This Week's Torah Reading - Parashat Va-eira

Stubborn Pharaoh, stiff-necked Israelites - our time as slaves in Egypt ended over the objections of our oppressor and even the Israelites resisted liberation by Moses. Moses was a stranger who emerged from the desert speaking the words of our God who had abandoned us to oppression for centuries.

This week’s Torah reading, Parashat Va-eira (Exodus 6:2-9:35), describes all of this drama. The Israelites ignore Moses:
“But they did not listen to Moses, out of shortness of spirit and out of hard servitude.” (Exodus 6:9)
Between God hardening Pharaoh’s heart and Pharaoh being stubborn on his own, the story of the Exodus from Egypt seems focused on basic failures to communicate.

No one escapes these difficulties - to work together is to often face difficulties in understanding and persuading.

I believe that often we lack sympathy because we hesitate to share each other’s stories. When we speak from the heart, we can hear more profoundly. When our hearts are hardened, just as Pharaoh’s was, no amount of persuasion and well-reasoned argument can sway us.

As we approach this new calendar year of 2014, let us aim to share from the stories which form our true fabric, and pause to listen for those stories from each other.

A little bit of silence and a long walk

A piece of commentary from last week…

This week we read the Akeidah, the binding of Isaac, I know, again.

Still, it may contain the most important long walk in the entire Torah, if not in our entire tradition.

God sends Abraham on a long walk to bind and, in Abraham’s mind, sacrifice Isaac. Here’s the text from Genesis, Chapter 22, just to refresh our memories:

Gen. 22:2 He said: Pray take your son, your only-one, whom you love, Yitzhak, and go-you-forth to the land of Moriyya/Seeing, and offer him up there as an offering-up upon one of the mountains that I will tell you of.

Gen. 22:3 Avraham started-early in the morning, he saddled his donkey, he took his two serving-lads with him and Yitzhak his son, he split wood for the offering-up and arose and went to the place that God had told him of.

Gen. 22:4 On the third day Avraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.

Rabbi David Kimchi remarked on this, nearly 700 years ago, that God could have asked Abraham to do this immediately. God doesn’t. God says go on a walk. Think about it, in Rabbi Kimchi’s words, so that he would have three days’ time to build insight for himself on the matter.

That seems pretty reasonable. Most of us take at least that long to make a decision of importance. From relationships, to large purchases, from job changes, to college applications – we spend a lot of time reflecting on what to do in those moments of our lives. The wisdom from the Torah here reminds us that we do well when we do this, especially if we give ourselves the time to take a walk.

On that walk we may find the moments to reflect and to listen. We have to listen to the quieter voices around us and within us. In the words of Hannah Senesh, “the rush of the waters, the crash of the heavens,” – we are often too caught up in the noise of the everyday to even notice the thundering of the world beyond our walls.

Our prayers on Shabbat offer us moments to take an inner walk, to find our ways within. These moments of silence that we enter together every week, every time we offer t’fillah, can be that walk. They can be the time to travel deeper, to build upon our insights, to construct new frames of wisdom.

May the silence we find together allow us to walk towards a meaningful Shabbat.

Let us take a few longer moments of silence to deepen the walk into our selves.

The action is the reward

This week’s Torah reading from Re’eh seems to offer us a stark vision of reward and punishment, in its opening verses (Deuteronomy 11:26-28):

See, I place before you today a blessing or a curse:
the blessing, that you obey the commandments of Adonai your God
that I command you today,
and the curse, if you do not hearken to the commandments of Adonai your God,
and turn-aside from the way that I command you today,
walking after other gods whom you have not known.

Fundamental Jewish thinking resists this simple idea. We always understood that a mitzvah brings its own reward.

Malbim, a Nineteenth Century commentator, highlighted how the Hebrew in our quote supports this interpretation, and it hinges on the difference between the words “that” with regard to blessings, and “if” with regard to curses:
“the blessing, that you obey”, implying that the very obedience to the Divine commandments constitutes the blessing. Do not imagine that there is any this-worldly reward outside the good deed itself. The parallel is to a doctor that assures a patient that they will be well if when they adhere to a prescribed regimen, otherwise the patient will die. The consequences are inherent in the deed itself.

As Jews we recognize that blessings come as part of doing the right thing. The mitzvah is inherent in creation – the blessing is right in front of us. We only encounter the downside should we turn away from participation in the creation of something better.

(This interpretation can be found in Nehama Leibovitz’ Studies in Devarim-Deuteronomy, pp. 120-123)

Avoid materialism and avoid idolatry

Torah-Inspired, Reflection of The Day:

Today we look at B'har, Leviticus 25:1 - 26:2 - rules of economic fairness - forgiveness of debts; as well as rules about allowing land to rest on the seventh year. The text sums up the intent of these laws in the final lines which remind the Israelites that they serve God, who freed them from Egypt, and that they should make no idols and observe the Sabbath.

Materialism is a form of idolatry. When we claim to own a thing or a person or the land we allow the ownership to rule us. Giving up on that ownership, making rules about it that are fair, and reminding our selves on a regular basis that all belongs to the universe and not us, frees us from being bound to our possession of things.

Remembering that only the infinite is worthy of worship helps us focus on the values that create a better world. Observing pauses like Shabbat on a weekly basis, and the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, allows us to regain a sense of priorities greater than focus on what we have and don't have.

Everyone Gets Equal Treatment

Torah-Inspired, Reflection of The Day…it's back, after the High Holy Day hiatus.

Today we look at Emor, Leviticus 21:1 - 24:23 - rules about relationships, for priests, including an ostensibly offensive rule for the priesthood, quoted here:

Lev. 21:17 Speak to Aaron, saying: A man of your seed, throughout their generations, who has in him a defect is not to come-near to bring-near the food of his God.

This limits the participation of the Levites to those who are born with no defects whatsoever. A student from our synagogue who only has nine toes read this section for his Bar Mitzvah, and started out understandably outraged.

Reading on, we discovered a way, perhaps to rehabilitate the text, in a small way:

Lev. 21:22 The food-offerings of his God from the holiest holy-portions, or from the holy-portions, he may eat;

Allowing Levites who are prohibited from participating in Levitical work, namely the maintenance of the Temple and the sacrificial system, to nonetheless eat from the food that the Levites receive as their donation shows the inherent concern for fairness even in ancient Israelite society. After all, these disabled Levites were also barred from other employment in the community, just like any other Levite, and so they needed to receive sustenance from somewhere.

While physical limitations may make certain jobs unavailable, no one should be left out of the basic needs of social welfare.

Thank you to Benjamin Meyerson, the Bar Mitzvah student, who helped come up with this insight.

Keeping the Community Warm

Torah-Inspired, Days of Awe Reflection of The Day…

Today we look at Tzav, Leviticus 6:1 - 8:36 - lots more about offerings and the practices of the priesthood.

Also, these verses requiring the priests to maintain a fire:
Lev. 6:5 Now the fire on the slaughter-site is to be kept-blazing upon it - it must not go out! - and the priest is to stoke on it (pieces-of-)wood, in the morning, (every) morning, and he is to arrange on it the offering-up, and is to turn into smoke on it the fat-parts of the shalom-offering.
6 A regular fire is to be kept-blazing upon the slaughter-site-it is not to go out!

Why maintain a regular flame in the center of the community?

We are a healthy community when we devote resources to the maintenance of things we may need at any time, even if we don't all need it right now.

Keeping a warm place in the center of our communities, a place of welcome and sustenance, requires constant attention. We must appoint someone to do this and give them the resources to make sure that the fire doesn't go out.

Listen closely, go forward together

Rosh HaShanah starts tonight - last daily post of 5772!
May everyone have a sweet and good new year!

Today we look at P'kudei, Exodus 38:21 - 40:38 - the final Torah reading of Exodus. We read about a full inventory of the things that went into the building of the Mishkan, the portable Temple-Tent often translated as the "Tabernacle", and all of the stuff in it. The Mishkan is completed, Moses installs Aaron as High Priest, and the journey through the desert begins.

The final verses of the Book of Exodus read:
40:36 Whenever the cloud goes up from the Mishkan, the Israelites march on, upon all their marches;
37 if the cloud does not go up, they do not march on, until such time as it does go up.
38 For the cloud of God (is) over the Mishkan by day, and fire is by night in it, before the eyes of all the House of Israel upon all their marches.

Wouldn't it be great to have such an indicator that told us when to go forward, and when to stay still?

Perhaps we still do, we just need to notice it. Let us make this a year of listening and observing.

May we see and hear and feel the messages people and our world send us before we act.
May we go forward together guided by communal values.
May we build a better world in the year to come.
Shanah tovah!

Accepting our limits allows us to go farther

Tomorrow night is Rosh HaShanah - the daily Elul thought will transform into daily thought for the High Holy Days or Days of Awe, as the month of Elul will end, and become the month of Tishrei. Make sure to take time out to acknowledge the Jewish New Year on Sunday night, and Monday, and Tuesday. L'shanah tovh u'metukah - a good and sweet new year to everyone!

Today we look at Va-yak-heil, Exodus 35:1 - 38:20 - the gathering of the donations to build the Tabernacle, and the fashioning of the pieces and construction takes place.

Perhaps the only not-for profit effort in all time to be so enthusiastically completed, as it says here in Exodus, Chapter 36:
5: ...The people are bringing much more than enough for the service of (doing) the work that God has commanded, to make it!
6 So Moses commanded and they had a call go throughout the camp, saying: Man and woman-let them not make-ready any further work-material for the contribution of the Holy-shrine! So the people were stopped from bringing;
7 the work-material was enough for them, for all the work, to make it, and more.

As we think about Elul, we might look back on the last year and note how often we felt the opposite of this. How often did we feel depleted and without the resources to complete the tasks we set before us?

Is this about the demands made upon us by our tasks, or is it about the number of tasks and the details we promise to get done?

When the task is finite, we can complete it with enthusiasm. If the goals we have set require work without end, we mistreat ourselves as unlimited resources.

For the year to come, let us try to set ourselves reasonable tasks - and find ourselves bringing more than enough to them.

We must treat this world's existence as limited in order to better find connections with the infinite.

I know I will be working on this for a long time!

Transformation all around, if only we would see it

Today for our daily Elul thought we look at Ki Tisa, Exodus 30:11 - 34:35 - a lot happens here, not least of which is the Golden Calf incident.

I just had a random reason to glance at one particular verse from this parasha today:
Exouds 34:29 Now it was when Moshe came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of Testimony in Moshe's hand, when he came down from the mountain - (now) Moshe did not know that the skin of his face was radiating because of his having-spoken with him...

Encounters with the mystery of the universe transform us, and often we don't recognize the transformation ourselves.

Elul asks us to be open to our own growth - to be like Moses and absorb the changes. Reality is filled with the miraculous. When we notice it we can be transformed.

When someone asks about something, we may learn more than we teach.

Dress for Spiritual Success, Judge Not

Today for our daily Elul thought we look at T'tzaveh, Exodus 27:20 - 30:10 - more details about things for the Mishkan, or portable Temple, the special garb for the priesthood, offering ceremonies for the ordaining of priests and their regular duties, and the description of the altar.

We could sum it all up by saying notes on interior decorating and fashion.

We don't like to think that we get judged on our spaces and our garb. Often we unfairly judge others based on their appearances.

Perhaps the Elul thought of the day on this is: let our work on our spaces and appearances be ours alone, and let us avoid judging what others do for themselves.

Dressing because we want to look good for the Universe seems OK, allowing ourselves to be judgmental about other people's choices in this, less so.

Relationships first, attachment to details later

Today for our daily Elul thought we look at T'rumah, Exodus 25:1 - 27:19 - God's instructions on donations and construction regarding the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, or portable Temple space, and all of the things that go in it.

In this list of directions, there remains plenty of room to improvise. While God gives Moses extensive details, there is no real blueprint. While the plan seems to be about creating a place for God, it may actually be about us coming together to create a project that allows us to find holiness as a community.

Our attachment to plans and details may get things done. Elul comes to ask us in preparation for the holiest season whether those plans bring us together for some greater purpose.

Perhaps the details arrived at through a thorough conversation may forge a new relationship. Elul reminds us that strong relationships may be more important than sticking to the details of our original plan.

Remembering 9/11 and Thinking About Elul

Today we look at Mishpatim, Exodus 21:1 - 24:18 - lots of laws, the promise of a guardian that will go before the Israelites and vanquish our enemies as we enter the Land of Israel, and the call to approach Mount Sinai.

Of the many laws, here are two:
Exodus 23:4 When you encounter your enemy's ox or his donkey straying, return it, return it to him.
5: When you see the donkey of one who hates you crouching under its burden, restrain from abandoning it to him - unbind, yes, unbind it together with him.

On this September 11 during Elul, the month leading up to our High Holy Days, we should  remember our tragedy and be moved by it to approach our enemies and those who hate us with integrity and generosity.

Let us turn hatred and enmity into civility.

Look Before We Kvetch

Today we look at B'shalach, Exodus 13:17 - 17:16 - the Israelites leave Egypt, Pharaoh chases them, the Sea of Reeds splits, we celebrate our freedom en route to Mount Sinai, plus the beginning of Israelite kvetching (complaining), and manna, quail, and the Amalekites attack.

People complain, oy do we complain!

Even though we have received teachings about the resources we might find if we only would look more closely.

Let us rein in our complaints for Elul, and seek solutions before we even give voice to our kvetches.

We Make Our Own Redemption

Today we look at Va-Eira, Exodus 6:2 - 9:35 - God's instructions to Moses to free the Israelites, the description of the descendants of Israel in Egypt by name and tribe, and lots of plagues.

In order to convince the Israelites that God is really God, God manipulates Pharaoh, hardening his heart which leads to more plagues and divine interventions.

I don't like this God, the one who decides to sacrifice the well-being of the Egyptians, to kill off their people, for the sake of proving a point.

The Israelites though, in other words, we, are in fact the problem. We refuse to admit the miraculous in our midst and want proof that Moses and God will truly redeem us.

Today we live without supernatural intervention and we must find redemption in human actions and kindness - we must make redemption in our own good acts and attitudes of compassion. This Elul, let us participate in the miracle of existence by generously giving a little bit more of our selves.

Noticing the Normal and Finding the Miraculous

Today we look at Shemot, Exodus 1:1 - 6:1 - the first section of the Book of Exodus. During this parashah we go from the death of Joseph to the beginning of the bringing of the plagues and the conflict between Moses and Pharaoh over the freeing of the Hebrew slaves.

This includes the dramatic encounter at the Burning Bush - from the Hebrew in Exodus 3:2:
"the bush is burning with fire, and the bush is not consumed!"

While we often identify this as a dramatic moment, Jewish scholars remind us that noticing a bush that is not consumed by fire requires some attention. After all, it is not merely a plant on fire, but also one that doesn't disappear slowly in the flames - this may in fact be a subtle message.

A midrash, an interpretative gloss on the Torah, notes that Moses passed the bush every day as a shepherd during the years he lived in Midian. Only when Moses overcame his anger at having to leave his comfortable life in the court of Pharaoh did he notice that the bush still burned, and then he was able to encounter the divine message that it contained.

As Elul progresses, let us slow down and notice the miracles around us that may require more attention, that may require us to overcome our own internal turmoil, and find a good teaching in the midst of our everyday lives.

Joseph and Forgiveness

Back to our parashat-ha-yom, daily Parashah, commentary heading into the High Holy Days, after a Labor Day hiatus - remember that Shabbat was the first fair labor practice ever!

Today we look at Va-Yechi, Genesis 47:28 - 50:26 - the end of Jacob's life, his blessings for his sons, his request that his remains be buried near his fathers', and Joseph's fulfillment of that request - so ends the book of Genesis.

Near the end of Joseph's stories, after his father Jacob has died, his brothers worry that without their father around, their now powerful brother will now seek revenge upon them.

Joseph responds:

Gen. 50:20 Now you, you planned ill against me, (but) God planned-it-over for good, in order to do (as is) this very day- to keep many people alive.

During our season of forgiveness and making apologies, Joseph stands as a model, letting bygones be bygones, and forgiving his brothers. So may we all bury the hatchet and move into the new year holding peace in our hearts for our family, friends, and communities.

Conflict and Resolution - Joseph and his brothers

For today, Mi-Keitz, Genesis 41:1 - 44:17 - Joseph's dream interpretations in prison and Egypt, his ascent to influence under Pharaoh, and the first part of Joseph's encounter with his brothers.

As we go through the month of Elul preparing for the holidays, the story of conflict and resolution between Joseph and his brothers seems particularly appropriate.

A quick recap: Joseph was an obnoxious and precocious child, rubbing his favored status in his older brothers' noses. This got him sold into slavery, and eventually, many years later, his brothers came to him after he rose as a man of power in Egypt to try and get food since famine grips their homeland. Joseph tested them, and when they proved their reluctance to sacrifice their other younger brother Benjamin, he reconciled with them.

When we suffer wrongs, allowing ourselves to see those who have hurt us as having learned a lesson from their misdeeds may be a huge challenge. Opening ourselves up to the idea of offering forgiveness may be even more difficult than reconciling, and thus all the more important.

Reflecting on Rights in Elul

For today, Va-Yeishev, Genesis 37:1 - 40:23 - the beginnings of the stories of Joseph, and some other stories about Jacob's household.

The story of Tamar is here, a wife of two sons of Judah who don't provide her offspring. When Judah shirks his obligations to her, she tricks him into doing the right thing.

This story, a triumph of a woman for justice over a society that tends to ignore women, reminds us that the fight for equality even within Jewish culture has gone on for millennia.

The reflective time of Elul offers us the reminder that we should not take our rights for granted. We should appreciate how far we've come as people and individuals, and how much work we still have ahead of us.