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Mishpatim

2/9/2015

3 Comments

 
SUMMARY: 
  • Interpersonal laws ranging from the treatment of slaves to the exhibition of kindness to strangers are listed. (21:1-23:9)
  • Cultic laws follow, including the commandment to observe the Sabbatical Year, a repetition of the Sabbath injunction, the first mention of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, rules of sacrificial offerings, and the prohibition against boiling a kid in its mother's milk. (23:10-19)
  • The people assent to the covenant. Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel ascend the mountain and see God. Moses goes on alone and spends forty days on the mountain. (24:1-18)
D'var Torah
by Rachel Blazer


This week’s Torah portion Misphatim deals with a series of laws laid out by G-d for the people of Israel. Where most portions that contain laws tend to have a focus on rituals and offerings, this portion provides more of rules and laws to live by, similar to those of the Ten Commandments. I feel as though one of the most important of these rules is found in chapter 22; “And you shall not mistreat a stranger, nor shall you oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

I believe that this passage is really an initial instillation of the Jewish idea of Tikkun Olam, or repairing the world. Caring for all people, no matter the economic status or physical appearance, is essential for Jews because we know what it is like to be uncared for. We know what it is like to be beaten down; we know what it is like to lose everything.

As a college student it’s not exactly easy to keep up with community service the same way it was in high school. Aside from the fact that it’s no longer a requirement, between exams, homework, and any other frustrations of collegiate life, there just isn’t really time. I am lucky enough to go to a school that recognizes this and creates programs to counter these excuses.

At Boston University we have a unique second orientation called FYSOP, or First Year Student Outreach Program. Around 1000 freshman come to school a week early to focus and work in a specific service area. The service areas range from children to elderly, from Urban Engagement to Environment. When I had the opportunity to participate in this program I chose to work in the Homelessness and Housing service area. I spent a week not only learning about the homeless issue in Boston and the different organizations that are set up to help, but I also got to visit four different organizations. I painted housing projects, visited shelters, and helped do some maintenance work at the shelters.

By far the most influential experience was at a place called the Margaret Fuller House. It was the last day of their summer camp program and they were having a final day BBQ. They had half of us play in a local park with all the kids while the other half cooked the food. Playing with these kids was probably one of the highlights of my summer.

One of the most important lessons of parshat Mishpatim indeed the whole Torah, is that you should care for the stranger; and there I was in a park in Cambridge, falling in love with the strangers. These kids were so happy to be around us, and we were happy to be around them. Out of all the service I have done in my life, none was as rewarding. When we left, the coordinator thanked us profusely and explained how we had impacted these kids’ lives.

It made me start to think. If every college freshman spent some day at organization like the ones I visited, how many more lives could be changed, how many more people could have roofs over their heads? Why is it that there are so few schools that have programs that get students involved in community issues?         

I may not be able to do as much during the year to care for the stranger, but I do know that I will continue to be an extreme advocate for this program and hope that in a couple years I can return as a coordinator.

The secular New Year is now about a month and half old and let’s be honest, by now most resolutions have been broken. However, it’s not too late to make a new one.

Think about a way to help those less fortunate. Is it food? Try volunteering once a month at a food pantry. Is it clothes? Go through your closet and find those clothes you don’t wear and donate them. Nothing can be more rewarding that coming together to help one who may not have as much as you and yours. It can be one time, or a long-term commitment, but it is so easy to get involved.  

I challenge you to find a way to care for a stranger, because we all know what it is to be a stranger, and how incredible it is to be cared for.
3 Comments

Yitro

2/1/2015

0 Comments

 
SUMMARY: 
  • Yitro brings his daughter Zipporah and her two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, to his son-in-law Moses. (18:1-12)
  • Moses follows Yitro's advice and appoints judges to help him lead the people. (18:13-27)
  • The Children of Israel camp in front of Mount Sinai. Upon hearing the covenant, the Israelites respond, "All that God has spoken we will do." (19:1-8)
  • After three days of preparation, the Israelites encounter God at Mount Sinai. (19:9-25)
  • God gives the Ten Commandments aloud directly to the people. (20:1-14)
  • Frightened, the Children of Israel ask Moses to serve as an intermediary between God and them. Moses tells the people not to be afraid. (20:15-18)
D'var Torah
by Carroll Greenfield

This Parashah in part tells us about Yitro (Jethro) Moses’ father-in-law, and his journey from his home in Midian to the wilderness where Moses and all the Jewish people were encamped. Yitro brought Zipporah, Moses’ wife, and her two sons Gershom and Eliezer.

After they met and embraced, Moses related to Yitro all the trials and cruelty that the people had endured under Pharaoh’s harsh treatment. He described the plagues that the Lord had visited on the Egyptians to persuade Pharaoh to release the people he had enslaved. He further described how Pharaoh finally released them, but not before the slaying of the Egyptian first born. Moses went on to describe the subsequent flight and the crossing of the Sea of Reeds. He told of the Israelites difficult trek and the hardships they endured on their journey into the wilderness and how the Lord had preserved them.  

Yitro rejoiced over the kindness the Lord had shown in delivering the people from Pharaoh and the Egyptian people. He was convinced by these wonders and declared that the Lord is greater than all other gods.  

The next day Yitro observed Moses sitting as Magistrate and adjudicating disputes among the people. Moses sat all day as a crowd of people awaited their turn to have their case heard. Yitro found this scene disturbing and told Moses that this was not right. He said if he continued he would wear himself out and counseled Moses to choose “capable men who fear God, trust-worthy men who spurn ill-gotten gain. Set these men over the people as chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and let them judge the people at all times.” Yitro tells his son-in-law, Moses to handle only the most difficult cases.       

Moses listened to this advice and did what Yitro suggested. He set trusted people to handle most of the disputes and Moses handled only the toughest cases himself. Having seen Moses heed his words Yitro returned to his home in Midian.

This is just the beginning of the story and I cannot help but think about how this part suggests the seeds of future law enforcement and judicial systems.

There are some wonderful lessons within this story. First, the warning not to micromanage, because you will just wear yourself out, is certainly still good advice today.     

Second, listen to what people you respect have to say and adopt their suggestions if they make sense. We can still learn from that today.

Looking back at the dramatic events that occurred so many years ago, may evoke some awe-inspiring images. Consider the panic, misery and pain the people must have experienced during this traumatic period. Can we even imagine the degree of chaos that was occurring as the Israelites were scurrying to start their journey to freedom, first across the Sea Of Reeds and then into the wilderness? Is it possible to close our eyes for just a moment and see the utter pandemonium and fear those people must have had to endure?

The giving of the Ten Commandments by the Lord to Moses and the receiving of them by the Israelites established what would become an unbroken chain of guidelines to civilization. This amazing group of God’s instructions has spread from this event and seeped down through the ages, and was subsequently adopted by many other religions and countless nations.

It is interesting to recall that this was just one of many instances of the Jewish people having to start over and reinvent themselves. Consider the courage that we Jews have had to demonstrate repeatedly in order to maintain ourselves as a people and a nation.

While not mentioned in the Parashah, it does remind us that we are encouraged to heal the world. It is wonderful to see the many varied ways there are for us to fulfill that mission. I believe we all grow when we try to find our own path to accomplish that. 
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B'shalach

1/26/2015

0 Comments

 
SUMMARY: 

  • The Children of Israel escape across the Sea of Reeds from Pharaoh and his army, who drown when God drives back the sea. (13:17-14:31)
  • Moses and the Israelites sing a song praising Adonai. (15:1-21)
  • In the wilderness, God provides the grumbling Israelites with quails and manna. God instructs the Israelites to gather and prepare on the sixth day food needed for Shabbat. (15:22-16:36)
  • The people complain about the lack of water. Moses hits a rock with his rod and brings forth water. (17:1-7)
  • Israel defeats Amalek, Israel's eternal enemy. God vows to blot out the memory of Amalek from the world. (17:8-16)
D'var Torah
by Jennifer Twitchell

From my heart I write this commentary.  I don’t claim to be a Judaic scholar in any way.  I simply wanted to share my thoughts on this Shabbat Shira, (Shabbat of Song), Exodus 13:17-17:16.

Music touches the lives of many people in different ways.  I’m a firm believer that music surrounds us everyday in all types of mediums, and it offers us a variety of ways to enhance our lives.

Shabbat Shira is a special Shabbat, one that should be celebrated with more song, music, and dance than in our usual service.

We need to raise our voices and let Hashem know that we are faithful and we do believe in his holiness.  Some people can express this in words, others, in dance, but I feel it most through song.  This Shabbat is about song and how these songs have changed me.

What amazes me when reading this passage is that when the Israelites were set free and told to go, Miriam had the forethought that there would be a time for exultation.  So, the women took timbrels and other instruments from their homes, and brought them with as they traveled through the desert toward the Sea of Reeds.  

Who does that?  You are finally told to leave and in haste, you think oh, let me get my timbrel? Why would that be an item you take?  You are free, so you grab the unleavened bread, your sandals, the kids and Go!  But Miriam did feel that the sound of her timbrel would be heard upon their escape from Egypt.

I’m sure you’ve played the game of “if you are stranded on a deserted island and you can only have 3 things, what would you take?”  Let’s go back in history and see what Miriam would take?  She brings an instrument and why?  In my opinion, she knows that her hope and faith in Hashem, would allow Moses to lead them out of Egypt, and they would no longer be enslaved, and that would be cause for celebration.

As it happened, the Israelites crossed the sea on dry land, “and Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dances.”  (Exodus 15:20)

Many of you I’m sure are familiar with the works of the beloved Debbie Friedman.  She wrote “Miriam’s Song,” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZdSEsZ8bMo) and the moment I heard it my life changed.  

“Miriam’s Song” is inspiring, uplifting, and just what I needed as I struggled with the challenges I was facing in my life.  My issues seemed petty compared to what Miriam went through, but I felt Miriam’s faith, hope, courage, and strength were in that music that Friedman sang.  Miriam believed there was light in the darkness, and I knew I needed to do the same.  Music can be quite powerful.  Miriam truly transformed who I am today.

Now, Miriam wasn’t the only one who sang of Hashem’s glory.  Moses sang:

“Who is like You among the powerful, O Lord? Who is like You, powerful in the holy place? Too awesome for praises, performing wonders!”

Mi-chamocha ba'elim Adonay mi kamocha ne'edar bakodesh noratehilot oseh-fele.

“Mi Chamocha” is a staple in our services.  It is a song of redemption, and our faith in Hashem.  The words give praise to the Lord that has brought us out of Egyptian bondage.

During the exodus, the Israelites questioned many times the validity of whether or not Moses (and Hashem) were truly leading them to their salvation or would it be to their deaths in the desert. Nevertheless, Hashem showed the Israelites in many ways that they would be free, never leaving them during this journey, showing them that his power was strong enough to overcome an army of Egyptians.  I say, “Todah to Hashem!”

This song has a true life of its own.  I Googled it and found so many hits on You Tube and other social media.  “Mi Chamocha” doesn’t just go with our Jewish services, there are hundreds of versions of “Mi Chamocha” that people are singing around the world.  I found a few favorites that just lit me up inside.  See what you think,

http://www.rickrecht.com/album/shabbat-alive-live/ (Rick Recht)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr7JZ36FTUY (Debbie Freidman)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Y-J6Ea3TI (A capella version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tknPYGGrQq8 (Prince of Egypt)

Music is a huge part of my faith. I feel it.  These are not just words to sing-along to; these are the words of my ancestors.  The very people who were faced with tragedy throughout history, but were triumphant in the end.  I am a Jew because they paved that road for me.  When I sing, I feel my ancestors, their pains and their victories. I hope that my voice will be heard and that Hashem will be listening.  Shabbat Shira reminds us each year to sing out the glory of Hashem.

I encourage you to listen with a different ear the next time you are at services.  See if you can feel the redemption and listen it not as a required part of our liturgy, but rather a song to remind us that our ancestors paved the road we now take.  Close your eyes and inhale the sounds of the song.  

Music will always be a strong part of my faith.  As I sit here now, I’m still hearing the sounds of the cello that I hear during Kol Nidre.  Again, the music doesn’t just go away when I break the fast, it is a part of me until I hear it again.  May you all enjoy Shabbat Shira and I thank you for allowing me an opportunity to share my thoughts.

Shabbat Shalom

 

0 Comments

Bo

1/18/2015

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SUMMARY: 
  • God sends the plagues of locusts and darkness upon Egypt and forewarns Moses about the final plague, the death of every Egyptian firstborn. Pharaoh still does not let the Israelites leave Egypt. (10:1-11:10)
  • God commands Moses and Aaron regarding the Passover festival. (12:1-27)
  • God enacts the final plague, striking down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt except those of the House of Israel. Pharaoh now allows the Israelites to leave. (12:29-42)
  • Speaking to Moses and Aaron, God repeats the commandments about Passover. (12:43-13:16)
D'var Torah
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

To gain insight into the unique leadership lesson of this week’s parsha, I often ask an audience to perform a thought-experiment. Imagine you are the leader of a people that has suffered exile for more than two centuries, and has been enslaved and oppressed. Now, after a series of miracles, it is about to go free. You assemble them and rise to address them. They are waiting expectantly for your words. This is a defining moment they will never forget. What will you speak about?

Most people answer: freedom. That was Abraham Lincoln’s decision in the Gettysburg Address when he invoked the memory of “a new nation, conceived in liberty,” and looked forward to “a new birth of freedom.” Some suggest that they would inspire the people by talking about the destination that lay ahead, the “land flowing with milk and honey.” Yet others say they would warn the people of the dangers and challenges that they would encounter on what Nelson Mandela called “the long walk to freedom.”

Any of these would have been the great speech of a great leader. Guided by God, Moses did none of these things. That is what made him a unique leader. If you examine the text in parshat Bo you will see that three times he reverted to the same theme: children, education and the distant future.

And when your children ask you, “What do you mean by this rite?” you shall say, “It is the passover sacrifice to the Lord, because He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians, but saved our houses.” (Ex. 12: 26-27)

And you shall explain to your child on that day, “It is because of what the Lord did for me when I went free from Egypt.” (Ex. 13:8)

And when, in time to come, your child asks you, saying, “What does this mean?” you shall say to him, “It was with a mighty hand that the Lord brought us out from Egypt, the house of bondage.” (Ex. 13: 14)

It is one of the most counter-intuitive acts in the history of leadership. Moses did not speak about today or tomorrow. He spoke about the distant future and the duty of parents to educate their children. He even hinted – as Jewish tradition understood – that we should encourage our children to ask questions, so that the handing on of the Jewish heritage would be not a matter of rote learning but of active dialogue between parents and children.

So Jews became the only people in history to predicate their very survival on education. The most sacred duty of parents was to teach their children. Pesach itself became an ongoing seminar in the handing on of memory. Judaism became the religion whose heroes were teachers and whose passion was study and the life of the mind. The Mesopotamians built ziggurats. The Egyptians built pyramids. The Greeks built the Parthenon. The Romans built the Coliseum. Jews built schools. That is why they alone, of all the civilizations of the ancient world are still alive and strong, still continuing their ancestors’ vocation, their heritage intact and undiminished.

Moses’ insight was profound. He knew that you cannot change the world by externalities alone, by monumental architecture, or armies and empires, or the use of force and power. How many empires have come and gone while the human condition remains untransformed and unredeemed?

There is only one way to change the world, and that is by education. You have to teach children the importance of justice, righteousness, kindness and compassion. You have to teach them that freedom can only be sustained by the laws and habits of self-restraint. You have continually to remind them of the lessons of history, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt,” because those who forget the bitterness of slavery eventually lose the commitment and courage to fight for freedom. And you have to empower children to ask, challenge and argue. You have to respect them if they are to respect the values you wish them to embrace.

This is a lesson most cultures still have not learned after more than three thousand years. Revolutions, protests and civil wars still take place, encouraging people to think that removing a tyrant or having a democratic election will end corruption, create freedom, and lead to justice and the rule of law – and still people are surprised and disappointed when it does not happen. All that happens is a change of faces in the corridors of power.

In one of the great speeches of the twentieth century, a distinguished American justice, Judge Learned Hand, said:

I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it.

What God taught Moses was that the real challenge does not lie in gaining freedom; it lies in sustaining it, keeping the spirit of liberty alive in the hearts of successive generations. That can only be done through a sustained process of education. Nor is this something that can be delegated away to teachers and schools. Some of it has to take place within the family, at home, and with the sacred obligation that comes from religious duty. No one ever saw this more clearly than Moses, and only because of his teachings have Jews and Judaism survived.

What makes leaders great is that they think ahead, worrying not about tomorrow but about next year, or the next decade, or the next generation. In one of his finest speeches Robert F. Kennedy spoke of the power of leaders to transform the world when they have a clear vision of a possible future:

Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills — against misery, against ignorance, or injustice and violence. Yet many of the world’s great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and 32 year old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. ‘Give me a place to stand,’ said Archimedes, ‘and I will move the world.’ These men moved the world, and so can we all.”

Visionary leadership forms the text and texture of Judaism. It was the book of Proverbs that said, “Without a vision [chazon] the people perish.” (Prov. 29: 18). That vision in the minds of the prophets was always of a long term future. God told Ezekiel that a prophet is a watchman, one who climbs to a high vantage-point and so can see the danger in the distance, before anyone else is aware of it at ground level (Ezek. 33: 1-6). The sages said, “Who is wise? One who sees the long-term consequences [ha-nolad].” Two of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century, Churchill and Ben Gurion, were also distinguished historians. Knowing the past, they could anticipate the future. They were like chess masters who, because they have studied thousands of games, recognise almost immediately the dangers and possibilities in any configuration of the pieces on the board. They know what will happen if you make this move or that.

If you want to be a great leader in any field, from Prime Minister to parent, it is essential to think long-term. Never choose the easy option because it is simple or fast or yields immediate satisfaction. You will pay a high price in the end.

Moses was the greatest leader because he thought further ahead than anyone else. He knew that real change in human behaviour is the work of many generations. Therefore we must place as our highest priority educating our children in our ideals so that what we begin they will continue until the world changes because we have changed. He knew that if you plan for a year, plant rice. If you plan for a decade, plant a tree. If you plan for posterity, educate a child. Moses’ lesson, thirty-three centuries old, is still compelling today.

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Va'eira

1/10/2015

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SUMMARY:
  • Despite God's message that they will be redeemed from slavery, the Israelites' spirits remain crushed. God instructs Moses and Aaron to deliver the Israelites from the land of Egypt. (6:2-13)
  • The genealogy of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and their descendants is recorded. (6:14-25)
  • Moses and Aaron perform a miracle with a snake and relate to Pharaoh God's message to let the Israelites leave Egypt. (7:8-13)
  • The first seven plagues occur. God hardens Pharaoh's heart, and Pharaoh rescinds each offer to let the Israelites go. (7:14-9:35)

D'var Torah
Mark Kaplan

I saw the new Ridley Scott version of “Exodus” a few weeks back.  I didn’t realize that watching the movie was going to tie into my D’var Torah.  Mind you, I didn’t hear a lisp, slur or other speech impediment come forth out of Christian Bale’s mouth, but that’s Hollywood.

As you look at the stories in the Torah, there is a reason that the story of Moses and Israelites has been put on celluloid a few times.  It truly is spectacular.  Here we have Moses, being directed by 
G-d to help free the Israelites and lead them to the promised land.  It’s an extra-large bucket of popcorn epic.  

What I had never realized before, digging deep into this parsha, is how crucial Aaron is in the whole story.  Not only does he speak for Moses; he actually is the one who helps to bring forth the first three plagues that G-d strikes against Pharaoh and the Egyptians.  I don’t remember big brother Aaron being such a big part of Cecil B. DeMille’s film of films, nor did I see it presented in that way in Ridley Scott’s newest creation.  There wasn’t even a TNT television film amongst all their old testament films 20 or so years ago.  Let’s face it, big brother Aaron has been slighted by the Hollywood elite.

I wonder what would of happened if big brother Aaron wasn’t around?  Would Moses have been able to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and to the Promised Land?  Would the plagues not have been initiated with such command without big brother helping to get it going?  

In some ways, the relationship between Moses and Aaron is almost as if G-d was trying to do a re-direct on brotherly relationships.  I mean, the first brotherly relationship in the Torah, that of Cain and Able, didn’t fare too well...and Moses’ grandfather was one of the brother’s who threw Joseph down a well and left him for dead.  In the madras and most movie versions, Moses and Ramses II grew up as “brothers” themselves and we know where that went.  Good times. 

There is a humbleness to Aaron.  He does what he does not for any great bravura or excitement, but out of true necessity.  Without Aaron, there is no departing Egypt.  He’s the unsung hero of the story.
0 Comments

Shemot

1/4/2015

4 Comments

 
SUMMARY: 
  • The new king of Egypt makes slaves of the Hebrews and orders their male children to be drowned in the Nile River. (1:1-22)
  • A Levite woman places her son, Moses, in a basket on the Nile, where he is found by the daughter of Pharaoh and raised in Pharaoh's house. (2:1-10)
  • Moses flees to Midian after killing an Egyptian. (2:11-15)
  • Moses marries the priest of Midian's daughter, Zipporah. They have a son named Gershom. (2:16-22)
  • God calls Moses from a burning bush and commissions him to free the Israelites from Egypt. (3:1-4:17)
  • Moses and Aaron request permission from Pharaoh for the Israelites to celebrate a festival in the wilderness. Pharaoh refuses and makes life even harder for the Israelites. (5:1-23)
D'var Torah
Erika Schwartz


For a mother, the prospect of sending your child away . . . knowing that you may never again lay eyes on that child . . . is horrifying.  Particularly if the act is to save the child’s life, the question must still linger “Would my child be safer with me or is there a better chance for survival if I give up my baby?”  What an awful choice!

During the Holocaust when the Germans were rapidly applying their final solution to the Jews of Hungary, my grandmother had to face just such a choice.  Her daughter, my mother, had been living with her ever since my mother became pregnant with me.  My father was in a labor camp so my mother left their Budapest apartment to be with her mother many hundreds of miles away while she awaited my birth.

Rumors had been circulating about Auschwitz and what might be happening there but the Hungarian Jews weren’t sure that these rumors were true.  They couldn’t fathom that these rumors could possibly be true.  It was too awful to imagine.

In the early Spring of 1944 the ghettos were established in Hungary.  The neighborhood in which my grandmother lived was ghettoized.  They were trapped but no one knew for certain what was going to happen.  I was born in that ghetto in April of 1944.

Although many Hungarian Jews didn’t believe the rumors, some did.  In particular, many of the men in the labor camps were beginning to believe that the stories were true and that Hungary’s Jews were in imminent mortal danger.  My father heard of my birth, somehow escaped from the labor camp and made his way to the small town in which we lived.  He brought with him papers to show to the authorities that proved our “official” address was in Budapest.  The Germans were very organized and wanted all Jews ghettoized according to their “official address”.  For some reason, my father believed that my mother and I would be safer in Budapest.  (His assumption was miraculous because pretty much the only Hungarian Jews who survived were the ones in Budapest.)

He did eventually get what he wanted and was granted papers to allow the three of us to take the train to Budapest.  My mother balked.  Knowing that my father had already made the decision to go back to the labor camp after he secured us safely in Budapest, my mother was extremely reluctant to be left alone with a new baby during these awful times.  She wanted to stay with her mother.

My grandmother trusted my father’s instincts and literally shoved my mother out the door.  She firmly told her that it was my mother’s obligation to take her baby and to go with her husband.  My grandmother would NOT allow my mother to stay.

What a horror that must have been for my grandmother.  Did she know that she would never see her daughter or baby granddaughter again? 

When Moses’ mother, Jochebed, placed him in the basket and left her baby among the reeds by the bank of the Nile, she didn’t know if he would live or die.  There must have been other choices available to her.  Just as during the Holocaust there were righteous gentiles, perhaps she could have searched for a righteous Egyptian woman to take her baby and save him.  She may have even considered the possibility of keeping him hidden so that she herself could protect him.  Did she so trust in G-d that she was certain her baby would be saved?  Did G-d instruct her to do this in order to save the life of Moses?  After all, consider the destiny that awaited him.  Would there even be a Jewish people today had Moses not lived?

There are some scholars that believe that Jochebed, knowing the role that Moses would play in the future of the Jewish people, “cast” him into the water in order to fulfill the prophecy of the Pharoah’s astrologers.  They had predicted that water would be the downfall of the one who would save the Jews and Jochebed hoped that, by casting Moses into the water, the astrologers would consider the prophecy fulfilled and the decree against the Jewish boys would be annulled.

We don’t know the answer to any of these questions.  We can only assume that Jochebed didn’t know if her baby would live or die.  She was making a decision that she believed would give him the best chance at life.

My grandmother didn’t know what lay ahead.  When she pushed my mother, carrying her one week old baby, out the door and firmly closed that door, she couldn’t have known that it was forever.

Jochebed was blessed with the knowledge that her baby survived and was even able to participate in his upbringing for a number of years.  My grandmother died in the gas chamber at Auschwitz with her other three grandchildren three weeks after casting out her daughter and infant granddaughter.  I wish she had known that the daughter and baby granddaughter she cast out did survive (and were the only survivors, as the entire family eventually perished).  From these two lone survivors, my grandmother now has three grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild and two great-great-great-grandchildren. We’re a close and loving family and I know that my grandmother is kvelling.
4 Comments

Vayechi

12/27/2014

1 Comment

 
SUMMARY: 
  • Jacob blesses his grandchildren Ephraim and Manasseh. (48:1-20)
  • Jacob's twelve sons gather around his deathbed, and each receives an evaluation and a prediction of his future. (49:1-33)
  • Joseph mourns his father's death and has Jacob embalmed. Jacob is buried in Hebron in the cave of the field of the Machpelah in the land of Canaan. (50:1-14)
  • Joseph assures his concerned brothers that he has forgiven them and promises to care for them and their families. (50:15-21)
  • Just before he dies, Joseph tells his brothers that God will return them to the Land that God promised to the patriarchs. The Children of Israel promise Joseph that they will take his bones with them when they leave Egypt. (50:22-26)
D'var Torah
Ronnie Nathan

Jacob is 147 years old.  He is on his deathbed.  While we have had hints of his gift of prophesy in previous parshat, in this parsha it is front and center.  After extracting an oath from Joseph that he be buried in the tomb of Machpelah in Eretz Yisrael with his forebears, Jacob essentially adopts Joseph’s 2 sons as his own and blesses them.  He then proceeds to bless his 11 other sons individually.  These are mixed blessings to say the least.  In fact, in several cases, they read more like admonitions than blessings!   They include cryptic prophesies regarding the roles and struggles of the tribes, each tribe sired by a different son, long into the future.  He predicts his descendants will grow from a family into a collection of related tribes and finally, after a long and trying exile, into a unified nation.  He predicts the end of days, the most direct reference to a messianic era thus far in Torah, but his power of prophesy fails him when he attempts to reveal when it will actually occur.

Jacob is unique among our patriarchs.  We first meet father Abraham at age 75 and of his 175 years the Torah chronicles only approximately 1/3 of his life.  Isaac is the least known, but Torah focuses closely on Jacob from his unique birth until his death in this, the final and shortest Genesis parsha.  Of the 12 parshat in Genesis, Jacob is a main protagonist in 7 of the 10 that are concerned with our patriarchs.  He is the only patriarch to father only Jews and of the 3, his life is the most troubled and filled with personal tragedy.  In fact his happiest most trouble free days were the last 17 years of his life spent in exile in Egypt.

The birthright of the 1st son is an important motif throughout Tanakh.  In Vayechi, more in the breach than its observance, it becomes a consuming theme.  In earlier parshat Jacob famously tricked Esau out of his birthright and unique blessing.  On his deathbed he denies both Reuben and Manasseh their 1st born status and variously confers it on Ephraim, Joseph and Judah.  Jacob’s own life & his deathbed blessings personify this ironic biblical pattern.  Despite the institutionalized primacy of the 1st born, neither Abel, nor any of the patriarchs, nor Jacob’s favored off springs, nor Moses, nor Solomon were 1st  borns.  Right up to the end, by crossing his hands to bless Joseph’s sons, Jacob displays the guile he used to achieve his own 1st born status at Esau’s expense, confirming perhaps that he is the most complex personality among our Torah heroes.

In many ways his life is a metaphor and microcosm of the entire historic experience of the Jewish people, especially for American Jews.  This too is dramatized in Vayechi.  Certainly, the most poignant and puzzling moment in the parsha, perhaps in all of Genesis, is when Jacob apparently fails to recognize Ephraim & Manasseh.  He declares to Joseph, “And now your 2 sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before [emphasis mine] my coming to you in Egypt shall be mine!” (Genesis 48:5).  Only a few lines later “Israel saw Joseph’s sons and said, ‘Who are these?’” (Genesis 48:8)  What is the reader to make of this?  The image conjured up in our minds’ eye is of an old man on his deathbed blessing 2 small boys.  In fact, this is exactly how most of the great Renaissance paintings of this drama depict it.  But these are not 2 small boys.  They are grown men!  In dress and appearance they look exactly like Egyptian aristocracy!  Based on the chronology of earlier parshat, Manasseh is at least in his 30s and Jacob has been interacting with them for the last 17 years!  For me this is more like a Chasidic zaida seeing his adult grandsons in muscle shirts with fresh tattoos decorating their forearms.  He knows who they are, but he cannot believe this is what they have become.  For Jacob, his adoption of these men as his own and his special blessings represent his dying struggle against the assimilation of his descendants, as does his demand to be buried in Eretz Yisrael.

Jacob’s entire life has been 1 long unmitigated struggle in a hostile world until he settles in the wealthiest, most advanced and most decadent society of his age.  Here he finally finds peace, acceptance, recognition, happiness and prosperity.  But there is a price to pay as he also acknowledges the threat of assimilation and his final acts, as he is dying, is to reinforce the unique holy mission of the nation he fathered and its eternal connection to its homeland, Eretz Yisrael.
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Vayigash

12/24/2014

1 Comment

 

SUMMARY: 

  • Judah pleads with Joseph to free Benjamin and offers himself as a replacement. (44:18-34)
  • Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and forgives them for selling him into slavery. (45:1-15)
  • Although the famine still rages, Pharaoh invites Joseph's family to "live off the fat of the land." (45:16-24)
  • Jacob learns that Joseph is still alive and, with God's blessing, goes to Egypt. (45:25-46:33)
  • Pharaoh permits Joseph's family to settle in Goshen. Pharaoh then meets with Jacob. (47:1-12)
  • With the famine increasing, Joseph designs a plan for the Egyptians to trade their livestock and land for food. The Israelites thrive in Egypt. (47:13-27)

D'var Torah
Brian Block

Last week, weather.com posted an interactive map with California rainfall since the year 2000 and challenged the reader to find the pattern.  A quick glance showed an approximate seven-year cycle, two years of above average rainfall followed by about five years of near drought.  If this cycle holds, our reservoirs could refill by 2016.

But will we have a Joseph for the five years likely to follow?

With no term limits, a two-year election cycle, and the routine of making decisions on a calendar year, seven year cycles are often neglected.  Without a Joseph to direct us to re-open a costly desalination plant in Santa Barbara, or create new means of harvesting water, during times of plenty, we will be unprepared for the five dry years to come. One doesn’t need to dream to see the future: one just needs to keep his eyes open, and have the courage to be honest.  Future planning often carries as much credibility as listening to the youngest child.  And no one wants to listen to either.

I can identify with Joseph, as a youngest child married to a youngest child. My wife has it much worse than I, with five of her six older brothers living locally.  We have had to accept the fact, in their eyes; we were never quite as wise, competent and experienced as the more brothers who came before us. While always given a voice and a vote, they never seemed to carry the same weight as those closer in age with more shared experiences.  My own personal experiences as a teacher also support the belief that one’s position in the family has as much, or more to do with shaping a personality than any other factor.

So, my impression of Joseph in this week’s Torah portion differs greatly from those of the great rabbis (who traditionally are the oldest sibling): Joseph wanted to gloat.

Last week’s Torah portion showed Joseph to be the original Wall Street commodity trader.  To fill the storehouse with grain during the years of plenty, a one-fifth tax would be imposed on all citizens.  Could you imagine any ruler today imposing a 20% in times of plenty (Actually, this IS the exact rationale of Keynesian Economics.)  Pharaoh knew it had to be done, so he did what any shrewd ruler would do… he made someone else collect it: Joseph!  If it worked, Pharaoh would be a genius; if it didn’t, Pharaoh would have Joseph’s head.  When the famine came, those in need of Pharaoh’s stores first gave up their livestock, and then their lands in exchange for food to eat.  Joseph had made Pharaoh rich, largely due to his ability to increase the gap between the wealthy and the working class, and Joseph got a percentage of the proceeds.  So, when Joseph’s brothers return, it was easy to forgive because he achieved far greater success without their guidance and wisdom. It’s easy to forgive when you’ve already been proven right.  In fact, he sets them up in Goshen, a pleasant area of Egypt to tend their flocks, which not so coincidentally will afford them a view of their brother in the palace, a nice daily reminder of his superior position and ability.  Not surprisingly, for the rest of their lives they feel uncomfortable in his presence based on their past actions.

Yeah, I can relate.

Today, Debra and I are considered pretty successful parents.  In the past two years, both of our children were admitted to a top 20 University in the nation.  One was valedictorian at Hart, the other salutatorian. One is considering running for Berkeley University Senate and maintains strong ties with the Jewish Federation in Los Angeles, the other has written four articles for the Daily Pennsylvanian in her first semester and given a news beat for her second.  And of course, both have maintained excellent grades.  I didn’t happen by chance, but there is no instant formula. The work we did to help them reach this state was performed many years before, much like Joseph’s storehouses, or our present need to stockpile water.

But the 18 ½ years it took to get there often felt like Joseph’s 20 years in prison, due to the advice of our older brothers. Based on limited observations at large family functions, several of them honestly believed that almost everything we were doing to raise our children was absolutely wrong.  Suggestions that we use harsher discipline, send them to special schools, medicate them were frequently offered, and when ignored, we were seen as pompous and obstinate, much like Joseph.   I (usually) patiently waited through the nearly two decades of dreading family gatherings watching my children’s behavior being constantly examined under a microscope.

Now, at family gatherings, I feel like Joseph in the palace. It IS good to be the king, or even the king’s right hand man.  Our brothers who were most vocal about our lack of parenting skills now speak to me with the same emotions Joseph’s brothers used when set up in Goshen, always afraid of having their past actions and words pointed out to them.  Vindication feels really good, and it should, since it is often the result of hard work in the face of opposition. (I imagine many of our own temple members feel the same every time someone says the words “Albert Einstein Academy”). And can you imagine how good we would all feel if we actually DID spend money to have more reservoirs for the next drought?  We would feel intelligent, successful, vindicated for all we gave up.

Just like Joseph.

1 Comment

Vayeshev

12/7/2014

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SUMMARY:
  • Jacob is shown to favor his son Joseph, whom the other brothers resent. Joseph has dreams of grandeur. (Genesis 37:1-11)
  • After Joseph's brothers had gone to tend the flocks in Shechem, Jacob sends Joseph to report on them. The brothers decide against murdering Joseph but instead sell him into slavery. After he is shown Joseph's coat of many colors, which had been dipped in the blood of a kid, Jacob is led to believe that Joseph has been killed by a beast. (Genesis 37:12-35)
  • Tamar successively marries two of Judah's sons, each of whom dies. Judah does not permit her levirate marriage to his youngest son. She deceives Judah into impregnating her. (Genesis 38:1-30)
  • God is with Joseph in Egypt until the wife of his master, Potiphar, accuses him of rape, whereupon Joseph is imprisoned. (Genesis 39:1-40:23)
Dvar Torah
Dr. Carol Ochs

This portion can be read as the first of the Joseph stories or the culmination of the sibling rivalry that has plagued the families of Genesis. But taking a perspective that joins the dreams of Joseph to the story of Tamar, we can read this as a portion about free will, foreknowledge, and responsibility.

We first meet Joseph not as one who interprets dreams of others, but as one who has dreams of his own. The question that the story raises for us—and to some extent for his father, Jacob—is whether Joseph’s dreams represent his personal ambitions or should be seen as a thin parting of the veil that hides most of us from the greater drama of which we are a part.

Sigmund Freud was fascinated with the biblical Joseph. “It will be noticed that the name Joseph plays a great part in my dreams. My own ego finds it very easy to hide itself behind people of that name, since Joseph was the name of a man famous in the Bible as an interpreter of dreams” (Sigmund Freud, Standard Edition , vol. V, p. 484n). Freud expanded our understanding of dreams, yet he was restricted to viewing dreams only within the context of the empirical world and the world of emotions. He rejected the view that dreams were chiefly concerned with the future and an ability to fortell it—something he dismisses as “a remnant of the old prophetic significance of dreams” (ibid., vol. IV, p. 97). His metaphysics, while enriching our view of our own minds, has constricted our view of reality. He does not consider that we may have access to a larger vision transcending our personal wishes and desires.

Jewish tradition informed Freud in his eagerness to preserve our sense of responsibility and free will. In biblical times, divination of any sort already was frowned upon. However, there is a third concept that lies between the concepts of free will and determinism—that of destiny. Free will suggests that we and the other forces in this world are the sole determinants of both the meaning and the value of our actions. Determinism suggests that what “is” could not have been otherwise, that is, we are simply living in a prescripted drama. Destiny functions very differently: it neither controls us nor ignores us. Rather, it invites us to live a life beyond the narrow concept of self-interest.


A cell in your bloodstream could live out its life span delivering oxygen and taking away waste. But if it could become conscious, it could become aware of the larger whole, your body, of which it is a part. Similarly, we can live our lives doing what we do, never reflecting on any larger whole in which we might be participating. But if the veil were lifted, as it was for Joseph and Tamar, our lives would be imbued with meaning and dignity. We are not coerced or tricked into reflecting on our destiny, rather, we are invited. And with this invitation comes the possibility of moving from an “accidental” life to one that is in harmony with the goodness of the original creation.

In this portion, we meet Tamar, daughter-in-law of Judah and exemplary foremother of Reform Judaism. With clarity of moral vision and at great personal risk, she seduces Judah and becomes the foremother of the line of David (and the Messiah). She, too, had a dream, and she performed the action that made it a reality.

The story of Judah and Tamar is inserted at this point in the narrative to justify our becoming the Jewish people instead of Reubenites. Judah, shown identifying signet-seal, staff, and cord by his daughter-in-law, recognizes his error, changes course, and thereby becomes a fit leader for the Jewish people. We are not asked to be perfect, but to fulfill our destiny; we must be able to admit our mistakes and change course.

Potiphar’s wife is introduced not merely to tempt and thereby test Joseph nor to be the proximate cause of his being thrown into the dungeon. She also serves to exemplify a person who cannot see beyond her own immediate desires. Joseph is not a moral exemplar for her but a temptation. Once Joseph has recognized his own destiny, he easily could have said to Potiphar’s wife what he later says to his brothers, “Though you intended me harm, God intended it for good, in order to accomplish what is now the case, to keep alive a numerous people” (Genesis 50:20).

As Reform Jews we are taught to take responsibility for our choices and actions. We are guided by tradition, but not excused by it. We must perform the right action even when there is no precedent for our choice.
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Vayishlach

11/29/2014

1 Comment

 
SUMMARY: 
  • Jacob prepares to meet Esau. He wrestles with a "man," who changes Jacob's name to Israel. (32:4-33)
  • Jacob and Esau meet and part peacefully, each going his separate way. (33:1-17)
  • Dinah is raped by Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, who was chief of the country. Jacob's sons Simeon and Levi take revenge by murdering all the males of Shechem, and Jacob's other sons join them in plundering the city. (34:1-31)
  • Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin and is buried in Ephrah, which is present-day Bethlehem. (35:16-21)
  • Isaac dies and is buried in Hebron. Jacob's and Esau's progeny are listed. (35:22-36:43)
D'var Torah
by Glori Stulman


As many of you may or may not realize, this is the first time that I am writing a D’Var Torah.  I did not celebrate a Bat Mitzvah,nor am I Jewish, but I have studied the Torah, and my husband is Jewish, my children have been raised Jewish, and I am very involved with our wonderful Temple Beth Ami.  

I selected this portion, Vayishlach, because it falls on my birth date.  I thought to myself, I can do this, and then got a little nervous when I read that this parashah (portion) has the most verses of any weekly Torah portion in the book of Genesis.  Go figure.  

While doing the research for my D’var Torah, I decided to read both the Jewish and Christian bible translations, and see if there are any differences. I found that they have the same perspective.  I’m not surprised, as the lessons that were taught to me from the Old Testament of the Christian bible, were the same as my children have learned from the Jewish Torah.  I’ve decided to focus my D’var Torah on the story of Dina, a story that is not for children.

Genesis 34:1-7, it tells us how Dina, Jacob and Leah’s only daughter as far as we know, had gone out to visit the women of the land.  Some may say that Dina, who was very young and probably naive, was tricked into going out on her own.  While out, Shechem, son of the ruler Hamor the Hivite, had noticed Dina and had taken and violated her.  However, it was not clear if the act was consensual.  The verse goes on to say that Shechem then became fond of Dina and asked his father Hamorto “Get him the girl Dina to be his wife”.  When Dina’s brothers (Jacob’s sons), found out that their sister was raped by Shechem, they were furious and filled with grief.  This was considered a disgrace to their sister and family.  Shechem begged of Jacob and the brothers “Let me find favor is your eyes and I will give you whatever you ask.  Only give me the girl Dina as my wife”.  

Did Dina’s brothers and father feel guilty that they were not there to protect their only sister and daughter?   They were very angry with Shechem.  How dare he violate their sister.  How did Dina feel about it?  Did Dina get herself into this situation by being in the wrong place at the wrong time?  The chapter never says how she felt.  Maybe Dina felt it was safer to be silent.  Did she fear being shunned or punished?  As with some third world countries, the woman may be stoned to death for having a relationship out of marriage.

In Genesis 34:13-24, the brothers deceitfully tell Shechem that they cannot give their sister to a man who is not circumcised.  Only if Shechem and all the men agree to be circumcised, than Jacobs sons would be willing to give them their sister and the other women as wives.  Their proposal seemed good to Hamorand his son Shechem.  So they wasted no time, and every male in the city was circumcised.  

However, the brother’s of Dina had an ulterior motive.  Three days after the circumcision, when all the men were suffering in pain, Dina’s brothers went into the city and killed every male.  They took all of the Hivites livestock and flocks, women and children.   Jacob was upset that his son’s caused so much trouble for him.  The chapter ends with the son’s replying “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”

Was the retribution to harsh?  In modern times, Dina’s brothers would be arrested, convicted and punished according to the law.  Although I feel that many people would have fleeting thoughts of taking the law into their own hands, especially if it were one of their loved ones that were the victim.  I also wondered why Jacob was so concerned about the “trouble” his son’s caused to him (Jacob), and didn’t seem be more concerned about what had happened to his only daughter Dina.  Was this because women were possibly considered second class citizens back then?

When I was in my early 20’s, a close friend of mine was assaulted like Dina.  Susan (not her real name), felt shamed and demoralized by this horrific act against her.  She has kept her silence, and has only told a few people about what happened to her long ago.  Was the fear of being shunned the reason Susan chose not to speak about what had happened to her?  In general, society has taught women to be silent, instead of speaking out about certain things such as rape.   Being silent just feels safe.  It seems, as I read the story of Dina, nothing has changed in 4000 years.  

And what about our beloved TV dad, Bill Cosby?  I have to admit that even I was skeptical at first with the allegations that he drugged and raped several women over the years.  A part of me still wants to believe that the women were after something.  Again, this leads to one of the reasons why women keep rape silent.  As not to be judged or blamed.  Did these women also feel that it was safer to be silent?

We need to encourage and teach our daughters, sisters, mothers to speak out against this type of act.  They need to realize that they are not to be blamed if they are violated.  Our sons need to be brought up as caring and respectful men.  And everyone needs to learn that only “Yes”, means “Yes."

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    A d'var Torah is an essay based on the parashah.

    Divrei Torah (plural of d'var Torah) are sometimes offered instead of a sermon during a worship service, to set a tone and a context at the opening of a synagogue board or committee meeting, or to place personal reflection within a Jewish context.

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