Friday, March 23, 2018

Parashat Tzav

     Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Tzav. Like much of the Book of Leviticus, this parasha describes sacrifices: the different types of offerings one might bring for different reasons, how thoroughly burnt they are to be, how the priests are to dress for different stages of the sacrifice ritual, and so on. Reading through Leviticus it can feel like there is no end to these arcane rules!

     One such rule is of an offering for thanksgiving, that is a sacrifice made to God as a show of gratitude for the blessings God has bestowed upon the person bringing the offering. There is one sort of burnt offering, also described in this parasha, that must be completely incinerated as an offering totally to God. But most of the sacrifices brought to the Mishkan, and later to the Temple, were only set to the aish tamid, the ever-burning flame, enough to cook the meat, which the priests and their families could then eat. This is especially equitable in the time of the Temple, when all the other tribes of Israel are allotted land to farm to tend and be their livelihoods, but the tribe of Levi is not allowed to own any land or farm for their own sustenance. Some of these sacrifices may be kept for a couple days, for the priests and their families alone to enjoy at their leisure until they’ve eaten it all or it’s gone bad from lack of refrigeration. However, the thanksgiving sacrifice must be eaten the same day it is offered up. Anything still left the following morning must be burnt thoroughly.

     Portuguese Rabbi Abravenel of the 15th century comments on this that it is because gratitude fills us with the urge to share with others, to pay-it-forward so to speak. So the urgency of having to eat this whole sacrifice in one evening encourages the priests and their families to invite their more distant relatives, their friends, and their neighbors to join in the feast with them, to share their joy and blessings. To some extent, this should be a natural instinct. Think of a time when you have been shown generosity or simply lucked out with something and you found yourself feeling immensely grateful with your bounty. Didn’t you feel the urge to share that with your loved ones? To say, “Wow, this is truly more than I really need right now, what an opportunity to celebrate X with my family or to be able to give a little extra to Y Tzedakkah cause this month).”

     But lest we forget, or we ignore that voice of yetzer hatov inside us, the Torah takes the precaution to command such a sharing with the rules of the thanksgiving offering. And for those of us who may lean more toward the “Let me use this as an opportunity to celebrate with my family,” and possibly forget the “Let me give a little extra to those in need” the Torah later commands us concerning our festival feasts: “You shall rejoice in your festival with your children, your employees, the strangers in your midst, the orphans and the widows.”

     As we look forward to celebrating the Passover holiday, let us prepare by inviting in those who may not have much to eat or celebrate at this time. Although our sign-up for Hava Seder, Needa Seder has passed, I’m sure if you realized tonight, perhaps during this d’var Torah, that you indeed have another seat at your seder, you could still talk to Jillian or Howard and get your name on the list. When we call out at the beginning of the Seder, “Let all who are hungry, come and eat!” and as we open the door to welcome in the Prophet Elijah, let these be more than metaphor. As Philip will tell you from our firsthand experience, opening your home to strangers can certainly make your Seders more … interesting, but for sure they will be memorable holidays you won’t ever forget, and you will have done a mitzvah, both in the colloquial sense of a good deed and in the literal sense of a commandment.
May you keep the aish tamid, the eternal flames, of gratitude ever-burning in your hearth, heart, and home, and may you share the warmth of your offerings with all those around you. Amen and Shabbat Shalom.


Friday, March 16, 2018

Parashat Vayikra - Family Service

     Shabbat Shalom! This week, we start a new book of the Torah: Leviticus. In Hebrew, the Book of Leviticus is called Vayikra. The first Torah portion in each new book is named after the book we are beginning to read, so this week’s Torah portion is called Parashat Vayikra, for the first few words are “Vayikra el Moshe // And God called to Moses.”

     Now that the Israelites are out of Egypt, and Moses has descended from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, and they have all built the Mishkan, God calls to Moses a lot. God and Moses are having one-on-one check ins for pretty much the rest of the Torah, with few interludes of stories about what else is happening among the people. In Leviticus, a lot of what God needs to tell Moses about is how to properly use the Mishkan they have just finished building as a place to come close to God. In Hebrew, the word for “sacrifices” or “offerings” comes from the same root as the word “to draw near”, because back in the desert, giving sacrifices or making a physical offering to God was how people could feel close to God.

     Nowadays, we don’t have a Mishkan and we don’t give sacrifices or any kind of physical offering to God. Instead, we pray. Although we like to pray all together when we gather on Friday nights, or during Sunday School Tefillah, or on holidays, or whenever else we might find ourselves all together in this room, any of us can actually pray almost anywhere at any time.

     The Talmud, a big old book of rabbis arguing with each other, says that when the Torah uses the same phrase over and over again in this parasha to describe the different types of offerings as all being “a sweet smell”, it’s to teach us that whether a person could afford to give a whole cow as their offering, or they could only give a bird, or maybe they didn’t have any livestock to give and could only bring flour, it was the act of bringing it that makes it sweet to God. God sees that each person brought what they could, and even if it was different from what another person brought, it was just as acceptable for God.

     This is true about our prayers, too, which have completely replaced the sacrifices for the last 2000 years. Whether you know all the words to the prayers in the Siddur, or you just like to bop along to the tunes. Whether you pray silently on your own every night, or you only prayer once in a while when someone is leading you in a service, each prayer you offer is accepted by the Divine Power that hears us all. That doesn’t mean that everything you ask for in your prayers will be granted, but I believe that the Holy One listens and knows when we pray, and will shine a light on our pathways through life, a light that shines brighter if you know to look for it.

     May the offerings of your heart be sweet to the Divine Spirit, and may you feel close to each other in holiness, tonight and always. Amen and Shabbat Shalom.


Friday, March 9, 2018

Parashat Vayekehel



Shabbat Shalom! I mentioned the idea of teamwork and consensus last week, and again in this week’s Torah portion of Parashat Vayek’hel-Pekudei we see the importance of working as a collective in order to create a kehillah kedosha, a community in which holiness with dwell.
The Israelites are told to all bring an offering to God, toward building the Mishkan, and all who have some sort of skill to contribute, should help with the building, sewing, sculpting, and putting together of all the pieces of the Midrash. The Torah tells us everyone came, those with wise hearts, the men and the women, and they brought so much that Moses had to ask them to stop bring gifts. Bezalel and Ohaliav are singled out by name, first by God and then appointed in front of all the Israelites by Moses, to be the overseers of this project, one as the master architect and the other as the master artisan. But truly it is the people’s efforts to build up something holy out of their love for their community and for God that creates God’s home in the desert.
I think this outpouring of collective work and devotion to building their holy dwelling space is beautiful. First of all, for so much of this section of the Torah, we are told that Moses speaks only to the men or counts only the men. Here we are told that not only that men and women both come, but Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman says that when the Torah says, “They came, the men along with the women,” it means that the women were the first to flow forth with their gifts and skills and the men followed.
Meanwhile, a Midrash Rabbah teaches that “when Moses said, ‘Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, the offering for G‑d,’ and did not say it directly to the princes, they were displeased at not being asked to bring. So they thought: Let the people bring what they will, and we shall make good whatever they omit. But all Israel entered with zeal into the work of the Mishkan, and joyfully and enthusiastically brought all the donations. The princes then wished to bring their donations but could not, because Moses had already given orders: ‘Let neither man nor woman bring any more...’ The princes were distressed, and said: ‘Seeing that we were not privileged to participate in the offerings to the Mishkan, let us give towards the garments of the high priest . . .’”. That is why only after the Torah describes the throngs of people bringing their gifts and their skills to the building of the Mishkan, the Torah tells us also that the heads of all the tribes contributed precious lapis lazuli to the creation of the priest’s garments and tools to be used inside the finished Mishkan.
This has been our past, and this will be our future. There have been generations and models of leadership where one person really takes the reins. A leader who does all the work and tries to carry the burden of building a holy, loving community may be selfless, hardworking, and earnest, all good things. But they may also be tired, and missing the bigger picture. We are remembering now that it takes all of us to bring the Divine in the center of our community. It takes everyone sharing their gifts and their skills, contributing to the community, to the physical space, and to the spiritual well-being of both. Only when we work in the collective, when we have decentralized leadership, where many people may be the point person or the leader in disparate areas of creating the space and community we want, can we all move forward together, with God at our center. Together, may we create Sanctuary within and among ourselves, and together may we build this world with love.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Parashat Ki Tisa following a Megillah Reading


Shabbat Shalom and Chag Purim Sameach! Though tonight we are continuing the festive celebrations of the wonderful holiday of Purim, let’s not lose track of our Parashat HaShavua, which this week is Ki Tisa. In this Torah portion, the Israelites are told to each contribute a half shekel of silver into the coffers of the Sanctuary. Their teamwork and collective offerings aren’t always for the best, as this parasha also contains the famous narrative of the Golden Calf, but one thing you can say is that they at least seem to know how to work together and reach consensus as a group. They are on a path toward freedom but it is a long and scary path and in the meantime, they are often quite certain they will die in the desert. When the Israelites and the mixed multitudes come together and make decisions about what will best aid them on this path, when they all give equally toward the endeavor, they are showing up for themselves and each other. They are teaching us, their descendants, a model for collective liberation. When Esther needs to muster up the strength to use her unique position to save her people, she asks all of the Jews of Shushan, as well as all of her non-Jewish handmaids to fast with her for three days. None of the others have the power and position to take action as she can, but they can all support her, and show their solidarity with her efforts by doing as she does and sacrificing their bodily contentment for a time in order to contribute to her prayers and garnering of positive vibes. Each of us has different positions and access to privileges in life. We may find ourselves in moments of being Aaron or Moses, collecting the contributions for the greater good, or Esther, asking for help and allyship, and more often, we may find ourselves in the role of the people, just trying to get along and make our community and the world the best it can be. May we all use our positions with wisdom and compassion, and play our roles to the best of our abilities, to work for collective liberation of all people. Amen, Shabbat Shalom, and Chag Purim Sameach.