ROSH HASHANAH MORNING SERMON 5772/2011

V’al Kawl Yisrael/ועל כל ישראל /For All Israel

Last night, I shared with you that I’d be speaking over the High Holidays about each of the three “concentric circles of our aspirations.”   “Concentric circles of our aspirations” --- That’s Rabbi David Teutsch’s description for how at the end of the full Kaddish  we pray to “Oseh Shalom Bimromav” to “The One who makes peace in the heavens”  -- that there be  Shalom “aleinu,” for us / “v’al kol yisra’el,” for all Israel/ and “ v’al kol yoshvei tevel, “   for all who dwell on earth. 

This morning we focus on the second of these three concentric circles – our hope for shalom “al kol yisra’el” – “for all Israel.”

As most of you probably already know, the word “Yisra’el” has several different connotations in Judaism.  We might think of the biblical “Eretz Yisra’el”/ “Land of Israel” or the modern “Medinat Yisra’el”/”State of Israel”.  Their borders overlap but are by no means coterminous.  And just as the borders of Ancient Israel varied throughout the centuries, so have the borders of the modern State of Israel varied over time.

But when the word “Yisra’el /ישראל” is used by itself in traditional Jewish prayers, as in the “Oseh Shalom”, it is shorthand for “Ahm Yisra’el”/ “The People of Israel” or “B’nai Yisra’el”/ “The children of Israel”  -- in other words -- the Jewish people.  Thus, the word “Yisra’el” here invokes not the plot of land in the Middle East but rather the memory of Jacob, our patriarch Ya’acov, who acquired the new name Yisra’el after his mysterious nocturnal wrestling match described in Torah portion Vayishlach.

Here’s how the Torah introduces the new name “Yisra’el” at Genesis 32: 25-29:

Now Ya’akov was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the rise of dawn.  When he saw that he could not overcome him, he struck Ya’acov’s hip-socket, so that Ya’akov’s hip-socket was wrenched as he wrestled with him.  Then he said, ‘Let me go; dawn is breaking!’ But he said ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me!’ He said, ‘What is your name?’ and he said ‘Ya’acov’. And he said, ‘No more shall you be called ‘Ya’acov’ but rather ‘Yisr’ael’ because ‘Saritah im elohim’ / ‘you have struggled with God’ v’im anashim / and with human beings – and you have prevailed.   (Gen. 32: 25-29)

In a sense, we Jews have been wrestling ever since.  Wrestling with words of Torah. Wrestling with forces of injustice.  Wrestling for our own security and well-being in the world.

Actually, you could say that the wrestling begins even earlier in the Torah, even before the name Israel is introduced.  Just take a look at the two back-to-back stories that we read in the Torah on the first and second days of Rosh Hashanah.  The Torah reading we were reading this morning speaks of the struggle between Sarah and Hagar over who’s son would be the inheritor of Abraham’s covenant with God.  Would it be Ishmael, conceived by Abraham and Hagar ----  or Isaac, conceived by Abraham and Sarah?

Concerning Ishmael, whose near death as a result of being banished from Abraham’s household was described in today’s Torah reading, God proclaims ---  “le goi gadol asimenu” “I will make him a great nation” (Gen. 21:18).   And, indeed, in Islam he is traditionally viewed as the father of a number of Arab tribes, including the tribe from which came the Prophet Mohammed.

Concerning Isaac, whose near death at the Akedah we read tomorrow, God later in the Torah proclaims–

גּוּר בָּאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת, וְאֶהְיֶה עִמְּךָ וַאֲבָרְכֶךָּ: כִּי-לְךָ וּלְזַרְעֲךָ, אֶתֵּן אֶת-כָּל-הָאֲרָצֹת הָאֵל, וַהֲקִמֹתִי אֶת-הַשְּׁבֻעָה, אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי לְאַבְרָהָם אָבִיךָ.

 “Reside in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; I will give all these lands to you and to your heirs, fulfilling the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.” (Gen. 26:3)

Suffice it to say that the majority of the Muslim world in general and the Arab world in general does not accept Biblically-based claims based on texts like the one I just quoted from Genesis 26, as being sufficient evidence of the right of the State of Israel to exist as a Jewish State in the lands once ruled by Kings Saul, David and Solomon.

But it’s important to remember that the modern State of Israel was not established in reliance on Jewish theological claims, but rather on Jewish historical claims.  Whatever we may believe or not believe about God, or about the nature of the Tanakh, we know from secular scholarly sources that there were ancient Jewish monarchies in the land of Israel, that most of our people were forcibly expelled from the land by invading forces in ancient times, that small Jewish settlements continued to exist in Israel throughout the centuries, that small numbers of Jews made their way from the Diaspora to the Land of Israel through the ages and that --- with the rise of political Zionism in the late 19^th century  --  that we returned to our ancient homeland in large numbers.

Indeed, the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel sets out the argument for Jewish statehood in the most secular of language, arguing from the perspective of Jewish peoplehood rather than from any perspective of Divine grant: 

ERETZ-ISRAEL (the Land of Israel) was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.

After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.

Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma'pilim (immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation) and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.

In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country.

This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.

The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people — the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe — was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully privileged member of the community of nations.

Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland.

But of course, that’s just our side of the story.  Whatever arguments one might make about the origins of Palestinian national identity, the fact of the matter remains that there was a resident Arab population there before and during the mass waves of Zionist immigration in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.  And furthermore, however one may understand its evolution, the Arab population of the land that would become the State of Israel certainly has a sense of Palestinian national identity today, both within the Green Line and in the West Bank and Gaza. 

We all know the history of Arab rejection of the State of Israel, a rejection that came in response to the original establishment of the State, even during the years prior to 1967 when East Jerusalem and the West Bank were occupied and annexed by Jordan, and when Gaza was occupied by Egypt.  They sought Israel’s destruction then even though the West Bank and Gaza were not under Israeli occupation.  And we all know that, even today, the Hamas leaders of Gaza refuse to imagine anything more than the possibility of, at most,  a 20-year-truce in their ongoing quest to wipe out the State of Israel.  For all intents and purposes, even if a new Palestinian State were established, its West Bank and Gaza components would for now be estranged from one another.   And the Gaza component would still effectively be at war with Israel.

But the West Bank, where day-to-day Palestinian life is governed by the Palestinian Authority, is another story.  The Palestinian Authority was created in 1994 following upon the Oslo Accords of the previous year, as an interim entity which was supposed to last for only five years, during which time the final details of a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians were supposed to be agreed upon.  Yes, the parties to the Oslo Accords did agree that final status questions would be resolved through bilateral negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.   But that was when this was envisioned as a five-year process.  Now it is seventeen years later, and, I must admit, I sympathize with the argument of the Palestinian leadership that negotiations long ago reached an impasse. 

I believe that the Palestinian leadership’s decision to seek statehood through the United Nations was a constructive and positive course of action.  It’s a course of action that shows a continuing commitment to non-violence on the part of the Palestinian Authority  while seeking out new ways of amassing international support for the establishment of their hoped for state.

Certainly, this is not the view of the Netanyahu government in Israel, or of many mainstream American Jewish organizations, or of the Obama administration.  I count myself a supporter and advocate of the State of Israel, and I feel spiritually and emotionally tied to it.  But I have not found Israeli or American government arguments against Abbas’s  application for UN membership to be convincing.  I’m glad he went through with it last Friday.  And I would hope that US would not veto it in the Security Council.

The argument has been made that the Palestinian Authority’s action at the UN will preclude direct negotiations between Israel and the PA.  That seems ludicrous to me.  Of course the parties will still have to negotiate on security and borders,  on the status of Jerusalem, on the question of Palestinian refugees and on the future of the Jewish settlements  --  all of the so-called “final status” issues.   But the achievement of being admitted to the United Nations as an internationally recognized state would nevertheless help to foster a sense of dignity and hope for the Palestinians as those negotiations with Israel continue.

The fact that the Hamas terrorists in Gaza oppose Abbas’s initiative is an argument to me in favor of Abbas. 

The declaration that that the state would be based on the 1949 armistice lines that were in effect until the 1967 six-day-war is still understood by everyone as a starting point for negotiations.  Small land-swaps would need to be agreed upon, not least of which would be an agreement for the Jewish quarter and Western Wall plaza in East Jerusalem to be under Israeli sovereignty.

As former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert so eloquently wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed essay: 

The parameters of a peace deal are well known and they have already been put on the table. I put them there in September 2008 when I presented a far-reaching offer to Mr. Abbas.

According to my offer, the territorial dispute would be solved by establishing a Palestinian state on territory equivalent in size to the pre-1967 West Bank and Gaza Strip with mutually agreed-upon land swaps that take into account the new realities on the ground.

The city of Jerusalem would be shared. Its Jewish areas would be the capital of Israel and its Arab neighborhoods would become the Palestinian capital. Neither side would declare sovereignty over the city’s holy places; they would be administered jointly with the assistance of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

The Palestinian refugee problem would be addressed within the framework of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. The new Palestinian state would become the home of all the Palestinian refugees just as the state of Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people. Israel would, however, be prepared to absorb a small number of refugees on humanitarian grounds.

Because ensuring Israel’s security is vital to the implementation of any agreement, the Palestinian state would be demilitarized and it would not form military alliances with other nations. Both states would cooperate to fight terrorism and violence.

These parameters were never formally rejected by Mr. Abbas, and they should be put on the table again today. Both Mr. Abbas and Mr. Netanyahu must then make brave and difficult decisions.

We Israelis simply do not have the luxury of spending more time postponing a solution. A further delay will only help extremists on both sides who seek to sabotage any prospect of a peaceful, negotiated two-state solution.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/opinion/Olmert-peace-now-or-never.html?scp=2&sq=Ehud%20Olmert&st=cse

I would certainly put the Netanyahu government into the category of “extremists who seek to sabotage any prospect of a peaceful, negotiated two-state solution.”   Because at this stage of the game, the refusal to agree to a settlement freeze and the refusal to accept the pre-1967 borders as starting points for negotiations, are extreme positions.  I believe it would be a positive development if the admission of Palestine to the UN had the result of increasing pressure on Netanyahu to reinstate a settlement freeze and to agree that the final borders will be based on the pre-1967 lines with agreed upon land swaps. 

And remember:  The Palestinians, in starting from the negotiating precondition that it accepts those green line borders, is already agreeing to a significantly smaller Arab state and larger Jewish state than was called for by the original 1947 United Nations Partition Plan. 

Believe me, I am well aware of many of the legitimate counterarguments to everything that I’ve just talked about.  And, truly, I know I’m no expert, and I know that I haven’t chosen to live in Israel (though I did actively consider it at an earlier point in my life.), and I know that there are many people in the world who wrongly deny the Jewish people’s age-old ties to the Land of Israel.

But I am sure that your hearts respond as passionately as mine does to the exhortation of the psalmist:

ו שַׁאֲלוּ, שְׁלוֹם יְרוּשָׁלִָם; יִשְׁלָיוּ, אֹהֲבָיִךְ.	6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may those who love you be at peace.
ז יְהִי-שָׁלוֹם בְּחֵילֵךְ; שַׁלְוָה, בְּאַרְמְנוֹתָיִךְ.	7 May there be well-being within your walls, peace in your citadels.
ח לְמַעַן, אַחַי וְרֵעָי-- אֲדַבְּרָה-נָּא שָׁלוֹם בָּךְ.	8 For the sake of my kin and my friends, I pray for your well-being.

(Ps. 122: 6-8)

I started out these remarks by explaining that when we sing “Oseh Shalom bimromav hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu, v’al kawl yisrael / May the one who makes peace in the heavens, make peace for us and for all Israel --- that “Israel” there refers to the Jewish people world-wide, not to the State of Israel.

But, make no mistake, we need “shalom” for the State of Israel if we want to have “shalom” for the Jewish people.  We need the State of Israel to exist and thrive so that no Jew will ever again be without a place to call home were disasters like the Sho’ah to arise again.  But, just as, if not more, importantly, we need the State of Israel to exist and thrive so that Jewish civilization itself can be nourished by being connected to its native soil.  And so that we, Jews who have chosen to live in the Diaspora, can be inspired by the example of a place where society operates according to the Jewish calendar, where our national language, Hebrew, flourishes, and where the values of our way of life can inform the society as a whole.

The words of the Ahava Rabbah blessing that precedes the Shema in the Shacharit service remind us of our centuries-old vision:   “Vehavienu leshalom meyarbah kanfot ha’aretz vetolichenu komemiyut l’artzenu” /“May You bring us together from the four corners of the earth, leading us upright to our land."

Still, it’s not about turning a piece of land into an idol.  The Ahava Rabbah blessing goes on to say that this ingathering of the exiles is for a purpose:  “lehodot lekha uleyachedkha b’ahavah”  “to offer thanks to You, and lovingly to declare your unity." 

If declaring the unity of God (“uleyachedkha”) is to mean anything – one thing that it has got to mean is that we who are Ahm Yisra’el (the Jewish people) are called upon to work towards the sorts of societies where each person is treated as b’tzelem elohim – in the image of God.  And one step in that process must surely be that the Palestinians achieve that same “komemiyut” / that  same “uprightness” and “dignity” – that we seek for our own people. 

Let’s get that 2-state solution in place.  B’mheira veyameinu/ Speedily in our days.  So that in Medinat Yisra’el and in the hoped for Palestinian state – both sharing the land that we know of as Eretz Yisra’el – we will see shalom   ---  aleinu, v’al kol yisrael, v’al kol yishma’el

ואמרו: אמן (V’imru – Ameyn).

(c) Rabbi David Steinberg 5772/2011

Rosh Hashanah Eve Sermon 5772/2011

A moment ago we concluded the amidah section of this ma’ariv service with the full kaddish.  The standard traditional ending of this form of the kaddish, just as is the case with the mourner’s kaddish,  is the line “Oseh Shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh shalom aleynu, v’al kawl yisrael, v’imru, ameyn.”   “May the One who makes peace in the heavens, make peace for us and all Israel, and let us say, amen.” However, in Reconstructionist and Reform practice, we usually add the phrase “v’al kawl yoshvei tevel”/ “and for all who dwell on earth,” just as we’ve done tonight – even though it wasn’t in the book.

Regarding this additional phrase “v’al kol yoshvei tevel”/ “for all who dwell on earth,” I often think of the commentary by my teacher Rabbi David Teutsch  in our Shabbat morning siddur, Kol Haneshamah: Shabbat ve-Chagim, where Rabbi Teutsch explains (p. 114): “Adding the rabbinic phrase v’al kawl yoshvei tevel (and for all who dwell on earth) logically completes the concentric circles of our aspirations – our care starts with our minyan, extends to the entire Jewish people, and radiates outward from there to all who share our planet.”

When it comes to the Yamim Nora’im/ The Days of Awe, this universalizing tendency becomes even stronger –  not just in Reform and Reconstructionist practice but in Conservative and Orthodox Jewish liturgies as well.  In traditional Conservative and Orthodox siddurim, the Shalom Rav prayer, the last blessing in the Amidah,  ends with the words:  “Barukh Atah Adonai, hamevorekh et amo yisra’el bashalom”/ Blessed are you Adonai who blesses His people Israel with peace.   However, on these Days of Awe, the Orthodox and Conservative liturgies alter that line to use the version that Reconstructionist and Reform siddurim have been using all year long, replacing the words “hamevorekh et amo yisra’el bashalom”/”The one who blesses his people Israel with peace” with the more universal sentiment “Barukh atah adonai, oseh hashalom”/ “Blessed are you adonai, maker of peace.” 

The High Holidays are the big “Jewish homecoming week” for so many of us, and yet even now, especially now, we recognize that our prayers are not just about us, they are about the fate of the whole world.

As Rabbi Arthur Green observes in the Kol Haneshama: Shabbat ve-Chaggim siddur [p.104] concerning the phrase, “Oseh Hashalom”/”Maker of Peace” --  “In our times, when life has been transformed by the constant threat of global destruction, the need of the hour calls for the more universal form of the prayer throughout the year.”

Both of these examples of altering traditional prayer language to make it more universal remind us that, when we gather here to pray together, and especially when we gather together on the High Holidays, we are not on some little island unconnected from the rest of the world.  We have, in Rabbi Teutsch’s words, “the concentric circles of our aspirations”  --- “aleynu” (ourselves and our loved ones and friends and the members of our own congregation),  and we have “v’al kol yisra’el” (all our fellow Jews around the world, in the State of Israel as well as in the regions of our dispersions), and we have “v’al kol yoshvei tevel” (all who dwell on earth).

Actually, our prayers for shalom, even in their contemporary expanded versions are probably still not universal enough.  Where in those concentric circles of aleinu, v’al kol yisra’el, v’al kol yoshvei tevel do we place our country, the United States of America?  And where in those concentric circles of aleinu, v’al kol yisra’el v’al kol yoshvei tevel – do we place the planet earth itself?

I hope over the course of the holidays to share some thoughts with you on each of these “concentric circles:  aleinu, v’al kol yisra’el, v’al kol yoshvei tevel, as these “concentric circles of our aspirations” intersect with the classic themes of our traditional High Holiday prayers and scriptural readings.

But tonight, let’s start small, with our hopes for Shalom “aleinu”, upon us.  And who is this “us?”  It’s ourselves as individuals, ourselves as members of our particular households and ourselves as members of this one small Jewish community of Temple Israel.

We gather here tonight to contemplate our own individual destinies, and the needs of our families of origin and families of choice.  Each of us with our own unique prayerful offerings of praise, petition and thanksgiving.   In the words of Robert Kahn as adapted by Chaim Stern in our Reform siddur Mishkan Tefillah (p. 66):

Each of us enters this sanctuary with a different need,

Some hearts are full of peace and gratitude,

Overflowing with love and joy.

They are eager to confront the day, to make the world a better place.

They are recovering from illness, or have escaped misfortune.

We rejoice with them.

Some hearts ache with sorrow;

Disappointments weigh heavily on them.

Families have been broken; loved ones lie on a bed of pain;

Death has taken a cherished loved one.

May our presence and caring bring them comfort.

Some hearts are embittered;

Ideals are betrayed and mocked, answers sought in vain,

Life has lost its meaning and value.

May the knowledge that we, too, are searching

Restore our hope, and renew our faith.

Our tradition teaches us that we should strive for teshuvah/repentance/return every day of the year, but that this particular holiday season is the time that we really give it our all.   We are called upon to engage in “Cheshbon hanefesh”/  the inventory and examination of our own souls. 

And we ask ourselves – given all the blessings and simchas that we have experienced in the last year, have we been properly thankful?  Or have we taken them for granted?   Have we used our good fortunes so as to help others and so as to make the world a better place?  Or have we hoarded our treasures and cut ourselves off from the needs of our fellow human beings?

And we ask ourselves – given all the sorrows and tzuris that we have experienced in the last year, have we kept our faith?  Or have we allowed ourselves to become dispirited?  Have we tried to use our misfortunes and tragedies to help us to be more empathetic to others?  Or has the pain we have endured been so unbearable that we have felt cut off from the comforting hands and hearts of our fellow human beings and from the spiritual resources of healing we might find in our faith tradition?

Our prayers are mostly written in the plural, but each person’s plea is his or her own.  Even when we sing or read the words of the machzor in unison, the meanings and associations we attach to those words reflect the beautiful diversity of our community, and the variety of journeys that have brought each of us here as God has “[she]hecheyanu, vekiyemanu, vehegianu lazman hazeh”/ “kept us in life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season.”

Tonight is really just a warm-up.  The Rosh Hashanah daytime liturgy is a lot more lengthy and complex than the Rosh Hashanah evening service that we are soon to conclude.  And Yom Kippur is a bit of a marathon even for the best of us.  But I hope that each of us will be able to find room in our hearts over these upcoming 10 days to let the words, the melodies, the rituals and the memories of this season bring us to a place beyond our everyday selves.  May our observance of these days of awe help us to break down the walls between us and God, between us and our loved ones, and between us and our better selves.

L’shanah tova tikatevu/ May you be inscribed for a good year in the Book of Life and may 5772 be shanah tovah u’metukah – a good and sweet year aleinu, v’al kol yisrael, v’al kol yoshvei tevel – for us, for all Israel, and for all who dwell on earth.

ואמרו: אמן  (V’imru – Ameyn).

(c) Rabbi David Steinberg 5772/2011

Important Jewish statement against Islamaphobia

It's great to see this.

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/09/08/3089301/jewish-clergy-join-anti-islamaphobia-event

Thoughts on Ekev

Dvar Torah delivered on Friday, Aug. 19, 2011, Shabbat Ekev

Thoughts on Ekev (5771/2011)

(Deut. 7:12 – 11:25)

We are now, with our reading of Parshat Ekev,  in the third portion of Sefer Devarim/ The Book of Deuteronomy. “Devarim” means “words,” referring to the many, many words spoken by Moses in this fifth book of the Torah, as he recounts and elaborates upon many of the stories and laws introduced in the earlier books of the Torah. Indeed, the alternative traditional name for this book --- “Mishneh Torah”/ “Repetition of the Torah” --- parallels the English name of the book – “Deuteronomy” – the name “Deuteronomy” being derived from two Greek roots “Deutero” and “Nomos” which mean “Second Law.”

As we go through these remaining weeks of our yearly Torah cycle before concluding and beginning again at Simchat Torah, we may notice many such restatements. For example, Parshat Ekev  includes a retelling of the story of how the people were provided with manna from heaven after leaving Egypt and entering the desert wilderness, adding the famous observation that:

לֹא עַל-הַלֶּחֶם לְבַדּוֹ יִחְיֶה הָאָדָם--כִּי עַל-כָּל-מוֹצָא פִי-יְהוָה, יִחְיֶה הָאָדָם

“a human being does not live by bread alone, but one may live on anything that the Eternal decrees.” (Deut. 8:3)

Much of the remainder of Deuteronomy consists of Moses’ inspirational words to the people – sometimes in his own voice, sometimes acting as a mouthpiece for God’s words, sometimes in an ambiguous mixture of both. Words that seek to motivate us to follow God’s laws, teachings, statutes and commandments.

This week’s portion has one of the most well-known of these motiviational passages.  It’s found near the end of the parasha and forms the traditional second paragraph of the Shema.  In that passage, God asserts that if we follow the call to love and serve God with all our hearts and souls, then, in return,  God promises

יד וְנָתַתִּי מְטַר-אַרְצְכֶם בְּעִתּוֹ, יוֹרֶה וּמַלְקוֹשׁ; וְאָסַפְתָּ דְגָנֶךָ, וְתִירֹשְׁךָ וְיִצְהָרֶךָ. טו וְנָתַתִּי עֵשֶׂב בְּשָׂדְךָ, לִבְהֶמְתֶּךָ; וְאָכַלְתָּ, וְשָׂבָעְתָּ.

“I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late.  You shall gather in your new grain and wine and oil.  And I will provide grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be content.”  (Deut. 11: 14-15) (And then it goes on to say that if we succumb to idolatry then the rains will stop and the land will become barren.) 

That entire paragraph was long ago removed by Reform Judaism from its prayerbooks. 

The early Reformers (and the early Reconstructionists for that matter) felt that this traditional second paragraph of the Shema presented a view of cause and effect that was too literalistic and supernatural.  However, the Conservative and Orthodox siddurim kept it in and the Reconstructionists later reintroduced as an optional reading , arguing that it could be interpreted metaphorically:  If we don’t care for our planet, God’s creation, then the climate will go out of whack and the environment that sustains us will be threatened.  In the Reconstructionist siddur Kol Haneshama that we use on Shabbat mornings, this passage from this week’s Torah portion is included as the second of two alternative readings for the middle paragraph of the Shema.

However, as I was studying the Torah portion this week, one particular passage from Moshe’s long “spiritual pep talk” really spoke to me this year.  It’s the section where Moses preaches about the spiritual dangers that come from prosperity.  In particular, he warns us that when we have plenty to eat and drink, and lots of material wealth, we might be tempted to think:

כֹּחִי וְעֹצֶם יָדִי, עָשָׂה לִי אֶת-הַחַיִל הַזֶּה

“My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.” (Deut. 8:17).

Rather, the Torah goes on to say: 

וְזָכַרְתָּ, אֶת-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ--כִּי הוּא הַנֹּתֵן לְךָ כֹּחַ, לַעֲשׂוֹת חָיִל: לְמַעַן הָקִים אֶת-בְּרִיתוֹ אֲשֶׁר-נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ, כַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה

“Remember that it is the Eternal your God who gives you the power to get wealth, in fulfillment of the covenant made on oath to your ancestors, as is still the case.” (Deut. 8:18).

We hear so much these days from certain factions of our society who claim that extended unemployment benefits would discourage people from seeking work, or that those who are poor find themselves that way because they have not tried hard enough to advance themselves.  Or that those of us who enjoy material well-being that surpasses the majority of human beings on the planet, have gotten to where we are through our own initiative in some mythical “free market.”

But Torah reminds us that our efforts go only so far.  We are constantly in danger of the hubris of thinking

כֹּחִי וְעֹצֶם יָדִי, עָשָׂה לִי אֶת-הַחַיִל הַזֶּה

“My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.”

Our tradition reminds us that there is so much about our own personal circumstances that comes from factors beyond our control.  Call that “God” if you want.  Or call that sociological, physical and historical circumstance if you want. 

But, for me anyway, the bottom line is two-fold:

First:  We have to remember all of our blessings, all of the miracles and good things that are with us morning, noon and night.  And

Second: We need to avoid being judgmental about or hard hearted towards those in need.  Rather, we must build a society in which all who are needy are helped, and which those who can afford it most do their fair share.

Because no one can honestly say:  כֹּחִי וְעֹצֶם יָדִי, עָשָׂה לִי אֶת-הַחַיִל הַזֶּה 

“My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.” 

Rather, our blessings are for sharing.

Shabbat shalom.

© Rabbi David Steinberg, 5771/2011

Dvar Torah from "Welcome Runners Shabbat"

I hope that those of you who ran in Grandma's marathon (or in the half-marathon or 5k races that weekend) had a great time.  We put together a special Shabbat service on Friday evening June 17, the night before the big race.  Here is the dvar torah I presented on that occasion:

Thoughts on Shelakh Lekha

(Numbers 13:1 - 15:41)

It’s great seeing everyone here this evening as we welcome Shabbat together.  In particular, we welcome all of the runners, and friends and family of runners, and race volunteers who are taking part in this weekend of Grandma’s Marathon races and events.

I’ve been a runner since 11^th grade of high school when I had the great fortune of having a gym teacher, Mr. Toro was his name, who was also the track coach.  I’ve never been all that interested in following major league sports.  And my poor hand-eye coordination is such that I was never any good at sports involving a ball – participating in those sorts of activities was (and really still is) stressful and not all that fun for me.  But Mr. Toro told our gym class that anyone who wanted could be on the track team, no matter how good or mediocre your abilities.  He’d reserve the discretion to put the best runners on the team in more events at particular track meets, but everyone would get to train together and to participate in at least some events at meets.

I personally didn’t stay on track team for more than that spring season of 11^th grade.  And I didn’t even last out the whole season because I got injured part way through. And yet, it was a turning point in my life.  Once I started running, I realized that I really loved it.  At first I couldn’t go more than a mile, but before I knew it, after my running injury healed, I took it up again recreationally and started running 4 to 6 miles at a time alone or with friends just for fun.

And I’ve never stopped since.

I’m not running Grandma’s but I did run a marathon in Quebec City in 2002 just after turning 41.  Next month, just before I turn 50, I’ll be running my 2^nd marathon in Central Vermont.  Besides that I’ve run a dozen or so half marathons and shorter races.   The spiritual bliss and personal sense of well-being that running has given me all these years is well expressed by the special readings that we’ve been hearing during this evening’s service. 

(My friend Danny who has been providing guitar playing and vocals during tonight's Shabbat service has become one of my running buddies here in Duluth and I’m so grateful for the camaraderie and support.)

A marathon is such a huge crazy challenge.  For someone who hasn’t done it, and even for folks who have, it can look like an impossible task.

The Torah tells us that our ancestors were faced with a marathon-sized challenge of their own after the exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai.  In this week’s Torah portion, Shelakh Lekha, they send out 12 men, tribal big shots no less, to scout out the land of Canaan.  10 of them come back with a pessimistic report – The land is flowing with milk and honey, but it’s filled with powerful people in fortified towns who will decimate us if we try to go there.  Indeed ---  “eretz ochelet yosheveha hi”/ “a land that devours its settlers” (Num. 13:32).

This assessment by 10 of the scouts, described by the Torah as “dibat ha’aretz” (“calumnies" or "evil reports” about the land) (Num. 13:32) is enough to sway the population at large.  Later in the parasha, God complains to Moses – “How long shall this wicked community (Ad matay la'eydah hara’ah hazot”) keep muttering against me?” (Num. 14:27)

Jewish halacha derived from this verse that a minyan (quorum for public prayer) would consist of 10 adults -- because those 10 scouts were a large enough sample of the population to constitute a “community.” ("eydah")

Thankfully, those of us here forming our “eydah” – our minyan for prayer this Erev Shabbat -- are here to encourage each other with hope, joy and thanksgiving.  To lift up one another’s spirits – unlike the minyan of scouts in our Torah portion who bred despair and hopelessness among our ancestors.

Of course, when we read about the discouraging report of the 10 scouts, it’s clear that they weren’t trying to do evil.   We empathize with them.   They may have been notables in their respective tribes, but they were still afraid. 

How poignant their cry that in the face of the dwellers of Canaan–

; וַנְּהִי בְעֵינֵינוּ כַּחֲגָבִים, וְכֵן הָיִינוּ בְּעֵינֵיהֶם.

("Vanehi ve'eyneynu kachagavim, vecheyn hayinu be'eyneyhem.")

(“We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.”) (Num. 13:33).

But what’s wrong with that picture – “We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.” --- ?!

What kind of negative thinking is this?  Not only about self-image but also the assumptions of what others will think of you….

With that sort of mindset, you’re not going to reach the promised land. 

With that sort of mindset you’re not going to reach the 26^th mile of the marathon.

The ones who made it to the promised land, of course, were those that went against the grain – the ones who had hope and confidence and faith.  The ones who gave the minority report.  Those other two scouts, Joshua and Caleb  --  it is they who represent the spirit exemplified by those who are running your  own races this weekend –

It’s the spirit that leads us to say along with Caleb –

עָלֹה נַעֲלֶה וְיָרַשְׁנוּ אֹתָהּ--כִּי-יָכוֹל נוּכַל לָהּ

"Aloh na'aleh veyarashnu otah -- ki yachol nuchal lah."

("Let us by all means go up, and we shall inherit it, for we shall overcome it.) (Num. 14:30)

May each of us overcome the challenges before us, whether on the race course or in life and, by all means, "Aloh na’aleh!" – Let us ascend in all the worthy aspirations of our hearts and souls.

B’hatzlachah laratzim/ Good luck runners  --  And, to all of us, Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi David Steinberg

(c) 2011/ 5771

Happy Shavuot

http://jrf.org/showrt&rid=519

Check this out!

(A fun way to engage with the mitzvah of sefirat ha'omer/counting of the omer)

http://homercalendar.net/ 

Meanwhile, I hope everyone is having a wonderful Pesach.

Moa'dim l'simcha*,

Rabbi David

*Literal translation: "times for rejoicing" (traditional greeting for the intermediate days of Passover [also for the intermediate days of Sukkot in the fall.])

The Object of My Affection

(Dvar Torah for Shabbat Metzora, delivered at Temple Israel on Friday evening 4/8/11) 

This Shabbat the parshat hashavua or weekly Torah portion is the second of two in a row that deal with “nega tzara’at”, translated variously in our Plaut Torah commentary as “scaly affection” or “eruptive affection” or “leprous affection.”  In last week’s Torah portion, Tazria,  the rule was stated that a person having such symptoms should be examined by a kohen (i.e., a priest descended from Moshe’s brother Aaron).  The kohen is then supposed to determine whether the person being examined does in fact have nega tzara’at.  If so, the affected person, after an initial period of being quarantined in his or her own dwelling, is then forced to dwell outside the camp for a period of time.  During both stages of this process, he or she must not enter the sanctuary or come into contact with any of the holy objects associated with the sanctuary.

This week’s Torah portion is called Metzora.  “Metzora” is the Hebrew term designating a person who has the affliction or “nega” of “tzara’at.”  In this week’s portion, the Torah sets out the procedure by which the metzora (ie., the person having nega tzara’at) is permitted to return to society following  his or her recovery.  And just as the kohen had been the person who performed the initial examinations that confirmed the presence of nega tzara’at – now the kohen is also the person who performs the procedures that allow the person to return to the camp.  This involves body shaving, animal sacrifices, and the smearing of blood and oil on the person who is being readmitted into the camp.

It’s all very strange, very mysterious, and very puzzling.

For centuries, Jewish commentators have puzzled over whether tzara’at is to be understood as a medical condition or a spiritual condition or both.  Are these scabs and scales signs of physical illness or moral distress?

To the extent this is about medicine, with the kohen being seen as some sort of primitive physician, a very important theme is present in the Torah.  On several different occasions, the Torah specifies less expensive sacrificial animals if a person is poor and cannot afford the standard prescribed animals.  And so we might see in these details a call to all of us to make sure that health care in contemporary society is adequately available to the poor.  And we would want to be sure that our elected representatives at both the state and national levels understand this.  Even as we gather here tonight, this battle wages on in the Minnesota legislature and in the United States Congress over what sort of a society we will be – and over how we will bring our religious values to bear in the formation of public budgetary priorities.

From a more spiritual perspective, a number of the commentators see nega tzara’at not as (or not only as) a physical malady but as a spiritual one.  A classic formulation of this teaching is found in Tractate Arachin of the Talmud:

אמר ריש לקיש מאי דכתיב (ויקרא יד) זאת תהיה תורת המצורע זאת תהיה תורתו של מוציא שם רע

“Resh Lakish said:  What is the meaning of the verse: “This shall be the ritual concerning the metzora”.   (Lev. 14:2) It means “this shall be the ritual concerning “motzi shem ra” (one who speaks calumny)” (Arachin 15b)

In other words -- one who speaks ill of another, one who engages in lashon hara/ evil speech.

This connection between “motzi shem ra” (“slander”) and metzora (“skin affliction”) is also seen by our commentators in the story of Miriam becoming afflicted with tzara’at in Numbers chapter 12 after she and Aaron express indignation at Moses marrying a Cushite or Ethiopian woman.  As it says: 

י  וְהֶעָנָן, סָר מֵעַל הָאֹהֶל, וְהִנֵּה מִרְיָם, מְצֹרַעַת כַּשָּׁלֶג; וַיִּפֶן אַהֲרֹן אֶל-מִרְיָם, וְהִנֵּה מְצֹרָעַת.

10 And when the cloud was removed from over the Tent, behold, Miriam was leprous (Hebrew: “metzora’at”), as white as snow; and Aaron looked upon Miriam; and, behold, she was leprous. (Hebrew: “metzora’at”)

And, indeed, it’s a well-worn trope for rabbis on the Shabbatot of Tazria and Metzora to preach about the evils of lashon hara and of the importance of ethical speech and the avoidance of gossip and slander. 

What actually is lashon hara?  One definition I encountered that spoke to me is that lashon hara is when you talk ABOUT a person rather than TO that person. 

And I know that every single one of us is guilty of doing this, as often as we might try to avoid it.  So, it’s an ongoing challenge.

This year when studying the parasha, I’ve found myself most interested in the relationship between the metzora(‘at) and the kohen – between the person who gets the skin affliction and the priest who comes to bring him or her back to society at the end of his or her time of isolation.

A contemporary commentator, Rabbi Eli Mansour, suggests that Torah assigns the task of the metzora’s purification specifically to the kohen because the metzora had been spreading gossip and slander ABOUT the kohen.  

As I see it, the Torah forces the slanderer to work together with the person he or she slandered.  The Torah seems to want to find a way for each of us to encounter the other in their full humanity. 

And how does this happen?  In what is for me the most striking detail of the parasha – the kohen symbolically makes the metzora into a fellow kohen:

In Leviticus chapter 8 when Aaron and his sons were invested as priests the Torah says that Moses took the blood of ram of the ordination offering and “Moses took some of its blood and put it on the ridge of Aaron’s right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot” (Lev. 8:23).  Now in Parshat Metzora it says that, in this ritual of returning the healed metzora to society, the kohen “shall take some of the blood of the reparation offering, and the kohen shall put it on the ridge of the right ear of the one who is being purified, and on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot.”  (Lev. 14: 14) 

And after that the kohen sprinkles oil just like had been done at his own ordination, and even puts some oil on the head of the person being purified as if the latter were being anointed as a kohen too.

This healing, this purification, this reintegration seems very personal indeed.  The Torah seems to be telling us that whenever we have a gripe with a neighbor, a colleague, a loved one – we need to remember how we are connected to one another.  We need to struggle against the impulse to bad mouth one another, to objectify one another, to distance ourselves from one another.  True, distance may be called for at first – a time out, a time to reflect, a time to repent.

But then we have to come together again and come back into the camp.

We need to anoint one another, to see one another as fellow servants of God.

Shabbat shalom.

© Rabbi David Steinberg 5771/2011

AUTHORIZATION FOR SALE OF CHAMETZ

DISPOSAL/SALE OF CHAMETZ

(Mechirat Chametz) 

The disposal of leaven (chametz) before the start of the Passover holiday traditionally requires not only the removal or storing of all chametz, but also its dispossession.  Actually, traditional Jewish law states that we are not allowed to own any chametz during the entire Passover holiday.

Therefore, in order to enable us to fulfill these traditional requirements, Jewish law provides for a technical procedure whereby we are able to sell all chametz in our possession for the duration of the holiday.  This is known as “mechirat chametz” (“sale of chametz”).

Rabbi Steinberg will be happy to assist you with the sale of chametz, thus enabling you to have a kosher home for Pesach.  If you wish to take part in this tradition, please complete and mail (or bring in) the form below to Temple Israel, 1602 E. 2^nd Street, Duluth, MN 55804 (attention: Rabbi David Steinberg) so that Rabbi Steinberg receives it by April 15, 2011.

It is traditional to make a special tzedakah donation called “ma’ot chittim” (“wheat money”) when selling one’s chametz.  Therefore, please consider making a donation to MAZON: A JEWISH RESPONSE TO HUNGER when submitting the authorization form below.  Rabbi Steinberg will be happy to forward your donation to that worthy organization.  Alternatively, you can make your contribution to Mazon directly by visiting their website www.mazon.org . 

Also, you may wish to donate some or all of your unopened, non-perishable chametz items to the CHUM Food Shelf by placing these items in the shopping carts located on the lower level of the Temple (but no later than two days before the start of Passover please.)

Chametz form: click here

We, The Workers

[The following is the text of the dvar torah that I delivered last Friday evening, Feb. 25th, for Shabbat Vayakhel, the weekly Torah portion found at Exodus 35:1 - 38:20]

The Torah goes to enormous lengths to describe the building process of the portable structure sometimes called  mishkan /dwelling place/tabernacle, and sometimes called  mikdash/sanctuary, and sometimes called ohel mo’ed/tent of meeting.  In fact the details about the mishkan dominate much of the second half of the Book of Exodus. 

The subject is introduced in Parshat Terumah, beginning at Exodus 25.  That Torah portion includes God’s instructions to Moses.  Now, in this week’s portion, Vayakhel, there is a detailed repetition of this material as Moses relays the instructions to the people.  Then another repetition in this week’s portion, as the various components and furnishings of the structure are fabricated.  And, finally, in next week’s concluding portion of the Book of Exodus, Parshat Pekudey, we have yet another repetition of all of these details as the Mishkan is finally erected and its furnishings are put in place.

Why so much space devoted to such seemingly tedious and mind-numbing details?

Some, like the 15^th century Spanish  Jewish commentator Isaac Abravanel, hold that many of the construction details contain a symbolic or allegorical meaning.  

For example  --- The images of two cherubs are to be made at the top of the ark.  But the Torah says  "ufeneyhem ish el achiv" /"Their faces should be directed towards each other"  (Ex. 37:9).   From this detail comes the teaching that we should never turn away from our fellow human beings – that we are to serve God by striving not to be indifferent to the human needs of others.  And that we should strive to communicate with one another directly, forthrightly and honestly.

I think another theme we can derive from this excess of detail about the mishkan is the theme of the dignity and importance of work.  The Torah often uses the word “melacha” (מְלָאכָה)  to designate creative work.  This appears to be a subset of “avodah,”, which is the more generic Hebrew term for work.

In the book of Genesis, Torah teachs  --

 וַיְכַל אֱלֹהִים בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה; וַיִּשְׁבֹּת בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, מִכָּל-מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה.   וַיְבָרֶךְ אֱלֹהִים אֶת-יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתוֹ:  כִּי בוֹ שָׁבַת מִכָּל-מְלַאכְתּוֹ, אֲשֶׁר-בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים לַעֲשׂוֹת. 

On the seventh day, God finished “melachto” [His “work”] that God had been doing, and ceased mikawl melachto [from all His melacha]  that  God had done.  And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it God ceased mikawl melachto [from all His melacha] of creation that God had done. (Gen. 2: 2-3)

And here in our Torah portion Vayakhel, just before enumerating all the melacha/ all the work undertaken by the Israelites in building the mishkan, Torah reminds us

 שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים, תֵּעָשֶׂה מְלָאכָה, וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי יִהְיֶה לָכֶם קֹדֶשׁ שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן, לַיהוָה

On six days melacha/work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to Adonai…  (Ex. 35:2a).

Jewish Bible commentators over the centuries have noted that the “work” or “melacha” involved in the people’s construction of the mishkan at the end of the book of Exodus is a human counterpart to God’s “melacha” in creating the world at the beginning of the book of Genesis.  And the traditional 39 Avot Melachot (i.e., the 39 major categories of work traditionally forbidden on Shabbat) are based on the activities that the Torah says the Israelites did in constructing the mishkan. 

In the Talmud, we learn --- גדולה מלאכה שמכבדת את בעליה – “Gedolah melacha shemechabedet et be'aleyha"/ "Great is melacha for it gives honor to those who do it”. (Nedarim 49b)

These Jewish teachings about the dignity of work and of the worker seem all the more important this week as the events in Madison, Wisconsin continue to agitate, inspire or aggravate us, depending on where we might place ourselves on the political spectrum.

Many of us find ourselves furious at Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and his allies in the Wisconsin legislature over their efforts to crush the public service workers unions there.  They argue that it’s all about balancing the budget.  Yet, that argument appears hollow when they insist on stripping the unions of most collective bargaining rights even after the unions have agreed to the financial concessions called for in the pending legislation there.

For example, just today the national organization “Jewish Funds for Justice” issued a press release that reads in part as follows:

The right to dignified working conditions, the opportunity to earn a decent wage for a day’s work, and the power of workers to negotiate fairly with employers -- these are basic Jewish values. Jewish Funds for Justice supports the public employees in Wisconsin and other states who are struggling today to defend these hard-earned rights, and we urge other Jews and Jewish organizations to stand with the public servants of our nation.

For twenty-five years, Jewish Funds for Justice has been committed to advancing the rights of workers in our country and striving to ensure a fair and decent wage for all workers. For more than a century the American Jewish community has proudly supported the organized labor movement as a vehicle for achieving the promise and opportunity of America. As the protests in Madison approach the two-week mark, and as Governor Walker and leaders in other states utilize budget crises to disguise attacks on collective bargaining, the Jewish community has a responsibility to once again answer the call of our rich heritage and stand with the labor movement and for hard-working men and women across the nation.

http://www.jewishjustice.org/story/2011-02-25/jfsj-supports-protesters-wisconsin-and-other-states

An important counterargument advanced by supporters of Gov. Walker is that public service workers are in a different situation than employees of private companies.   For in the case of civil servants, the employer is the State itself.  And they quote no less a storied political liberal than President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who in 1937 wrote the following on the occasion of the 20^th anniversary of the National Federation of Federal Employees.

FDR wrote:

The desire of Government employees for fair and adequate pay, reasonable hours of work, safe and suitable working conditions, development of opportunities for advancement, facilities for fair and impartial consideration and review of grievances, and other objectives of a proper employee relations policy, is basically no different from that of employees in private industry. Organization on their part to present their views on such matters is both natural and logical, but meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government.

All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=15445

There is merit in both of these philosophical approaches.  However, as I see it, the fact of the matter is that the Wisconsin governor didn’t campaign on any sort of promise to decimate the public service unions’ ability to function.

When he and his supporters simply argue that “we’re broke” and refuse to negotiate, even when the unions are saying they’d agree to the particular wage and benefits concessions demanded of them ---- this doesn’t seem like the kind of honest and open communication evoked by our Torah portion’s description of the cherubim over the ark "ufeneyhem ish el achiv" -- who encountered one another face to face.

גדולה מלאכה שמכבדת את בעליה /  “Gedolah melacha shemechabedet et be'aleyha"/ "Great is work for it gives honor to those who do it”.

On this Shabbat, as we pause from the work of the week, we give thanks for the blessings we enjoy from God’s work of creation and from the work that our brothers and sisters, our neighbors, and we ourselves – contribute to the functioning of society.   And we pray that those who exercise economic and political power will use it justly; that political controversies will be waged “leshem shamayim” (“for the sake of heaven”); and that every worker in this society – whether in the private or public spheres – will be guaranteed dignity and fair treatment. 

And creating and sustaining such  a society is the melacha/  the work of us all.

Lo alekha hamelachah ligmor, vlo atah ben chorin lehibatel mimena (Pirke Avot 2:16).  We may not be able to finish this work, but neither can we absent ourselves from the endeavor.

Shabbat shalom.

(C) Rabbi David Steinberg 5771/2011