His Job Is To Shed Light, And Not To Master (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Lady With The Fan")

For the most part, being American and living in Toronto is an exercise in reflecting upon some of the cuter cultural differences between American and Canadians, American Jewry and Canadian Jewry, and even cute cultural eccentricities. However there are those moments when I roll my eyes as an American citizen embarrassed at certain “American” behavior. There are also moments when I roll my eyes as a Jew embarrassed by certain “Jewish” behavior. I can’t remember the last time I hit the daily double, embarrassed or better yet, repulsed by Jewish American behavior. Not all American Jews think like, or behave like Donald Sterling, the owner for National Basketball Association (NBA) Los Angeles Clippers. Donald Sterling was born in Chicago as Donald Tokowitz to Jewish immigrants in the early 1930s. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was a small boy.  He added the last name Sterling when he was an adult. I don’t know how and when Donald Sterling became a racist.  Being a child of immigrant parents, one would think that he might have empathy in terms of what is to be different, to be discriminated against, to avoid being too Jewish in order to gain social acceptance in the late 1950’s and 1960’s America. It wasn’t so long ago that being Jewish did not possess a great amount of cache or “cool”. Yet this billionaire, who has been accused of discrimination before, seemingly has forgotten the vitally important lessons of Judaism and American history.  As an American, with immigrant parents, he better than anybody should know the evils of discrimination and the importance of living in a society in which the rule of law,  the content of character, and one abilities and gifts, must be the standard by which one is judged. As a Jew, with parents who came over from Eastern Europe, who just barely escaped the Holocaust, Mr. Tokowitz –Sterling, ought to keep in mind not only Jewish history of the past several centuries, centuries marked by anti-Semitism and slaughter, but even some of the more basic ideas of the Judaism, ideas that have made the Jewish people the greatest advocates of civil rights, anti-discrimination and defender of the downtrodden.

This week we read from Parsha Emor. The four chapters that comprise Parsha Emor focus on the various aspects of Perfection. First the Torah focuses upon the importance of the physical and spiritual perfection and purity of the Kohen. He must remain in a perpetual state of purity. He is restricted in terms of whom he can marry. He is restricted in regards for whom he can mourn. He cannot go to a cemetery. He cannot make sacrificial offerings if he has physical abnormalities. The second of the four chapters reminds B’nai Yisroel that when approaching God with an offering, the individual must be spiritually pure and perfect and so must the offering. These offerings must come directly from the individual making them and not from “the hand of a stranger” (Lev.22:25). The third chapter of the Parsha deals with the perfection and the purity of time. Time is define as perfect in the season follow an order, the holidays such as Shabbat, Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur are designated to come in a particular order. That order is both pure and perfect since time and the designation of “Sacred” time comes from God. The fourth chapter speaks about maintaining purity and the perfection of physical space in this case the Mishkan, and all that is in the Mishkan. The Torah even deals with perfection and purity of human relationships and the punishments meted out when that perfection, purity and holiness is violated. In a sense, this last chapter reminds us of God’s charge to B’nai Yisroel.

Everything we do is designed to sanctify God’s name through deed. Whether attending to the Mishkan, the treatment of animals or of our fellow man, it all boils down to the sanctification of God. It is quite evident that the Parsha deals with both the “big picture” of human behavior.  V’Lo T’Challelu et Sheim Kodshi V’Nikdashti B’Toch  B’Nai Yisroel Ani M’Kadishchem – You shall not desecrate my Holy Name, rather I should be sanctified among the Children of Israel; I am Hashem who sanctified you. HaMotzi Etchem Me’Eretz Mitzrayim Liheyot Lachem Leilohim, Ani Adoshem – Who took you out of the land of Egypt to be a God unto you, I am Hashem.  (Lev.22:32-33). We are being reminded of our rather humble national origin, slavery. We are being reminded that because Hashem took us out from slavery, Hashem can make demands upon us. (RaMBaN).

Among those demands is that we are a nation of priests and a light to the nations. Throughout Parsha Emor, we have learned that besides the offering needing to be pure in order to be accepted by Hashem,  the Priest, the conduit, needs to be pure as well.  So when the conduit between the people and God, the Kohen Gadol, is impure, then the offering cannot be pure and therefore unacceptable. Mr. Sterling sadly forgot that very important fact. We are all examples to our families, our communities and the outside world. As a people, we are supposed to be a “light unto the nations”. We are supposed to be role models for the rest of the world. When individual Jewish behavior fails to sanctify the self, the other, and the relationship with Hashem, then the individual  forgets the raison d’etre for being brought out of slavery. When Donald Sterling and those like him are allowed to continue their behavior, then it becomes the responsibility of the Jewish community to shine an even bright light and to drown out that darkness of ignorance. Thankfully, Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, seems to recognize this.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

I'll Get A New Start, Live The Life I Should ( Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia "Wharf Rat")

This is the time of year known as March Madness, a cultural phenomenon based upon participating in and watching the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball tournament. Over the course of three weekends 68 university teams, their students, their boosters, and their respective alumni all begin the tournament with dreams of a national championship. For people who like watching basketball, it is a glorious time of year, a sacred time of year. It is a time of year that has sacred locations: the arenas in which these games are played culminating in Dallas where the Final Four and the Championship game will be played in a couple of weeks. It is a time of year marked by sacred time: from the opening tip of the first game to the final buzzer of the last game. In our home, our kids have learned about United States geography (learning the location of numerous universities) as well as team colors and mascots (guiding principles in determining our daughter’s tournament bracket picks). During the course of these basketball games there are usually several human interest stories at play which contribute to the drama of the game. Sometimes these human interest stories lead to incredibly touching moments that take on an aura of holiness and sanctity which transcend the game itself. One such moment occurred at the end of Creighton University vs. Baylor University basketball game. With Baylor leading by approximately 30 points and only a couple of minutes to play; Doug McDermott was taken out of the game. Dougie McDermott (aka Dougie McBuckets) is the best player in Creighton’s history, is one of a handful of university basketball players in the history of the game to finish his college career with more than 3000 points, and it so happens that his father is the Creighton head coach. So when his dad took Dougie out of the game, he wanted his son to receive the recognition due to one of the “best ever”. Sure the standing ovation was nice, even touching but not sacred. When Dougie walked off the court to the standing ovation, he walked over to his father with his head held high and tears in his eyes. Then father and son hugged the kind of hug that every father and son wish for themselves.  For all those who saw it, this was a special hug, this was a significant hug, and this was a hug that evoked sanctity and holiness. After the game, the son was asked about walking off the court and hugging his father, the head coach. The son offered a poignant response, alluding to the idea that this was the last time that he would ever walk off a basketball court with his father waiting for him on the sidelines. Clearly, both father and son were aware that this hug was going to occur at some point during March Madness. Despite this awareness; when the moment finally arrived, the hug was neither diminished in warmth, in emotion nor in its sanctity. Like anything that achieves holiness, even in the most physical of moments, such as a hug between a father and son at the conclusion of college basketball career, that sacred moment has the power to remind us of our own mortality, our own fragility and our desire for sanctity.

This week’s Torah portion is Parsha Tazria. Parsha Tazria concentrates upon how impurity, spiritual impurity is passed between people. The majority of the Parsha focuses upon Leprosy as it was considered to be a very physically contagious disease. Parsha Tazria puts the diagnosis, the treatment and the convalescence in spiritual terms rather than physical terms. We learn that the while this Tumah, this spiritual impurity is present, the stricken individual cannot reside within the camp. After all God dwells in the camp and we cannot tolerate any impurity near God.

However, prior to its discussion of Leprosy, Parsha Tazria outlines the somewhat troubling laws concerning impurity in childbirth. Fundamentally, the notion of impurity relates to coming into contact with that which is dead. In Parsha Shemini, Torah outlined impurities that come from dead animals. In this Parsha we are reminded that a Mother is touched by death during the miracle of childbirth.  Isha Ki Tazria V’Yalda Zachar V’Tamah Shivat Yamim Kimei Nitdat Dotah Titmah – When a woman conceives and gives birth to a male, she shall be contaminated for a seven day period as during the days of her separation infirmity shall she be contaminated. (Lev. 12:2). Imagine becoming spiritually impure after being blessed by the miracle of childbirth. Yet, this new mother lost blood; she lost some aspect her life force during the birth process. As a result, while simultaneously being touched by a new life, she is also touched by her own mortality.

Perhaps there is no more an intense moment than when a new mother, physically exhausted and spent, holds the newborn. The Rabbis of the Talmud teach that surviving childbirth is an equivalent to a near death experience and saying Birkat HaGomeil is therefore required.(Praised are You, Lord Our God, King of the universe who graciously bestows favor upon the undeserving, even as He has bestowed favor upon me.) Inherent to surviving a near death experience is the notion that the individual as come precipitously close to death. Even in miracle of life, we are reminded of its fragility.  Even in death, we are reminded that we are forever striving towards elevated levels of holiness. In the most physical moments, and certainly childbirth is quite a physical endeavor, we are reminded that it is our spiritual task to elevate that physical moment into a spiritually holy moment as well. As we bless our children on this Shabbat, may we be reminded that in every moment, we have the opportunity to strive towards spiritual purity, and spiritual holiness.

Peace

Rav Yitz

Come Wash the Night-Time Clean ("Cassidy" - John Barlow, Bob Weir)

Every so often a song will come to mind that triggers all kinds of powerful memories. The other day, while driving home, I heard Paul Simon’s Kodachorome lyrics .“When I think back on all the @&*^$ I learn in High School, it’s a wonder I can think at all”. While the lyrics don’t necessarily remind me of my High School experience; Paul Simon’s lyrics remind me of some of the sillier, non- informative, and ignorant ideas that I was taught in Hebrew School. Personally, I have found that these lyrics are most applicable to misguided teachers that tried to explain the notions of Tamei & Tahor (purity and impurity), women and Mikvah. I can only imagine that the girls in my Hebrew School class would have every reason to hate being Jewish since we constantly heard the constant refrain that girls are “dirty”. Because girls are so dirty, they need to go to the Mikvah.

This week’s Parsha is Metzorah. The discussion and laws for Tamei/ Tahor as it affects human beings is continued from last week’s Parsha, Tazria. We continue to learn intricate details concerning how an individual becomes ritually purified, his/her re-entrance into the camp, and the prominent role of the Kohen Gadol in ascribing a spiritual treatment for a physical expression of a spiritual problem. Besides discussing the laws of the Metzorah, the laws of one who suffers from this skin ailment, the Parsha also confronts the issues of the Metzorah spreading to a house and the method by which that impurity is removed from the house. The second half of the Parsha concentrates on the laws of Taharah Mishpacha, the laws of family purity.

It is in the discussion of concerning woman, mikva, the laws of Niddah, the laws of family purity where such misconceptions of woman being “dirty” were taught. As a youngster, I don’t recall being taught that a man is considered “dirty”. However when we learned the following verse: V’Isha Ki Tiheyeh Zavah Dam Yiheyeh Zovah Bivsarah Shivat Yamim Tiheyeh v’Nidatah – When a woman has a discharge, her discharge from her flesh being blood, she shall be in a state of separation for seven days; unfortunately we were taught that the law of “Separation” the laws of Niddah were because natural human biology rendered her physically unclean. How ridiculous! This is not an issue of physical cleanliness or not. This is really an issue of taking a physical occurrence and elevating it to a spiritual endeavor.

The basis for sanctity in a Jewish Home is the fundamental relationship between husband and wife. As Jews, we strive to elevate the physical realm and physical desire to a spiritual plane. When we are hungry we just don’t put anything into our mouths, we put kosher food into our mouths. We don’t just start eating, we delay our physical desire for the amount of time it takes to make a Bracha and give thanks. The same holds true with the physical aspects of a husband and wife relationship. We create clear and distinct separations between those times when a husband and wife halachically can and should be together and when they cannot, regards of physical desire. Holiness within the husband and wife relationship occurs when they are able to renew their spiritual aspects of the relationship.

It is very easy for us to fall into the trap that the Torah and the Halacha is an obsolete institution. It is very easy for us to think in terms of “clean and dirty”. It is very easy for us to study Torah and think that this is only applicable to the most observant Jews. However the challenge is to derive meaning from that which seems offensive at first blush. The challenge is to apply the Torah’s instructions in an authentic manner. The challenge is to carefully examine and find the beauty in what could otherwise be seen as restrictive and mean. This challenge is perhaps most pervasive in four aspects of Judaism today: Kashrut, Shabbat, Prayer, and the Laws of Family Purity. It is up to us to find the merits and the spiritual beauty. It is up to us to teach our children the intrinsic beauty and holiness of Judaism so that they will not “look back and think of all the #$*&^&% they learned in high school; it is a wonder that they can think at all”.

I'll Get a New Start, Live the Life I Should (Wharf Rat -Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia)

There is nothing quite like the innocence of children. You know what I am talking about. Children will make a comment that is completely honest, without any malice, without any filter. Sometimes it is funny, sometimes it gives parents some food for thought. So when our youngest, our son, walked up to me on a Sunday morning, said good morning, sat I my lap while I sipped coffee and said "Abba I love sitting on your lap your belly is soft", I looked up at my wife and sheepishly smiled. My eldest daughter, who happened to be visiting from university, casually added that she wanted me to be able to walk her down the aisle at her wedding (which was not happening any time so soon). Soon it became a whole family affair as our other two daughters also commented upon my weight. There was no malice. Rather it was all quite clinical with an air of concern. I went to work and I felt quite mortal. I thought about my children's words and I realized that I am not 25 anymore. I am neither twenty five in the physical sense, the spiritual sense nor the intellectual sense. That is not to say that there were moments in the past when I felt my own mortality. I did have those feelings. However I could count them on both hands. When I became a father for the first, second, third and fourth time; I felt my own mortality. At our daughter's bat mitzvah and during our son's Bris, I felt mortal. Running around, playing tag on a California beach, looking out over the horizon and huffing and puffing; I felt mortal. When I wake up before the first signs of dawn, go downstairs, pour a cup of coffee, stretch, step outside, look up at the sky and wonder how am I going to continue afford day school, pay for college, and pay for three weddings (I still have some time for that); boy do I feel mortal! Yes, I tend to feel mortal during those moments where I feel most alive, and when I am most aware of the awesome responsibilities of fatherhood.

This week’s Torah portion is Parsha Tazria. Normally, in a non-leap year, this Parsha and next week's Parsha are seamless combined as they both focus upon the laws of Tamei/Tahor (purity and impurity). Because this year is a leap year, we only read Parsha Tazria. Tazria concentrates upon how spiritual impurity is passed between people. The majority of the Parsha focuses upon Leoprosy as it was considered to be a very contagious physical manifestation of a spiritual disease or shortcoming. Parsha Tazria puts the diagnosis, the treatment and the convalescence in spiritual terms rather than physical terms. We learn that the while this Tumah, this spiritual impurity, is present; the stricken individual cannot reside within the camp. After all, God dwells in the camp. Theologically, we cannot tolerate any impurity near God. Oddly enough, one would think that God could handle our "impurity" because God is God, God is almighty. How could impurity affect God? However the issue is not the affect of the impurity upon God per se. Rather the issue is that our spiritual impurities, any spiritual impurities would negatively affect Bnai Yisroel's ability to connect to God.

Prior to its discussion of Leoprosy, Parsha Tazria outlines the somewhat troubling laws concerning impurity in childbirth. Fundamentally, the notion of impurity relates to physical contact with the deceased. In Parsha Shemini, the Torah outlined impurities that came from dead animals. In this Parsha, we are reminded that a Mother is touched by death during the miracle of and creation of life. Isha Ki Tazria V’Yalda Zachar V’Tamah SHivat Yamim Kimei Nitdat Dotah Titmah – When a woman conceives and gives birth to a male, she shall be contaminated for a seven day period as during the days of her separation infirmity shall she be contaminated. (Lev. 12:2). Imagine becoming spiritually impure after producing a new life. Yet, this new mother lost blood - a life force. She lost some aspect her life force during the birth process. As a result, while simultaneously being touched by a new life, she is also touched by her own mortality.

Perhaps there is no more an intense moment than when a new mother, physically exhausted and spent, holds the newborn upon her chest. CHaZaL - the Chachamim Zichrono L'Vracha (the Sages of Blessed Memory) teach that surviving childbirth is an equivalent to surviving a near death experience. Therefor, reciting Birkat HaGomeil was required. (Praised are You, Lord Our God, King of the universe who graciously bestows favor upon the undeserving, even as He has bestowed favor upon me.) Inherent to surviving a near death experience is the notion that the individual as come precipitously close to death. Even in the miracle of life, we are reminded of life's fragility. Even in the miracle of life, we are reminded of our own mortality. During these moments, which for some are life altering and almost transcendent, we find a way to make that near death experience a holy experience. That is not to say that we look forward to death or that we celebrate death. Rather we are acknowledging that in the moments of coming into contact with death there is a potential to be changed by that experience. Even in death, we are reminded that we are forever striving towards elevated levels of holiness. In the most physical moments, and certainly childbirth is quite a physical endeavor, we are reminded that it is our spiritual task to elevate that physical moment into a spiritually holy moment as well.

Like many Jewish homes that celebrate Shabbat, there is a Minhag, a custom, that we observe. At the Shabbat dinner table, there is a minhag of blessing the children. The Shabbat dinner that immediately followed my children's comments concerning my weight, I felt mortal once again. As we bless our children on this Shabbat, may we be reminded that in every moment, we have the opportunity to strive towards spiritual purity, and spiritual holiness. In so doing we are striving towards our continued celebration of life and our relationship to God.

Peace,

Rav Yitz