believe in a women’s right to choose, perhaps just as troubling is the implicit relationship between the nature of democracy and women’s rights. In an April 2021 article by Susan Markham and Stephanie Foster entitled: “Gender Equality is Fundamental to Promoting Democracy”, the authors explain that a democracy’s vitality and health are directly related to the rights of women, minorities, their ability to participate in democratic institutions, and affect policy. Indeed, the health of democracy and the health of a civilized society is directly related to its ability to empathize with those who are underrepresented, whose rights are ignored or diminished after 50 years of legal precedent. Sadly, those who feel most threatened by their loss of power might be better served to remind themselves of the “Golden Rule” that they were taught as children.

          This Shabbat we read from Parsha Kedoshim. Kedoshim is the plural form of the adjective Kodesh, which means holy.  In this particular case, the antecedent for Kedoshim is Kol Adat B’nai Yisroel – the Entire Assembly of the Children of Israel. All of Israel is Holy, why? As we will read over and over again in a mantra-like fashion, Ki Kadosh Ani Adonai Eloheichem – Because Holy am I the Lord your God. We are holy because of our sacred relationship with God. Interestingly, the rest of the Parsha does NOT concentrate on the relationship between God and humanity. Instead, the Parsha outlines the moral and ethical behavior that we are commanded to display towards our fellow human beings. Keeping in mind that we are all created B’Tzelem Elokim – the Image of God; we are urged to “be like God”.  We are reminded to treat others as we would treat God.

          The plethora of ethical behaviors outlined includes “do not place a stumbling block before the blind”, or “a worker's wage shall not remain with you overnight until morning”. Even the Golden Rule, urging us to treat others as we hope to be treated is part of Kedoshim. The great Talmudic Sage Rabbi Hillel explained to an individual who wanted to learn Torah while standing on one leg that this one rule embodies the essence of Torah “the rest are the detail” (Shabbat 31a). V’Ahavta L’Rei’echa K’Mocha – You shall love your fellow human being as yourself (Lev 19:18).  Rabbi Akiva, another Talmudic Sage, explains that this is the fundamental rule of the Torah (Jerusalem Talmud Nedarim 9:4). Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heschel explained that this commandment does not mean to love saintly and righteous people – it is impossible NOT to love such people. Rather God commands us to love even people whom it is hard to love.  After each of these ethical reminders, God provides the mantra Ki Kadosh Ani Adonai Eloheichem – Because Holy am I the Lord your God. Did Bnai Yisroel suddenly forget who they were? Did Bnai Yisroel suddenly forget who God was? So soon after standing at Sinai, receiving the Aseret Dibrot, making the regrettable decision to worship the Egel Zahav, engaging in national Teshuva, and constructing a Mishkan, did Bnai Yisroel really forget that they are part of a sacred relationship? Perhaps these ethical statements and the re-iteration of many of the commandments are put into the context of human relationships because it is much easier to see the immediacy and relevance of these commandments in human terms. At the same time, we need to be reminded that we follow these commandments for two reasons: 1) because God said so and 2) because we have it in us to be holy, to be Godly.  

          At its core, the Golden Rule of “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself” is about empathy. Increasing our empathy for each other might help diminish the vitriol, the mistrust, and the “zero sum game” that some equate with rights and power in demographically evolving democracies.  Perhaps striving to embody  God’s qualities begins with a very small and simple step V’Ahavta L’Rei’echa K’Mocha - You shall love your fellow human being as yourself.         

Peace,
Rav Yitz

She Always Tries To Play By The Golden Rule (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "West L.A. Fadeaway")

          Because my wife is from San Francisco, my children have adopted several San Francisco teams as their favorite. Being an east coast New  York fan, one might think that this would cause an undo strain upon our children choice of sports team. In the world of professional basketball my children cheer for the Golden State Warriors without any concern to my New York sensibilities. I will say that as a New York Knick fan, even I have had no issues about cheering for the Golden State Warrior. I just imagine that I am watching the Knicks of early 70's. In particular we cheer for and are drawn to the NBA's  MVP Steph Curry. Whenever my children watch Steph Curry, they immediately will go outside and try to emulate Steph Curry; albeit without range of his jump shot. As I watch them, I am reminded, not so long ago, well maybe it was so long ago, about 15 -20 years ago where every little kid wanted to “be like Mike”, Michael Jordan that is. There was even a Gatorade commercial filmed by Spike Lee that featured a 10 year old boy trying to “be like Mike”. Actually it is quite common for young kids to try to mimic their sports heroes either in the way they throw, run, swing a bat, swing a golf club, or jog around the bases after a home run. It turns out, as little kids, we frequently mimic as a way to demonstrate our desire to be like something other than what we are.

This Shabbat we read from Parsha Kedoshim. Kedoshim is the plural form of the adjective Kodesh, which means holy.  In this particular case the antecedent for Kedoshim is Kol Adat B’nai Yisroel – the Entire Assembly of the Children of Israel. All of Israel is Holy, why? As we will read over and over again in a mantra-like fashion, Ki Kadosh Ani Adonai Eloheichem – Because Holy am I the Lord your God. We are holy because of our sacred relationship to God. Interestingly, the rest of the Parsha does NOT concentrate on the relationship between God and humanity. Instead, the Parsha outlines the moral and ethical behavior that we are commanded to display towards our fellow human being. Keeping in mind that we are all created B’Tzelem Elokim – the Image of God; we are urged to imitate God. Instead of being urged to “be like Mike”; we are urged to “be like God”.  We are reminded to treat others as we would treat God.

The plethora of ethical behaviors outlined includes “do not place a stumbling block before the blind”, or “a workers wage shall not remain with you overnight until morning”. Even the Golden Rule, urging us to treat others as we hope to be treated is part of Kedoshim. The great Talmudic Sage Rabbi Hillel, explained to an individual who wanted to learn Torah while standing on one leg that this one rule embodies the essence of Torah “the rest are the detail” (Shabbat 31a). V’Ahavta L’Rei’echa K’Mocha – You shall love your fellow human being as yourself (Lev 19:18).  Rabbi Akiva, another Talmudic Sage, explain that this is the fundamental rule of the Torah (Jerusalem Talmud Nedarim 9:4). Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heschel explained that this commandment does not mean to love saintly and righteous people – it is impossible NOT to love such people. Rather God commands us to love even people whom it is hard to love. However we do not “love” to our detriment.  After each of these ethical reminders God provides the mantra Ki Kadosh Ani Adonai Eloheichem – Because Holy am I the Lord your God. Did Bnai Yisroel suddenly forget who they were? Did Bnai Yisroel suddenly forget who God was? So soon after standing at Sinai, receiving the Aseret Dibrot, making the regrettable decision to worship the Egel Zahav, engaging in national tshuva, and constructing a mishkan , did Bnai Yisroel really forget that they are part of a sacred relationship? Perhaps these ethical statements and the re-iteration of many of the commandments are put into the context of human relationship because it is much easier to see the immediacy and relevance of these commandments in human terms. At the same time we need to be reminded that we follow these commandments for two reasons: 1) because I said so and 2) because we have it in us to be holy, to be Godly.  

As Shabbat begins this week, we will have completed three weeks of counting the Omer. With the counting of each day, we take a moment to work on a different shortcoming in our spiritual development so that when we receive the Torah on Shavuot, we are as spiritually pure as possible. That is to say we aspire to be as spiritually pure as God. No we can never truly attain such a level of purity and holiness. However by aspiring to such great spiritual heights, we are better off than aspiring to a level of spiritual mediocrity. Striving to this higher level, “being like God” begins with a very small and simple step V’Ahavta L’Rei’echa K’Mocha - You shall love your fellow human being as yourself.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

Lord, I'm Still Only Learning (Bob Weir & John Barlow - "Walk in the Sunshine")

The other day, I had “homework” duty.  I sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, and I became the fountain of knowledge as my children did their homework. As I sat there, I quickly ascertained what they were doing in school  and evaluated how best to explain that which needed explaining. Frequently I determined when a child wanted me to do the work for them as opposed to asking legitimate questions in order to discover the answer for themselves. As the homework session unfolded,  I was amazed how three children born to the same parents could be so intellectually different. They all work hard in order to do well and thankfully, they do well in school. However, let’s just say the enthusiasm with which they engage the material is different, the confidence to venture into the intellectual unknown is different, and the fear of making a mistake varies tremendously. Finally, there is no question that where one is a perfectionist another is far from caring to be perfect. So my answers to the perfectionist are to encourage her to venture into the intellectual unknown, to make educated decisions and not worry about being wrong. My answer to the child who tends to be more careless but incredibly inquisitive, is to focus upon details, spelling, punctuation and completing a thought or line of reasoning before moving onto the next thing. Then of course there is the child who has already figured it out. No, not figure IT out, after all not to many children figure IT (the meaning of life) out. However, she figured out exactly how much effort is required to do well, how much attention needed to be paid to detail. In other words, one child figured out how to learn. As a result, very little, on an intellectual basis gets by her. When she doesn’t know, she asks for a point of clarification and then figures it out. There is no wasted time in lamenting the degree of difficulty, or fear of being wrong. When the three of them are watching a movie, and there is a question, the other two ask her since she not only understands, but can logically infer what will happen next.

This week’s Parsha is Breishit. It is the first parsha of the first Book of the Torah. For all intents and purposes, it is the beginning of the Torah. In Breishit, we read the story of Creation, (The Beginning); Adam and Chava’s banishment from Paradise (Gan Eden), and the fratricide of Cain and Abel. We begin however with God. God is the Creator, the ultimate power. If knowledge is power, then God is the ultimate source of knowledge. We accept this as part of our Jewish theology. God is all-knowing and all powerful. We read the words: V’yivrah Elohim et Ha’Adam b’Tzalmo, B’Tzelem Elohim Barah Oto Zachar u’Nekeivah Barah Otam. “And God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them. (1:27). The question therefore is: What is the image of God? Obviously part of that image is the power to create, the power to create life. We surmise this because in the next verse, God commands Adam and Chava to be fruitful and multiply, to create life just like God had created. Another image of God is Power. God’s purpose in creating humanity was that they “should have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle, and over all the earth…” (1:26) In today’s vernacular “dominion” is Power. However the ability to create, and the ability to exercise power sagaciously, and judiciously, necessitates the attainment of knowledge. Perhaps that is our greatest gift. We have the ability to learn, to reason, to discern between right and wrong. To do so expresses our faith in God, re-affirms that, indeed, we are created in God’s image, and we possess an aspect of Holiness.

            In the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chagigah (14b), there is an Aggadah, a Rabbinic legend, which illustrates the notion that attaining knowledge and understanding how to attain knowledge is a holy endeavor. Four of the leading sages of their generation entered PaRDes (literally the “orchard” or Paradise). They were Ben Assai, Ben Zoma, Elisha ben Abuyah, and Rabbi Akiva. They entered PaRDeS and came into contact with the pure power, pure knowledge and complete perfection. They came into contact with God. As a result one sage died immediately. One sage went insane, one became a heretic, and was referred to as Acher (the other), by the rest of the Talmudic Sages. Only Rabbi Akiva emerged unscathed. The commentators of this Aggadah explain that PaRDeS is an acronym for four methods of Torah inquiry: P’shat (the simple literal meaning), Remez (understanding the meaning based upon hint and intimation), Drash (derive meaning based upon interpretation), and Sod( deriving meaning based upon uncovering secret meanings). Imagine that? Our tradition explains that Paradise, is achieved through Torah study and deriving meaning in four different ways. Relying on any one way will limit intellectual and spiritual growth. However incorporating each aspect, and understanding when to utilize one more than the other or how much of each aspect to use in order to determine meaning is what allowed Rabbi Akiva to leave PaRDeS unscathed. In a sense our sages are absolutely correct, PaRDeS is studying Torah for the sake of intellectual and spiritual growth and enlightenment.

The attainment of knowledge and Truth is a Godly endeavor. The use of such knowledge judiciously and wisely for creative purposes represents the notion that we are indeed created in God’s image. Not only is knowledge power, but understanding how to attain and use that knowledge is also the key to a spiritually enlightened life. As I continue answering homework questions, I sit spellbound watching each child make their way on their journey to attaining knowledge.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

To Lay Me Down One Last Time - (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "To Lay Me Down")

          Most parents and parenting experts agree that children's bedtime rituals are very important. For some, it may be reading before the lights go out. For some, it means reviewing the next day’s schedule with the child. Some children will pray before they go to bed. The bedtime ritual in Judaism is to recite the Shemah before one goes to sleep at night. When our children were younger; we would read to them and then we would say the Shemah and the first paragraph beginning with the words “V’Ahavtah et Adoshem Elokechah…”By the time our children were saying their first words, they would say this with us. I remember the feeling my wife and I had when we would begin the ritual and they would say the entire paragraph by themselves. Then I would whistle the song that I gave them when they were born, “Summertime,” “Somewhere or the Rainbow” and “What a Wonderful World”. Then we kiss them goodnight, and we hope that they will sleep through the night and not wake us up.

This morning we read from Parsha V’Etchanan. B’nai Yisroel sits intently and listens to Moshe continues his first discourse on the Law. Moshe re-iterates the covenant, the punishment of exile and the constant possibility of return. Moshe re-iterates the experience of revelation at Sinai as well as a re-statement of the Aseret Dibrot, the Ten Commandments. Moshe teaches this new generation that they heard the revelation, they witnessed the fire. And the fact that they sit on the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River is a testament to that fact. Moshe reminds this new generation that this Torah is perfect, one can interpret but we cannot add or subtract words. Instead we must struggle and make sense of every aspect of Torah. Moshe then introduces the lone piece of dogma in the entire Torah: Shemah Yisroel Adoshem Elokeinu Adoshem Echad Hear O Israel the Lord is God the Lord is One. The Parsha concludes with Moshe strongly reminding B’nai Yisroel that as part of the Covenant it must reclaim the land. Once in the land, B’nai Yisroel is obligated to separate themselves from the other indigenous tribes and uphold the obligations of the covenant that God made with their ancestors.

The Talmud in Tractate Brachot 61b offers the following Aggadah about the final  moments of Rabbi Akiva’s life in order to explain the Pasuk V’Ahavtah et Adoshem Elokechah, B’chol Levavchah U’vechol Nafshechah U’ve’Chol M’odechah – You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your resources (Deut. 6:5). In doing so, ChaZaL –Our Sages of blessed memory, intimated as to why we say the Shemah before we go to sleep. ”When Rabbi Akiva was brought for his execution, it was time to recite the Shemah. As the executioners were combing his flesh with iron combs, he lovingly accepted the yoke of God’s kingship. As he prepared himself to recite the Shemah, his disciples asked: Our teacher, even to such a degree as this you prepare yourself to say the Shemah? Akiva replied: All my days I have been troubled by this verse “With All your soul” (Deut. 6:5), which I interpreted as meaning “Even if he takes your soul.” But I thought to myself: When shall I have an occasion to fulfill this precept? Now that I have the occasion, shall I not fulfill it? So he recited the Shemah and he prolonged the concluding word of the Shemah [the word “Echad”] until he died as he finished saying the word. A divine voice went forth and proclaimed: Happy are you Akiva that your soul has departed with the word “Echad!” With all the possible words and concepts that the Torah teaches, why did Rabbi Akiva view these few Psukim (verses) as the essence of Jewish belief? What are in these particular words that offered Akiva a sense of peace as he made these words his final words? I don’t pretend to go into the psyche of a dying man who is being tortured for teaching torah and being a leader of the Jewish people.

When we read these two Psukim Shemah Yisroel Adoshem Elokeinu Adoshem Echad Hear O Israel the Lord is God the Lord is One: V’Ahavtah et Adoshem Elokechah, B’chol Levavchah U’vechol Nafshechah U’ve’Chol M’odechah – You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your resources, we should be in awe of the raw simplicity of the first statement, and we should feel empowered by words of the second statement. Even as Akiva helplessly lay splayed out on an altar with metal combs ripping his flesh, Akiva possessed enough strength to declare Hear O Israel. Akiva had enough faith to declare The Lord is God. No matter what, no matter the joy or the sadness, God is the ultimate source of energy, the ultimate source of all things. Rabbi Akiva understood that “with all your soul” means in life and in death. R’Akiva understood that in life and even as he lay dying, he was still able to engage in a relationship with God. No matter where we are in life, no matter what is happening in our life, we are all empowered to engage God. We are all capable of having Torah and doing Torah.

Every night our children go to sleep. Every night we go to sleep. Often time, bedtime for children can be fraught with anxiety. Monsters are under the bed, mommy and daddy are not there in the room. For the elderly, night time is also fraught with anxiety, which is why it is quite common for older people to wake up so early in the morning. I remember asking my grandfather why he would wake up so early and he would say that he has plenty of time to sleep when he is dead (God forbid). Yet his response was quite profound. Sleep, in a sense is the closest thing to death, which we all experience. Our heart rate slows, our metabolism slows and we are unconscious. So the final words on our mouths, the final thoughts in our minds should be our relationship with God. That statement is the final spoken thought before I go to bed. Although I always quietly add my own personal addendum that my children should stay in bed and not wake us up in the middle of the night.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

I Feel The Quickening, I Hear the Call (Barlow & Weir "Picasso Moon")

Maybe it’s because we changed the clocks, maybe because we are experiencing beautiful spring weather, but whatever the reason, lately two of my children have had difficulty going to sleep. We go through our bed-time rituals, we say “good-night” and then I go down stairs. Ten minutes have not even elapsed and one comes down the stairs, “Abba, I can’t sleep”, “Mommy, I had a bad dream”. My response is always the same, “It is hard to sleep while you are out of bed, walking downstairs and telling me that you can’t sleep. Now go back to bed.” “You haven’t been asleep long enough to begin dreaming let alone have a bad dream, now go to bed.” They sheepishly go back to bed. However the other night as I was going to bed, I checked on my children. As I turned off the television, I heard a muffled voice sobbing and calling “Abba”. I followed the voice and went to my son’s room. He was sitting up, holding his pillow and burying his face in the pillow, whimpering and calling Abba. This was not a little boy unable to sleep. He was having a bad dream. I walked in and whispered his name. He looked up and said that he had a bad dream and then he asked how I did I hear him calling me. I explained that is what dad’s do. We hear our children whisper our names in the middle of the night when they have a bad dream.

This week’s parshah, Vayikrah, supports the fundamental belief that ethical behavior towards our fellow person and ritual behavior towards God is inextricably linked. There is no separation. The parsha begins by reminding us of the ethical, treating others with dignity and respect. VaYiKRAh el Moshe -God called to Moshe Lev (1:1). ” Imagine, God calling out to a person before speaking. Imagine God treating a person with dignity and respect by calling out prior to giving instruction. How often do we just bark out orders? Intrinsic to “calling” is a drawing toward. We call people on the phone. Our children call out to us when they have a bad dream. In a personal manner, God and Moshe approached each other in order to transmit the law. In the Torah, the last letter in VaYiKRAh is written in a much smaller font. Numerous explanations are given regarding the small font of the final letter in the word VaYiKRAh. However one Chasidic commentary is particularly insightful. Because the letter is small, our eye is drawn to that letter as if it were a separate word. That diminutive Aleph in the Torah almost looks like a separate word. The meaning of Aleph means teach. Seeing this word in a smaller font suggests that in order to learn and to teach, means that each one must have some degree of humility. We are reminded that Moshe was considered among the most humble. In order for us to truly hear our names being called out we cannot be so far removed, the distance cannot be so great. We need to have humility.

After God “calls” out to Moshe, we read the list and the details concerning Korbonot-sacrifices. We learn about which animals should be sacrificed, how many, for which reason, who is obligated, and how to do it. Again God reminds of the purpose of “sacrifice”. The word Korbon (sacrifice) connotes “approach”. This is based upon the three-lettered Hebrew root KaReiV, which means approach. So we are making sacrifices as a means of approaching God. However, after reading this litany of detailed minutia, we might lose sight of the purpose of sacrifice. Korbon (sacrifice) is not only a means of approaching God; it is a means to approach our fellow man. The end of the Parshah reminds us of this. Nefesh Ki Techeteh U’Ma’Alah M’Al B’Adonai V’Chichesh Ba’Amito “God spoke to Moses saying: If a person will sin and commit treachery against God by lying to his comrade….” (Lev.5:21-25). Rabbi Akivah, in the Sifra, explains that cheating one’s fellow man is tantamount to committing treachery against God. R’Akivah explains that this is the case when the only ones who know of the financial obligations are the two parties and God. One who denies that he owed the other money is denying God’s omniscience. Even in a case where only God and the individual know that the individual is dealing unethically with another person suggests that such unethical behavior diminishes the relationship between the individual and God. Unethical behavior renders us impure and causes blemish to our character and to our spirit. We know that God only accepts blemish free offerings. If we are spiritually impure, because of unethical behavior, how can we hope to approach God?

The Parshah demonstrates that the Ethical and the Ritual are linked. Both aspects form a symbiotic relationship with each other. Together they form Torah. Separation of the Ethical and the Ritual leaves the individual and Torah incomplete. However, struggling and, hopefully, integrating both allows the individual to approach God as well as others through dignity and respect. The parsha reminds us that there are two aspects to our behavior, ritual and ethical. Both are linked together. There are two aspects in terms of our relationship to God. God calls out to Moshe, but Moshe has to hear the God’s call. The calling and the hearing are linked together. There are two aspects in any relationship. One talks and one must listen. One must listen to the words as well as the tone. In order for us to hear the muffled call of our children when they have a bad dream, we cannot be so far removed from them that we cannot hear them if and when they do call. In order for us to hear the soft whisper of God, our souls and our minds must already be opened up to that possibility. If we don’t have enough humility within us then we will be too focused upon ourselves that we won’t hear that call.

Peace,
Rav Yitz