Rabbi Shimon and the Cave

Yesterday I talked about the story of Rabbi Shimon and the cave. I wanted to talk about that a little.

When he first came out of the cave and he saw some Jews hard at work in the field, and they were so shocked that someone could waste their life on anything other than Torah study. "How could anyone forsake eternal life by indulging in mundane, worldly pursuits?" he said. Rabbi Shimon then cast his gaze upon the farmers -- and they were immediately vaporized, due to the power of Rabbi Shimon's spiritual stature.

At that point, a voice from heaven proclaimed: "My world is not to be destroyed! Return to your cave!"

The question is why did G-d send him back into the cave? Rabbi Shimon’s problem seemed to be that he had studied so much that he was on to high a spiritual level. So why send him back to study more? It would seem that the better solution would have been to send him down to Eilat to “chill” on the beach for a while.

To understand this, let’s look at an unrelated story in the Talmud. The story is told of Rabbi Hillel who had 80 students. The lowest of which was Yochanan ben Zachi (who we know became the leading Rabbi of his time) who was said to have known the entire Torah, Mishna and every bit of Jewish thinking ever taught. The greatest of the students was said to have known all of that, and when he studied, he did it with such intensity that if a bird would fly overhead, it would be consumed by fire.

About 150 years ago, a Chasidic story is told of a student asking his master about this passage about Rabbi Hillel’s students. The student asked his master a simple question. If the student studied with such intensity that a bird would be consumed by fire, how great was Rabbi Hillel?

The answer was that Rabbi Hillel was so great that if a bird would fly overhead while he was studying, absolutely nothing would happen. (I could say that I’m on that level, but that would be missing the point). The lesson here is simple. To be good, you need to know the information, to be great you need intensity, to me a master you need to be able to control that intensity.

So that’s why Rabbi Shimon was send back into the cave, to learn to master his intensity.

Lag B’Omer – Kabalistic Meaning

For the Kabalah movement, Lag B’Omer is a very important holiday. It’s the day that the secrets of the Zohar (the major book of Kabbalah) were revieled.

This story centers around Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. He was sentenced to death for speaking badly about the Romans. So he went into hiding with his son.

The two of them hid in a cave for 12 years, spending the entire time learning Torah. After 12 years, they heard that the decree for their death had been lifted, so the came out of the cave. The saw some Jews hard at work in the field, and they were so shocked that someone could waste their life on anything other than Torah study. "How could anyone forsake eternal life by indulging in mundane, worldly pursuits?" he said. Rabbi Shimon then cast his gaze upon the farmers -- and they were immediately vaporized, due to the power of Rabbi Shimon's spiritual stature.

At that point, a voice from heaven proclaimed: "My world is not to be destroyed! Return to your cave!"

Rabbi Shimon and his son returned to the cave, in order to learn better how to control their spiritual powers. At the end of one year, a voice from heaven announced: "Emerge from your cave!"

The date that Rabbi Shimon emerged from the cave (both times) was Lag B’Omer.
Rabbi Shimon went on to become the greatest Torah teacher of his generation. When he reached the final day of his life, he called together his students and told them to pay close attention.

The Zohar (3:291b) describes the scene:

Rabbi Shimon spent the entire day in a prophetic stream of consciousness, revealing the deepest mystical secrets of Torah. He told his students: "Until now, I have held the secrets close to my heart. But now, before I die, I wish to reveal all."

These teachings formed the basis of the Zhoar. The date of Rabbi Shimon’s death, was Lag B’Omer.

Lag B’Omer

Today is Lag B’Omer, which literally means the 33rd day of the Omer. The Omer are the 50 days that we count between Passover and Shavout.

There are two interpretations of the holiday; I’ll briefly discuss them both.

First, there is the traditional meaning of the holiday. Back in the 2nd century CD (around the time of the Bar Kochba revolt), the major Rabbi was Rabbi Avikah. He was such a prolific teacher, that he has 24,000 students.

We’re told that between Passover and Lag B’Omer, these students started dieing of an unknown plague. Sources tell us that this was a spiritual plague brought about because the students did not treat each other with respect. The Plague stopped on Lag B’Omer, so we celebrate it as a holiday.

It’s because of this same story that we observe the first 32 days of the Omer as days of mourning.

The question is why do we have a special holiday for these students? There have been many cases in Jewish history where many people died – even many Torah scholars? Why is this one special?

The answer is that these 24,000 students made up the bulk of the Torah scholars in the world at that time. Had they all died of the plague, Torah would have been lost forever.

Parahsat Emor – Of Man and Beast

This weeks Torah portion starts with various laws relating to the Kohenim (the Priests). Laws about them not touching dead bodies, expect those of close relatives. Laws about whom they can marry, who can eat from the food allotted for the priests… Then we get a listing of all the Holidays of the Jewish year. We close with a curious story about a man who blasphemed G-d’s name with a curse and a discussion of what the punishment should be. It is in this story that we get the famous verse “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”.

“An Eye for an Eye” obviously doesn’t mean that you should be punished in the same manner of your crime. If you break a man’s arm, the punishment is not to have your arm broken. The principle is ‘proportional punishment” In the ancient world it was common for rules to execute people for trivial crimes. G-d makes it clear that practice is unacceptable. The punishment must fit the crime.

What I wanted to talk about is one line in this discussion about proportional punishment. We read “And one who injures an animal shall pay for it. And one who strikes a person shall be put to death.”[Leviticus 24:21]. Judaism is well known for its laws about kindness to animals. We are not to muzzle a work animal in the field; it should be able to eat from your crops as it harvests them. We can’t use animals of equal strength to pull the same cart, since it makes the weaker animal work too hard. We have to unload all our animals before we load other ones. The well being of animals is very important in Judaism. But it is important to note, that while animals are important and to be treated kindly, they are not human. That’s why we see a less severe punishment for striking an animal compared to striking a human.

The Torah is very clear, while animals are creations of G-d, they are on an lower level than Humans. Animal rights groups (like PETA) try to tell us that animals are humans are on the same level, and anything we would not do to a fellow human being, we should not do to animals. This is ridiculous. Animals and humans are not on the same level, and there is no way to raise an animal to the level of humans (since animals do not have a Neshama – human soul). The only way for PETA to achieve its goal of having humans and animals on the same level, is lo lower ourselves to the level of animals. That is just what they do.

By displaying billboards equating chickens in pens to Jews in Nazi concentration camps, PETA does not humanize chickens; they dehumanize humans (more specifically Jews). While I think PETA desire to improve the treatment of animals is noble, and I support it fully, they need to take a closer look at their methods to make sure that people are getting the right message.

Shabbat Shalom

Would you like fries with that…

Kabalah teaches that; “Food is to the body as wisdom is to the soul.” On the surface, this sounds like a nice catch phrase, but when you think it through, it provides some important rules for life.

Everybody wants wisdom, but obtaining it is not easy. It requires time and hard work. Very often we hear students (who supposedly are trying to seek wisdom) say “I studied all day yesterday, I don’t have to learn today.” But if we apply that to the food analogy, we see how ridiculous a statement it is. Have you ever heard anyone say, “I ate yesterday, I don’t have to eat today.” Just like the body needs to constantly ingest food to stay healthy, the soul needs to constant ingest wisdom to remain vibrant.

The Kabalah takes this further – there is a counterpart in wisdom to every type of food. It says that bread is the most basic of food; it’s the rules for living – Halacha. Meat is the questions and answers. It’s digesting wisdom. Then after you’ve finished eating, comes the wine, which represents mysticism. It’s the appreciation and meaning of the wisdom.

Just like the order for eating is bread, then meat, then wine. The order of learning is Mishna (which is a description of the laws), then Talmud (debating the laws to get to the core), then Zohar (mysticism). And just like you don’t drink wine on an empty stomach, one shouldn’t jump into the Zohar without first obtaining a firm basis in Mishna and Talmud. In fact, one is not suppose to start learning Kabalah until they are 40 years old and have mastered the more basic levels of Jewish thought.

If you don’t understand the basics of how to love your fellow man, what’s driving you, what is greatness, what is free will, how to make decisions, and how do you know what you know; all the things that one would learn by studying Mishna and Talmud; then when you get into mysticism your soul will respond to the wisom as your body would respond to wine on an empty stomach.

Zionism

The founders of Zionism stated their goal as the desire to have a state where “Jewish criminals are arrested by Jewish police officers, tried before Jewish judges and incarcerated in a Jewish prison.” Basically, they wanted to have a nation like any other nation.

It has occurred to me that this goal is off the mark. The desire should be to have a state where there are no Jewish criminals, no need for Jewish police offices or Judges or prisons. We should be setting our sights higher than being a nation like any other nation – our goal should be to be “A light onto the nations”. Many years ago, the Jews brought to the world many important concepts.

“Certainly, the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place. Humanity might have eventually stumbled upon all the Jewish insights. But we cannot be sure. All the great conceptual discoveries of the human intellect seem obvious and inescapable once they had been revealed, but it requires a special genius to formulate them for the first time. The Jews had this gift. To them we owe the idea of equality before the law, both divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of human person; of the individual conscience and so a personal redemption; of collective conscience and so of social responsibility; of peace as an abstract ideal and love as the foundation of justice, and many other items which constitute the basic moral furniture of the human mind. Without Jews it might have been a much emptier place." (Paul Johnson, Christian historian, author of A History of the Jews and A History of Christianity)

Our goal for the modern State of Israel should be no less lofty.

Parahat Acharei Mot – Kedoshim

Another double portion this week. The portion read as a law text; basically it listing off law after law. It starts off with a description of the duties of the High Priest on Yom Kippur, then the prohibition of offering a sacrifice outside of the Temple. Israel is then warned against imitating the ways of the nations, including religious and sexual immorality. It gives of long list of whose “nakedness” you cannot uncover. Then comes the famous, “You shall not lie down with a male, as with a woman: this is an abomination” [Lev 18:22]. Finally there are a series of laws about how to make a Holy society.

There is certainly a lot of laws I could talk about in this portion. But instead, I wanted to talk about the order of the laws. After the first section, we read law after law about sexual practices, sacrifices, keeping kosher, gossip, stealing, lying… But before all that we read about the duties of the High Priest on Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur is a day when we can obtain atonement for our sins. Before G-d tells us the details of all these laws, he wants us to know regardless of your sin, atonement is possible. Had the order been reversed, we would have seem something like this: G-d gives the people the laws, and they complain “G-d, there is no way that we can do all of this.’ G-d then responds “OK, fine I’ll give you a method to atone when you sin.” That is a very different story that the one we get here. G-d is telling us up front, “Look, I know there is no way that you can be perfect and keep all of these laws. But the point is that you should strive for it. When you sin, you can atone and continue striving for perfection.”

It’s instructive to note, that the Hebrew word that is generally translated as sin, actually means “mistake” or “missing the target”. So in Jewish consciousness, a sin is not the terrible thing that the Christians would have you believe, it simply means you made a mistake, you wee aiming for perfection and missed the mark. In this context, Yom Kippur is a way to realign your sights, and get you back on the right path.

Shabbat Shalom

Happy Birthday Israel

Today is Yom Ha’Atzmaut – Israel’s Independence Day.

In the aftermath of the Shoa (the Holocaust), the UN voted to partition the piece of land then known as Palestine (the name was given to the land by the Romans when they expelled the Jews in the 2nd century); one part for a Jewish State and one part for an Arab state. The official date given by the United Nations in their partition vote for the creation of the two new entities was May 15th, 1948.

Thus, May 14th was to be the last day of the British Mandate. At 4 p.m., the British lowered their flag and immediately the Jews raised their own.
It was a flag designed in 1897 by the First Zionist Congress. It was white (the color of newness and purity), and it had two blue stripes (the color of heaven) like the stripes of a tallit, the prayer shawl, which symbolized the transmission of Jewish tradition. In its center was the Star of David.

Thus on May 14, 1948 at 4:00 p.m., Hay Iyar, the 5th of Iyar, Israel declared itself a state.

After 2,000 years, the land of Israel was once more in the hands of the Jews.

David Ben Gurion read the Declaration of Independence over the radio:

"The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here the spiritual, religious and national identity was formed. Here they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote and gave the Bible to the world...

"Exiled from Palestine, the Jewish people remained faithful to it in all the countries of the dispersion, never ceasing to pray and hope for their return and restoration of their national freedom.

"Accordingly we, the members of the National Council met together in solemn assembly today and by virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish people and with the support of the resolution of the General of the United Nations, hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine to be called Israel...

"We offer peace and amity to all neighboring states and their peoples and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all...

"With trust in the Rock of Israel, we set our hands to this declaration at this session of the Provisional State Council in the city of Tel Aviv on Sabbath Eve, 5th Iyar 5708, 14th day of May 1948."

Everyone was dancing in the streets. But not for long.

Almost immediately five Arab countries declared war and Egypt bombed Tel Aviv.

Little Israel, which had virtually no heavy artillery, no tanks, no airplanes, had to defend itself against Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq! That's 600,000 Jews against 45 million Arabs, while the United Nations did nothing. Despite a cease fire the next year, the war of independence never really ended, since the Arab world has constantly sought to “drive the Zionist entity into the sea”.

This 56-year war has had had times of hope and times of distress. Currently, we are in a time of great distress. We are fighting for our very existence against an enemy who wants to kill every one of us. In these difficult times, Jews around the world wonder how to respond. The Chief Rabbi of Great Britain gives this advice.

At the very heart of Judaism is the word emunah. Emunah is often translated as faith, but that is not what it means. It means faithfulness, loyalty, being there for someone else when they need you and not walking away when times are hard. That is what Israel needs of us, the Jews of the Diaspora, at this time. It does not ask us to support this government, that Prime Minister, this party, that policy. About these things we are entitled to disagree. What Israel needs of us right now is loyalty. Yes, there are times when we can be critics. But not when Israel is in distress. Then we must show support. "As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you and in Jerusalem you will find comfort."

There are many ways to bring comfort: by defending Israel's case, by writing to the press or to the local MP, by phoning friends and relatives in Israel to let them know we are with them, or simply by prayer, our oldest and greatest source of strength. Let us show the people of Israel that they are not alone; that we are with them. And let us remember Isaiah's faith that God, who brought His people home, would one day give them peace. No people need it more. No people have earned it more.

Hashem oz le-amo yiten - May God give strength to His people in this hour of trial.

Hashem yevarech et amo vashalom - And may He give them the one blessing they cherished more than any other. Peace, speedily in our days, Amen.

In Memory of the Fallen

Today, the day before we celebrate the birth of the State of Israel, is Yom Ha’Zikaron – Israel’s remembrance day for all those civilians, soldiers and security personnel who have been killed defending the State of Israel from her enemies.

20,196 servicemen and women who have fallen in defence of the state since November 1947.

In the past year 184 members of the Israel Police, IDF, Border Police, Prisons Service, General Security Service, and other organizations were killed in the service of the state.

This does not include the 1000’s of innocent civilians who have been killed in the 10’s of thousands of terrorist attacks that Israel has inured since it’s inceptions.

They gave their lives so that the people of Israel could live - "Am Yisrael Chai".

Let us never forget their sacrifice, and let not allow their sacrifice to be in vain.

Parashat Tazria

This weeks Torah reading is a double portion of Tazria and Metzora. The reason we sometimes have a double portion is that the entire Torah has 54 portions. Which is the number of weeks in a leap year. So in leap years, we read one a week. During non leap years, we only have 50 weeks, so we need to double up on 4 portions to get it all read in one year. This is one of those doubling up weeks.

This week we read about “tzora”, which is generally translated as leprosy, but all commentators agree that it’s not actually talking about the physical disease of leprosy, but a spiritual disease with symptoms that resemble leprosy.

The commentary tells us that tzora is cased by improper use of speech (called Lashon Hara – or Evil Speak - basically gossip). With this in mind, we can understand why we are told to go to the high priest if we experience the symptoms of tzora, instead of a doctor. The doctor can tell us the the symptoms are consistent with leprosy, but the priest is the one who can tell us is the problem is a physical one or a spiritual one.

Tzroa is really a huge gift. There are many aspects of our spiritual life that we have no idea if we are doing properly. G-d doesn’t send us an evaluation telling us if we pray properly, if we get the most out of Shabbos, but G-d does tell us when we are harming our souls through speech. Why is speech so important? Because it can e so destructive.

The Torah tells us, that when we gossip, we gossip we harm three people, the speaker, the listener, and the one being gossiped about. The story is told of a man who engages in gossip. After doing so, he feels so terrible that he goes to his Rabbi and asks how he can fix what he did. The Rabbi tells him to go and get a feather pillow and bring it to the Rabbi. Once he has that, the Rabbi tells him to rip open the pillow and release all the feathers into the wind. The man does as he is told, and then asks the Rabbi how this will help. The Rabbi answers, now go and collect all the feathers, it is only one you have them that you can truly fix what you did by gossip.

That’s the thing about speech, once the words are out of your mouth, their like the feathers of the pillow, there is no way to get them back.

Next time we’re in a situation that there is gossip; lets try to stop it to save us from having to collect the feathers.

Shabbat Shalom.

Counting the Omer

Starting on the 2nd day of Passover, there is a 50 days period, which brings us to the holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The date of Shavuot is never mentioned in the Torah, it’s just recorded as 50 days after Passover.

The Torah commands us to “count 50 days”, known as the counting of the Omer. So every night in the evening prayers, we say a special blessing and then “count the days”. “This is day one of the Omer”, “This is day 10, which is 1 week and 2 days of the Omer”.

Counting the days leading up to a big event is not uncommon (and what event could be bigger than encountering G-d, as we did at Mount Sinai). The difference is that we generally count down to a bid day; “5 more days until my birthday”, “6 more days until we get our new car”. But with the Omer, we count up, adding one each day until we reach day 50. What can we learn from this?

The sages teach, that there are 50 levels of holiness. While in Egypt, the Jews slipped all the way down to the 2nd lowest level (had we slipped all the way to the lowest level, we’re told that we would not have been redeemed from Egypt). Being on such a low level, it would have been impossible for us to receive the Torah. We needed to elevate ourselves to the highest level of holiness.

Each day we peel away another layer of gunk revealing the original, pure soul that we each possess. So we’re not counting down the days to the big event; we’re counting how many layers we’ve peeled away, we’re counting how many stairs on the staircase to the heavens we’re climbed.

This is just as applicable to us today, as it was when we left Egypt. We all have spiritual growth that we can do. A major impediment to growth is the feeling of being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task. But Judaism is not all-or-nothing. If I cannot have 1,000 gold coins, does that mean I should not strive to have even one?! The key to growth is to know what direction you want to go in, and be sure to stay on the path. The Kabbalists say that spiritual growth is "two steps forward and one step back." We will inevitably have setbacks. What's important is that we're heading in the right direction.

Jewish holiness is about striving to be closer to G-d. So it doesn’t matter which stair you’re on, what matters is which direction you are heading.

Ideally, at the end of the Omer process, we will have experienced a journey of self-improvement and be ready to receive the Torah. The holiday we're working toward is called "Shavuot," which means "weeks." The name itself tells us that without the weeks of preparation beforehand, there is no Shavuot. So don't just count the Omer -- make the Omer count.

When G-d Knocks

On the intermediate Sabbath of Passover, we read ‘The Song of Songs’, which is a love poem written by King Solomon. In chapter 5 we read:

"I was asleep but my heart was awake.
A voice! My beloved was knocking:
'Open to me, my sister, my darling,
My dove, my perfect one!
For my head is drenched with dew,
My locks with the damp of the night.'

"I have taken off my dress,
How can I put it on again?
I have washed my feet,
How can I dirty them again?

"I arose to open to my beloved;
But my beloved had turned away and had gone!
I searched for him but I did not find him;
I called him but he did not answer me.

On this surface, ‘Song of Songs” is a love story between a man and woman. In this section, we read the man knocking at the door after the woman had gone to bed. The woman doesn’t want to get out of bed, so leave the man knocking. Eventually she decides to answer the door, but it’s too late. The man had left.

All commentaries agree, that “Song of Songs” is not a love story between man and woman; it’s between G-d and his people. So in this context, the above excerpt is about man not answering G-d when he calls.

Most of us would agree, that if G-d came knocking at your door, you would run to greet him. But how many of us really do? We hear a knock at our spiritual door, and we’re too tired to go answer it. We hear something that peaks our interest, but we’re too tired to study it. We experience something that could be considered miraculous, but we’re content to call it coincidence, so that we don’t have to question our beliefs.

My process of teshuva (return) was started when I decided to go see who was knocking at my door during a very difficult time in my life. Most of the past 2 years has been spent answering the door. The question is, how am I going to react when I see who is on the other side?

Parashat – Smini

Last week, the Torah portion leaves the regular cycle to read a special passage for Passover. This week we’re back to the narrative. We pick up the story with the dedication ceremony for the Mishkan. And then go on to some of the laws of kashrus.

On the eighth (and final) day of the dedication, after Aaron brought the prescribed korbonot, tragedy strikes. Aarons two sons are suddenly killed when they try to bring their own offering. This has caused many Rabbis to ask two questions, “what did they do wrong” and ‘why did that warrant such a harsh penalty?” I’ll offer a few of the traditional explanations, and then I’ll try to add something of my own.

This story happens right after we’re told about the laws against a priest performing a service while drunk. So some commentaries suggest that Aaron’s sons brought their offering while drunk. Others suggest that the problem was their offering wasn’t asked for. But what’s wrong with that? Here’s my understanding.

This issue is related to one I discussed a few weeks ago, when I asked why making the golden calf was so terrible, while building the golden cherubs (as part of the cover for the arc) was good. The answer is based on the concept of “avodah zarah” – strange worship. Bringing an offering that G-d did not ask for is worshiping him in ways G-d didn’t set out. In today’s thinking, this is often viewed as a good thing, we hear statements like “we should all relate to G-d in a way that is meaningful to us.” But that notion is not in line with traditional jewish thinking (although we do hear it from Jewish sources).

Man deciding how he’s going to worship G-d, puts man at the centre of the G-d / Man relationship. Jewish thinking says that G-d should be at the centre. G-d took the time to specify how we are to worship him. G-d knows the human condition far better than we do. It’s presumptuous of us to think we can improve on G-d instructions. That’s what Aaron’s sons did wrong. They thought to improve on G-d’s laws.

But then there’s the other side of the question, why was this a capital offence? The answer is one that we need to keep in mind when we look at the mistakes of any Biblical leader. “According to your level of knowledge is your level of responsibility. According to your level of responsibility is your level of accountability.” Aaron’s sons were priests, they should have known better. The greater you are, the bigger the impact of your decisions, therefore you must be held to an extremely high standard. As we see time and time again in the Bible, the mistakes of people in positions of power have huge consequences. Indeed, we read Moses explaining this very idea to Aaron a few verses later. The irony is that Moses ends up paying a huge price (arguably higher than the death penalty) for a seemingly minor mistake (as we’ll see in coming weeks).

Shabbat Shalom

Passover Recap

With Passover having ended last night, I wanted to comment on how easy I found the Passover diet this year. Part of that can be explained by the fact that the only part about Passover eating I tend to find difficult is packing lunches, and this year I only had to pack a lunch 2 times (thanks to the Yom Tov’s, weekends, and the secular holiday).

But the other part is more spiritual, much in the same vein as why I found the fast on Yom Kippur to be so easy this past year. In past years I was focused on the limitations of Passover. What I can’t eat. This year, I looked at it differently. I was focused on “why” rather than the ‘how”. I asked myself the question, “why do I have to be careful what I eat?” The answer that I gave myself was that if it wasn’t for G-d acting to bring me out of Egypt, I would not be here writing this blog, I’d be building store cities for whatever Pharaoh was in power today (I’ll assume that with millions of Jewish slaves, Egypt would never have been concurred). So I owe everything to what G-d did at this time of year, 3500 years ago. As an act of gratitude and remembrance, G-d asks us to alter our diet for a week. In that light is seems quite selfish to spend the week complaining.

The key part to the answer, is the word “me’. We have to understand the phrase in the Haggadah that in each generation we have to look at ourselves as if we came out of Egypt. Once you are able to really relate to that sentence (which I was able to do with much learning), giving up bread for a week is a piece of cake (sorry, I had to get that pun in somewhere)

The world of the Messiah

Nachmanides (the RamBan), in a commentary about the Messiah, states that the coming of the Messiah is not just a political thing. Living in a world free of war, where the lamb lies with the lion, does not mean the Messiah is here.

He explains that when good things happen we say a blessing “Blessed is G-d, who is good and does good.” When bad things happen we say “Blessed is G-d, the true Judge.” We know the good and bad all come from G-d, and even if we don’t really believe it at the time that a bad thing happens, we know that G-d is the true Judge, and there is a reason for this bad thing.

RamBan says that when the Messiah comes, we’ll be able to look back on all these ‘bad’ things and say, “Blessed is G-d, who is good and does good.”. We will be able to look at all these “bad” things and see why they are really “good” things.

If we look back on the destruction of the Temple, and the Holocaust and say “I see why these things needed to happen”, then the Messiah has not come yet. When we are able to look back on them and say “Blessed is G-d, who is good and does good”, then we are living in the Messianic age.

Shabbat Shalom.

Pasach, Matzoh, Marror…

In the Haggadah, we read that we are obliged to talk about three things; Pasach (the Passover sacrifice), matzoh (unleavened bread), and marror (bitter herbs). We read that that the reason we eat these is to remind us of slavery, and that when we left Egypt, we didn’t have time to let our bread rise. The end of chapter 12 of Exodus is given as the sorce.

The problem is that the beginning of chapter 12 of Exodus has a different story. It says that on the 1st of Nissan, G-d told Moses (to tell the people) that on the 14th of the month “they shall eat the flesh, roasted over the fire, and unleavened cakes; with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” [Exodus [12:8] So 2 weeks before the “first Sedar” G-d told the people to eat pesach, matzoh and marror. So obviously it had nothing to do with not having time for the bread to rise… they had 2 weeks to make it!

The explanation is quite profound. Remember that this happens the night before the exodus. Just as we eat these things to remind us of slavery, so to, did they eat them to remind them of slavery. But why do they need to be reminded? They were still slaves.

Even though they were physically still slaves (they would not leave Egypt until the next day), they had complete faith in G-d and they knew that they would be leaving the next day. So spiritually, they were already free, and needed to be reminded of what it was like to be a slave.

A thought for your Sedar…

We generally ask on Passover, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” Before we answer that question with the reading of the Haggadah, I’d like to ask a different question. “Why should this Passover be different from all other Passovers”?

The answer, is because no holiday should leave us the same as we were when it began. Jewish holidays are not parties or mere celebrations; they are opportunities for growth. And that takes preparation. But on Passover, we are so busy physically preparing for the holiday, with all the cleaning, shopping and cooking, that we tend to not take the time to prepare ourselves for growth.

So lets prepare.

On Passover, every Jew is obligated to see himself as if he personally had gone out of Egypt. This strains the imaginative powers of even the most imaginative of us. Back-breaking labor, massive bricks, the crack of the whip of the Egyptian taskmaster, the humiliations and torture of slavery are all so remote from our experience that, try as we may, the empirical sense of being enslaved eludes us. How, then, can each of us personally experience liberation from slavery?

I propose, that seeing yourself as if you had personally gone out of Egypt, is not about liberation, it’s about freedom. But what is freedom?

In the western world, freedom is generally defined as “the ability to do what ever you want.” But Israel did not obtain liberation in order to go party in the desert. The purpose of the exodus was to receive the Torah at Mount Sinai. Equating Torah with freedom is surprising. The 613 commandments of the Torah are often regarded as 613 restrictions. How can they be synonymous with freedom?

The answer can be seen by observing the elections held in countries ruled by dictators. All the accoutrements of free elections are there, such as voting booths and secret ballots. But if only one candidate is running, the election is clearly not "free." Freedom requires choice.

When God gave the Jewish people the Torah, He gave us 613 choices. Observe Shabbat or not. Love your neighbor or not. Gossip or not. Unlike Pharaoh, God, as you might have noticed, brooks a great deal of disobedience. That's why a person who violates a Divine commandment is not struck by lightening. Immediate punishment would limit our freedom of choice. The ability to make moral choices is a Divine gift. It's the only true freedom humans have.

Freedom is not about having no one to tell you what to do; it’s about being able to choose who to listen to. “Blessed is the servant of G-d, who is not the servant of Pharaoh.”

Only in the moral realm do you have free choice. When your inner tape says to give tit for tat, to respond to an insult with an even more lethal barb, you have the power to change the tape. You have the power to ask yourself, "Is this who I really want to be?" The very act of choosing between your knee-jerk response and the Divine imperative to be kind is freedom.

Each of us at every moment is heeding the voice of Pharaoh or the voice of God. The voice of Pharaoh commands us to do what is instinctive, automatic, reflexive. "Doing what comes naturally," is ultimate bondage because we exercise no power of choice.

The voice of God, on the other hand, offers an alternative to instinct. For example, by commanding us not to take revenge [Lev. 19:18], God in effect is saying: "Your instinct is to hurt those who hurt you. By commanding you to act otherwise, I'm offering you the ability to choose a different course."

The exercise of choice is the essence of freedom. Forget the taskmaster's whip and the massive bricks. Each of us is enslaved every time we act on automatic pilot, every time we react according to our instinctual programming.
To experience liberation this Passover, we need only to break the bonds of instinct, to learn to deliberate and decide what we shall do or what we shall say, based on who we want to become -- a slave of Pharaoh or a servant of God.

Parashat Tzav – Passover Cleaning

Fittingly, just before the festival of Passover, we have a tie in from the weekly Torah portion.

Many people look at the extreme measures that we are suppose to go to in order to kosherize out homes for Passover (boiling metal pots, using blow torches on others, not being able to kosherize earth ware…), and think that some Rabbi made up these rules. But in fact they have basis in the Torah, as we read this week.

The passage is talking about the meat from a sacrifice. If it isn’t eaten within a certain time limit, it, and the vessel it’s in, become unclean. The passage details how to purify the vessels again. It talks about a clay pot has to be broken, since you can not purify it, and that a copper pot needs to be either boiled, or immersed in fire until it becomes red hot. The ancient commentaries talk about the reasons for this (food particles getting in the pores of the vessels).

The same rules and reasons apply today when you want to make a pot kosher for Passover, or convert it from milk to meat, or just make a pot kosher.

I’ll need to read this section closely, since I want to kosherize all my kitchen stuff when I move into my new house, so we can have a strictly kosher kitchen.

Parashat Tzav – Guilt

Despite the common link between Jewish mothers ad guilt, Judaism, as a religion, specifically tries to avoid guilt and shame. There are laws in Judaism that making a person blush out of shame (or embarrassment) is as if you spilt their blood.

This week, we continue to read about the bringing of korbanot (sacrifices) in the temple. We read about the free will offering, that one can bring at any time, for any reason, and the sin offering, that one brings when they sinned without knowing it, then realized it later (e.g. your forget that it’s Shabbat and you spend money).

For every offering, there is a different spot in the courtyard of the Temple that you were suppose to bring the offering to. The Kohen (priest) would meet you there and take the offering, and sacrifice it on the alter. However, the free will offering and sin offering are both brought to the same spot.

The explanation is that if you had a specific spot to bring a sin offering, then everyone would see you go there and know you sinned. This way, no one (other than you, and the Kohen) knows if you sinned, or are bringing a free will offering.

Even in sin, Judaism is a compassionate religion.

Passover and Freedom

The holiday of Passover is often described as the holiday of Freedom.

In the western world, freedom is often defined as the ability to do whatever you like whenever you like, without some oppressive authority telling you what to do. But that’s not how Judaism defines freedom.

G-d did not take us out of Egypt so that we could party in the desert. We were taken out of Egypt (notice I said we, not our ancient ancestors) in order that we would be able to stand at Mount Sinai and receive the Torah.

The Torah’s definition of freedom is best described by the famous Talmudic verse “Praised be the servant of G-d who is not the servant of Pharaoh.” Some would describe this situation as freedom being a means to and end, I would take a different position.

I would say that liberation from Egypt is a means to an end, but freedom IS receiving the Torah. That is, we were not truly free until we received the Torah.

If we view elections held in countries ruled by dictators, we see all the elements of free elections; voting booths, secret ballots. But if there is only one name on the ballot, the election is not truly free. Most would agree that choice is a requirement for freedom, but I would say that freedom IS choice.

Before the Torah, we were slaves to our instinct; our only real option was to respond to a situation based on instinct. With the giving of the Torah, we were giving another option, instead of choosing instinct; we can choose the moral path given in the Torah. We now have a choice. Respond to an insult with an even more lethal barb, or respond with kindness. Gossip, or don’t. Keep kosher, or don’t.

The 613 mitzvot are not restrictions on our freedom. They provide us with choice, thus they are our freedom.

A joke for your Seder table:

A Jewish man is waiting in line to be knighted by the Queen of England. He is supposed to kneel and recite a sentence in Latin.

When it comes his turn, the Queen taps him on the shoulders with the sword -- and in the panic of excitement he forgets the Latin line. Thinking quickly, he recites the only other line he knows in a foreign language, which he remembers from the Passover Seder: "Mah nishtana ha-lailah ha-zeh mi-kol ha-leilot."

The puzzled Queen turns to her advisor and asks, "Why is this knight different from all other knights?"

Passover and History

A recent survey indicates that the Passover Sedar as recently replaces Yom Kippur as the most observed Jewish ritual. More Jews participate in a Sedar (to one extent or another) than fast on Yom Kippur.

How come?

In modern society, the idea of a conscience is going out of style. The idea that people walk around all year thinking that they are sinning, and need one day a year to clear their slate by fasting is not as popular as it once was. Today, we’re told that we can’t live every single day of the year (minus one) thinking that we’re sinning.

The new in thing is to tell yourself that you weren’t born yesterday, that you’ve got ancestors.

Ideally, it would be nice if all the holidays were kept by as many Jews who mark Passover, they do have one thing right. It is Passover, more than any other holiday, which ties us to our past. And it’s that tie to the past that has sustained us for all these years.

That’s probably one of the reasons why we recite Yiskor, the prayer for the memory of the departed, on the last day of Passover.

Comments?

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Parashat Vayikra – Why animal offerings?

This weeks Torah portion presents a lengthy, detailed description of bringing korbanot in the Temple. The Hebrew work ‘korban’ is generally translated as offering or sacrifice. Neither of these is accurate.

“Sacrifice” implies giving up something. It implies that we are saying to G-d, ‘G-d, look how much I love you, instead of selling my finest lamb to pay for my physical needs, I’m giving it to you.”

“Offering” implies giving a gift to G-d. It smacks of paganism and implies that we’re trying to ‘buy off” G-d to get ourselves out of a bind, or to ask for a favour.

Neither of these come close to the meaning of the word “korban’; the word means ‘to come near”, as in to come closer to G-d. When we sin, we move away from G-d, and to move us closer, we bring korbanot Bringing the korban is a way to repair our relationship with G-d.

The korbanot are for our benefit, not G-d’s. The idea that G-d, the creator of the universe, needs, or even wants, us to bring him a nice roast lamb, or a wine or spice offering is blasphemous. G-d is not a physical being G-d doesn’t need to eat or drink. G-d doesn’t need to smell the burning incense. The korbanot are for us; we take the animals and elevate them onto the altar of God. This is a personal declaration of intent to elevate our material resources to a higher level - to direct it toward the service of God.

Today, without a Temple, we cannot bring korbanot. But by understanding the purpose of them (to bring us closer to G-d), we see that there are many ways that we can repair our relationship with G-d after we harm it with sin.

The story is told of Rabbi Yochanan walking on the outskirts of Jerusalem and Rabbi Yehoshua following him. When they saw the ruins of the Beit Hamikdash (Holy Temple), Rabbi Yehoshua said, "Woe to us. The place that atoned for sins is destroyed."
"My son," said Rabbi Yochanan, "We still have another means of atonement that is equal to the Beit Hamikdash : Chesed (acts of lovingkindness). As it is stated, 'Lovingkindness is what I want, and not sacrifices' (Hoshaia 6:6)." (Avos D'Reb Noson, ch. 4).
Atonement depends upon the individual regretting his actions, making amends, asking for forgiveness and verbally asking the Almighty to accept his plea for forgiveness. Perhaps doing acts of loving kindness aid in focusing an individual upon his larger relationship to the world and to the Almighty, thus placing him in a mode where he is able to examine mistakes and repair them.

Shabbat Shalom.

Freedom vs. Happiness

In a recent lecture, Rabbi Kahn made an interesting point. He was talking about the difference between the English name of the second book of the Torah, “Exodus”, and the name the Rambam uses ‘Redemption”. I’ve talked about that before. He contends that both have to do with freedom, but Exodus is just a physical freedom from Egypt, while “Redemption” implies that real freedom requires an existential component (which we got at Sinai and through the Mishkan).

He draws an interesting parallel as way of example; he claims that in the history of the world, there has probably never been a time or place when people have had as much freedom as they do in some places today (like America). Does America being so free mean that people are really liberated?

In terms of existential pain, it seems to be a very sad state of affairs. You’ve probably never had a country with as much mental illness as you have today (by mental illness he means people in incredible amounts of psychological pain). People today have experience their Exodus, but not yet their redemption. They have physical freedom, but have no purpose for it. People are too free that they don’t know what they’re living for.

Physically being free without having some sort of a mandate can be a cruel form of torture. That’s why G-d didn’t only take the Jews out of Egypt, but also brought them to Mount Sinai and gave them their mandate, because without that they would not have true freedom.

Order of the Books of the Torah

Chronologically, the book of Leviticus seems to be out of place. Exodus ends with the dedication of the Mishkan in the first month of the second year. Skip ahead one book to Numbers, and it picks up in the second month of the second year (and later backtracks to the first month of the second year). In terms of narrating a story, Numbers should come directly after Exodus; but in a thematic sense it’s quite clear that Leviticus follows Exodus. So it seems clear that G-d has chosen theme over chronology.

This tells us something about the purpose of the Torah. Its primary purpose is not as a book of history (although it certainly contains history), it’s primarily a book of law. The narrative is used to bind everything together, but the goal of the Torah is to transmit laws. There are several spots where events are out of order, and when we come across them we need to ask ourselves ‘why did the transmission of the laws in this section require the narrative to be out of order?”

Keeping this in mind will be a great help in understanding the Torah on a deeper level.

The Book of Vayikra (Leviticus)

This week we start reading the book of Vayikra.

When children are first introduced to the world of Torah, their learning is supposed to start with the book of Vayikra. This seems like a strange choice. The book deals with the laws of korbanot - sacrifices or offerings. These laws do not apply to day (since we no longer have a temple) and their purpose is a matter of much dispute among the most learned of adults, not to mention the fact the teaching children about animal sacrifices could be disturbing. If we, as adults, have trouble relating to this book, why would we teach it to children as an introduction to Torah? Why not start with the relatable stories of Genesis or Exodus?

The midrash addresses this issue and responds “Children are pure and sacrifices are pure. Let the pure occupy themselves with the pure.” (This, by the way, is in stark contrast to the Christian idea of “Original Sin”.) If we think about it, what impression would children get if their first introduction to the Torah would be the book of Genesis? The book starts with Adam and Eve disobeying the one commandment G-d gave them. Then moves on to fratricide (Cane killing Able), and continues to vicious sibling rivalries (Jacob and Essau, Joseph and his brothers.). Exodus is not much better. The book of Bamidbar (Numbers) could be called the book of complaining. Whatever the issue, the Jews were complaining and therefore had to wander aimlessly for forty years until a new generation arose, one free from the slave mentality of their parents. In Devarim (Deuteronomy) Moses exhorts the Jews not to repeat the mistakes of the past, which would further delay their entry into the land of Israel. While these books are all full of great examples of moral strength, an impressionable child might be left with a skewed picture of what Judaism teaches.

Teaching about the korbanot properly can instill in the child some of the most basic messages of Judaism. Rabbi Kelman says:

I would suggest that the most important message of the korbanot - especially as it relates to children - is the importance of sincerity. Time and time again the prophets protested the bringing of sacrifices by the Jewish people. They emphasized that the mere bringing of sacrifices was unacceptable, even hated by G-d (see Isiah 1:11-14). Atonement was not possible unless accompanied by a sincere desire to improve. Otherwise it is just a meaningless unwanted ritual. A true korban made one closer to G-d and had lasting impact on the person. We live in a world full of insincerity. The inculcation of this trait must begin at a tender age so at least our children can lead the way to sincere worship of G-d

Parashat Vayakhel – P’Kudei

This week, finish the book of Exodus by reading about the completion of the Mishkan. "In the first month of the second year on the first of the month the tabernacle was erected" [40:2]. Interestingly, it was exactly one year earlier that G-d said to Moses “this month shall be the head month to you. It shall be the first month of the year" [12:1]. So the year Jewish calendar starts with both the physical redemption from Egypt and the spiritual redemption obtained by building the Mishkan both happened on the same day, the first of Nisan, the first day of the Jewish year.

Following the creation of the calendar (which is the first commandment given to the Nation of Israel), we get a series of commandments relating to Passover. In all of these commandments, the timing is very important. The law is not to refrain form eating bread for a week, it to refrain from eating bread on a specific week. Doing it a week early or late is not fulfilling the commandment. It’s not only in the stock market that timing is everything!

Rabbi Kelman says “Each one of us in our personal lives can easily fall prey to doing the right thing at the wrong time. Waiting too long to apologize, spending more time at home just as the kids are starting to move out, taking on religious stringency’s before one is ready, or even davening shacharit before dawn. We must learn to sanctify time by using it appropriately. It is the pathway to redemption.”

Shabbat Shalom!

What’s in a name?

This week we finish reading the second book of the Torah, the book of Exodus. Maimonides refers to this book as “The Book of the Redemption”. Where as in the modern world titles are often selected to increase sales, Biblically speaking, the titles that our sages give to these books can provide valuable insight into the book itself.

The Christian’s titled the book Exodus, because the exodus from Egypt is the main event of the book. The Jewish title of “Redemption” seems to be referring to the same event (the redemption is being freed from Egypt), but if the main point of the book is the exodus from Egypt, why doesn’t the book end somewhere around chapter 16, when the Jews leave Egypt, or cross the Sea of Reeds, or get the 10 commandments. Why does it go on for 20 more chapters?

The key is that in Jewish consciousness, leaving Egypt wasn’t the goal; it was a means to an end. The end was the building of the Mishkan (the portable temple), and through the Mishkan bringing G-d presence into the world. The redemption wasn’t complete until we read in the closing lines of the book “And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Mishkan.” It’s not until the Mishkan is complete and G-d presence enters the world that the book can come to a close.

So in a few weeks when Jews all over the world gather on Passover to remember the Exodus, let’s think about why we were brought out of Egypt and what freedom really means to the Jewish people (something that’ll talk about as we get closer to Passover).

Parahat Ki Tasi

I’ve talked a little about the events of this weeks Torah portion already. The key event this week is the incident of the Golden Calf. This event is probably the one that has generated the most commentary in the entire bible. I can’t possibly do it justice, but what I want to do is talk about one issue and one meta issue that this story brings up.

First a brief run down of events, remember that the text of the Torah is not always if chronological order. The Jewish nation left Egypt, crossed the Sea of Reeds and is camped at the foot of Mount Sinai. G-d speaks to the entire Jewish nation and gives them the 10 Commandments. Moses is told to go up the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights so that G-d can give him the entire Torah. Moses does so and G-d gives him all 613 commandments, and the principles of how to apply them – the Oral Law (the written torah is dictated to Moses over the next 40 years in the desert). The Jewish Nation miscounts the 40 days and thinks they are up without Moses returning; they think he has died. The “mixed multitudes’ build an idol. Moses comes down after the 40 days are up and sees what has happened. He smashes the tablets, crushes the golden calf and deals with the problem. Once that is done he goes back up the mountain to plead with G-d to have mercy on the people. G-d has mercy; Moses engraves the new set of tablets and comes back down. The day that Moses comes back down is Yom Kippur. It’s the first time that the entire nation pleaded with G-d for mercy and forgiveness. That’s why we do the same every year.

So the obvious question to ask is how, after just hearing G-d seek directly to you and tell you not to engage in idolatry, how can you go and build an idol? The answer has 2 parts, what did they build, and who build it.

Don’t think for a second that after experiencing what the people just did that they would make an idol to replace G-d. What they were doing is making a replacement for Moses. When the people looked at Moses, they could feel G-d’s presence. Now that they thought Moses was dead, they were afraid they would loose that feeling. They wanted to build something that would show them that G-d was still with them. So they were not worshiping another G-d, but they did make a graven image, which was expectedly forbidden in the 10 Commandments, hence the punishment.

The other part of the answer is who built it? The text tells us that it was the “mixed multitudes’. What does that mean. The Midrash tells us that after the 10 plagues, when the Jews left Egypt, many Egyptians were so impressed by what they saw, that they joined the Jews and went out of Egypt with them. Moses accepted them as ‘converts”. Various sources tell us that there were as many as 600,000 of them. The problem was that they grew up as worshiping idols, and that’s how they knew how to relate to G-d. So when the going got tough, some of them reverted partially back to their old ways.

The midrashim tell us that the number of people who were actively involved in the building and worshiping of the Golden Calf numbered about 3000. Which is 1/10th of 1% of the total group camped at the mountain. Most of the Jews had nothing to do with it. Their sin was that they did nothing to stop it.

That brings us to the meta issue that I wanted to talk about. If it was only 3000 Egyptian converts who were involved, why does the text of the Torah put the blame on all of Israel? The concept is that of collective punishment. The Jewish people are all parts of a whole (that’s why at the start of this week’s portion, Moses takes a census by collecting a half shekel - not a full shekel - from each person). And this whole has a collective mission in this world. This responsibility is to bring the truth of one G-d to the world. Because of this awesome mission, we have to be accountable for our fellow Jews. To borrow fro an earlier Torah portion; “Am I my brother’s keeper”? For the Jews the answer is yes.

This is an idea that we as a people exhibit to this very day. Every time a Jew, anywhere in the world, does anything wrong, we all fell a little bit of sadness. Because we know that we are all parts of one body. This, of course, relates back to my Kippah discussion of a few days ago.

Shabbat Shalom.

The Jewish Theological Seminary

I went to an information session last night from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) to hear about the rabbinical school. I’ve never really said this publicly before, it’s always been an interest of mine to become a Rabbi. I don’t know if I’d want to be a full time pulpit Rabbi, but there are other things that a Rabbi can do; only about half the graduates from JTS go on to take full time pulpit positions.

People are eventually going to realize that this whole computer industry is really just a fad, and I need to plan for the day when people realize that the abacus is really a much better tool. OK, maybe not. But the truth is, as much as I enjoy the computer industry, especially human factors, it just doesn’t engage me the same way that studying a page of Talmud does.

Would I ‘retire’ from the high tech field and work full time as a Rabbi? Would I stay in the tech field and do the Rabbi work part time? I don’t know. But I could see that 10 years from now I might want to think about making a career change to something more fulfilling. That would make me a Rabbi by 45 (it’s a 5 year program), and could work the rest of my career in that field.

The session really rekindled my latent interest in the Rabbinate. This will certainly be something to think about.

To Kippah or Not To Kippah

When one starts the process of becoming a Bal Tesuvah (someone who was raised non religious, and decides to return to traditional Judaism), there are two paths one can take. You can outwardly transform yourself overnight and immediately start keeping all the observances, even though they will be meaningless to you at first, and then grow into the meaning. Or you can take it slow, and learn about the observances and start doing them at the same time.

I’m on the second path, mostly because I never really made a conscious decision to do this; it has been a natural consequence of my learning. But I’ve now reached that point where I need to make a decision about the boldest and most visually apparent Jewish observance. Do I start to wear a kippah at all times?

Wearing a kippah makes a bold statement. You’re identifying yourself to the world as an observant Jew. There are responsibilities that come with that. Suddenly you actions will reflect on the entire Jewish people. I know that I’m not quite ready for that yet. I still will go and eat at a non-kosher restaurant (but eat vegetarian), I’m not completely Shommer Shabbas (but getting there). And to see a kippah wearing Jew eating at the Pickle Barrel is not the right message that I want to send.

But on the other side, I’m running into difficulties in my tesuvah because I’m not wearing kippah. Even those who don’t feel there is a religious obligation to cover your head at all times (and in fact the requirement to do so is just a custom, not a commandment) agree that it is a requirement to wear one when performing rituals. I have been trying to perform more of the regular rituals of the day; saying blessings before and after eating, ritually washing before eating bread, saying the afternoon prayers… but you can’t do these without a kippah. So I need to keep a kippah with me at all times, and pop it on and off when needed. I wonder if that had something to do with why wearing it at all times became the custom – it’s just easier.

While I continue to struggle with this issue, I suspect that it’s just a matter of time before I start to proudly wear a kippah at all times. There are certainly social implications that go with all that, so I’m sure I’ll talk about this more when I’m closer to making that decision.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

(This post is based on an article by Rabbi Benjamin Belch)

This is really the ultimate theological question. It’s one that has troubled all the great Jewish thinkers, including the greatest of all, Moses. In this week’s Torah Portion, Moses asks this question to The One Who Knows The Answer.

At first glance the passage appears cryptic, but even if you don’t understand it, it one of those passages that you know is meaningful.

Here’s the text:

Moses then said [to G-d]: "Please grant me a vision of Your Glory." He [G-d] said, "I will cause all My goodness to pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord in your presence. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will be compassionate to whom I will be compassionate." And He said, "You cannot see My Presence and live." And the Lord said, "Behold there is a place alongside Me, and you shall set yourself on the rock. When My Glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My Hand until I pass by. Then I will remove My Hand and you will see My Back, but My Face shall not be seen." (Exodus 33: 18-23)

The impression this gives on the surface is that Moses is asking to see G-d’s face, G-d refuses, but lets Moses sneak a peak at his mighty shoulder blades.

This is, of course, absurd.

Moses knew that G-d has no form and therefore can not be seem by human eyes. The Talmud tells us that Moses was not asking to “see” G-d, but to “see” G-d’s “glory”, so that he can understand G-d’s plan. Basically, Moses wanted to know why good things happen to bad people.

To attempt to understand the profound wisdom in G-d’s response, we need to look at it piece by piece.

"I will cause all My goodness to pass before you and you will proclaim the name of the Lord in your presence."

It doesn’t come across well in English, but in the Hebrew, it’s important to note that, of the many names of G-d, the one that is used here is the ones that represent kindness and compassion. We are told that ALL of G-d’s goodness will be testimony to the merciful qualities of the Almighty. What this is saying is that our perception of pain and suffering will change once we have seen it “all”. Once we can see it all (which we can not do from our perspective in this world), we will see why every strict judgment is really an act of love. It’s like a parent punishing a child. The child sees his suffering, but later looks back on it and sees it was all necessary acts of love.

"I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will be compassionate to whom I will be compassionate."

This is not G-d saying “Leave me alone, I’ll do whatever I want.” What G-d is saying is that “I will be gracious to the one I will be gracious to, not the one you think I should be gracious to.” Maimonides explains that G-d judges a person’s deeds qualitatively, not quantitatively. One terrible deed can wipe out a lifetime of good deeds, and one great act can balance many sins. Only G-d knows the real values of our actions. What G-d is telling Moses (and us) is the he knows who is really righteous, who is really deserving of grace and compassion. Don’t presume to improve on his judgement.

"And He [God] said, 'You cannot see My Presence and live.'"

Moses wants to “see” G-d’s way. But G-d is saying that “as long as you’re alive, you won’t be able to ‘see’”. The entire picture is not visible from our limited perspective.

"And the Lord said, 'Behold there is a place alongside Me, and you shall set yourself on the rock."

Moses is told that to understand why there is evil in the world; you need to stand as a partner beside G-d, not as a passive observer down below. When G-d created the world, he purposely left it incomplete, so that man can play a part in perfecting the world. God allows for sickness so man can play a role in inventing cures.

In the words of Rabbi Belch, “God allows for droughts so that man can participate in bringing the world closer to its ideal state by inventing new irrigation methods and by building dams and desalinization plants. So the evil in the world only points up the work we still have to do. Evil is a manifestation of a world that is still incomplete, waiting for man to do his part and finish the job.”

"When My Glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My Hand until I pass by. Then I will remove My Hand and you will see My Back, but My Face shall not be seen."

This is the key part of the answer. G-d is telling Moses that because man is bound by time (unlike G-d) we are unable to understand events as they happen, it’s only after the fact that it might be possible for us to understand what happened.

As Kierkegaard so powerfully put it, "Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward."

Rabbi Belch sums it up better than I possibly could, so I’ll leave him to do it:

The Biblical exchange between God and Moses teaches us to beware of assumptions that are incomplete and erroneous, assumptions that lead us to question the goodness of God.
Moses says to God, in effect, "God, I want to honor you totally, but my lack of understanding of Your ways interferes. How can I honor you completely when I see good people who have it bad and bad people who have it good?"
God says, "Hold off, I question two of your premises."
"Which premises?"
"Number one, don't be so quick when you call some people good and others bad, because you don't know for sure. Number two, when you say they have it bad or they have it good, are you sure of your definitions? Are you sure you know what you are talking about? You are not positive. And you can't be positive because you can't see My face. You will only be able to see it in retrospect. In retrospect a terrible thing could be the best thing. Sometimes it will take you years to see. Sometimes you will never see, not in your days on Earth anyway."
….
A wife says to me, "My husband got sick, he remained sick for the rest of his days, and then he died. Where is the good in that? Don't tell me to wait for the end of the story. I have seen the end of the story. He died."
Yet God tells us, "Man cannot see Me and live." We don't have the entire picture even at the time of death. Death is the gateway to the great beyond -- and that very description reminds us that there is more after our earthly passage. What is still not clear during our finite existence, God seems to be saying, will be possible to comprehend once we are blessed with the divine perspective of eternity.

Parashat T'tzave

This weeks Torah portion deals with the construction of the Mishkan (the portable sanctuary, or the Tabernacle). As Jew’s, we’re so used to the idea of “G-d’s house” (The Mishkan, the Temple, a Shul, a Synagogue…) that we don’t really appreciate what a strange idea it is. If G-d is infinite and transcendent, how can his presence be localized in one particular spot?

Even though this portion comes before next week’s episode of the Golden Calf, if we reconstruct the timeline, it seems that the instructions for building the Mishkan are given after the Golden Calf. That raises a key question; is the Mishkan built as a result of the Golden Calf, or in spite of it? In other words, was the Mishan part of the original plan, or did G-d see the Golden Calf and realize that we needed something physical to help us relate to an infinite G-d?

It being a response to the Golden Calf seems to be a logical answer, but that means that it would have been preferable not to have it, but it was given to us because we needed it. Mimonities has a strong opinion in his writings that it must have been part of the original plan. The Temple was the most Holly things in Judaism; he could not believe that it could have been plan B.

That begs the question, why do we need a Temple. Mimonities answers that the point of the Mishkan (and the Temple) is to take the experience of the revelation at Sinai and institutionalize it. Take the “one night stand” (so to speak) if the revelation at Sinai, and turn that into an ongoing relationship between the Jewish people and G-d. We need to make the revelation a part of our daily consciousness. We need to look at Torah every day as if it is new, as if we have just accepted it.

I think that much of the difficulty steams from a misunderstanding of what the Temple is. The term "House of G-d" is not just misleading, it’s almost blasphemous. The idea that G-d can be localized in just one place is inconsistent with the idea that G-d is everywhere, or as I recently heard it said, G-d is anywhere you allow him to be. The Torah says (which was latter copied by another famous book/movie) "If you build it, I will come".

But were will G-d come to. Most people say that the where, is into the Temple. But that steams from a mistranslation of the verse. The verse does not say "Build me a house and I will dwell in it"; it says "Build be a house and I will dwell in you". That's the key. The Temple is not a place for G-d to live, it a means of opening up each of us so we can allow G-d into our lives and into the world.

And that’s the key to understanding the Temple. It’s a constant reminder that the acceptance of Torah is not something that our ancestors did at Sinai; it’s something we each do every day so that we can allow G-d into our lives.


Shabbat Shalom.

Purim 2

Today is the Fast of Esther. This day is to mark the three days of fasting all the Jews of Shushan did in preparation for Esther going before the Queen to plead ask for the Jews to be saved from Haman’s evil plan.

As a rule, Jewish holidays have two aspects; a spiritual side (special prayers) and a physical side (eating special foods). There are two exceptions to this rule; Yom Kippur, which is purely spiritual (you eat a big meal the day before to prepare for the fast), and Purim, which is purely physical (you fast the ay before to prepare for the party). The commentaries argue, that this rule still holds – they argue that Yom Kippur and Purim are two halves of the same day.

The commentators also make a very interesting statement; they say that Purim is in fact a holier day than Yom Kippur. After all, the full name for Yom Kippur is Yom Ha’Kippurim, which literally translated is “A day like Purim”. How can Purim, a day of drinking and parting, be holier than Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and praying?

Unlike secular holidays which merely mark an anniversary of an event, Jewish holidays have a theme and are designed so every Jew can spiritually internalize these themes. The theme of Passover is freedom, the theme of Purim is joy, and the theme of Rosh Ha’Shana is renewal. In that way, Jewish holidays are an opportunity for grow closer to G-d. The goal of growing closer to G-d is just as true on Purim as it is on Yom Kippur.

On Yom Kippur you feel the spirituality… the fasting, the prayer… It’s easy to connect to G-d on a day like that. But on Purim, making that connection is not so easy (after all, you are supposed to get partly drunk). Just like G-d’s face was hidden during the events of Purim (and G-d name does not appear in the Book of Esther), it’s not clear how we connect to G-d on Purim. But if you understand how G-d operates in the world, you see G-d face in the events of Purim, and in the Purim celebrations today.

Someone who is able to connect to G-d on Purim has grown much more that if they connect to G-d on Yom Kippur. That’s why the commentators say that Purim is holier than Yom Kippur.

Have an easy fast.

Purim 1

With Purim coming up this Sunday, I thought I’d spend most of the week talking about Purim.

The book of Esther is unique among all books of the Bible; it is the only one that does not mention the name of G-d. Despite this, many (including myself) argue that it is in the book of Esther that the face of G-d is most clearly seen.

This morning my Rabbi pointed out that not only does the name of G-d not appear; it seems that it was purposely left out. There are several places where you would expect to see some mention of G-d. When Mordechai is telling Esther to speak to the King on the Jew’s behalf, you would expect him to say that “Maybe it was for this reason that G-d put you in this position”, but instead we read “And who knows if it is not for just such a time that you reached this royal position.” When Esther tells Mordechai (and all Jews) to fast for her, she doesn’t ask for them to pray to G-d.

There are many opinions why this is so. One is that Mordechai and Esther compiled the story as letters that were sent to Jews across the Empire. Since they could not be sure that the letters would be treated with the proper respect required for a document containing the name of G-d, they wrote the book without it.

Another explanation is that they were trying to capture in the written story, the idea that G-d presence was hidden, and it wasn’t until after the fact that you can see the hand of G-d. This is really a model for how we relate to G-d today. It’s hard to see G-d in our day to day life; it’s too easy to pass things off as coincidence. But after the fact, once you have some perspective, you see how things came together just right, and you realize that it was all part of G-d’s plan.

Parashat Truma

This week’s Torah portion talks about the building of the Mishkan (the portable Temple) and some of its vessels. One of the vessels are the two Cherubs that make up the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. The Cherubs are made from gold and are in the form of winged children.

Next week we'll read about the sin of the golden calf. If we were punished for making a golden calf, then why is it ok to make a golden Cherub? Wouldn’t this fall under the category of “Thou shalt not make graven images”?

The answer goes to the very core of our belief system. Are the Ten Commandments G-d’s codification of basic human morality, or are they G-d defining morality? In other words, was it wrong to worship other god’s, and the 10 commandments just write that down. Or is it wrong to worship other god’s BECAUSE G-d said so.

Judaism teaches that morality is defined as the word of G-d. What G-d says is, by definition, morality. Any other system of morality falls apart when you press it.

So if G-d commanded us to make the Cherub, then it can’t be immoral. That’s the difference between the golden calf and the Cherub. One is against the will of G-d and one is according to it.

The lesson here is summed up in the saying “Don’t out tzadek a Tzadek” (or in the Christian world, “Don’t be more Catholic than the Pope”). If G-d says something is OK, don’t forbid yourself from doing it because it seems to contradict a different commandment. G-d is the only one who truly knows the intention of the Torah, so we can not try to out interpret him.

Shabbat Shalom.

Parashat Mishpatim and Purim

There is a passage in this weeks Torah portion, where G-d is offering the Torah to the Jewish people at Sinai. The text says that the Jewish people stood under the mountain. The Midrash explains, that G-d lifted up the mountain and held it over the Jewish people and said, “Accept the Torah, or there will be your grave.”

So, first off, this doesn’t sound like the Jews accepted the Torah out of free will – it sounds more like they were forced into it. They felt that G-d would have dropped the mountain on top of them if they didn’t accept it; hence the enthusiastic “We will do and we will listen” (see last posting).

But if you look closely at what G-d said, you see another problem. If G-d is holding the mountain over the Jews and would have dropped it on them if they did not accept Torah, then G-d should have said “Accept the Torah, or here will be your grave.” Why did G-d say ‘there’ instead of ‘here’? Where is the ‘there’ that G-d was refereeing to?

The commentary explains that ‘there’ means in the time of Achashverosh – the King from the Purim story. Of all the times and places to choose from, why did G-d say that their grave would be there if they did not accept Torah?

To answer that, we need to see what is special about that time, and what it means to accept Torah.

In order to accept Torah, you need to know what the Torah means. At first that was easy, you have Moses to explain. After that if you had a Torah question, you would go to a prophet and ask them (there were over 1,000,000 prophets in Jewish history). When did prophesy stop? After the destruction of the First Temple. (I’ll discuss why it stopped then in another posting). Once the Temple was gone, no new person could attain prophesy, but those who attained that level in the time of the Temple, retained it.

The Purim story happens about 60 years after the destruction of the Temple, so any prophets who were around at the time of the destruction of the temple had died out. So that was the first time in Jewish history that there were no prophets to turn to for questions about Torah law.

At that point, the Jewish people had a choice; they could either abandon Torah, or make a commitment to study, so that they can learn what the Torah is telling us. The events of Purim convinced the people to choose to accept Torah. This time they accepted it without a mountain over their head.

What G-d was saying, is that if you don’t accept torah in the time of Achashverosh, then that will be the grave of the Jewish people.

In this light, we can even better understand the phrase from last posting “Na-asai v’Nishma” – “We will do and we will listen”. They were saying that while they had prophets to guide them, they will do the words of the Torah as they were told. But after that they agreed to study and learn torah, so that they can continue their relationship with G-d.

Shabbat Shalom.

Parashat Mishpatim – We will do and we will listen

This weeks Torah portion continues with the account of the revelation at Sinai, and contains the famous statement by the Jewish people, “Na-asai v’Nishma” – “We will do and we will listen”.

This phrase is often offered as an indication of how great the way that we accepted the Torah was. We didn’t say that we’ll listen to what G-d has to say, and then decide if we will do it. We said “I unconditionally accept your law. Now tell us what it is.” We had total trust in G-d that he would give us a law that is good.

At least that’s how it’s always been explained to me.

Rabbi Kahn disagrees. He argues that we each know many friends whom, if we would call them up and say we need a favour, they would say “No problem, you name it I’ll do it.” They would agree before you tell that what the favour is. Now these are very special friends and should be recognized, but is it really that amazing a thing that it should be picked out of the text and held up as a sign of out commitment for 3500 years?

The key to understanding this phrase is to look at its tense. Most people think that it’s in the future tense “We will always do, and we will always listen”. But in fact, it’s in the present tense. It’s saying that “We will constantly, and every moment, do that which you command us, and we will constantly, at every moment, learn your Torah.”

That’s what’s so amazing about this phrase. Our forefathers didn’t just accept the law for that day, or year, or for their lifetime. They accepted it upon all future generations. They accepted upon the entire Jewish people, for all time, to do all the mitzvoth and constantly study them.

It’s through that study that we are able to hear G-d’s voice just as clearly as our ancestors heard at Sinai.

Good vs. Evil

Many religions talk about the internal struggle between good and evil. Rabbi Kahn in his lecture “An introduction to Jewish Mysticism” says that is not entirely accurate.

When you got up this morning, did you think to yourself; “Should I get up and go to work, or should I rape and pillage”? Most of us don’t have to struggle with real evil (that’s not to say there aren’t people who do have to struggle with that). The internal struggle in Judaism is different.

Judaism teaches that each person has a “Yetzer Hora” and “Yetzer Ra” – generally translated and evil inclination and good inclination. These two are always fighting. While “good” and “evil” are accurate translations for the words “Hora” and “Ra”, it does not capture the meaning. Rabbi Kahn explained that in Judaism “good” means meaningfulness and “evil” means meaninglessness.

When you eat an apple, we’re supposed to first say a short blessing thanking G-d for the food. Your Yetzer Ra wants you to say the blessing, and your Yetzer Hora wants you to just eat. But what’s “good” about saying the blessing, and what’s “evil” about not saying it? Saying the blessing gives meaning to the act of eating. You acknowledge that the food you are about to eat was given to you by G-d, and that mindset elevates the act of eating from a physical act to a spiritual one. Not saying the blessing tries to push a potentially meaningful spiritual act into a meaningless physical one.

That’s our struggle; to try to instill meaning into everything that we do. A Jew who is just starting to pray every morning will struggle with the issue of getting up a half hour early every day to say his prayers. His Yetzer Ra wants to start the day with meaningful prayer, and his Yetzer Hora wants to start the day with meaningless sleep. That’s his struggle.

But a Jew, who has been saying his morning prayers every morning for 50 years, has a different struggle. His struggle is does he put the extra effort to concentrate closely on his prayers and make them meaningful, or does he say them mechanically and just do an empty meaningless act?

There is a spectrum of meaningfulness in praying. The left is meaningless and as you move right you get more meaning:
Not saying the prayers Doing it mechanically Concentrating it

In the first example, the person was sitting somewhere between not saying the payers and just doing it mechanically. His struggle was do I move to the left on the above spectrum or to the right. In the second example the person sits between saying it mechanically and concentrating on it. He has the same struggle, do I move to the left or the right.

So when go to sleep at night lets not say to ourselves “Well, didn’t rape and pillage today, so my day was good”. Let’s instead say “I moved my life towards meaningfulness today, so it was a good day.”

Parashat Yitro – The 10 Commandments

It’s interesting to note that Jews, Protestants and Catholics disagree over what each of the 10 commandments are. A comparison can be found here.

Judaism holds that the first commandment is “I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” The problem is that that’s more of a statement than a commandment? So what’s the commandment associated with it? Most sources hold that the commandment is to know that there is a G-d.

But who is this commandment for? If someone already believes in G-d they don’t need to be told this? If the don’t, then they won’t care what it says in the Torah. And can you really command belief?

The answer is as follows: The Torah does not say "BELIEVE" in God. Nor does it say to wonder, feel, intuit, assume, presume, hope, or aspire that there's a God. Rather, the Torah commands us to "KNOW" there is a God!

Western society typically associates religion with “blind faith”. Judaism rejects that idea. The first commandment tells us to use reason and logic to ascertain the existence of G-d. We are told to question, to explore and to understand… not to simply follow along blindly.

Just how one goes about doing that is more difficult, and will have to be left to a future posting.

Shabbat Shalom.

Parashat Yitro - What happened at Saini

This week’s torah portion contains the central event in Jewish history, the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.

It’ important to understand what was given and how it was given. Most people’s understandings of this are based on Cecil B. DeMille’s movie; if you liked the movie, try the book… it’s much better.

In the movie, Moses goes up the mountain, gets the two tablets, and goes and gives them to the Israelites. This is very different from the account in the Torah. The Torah version goes basically like this.

The Israelites are camped by the foot of the mountain and are told by Moses (who was told by G-d) to get ready for the revelation. G-d then speaks directly to the entire nations (more 2 million people) and tells them the 10 commandments.

There are a variety of positions about what G-d actually said to the people. Some hold that G-d speaks all 10 directly to the people; this is what the simple reading of the text implies. Others hold that G-d only spoke the first two, and then the people begged G-d to use Moses as an intermediary (because the experience was to powerful for them). This is supported by the fact that the first two commandments are given in the first person (“I am the Lord your G-d”), and the rest are in the second person (“You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain”). Others hold that G-d spoke all 10 simultaneously, and then Moses was used as an intermediary to explain them. Others hold that G-d only spoke the first letter of the first commandment, and the people intuitively understood the rest. This is a very interesting topic that is far to involved for this forum.

After G-d speaks directly to the people, Moses goes up the mountain and is there for 40 days. While there he gets 2 things. Firstly, Moses received the two tablets. (Most people only know about that one, but if that’s all he got why did it take 40 days?) Secondly he was taught all of the 613 mitzvot (commandments) and the principles of how to apply them. In short he was given what Jews refer to as the Oral Law. So if anyone ever tells you that the Oral law is just Rabbi’s interpretation of the written law, you can tell them they have it backwards. The oral law was given first. The written law (the Torah) was dictated to Moses over the next 40 years in the dessert.

The fact that G-d spoke directly to the entire people is a key bit of information that was left out of the movie. It’s the basis of the entire Jewish religion. Why is it so important? Because it is what separates Judaism from all other religions. All other religions are based on one person claiming to have been spoken to by G-d, and then convincing others of that fact. The problem with that claim is that it can never be proved or discredited. The Jewish claim is different; our claim is one that can not be faked.

Imagine the following. You’re sitting at dinner, and someone speaks up and says “Guess what, G-d spoke to me yesterday. He gave me a new set of laws and said that everyone should follow me.” Would you believe this? Maybe, it depends how charismatic the person is. You can not disprove it, but you can never know for sure.

Now try this one. You’re sitting at dinner, and someone speaks up and says “Do you remember 5 minutes ago, when G-d spoke to all of us and gave us some new laws and told you to follow me?” Do you believe that one? This one you can either prove or disprove. If you did experience what he claims you did, then you know he tells the truth. If you didn’t, then you know he’s lying.

Judaism is based on the second claim. All other religions are based on the first. That’s why no other religion disputes the events at Sinai. It can be taken as a historical fact.

I could talk for hours on this subject… but I’d better not.

Doing and Understanding

Over the weekend I was listening to a lecture called “Introduction to Jewish Mysticism” by Rabbi Ari Kahn. I’ll have to listen to it many more times to absorb all the information, but there was one phrase that really resonated with me.

He was talking about how Judaism is not an “all or nothing” religion, and how it is important to proceed carefully when you’re on the path back towards traditional Judaism. The theme of different people reactions along this path came up. His response was that “Some things you have to understand before you can do it, other things you have to do before you can understand it.”

Many of the laws of Judaism, you need to study and understand before you can do it. But some laws, like Shabbas, you need to do before you can understand.

There is much more going on with Shabbas than you can possibly understand from reading about it in the Mishna. The joy of Shabbas is more than the sum of the actions (or inactions), there is a spiritual side than can only be understood by doing it.

An outsider would look at an observant Jew and conclude that Judaism is full of rituals. If one wants to become religious, you need to understand the rituals so that you can perform them.

However, to the observant Jew, what they are doing should not be rituals. It’s only a ritual if it doesn’t have any meaning to you. To the observant Jew, they are participating in a profound act that elevates your soul… that’s hardly ritualistic. But, until you do the ‘ritual’ (many times), you can not possibly understand that aspect of it.

I’m going to have to play this around in my mind for a while before I fully grasp the profoundness of it… maybe if I put it into practice, I’ll understand it better.

Parashat B’Shalach

This weeks Torah portion gives us the answer for a common themes of Jewish jokes. The joke usually asks why the Jews wandered in the desert for 40 years (and is usually answered with something like ‘because the men wouldn’t stop to ask for directions).

The portion starts “17. It came to pass when Pharaoh let the people go, that God did not lead them [by] way of the land of the Philistines for it was near, because God said, Lest the people reconsider when they see war and return to Egypt 18. So God led the people around [by] way of the desert [to] the Red Sea…” [Exodus 13:17-18]

G-d knew that when Israel arrived in the land of the Philistines (which is biblical Israel), they would face a war. G-d also knew that that Israel was not ready for war. If Israel would come up against a war so soon after leaving Egypt, they would flee back into the relative safety (albeit slavery) of Egypt.

But what was it that Israel wasn’t ready for? The obvious answer is that they were not physically ready for a war… after all, slavery doesn’t exactly make you fit to be warriors. But if that’s the case, why would taking the route by way of the Red Sea (actually Sea of Reeds) – which is only an extra few weeks travel – make them physically ready?

The answer is that the problem wasn’t physical, it was a spiritual deficiency. Witnessing the 10 plagues wasn’t enough to convince Israel that with G-d in their corner they can win a war against the Philistines. There was more that Israel needed to witness (the more is, of course, the revelation at Sinai and the many miracles in the desert).

So we start with G-d not wanting Israel to face war yet. But the portion ends with Israel fighting a war with Amalek. If G-d took Israel the long way around so they would not have to face war, then why does the portion end with Israel getting into a war?

Israel was not spiritually ready for war at the start of the portion. Through the portion, G-d gets Israel spiritually ready with a series of miracles (water from rocks, manah…) which were designed to show Israel that comes with service of G-d.

Reading the text, the Amalek attack seems to come out of left field… there is no description of them coming; in the middle of a paragraph we get “8. Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim”[Exodus 17:8]. Looking at the line before this, we begin to understand what is happening. After complaining to Moses about lack of water, the text says “… the children of Israel [tested] the Lord, saying, Is the Lord in our midst or not?” [ Exodus 17:7].

Israel looses faith in G-d, and are immediately faced with war. It’s hard to not see a correlation there. This is a theme we see repeated many times in the Torah. From Psalm 81 “If only my people would heed Me, if Israel would walk in My ways. In an instant I would subdue their foes, and against my tormentors turn My hand.” The lesson here is just as applicable today was it was when G-d first taught it to the Jews 3500 years ago.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tu Bi’Shvat

This Saturday is the holiday of Tu Bi’Shvat – literally the 15th day of Shvat. The holiday is the New Year for the trees. The holiday is typically celebrated by eating the seven species of Israel (wheat, barley, olives, grapes, dates, figs, and pomegranates) and planting trees in Israel (or donating to a charity that does the same).

Today, we play up the Zionistic aspect of the holiday, but in fact the holiday is Biblical in origin. There are 4 New Years in Judaism. There is the 1st of Nisan, which is in the New Year for the Kings, the nth year of a Kings rule begins on this day. Then there is the 1st of Elul, which is the New Year for the animals. Every 10th animal born is given to the Priests, this day determines which year a given animal is counted with. Then there is the 1st of Tishrei, which is what we all know as Rosh HaShana. Then there is Tu Bi’Shvat, the New Year for the trees, which has a similar meaning as the New Year for the animals.

We do nothing to mark the New Year for the Kings or Animals, why do we celebrate the New Year of the Trees? It’s because trees are considered Holy… in fact the Torah often compares trees to man. Just as fruit and trees have been instilled with the power to grow physically, man has the power to grow physically.

The Kabbalists tell us of 4 kinds of creations, rocks, plants, animals and man. Rocks (and all inanimate objects) just sort of sit there doing nothing. Plants spend their whole day eating. Animals can think and walk around, but what are they thinking about? They think about getting food. What do they walk around for? They walk around to get food. Animals are basically thinking and walking plants. That’s why their head is on the same level as their body, because their brain is just there to serve the body. A man’s head is on a higher level than its body. Man can reach a higher level than the purely physical aspects of a plant or animal.

So this Tu Bi’Shvat, when you taste the sweet fruits of the land and say the She’Hechianu, be sure to think about the power of growth in the fruits, in the trees, in the Torah and is also within each of us

Not Yet

The story is told of Franz Rosenswag (who was voted the most influential Jewish philosopher of the first half of the 20th century). He was an assimilated Jew, who had a cousin who converted to Christianity. His cousin wanted Franz to convert also, after all Franz did not believe in Judaism, maybe he could believe in Christianity. Franz eventually agreed, but said he didn’t want to convert from pagan to Christian, he wanted to go from pagan, to Jew, to Christian – just like Jesus and the apostles did. So he decided he would first learn about Judaism, and then convert. So he started on that route, and never stopped learning.

In his old age, he was asked if he wore Teffilin? He did not, but his answer was interesting; he responded “Not yet”. He knew that Teffilin was one step on the ladder, and maybe one day he would get there. Even though he didn’t feel the need to keep that Mitzvah at that time, he knew that it was a possibility that he may in the future.

If people would have asked me if I was Shomer Shabbas, I would have answered “No”. The same answer would have been given for most other Mitzvot. But I think from now on I’m going to change my answer to “Not yet”. I know that I’ll never reach the point in my journey of keeping every Mitzvah, but there are none that I can say I would never do. But answering “Not yet” keeps me on my journey.