Be the Change You Want to See In the World

Shavuot 5772

It is a well known custom to stay up all night learning Torah during the festival of Shavuot. A common explanation is that the all-night learning is the best way to show our appreciation for receiving the gift of the Torah on this date during our exodus from Egypt over 3,000 years ago. However, there is much more at play here during this all-night study which is called, Leyl Tikkun Shavuot. As is implied by this phrase, the night of study is a repair (tikkun), a correction of sorts. The Midrash tells us that the Children of Israel who camped at Mt. Sinai slept so hard during this night that Gd had to wake them in order to give them the gift of the Torah. Our intense night of study is to make amends for our ancestors and also to make amends for our own indolent study habits during the year. How ironic that the people most likely to follow this custom of all-night study are those very individuals who set aside time during the regular week for Torah study. The Torah is a mountain of knowledge that no individual will ever master, but a daily dose of the small rocks and pebbles that make up that mountain add up to soul of delight and a life of meaning and commitment. And, after all, if not now – when?

B'chukotai 5772

This week’s Torah portion contains verses of rebuke from Gd to Israel should the people not follow Gd’s laws and commands. Toward the end of the verses, we read the following which will occur once the people atone: וְזָכַרְתִּי, אֶת-בְּרִיתִי יַעֲקוֹב; וְאַף אֶת-בְּרִיתִי יִצְחָק וְאַף אֶת-בְּרִיתִי אַבְרָהָם, אֶזְכֹּר--וְהָאָרֶץ אֶזְכֹּר-- then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. (Leviticus 26:42) Why do the names of the patriarchs not come in chronological order as they have every time before now? The Magid of Dubnov explains with a parable: a youth goes to a store to buy some nuts and the store owner gives him extra as a gift. Another youth who sees the gift asks for some free nuts as well and the owner laughs and says that he gave extra to the first boy because he made a purchase – how do you expect me to give you an extra amount when you do not make even a single purchase from me? The Magid explains that this verse has Gd finding something inherently redeeming in the Israelites because of their ancestry and Gd’s covenant with the forefathers. Had this verse, which speaks of Gd’s forgiveness and privilege accorded Israel, mentioned Abraham and Isaac first then both Ishmael and Esau would/could demand the same privilege of Gd’s compassion for their own acts of mutiny. However, by naming Jacob first Gd eliminates the claim of descendants of Ishmael and Esau that they should be accorded the same status as Israel – an Israel that has paid a heavy price for this status.

 

B'har 5772

וְהָאָרֶץ, לֹא תִמָּכֵר לִצְמִתֻת--כִּי-לִי, הָאָרֶץ: כִּי-גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם, עִמָּדִי – And the land you shall not sell in perpetuity because the Land is Mine; for you are strangers and residents with Me.

One reading of this verse could mean that the Land belongs to Gd and the Israelites, indeed all inhabitants, are simply residents of Gd's world. However, such a reading does not account for the final words with Me because these words do not add any meaning to such an understanding. The 12^th century Tosafist, R. Shimon of Shantz (France) explains that Gd is telling the Jewish people that when the People Israel has sovereignty over the Land of Israel then the land belongs to Gd and Gd's laws as, exemplified by the shmita and jubilee years, are observed. However, when other nations control this part of the earth, then not only are the Jews dispersed and absent from the Land of Israel, but so is Gd – Gd's laws, Gd's love, Gd's compassion, Gd's humility and tolerance. The evidence of this last millennium proves R. Shimon's interpretation of the verse to be eerily accurate...

Emor 5772

This week’s parasha, Emor, contains some instruction as to how humankind is to treat those animals which serve us. The verse reads,And of the ox and the sheep, it and its offspring shall not be slaughtered on the same day (Leviticus 22:28). No explanation or reason is given for this commandment, and, as is the way of Jewish way of study, we turn to the great exegetes of our Bible for understanding. The Rambam is known to have been Aristotelian in his thinking – a person of incredible intellect and not unduly influenced by matters of emotion. This characteristic of Maimonides makes his explanation of the verse that much more powerful as he writes, “in order that people should be restrained and prevented from killing the two together in such a manner that the young is slain in the sight of the mother; for the pain of the animals under such circumstances is very great. There is no difference in this case between the pain of man and the pain of other living beings, since the love and tenderness of the mother for her young ones is not produced by reasoning, but by emotion, and this faculty exists not only in man but in most living beings.” (Guide for the Perplexed 3:48) In this one commentary, the Rambam covers the two aspects crucial to understanding human interaction with the animal world: the prohibition of human cruelty and the concern for both the physical and emotional welfare of animals.

Acharei Mot - Kedoshim 5772

And it shall be a statute for ever for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month…For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your transgressions shall you be clean before Hashem. It shall be the Sabbath of Sabbaths….it is a statute forever (Leviticus 16:29-31).

 Of course, these verses from this week’s parasha describe the day known as Yom Kippur. In his own exegetical commentary, Philo of Alexandria taught that Yom Kippur is the ‘Sabbath of Sabbaths’ because it brings Jews together like not other holiday in tefillah, communion with Gd and the quest for atonement. Philo specifically says that it is not only the observant and righteous that sanctify the day, but also those Jews who do not observe Jewish practice the other days of the year. Whereas Philo’s teaching is certainly appropriate for our own day, he wrote these words 2,000 years ago!

Tazria-Metzorah 5772

The Hebrew word tum’ah is typically translated as ritual impurity. Tum’ah is most relevant in modern times to describe a woman’s status during and after her menstrual cycle ;‘impurity’ is a crass, misnomer of a translation. A better translation/explanation for the word is ‘a state-of-restrictedness.’ To what is she restricted? During ancient times, a person, male or female, with tum’ah was prevented from bringing a sacrifice to the Temple; and even today a woman in this restricted state must desist from conjugal relations until the status is removed. This week’s parsha contains the following: And when the days of her (a birthing mother’s) tum’ah are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtle-dove, for a sin-offering, unto the door of the tent of meeting, unto the priest.(Leviticus 12:6) The burnt-offering was part of her ritual to remove the tum’ah – does the sin-offering connote some type of negativity concomitant to bearing children?

Explains the Talmud:

R.Simeon b. Yohai was asked by his disciples: Why did the Torah ordain that a woman after childbirth should bring a sin-offering? He replied: When she kneels to bear the child she swears recklessly that she will have no relations with her husband. The Torah, therefore, ordained that she should bring a sacrifice [in order to absolve her of her oath]. (B.T. Niddah 31b).

Pesach 5772

Rabbi Shmuel Mohiliver (Poland d. 1898) was a pioneer of religious Zionism and a founder of the Hovevei Tzion and Mizrachi movements. Many of Europe's religious Jewish population opposed the idea of a Zionism that was unfolding by way of human efforts rather than miracles and wonders of Gd as hinted at in the Tanach, As in the days of your exodus from Egypt, I (Gd) will show them wonders. (Book of Micah 7:15) After a rabbi verbally attacked Rav Mohiliver, R' Shmuel explained as follows: the big miracle of our first redemption (the exodus from Egypt) was the splitting of the Sea of Reeds; and yet despite this miracle of nature our redemption was not the parting of the sea but leaving Egypt as the Torah does not say, I am your Gd who split the sea for you, the Torah says, who took you out of the Land of Egypt. Why this wording? It was easier for Gd to part the sea than it was to motivate the People Israel to leave their exile. Similarly, argued Rabbi Mohiliver, the greatest act of Gd in modern Zionism is the desire of the Jewish people to return to the Land of Israel.

Tzav 5772

It is easy to be overwhelmed, perhaps under-whelmed, by the often repetitive and detailed delineation of the korbanot (sacrifices) that comprise the Book of Leviticus. This week’s parsha, Tzav, is true to Levitical form by showering the reader with details of sacrifice and ritual and cult as performed by the Kohanim on behalf of the Israelites. The natural inclination of the reader is to glance-read over the details until the eye hits something of interest. However, as is the way of traditional Torah study, the thoughtful method of learning the Torah portion is to invest time in each verse in order to uncover meaning that at first is not apparent. An example from this week’s portion is, “And every grain offering of a Kohen will be whole, it shall not be eaten.” (Leviticus 6:16). What does Judaism learn from this verse? 1) A Kohen eats the grain offerings of others but not his own as he, too, must make sacrifices in his relationship with Gd, and, 2) A Kohen must first expiate his own transgressions before expiating those of others, thus exemplifying the Talmudic dictum, קשט עצמך,ואחרכך קשט אחרים,‘adorn yourself, and only then can you adorn others’or, more colloquially, ‘point the finger at yourself before turning it on others.’Perhaps we can also apply this teaching to our Torah study: invest oneself in learning the week’s parasha, and only then can one critique it from a place of knowledge.

Vayikra 5772

As we begin reading the Book of Leviticus – especially with the early chapters' emphasis and descriptions of sacrifices – how does the reader find a connection between the ancient practices of Israelite altar worship and practices of the modern Jew? In truth, the connection is quite intense and intimate and it begins with the fact that nowhere in the Five Books of Moses are the Jewish people informed or instructed about daily prayer. There is Midrash that makes philological (linguistic) links to actions of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as engaging in morning, afternoon and evening prayer – but our sages do not claim that the actions of our patriarchs are the foundational origins for a Jew's obligation to daven 3 times a day. The source, the root, the origin of Jewish prayer is the sacrificial system. Why do we say the Amidah (also termed the Shemoneh Esrei) each morning, afternoon and night? The Torah instructs that each morning and each afternoon there was to be a daily sacrifice in the Temple and that the remains of the sacrifices are to burn into the night. When the Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. – davening during these three times each day became the uniquely Jewish form of sacrificial service to Gd.

Vayakhel-Pekudei 5772

This week’s parasha, Vayakhel-P'kudei, contains the prohibition of kindling fire on Shabbat.  The command is quite clear, but what were the Jewish people to do upon the advent of electricity?  Does actively initiating use of electricity fall under the same category as fire?  Like fire, electricity may be used to provide warmth, and light, and energy by which to cook and to cause motion.  How are poskim (deciders of Jewish law) to tackle the issue?  Two camps of decision-making exist:  there are those who say that, scientifically, electricity is nothing like fire or any of the other Shabbat-prohibited categories of work.  Then there is the camp that looks at the end result of what electricity provides and says that it is prohibited and then search for a way to explain the proscription using the Torah-prohibited categories of work.  One of the greatest poskim of the 20^th century, the haredi Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, z”l, was in the first camp.  Still, he prohibited the use of electricity as it is not in the ‘spirit of Shabbat’ -- that is, the use of this technological advancement would be injurious to the atmosphere of rest, liberation from environment manipulation, and the holiness that Shabbat intends.