Lord, Try To Read Between The Lines; I Had A Feeling I Was Falling, Falling, Falling Lord, I turned Round To See (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia -"Bertha")

           It has been quite an emotional week. This week is my grandfather’s 6th yahrzeit. Six years later, there is rarely a day that I don’t think about him. Three years ago, this week was our son’s bar mitzvah which we celebrated in Israel. Also, three years ago, on the day our son read Torah at the Kotel, Nazis marched in Charlottesville, Virginia. This week, my Rebbe passed away after a long illness. Unable to travel to the States, I had to watch as the service was streamed. Our family attended a Zoom memorial service for a great uncle, my late grandfather’s brother in law (his children and I were very close). We also celebrated with our friends who celebrated their son’s wedding in Israel. We also celebrated our son’s 16th birthday this week. Amid the emotional whipsaw of these moments of joy and sorrow, I have cherished quiet moments of watching the ball game with my son, or a movie with my daughters.

          This week's Parsha is Re'eh. Moshe continues his discourse. He has already explained the Mitzvot, and he continues to do that. Moshe has alluded to the blessings of life if B'nai Yisroel follows God's commandments. He has and continues to allude to the curses that will befall B'nai Yisroel if they violate the most important commandment-idolatry. "See I present before you today a blessing and a curse" (Deut.11:26). V'haklalah Im Lo Tishm'u el Mitzvot Adonai Eloheichem V'sartem Min Ha'Derech Asher Anochi M'taveh Etchem Ha'yom La'lechet Acharei Elohim Acheirim Asher Lo Y'Datem-"And the curse: if you do not hearken to the commandments of the Lord your God, and you stray from the path that I command you today, to follow gods of others, that you did know." (Deut. 11:28) Moshe presents B'nai Yisroel with two pictures, a world when B'nai Yisroel lives up to it covenant with God and one in which they don't.  He reminds B'nai Yisroel of the sanctity of Eretz Yisroel (the Land of Israel), the consumption of foods that are consecrated to the Kohanim and he warns B'nai Yisroel to avoid imitating the Rituals and Rites of the Egyptians and the Canaanites. Moshe reminds B'nai Yisroel to be careful of false prophets, avoiding non-kosher foods, not living in wayward cities, forgiving loans after seven years, caring for the less fortunate, and celebrating the three pilgrimage festivals of Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

          The Torah tells us: Ki Im El HaMakom Asher Yivchar Adoshem Eloheichem miKol Shivteichem LaSum et Shmo Sham L’Shichno Tidreshu Uvata SHama – Rather, only at the place that Hashem, your God, will choose from among all your tribes to place His Name shall you seek out his Presence, his dwelling, and come there. Certainly, this is reminiscent of the Kadosh Baruch Hu, at the time of the Akeida, telling Avraham that he will show him where to go with his son Yitzchak. Its reminiscent of Avraham as much younger man, leaving his home and going to a place that God would show him., Certainly we could understand Moshe’s words as a  reminder for B’nai Yisroel that “sanctity”. Holiness, Kedusha is central to  Israel, Torah, and Jewish identity. The Sfas Emet (The Gerrer Rebbe from about 1870-1905) reminds us that HaShem’s choice is not revealed until B’nai Yisroel “seeks”.  We only find answers when we seek, when we look, when we investigate. Because we are commanded to seek Shechino, his divine aspects that dwell among us, we are tasked to seek holiness. Holiness is in Time and Space. Holiness is in our  Neshama, Holiness is in our choices, and in our words, our deeds and the way we live our lives. That is the constant choice we are commanded to make HaYom Today –  a choice that we make each and every day and each and every moment.  

          Indeed, the week has been full of all kinds of emotional swings. Yet it dawned on me that precisely during those moments of joy, sorrow, anguish, and gratitude; “seeking” God is most possible. When we are spiritually sedentary, when we are spiritually lazy, we probably lack the spiritual insight of “sight”  of being able to sense or see God. Yet, when we experience the full range of human experience and emotion, we begin to ask questions. Some ask “why”, although I rarely suggest we ask that question. Rather we ought to ask “How”. How do I make this moment, this moment of anguish, or joy, meaningful? How do I make this moment of sorrow or joy holy? When we ask those questions, and we adapt rituals that express meaning in those moments, we embody the words of the Sfat Emet and seek God. In doing so, we make the week full of anguish, and joy, meaningful and sacred.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

The Wheel Is Turning And You Can't Slow Down (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "The Wheel")

This week we celebrated our son’s 11^th birthday, we also commemorated my father in law’s Yartzeit and my Grandfather’s Yartzeit. As our son’s birthday approached, he asked why so many people whom he knew seemed to have died this month.  I reminded him that he was born this month, so it wasn't so sad of a month; and then I added that this was what life means. There is Joy and Sorrow and Life and Death – balance. Sometimes both occur within the same year, the same month, the same week, and even the same day. The Hebrew Month of Av draws to a close and the new month of Elul begins on Shabbat. As the month of Av departs, I couldn’t help but notice just how a unique Hebrew month it is. What made Av so unique? Well it is considered to be the saddest month of the calendar since it was on the 9^th of Av, the Jewish People commemorated the destruction of the First and Second Temples. Also the Jewish People assign a number of other national tragedies to the month of Av. For the first nine days, national mourning manifested itself in our refraining from Weddings, eating meat (except on Shabbat), shaving, haircuts and attending live entertainment. However a week later, the happiest day of the year occurs. Known as Tu’B’Av or the 15^th of Av, it celebrated the wine harvest, the sages explained that this was the first day in B’nai Yisroel’s 40 years of wandering that no one died. Everyone who was alive on this day on the 40^th year of wandering was guaranteed entry into Eretz Canaan. Single girls are matched up with single boys for marriages. This truly marks the Jewish Wedding season. The Month of Av, sometimes can seem like a typical Sunday for a Rabbi where there is both a Funeral and a Wedding on the same day. Av is the one month that embodies the complete cycle of life: Joy and Sorrow; life and death.            

This week's Parsha is Re'eh. Moshe continues his discourse. He has already explained the Mitzvot, and he continues to do that. Moshe has alluded to the blessings of life if B'nai Yisroel follows God's commandments. He has and continues to allude to the curses that will befall B'nai Yisroel if they violate the most important commandment-idolatry. "See I present before you today a blessing and a curse" (Deut.11:26). V'haklalah Im Lo tishm'u el Mitzvot Adonai Eloheichem V'sartem Min Ha'Derech Asher Anochi M'taveh Etchem ha'yom La'lechet Acharei Elohim Acheirim Asher Lo Y'Datem-"And the curse: if you do not hearken to the commandments of the Lord your God, and you stray from the path that I command you today, to follow gods of others, that you did know." (Deut. 11:28) Moshe presents B'nai Yisroel with two pictures, a world when B'nai Yisroel lives up to it covenant with God and one in which they don't. Moshe then reminds B'nai Yisroel what the previous generation learned in the Book of Leviticus.  Ritual behavior and ethical behavior go hand in hand. Both are required in order to live a life of Torah and to follow God's commandments. Moshe then explains that even if one grows discouraged in helping the poor, the Jew is still obligated to help. Moshe offers sage advice. Ki Lo Yechdal Evyon Mikerev Ha'Aretz -For destitute people will not cease to exist within the Land, therefore I command you saying, 'You shall surely open your hand to your brother, to your poor, and to your destitute in your land"

(Deut. 15:11).

            The Torah may be many things, but spiritually unrealistic is not one of them. Judaism recognizes the reality. There will always be those less fortunate.  Whether "less fortune" is a physical, emotional, spiritual, economic, or intellectual not everyone is as fortunate as the next person. We learn that tzuris is part of life and it transcends gender, age, and color and nationality. Judaism and in particular Moshe recognizes that in our zeal to make the world better, in our zeal to do Tikkun Olam (fix the world) we may grow dismayed and even beaten down because there is so much suffering. There are so many in pain, so many are in fact destitute. Perhaps that is why the verse begins commanding us to help those who are closest to us and then working outward.  We begin by helping our brother, then those in our community who are in need, then we begin helping the nation. If the order were reversed we would become absolutely overwhelmed that we would become paralyzed. However by starting with the most immediate, and if everyone were concerned with the most immediate their brother/sister and their community, then helping those throughout the land is not so overwhelming. Even the Haftarah that normally coincides with this third Shabbat after Tisha B’Av, and the third of seven Haftarot which precede Rosh HaShanah, reminds of consolation. Our consolation, the consolation that we began receiving two Shabbatot before until the Shabbat prior to Rosh HaShanah is hope. No matter how awful things are, no matter how many destitute are among us; there is hope. If one is helped, that is one less destitute person. Our consolation is that we can always do something. No it may not be enough. But we can always do something. We can always give Tzedakah, we can always educate others and ourselves, we can always learn more than the day before. We can always offer compassion and solace. And we must always care.

            Peace,

                Rav Yitz