This week’s Torah portion begins the Book of Exodus, or Shemot, which means, names. It tells of the first instance of Anti-Semitism, of our persecution and enslavement in Egypt, of the birth of Moses, God’s call to Moses to take the Israelites out of Egypt, and Moses’ first encounter with Pharaoh. In this portion, Moses sees a burning bush. God speaks to him and gives him the task of being an intermediary between God, Pharaoh, and the Israelites; and of securing the people’s release from Pharaoh by being the voice of God.
Moses was our most important and holy prophet. The way a person becomes a prophet is through God’s contact. God spoke to Abraham & Sarah, then Isaac & Rebecca, then Jacob. After these Patriarchs and Matriarchs, the first contact with a prophet was typically by means of a vision. Each person is contacted in the way most fit for him. People from priestly families, the commentators have said, who were used to seeing grandeur, have grand visions. Much later, after Moses, God gives grand visions to Isaiah, who saw angels flying about singing praises, and to Ezekiel, who sees angelic four-faced creatures gleaming, moving about on wheels with eyes on the sides of the wheels: a sound and light show. Moses is contacted very differently.
The Torah says, “Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock far away into the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, at Horeb. And an angel of God appeared to him in a flame of fire in the midst of a bush; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when God saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And God said, Do not come any closer; take off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.” (Ex. 3:1-5)
Moses is contacted without a vision. He is presented with a strange occurrence in real life, similarly, in fact, to the way God contacts each of us: through the occurrences in our lives. Moses is asked to notice something, and then to try to figure it out. Being brought up as a prince in the palace of Egypt, we would expect that Moses would have been given a grand vision, something opulent. But Moses is contacted not primarily through his senses, but through his intelligence. This tells us that Moses was very smart. He can be seen as the first modern man. He is fully literate: he reads and writes, which will be important skills for him later, when he must write the Torah. He has had the finest secular education of the time, and little does he know that he is being tapped not only to lead the people out of bondage in Egypt, but really to be a philosopher-king.
It is to Moses that God reveals the Divine name twice: yud, hei, vav, hei, the realization of which is to usher in a new understanding of morality, existence, and Divinity. Moses is a pre-scientific man, called upon to begin not only a new age of morality, but an age of morality fused with a scientific approach to the life of the spirit. It is through Moses that God will bring a new understanding of the way reality is structured, as outlined in the Torah.
In a sense, we live in a similar time, only we approach our task from the opposite direction. Moses came out of a spiritual time, when all the features of the natural world – the rocks, the sun, the wind, the sea, the trees – were thought to have their own gods and spirits. The people lived in a kind of spirit world. We live at the end of the age of reason, which has culminated in the information age. It is our task to return to the world of the soul and bring it into our scientific age, making a synthesis, as Moses was to bring the science of morality, the science of Oneness, and the science of cause and effect to the spirit word of his time. How can we do this?
As Moses noticed an oddity, we are called upon to notice the oddities that occur in our lives: the strange coincidences and the way our lives seem to work out and connect them back to the world of the spirit. As Moses taught the laws of cause and effect, we can test the principles in the Torah according to the laws of action and result, choosing the good, the kind, the peaceful, that which is patient, forgiving, and generous; and see the results, almost as if we are conducting a scientific experiment. We can also notice how our lesser choices produce the opposite: difficulty and lack of ease in moving through life. By bringing our scientific world view into the spiritual realm, and the spiritual realm into scientific realty, we learn, as Moses knew, how to navigate in both worlds simultaneously. This is where we are meant to live. We owe this knowledge to God, but also to Moses, whose noticing, questioning, and choosing is still our model today. We are meant to be both rational and spiritual creatures. As we have become more scientific and rational so may we also be more spiritual. May we live fully in both worlds, being equally at ease in each.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Friday, November 8, 2013
Unconditional Love
This week’s Torah portion is Toldot, which means generations. It tells of the birth of the twins, Esau and Jacob to their parents, Rebecca and Isaac. Jacob pursuaded Esau to sell him his birthright, the right of inheritance of the firstborn. There is also a section about Isaac’s servants re-digging the wells of his father, Abraham, and of making peace with the local chieftain; and then there is the well-known story of how Rebecca and Jacob trick Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing of the firstborn, after which Jacob has to leave home to escape his brother’s anger.
Rebecca and Isaac initially had no children. Isaac had been an older groom, she a younger bride. They yearned for children and waited so long, until their prayers were answered with the great blessing of fraternal twins. Esau was born first, a redhead with lots of hair. Jacob, with little hair, was born second. Right from the start, Jacob was a very different person from Esau. The Torah says, “The lads grew up and Esau became a man who knows trapping, a man of the field. But Jacob was a homespun man, abiding in tents. Isaac loved Esau, for game was in his mouth, but Rebecca loved Jacob.” Esau was an active person, a lover of the outdoors, hunting, and physical pursuits. Jacob was quieter: more of a mama’s boy, content to be at home, inside, someone who would rather talk than do; a feelings person who formed a strong bond with his mother. We know how destructive it is when each parent has a favorite, and I’ve spoken on this topic before. We can also look at what the Torah says about the quality of the two relationships, of parent to child and what we can learn from them.
Isaac, we are told, loved Esau because he brought him delicious food. Rashi quotes the translation of Onkelos who said, “Because he would eat of his trapping.” Perhaps Isaac also admired Esau, as the commentators have said, because he possessed the qualities that Isaac lacked: physicality, decisiveness, and energy. Or perhaps he admired Esau, the man of action, in contrast to his inaction at the akedah, when he thought he would be sacrificed. We are not told why Rebecca loved Jacob, but perhaps we can author a midrash to fill in the gaps; to explain how Jacob became Rebecca’s confidante, best friend, and constant companion. Isaac, so many years her senior, may have become remote. Perhaps she forgot her loneliness during the long afternoons of conversation with her younger son. In Pirkei Avot it says, {Mishnah V:16 [V:19 in Hirsch Translation]) “All love that depends on a [TRANSIENT] thing or physical cause will pass away when the cause is no longer there, but the love that is not dependent on a cause will never pass away. Which is the love that depends on a cause? The love of Amnon for Tamar; and which is the love that does not depend on a [TRANSIENT] cause? The love of David and Jonathan.”
As a parent, ideally, we should fill the role of God, loving each child for all of himself: applauding their strengths and supporting them to become strong, independent, happy adults. But so often, whether with children or even with our friends and other family members, our own needs can overshadow the ideal, unconditional love that we are capable of giving to each other. In the book, 20th Century Jewish Religious Thought, in the chapter on Love, Steven Harvey quotes Abravanel’s commentary on “Love your neighbor as yourself,” “Just as you love yourself not for pleasure or benefit, so should you have no ulterior motive for loving your neighbor.” This is also the main topic of Martin Buber’s famous work, I and Thou. He writes, “This…is the sublime melancholy of our lot, that every You must become an It in our world…as soon as the direct relationship has run its course or is permeated by means, the You becomes an object among objects, possibly the noblest one and yet one of them, assigned its measure and boundary…Every you in the world is doomed by its nature to become a thing or at least to enter thinghood again and again…The It is the chrysalis; the You the butterfly.”
Perhaps only God is capable of giving continual, unselfish, unconditional love. The commandment to love your neighbor as yourself is a worthy goal that we will probably never reach; yet we can look at our motives clearly, seeing when our need to take is greater than our desire to give. Rabbi Gelberman has written about the necessity of loving a person the way that person wants to receive it, not the way we want to give it, thus serving the person’s needs and not our own. May we love less selfishly and more unconditionally, walking in God’s ways, emulating the great love God has for us, and giving of ourselves generously to each other. May we be more open to each other, less withholding of our love, and more universal in bestowing it, being more God-like and more human at the same time.
Rebecca and Isaac initially had no children. Isaac had been an older groom, she a younger bride. They yearned for children and waited so long, until their prayers were answered with the great blessing of fraternal twins. Esau was born first, a redhead with lots of hair. Jacob, with little hair, was born second. Right from the start, Jacob was a very different person from Esau. The Torah says, “The lads grew up and Esau became a man who knows trapping, a man of the field. But Jacob was a homespun man, abiding in tents. Isaac loved Esau, for game was in his mouth, but Rebecca loved Jacob.” Esau was an active person, a lover of the outdoors, hunting, and physical pursuits. Jacob was quieter: more of a mama’s boy, content to be at home, inside, someone who would rather talk than do; a feelings person who formed a strong bond with his mother. We know how destructive it is when each parent has a favorite, and I’ve spoken on this topic before. We can also look at what the Torah says about the quality of the two relationships, of parent to child and what we can learn from them.
Isaac, we are told, loved Esau because he brought him delicious food. Rashi quotes the translation of Onkelos who said, “Because he would eat of his trapping.” Perhaps Isaac also admired Esau, as the commentators have said, because he possessed the qualities that Isaac lacked: physicality, decisiveness, and energy. Or perhaps he admired Esau, the man of action, in contrast to his inaction at the akedah, when he thought he would be sacrificed. We are not told why Rebecca loved Jacob, but perhaps we can author a midrash to fill in the gaps; to explain how Jacob became Rebecca’s confidante, best friend, and constant companion. Isaac, so many years her senior, may have become remote. Perhaps she forgot her loneliness during the long afternoons of conversation with her younger son. In Pirkei Avot it says, {Mishnah V:16 [V:19 in Hirsch Translation]) “All love that depends on a [TRANSIENT] thing or physical cause will pass away when the cause is no longer there, but the love that is not dependent on a cause will never pass away. Which is the love that depends on a cause? The love of Amnon for Tamar; and which is the love that does not depend on a [TRANSIENT] cause? The love of David and Jonathan.”
As a parent, ideally, we should fill the role of God, loving each child for all of himself: applauding their strengths and supporting them to become strong, independent, happy adults. But so often, whether with children or even with our friends and other family members, our own needs can overshadow the ideal, unconditional love that we are capable of giving to each other. In the book, 20th Century Jewish Religious Thought, in the chapter on Love, Steven Harvey quotes Abravanel’s commentary on “Love your neighbor as yourself,” “Just as you love yourself not for pleasure or benefit, so should you have no ulterior motive for loving your neighbor.” This is also the main topic of Martin Buber’s famous work, I and Thou. He writes, “This…is the sublime melancholy of our lot, that every You must become an It in our world…as soon as the direct relationship has run its course or is permeated by means, the You becomes an object among objects, possibly the noblest one and yet one of them, assigned its measure and boundary…Every you in the world is doomed by its nature to become a thing or at least to enter thinghood again and again…The It is the chrysalis; the You the butterfly.”
Perhaps only God is capable of giving continual, unselfish, unconditional love. The commandment to love your neighbor as yourself is a worthy goal that we will probably never reach; yet we can look at our motives clearly, seeing when our need to take is greater than our desire to give. Rabbi Gelberman has written about the necessity of loving a person the way that person wants to receive it, not the way we want to give it, thus serving the person’s needs and not our own. May we love less selfishly and more unconditionally, walking in God’s ways, emulating the great love God has for us, and giving of ourselves generously to each other. May we be more open to each other, less withholding of our love, and more universal in bestowing it, being more God-like and more human at the same time.
Friday, November 1, 2013
The God in Us
This week’s Torah portion is Chaye Sarah, which means the life of Sarah. It tells of Sarah’s death and of Abraham purchasing a cave and field in Hebron, the Cave of Machpeleh, for her burial and the burial of his family. It’s still there, a holy site, where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah are buried. Then Abraham sends his servant, Eliezer, back to his family in Mesopotamia, to find a wife for Isaac. It’s a beautiful story: Abraham does not want Isaac to marry any of the local Canaanite idol-worshippers. He needs to ensure that there will be grandchildren to inherit the land, and that his household and grandchildren remain monotheists. Eliezer envisions problems in the errand, such as: should he bring Isaac along? What if the young woman won’t come back with him? Abraham assures him that God’s angel will go with him and make the task successful. And this is just what happens – the events unfold miraculously.
Eliezer approaches a spring near Haran in the evening. As he arrives, he prays to God, “Adonai, God of my master Abraham, may you so arrange it for me this day and do kindness with my master Abraham. See, I stand here by the spring of water and the daughters of the townsmen come out to draw water. Let it be that the maiden to whom I shall say, please tip your jug so I may drink and who replies, drink, and I will even water your camels, her will you have chosen for our servant, for Isaac, and may I know through her that you have done kindness with my master.” The Torah then immediately says, “ And it was when he had not yet finished speaking that suddenly Rebecca, who had been born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife if Nachor, brother of Abraham, was coming out with her jug upon her shoulder.” A few paragraphs later, the story is retold and the servant says, “I had not yet finished speaking to my heart when Rebecca came out with her jug on her shoulder.” The Torah also says the Eliezer was “astonished.” It was not just that his prayer came true, for it all happened just as he had requested God that it would happen, but that it happened with such great speed, before he even finished saying the words inwardly to himself.
That God hears our thoughts and prayers and knows what is in our hearts, we could call the Us in God. The Creator is not other that we, but we are within the Eternal, which allows God to know us: our thoughts, feelings, and actions. But what allows us to contact the goodness and blessings of God, so that they can come to us, as they came to Abraham and Eliezer? Perhaps it concerns us being in consonance with God’s wishes. God wanted Abraham’s descendants to inherit the land. God also wanted those descendants to be monotheists, so Abraham was took steps to further these results. Eliezer wanted to do his very best for Abraham and Isaac, to serve and to help. Rebecca wanted to be kind and to give generously of herself, by carrying water to a stranger. These three people performed acts of goodness, helping to further God’s plan. Thus, they were able to contact what we might call the God in Us, that goodness and generosity, that willingness to serve and help, that allows blessings to flow in the Universe. Miracles happen when we are aligned with God’s purpose. The Eternal is leading us to greater compassion and Oneness. When we express the essence of Holiness, through words, deeds, even intentions, we draw the attention of the Us in God, which allows us to experience the God in Us, leading to everyday miracles in our lives.
Aligning ourselves with goodness and generosity is not always easy, but knowing it is possible, knowing that we are expected to walk in that direction can help us choose the right way to go. May we all open our minds to the possibility of the God in Us, so that the Us in God feels real to us and becomes a tangible presence in our lives. May we be guided by the Holy One, our Divine parent and teacher, so that we walk, as Abraham, Eliezer, and Rebecca did, easily, joyously, and without impediment, within the mind of Divinity.
Eliezer approaches a spring near Haran in the evening. As he arrives, he prays to God, “Adonai, God of my master Abraham, may you so arrange it for me this day and do kindness with my master Abraham. See, I stand here by the spring of water and the daughters of the townsmen come out to draw water. Let it be that the maiden to whom I shall say, please tip your jug so I may drink and who replies, drink, and I will even water your camels, her will you have chosen for our servant, for Isaac, and may I know through her that you have done kindness with my master.” The Torah then immediately says, “ And it was when he had not yet finished speaking that suddenly Rebecca, who had been born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife if Nachor, brother of Abraham, was coming out with her jug upon her shoulder.” A few paragraphs later, the story is retold and the servant says, “I had not yet finished speaking to my heart when Rebecca came out with her jug on her shoulder.” The Torah also says the Eliezer was “astonished.” It was not just that his prayer came true, for it all happened just as he had requested God that it would happen, but that it happened with such great speed, before he even finished saying the words inwardly to himself.
That God hears our thoughts and prayers and knows what is in our hearts, we could call the Us in God. The Creator is not other that we, but we are within the Eternal, which allows God to know us: our thoughts, feelings, and actions. But what allows us to contact the goodness and blessings of God, so that they can come to us, as they came to Abraham and Eliezer? Perhaps it concerns us being in consonance with God’s wishes. God wanted Abraham’s descendants to inherit the land. God also wanted those descendants to be monotheists, so Abraham was took steps to further these results. Eliezer wanted to do his very best for Abraham and Isaac, to serve and to help. Rebecca wanted to be kind and to give generously of herself, by carrying water to a stranger. These three people performed acts of goodness, helping to further God’s plan. Thus, they were able to contact what we might call the God in Us, that goodness and generosity, that willingness to serve and help, that allows blessings to flow in the Universe. Miracles happen when we are aligned with God’s purpose. The Eternal is leading us to greater compassion and Oneness. When we express the essence of Holiness, through words, deeds, even intentions, we draw the attention of the Us in God, which allows us to experience the God in Us, leading to everyday miracles in our lives.
Aligning ourselves with goodness and generosity is not always easy, but knowing it is possible, knowing that we are expected to walk in that direction can help us choose the right way to go. May we all open our minds to the possibility of the God in Us, so that the Us in God feels real to us and becomes a tangible presence in our lives. May we be guided by the Holy One, our Divine parent and teacher, so that we walk, as Abraham, Eliezer, and Rebecca did, easily, joyously, and without impediment, within the mind of Divinity.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Toward Harmony in the Human Family
This week’s Torah portion is Vayera, containing so many things to think about: Abraham’s hospitality in receiving guests, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Sarah’s miraculous pregnancy and birth of a son, and later the near sacrifice of Isaac, saved by God, prohibiting the practice of human sacrifice for this new religion of Monotheism. For us, loving in a time of increasing acceptance of those who we perceive as the Other, people of a different ethnicity, religion, color, or cultural background, the story of the casting out of Hagar, Sarah’s handmaiden, and their son Ishmael, is deeply troubling.
God had promised Abraham children. After 10 years he has no child. Sarah generously suggests that the elderly Abraham try to have a child with Hagar. They are successful and Ishmael is born. But then, about 14 years later, Sarah conceives and gives birth to Isaac. Isaac becomes a toddler and Sarah sees Ishmael “mocking.” We don’t know what he was doing…. Whether he was being disrespectful to parents or adults, or torturing an animal, or being mean to Isaac or to another boy, or just being unbearably or obnoxiously sarcastic.But perhaps Sarah realizes that Isaac’s big brother, who will be a daily influence and who Isaac will look up to, will, in some way, corrupt baby Isaac. Sarah demands that Hagar and Ishmael be sent away. Sarah says, “Drive out this slavewoman and her son, for the son of that slavewoman shll not inherit with my son, with Isaac.
The matter greatly distressed Abraham regarding his son, so God said to Abraham, Be not distressed over the youth or your slavewoman, Whatever Sarah tells you, heed her voice since through Isaac will offspring be considered yours. Bur the son of the slavewoman as well will I make into a nation, for he is your offspring.” (Gen. 21:10-13) This is so puzzling. Why would God side with Sarah? We see this not as the freeing of a slave, but as a life-threatening abandonment of a woman and a child. Sarah frames her request in terms of inheritance, but the text implies that inheritance is not the real issue. It is the character of Ishmael that Sarah objects to. Ishmael is probably a typical teenager. Having had two teenage sons of my own, I know what a 15 year old boy is like. Even the best of them are trying at times. An interesting question is, why did God allow Sarah to see Ishmael’s objectionable behavior in that moment? Anything we see, we see for a reason. God must have wanted Ishmael sent away.
Initially, when Hagar became pregnant and began to look down on Sarah, Sarah complained to Abraham and Abraham put the matter in Sarah’s hands. Sarah dealt firmly with Hagar, and Hagar ran away. God brought Hagar back at that time. But now God causes Hagar and Ishmael to be sent away. We feel this to be an injustice. It is wrong to exclude anyone. We know that we are all one – all part of each other. I think perhaps there might be an ultimate purpose to Hagar and Ishmael being sent away.
How many of you had or have siblings? Can you remember what it was like growing up with them? You fought, made up, fought again, and became better people for it. Those conflicts served a purpose, and many, though not all, siblings go on to have deeply satisfying relationships. Here is another perspective: No one can go to college who has not completed elementary school. We can’t skip over certain life steps, certain necessary times of learning and struggle. In the same way, the human family is similar to young siblings. There is a necessary time of conflict: of learning, and of developing so that real peace can be achieved.
If we look at the time of the Torah, or the time of the Prophets, more than 2,000 years ago, the descriptions shock us. The time was more warlike, more brutal, more difficult to survive in. Our time looks more gentle, although there are still horrific wars, may they end soon. Perhaps we are on a continuum of learning how to get along with each other: how to be more peaceful human beings, how to develop real respect and even love for each other. And perhaps God knew that we could not skip the steps in between.
Yes, terrible problems have come out of the separation between the Arabs and the Jews. We have a long way to go before we as aggregate groups will be able to live peacefully. However we are learning. Perhaps we are only a third to a half of the way there. But neither are we at the place, in terms of our moral state, where our ancestors were. May we understand that conflict with others is a teacher; that we have been separated so that we can come back together, in love and acceptance. Our Divine parent is watching us patiently, encouraging us to react to each other with gentleness and forbearance. May we learn and grow, becoming more peaceful, less angry, more loving, and more caring about each other, causing our Divine parent to smile.
God had promised Abraham children. After 10 years he has no child. Sarah generously suggests that the elderly Abraham try to have a child with Hagar. They are successful and Ishmael is born. But then, about 14 years later, Sarah conceives and gives birth to Isaac. Isaac becomes a toddler and Sarah sees Ishmael “mocking.” We don’t know what he was doing…. Whether he was being disrespectful to parents or adults, or torturing an animal, or being mean to Isaac or to another boy, or just being unbearably or obnoxiously sarcastic.But perhaps Sarah realizes that Isaac’s big brother, who will be a daily influence and who Isaac will look up to, will, in some way, corrupt baby Isaac. Sarah demands that Hagar and Ishmael be sent away. Sarah says, “Drive out this slavewoman and her son, for the son of that slavewoman shll not inherit with my son, with Isaac.
The matter greatly distressed Abraham regarding his son, so God said to Abraham, Be not distressed over the youth or your slavewoman, Whatever Sarah tells you, heed her voice since through Isaac will offspring be considered yours. Bur the son of the slavewoman as well will I make into a nation, for he is your offspring.” (Gen. 21:10-13) This is so puzzling. Why would God side with Sarah? We see this not as the freeing of a slave, but as a life-threatening abandonment of a woman and a child. Sarah frames her request in terms of inheritance, but the text implies that inheritance is not the real issue. It is the character of Ishmael that Sarah objects to. Ishmael is probably a typical teenager. Having had two teenage sons of my own, I know what a 15 year old boy is like. Even the best of them are trying at times. An interesting question is, why did God allow Sarah to see Ishmael’s objectionable behavior in that moment? Anything we see, we see for a reason. God must have wanted Ishmael sent away.
Initially, when Hagar became pregnant and began to look down on Sarah, Sarah complained to Abraham and Abraham put the matter in Sarah’s hands. Sarah dealt firmly with Hagar, and Hagar ran away. God brought Hagar back at that time. But now God causes Hagar and Ishmael to be sent away. We feel this to be an injustice. It is wrong to exclude anyone. We know that we are all one – all part of each other. I think perhaps there might be an ultimate purpose to Hagar and Ishmael being sent away.
How many of you had or have siblings? Can you remember what it was like growing up with them? You fought, made up, fought again, and became better people for it. Those conflicts served a purpose, and many, though not all, siblings go on to have deeply satisfying relationships. Here is another perspective: No one can go to college who has not completed elementary school. We can’t skip over certain life steps, certain necessary times of learning and struggle. In the same way, the human family is similar to young siblings. There is a necessary time of conflict: of learning, and of developing so that real peace can be achieved.
If we look at the time of the Torah, or the time of the Prophets, more than 2,000 years ago, the descriptions shock us. The time was more warlike, more brutal, more difficult to survive in. Our time looks more gentle, although there are still horrific wars, may they end soon. Perhaps we are on a continuum of learning how to get along with each other: how to be more peaceful human beings, how to develop real respect and even love for each other. And perhaps God knew that we could not skip the steps in between.
Yes, terrible problems have come out of the separation between the Arabs and the Jews. We have a long way to go before we as aggregate groups will be able to live peacefully. However we are learning. Perhaps we are only a third to a half of the way there. But neither are we at the place, in terms of our moral state, where our ancestors were. May we understand that conflict with others is a teacher; that we have been separated so that we can come back together, in love and acceptance. Our Divine parent is watching us patiently, encouraging us to react to each other with gentleness and forbearance. May we learn and grow, becoming more peaceful, less angry, more loving, and more caring about each other, causing our Divine parent to smile.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Let It Be Me
This week’s Torah portion is Lech Lecha, which means, go for yourself. God speaks to Abraham, whose name is still Abram until the end of this portion, for the very first time, with the offer of great blessing, if Abraham will follow God, leaving his native land to journey to Canaan in order to establish a new nation there. Abraham does so and God promises him the land four separate times in this portion. At the end of Lech lecha, God makes a covenant with Abraham: Abraham and his descendants accept God as the only God, and as the sign of the covenant, every male will be circumcised at the age of 8 days. God then gives Abraham and Sarah their new names. There is an interesting story in this portion about a war between local chieftains. Four kings were battling against 5 kings. Abraham hears that his nephew, Lot, has been captured and immediately arms his employees to enter the fray and rescue Lot. Abraham’s allies are victorious and Abraham brings Lot back.
The kings gather to divide the plunder, the spoils of war. The Torah says, “And Malchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God the Most High. Malchizekek blessed him and said, Blessed is Abram of God, the Most High, maker of Heaven and Earth, and blessed is God, the Most High, Who has delivered your foes into your hand. (Gen. 14:18). This man, Malchizedek, whose name means Righteous King, is very mysterious. This is his only mention in the Torah. Apparently he is a priest who is a monotheist, someone who worships the one God. And even more intriguing, he lives in Salem, in other words, Jerusalem, the place where Jacob eventually will settle. So there is a monotheist in the very same area where God has asked Abraham to settle.
This is even more strange when we take into account another line from last week’s portion. We are told at the end of the portion, Noah, “Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they departed from Ur of the Chaldees, to go to the land of Canaan; they arrived at Haran, and settled there” (11: 31). This verse tells us that Abraham’s Father, Terah, was also on his way to Canaan, but that he stopped and settled in Haran, which was still a part of Mesopotamia, and never completed the journey. Now Mesopotamia was the heart of civilization at this time. Canaan was the sticks. Why would anyone go there? Abraham’s brother had died in Ur. Terah had lost a child. Perhaps they were fleeing painful memories. Maybe we can see God’s hand in theses events.
It seems that perhaps God was trying to establish monotheism in this very specific place on the earth. Perhaps God tried to do this with Malchizedek, but it seems that Malchizedek’s influence was limited. Perhaps God tried to do this with Terah, Abraham’s father, but Terah didn’t follow through, whether through grief, exhaustion, or other factors. And then, God attempted it with Abraham, and this worked. Monotheism “took.” Abraham did establish monotheism in this very place, in Canaan, close to Jerusalem, and from there the knowledge of the One God has spread across the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, and the world. What can we glean from these verses and what is the Torah teaching us?
Perhaps it’s letting us know that God has many important tasks to carry out in the world and many things to teach humanity. These tasks can only be accomplished and these lessons can only be imparted through human beings. God therefore needs us to be God’s partners. Howard Schwartz, a professor at University of Missouri-St. Louis, a Jewish folklorist and mythologist said in an article in the Magazine, Reform Judaism, that “Rabbi Isaac Luria of Safed, known as the Ari was the first to propose that the Jewish people are God’s partners in repairing the world, The Ari did so by constructing a cosmic myth around the term Tikkun olam, In the Ari’s myth, the primordial light God sent forth on that first day is the same light scattered around our world as holy sparks, which each of us is called upon to seek out and gather.” This has become a mainstream Jewish teaching.
We are God’s partners in perfecting and continuing Creation. But we are imperfect. We don’t always follow through. Like Moses, who initially tried to evade the task God asked him to accomplish, leading the Israelites out of Egypt, we don’t always want to undertake the tasks presented to us. We can’t always complete what we have started. So God will keep trying to find the right person to bring more understanding into the world, and to accomplish what God thinks needs to be done. We are all called upon to do our part: a little part of all the things God would like done. May we be like Abraham, who, without hesitating, without arguing and without any delay, went forth to do what God asked of him. When something is asked of us: when we see how we can be of help and of service, may we say to the Source of Life, Hineni, just tell me what you want me to do, and whatever You, dear, Holy One wish to have done, Oh, let it be through me.
The kings gather to divide the plunder, the spoils of war. The Torah says, “And Malchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God the Most High. Malchizekek blessed him and said, Blessed is Abram of God, the Most High, maker of Heaven and Earth, and blessed is God, the Most High, Who has delivered your foes into your hand. (Gen. 14:18). This man, Malchizedek, whose name means Righteous King, is very mysterious. This is his only mention in the Torah. Apparently he is a priest who is a monotheist, someone who worships the one God. And even more intriguing, he lives in Salem, in other words, Jerusalem, the place where Jacob eventually will settle. So there is a monotheist in the very same area where God has asked Abraham to settle.
This is even more strange when we take into account another line from last week’s portion. We are told at the end of the portion, Noah, “Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they departed from Ur of the Chaldees, to go to the land of Canaan; they arrived at Haran, and settled there” (11: 31). This verse tells us that Abraham’s Father, Terah, was also on his way to Canaan, but that he stopped and settled in Haran, which was still a part of Mesopotamia, and never completed the journey. Now Mesopotamia was the heart of civilization at this time. Canaan was the sticks. Why would anyone go there? Abraham’s brother had died in Ur. Terah had lost a child. Perhaps they were fleeing painful memories. Maybe we can see God’s hand in theses events.
It seems that perhaps God was trying to establish monotheism in this very specific place on the earth. Perhaps God tried to do this with Malchizedek, but it seems that Malchizedek’s influence was limited. Perhaps God tried to do this with Terah, Abraham’s father, but Terah didn’t follow through, whether through grief, exhaustion, or other factors. And then, God attempted it with Abraham, and this worked. Monotheism “took.” Abraham did establish monotheism in this very place, in Canaan, close to Jerusalem, and from there the knowledge of the One God has spread across the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, and the world. What can we glean from these verses and what is the Torah teaching us?
Perhaps it’s letting us know that God has many important tasks to carry out in the world and many things to teach humanity. These tasks can only be accomplished and these lessons can only be imparted through human beings. God therefore needs us to be God’s partners. Howard Schwartz, a professor at University of Missouri-St. Louis, a Jewish folklorist and mythologist said in an article in the Magazine, Reform Judaism, that “Rabbi Isaac Luria of Safed, known as the Ari was the first to propose that the Jewish people are God’s partners in repairing the world, The Ari did so by constructing a cosmic myth around the term Tikkun olam, In the Ari’s myth, the primordial light God sent forth on that first day is the same light scattered around our world as holy sparks, which each of us is called upon to seek out and gather.” This has become a mainstream Jewish teaching.
We are God’s partners in perfecting and continuing Creation. But we are imperfect. We don’t always follow through. Like Moses, who initially tried to evade the task God asked him to accomplish, leading the Israelites out of Egypt, we don’t always want to undertake the tasks presented to us. We can’t always complete what we have started. So God will keep trying to find the right person to bring more understanding into the world, and to accomplish what God thinks needs to be done. We are all called upon to do our part: a little part of all the things God would like done. May we be like Abraham, who, without hesitating, without arguing and without any delay, went forth to do what God asked of him. When something is asked of us: when we see how we can be of help and of service, may we say to the Source of Life, Hineni, just tell me what you want me to do, and whatever You, dear, Holy One wish to have done, Oh, let it be through me.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Inner Conversations
This week’s Torah portion is Noach: the well known story of Noah, the flood and the ark. God blessed Noah and his family: wife, sons, and daughters-in-law by allowing them to survive, because of Noah’s goodness. After the flood was over, and Noah and his family left the ark, Noah built an altar in gratitude to God for saving him and his family. The text tells us how grateful God was for Noah’s offering. God said to Noah, “I will not continue any more to curse the earth because of earthlings, for the design of human’s hearts are bad from their youth. God then promises never again to bring such a devastating flood to the earth, by reassuring Noah that all the days of the earth: “seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day, and night shall not cease.”
What are we to make of the statement, “for the design of his heart is bad from his youth,” also translated as “the devisings of man’s mind are evil from his youth.” The sages of the Midrash were quick to speak about the yetzer hara, the evil impulse, and the yetzer hatov, the good impulse. The unavoidable conclusion is that God knows us. God hears the negative mutterings in our minds and acknowledges what is, what truly exists: that to listen to the way we think isn’t always pretty. Nevertheless, God is merciful to us. The sage Nachmanides, who lived in 13th Century Spain, saw it slightly differently. He said that the phrase from his youth, means in his youth, in other words, Nachmanides maintains that there is learning that takes place, so that we grow out of plotting so much selfishness.
I think we could look at this with an additional perspective. We know that the thoughts that arise in us are often negative. We see life and interpret events, even events that occur to help us, negatively. We talk ourselves into depression. We allow our own often pessimistic thoughts to be the prevailing reality rather than the life, goodness, and blessings that have been given to us. Like the famous line from the comic strip Pogo, “we have met the enemy and he is us.” Rabbi Nachman of Breslau wrote so much on this topic. He knew how much misery we are capable of creating for ourselves by thoughts alone. Rabbi Nachman connects our negative thoughts to our opinions of ourselves. This is very psychologically wise and insightful. The principle of projection, that we project upon others what we lack or find unacceptable in ourselves, postulated by Freud in the 1890’s, is a modern day articulation of Rabbi Nachman’s insight.
In the Talmud there are two stories about a man named Gamtzu, which means, this too. The Talmud asks, “Why was he called…Gamzu? Because whatever befell him he would declare, Gamtzu This also is for the best.” Gamzu knew that maintaining an optimistic outlook always helped him in his life.
Rabbi Nachman used to tell this story: There was once a poor man who earned a living digging and selling clay. Once, while digging, he discovered a diamond which was obviously very valuable. Since he had no idea of its worth, he took it to an expert for appraisal. The expert answered, "No one here will be able to afford such a stone. Go to the capital, and there you will be able to sell it." The man was so poor that he could not afford to make the journey. He sold everything he had, and went from house to house, collecting funds for the trip. Finally he had enough to take him as far as the sea. He then went to board a ship, but he did not have any money. He went to the ship's captain and showed him the jewel. The captain immediately welcomed him aboard the ship with great honor, assuming he was a very trustworthy person. He gave the poor man a special first class cabin, and treated him like a wealthy person. The poor man's cabin had a view of the sea, and he sat there, constantly looking at the diamond and rejoicing. He was especially particular to do this during his meals, since eating in good spirits is highly beneficial for digestion. Then one day, he sat down to eat, with the diamond lying in front of him on the table where he could enjoy it. Sittting there he dozed off. Meanwhile, the mess boy came and cleared the table, shaking the tablecloth with it's crumbs and the diamond into the sea. When he woke up and realized what had happened, he almost went mad with grief. Besides, the captain was a ruthless man who would not hesitate to kill him for his fare. Having no other choice, he continued to act happy, as if nothing had happened. The captain would usually speak to him a few hours every day, and on this day, he put himself in good spirits, so that the captain was not aware that anything was wrong. The captain said to him, "I want to buy a large quantity of wheat and I will be able to sell it in London for a huge profit. But I am afraid that I will be accused of stealing from the king's treasury. Therefore, I will arrange for the wheat to be bought in your name. I will pay you well for your trouble." The poor man agreed. But as soon as they arrived in London the captain died. The entire shipload of wheat was in the poor man's name and it was worth many times as much as the diamond. Rabbi Nachman concluded, "The diamond did not belong to the poor man, and the proof is that he did not keep it. The wheat, however, did belong to him, and the proof is that he kept it. But he got what he deserved only because he remained happy.
We can learn how to be more positive in our inner monologues and be happier because of it. Just because we have a habit of mind of thinking negative thoughts, that doesn’t mean we cannot change that habit. In order for us to truly enjoy the great gifts we are granted, we can learn to wait before leaping to a negative judgment, and allow the Source of Life to hear our joyous, happy, hopeful thoughts. May we go right to work thinking more positive thoughts this year, and though it, cause delight to ourselves and our Creator, when we both listen to the loving, grateful, happy conversations within.
What are we to make of the statement, “for the design of his heart is bad from his youth,” also translated as “the devisings of man’s mind are evil from his youth.” The sages of the Midrash were quick to speak about the yetzer hara, the evil impulse, and the yetzer hatov, the good impulse. The unavoidable conclusion is that God knows us. God hears the negative mutterings in our minds and acknowledges what is, what truly exists: that to listen to the way we think isn’t always pretty. Nevertheless, God is merciful to us. The sage Nachmanides, who lived in 13th Century Spain, saw it slightly differently. He said that the phrase from his youth, means in his youth, in other words, Nachmanides maintains that there is learning that takes place, so that we grow out of plotting so much selfishness.
I think we could look at this with an additional perspective. We know that the thoughts that arise in us are often negative. We see life and interpret events, even events that occur to help us, negatively. We talk ourselves into depression. We allow our own often pessimistic thoughts to be the prevailing reality rather than the life, goodness, and blessings that have been given to us. Like the famous line from the comic strip Pogo, “we have met the enemy and he is us.” Rabbi Nachman of Breslau wrote so much on this topic. He knew how much misery we are capable of creating for ourselves by thoughts alone. Rabbi Nachman connects our negative thoughts to our opinions of ourselves. This is very psychologically wise and insightful. The principle of projection, that we project upon others what we lack or find unacceptable in ourselves, postulated by Freud in the 1890’s, is a modern day articulation of Rabbi Nachman’s insight.
In the Talmud there are two stories about a man named Gamtzu, which means, this too. The Talmud asks, “Why was he called…Gamzu? Because whatever befell him he would declare, Gamtzu This also is for the best.” Gamzu knew that maintaining an optimistic outlook always helped him in his life.
Rabbi Nachman used to tell this story: There was once a poor man who earned a living digging and selling clay. Once, while digging, he discovered a diamond which was obviously very valuable. Since he had no idea of its worth, he took it to an expert for appraisal. The expert answered, "No one here will be able to afford such a stone. Go to the capital, and there you will be able to sell it." The man was so poor that he could not afford to make the journey. He sold everything he had, and went from house to house, collecting funds for the trip. Finally he had enough to take him as far as the sea. He then went to board a ship, but he did not have any money. He went to the ship's captain and showed him the jewel. The captain immediately welcomed him aboard the ship with great honor, assuming he was a very trustworthy person. He gave the poor man a special first class cabin, and treated him like a wealthy person. The poor man's cabin had a view of the sea, and he sat there, constantly looking at the diamond and rejoicing. He was especially particular to do this during his meals, since eating in good spirits is highly beneficial for digestion. Then one day, he sat down to eat, with the diamond lying in front of him on the table where he could enjoy it. Sittting there he dozed off. Meanwhile, the mess boy came and cleared the table, shaking the tablecloth with it's crumbs and the diamond into the sea. When he woke up and realized what had happened, he almost went mad with grief. Besides, the captain was a ruthless man who would not hesitate to kill him for his fare. Having no other choice, he continued to act happy, as if nothing had happened. The captain would usually speak to him a few hours every day, and on this day, he put himself in good spirits, so that the captain was not aware that anything was wrong. The captain said to him, "I want to buy a large quantity of wheat and I will be able to sell it in London for a huge profit. But I am afraid that I will be accused of stealing from the king's treasury. Therefore, I will arrange for the wheat to be bought in your name. I will pay you well for your trouble." The poor man agreed. But as soon as they arrived in London the captain died. The entire shipload of wheat was in the poor man's name and it was worth many times as much as the diamond. Rabbi Nachman concluded, "The diamond did not belong to the poor man, and the proof is that he did not keep it. The wheat, however, did belong to him, and the proof is that he kept it. But he got what he deserved only because he remained happy.
We can learn how to be more positive in our inner monologues and be happier because of it. Just because we have a habit of mind of thinking negative thoughts, that doesn’t mean we cannot change that habit. In order for us to truly enjoy the great gifts we are granted, we can learn to wait before leaping to a negative judgment, and allow the Source of Life to hear our joyous, happy, hopeful thoughts. May we go right to work thinking more positive thoughts this year, and though it, cause delight to ourselves and our Creator, when we both listen to the loving, grateful, happy conversations within.
Friday, October 4, 2013
The Miracle
The miracle of seed and soil -
Add water, sun
And food for all
Comes froth from gritty
Hard crusted earth
Made lover soft by human toil
We gather in before last rain
Or frost destroys
This kiss, this gain -
Not only fruits
But we ourselves
In the Sukkah
Contemplating summer’s loss
To celebrate wonders unaccountable
Unnumbered
And then forgotten
Miracles of life’s existence
Life’s persistence
That we may not, right then, recall
Gratitude, thanks, and praise
Joyously abandoned
For the fullness, richness, of it all
Rabbi Jill Hausman, 2013
Add water, sun
And food for all
Comes froth from gritty
Hard crusted earth
Made lover soft by human toil
We gather in before last rain
Or frost destroys
This kiss, this gain -
Not only fruits
But we ourselves
In the Sukkah
Contemplating summer’s loss
To celebrate wonders unaccountable
Unnumbered
And then forgotten
Miracles of life’s existence
Life’s persistence
That we may not, right then, recall
Gratitude, thanks, and praise
Joyously abandoned
For the fullness, richness, of it all
Rabbi Jill Hausman, 2013
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