Shabbat Zachor: “The Amalek in You”

Shabbat Zachor: “The Amalek in You” - The Shabbat before Purim is a very important one.  It allows us to fulfill the unique mitzvah, timcheh et zecher Amalek – “you shall blot out the memory of Amalek.” The Torah tells us Amalek attacked the Israelites “when they were faint and weary; and he feared not God.”  He is considered the ancestor of Haman and thus the connection to Purim.

Amalek, refers not just to the tribe of the Amalekites and their descendants like Haman about whom we’ll read on Purim.  Amalek exists in all those who act without respect for God and God’s people and God’s will.

While we don’t like to think of it this way, the spirit of Amalek can even infect us, God forbid, Jews, who should be the very people who know best to fear the influence of Amalek!

How is this?  The Seer of Lublin, a Hasidic rabbi, points out the following.  He says, “A person can be faint and weary because of the different afflictions and fasts he imposes upon himself, and nevertheless not fear God.”

What we must remember, (when we remember to blot out Amalek), is exactly this. 

We must always have respect for God and God’s will.  And never become so sure of ourselves that we know the answers behind what God wants.  We must always be a little humble and a little careful, and not let ourselves become too impressed with our own goodness. 

As the rabbis point out, Im lamadta Torah harbeh, al tachazek tovah l’atzmecha, ki l’chach notzarta.  “If you’ve learned much Torah, don’t claim credit for yourself, because you were created for this purpose.”

Constantly search yourself and your actions so that you will be able to blot out any trace of Amalek’s nature within yourself and be wholly dedicated to the service of God.

A Civil Blessing - Parshat Mishpatim

Good civic-minded citizens, those who think about the community and not just themselves, who try to marry past, present, and future considerations together, who have big dreams but don’t allow them to be the enemies of what is realistic to accomplish, – our country, our community, our congregation, could use more people like that.

And people like this are who our parshah, Mishpatim, has in mind when it says (Exodus 22:27): Elohim lo t’kalel v’nasi v’amcha lo ta-or.   “You shall not revile a Judge, nor shall you curse a leader among your people.”

How does this apply?  Let us take it apart and see.

Last week we read the Ten Commandments, this week we encounter what could be called the “civil laws” of the Torah – yet I contend that it is in our civil laws that we measure just how much God’s presence is reflected in our lives because such laws govern how we treat each other and, how we treat the least powerful among us.  

Caring for others – their physical, educational, emotional and spiritual needs – that is what this whole portion is about – how to do that properly.

This rule then, about not cursing or reviling those who take on active roles in the community (and let us recall that most religious leaders in the Judaism of old were professionals in some other field and “volunteered” for their religious duties) is an extra reminder that the one serving the community is at particular risk for attack by others, and so the comment here is an extra warning – don’t curse anyone, especially those who get involved.  I believe this is a danger in the America of today in which we are so polarized, good-hearted people may be wary to get involved and that is a sad thing to be sure.  

What’s more, as some of you may have noticed about this verse, it says, Elohim lo t’kalel, literally it, “God… you shall not curse…”  However, in this case, as happens elsewhere, we Jews read it not referring to God, but human judges (for example Rashi, who says, l’kil’lat dayan) – who are sometimes called by the same word.

Thus, our final lesson is the most important – the one who gets involved, the leader, the judge, the volunteer, shares a role – as our verse suggests, with God.  When you volunteer, get involved, do something for others in the country, community or congregation, then you are acting as God’s agent in the world – causing miracles and bringing God’s will to be.

Someone shared with me a quote attributed to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.  It touches on what we are discussing and with it I’d like to close: “If you see what needs to be repaired and how to repair it, then you have found a piece of the world that God has left for you to complete.  But if you only see what is wrong and how ugly it is, then it is yourself that needs repair.”

Bless the World Around You - The Holiday of Tu b'Shevat

North Shore Jewish Center holds a free Tu b’Shevat Seder, Tuesday, Jan. 30^th, 6:30-8pm.  Call 631-928-3737 or email rabbi.benson@nsjc.org to RSVP or for more information.  

If civil calendar counted by Presidential elections, what month would this be?  How about from the start of school?  How about Independence Day?  Even in our secular calendar, there are many anniversary dates, or cyclical events that mark the beginnings for things in our daily lives.

Tu b’Shevat - the “Tu” represents the letters Tet and Vav which have the value of 9 and 6 and thus make the 15^th of the month of Shevat - is New Year for Trees – Arbor Day on Jewish calendar.   This day falls on this coming Tuesday night and Wednesday.  It is one of four “new year’s” on the Jewish calendar (along with Rosh Hashanah from which we count new years on the Jewish calendar, the month of Nissan when the counting of the monthly cycle begins, and Ellul which was used for counting animal tithes). 

Origins: 

Bible – the offering of tithes from fruit trees in land of Israel, had to be done yearly – but when did you count that year?  This date, which is about when fruit trees would start to blossom governs how you count the “age” of your tree and towards the tithe-portion of which year you count its fruit.

It is also understood by Rabbis to be the day of Judgment for trees (whether they will grow well, etc) and trees are compared to people in the Bible – so the day is another day on which we can reflect on God’s judgment of us as well (like a mini-Rosh Hashanah).

Practices: 

Eat fruits from trees, especially of types native to Israel.  It is day to celebrate – many make a seder with fruits to eat and special prayers to say about each of them.  At least, add the blessing – borei pri ha-etz when you eat fruit (from the tree), and if it has been more than a month since you ate any of them, say she-cheyanu before you do, so you can celebrate the holiday.

It has no restrictions except that outward signs of mourning (like some of the prayers for mourning in the services) would be omitted. 

Many make a point of planting trees or other greenery as part of the celebration.  And many see it as a day of stewardship and advocacy for our natural resources and the environment.  

Conclusion:

Even though it is a day of judgment, we are to be happy, rejoicing in the fact that there is a Judge and there are Rules and there is Meaning – in the world in which we live.

My best wishes to you for all for a Shabbat Shalom and a Happy Tu b’Shevat!

Parshat Bo - Lessons in the Dark

Bo kicks off with 8^th plague – locusts.  Then what? 9^th is DARKNESS.  The joke goes that the plagues were only things Jews would think bad – lots of people would love all you can eat frogs legs and for a lot of people, even locusts is a tasty treat.  So what’s up with Darkness?  What was so bad about it?

The Midrash tells us God sent the darkness so that Jews who had thoroughly assimilated and entered Egyptian society, who would never leave Egypt if given the chance, might die and be given funerals by the Egyptians without them seeing -lest they come to believe that the Plagues were no big deal since it might appear the Jews were being struck down by them as well.

Today we might ask ourselves, what transgressions are there that are so bad for a Jew to commit that she or he is beyond the community, beyond saving?  Think about that. 

To me, the Midrash suggests an answer.  Even for the “bad Jews” there was consideration that their deaths not be “public” and that furthermore, they were given “proper” funerals by the community. 

My thinking is that for us today, as it was then, it is ethical behavior more than anything else that ties us together, makes us proud of each other, and scandalizes us when we hear how some fellow Jew has acted immorally. 

We don’t want others to “take it out on us” or apply the mistakes of one to the whole community – just as in the story, but more than that, we don’t want to be “that guy” who does the bad things – we want to be the ones helping, bringing light, as it were.

Let us learn this lesson “hidden in the darkness” of this week’s parshah!

Vayiggash, Everything for a Reason

Parshat Vayiggash, "Everything for a Reason" - Joseph's journey has been a very difficult one, with a great deal of suffering for him and many others.  Finally, in this week, Jacob and all his family come to Egypt, thus fulfilling God's words to Abraham, "Know that your offspring will be strangers in a foreign land." (Gen. 15:13)

If God's plan was to get everyone down to Egypt anyway, why go through all the challenges and suffering?

This question was asked by Rabbi K

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​in his Esh Kodsh, "Holy Fire" a collection of commentary on the Torah he wrote while in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust.  

He says, 

nothing can ever be revealed if it does not entail replacing something which already exists. 

​Or it could be said, improving oneself or anything else means replacing or changing the level you were at to begin with.  Sometimes, this may involve great difficulty.  Esh Kodesh gives several examples including: giving birth, the creation of the world, and the giving of the Torah, which he adds to the story of Joseph.

​This answer should not be confused with the simple notion, "everything happens for a reason."  It is not only saying that.  ​It speaks to those times when we can see, after our challenges and difficulties, that the changed circumstances in which we find ourselves can also contain something valuable.  If we remain imprisoned by grievances and regrets for what is no more, we cannot, like Joseph, achieve God's plan.  It is only, Esh Kodesh is telling us, when, we are able to see there is still meaning in our lives after even difficult changes, that we can really say what has happened has happened for a reason.  Like the Esh Kodesh, like Joseph, this is not something another person can decide for you, you must learn it for yourself.

​Shabbat Shalom!​

Careful Split-Second Thinking, Parshat Mikketz

Parshat Mikketz, “Careful Split-Thinking” - The essence of charitzut, decisiveness, is carrying through on a decision made while considering the needs of others, in all the various ways that can be meant.  Our deliberations and our follow-through on a decision must include consideration of the others to be impacted, and ideally, should include ways in which we lift up their burdens at the same time as we act in accordance with the best we have the potential to be.

We see perhaps the finest example of this in Joseph's response to his brothers’ appearance before him in this parshah.  Encapsulated in the verse, 'vayaker Yosef et echav v'hem lo hikiruhu' - 'Joseph recognized his brothers but they didn't recognize him' is the birth of Joseph's decision as to how to act towards his brothers.

We can posit that years of refining and improving his character, years of imagining all the ways in which he might deal with such an encounter, years of deliberating, as it were, resulted in Joseph's being able, in that instance, to set upon a plan by which he might act, over time, to lift up his brothers' burden of guilt and help them on the path to teshuvah, and finally to the ultimate redemption for the Jewish People as well.

And we see the fruits of this decision on Joseph's part when he finally does reveal himself and says, 'ki l'michyah sh'lachani Elohim lifneichem', 'for to save life did God send me before you,'  Joseph's decision is shown to have no enmity and no vengeance to it, but only a spirit of true concern and understanding for his family and how to help them.

May we all grow to be as able as Joseph was, to maintain ourselves and our way of thinking and being, so that, seemingly instantly, we can make the decisions that help and lift up others, and in so doing, achieve God's purpose for our lives and the world as well.

Sermon on Jerusalem Decision

Statement of the Rabbinical Assembly on Jerusalem Decision:   

Thursday December 7, 2017

The Rabbinical Assembly, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the entire worldwide Masorti/Conservative Movement listed below, issued the following statement today following President Trump’s announcement that the United States will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and take initial steps to relocate the American diplomatic mission in Israel to Jerusalem:

Jerusalem is Judaism’s holiest city and the capital of the state of Israel, as the Conservative movement has long maintained in resolutions and public statements. We are pleased, at the President's initiative, that the United States government will now recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and begin the process of moving the American diplomatic mission there from Tel Aviv.

The status of Jerusalem is a matter to be settled in direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. But in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and planning to move the American embassy to a location under uncontested Israeli sovereignty, the U.S. government acknowledges the age-old connection that Israel and the Jewish people maintain with the holy city.

We urge the U.S., Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the international community to take the bold steps needed to advance a two-state solution and a regional accord between Israel and its neighbors. Now more than ever, Israelis and Palestinians deserve a just and durable peace that protects the security of Israelis and grants to Palestinians an independent state in which to realize their national aspirations.

Rabbinical Assembly
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
Cantors Assembly
Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs
Jewish Educators Assembly
Jewish Theological Seminary
Masorti Foundation
Masorti Israel
Masorti Olami 
Mercaz Olami
North American Association of Synagogue Executives
Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano  
Women’s League for Conservative Judaism 

The single most important thing to know and to build your thoughts on the week’s news around is the following.  Do you believe Jerusalem is the capital of Israel?  Or more precisely, had it ever really crossed your mind that Jerusalem wasn’t the capital of Israel?  Even if you were aware of the details of the situation prior to today – if you were going to Israel, what’s in your mind about what Jerusalem is vs. what Tel Aviv is?  And when you were in Jerusalem, what was the meaning of seeing the Knesset building, the Supreme Court building, the President’s residence or walking down the street in front of the Prime Minister’s house?  Were you not in the capital city of the country? 

And so if you were, if you knew that already, as I did, my first statement is what difference did it make to you that “officially” the US did not, prior to Wednesday, acknowledge what you already knew and had experienced?  (Although technically, it has been US law since 1995 that an “undivided” Jerusalem should be considered capital of Israel, and Trump, notably, didn’t even say that.) 

See for me, as much as I love the United States, it is my country, and it almost feels preposterous to have declare that out loud as if there were any doubt, I don’t need Trump or anyone else to tell me what is right and correct, and in this case, it is that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and the heart of the Jewish people.  In much the same way as when the Pope endorses the position Jerusalem should be a corpus separatum, an international city, or when Iran declares that Jerusalem is not the capital because there shouldn’t even be a State of Israel at all – not only do those statements, unlike what the US said on Wednesday, not only do such statements completely ignore the reality of what is on the ground, but more, they are, more than even being wrong, they are irrelevant.

This is the lesson of our parshah this morning, when we are told, after all that Joseph has endured, the pit, servitude, foreign lands, כִּ֥י יְהוָ֖ה אִתּ֑וֹ וְכֹל֙ אֲשֶׁר־ה֣וּא עֹשֶׂ֔ה יְהוָ֖ה מַצְלִ֥יחַ בְּיָדֽוֹ׃ “Lord was with him, and the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands.”  We Jews have our purpose and calling in life and it is not defined by others, who, more often than not in history and even in the world today, would just as soon see us fail as help us anyway.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I don’t mean that any of these statements, Trump’s, the Pope’s, the Ayatollah’s, are completely “irrelevant,” of course they all matter a tremendously as their words and opinions shape the world in which we live.  So too, do the words of fellow Conservative rabbis, of many Jews I know, of the Reform Movement, that have expressed varying levels of concern or disagreement or suspicion about this policy endorsement, they all shape the world we live in and must be taken seriously as part of our reality when dealing with this issue.  Just as the calls of Palestinian Arabs to have autonomy in a land of their own must also too factor into how we measure reality and be taken seriously. 

But consider the following.  For me, my formative development came in the 1990s.  The world and the Judaism of that period still linger in my mind as a sort of “baseline.”  What synagogue was like then – Carlebach music was coming into vogue, the sense was Judaism and Conservative Judaism were doing okay generally, and the spirit in the country was similar.  Sure, there were challenges.  And the looming question of what was then called “Middle East Peace” was one of them. 

But in the 20 years since that era, the world has changed tremendously, as I don’t need to tell you.  The country no longer feels as optimistic and hopeful.  Conservative Judaism certainly isn’t anymore.  A real and serious question about the place of even the melodies let-alone the reputation of Shlomo Carlebach is rightfully being had given his misdeeds.  

…And, the question of “Middle East Peace,” and whether that statement can rightfully even be applied to the Israel-Palestinians question, when Iraq is torn apart by war, when Shiites and Christians are murdered in Egypt, when Syria is torn apart by war and genocide, when Yemen is torn apart by war and genocide, when not only countries like Egypt and Jordan but Saudi Arabia have increasingly decent relations with Israel, you must question whether you, and the news you consume, and the opinions that you’ve had are as equally outdated as the Palm Pilot I also finally got in about 2000.   (Incidentally, the notion that “Evangelicals” shape much of the platform and beliefs of political right in this country stems from this period too, but is, like the rest equally outdated.)

For the world in which we live, has a very different Middle East, and thus the decision the Congress took back in the 1990s and that was too controversial for any president to act on until now, regardless of party, doesn’t seem so challenging anymore when one considers the threats felt by ISIS and Iran for much of the Sunni, Arab, and Turkish worlds, the Palestinian-Israeli Question is increasingly becoming an unnecessary side-show.  While certainly no Arab or Muslim world leader has, to my knowledge, come out endorsing the decision, equally noteworthy is it that most of the Arab countries that do deal on some level with Israel seem as if they are going to continue to do so, and while there have certainly been protests and even loss of life, the called for Days of Rage do not, as of yet anyway, seem to be as violent and virulent as one might have expected  were this decision as meaningfully significant as some would claim it to be.  Also note, most of the protests have not been calls of “We object to the American Embassy being in Jerusalem” but rather, “free, free, Palestine” or similar chants – which seem to be protesting some issue different from, more fundamental than, what Trump said on Wednesday…

What’s more, Trump’s statement, which, I think it is fair to say without being partisan, is typically negotiable as his statements seem to be, intentionally or not, good or bad or otherwise.  It sounds quite strong, quite definitive, quite a break with convention, but it is none of those things.  As I’ve already said, it really only endorses the 1995 act of Congress regarding Jerusalem, so it’s not even his idea really.  It is short of specifics, I suspect he hadn’t consulted the Iriya to ask exactly where the municipality borders are.  It notably doesn’t refer to “a unified Jerusalem” which even if it did, it still more than allows for some piece or corner of eastern Jerusalem to eventually be labeled the capital of a Palestinian state.  Even the notion of “moving” or “building” an embassy in Jerusalem is, at least to me, questionable as to what that will really entail, as the consulate in Jerusalem that’s down the street from Super-Sal, really could just have a different sign put on the front for all that matters.  Therefore, the statement, apart from not shaping Jewish beliefs in the slightest, doesn’t even do that much, I think, to change American ones. 

We say in Psalm 122:6:  אֲלוּ שְׁלֹ֣ום יְרוּשָׁלִָ֑ם יִ֝שְׁלָ֗יוּ אֹהֲבָֽיִךְ׃  “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love you.”

I doubt you all feel the same as I do, exactly, on this subject.  You may mostly agree, you may think I’m an idiot.  I respect that and welcome it.  For that verse is really the guiding sentiment here.  We all, I suspect, love Jerusalem dearly.  And increasingly this topic makes me sad, that Jerusalem, God’s City of Peace, should be a source of more strife and discord, particularly among those who love it.  That is really the way I hope you’ll take these words I’ve shared today, as a chance for us to get together as Lovers of Jerusalem and reflect on what it should mean and what form our love should take, so that it and all of us, should Prosper.

Shabbat Shalom!