ha'avinu

I spent about six hours yesterday helping my brother clean his apartment. He’s in the process of moving to Colorado, and needed help clearing out years of accumulated house goods in order to be able to move with as little as possible. As we were cleaning, we put on a CD by our favorite band, The Eels. They’re a strange alternative rock band and few of their songs are what you might call upbeat. This particular album we put on while cleaning, their first ever produced, is not as dark as their second, which happened to be our introduction to the band. Still, though, it is called “Beautiful Freak,” so it’s clearly not exactly standard love songs.

Our mom worries about our shared penchant for sad songs, or at least songs she frets will foster sadness in us or distort our views of life. Life, she says, is full of sadness and happiness. There are weird moments, and beautiful moments, and bittersweet moments, and our choices of art and entertainment should reflect that.

This week’s Torah portion is a song or at least poem (we’ve long since lost the tune), that encompasses all of that. It starts out powerful and pleasing declaring both the heavens and the earth should listen to this awesome song about to come forth. “My lesson will drip like rain, my word will flow like dew, like storm winds on vegetation, and like raindrops on grass” (32:2)– such imagery and mastery commanded with those words!

And then it gets dark. Actually, most of the parasha is pretty dark. G-d, through Moses’s voice, scolds the Israelites for all the ingratitude they showed and the faith they didn’t show while traveling through the wilderness. Verse five states that destruction is not of G-d, but man. Humans alone cause corruption and blemish upon the earth. Verses seven through thirteen get bittersweet as G-d recounts all the greatness bestowed upon our ancestors, things they should have been more grateful for.

But then it gets harsh again, which is still beautiful in its way, since it’s written poetically and the meanness of it is fully justified. The Israelites were totally ungrateful and did have a complete lack of faith. Whenever I have a meaningful connection with a stranger or am fortunate enough to catch a special moment in nature, I think, “Baruch HaShem, thank G-d for small miracles.” The Israelites that left Egypt, on the other hand, saw the Red Sea miraculously part, and still complained that they had been lead out of slavery only to die far worse deaths in the desert. When G-d tries to speak to the directly, they are too intimidated by Divine power and beg Moses to go talk to G-d on their behalf, and yet weeks later they are skeptical of G-d’s complete sovereignty and they built the golden calf.

So, in this poem, G-d is sternly explaining to the next generation of Israelites why their parents wandered for 40 years and will not be allowed into the Holy Land. It is a warning for the new generation, explaining to them that it is not too late, that G-d will always protect those that keep the Mitzvot in their hearts and teach the commandments on to their children.

“It is not an empty thing” (32:47), these sad songs which our parents could not understand. My brother and I found beauty, a way to grieve when we needed it, warnings, and life lessons from our songs, just as Jews have been gleaning from this song from the Torah for thousands of years. Sometimes our parents just can’t see the lessons the way we do; each generation has its own songs to teach it. But if we choose wisely, and listen with the right mentality, they should all give each of us basically the same lessons to live our lives well.

May each of us find the right song to help us remember to open our ears not only to the lyrics but also to G-d and to each other. Amen and Shabbat Shalom. 

Bereshit – 2nd Day Rosh HaShaha

            The first trope, or chanting pattern, of the Torah is the pattern called tipcha, which is usually proceeded by a mercha, or sometimes other trope. It is rarely the first in a sequence. As I began practicing the chanting for today, it felt odd to begin a sequence with tipcha, much like trying to form a question without starting with “What” or “How”. The way I always learned the translation was, “In the beginning, G-d created the Heavens and the Earth.” Chabad offers a translation of, “In the beginning of G-d’s creation of Heaven and Earth.” Looking directly at the Hebrew, although my translation skills still need work, I’d have to say the translation I was taught is correct. Bara is a verb (“G-d created”) not a noun (“G-d’s creation”). But perhaps those at Chabad were reading into something about the trope given “Bereshit”, since their translation is not really a full sentence. Is this not really the beginning? Was there more to the sentence? Maybe in whatever came before, where we might have sung a mercha, it was explained who G-d is talking to; who is the “US” in, “Let Us make human in Our image.” There have been many experts who have tried to analyze the Hebrew phrasing in Genesis in order to determine what might be the best translation, and the jury is still out on that. I’m no linguist and I’m not going to try to go through all the possibilities, because in the end, I don’t think it matters that much. These are unanswerable questions that we need not consume ourselves with.

            You may have heard that the Torah begins with a Bet to signify that we should not go looking for answers about G-d before Torah. The Bet is shaped so that it is open to the rest of the text, but closed off to that which may have come before it, as well as on top or below. This was the sort of random information just thrown at me as a child without background, along with “Eat your vegetables, there are children starving in China.” So much like anyone looking to be a nutritionist would have to research why vegetables are good for you, or an international public health official might need to look into why children are starving in China, I investigated this Midrash and it appears to have come from Midrash Bereshit Rabbah. When we read the story of the creation of the world, many questions come to mind. What prompted creation? What preceded creation? What is the correct translation of this story? Tradition tells us that these are not questions that should be explored extensively. "Why was the world created with the letter bet?", asks Midrash Bereshit Rabbah, "Just as the bet is closed at the top and at the sides, so you may not investigate what is below, what is above, and what is before; only what is in front." 

            As we begin our new year, there may be many among us looking for a fresh start, a new beginning. One that may be marked with a Bet, so as to say, “Please, let this just be the Beginning, and do not ask me of what came before.” Although with G-d, we allow the Bet to be our barrier from questions that could never possibly be satisfactorily answered, with our fellow humans we can let that Bet be our barrier out of respect for someone’s privacy.

            This summer was a tough one for a lot of people back in my hometown, as we a lost a young member of our community, my brother’s best friend. At the wake my brother said he felt like he had put more effort into keeping his friend alive than he had ever put into anything else in his life. Since then, he hasn’t worked much or at all (he does promotional work for bands, and occasionally even books shows or puts events together, so his schedule is irregular anyway), and in the last few weeks has spent a lot more time with my parents and not with his friends. He seems to be sort of floating. He decided sometime in the last few days that he’s going to move to CO, where he hardly knows anyone, for at least six months. He’s been selling most of his possessions, and cutting back on his cigarettes in anticipation of the air change, and plans to have quit completely by the time he gets there. I will miss him when he goes so far away, but I hope that it will be the fresh beginning he needs. I hope he can move there with a metaphorical Bet and no one will need to know about what came before. I hope that he will meet new people, and not just new faces and names with the same old lifestyles.

            Conversely, as we approach Yom Kippur, and the days of atonement and forgiveness are upon us, I hope we all remember to allow fresh starts in our relationships with those who may have transgressed against us. Let us not hold grudges, or anger, or sadness of the past. This year, let us all allow ourselves and each other a new beginning, a fresh start, and no longer poke at what may have come before. Amen, L’Shana Tova v’Shalom. 

Nitzavim - Kehillah Kedosha

Nitzavim

9/15/12

            There are often jokes made among young adult Reform Jews that though we spend the bulk of our childhoods in “Hebrew School” we don’t actually learn much Hebrew. True to this, when I was at Kutz Camp at the age of 16 I was hearing Hebrew outside prayer for the first time ever. One evening I walked into the main meeting hall on camp singing the words to a Danny Nichols song, Hebrew words I did not really know the meaning of. A haughty son of a prominent Reform Jewish leader, having just returned from a semester in Israel and feeling very confident in his Hebrew, said to me, “You know how stupid that song is? ‘If you are you, then we’re standing’. That is what you’re saying. The lyrics don’t make any sense!” Reasoning, that the sentence just said in English did not make any sense indeed, and that this boy was clearly much smarter and cooler than me, I made some embarrassed excuse, giggled nervously, slinked away to hide for the rest of the evening.

            Hearing the words now, in light of this week’s Torah portion, it doesn’t sound so stupid. Sure, “If you are you, then we’re standing,” still doesn’t make a lot of sense, but the line of the parasha is, “אַתֶּם נִצָּבִים הַיּוֹם כֻּלְּכֶם לִפְנֵי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם” (You are all standing this day before the Lord, your G-d.) The lyrics are, “If you are Atem, then we’re nitzavim, we stand here today and remember the dream.” Moses stood before all the people of Israel on the day of his death, declaring them now officially a single nation, and telling them the time has come to commit themselves, and all the generations to come, to the covenant with G-d, as had our father Abraham. Dan Nichols stood before a large group of Reform Jewish teenagers and reminded us that we are all still standing, and must remember the covenant. Moses told the people that even the woodcutters and water drawers, who according to Rashi might actually be non-Jews subjugated to bad jobs, are now a part of this community. A community Dan Nichols calls a “Kehillah Kedosha”. “Each one of us must start to hear.  Each one of us must sing the song. Each one of us must do the work.  Each one of must right the wrong. Each one of us must build the home.  Each one of us must hold the hope. Each one of us, each one of us!”

            Moses reminds us the Word of G-d is not concealed from us:

12. It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us and fetch it for us, to tell [it] to us, so that we can fulfill it?"		יב. לֹא בַשָּׁמַיִם הִוא לֵאמֹר מִי יַעֲלֶה לָּנוּ הַשָּׁמַיְמָה וְיִקָּחֶהָ לָּנוּ וְיַשְׁמִעֵנוּ אֹתָהּ וְנַעֲשֶׂנָּה:
13. Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and fetch it for us, to tell [it] to us, so that we can fulfill it?"		יג. וְלֹא מֵעֵבֶר לַיָּם הִוא לֵאמֹר מִי יַעֲבָר לָנוּ אֶל עֵבֶר הַיָּם וְיִקָּחֶהָ לָּנוּ וְיַשְׁמִעֵנוּ אֹתָהּ וְנַעֲשֶׂנָּה:
14. Rather,[this] thing is very close to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can fulfill it.		יד. כִּי קָרוֹב אֵלֶיךָ הַדָּבָר מְאֹד בְּפִיךָ וּבִלְבָבְךָ לַעֲשֹׂתוֹ:

Dan Nichols explains it’s all in “how we help. It’s how we give.  It’s how we pray.  It’s how we heal.  It’s how we live.” May you all remember our covenant with G-d and find your place in our KEHILLA KEDOSHA, KEHILLA KEDOSHAAAAA!

First Sermon of the New School Year!

Ki Tavo Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8

 This week’s Torah portion speaks about the expectations of the Israelites to maintain the covenant with G-d. We learn of the blessings we will receive if we keep to the ways of the Torah, and learn of the disturbing specificity of all the many, many curses we may incur for a variety of transgressions, including: (28:47). [B]ecause you did not serve the Lord, your God, with happiness and with gladness of heart, when [you had an] abundance of everything…

 I initially read this to mean that it is not enough to uphold our covenant with G-d, but we must also do this with a smile. Maimonides affirms my understanding: “Even though you served G-d, you did not serve him with joy -- that is the source of all afflictions”, but other great rabbis had other views on what this statement means. Rashi says the problem is that “you” forgot to serve G-d when you were happy with your lot, and turned to G-d only when you were in need (of guidance, forgiveness, etc). Maayanah Shel Torah plays with syntax a little: it was with happiness and with gladness of heart that you did not serve the Lord, which does indeed sound punishable. We all slip up sometimes, but to do so with glee signals intention, and depending on the transgression, that can be downright mean.

 This is a great example of the beauty of Torah study. This is essentially why we are so happy to be bringing in a new year of religious school. Why we are so excited to begin again teaching the next generation the complexity and richness of learning in our Jewish traditions. This is a three chapter Parasha, and here we can focus on just one little verse, with the help of three (among others!) great teachers. I could splinter off from here into three different sermons, because although my initial understanding of this line agrees with Maimonides, once reading the viewpoints of Rashi and the Maayanah Shel Torah, I can very much reread the Torah verse with their understandings in mind. It all fits! Now, I’m not going to go into all the great lessons we could learn from this one line from three different viewpoints, because it would take too long, but I invite you all to turn to each other, or approach me, after the conclusion of services and work out which lens you see this through. Because that’s why we’re here! To learn and pass on our traditions to a new generation.

 I am so excited to welcome all you students for a new school year. I hope you all come to religious school and Shabbat services throughout the year to learn and pray with happiness and with gladness of heart! Amen, Shabbat Shalom, and have a great year!

Jewish 101 game for camp staff training

Jewish Boulderdash

Jewish Movies

1.      

     Fiddler on the Roof

a.       A thrilling documentary about a struggling musician who is forced to learn to live on the streets after a tragic turn of events leaves him homeless.

b.      In pre-revolutionary Russia, a poor Jewish peasant must contend with marrying off his three daughters while antisemitic sentiment threatens his home.

c.       A nomadic couple – a fiddler and an acrobat – happen upon an enchanting town in the south and learn the value of having a real home.

2.       Schindler’s List

a.       In Poland during World War II, Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.

b.      A man wins the lotto and tries to track down all the girls on his “List O’ Rejection” which he has been keeping since his nerdy high school days, in hopes that they will finally see how dateable he is.

c.       Oskar Schindler crosses of names on his list, one by one…

3.       Jazz Singer

a.       A Klezmer musician dons blackface in order to go undercover in a Jazz club and steal the musical secrets of famed musician, Buster Billings.

b.      A Jewish jazz singer in Germany is on the brink of his greatest breakthrough, when sudden horrible changes begin to occur for his community.

c.       The son of a Jewish Cantor must defy his father in order to pursue his dream of becoming a jazz singer.

Jewish Religion

1.      

      Torah

a.       The First Five Books of the Holy Bible

b.      A type of dance

c.       The dietary law for Judaism

2.       Talmud

a.       A game Jewish children play in which they spin a top and gamble for candy

b.      A type of dance

c.       A several volume set of books full of rules and regulations for the Jewish people

3.       Tisha b’Av

a.       A holy day which falls during the summer time

b.      The Jewish New Year

c.       A type of Dance

Jewish Geography

1.       Sephardi

a.       Jews from Southern Europe and Northern Africa

b.      The region around Southern Europe and Northern Africa

c.       A type of hat Jews from Southern Europe and Northern Africa wear

2.       Bene Israel

a.       The Eastern Region of Israel

b.      A community of Jews from India

c.       A congregation in the South Bronx

3.       Diaspora

a.       Another name for Israel

b.      The scattering of Jews to everywhere outside of Israel, following the Babylonian Exile.

c.       The scientific term for the spreading of seeds 

Behaalotecha

*This week is the last Saturday with Hebrew school for the summer, it is Teacher Appreciation Shabbat, and two of our Hebrew school teachers (Hazel and Shifra) who have been at Temple Beth Emeth for 20+ years will be retiring this year.*

Please don't leave us, for because you are familiar with our encampments

 in the desert and you will be our guide. (Numbers 10:31)

            This week’s Torah portion begins with the explanation of how Aaron and his sons will properly keep lit the menorahs in the Tabernacle. G-d tells Moses, who in turn tells Aaron, there will be seven lamps lit facing the menorah, so that its finely constructed gold will be nice and shiny, reflecting its own light. Proverbs 20:27 says: The spiritual significance of the mitzvah of lighting the menorah is that one should be a "lamplighter" who ignites that latent potential within "the soul of man, a lamp of G-d". The Lubavitcher Rebbe adds to this: Here, too, the endeavor must be to kindle the lamp "so that a flame arises of its own accord." In teaching and influencing one's fellow, the objective should be to establish him or her as a self-sufficient luminary: to assist in developing his talents and abilities so that his lamp independently glows and, in turn, kindles the potential in others.

            As the Parasha continues, Moses’s father-in-law tells Moses he will be leaving the mixed multitudes to return from whence he came. If the Prince of Egypt is any indication, Moses’s father-in-law has been a true guiding light for Moses. I mean, he has that whole song about looking at your life from heaven’s eyes, which segues into a montage ending in Moses and Tzipporah’s marriage. Life changing stuff occurs in that montage. In the Torah, there is no montage, but Moses does plead with his father-in-law not to leave: Please don't leave us, for because you are familiar with our encampments in the desert and you will be our guide. Clearly, Moses recognizes that some lights are not seven armed, are not made of gold, and are guiding lights, in addition to the way they may light up a room. His father-in-law was a light for him, as the menorah was the light for Aaron in the Tabernacle.

            Here at Temple Beth Emeth v’Or Progressive Shaari Zedek, Shifra and Hazel are such lights. They are familiar with these encampments, and have been guides. They are lamplighters that have ignited that latent potential in countless students. They are the menorah that allows the flame of their students to arise of the own accord, but support and reflect those lights.

As each of us who have been touched by the lights of our teachers continue on our way, may we reach a time when we can let our own lamps glow independently so that we may find our own chances to kindle the potential in others. Amen. 

Parashat Naso

            In this week’s Torah portion, as we continue the process of taking the first census, it is determined who – or many – will do what. For example, Gershonites will carry the coverings for the tent of meeting, while the sons of Merari are in charge of the supporting beams and their sockets. The Parasha segues into the rules and consequences regarding sacred choices, and then, G-d says to Moses,

23. Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying: This is how you shall bless the children of Israel, saying to them:		כג. דַּבֵּר אֶל אַהֲרֹן וְאֶל בָּנָיו לֵאמֹר כֹּה תְבָרֲכוּ אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָמוֹר לָהֶם:
24. "May G-d bless you and keep you.		כד. יְבָרֶכְךָ יְ־הֹוָ־ה וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ:
25. May G-d cause G-d’s face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.		כה. יָאֵר יְ־הֹוָ־ה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָּ:
26. May G-d lift G-d’s face toward you and grant you peace."		כו. יִשָּׂא יְ־הֹוָ־ה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם:
27. They shall bestow My Name upon the children of Israel, so that I will bless them.		כז. וְשָׂמוּ אֶת שְׁמִי עַל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַאֲנִי אֲבָרֲכֵם:

The Midrash Rabbah explains this blessing, which we hear every week at this house of worship, thusly: G-d will cause G-d’s face to shine upon us and be gracious to us, by giving us the wisdom to shine upon one another and to each be gracious to each other. G-d will lift G-d’s face toward us, to remind us it is proper for us all to greet one another while looking at each other in the eye, not with turned faces. And most importantly, G-d will grant us peace, because without peace, there is nothing.

            The Midrash Tanchuma says that the way the Hebrew is worded when Moses tells Aaron this is how to bless the children of Israel is meant to indicate that this is a blessing that must not be blurted out hastily or haphazardly, but recited with great intention and concentration. It is a truly beautiful blessing, and I see the effect is has on those that receive it. There is a great warmth in this sanctuary when we all pray together, but there’s a look I see on many of your faces when Rabbi Heidi tells us it is time to rise, and she extends her arms as though to embrace the whole congregation and recites this blessing. But like the eternal question of who watches the watchmen, who blesses the blessers? This section ends with the verse, “They shall bestow My Name upon the children of Israel, so that I will bless them,” telling us that G-d does.

            Of course we all have our own blessings and relationships with G-d, separate from that which is facilitated by our spiritual leaders. The Torah portion goes on to explain the offerings brought to the Tabernacle by each tribe accounted for in the census of the previous Parasha. The offerings are all exactly the same, but the Torah tells each one of them separately. The Midrash Rabbah again explains this to mean that, though each family brought the same stuff, the experience of the offerings was different with each person. Though there is extra comfort in hearing the Priestly Blessing from our rabbi each week, and the Torah tells us that G-d blesses the blessers, we know that G-d also blesses us each individually. Much the way each family was responsible for different parts of the Tabernacle, each of us has our own paths, our own responsibilities, and we each carry a piece of this Temple in our own way. However that is represented, we each have our own experiences with G-d as well, which is as beautiful as hearing the blessing each week.

            As you go on your way, take the time to stop and notice when G-d is shining G-d’s face upon you, how G-d is lifting G-d’s face toward, and may you always find peace. Amen, and Shabbat Shalom.