Suggestions for getting ready to fast on Yom Kippur

[This is an excerpt from an article on the subject from the Chabad website]

The day before...

• Hydrate! Most of the unpleasantness associated with a fast does not come from lack of food, but rather, lack of fluid. The solution is to drink as much water as possible before the fast. Although you may feel you’re about to float off, it will be worth it by the time the fast is well underway. Beware of beer or other alcoholic beverages; they will only dehydrate you. Water or diluted orange juices are the safest options.
• Don't over-stuff yourself before the fast. Many people seem to think that eating a lot the day before will compensate for not eating on the fast day. This will actually make you hungrier. Have you ever noticed how much hungrier you are the morning after a large meal...?2 Eat a proper meal that emphasizes carbohydrates, some protein and foods high in oils and fats since they delay the emptying of the stomach, thus prolonging the effects of your pre-fast meal. Consuming carbohydrates (i.e. potatoes, pasta) will be very effective as they bond with water that your body will make use of during the fast.
• Avoid salty or spicy foods. Salt causes a person to feel thirsty despite having a "normal" amount of water, because extra water is required to absorb the extra salt. For this reason you should refrain from processed foods containing lots of salt such as pickles or cold cuts. Most tomato sauces, canned fish and smoked fish should also be avoided.
• Salads and other high fiber foods that are so important in one's normal diet should be de-emphasized for the pre-fast meal since they travel quickly through the digestive system. Fruit, despite its high fiber content, is worthwhile since it carries a lot of water in a "time-release" form.

(from Chabad website article at http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/1638389/jewish/Tips-for-an-Easier-Fast.htm )

 צום קל/ May you have an easy fast!

Two articles from Reform websites in honor of Labor Day Weekend

 http://blogs.rj.org/blog/2012/08/31/ldor-vdor-champion-the-poor-and-needy/

http://blogs.rj.org/rac/2012/08/29/the-three-commandments-does-number-two-still-apply/ 

Happy Labor Day Weekend and Shabbat Shalom!

Reform Movement response to shooting in Aurora, Colorado

Here is a link to a statement by Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism. 

http://rac.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=22845 

Coping with Rage

Dvar Torah for Shabbat Chukkat (Num. 19:1 – 22:1) delivered on Friday evening 6/29/12

As many of you know, I’ve been playing viola since I was a kid, since I was 12 years old to be exact. 

In general, I love playing viola and it provides a great outlet for me.  But I have to admit that there have been times that that wasn’t the case. In particular, I remember an incident that occurred when I was in High School and I was selected to participate in a regional festival orchestra.  One of the pieces we were going to play was a suite from the composer Virgil Thomson’s incidental music to the film “The River.”   For festival orchestras like this we would get the music a couple of months in advance and then be expected to learn it by the time we got to the week of the concert, when, typically, we’d rehearse all day for a day or two and then perform. 

So, anyway, I was home one afternoon trying to learn the viola part, and it was really difficult for me, and I got increasingly frustrated about just not being able to get it “under my fingers.”  At a certain point, I got so upset that, in a fit of rage, I smashed my viola bow against the music stand and broke it in two.

I was so embarrassed about what I had done.  And, to make matters worse, this was a school instrument that belonged to my High School music department.  (I didn’t own a viola of my own until my parents bought me one when I was in 12^th grade).  But I brought the broken bow in to my High School orchestra director, Mr. Biava, and he was very kind and understanding.  I got a new bow to use – and I don’t think he ever even made me or my parents pay for the broken bow.  

In this week’s Torah portion, Moses doesn’t get off so easy when he has his own fit of anger.  It’s the 40^th year of the wandering in the wilderness, Moses’ beloved sister Miriam has just died, and the people are faced with drought.   Trying times for a leader who must have been pretty burned out after all those years! 

We pick up the story at Numbers 20:2:

2 The community was without water, and they joined against Moses and Aaron. 3 The people quarreled with Moses, saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished at the instance of the Lord! 4 Why have you brought the Lord's congregation into this wilderness for us and our beasts to die there? 5 Why did you make us leave Egypt to bring us to this wretched place, a place with no grain or figs or vines or pomegranates? There is not even water to drink!" 6 Moses and Aaron came away from the congregation to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces. The Presence of the Lord appeared to them, 7 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 "You and your brother Aaron take the rod and assemble the community, and before their very eyes order the rock to yield its water. Thus you shall produce water for them from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their beasts." 9 Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He had commanded him. 10 Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation in front of the rock; and he said to them, "Listen, you rebels, shall we get water for you out of this rock?" 11 And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Out came copious water, and the community and their beasts drank. 12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them." 13 Those are the Waters of Merivah—meaning that the Israelites quarreled with the Lord— and through which He affirmed His sanctity.

This incident of “Mey Merivah”/ “The Waters of Merivah", i.e., “the Waters of Strife” is referenced in Psalm 95, the first of the Kabbalat Shabbat psalms that we traditionally read on Friday evening.  However, the Reform siddur Mishkan Tefillah only excerpts the first seven verses of Psalm 95.  I guess the thinking of the editors of our siddur was that they didn’t want to bum us out with the rest of the psalm.  For the remaining verses of Psalm 95, which are included in the various Reconstructionist, Conservative and Orthodox siddurim conclude as follows: 

ח אַל-תַּקְשׁוּ לְבַבְכֶם, כִּמְרִיבָה; כְּיוֹם מַסָּה, בַּמִּדְבָּר.	8 'Harden not your hearts, as at Merivah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness;
ט אֲשֶׁר נִסּוּנִי, אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם: בְּחָנוּנִי, גַּם-רָאוּ פָעֳלִי.	9 when your ancestors tried Me.  They tested Me, even though they had seen My work.
י אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה, אָקוּט בְּדוֹר-- וָאֹמַר, עַם תֹּעֵי לֵבָב הֵם; וְהֵם, לֹא-יָדְעוּ דְרָכָי.	10 For forty years was I wearied with that generation, and said: It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known My ways;
יא אֲשֶׁר-נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי בְאַפִּי; אִם-יְבֹאוּן, אֶל-מְנוּחָתִי.	11 Then I swore in My anger,that they should not enter into My resting place.'

The medieval commentators debate amongst themselves about the nature of Moses’ sin at the waters of Merivah that leads God to decree that Moses, like his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron in this week’s Torah portion, would die before reaching the promised land.

But Maimonides’ explanation is the one that resonates most with me.  He says, in his commentary “Shemoneh Perakim” that Moses had profaned the name of God through the sin of anger.  (See Shemoneh Perakim 4:5.

For Maimonides the anger was expressed in Moses exclamation  “Shimu na hamorim!”/ "Listen, you rebels, shall we get water for you out of this rock?" 

But for me it’s that striking of the rock that reminds me of the anger I felt when I struck my viola bow against the music stand all those years ago.

I’ve certainly learned in the years since then that there are better, more effective and, indeed, more moral ways to deal with anger and frustration --- For me that includes journaling, going for a run, taking some deep breaths, talking things over with a loving friend or family member… and I’m sure each of you have your own techniques. 

In Tractate Eruvin, page 65b in the Babylonian Talmud, an insightful (and alliterative) teaching can be found:  We learn there:

א"ר אילעאי בשלשה דברים אדם ניכר בכוסו ובכיסו ובכעסו

Rabbi Ela’I said: A person[’s character] is known through three things:

 “kiso” (his or her “pocket”) – in other words, by how generous we are when it comes to matters of tzedakah.

“Koso” (one’s “cup”) – in other words, by how responsible and moderate we are in our drinking habits, and by extension, how moderate and responsible with respect to all of our drives

--- and –

“Ka’aso” -  One’s anger:  In other words, how we channel and process our moments of rage or frustration so that we keep from hurting others or setting a bad example.

May this Shabbat be a time when we can find – shalom – peace, fulfillment and wholeness ---  a time when any anger or frustration we might be dealing with may be, at least temporarily, defused through the holiness of this weekly foretaste of the world to come.

And may the lessons and the tools of our heritage help us to maintain equanimity and grace throughout the rest of the week and, indeed, throughout our lives.

Shabbat shalom.

© Rabbi David Steinberg 5772/2012

When the Earth Gives Way

Thoughts on Korach (5772)
(Num. 16:1 – 18:29)
Dvar Torah given on Friday evening 6/22/12   

I have to admit that, having seen the photo of that car that fell into the earth on Skyline Drive, and hearing of all the other dramatic effects of  Wednesday’s flooding  – it gave me pause to read in this week’s Torah portion at Numbers 16: 32-34 – 

לב וַתִּפְתַּח הָאָרֶץ אֶת-פִּיהָ, וַתִּבְלַע אֹתָם וְאֶת-בָּתֵּיהֶם, וְאֵת כָּל-הָאָדָם אֲשֶׁר לְקֹרַח, וְאֵת כָּל-הָרְכוּשׁ.	32 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the people who were with Korach, and all their goods.
לג וַיֵּרְדוּ הֵם וְכָל-אֲשֶׁר לָהֶם, חַיִּים--שְׁאֹלָה; וַתְּכַס עֲלֵיהֶם הָאָרֶץ, וַיֹּאבְדוּ מִתּוֹךְ הַקָּהָל.	33 So they went down, they and all they had, alive to She’ol; and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the assembly.
לד וְכָל-יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֲשֶׁר סְבִיבֹתֵיהֶם--נָסוּ לְקֹלָם: כִּי אָמְרוּ, פֶּן-תִּבְלָעֵנוּ הָאָרֶץ.	34 And all Israel who were round about them fled at the cry of them; for they said: 'Lest the earth swallow us up.'

I don’t expect any of use gathered here this evening see the events of this week as any sort of divine judgment against anyone of us or our neighbors who experienced property damage in the flooding. 

Rather, we are grateful that despite the power of nature, we have escaped worse harm.  And we take comfort in the caring of friends and family near and far who have checked in with and offered their help.

No doubt --- as with other Biblical accounts where sinful behavior unrelated to the environmental lead to environmental disasters --- our sacred stories that are collected into the Tanakh reflect the natural human awe at the forces of nature.  From a religious perspective, we can experience the awe and the majesty of God’s universe, and we can nurture our spirits through coming together to pray, without having to check our modern, scientific understandings at the door. 

And yet, it’s times like these when we are particularly aware of the precariousness of life.  And it’s times like these when we are particularly aware of how much we rely on our loved ones who accompany us through the journey of life.

We’ve been doing a monthly group aliyah for wedding anniversaries for half a year now.  We celebrate these loving, committed relationships – both as a way of expressing gratitude and as a way of expressing our support for those who are in them.  And we are taking these values with us outside the walls of our Temple as well.

Yesterday evening, several of us went over to the offices of Duluth United for All Families to assist in their phone bank work.  Some of us made calls.  Others prepared and brought dinner for the callers.  This was a way for us, as individuals and as representatives of Temple Israel, to follow up on our congregation’s commitment to work towards the defeat of the so-called Minnesota Marriage Amendment which seeks to deny the freedom to marry to same-sex couples in our state.

Please remember to show up to vote in November, and to vote “NO” when you are asked whether the Minnesota State Constitution should be amended to deny legal recognition in Minnesota to same-sex couples who wish to marry or who, like my own partner Peter and I, are already married under the laws of other jurisdictions that do not discriminate as Minnesota does.  

I just learned the other day, that my colleague Rabbi Michael Latz of Shir Tikvah congregation in Minneapolis recently married his partner Michael in Canada.  Let’s work to defeat this amendment to help hasten the day when Michael and Michael can be treated equally in Minnesota.  And I just read today that former Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne were celebrating at the legally-recognized wedding of their daughter Mary and Mary’s partner Heather in Washington, D.C.  Why shouldn’t Mary and Heather’s marriage continue to be protected should they ever decide to move to Minnesota?

But back to this week’s parasha:  In the handout that you received with your prayer book this evening,  you’ll see I’ve copied out there a story from the Talmud found in Massechet Sanhedrin.  It’s a story about On Ben Pellet and about how important his marriage was. Of course, the story probably stems straight from the imagination of the sages of the Talmud. But it’s instructive nonetheless.  What prompted the appearance of this story?  What prompts it is the curious aspect of our parasha that On Ben Pellet is named as one of the conspirators at the beginning of the story (Num. 16:1) – but never mentioned again.  In the full parasha of Korach, we hear about the course of the rebellion and about the fates that befall Korach and Datan and Aviram, but no mention of On Ben Pellet other than the single mention in verse 1.   What happened to him?

And so we learn:

ואון שישב באנינות פלת שנעשו לו פלאות ...

 [He was called] “On” [the Hebrew word for “lamentation”] because he sat in “oninut” /lamentations.  “Pelet” [a variant of the Hebrew  word “Pele” – “wonder”] because “pela’ot”/wonders were done for him. […]

  אמר רב און בן פלת אשתו הצילתו ...

 Rav Said:  On Ben Pelet – His wife rescued him. She said to him: 'What does it matter to you? Whether the one [Moses] remains master or the other [Korach] becomes master, you are just the student.' He replied, 'But what can I do? I have taken part in their counsel, and they have sworn me [to be] with them.' She said, 'I know that they are all a holy community, as it is written, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them (Num. 16:3). She proceeded, 'Sit here, and I will rescue you.' She gave him wine to drink, intoxicated him and laid him down within [the tent]. Then she sat down at the entrance thereto and loosened her hair. Whoever came [to summon him] saw her and retreated.

(Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin, pages 109b – 110a)

Well, the particular social circumstances behind that story are rather behind the times.  But what’s striking is the simple recognition that one of the blessings of marriage is having someone we can turn to when we are distressed or upset.  And having someone who can help us return to our better selves – while staying committed to us even when we turn out not to be perfect.

Marriage is not always a picnic in the park – neither for opposite sex couples nor for same-sex couples.  But we always pray that the joys will outweigh the challenges – and that not only our friends and relatives – but also our employers and our governments – will treat us fairly and treat us as equals.

So, Happy Anniversary to all our June anniversaries, and Mazal tov to Mary Cheney and Heather Poe, and kudos to Mrs. On ben Pellet.

Shabbat shalom.

(c) Rabbi David Steinberg, 5772/2012

Finding Our Way Back

[Dvar Torah delivered on 6/8/12]

In Numbers 9: 6-14, we read: 6 But there were some people who were ritually impure from proximity to a corpse, so that they were not been able to make the Passover [offering] on that day; and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.

7 Those people said to him: “We are ritually impure from proximity to a corpse. Why should we be kept back, so as not to offer Adonai’s offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?”

8 Moses said to them: “Stand by that I may hear what Adonai will command for you.”

9 And Adonai  spoke to Moses, saying:

10  “Speak to the Israelites, saying:  When any of you or your generations will be ritually impure  from proximity to a corpse,  or on a far journey, any such person shall still [be able to] make the Passover [offering] for Adonai.

11 In the second month on the fourteenth day at dusk they shall keep it; they shall eat it with matzah and bitter herbs.

12 They shall not leave any of it until morning, nor shall they break any bone of it; according to all the statute of the Passover [offering] shall they do it.

13 But the person who is ritually pure, and is not on a journey, yet fails to make the Passover [offering]  --  that soul shall be cut off from her people; because he did not offer Adonai’s offering at its appointed time --- that person shall bear his [or her] sin.

14 And if a stranger shall reside among you, and would make the Passover [offering] to Adonai ---  according to the statute of the Passover [offering], and according to its ordinance, so shall he [or she] do;  one statute shall there be for you --- both for the stranger and for the citizen of the land.”

--------------------------------

The above passage from Parshat Beha’alotekha that we find at Numbers 9: 6-14 is one that I find particularly meaningful.  And I’ve been spinning my wheels the past several days trying to figure out how best to convey to you why it resonates with me so much. 

I guess what strikes me about the law of “Pesach Sheni”/ “Second Passover” is how the Torah here is teaching us about values that I hold so dear ---- about inclusivity, about giving people the benefit of the doubt, about being patient, about being creative..

How do we uncover all of these themes in the text before us?  Well, first of all, we must remember that when we say “Torah” we don’t mean just the words of the Five Books of Moses:  We also mean the rabbinic, medieval, modern and contemporary commentaries that have grown up around them.  And we also mean the evidence of our individual lives that we bring to the text.

In this week’s parasha, we find ourselves camped at the foot of Mount Sinai, where we’ve been hanging out for almost a year, and finally we’re ready to move onwards from this place of Revelation towards the promised land.  But first, we have a new law that seems to be given not at God’s initiative like all the others, but rather as God’s response to the initiative of a few marginalized yet chutzpadik individuals:

It’s around the time of the first anniversary of that first Passover that had been observed in Egypt on the last night before the Exodus.  Now, a year later, Moses has just reminded us (in Numbers 9: 1-4) that it’s time to celebrate Passover again. 

How exciting to be able to celebrate Passover away from the repression of our former taskmasters. 

Ever since then, Passover has remained such a powerful observance.  Why is Passover so powerful?  Because it symbolizes that God is not ONLY the God of the cyclical laws of nature – but that God is ALSO the passionate champion of the downtrodden who intervenes in history on the side of those seeking liberation from oppression. 

Or, for those of us with a more naturalistic approach to faith, Passover symbolizes the power of the human yearning to be free --- and the inevitability that oppressors will be defeated when people of good will join together in pursuit of justice.

To put it another way – Passover – in its aspect of z’man cheyruteinu,  the season of our freedom – teaches us that it’s wrong to think [to quote Ecclesiastes] that “There is nothing new under the sun”  (Ecclesiastes 1:9b).  Rather --- there is progress in the course of history – or – [to quote Dan Savage’s popular youtube campaign:]   “It gets better.”

In our Torah portion, we find a group of individuals who could not participate in the celebration of Passover with the rest of the Israelites on that first anniversary of the Exodus.  At that time, the main ritual component of Passover was the offering of the Korban Pesach, the Passover sacrificial offering – a lamb which after being slaughtered was to be shared among all the people of one’s household, eaten together with matzah and bitter herbs, with no bone of it broken, and with none of it left over by morning. 

In modern Passove seders, the shank bone on the seder plate, which we no longer eat since the destruction of the Second Temple, is placed as a reminder of the Korban Pesach.  And the eating of the Afikomen after the main meal also functions as a substitution for the eating of the Passover offering in ancient times.

But back in the times that the Korban Pesach (Passover Offering) was carried out, the rule, as set forth in the Torah, was that one needed to be in a state of ritual purity in order to take part.  In particular, if one had been in proximity of a human corpse, one could not make the Korban Pesach until returning to a state of ritual purity.   

So, anyway, these individuals come forth and complain --- They had been unable to take part in that powerful Passover ritual at its appointed time  -- but they still want to be able to do so now. 

Moses considers their plight and is granted a new revelation from God that they can do so at dusk exactly one month after the official date for Passover.   And that, henceforth, this Second Passover [on the 14^th of Sivan] will be an opportunity available not just for anyone who had been ritually impure on the official date of Passover, but also for anyone who had been בדרך רחקה  (“on a far journey”) at that time – and that this same opportunity will be available to both native born citizen and sojourning stranger alike.

What lessons do we draw from this?

First of all, we draw inspiration from the fact that the Torah changes the legal definition of Passover to enable more people to be able to participate in it.  [How many other legal institutions can we think of that need similar updating?]

Second, we note that the Torah takes seriously the concerns of the people who have been shut out from participating in Passover.  It doesn’t berate them for not having gotten themselves ready for Passover on time.  It doesn’t presume to judge the circumstances that led to their situation.  Indeed, the midrashic tradition says that the people who were ritually impure when Passover time came around were in that state because they had been engaged at the time in another mitzvah – According to one view in the Talmud, they had been attending to the coffin of Joseph, who we may recall had asked that his bones be taken from Egypt back to Eretz Yisra’el when the Exodus would finally come.     

We too, should be careful not to make judgments about anyone else’s ritual observance.  For all we know, someone who is not taking part in a particular observance along with the rest of us might be busy doing another mitzvah that could be of equal importance.

Finally, there is an important lesson to be learned from the Torah’s addition of the phrase בדרך רחקה  (“on a far journey”).  The plain meaning of that phrase is that a person was physically far enough away from the Tabernacle (or in later eras far enough away from the Temple in Jerusalem) that they couldn’t get there in time to do the Passover offering at its appointed time.  But the Torah scribes known as the Masoretes passed on to us a tradition that we place a special dot on top of the letter hey in the word “rechokah” (“far”). 

Rashi says that this special signal tells us that being on a “far journey” doesn’t literally have to refer to a huge physical distance.  He says that the description could apply even to someone standing right outside the threshold of the Temple courtyard (Rashi on Num. 9:10).  Rabbi Harold Kushner, in his commentary to this verse in the “Etz Hayim Torah Commentary” cites the Jerusalem Talmud (JT Pes. 9:2) to teach that the phrase “far journey” can include a person “who is spiritually distant from God and the Jewish people” and that “[s]uch a person need not feel permanently exiled.”  (“D’rash Commentary” on Num. 9:10, Etz Hayyim Torah Commentary, p. 820).

All of us at one time or another may feel spiritually or emotionally distant from our Jewish heritage.  But the teaching of Pesach Sheni / “Second Passover” reminds us that, no matter what derekh rechokah, no matter what far off journey, we may be on -- emotionally or geographically ---  there is always the opportunity to reconnect with our people and with our people’s highest ideals. 

The eternal message of Passover – of spiritual and political liberation – remains the story of each and every one of us and of all humanity.

Shabbat Shalom

© Rabbi David Steinberg (Sivan 5772/ June 2012)

Shavuot in Israel

As we get ready for the arrival of Shavuot this Saturday evening, I thought readers of this blog might find the following article interesting.  It describes current practices around Shavuot in Israel, especially among the secular and religiously liberal sectors of society there. 

http://blogs.rj.org/blog/2012/05/23/galilee-diary-hearing-torah/ 

I hope to see many of you at our Temple Israel Shavuot observances this Saturday evneing at 7:30 p.m.

Chag Same'ach,

Rabbi David

All the Community

(Dvar Torah delivered Friday evening 5/4/12 - Shabbat Acharei Mot - Kedoshim)

I still receive in the mail each month the bulletin from Temple Beth Israel, in Plattsburgh, New York, where I served as rabbi from 1999 to 2005.  In this month’s article from Temple Beth Israel’s current president Larry Soroka, Larry questions the fact that they have American and Israeli flags on the bima of their sanctuary. 

In my last position before coming to Duluth, at Ohavi Zedek Synagogue in Burlington, Vermont, there were no flags in the sanctuary and it would have been very controversial to introduce them there.

Here at Temple Israel, I’m personally very happy that we have the American and Israeli flags on our bima.  To my mind, the presence of the Israeli flag on our bima reminds us that, as Jews, we are connected by history and faith to the ancestral homeland of our people.  Amid all its achievements and amid all its challenges --  the security and well-being of the State of Israel is of critical important to our Jewish identity.    

And it has long been the Jewish custom to pray for the well-being of the country in which we live, back to the time of the Babylonian exile, as we learn from the words of Jeremiah 29:7 ---

ז וְדִרְשׁוּ אֶת-שְׁלוֹם הָעִיר, אֲשֶׁר הִגְלֵיתִי אֶתְכֶם שָׁמָּה, וְהִתְפַּלְלוּ בַעֲדָהּ, אֶל-יְהוָה: כִּי בִשְׁלוֹמָהּ, יִהְיֶה לָכֶם שָׁלוֹם.	7 Seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you, and pray to the Eternal in its behalf; for in its peace shall you have peace.

The presence of the American flag on our bima reminds us not only of Jeremiah’s ancient message, but also of the special blessings that we have as Americans.  For the United States, amid all its achievements and all its challenges, remains unique in the history of the world with respect to the opportunities for integration and security that it has afforded the Jewish people. 

President George Washington famously gave expression to these sentiments in his letter to the members of the Touro, Rhode Island Jewish community in 1790.  He wrote:

"It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. […]

"May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants—while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid."

How do we apply the teachings of our Jewish tradition to our contemporary situation as citizens and residents of this country?

Parshat Kedoshim, the second of the two Torah portions in this week’s double portion Acharei Mot – Kedoshim, prompts us to reflect on how we are called upon to concern ourselves with the needs of the community.

The parasha begins (at Lev. 19: 1-2): 

א וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר.	1 The Eternal spoke to Moses, saying:
ב דַּבֵּר אֶל-כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם--קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ: כִּי קָדוֹשׁ, אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.	2 Speak to all the community of the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: You shall be holy; for I the Eternal your God am holy.

“Kawl adat bney yisra’el”/ “all the community of the Children of Israel” –   This is a very rare formulation in the Torah.  Usually the text says simply  “daber el bney yisra’el”/ “speak to the children of Israel” – but here, with respect to the commandment to be holy, the text says not just “speak to the children of Israel” but rather “speak to the whole community of the children of Israel.”

The medieval commentator Rashi explains that this means that the mitzvot outlined in Leviticus 19, including such famous ones as

·         Loving your neighbor as yourself  ---  and

·         Not standing idly by the blood of your neighbor --- and

·         Rising before the aged and showing deference to the old --- and

·         Leaving the gleanings of your harvest for the poor and the stranger – and

·         Not falsifying measures of length, weight or capacity

That all these mitzvot were conveyed to all the people together, whereas the other commandments were relayed by Moses to small groups at a time (Rashi on Lev. 19:2).

But, why were these precepts so important as to require that they be spoken in full assembly?  The classic midrash “Sifra” explains that the commandments in Leviticus 19 include a repetition or paraphrase of all of the Ten Commandments.  And Nachmanides, (the Spanish Jewish commentator who lived from 1195 to 1270) further observes that the command “You shall be holy for I the Eternal your God am holy” implies that we should go beyond the letter of the law in seeking moderation in personal behavior and compromise in our interpersonal dealings.  (See Nachmanides on Lev. 19:2)

Holiness/kedushah is thus an overall way of relating to one another, of establishing the social contract for our community, and of coming nearer to God. 

What about this “kawl adat bnei yisra’el” (“The whole community of the children of Israel) of which the Torah speaks, and which Rashi describes as a “hakhel” (“public assembly”) –  a word linguistically related to the word “kehillah” meaning “congregation?”

Two major implications flow from this:

First – That being holy is the task for every person in the community, not just an especially pious few, not just an elite leadership.  Rather, each one of us should seek out ways to be Godly in our own conduct.

Second – Following the teaching of the Sefat Emet – that we should seek the path of holiness with every part of our being, for the Sefat Emet (also known as Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger who lived from 1847 to 1905) –taught that the “congregation” or “community” or “assembly” referred to in Leviticus 19:2 also refers to the assembly of 248 limbs and body parts within each person.  (See Rabbi Arthur Green, The Language of Truth: The Torah Commentary of the Sefat Emet, Jewish Publication Society, 1998, p. 186)

Just as in the words of the Shema in Deuteronomy 6 where we speak of loving God, bechawl levavekha, uvekhawl nafshekha, uvekhawl me’dekha --  with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.”

Ultimately, the verse: 

ב דַּבֵּר אֶל-כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם--קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ: כִּי קָדוֹשׁ, אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.

2 Speak to all the community of the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: You shall be holy; for I the Eternal your God am holy.

teaches us that only by coming together as a community can we achieve holiness.  Holiness is not something to be sought in isolation from one another. 

Like Jews of every generation, we face the challenge of applying the words of our ancient tradition to the circumstances of the present day.   The Torah’s formulation “kawl adat bnai yisra’el”/ “all the community of the Children of Israel” originated at a time when our communal life was generally autonomous and separate from those of other communities though --- to be sure – we are also commanded in Leviticus 19: 33-34:

לג וְכִי-יָגוּר אִתְּךָ גֵּר, בְּאַרְצְכֶם--לֹא תוֹנוּ, אֹתוֹ.	33 And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
לד כְּאֶזְרָח מִכֶּם יִהְיֶה לָכֶם הַגֵּר הַגָּר אִתְּכֶם, וְאָהַבְתָּ לוֹ כָּמוֹךָ--כִּי-גֵרִים הֱיִיתֶם, בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם: אֲנִי, יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.	34 The stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for your were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Eternal your God.

Today we need to come to our own conclusions regarding how the communitarian values portrayed in Torah passages such as those in Parshat Kedoshim apply to our role as citizens of our state and nation. Scripture is clear about the importance of providing for the needs of the poor, and of caring for the earth. 

We are our brothers and our sisters keepers. 

We are placed on the earth to guard it and tend to it – ultimately recognizing that it belongs not to us but to God. 

But how does this translate into individual virtue?  And how does this translate into a societal agenda?

Especially in an election year, we are all aware that this is the stuff of spirited debate – and it’s important that that debate be conducted with civility and mutual respect.

© Rabbi David Steinberg 5772/2012

New Haggadah and Seder music online

At our Temple Israel 2nd night seder we'll again be using the Reform movement's haggadah The Open Door edited by Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell.  New haggadot are published each year and I'd like also to put in a plug for a wonderful new haggadah that you might want to use at your home sedarim, or simply add to your Jewish library. Wellsprings of Freedom: The Renew Our Days Haggadah is the most recent volume in the "Hadesh Yameinu: Renew Our Days" series of prayerbooks edited by Rabbi Ron Aigen, spiritual leader of Dorshei Emet Reconstructionist Synagogue in Montreal.  You can order that book through the website www.wellspringshaggadah.com.  And that website also has a "music" section in which you can find recordings of many beloved seder melodies.   I really love Rabbi Aigen's sensitive mixing of contemporary inclusiveness and classical texts, as well as the aesthetical appeal of the overall layout of this new Haggadah.

Whichever Haggadah you use, may you have a joyous and sweet Passover holiday.  

MORE POWER TO YOU!

Dvar Torah delivered on Friday evening 3/9/12

Thoughts on Ki Tissa (Exodus 30:11 – 34:35)

Most of you are probably familiar with the custom of kissing a Jewish prayer book or sacred text upon picking it up if it has accidentally fallen to the ground.   Actually, there are a number of similar pious customs associated with all Jewish texts that include God’s name in Hebrew within them:

1) Not putting it directly on the ground

2) Not piling it underneath other books of lesser sanctity  (There is a pecking order here: Tanakh is above Siddur)

3) Kissing the book upon closing it when you finish consulting it.

Yet, I can recall that when I was a kid going to Orthodox Hebrew school in Brooklyn there were a few times when I purposely smashed a chumash on the ground and didn’t kiss it upon picking it up.  I did it to prove to myself that lighting wasn’t going to strike as a result.   And, of course, it didn’t.

Well, that’s youthful immaturity for you.  Nowadays, I understand that such pious customs are not magical talismans but rather mnemonic devices.  Observing customs like kissing a dropped chumash when we pick it up serves to remind us of the profundity and importance of the ideas that the book contains. 

I would imagine that many of us “act out” from time to time in similar ways --- challenging conventional received wisdom until we can sort out for ourselves what really makes sense.  The bottom line being that we should use the rituals to access the ideals, rather than worshipping the ritual objects themselves.

Perhaps that’s what is going on when Moses hurls the tablets of the law to the ground in this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa.  He has been up on the mountain for forty days and nights receiving God’s teachings.  He now descends from the mountain carrying two tablets carved by God, and inscribed with God’s writing.  But when Moses encounters the spectacle of the people worshipping an idol, a calf made of gold, he hurls the tablets to the ground, smashing them into pieces.

The late 19^th to early 20^th century commentator Rabbi Meir Simcha Hakohen writes in his commentary Meshekh Chochma that Moses smashed the tablets because “[h]e feared that [the Israelites] would deify them as they had done the calf.”  (Nechama Leibowitz: New Studies in Shemot/Exodus, part II, Aryeh Newman, translator, p. 613)

Or, to put it in other words, Moses feared that the tablets might themselves become objects of idolatry. 

Indeed, the sages of the Talmud assert that God approved of Moses’s actions, exclaiming  “Yasher Koach (More power to you), for having broken them!” (Shabbat 87a)

Why was God so pleased with Moses’ action of smashing the tablets?  It wasn’t just that Moses had found a way of teaching the people not to resort to idolatry.  In the midrash collection  Avot de Rabi Natan (c. 700-900 C.E.), Moses’s act of breaking the first set of tablets is portrayed as an act of solidarity with the people in that, in essence, he was ripping up the contract before the people could be held responsible for breaching it. 

After the traumatic episodes of the Golden Calf, the breaking of the tablets, and the civil war and plague that follow, Moses seeks reassurance from God, and God responds in the famous passage about the shelosh esray midot – the 13 divine qualities.  This famous passage, beginning with the words “Adonai, Adonai, El Rachum v’Chanun”/ “The Eternal, The Eteranal, a gracious and compassionate God”  (Ex. 34: 6-7), which we read in Parshat Ki Tisa, is also included in the special prayers and readings for the Days of Awe and the major Festivals.

God also reassures Moses through the giving of the second set of tablets.  This time around, the words on the tablets are still God’s – the content is the same --- but one thing is different.  This time it is Moses, not God, who carves the tablets from the stone. This change reminds us that an effective covenant requires the mutual involvement and teamwork of both parties.  The best agreements, the best relationships, the best learning environments --- require interaction.

In modern life, that’s what democracy is – or at least ought to be – about.  It should be about empowering all people to be part of the process.  Beware of attempts, whether by proposed constitutional amendments or otherwise, to shut disadvantaged or unpopular groups out of the political process or out of the mainstream of society.

Yasher Koach to all who are willing to break down such barriers, as Moses broke those tablets.

Shabbat shalom.

(c) Rabbi David Steinberg, 2012/5772