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

Let's See With Our Heart These Things Our Eyes Have Seen (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Blues For Allah")

           Our youngest daughter will turn 19 this Shabbat. On this particular year, her secular birthday and her Hebrew birthday fall on the same day. However, this year, because she is in Israel,  we won’t be able to celebrate her birthday with her.  However, I am willing to bet that we will miss celebrating her birthday with her more than she will miss celebrating her birthday with her parents. Of our four children, she is the most blonde, the most artistic, and appreciates the creative process that art embodies. Her Jerusalem apartment is adorned with her paintings. When we packed her year in Israel, she insisted on bringing paint, brushes and small canvases. She finds the creative process of painting cathartic and soothing.  She is the daughter who could spend hours looking at fashion and home design magazines, appreciating the colors, lines, and shapes. Certainly, she has an affinity for the physical realm. Ironically, she is not at all superficial nor is she mesmerized and awed by physical beauty and “perfection”. On the contrary, her eye is drawn to that which is interesting:  the juxtaposition of color, shade, light, lines, and shapes.  When her two older sisters and younger brother comment that my white beard makes me look much older; our 19-year-old notices my white beard in the context of the wrinkles around my eyes when smiling or squinting. She is the daughter that sees the wrinkles and the “youthfulness” in my eyes and comments on that juxtaposition. Because of her artistic eye, she is able to find beauty everywhere. Interestingly enough, my grandmother for whom our daughter is named also had a similar “artistic” eye.

          This Shabbat we read from Parshat Emor. The four chapters that comprise Parsha Emor focus on the various aspects of Perfection. First, the Torah focuses upon the importance of the 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 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 perfect; each season follows another in order, the holidays such as Shabbat, Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, Rosh Hashanah, 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 the perfection and purity of human relationships and the punishments meted out when that perfection, purity, and holiness are violated. In a sense, this last chapter reminds us of God’s charge to B’nai Yisroel.

          The Torah places an emphasis upon the physical appearance of the Kohen as it relates to his spiritual purity and eligibility of serving as the Kohen Gadol.  The last eight verses (21:16-24) explain all the physical abnormalities that exclude the Kohen from assuming the position of Kohen Gadol. Blemishes, blindness, being lame, having any broken bones, bad skin, abnormally long eyebrows, a blemish in his eyed, are but a few of the physical attributes that make a Kohen ineligible for the position of Kohen Gadol.   How can the Torah, with its primary focus upon Mitzvot (commandments) and the importance of deeds and the Kavanah, the intentionality behind those deeds, now focus upon something as superficial as appearance? Sefer HaChinuch, a 13th-century halachic texts that lists and comments on each of the 613 commandments in the order in which they appear in the Torah,  comments: “At the root of the precept lies the reason that most actions of people are acceptable, appealing to the heart of those who see them, in accordance with the eminence of those who do them. For when a man is distinguished in his appearance and good in his actions, he will find grace and good understanding (Prov. 3:4). With all that he does in the eyes of all who observe him. Should he be, however the opposite of this- inferior in his form, or peculiar in his limbs then even if he is correct in his ways, his activities will not be so attractive to the heart…” (Emor 275). As upsetting and politically incorrect as that sounds, the comment and the Torah text infer a keen understanding of human nature. While watching the physically flawed Kohen conducting the ritual slaughtering in a perfectly correct manner; our attention would be upon a perceived flaw in appearance or perceived imperfection. As a result, our Kavanah - our intention concerning our sacrificial offering would be lacking and the sacrificial process would fail.

          We are now thousands of years removed from a Beit HaMikdash (Holy Temple), the institutions of sacrificial offerings, and a Priestly class. The Beit HaMikdash has been replaced by Synagogues, shteibles, or wherever a community gathers to pray. Sacrificial offerings have been replaced by the words and music of prayer. The community no longer relies upon the Kohanim to serve as a conduit between it and God. Rather, the person leading the community in prayer and the community itself connects to God. Over thousands of years, there has been a spiritual maturing of God’s children. While the physical characteristic of a person may have once appeared like a flaw or an imperfection to spiritually immature eyes, now those perceived flaws and perceived imperfections are sources for interest and wonderment as we recognize that we are created in God’s image. As a result of mankind’s spiritual maturation, what had once been a physical “imperfection” is now viewed as part of the panoramic display of God’s presence. So as my wife and I look at pictures of our daughter on her birthday, I think about how our daughter sees the world, sees colors, light,  lines, and shapes. May she continue maturing into a confident, thoughtful, intelligent free spirit who can still see the youthfulness in my eyes despite my white beard and wrinkles around my eyes.  May she continue to find beauty in the world.

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”.