Fri, 25 May 2012 11:57:25 -0500WeeblyFri, 25 May 2012 14:31:31 -0500http://www.toratyisrael.org/1/post/2012/05/bamidbar-holiness-in-storage.htmlAfter taking something of a narrative hiatus in the book of Vayikra/Leviticus (which serves as a handbook for kohanim as the rules and roles of the sacrificial system are put into place and issues of ritual purity and impurity are defined) we are picking up where we left off at the end of the book of Sh'mot/Exodus.  In other words, we are "bamidbar" . . . we are in the wilderness.  Specifically, still camped at the foot of Har Sinai.

Here we see Moshe as camp bus counselor (count the kids as they get on the bus at camp, count the kids when they got off the bus at the amusement park, count the kids when they get back on the bus back to camp . . . ): God turns to Moshe and instructs him to conduct a census, a head count.  "We're breaking camp, packing up, and continuing the journey through the wilderness, Moshe, so make sure you know how many people you've got before you leave."  

Then God delivers instructions further instructions for Aaron and his sons, the tribe of Levi:  "At the breaking of the camp, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the screening curtain and cover the Ark of the Covenant with it.  They shall lay a covering of dolphin skin over it and spread a cloth of pure blue on top; and they shall put its poles in place. . . .Then they shall take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand for lighting ...they shall put it and all its furnishings into a covering of dolphin skin, which they shall then place on a carrying frame . . . Next they shall spread a blue cloth over the altar of gold . . . "  (Bamidbar/Numbers, Chapter 4)

The act of packing up is also of significance . . . all the accessories that had been so lovingly crafted in order to initiate the sacrificial system connecting God and Israel are now to be packed up as well, and very specific instructions are given to the tribe of Levi concerning how that packing was to be done.

Just a few weeks ago, we at Torat Yisrael packed up the sacred accessories that had enhanced our worship in Cranston for 60 years:  our sacred scrolls, the white high holy day mantles, the eternal lights and the different sorts of prayer books and bibles we read, the Torah crowns and shields and pointers, the memorial plaques and dedication plaques, the ark curtains and doors and the building full of mezuzot as well . . . .  It was a jarring sight to watch these iconic items taken down, wrapped up, packed into trucks and transported to storage.  I had a strong sense that the kedushah, the sanctity, of each piece was being wrapped up along with the item itself.  These objects cannot be reduced to mere "things."  They are infused with the sanctity of their roles as they cover the scrolls, point to sacred words, adorn the Torah, reflect God's light in our places of prayer. 

Just as the tribe of Levy mindfully wrapped up those items preparing to leave Sinai, we have mindfully wrapped and stored our items in anticipation of the day when our new synagogue building will be dedicated.  Then our Torah scrolls, our Torah pointers and crowns and shields and mantles will be unwrapped and brought into their new home.  Then their kedushah will be released from its wrappings and will be free to infuse our new sacred space with the holiness of our Torah and our kehillah k'doshah, our sacred community.


]]>Fri, 18 May 2012 12:21:18 -0500http://www.toratyisrael.org/1/post/2012/05/bharbhukotai-its-not-enough-to-read-about-the-poor.html"If your brother falls low, and his hand falters beside you, then you shall strengthen him--sojourner or resident--and he will live with you." (Leviticus 25:35)


This past Wednesday, I attended the fourth annual Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty Conference.  Each year at this conference, we receive the most up-to-date statistics available on Rhode Island's poor:  adults and children.  We also are given the opportunity to learn from experts in the field of fighting poverty in order to make more effective our own state-wide efforts.

This year's topice was:  Why Are People Poor?  The Systemic Nature of Poverty in Rhode Island. A panel of three leaders in the fight against poverty on the national level spoke:  Reverend Peg Chemberlin, Immediate Past President of the National Council of Churches, Rabbi Steve Gutow, President and CEO of The Jewish Council for Public Affairs and Imam Mohamed Magid, President of the Islamic Society of North America.  Reverend Chemberlin's presentation included encouragement to act despite the prevalence and the momentum poverty has gained:  "Pick something and do it.  Don't be overwhelmed.  Have a work plan."  

I learned Torah from Imam Magid:  He taught a midrash from the Muslim tradition in which a poor man comes to Abraham.  Abraham asks the man, "Do you believe in God?"  And the man responds, "no."  "In that case," answers Abraham, "I cannot feed you."  The man turns away and God says to Abraham:  "I've fed that man for forty years even though he does not believe in Me.  I send him to you for one meal and you turn him away?"  Abraham ran after the man, apologized and invited him to a meal.  The poor man turns to Abraham: "You say God sent you to run after me to apologize to me and to feed me?  That is a good God.  I will believe in such a God."    Imam Magid challenges us:  "If you want to say you believe in God, show me what you have done to take care of God's creation!"


Rabbi Gutow shared with us the shocking trend that poverty is decreasing in the developing world and increasing in the developed world. In other words, it is in the societies with the greatest resources that the numbers of those living in poverty is increasing.  Rabbi Gutow concluded:  "The world will be a better place if we do this work.  The world will be a worse place if we don't do this work."

I am sickened by the realities of poverty right under our noses here in Rhode Island:  In 2010, there were 142,000 Rhode Islanders (14% of the population) living in poverty.  The poverty level is defined as around $11,000 of income per year for a single individual and approximately $18,000 dollars of income per year for a single parent and two children.  Of those living in poverty, 43% were living in extreme poverty . . . which means people living on an income less than half of the poverty level figures above.  In 2010, there were 42,221 children in Rhode Island (19% of our State's children) living in poverty.

This week's Torah reading, all the force of our tradition, God's expectations of us, all compel us to do more than read about the poor.  We cannot click our tongues and make compassionate noises.  We must all act.  I invite you to contact me if you are ready to move beyond heartfelt compassion to action. 

In the meantime, here are two opportunities for involvement:
Join the Interfaith Advocacy Project and become a Legislative Ambassador.  You will be trained to be an effective advocate, you will learn about Rhode Island's legislative and budget processes and about poverty-related issues being considered in the current legislative session.  Contact Reverend Donald Anderson, Executive Minister of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches if you have the time and the communication skills to take on this kind of role. 

Sign a petition.  The federal government is seriously considering cutting funding for SNAP, the newest food stamp program for families.  This is happening at a time when more and more vulnerable citizens are losing their food security (literally not knowing where there next meal is coming from).  A third grader recently told her teacher that she did not have breakfast one schoolday morning because "it wasn't my turn."  Please follow this link and add your name to mine:  www.bread.org/snapworks.]]>Fri, 11 May 2012 14:08:39 -0500http://www.toratyisrael.org/1/post/2012/05/emor-partying-with-god.htmlThis week's parashah/Torah reading concludes with a review of the liturgical calendar as determined by God and conveyed to the Israelites through Moses.  Shabbat and the three pilgrimage festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot are described.  God declares:  אלה הם מועדי / eileh heim mo'aday / there are My festivals.

Today, we mark the beginning of each of God's festivals with a blessing over wine.  This blessing is called "kiddush" / קידוש which is based on the Hebrew root קדש which is the basis of every form of the word holy.  As we raise the kiddush cup and recite the kiddush blessing for the festival, what are we saying? 

In the course of this blessing, we praise God for sanctifying us through God's mitzvot (v'kidshanu b'mitzvotav / וקדשנו במצותיו).  Holiness is added to our lives as we fulfill the mitzvot, the commandments that are part of our brit, our covenant with God.  Holiness is great . . . but it's a little obscure.  What does it mean to be holy, to seek to integrate holiness into our lives?  A great subject for a future blog!

What are these festivals of God for?  Why has God invited us to God's festivals?  Our kiddush blessing goes on:  Lovingly have You given us the gift of Festivals for joy and holy days for happiness... Here, embodied in the most ancient, enduring holidays of our tradition we are, in essence, invited to party with God!  There are My festivals, says God . . . and I want you to come!  We stand with wine in our hands and acknowledge that these holy days are given to us as days of joy and happiness to share with God.  

Remembering the exodus from Egypt at Passover, reliving the revelation of the Torah at Sinai on Shavuot, revisiting the experience of wandering through the wilderness at Sukkot . . . the kiddush blessing shared by all these festivals reminds us that, as theologically significant as these moments are, these moments are meant to be joyous.  Like anniversaries and birthdays, the festivals give us the opportunity to gather together in community and relive great moments with God:  "remember when?"  Remember how relieved and grateful we were when You released us from slavery behind?  Remember how awed we were to stand together and commit to Your Torah at Sinai?   Remember how You got us through forty years of wandering even when we complained?  Those were the days!  Those days are our heritage!  

It's not a festival, a party, a celebration of great moments for God if we're not there to celebrate, too.  Even God can't party alone.  Our recitation of the festival kiddush is our acceptance of the invitation to rejoice with God.  Amen!

Our next opportunity for celebrate a festival with God is Shavuot, beginning at sundown on Saturday, May 26th.  If you'd like to practice singing the festival kiddush with it's special melody, click here for a special online lesson on our TY website!]]>Fri, 04 May 2012 16:12:53 -0500http://www.toratyisrael.org/1/post/2012/05/aharei-mot-kedoshim-what-israelite-religion-and-rabbinic-judaism-do-not-have-in-common.htmlIn this week's double parasha/Torah reading, we begin with the aftermath of a tragedy . . ."aharei-mot"; after the death of Aaron's sons . . . 
The tragedy is recounted, not in the immediately preceding parasha, Metzora, nor in the parasha before that, Tazria, but in the third parsha preceding this week's reading, Shemini.  It is there that we read a perplexing event: Aaron sacrificed the animals, then lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them. Then Aaron and Moses went inside the Tent of Appointed Meeting. When they came out again, they blessed the people, and the glory of God revealed itself to all the people. Fire went forth from before God and consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar. And all the people saw, and shouted for joy, and fell on their faces.Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire into it and placed incense upon it. Then they brought before God strange fire that God had not enjoined upon them. Then fire went forth from before God and consumed them and they died before God.

Moses said to Aaron, “This is what God said, 'I will be sanctified through those who are nearest Me, thus I will be honored before the entire peoples.'” Aaron was silent.

How can we possibly understand and integrate into our understanding of Judaism a God that kills two young men who display spontaneous love and devotion to God?

It is in this moment that we confront an essential difference between the Israelite religion described in the Torah and the rabbinic Judaism our people have practiced for 2000 years:  The Israelite religion of the Torah was cult of sacrifice led by an oligarchy, a dynasty of priests.  From Aaron to his sons, to their sons . . . . until the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70, Israelite service to God was channeled through a series of sacrifices of various categories mediated by and facilitated by the kohanim, the dynastic priesthood.  For all the information provided in the book of Vayikra/Leviticus about the conduct of the sacrificial system, there was esoteric knowledge that was shared only with successive generations of kohanim.  This was a hierarchical system structured in a society that shared certain assumptions about the service of God and the relationship between the people, the priesthood and God.

Nadab and Abihu broke those esoteric rules and it may well be that the story of their death was meant to be a cautionary tale to subsequent generations of kohanim who might seek to create their own traditions beyond the bounds of priestly disciplines.

The rabbinic Judaism we practice today is the result of a revolution:  the Judaism that has evolved and grown and reflected the real-life commitments and passions of Jews around the world for 2000 years was born of discussions by scholars in houses of study 2000 years ago.  Around those tables were Jews of all backgrounds, rich and poor; Jews of all categories, kohanim, levi'im and plain Israelites; tradesmen and merchants and men (yes, men) of independent means.  The only path to advancement was your learning, not who your father was, not how much money you had.  The learning was guided by a number of principles:  all opinons brought in humility and faith are equally important and worth preserving; we respect and name those who have contributed insight and learning to our tradition; learning is accessible to all who seek it.

In the world of rabbinic Judaism there is no punishment for spontaneity in devotion, there is no rejection of creativity and honest exploration of our tradition.  It is the rise of rabbinic Judaism, born in the discussions of the Mishna, Tosefta, Midrash and Talmud that is responsible for the fact that Judaism is alive, well, thriving and evolving to this day.  We look back at the tragedy of Nadab and Abihu with compassion and self-differentiation . . . their actions today would have brought them closer to a God who has grown with us instead of condemning them to death.

]]>Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:32:38 -0500http://www.toratyisrael.org/1/post/2012/04/farewell-to-330-park-avenue-with-respect-and-affection.html Farewell to Cranston Bldg: April 22, 2012 / ראש חודש אייר תשע״ב

In several books, sociologist Robert Bellah argues that instead of forming communities, people form lifestyle enclaves, such as country clubs and suburbs that are composed of people with similar backgrounds, educations, ages, political views, and interests.  What characterizes a lifestyle enclave is its homogeneity.  When you can't pay your dues, you leave the country club.  When your kids are grown, you sell your four-bedroom house in the suburbs with the basketball hoop in the driveway.  What differentiates a community from a lifestyle enclave, he argues, is that community members' commitments run deeper and the diversity of the members is much greater.

Between our foundation congregations of Beth Israel and Beth Torah, we are standing on the shoulders of 90 years or so of community:  for close to a century, the commitment, the vision, the passion and inspiration of those who created Beth Israel, The Cranston Jewish Center, Beth Torah and Torat Yisrael have shown us how to be, sustain and evolve community.

It occurred to me, as I read Robert Bellah's distinctions between lifestyle enclave and community, that there have most certainly been those who have regarded their membership in our congregation as dues paid to associate with a convenient or important lifestyle enclave at a certain juncture in their lives.  Here at Torat Yisrael, we try to lift the curtain and show everyone who comes through our doors that we offer much more depth and engagement and diversity than any lifestyle enclave might offer: our school kids bake hamantaschen with the empty nesters and seniors of our sisterhood and men's clubs; our social action Committee supports and even helps to staff a local food pantry, our mourners are fed throughout their shivah week: the faces of our community reflect those who take vacation cruises, own their own boats and rely on disability and meals on wheels to put food on the table.  The faces of our community reflect those who were educated in the full immersion of the yeshiva system, those who made  their way with more or less enthusiasm through our own Frederic G. And Lawrence G, Cohen Religious School, those who found and converted to Judaism as adults and those who are married to Jews and are proud to support the Jewish identity of their spouses, partners and children.  We have joined this community looking for a place to pray, a place to Jewishly educate ourselves and our children, a place to find other Jewish families . . . And we've discovered so much more once we stepped in the door.

Last Friday evening at services, I asked everyone to speak about this building: places that mean most to them, things in the building they'll miss . . . Most everyone had something to say . . . About people, about events.  Names that have become iconic in the history of our congregation like Max Rothkopf and Sam Primak . . . And Lana Picker . . . And friends from religious school (partners in minor crimes, I think) . . . And family weddings and B'nai mitzvah . . .  As the sharing went on, it became clear to me that the essence of these 60 years is the people, not the bricks and mortar.  And that in the lessons learned and the relationships forged and the values internalized by example and the smiles and hugs and tears of those sitting in these pews over the decades, that we are taking with us the most essential parts of Torat Yisrael.   Not the lifestyle enclave, the community.

There is so much that we bring with us: much more than the truck container outside our door can hold: the love of God and Torah and the Jewish people that has fueled our community for 60 years in this building.  The wisdom and the challenges and the commitment and the frustrations and the love . . . We are the community of Torat Yisrael and we bring our great spiritual and human legacy with us when we walk out of these doors with our sifrei Torah this morning.

On the cover of today's program, there is a declaration that Moses made to Pharoah: בנערינו ובזקנינו נלך . . . We are going with our youth and our elders, with our sons and our daughters . . . And that makes this a festive day for God and for us.

]]>Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:01:16 -0500http://www.toratyisrael.org/1/post/2012/04/shemini-striving-for-holiness.htmlThis week's parashah/Torah portion establishes one of the cornerstones of Jewish tradition:  there are two categories of animals, those that may be consumed and those that shall not be consumed by those who consider themselves to be part of the brit/covenant between God and Israel.
     Not that long ago, "keeping kosher" was normative practice among Jews in the United States.  Jews who today do not maintain kosher kitchens in their homes most probably recall the kosher homes of their parents or grandparents.  Living in a state in which there are no kosher butchers (although Trader Joe's always carries fresh kosher meat and poultry!) and one kosher coffeeshop/bakery (Wildflour Bakery in Pawtucket, yum!), it is clear that a minority of Rhode Island Jews follow kosher guidelines when making decisions about food.
     Last night I had occasion to write in an e-mail to a Torat Yisrael member that it is often the case in the Torah that a mitzvah / commandment is given and no reason is provided.  Thus, Passover, according to the Torah, lasts seven days.  and although we might come up with engaging and inspirational reasons for this number, the bottom line remains that Pesah lasts seven days for the simple reason that God said so.
     Keeping kosher is largely about religious discipline.  It is a statement: all the food God created is healthy, delicious, nourishing . . . but as an expression of the centrality of my Jewishness in my life, I am going to avoid eating pigs and lobsters and veal parmesan.  Here is a place where we might very well expect "God said so" to be the only available reason in the Torah. 
     But Parashat Shemini not only provides criteria for kosher creatures (mammals with cloven hooves that chew their cuds, water creatures with both fins and scales) but we get a reason, too.  Toward the end of the parasha we read:
(vayikra/leviticus 11:44-45) For I am the Lord your God, and you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, because I am holy, and you shall not defile yourselves through any creeping creature that crawls on the ground.  For i am the Lord Who brought you up from the Land of Egypt to be your God.  Thus you shall be holy because I am holy.
     Here we are given to understand that accepting the discipline of kashrut endows us with holiness.  i find this to be an astounding and energizing concept:  holiness is not exclusively a divine state, it is an attainable goal for human beings as well.
     In traditional parlance, a Jewish congregation is referred to as a kehillah k'doshah, as a holy congregation.  I believe that our Torat Yisrael community, on the verge of leaving our 60 year old building in Cranston and preparing to settle in East Greenwich is very much a kehillah k'doshah, a holy community.  We express this in innumerable ways: we support the hungry in our state through our partnership with the Edgewood Food Pantry in the Church of the Transfiguration on Broad Street and our support of the Chester Kosher Food Closet; we support the homeless in our state through our annual Kosher Christmas Dinner for the Rhode Island Family Shelter; we are committed to the perpetuation of the covenant between God and Israel through our outstanding Torat Tots, Yeladon and Cohen Religious School; we deepen the Jewish spiritual and intellectual journeys of our members through our services and Torah study.  We declare our commitment to striving for that exalted k'dushah / holiness that God offers us through our adherence to the system of Kashrut.
     The insights of this week's parashah are a gift: by the simple, accessible means of choosing eggplant parmesan over veal parmesan we can take a step towards human holiness: a gift of an eternally accessible opportunity to us as individuals and to us as a kehillah k'doshah, a holy congregation.]]>Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:19:30 -0500http://www.toratyisrael.org/1/post/2012/03/shabbat-hagadol-the-journey-that-begins-again-with-passover.html There is a great old joke about a guy who is determined to learn the meaning of life from the greatest spiritual authority in the world.  He travels thousands of miles, spends a fortune, interviews spiritual leaders of every conceivable tradition and finds no satisfaction.  All along the way, he keeps hearing about this one guru who lives in an inaccessible cave high in the Himalayas who is purported to truly know the meaning of life.  Our guy is determined to get there.  He travels to the Himalayas.  He finds a guide who says he knows upon which mountain the guru resides . . . Three mountain treks later, they finally identify the right mountain.  They are pinned down to the side of the mountain for two weeks because of blizzards and then finally, finally reach the mouth of the guru's cave.

Our searcher is informed that the guru only steps out of the cave to encounter spiritual searchers on alternating Thursdays . . . And this Tuesday of the "off" week.  Finally the great day has arrived, the attendants announce that the guru is about to emerge from the cave and our spiritual seeker dusts off his clothing, slicks down his hair and prepares to learn the meaning of life.  He hears a bit of a shuffling noise and a tiny little bald guy wrapped in saffron colored robes comes blinking out into the sunlight.  He contemplates his visitor and asks:  "My child, what do you seek?" our friend straightens up and responds:  "I've searched the world over, explored every spiritual tradition, I am driven to learn what life is...". The guru sits cross-legged on the ground and goes into a trance.  Three hours later he opens his eyes and declares:  "Life......life is a fountain."

The spiritual seeker stares aghast at the guru and exclaims:  "Life is a fountain??!!!?!!?"

The guru focusses on his visitor and asks: "You mean, it's not??!?!?!"

All of that is to say that I don't believe that life is meant to be a fountain, either.  I believe that our tradition teaches us that life is a journey. 

Our annual cycle of biblically-ordained festivals (Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot) steep us in "journey":

This time next week we will be putting the finishing touches on our family sedars, Passover is upon us.  This is, of course, the festival during which the journey begins.  We begin the journey feeling the bitterness of slavery as we bring tears to our own eyes by eating the maror/bitter herb.  We experience the urgency of the rush from Egypt as we eat the dry, unrisen matzah.  We wonder at the miracles of the plagues and join in Psalms of praise to God as we contemplate our gift of self-determination as a people and set off for the uncharted journey through the wilderness.

In seven weeks, we will mark the encampment at Sinai and stand together once again to accept The Torah as God's greatest and most loving gift to us.

In the autumn, we will gather within the trembling walls of the sukkah to experience the vulnerability of our ancestors' journey through the wilderness and acknowledge the same vulnerability as we journey through our own lives.

It's all about the journey:  from where do we draw our values and inspiration?  To whom do we make and keep commitments?  How can we find unconditional love and an eternal source of strength?  We are meant to grow in soul as well as in cognitive knowledge and maturity as we make our way through life's journey.

May this Pesah to come next week serve as inspiration for us to keep our hearts and souls moving and growing in our life journeys.

]]>Fri, 23 Mar 2012 11:48:11 -0500http://www.toratyisrael.org/1/post/2012/03/shabbat-hachodesh-this-is-the-month.htmlThis Shabbat is particularly joyful as we are celebrating Rosh Hodesh Nissan, the first day of the Hebrew month of Nissan.  The beginning of every month on the Jewish calendar is observed as a special day, but this particular month holds special significance for us.

Indeed, the first Shabbat of the month of Nissan (whether it is also Rosh Hodesh or not) is celebrated as a special Shabbat . . . it is called "Shabbat HaHodesh" / The Shabbat of THE Month.

THE Month:  the best of months, the paragon of months, our favorite month.  What is so "THE" about Nissan?


A hint lies in the name itself:  ניסן (Nissan) includes the word נס (neis).
Those of you who are dreidl aficionados, may recognize this powerful little word.  Remember the letters on the dreidl?  
נ = neis / miracle
ג = gadol / great
ה = hayah / was
ש = sham / there
"A great miracle happened there!"

So נס (neis) means "miracle!"  And the word נס (neis) is the basis of the name of this month of Nissan.

There are a lot of miracles associated with Nissan . . . we learn in the Torah that this month is also referred to as חודש האביב / hodesh ha'aviv / the month of Spring.
My dear Rabbi, teacher and friend, Rabbi Neil Gillman, recollects a powerful moment he experienced when still a rabbinical student at The Jewish Theological Seminary of America in Manhattan.  One spring, student Neil Gillman was walking in Riverside Park with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (one of modern Judaism's greatest theologians). Suddenly, Rabbi Heschel stopped short, pointed to a tree and declared:  "There is God in that tree!"

Understandably, Mr. Gillman was a bit disconcerted and confused, until Rabbi Heschel continued:  "look at the buds on that tree, there is God, generating new life right in front of us!"

Hodesh Ha'aviv / Nissan, the month of Spring, is full of miracles for us to savor if we just stop to notice them.

Our month of miracles, ניסן / Nissan, also contains Hag Haheirut / the Festival of Freedom.  Passover, of course.  There are so many miraculous events involved in our people's redemption of Egyptian slavery:  Moses' very survival as an infant was miraculous.  Our people's survival as a functioning ethnic community in the face of centuries of slavery was miraculous.  The intervention of the Israelite God in the natural order of Egyptian life was miraculous.  And, of course, the miracle of miracles:  the actual Exodus . . . our redemption from slavery and the splitting of the Sea of Reeds.  A miracle so vivid, so awe-inspiring, so breath-taking we revisit it every single day in our liturgy.

No wonder Nissan is referred to as THE month, a month packed with large and small miracles . . . what other month could possibly compete?!? ]]>Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:39:03 -0500http://www.toratyisrael.org/1/post/2012/03/vayakheil-pkudei-5772-sermon-delivered-at-congregation-moreshet-israel-jerusalem-israel-in-celebration-of-womens-leadership-in-jewish-life.html In a progression of verses that is in no way unusual, this week's parasha comes to remind us that at the time of the revelation at Sinai, God, Moshe, and, apparently the people, all assumed that a patriarchal societal structure was the norm:  in Sh'mot 32, the people, panicking at Moshe's prolonged absence, crowd Aaron: And the people saw that Moses lagged. The people.  In the next verse, Aaron responds: take off the golden rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters.  In other words, "the people" are the men.

Professor Tikva Frymer-Kensky, z”l, in the introduction to her book, Reading the Women of the Bible, pointed out that the Torah does not challenge the patriarchy of the society to which it was revealed, just as the Torah does not challenge the institution of slavery.  The Torah does not conceptualize such cultural revolutions as an egalitarian society or the eradication of the institution of slavery.

Biblical thinkers, as Frymer-Kensky refers to biblical authorship, were very aware of social problems, trying to emeliorate the suffering of the downtrodden, curtailing abuses, helping runaway slaves stay free, redeeming those sold into slavery, and calling for a limit to capitalist aggrandizement.

Today, we might turn to the Torah, the foundation document of our faith, and feel disappointed or embarrassed by what seems to be the biblical embrace of patriarchal structure, not to mention a sanguine acceptance of slavery. 

I think we err in the reading of the Torah if we lapse into embarrassment and disappointment at these junctures.  Indeed, I see in the Torah's challenging, incremental, insistent pushing back on societal assumptions the key to the deepest values of our tradition and the key to the eternal vibrancy of Judaism. 

It is easy, too easy, to sit in this sanctuary today and look with disdain on the poor primitive creatures of the past who didn't "get it" that women simply do fulfill the same spectrum of roles in Jewish community as do men.  It is too easy to sit in this sanctuary today and look with disdain on the poor primitive creatures of the past who didn't "get it" that a mitzvah observed by a gay guy is a mitzvah that has been observed by an obligated Jew.

In a drash on the parashah Mishpatim, my friend and colleague, Rabbi Dianne Cohler-Esses asks a perceptive and challenging question:

"...after all the suffering of the Israelites in Egypt, the very first laws of Mishpatim concern slave ownership. Not the prohibition of owning slaves, as one might want and expect, but the rules detailing the treatment of a slave, slavery an institution that is simply presumed by the text. After all that, after all those years enslaved, after witnessing the plagues, after passing through the red sea to escape slavery, why in the world are the Israelites permitted the ownership of other human beings?"

The key phrase, in Rabbi Cohler-Esses' question is: "an institution that is simply presumed by the text."  In other words, the institution of slavery was a common and integral part of ancient economies and societal structures.  As common as salaries and taxes are today.

These passages in Mishpatim make it clear that the slave held by an Israelite master was never to be treated with the harshness and cruelty that the Israelite slaves experienced at the hands of Egypt's taskmasters.

For certain, there are also passages in the Torah about the treatment of slaves that seem brutal to us and repugnant in the document we embrace as revealed sacred text.  All this is a reflection of the reality of the time and place in which the Torah was revealed.

I recently saw a TV advertisement in which a person in very authentic-looking medieval dress hands another person a gift: something wrapped in the folds of a cloth.  The recipient carefully opens up the folds of the cloth and a very modern-looking television remote control is revealed..  The gift is received with very understandable confusion and incomprehension.

If the Torah reflected our 21st sensibilities towards slavery, toward the basic economics of debt service, toward women and even employer-employee relations, the response at the time and place of revelation would have been even more profound confusion and incomprehension.  There would have been no collective of people to accept the Torah and declare "na'aseh v'nishma" / "we will do, we will obey" because there would not have been a human alive at that time capable of understanding and committing to such a covenant. 

Even a sacred revelation rooted in the cultural assumptions of the day was ultimately responded to with the golden calf.  Can you imagine what the response would have been to a Torah unilaterally and with no warning casting aside patriarchal society, abolishing slavery, prohibiting capital punishment?  Crickets.  Instead of a heartfelt na’aseh v’nishmah (“we will do, we will obey,” our communal response to the revelation of the Torah) you would have only heard the chirping of crickets...

The power of our tradition, right from the very beginning, has been our commitment to connecting our faith, our religious commitments, our observances to the myriad of times and places in which we have lived.  We have demonstrated, time after time after time, that the covenant, laws, mitzvot of our tradition travel with us, reflect and inform the realities of our lives wherever and whenever we live in Jewish community.

This makes looking back confusing at times . . . as if we, in our 21st century culture, mindset and dress were to unwrap a present and find chain mail armor.  These anachronistic moments, though, serve to remind us that our faith, our brit/covenant with God, has always been about the lives we are leading right now.  Whenever and wherever right now might be.

In this season of “nahafoch hu” (Turn things on their heads / referring to the irreverent spirit of Purim) it behooves us to remember that profound change does not happen . . . or does not happen well . . . when we begin by overturning tables and standing things on their heads. 

Indeed, it is our Torah...that sacred document steeped in patriarchal and slaveholding assumptions that models for us the path to the kind of change that made this Shabbat in this place possible.  We need to start where people are, not where we expect them to get to.  Really, there is little that is more irritating than having someone approach from the heights of enlightenment to say:  "you poor misguided thing, follow me and you'll get it right.". How much more effective, as the Torah models, to say: "here's where we are.  Look what's ahead.  We can figure out together how to get there!"

Profound change comes from modeling, suggesting, teaching, persevering, relying only on  the eternal, sacred values that reflect profound truth.  Having faith.  And a little humility.

We, the Masorti community here in Israel, as well as the American Conservative community, need to do a little remembering.

Here are a few things I remember from the not-distant-enough past:

I remember being all but frog-marched out of the daily minyan at my own (pre-rabbinical school) Masorti kehillah in Jerusalem and being told that I was not welcome in the room if I was going to wear my tallit and Tefillin.

I remember members of the Israel Rabbinical Assembly standing up at meetings

and insisting that Israel was not ready for women in the rabbinate.

I remember a high-ranking member of the Machon Shechter administration informing me that women belonged in the rabbinate as much as an orange belongs on a Seder plate.

I remember: here's a little back story to this memory:  when I began my studies in the rabbinical program at Shechter, I was actually registered as a student of JTS while studying in the Israeli program.  JTS had been ordaining women since 1983, but then, in 1991, Schechter was not yet accepting women.  Therefore, I ... and a few other women ... were in the unique position of studying in a program that did not officially accept us.  The other women at that time were studying at Shechter as Masters students.  So...back to remembering:  I remember a fellow student gave a d'var Torah one day at minyan urging the Schechter faculty and administration to change their policy and to accept women.  A high-ranking member of the Schechter administration came up to him immediately and within hearing of several of us said: “atah bogeid,” you are an iconoclast, you are a traitor.

I've had a moment or two like that myself:  I had been davenning in minyanim at shul and at school as the only woman in the room wearing Tefillin for close to a year before I finally walked into a minyan where there was another woman wearing Tefillin. I watched her wrap up and I remember saying to myself:  Wow!  That looks really weird!

All of that is to say that we need to have a little rachmonis (compassion) for those who don't quite get it yet.  We need to acknowledge that the kind of change that addresses the way people engage in society and community is complicated and frightening and confusing.  Obviously that does not mean we don't proceed with change, it does mean we must manage change with wisdom and compassion and allegiance to sacred values.

For all that the Torah assumes a world that marginalizes women and condones slavery, the most sacred principles which will ultimate overthrow those assumptions are embedded in that same revealed text and have served as the basis for the revolutions which overturn those institutions:

Breishit/Genesis: 1:27-28

And God created the Adam in His image.  He created it in the image of God; He created them male and female.  And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it . . .”

Adam is male and female, a type of gendered creature, like so many others.  Both genders of this Adam are created simultaneously and equally.  Both genders of this Adam are blessed equally and charged equally with reproducing and with managing the rest of creation.  This first relating of the creation of humanity considers both genders equally blessed, equally in partnership.

How many times have we heard that we are partners with God in completing and perfecting creation?  How often are we uplifted by the concept of Tikkun Olam?  The idea that God needs our collaboration to bring ultimate completion and peace, to the act of Creation? 

The blueprint for our collaboration are the "first principles" of the Torah: Tikkun Olam is the enterprise of integrating these first principles of Torah into the world. 

God had the chance to foster a homogeneous, uniform humanity . . . all speaking the same language, all building towards the same goal:  the destruction of the Tower of Babel is the signal that God expects diversity, creativity, the exercise of our various intelligences from us.  Humanity begins with one language, one set of words, and ends the passage dispersed and speaking many tongues.  Yes, perhaps, as is expressed in Genesis 11, humanity would have been more formidable were we to speak one language and see one vision...but if that state of affairs reflected God's aspiration for the Adam we would, today, be speaking but one language and aspiring to one goal. 

Hence the blueprint for our collaboration with God must include the embrace of diversity within the Adam / humanity.

It's rather exhausting, isn't it, to contemplate how many millennia it has taken to achieve just a few steps forward in establishing God's first principles.  After all, the catalyst for this awe-inspiring Shabbat is the rejection of the equality of genders within the Adam among certain misguided groups within Israel.  Really, what on earth could a little orthodox girl be wearing to school that could possibly be deemed inappropriate by anyone save a truly misguided soul?

So let us, today in this sanctuary, respond to Professor Frymer-Kensky's concerns and Rabbi Cohler-Essess' probing question with pride and reassurance:  the Torah does not abandon 21st century Jews, the Torah provides us with the wisdom, perspective and inspiration to understand the scope of the challenges and to be compassionate and focussed as we pursue those first principle truths that shine through the cultural anachronisms of the text.

In this season of nahafoch hu, I suggest there are times when up-ending tables is the  order of the day:  most effectively when grassroots support for change wells up against an authoritarian loathing to abandon long-held assumptions.

In place of disappointment and embarrassment, let us be guided by both patience and determination.  The patience to inspire those around us with the challenging and uplifting first principles of the Torah: equality, inclusivity, diversity--and the determination to up-end each table of bigotry, narrow-mindedness and intimidation in their turn.

]]>Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:02:17 -0500http://www.toratyisrael.org/1/post/2012/03/shabbat-ki-tissa-5772-another-kind-of-torah-from-jerusalem.htmlAs we take the Torah scroll from the ark we sing "Ki mitzion teitzei Torah" ... For Torah will emanate from Zion and the word of God from Jerusalem."  Part of the cache of our Holy Land is the unique relationship between God and this Land.  For all that the original revelation of Torah was not in the Land, we Jews have looked to the Land for the wisdom and insight of Torah for millennia.
This makes recent events emanating from Israel all the more disturbing:  Ultra-orthodox Jews have intimidated and attacked females from school-age girls to professional women visiting Orthodox neighborhoods on business.

Make no mistake:  This is not the Torah of 90% of the Jewish world.  

But it's easy to draw attention to negatives.  Congregation Moreshet Israel on Agron Street in the center of Jerusalem has decided to walk the talk of another kind of Torah . . . a truer Torah, from Jerusalem.  Led by Dr. Naomi Sarig (a member of the congregation), Rene Feinstein (president of the congregation) and Rabbi Adam Frank (spiritual leader of the congregation), Moreshet Israel has decided to celebrate this year's confluence of Purim and International Women's Day with a Shabbat led entirely by women.  

I am deeply honored that the congregation is flying me to Jerusalem to serve as "Rabbi in the Congregation" for Shabbat.  I will have the pleasure of welcoming a series of formidable, inspiring Jewish women to Moreshet Israel's bimah to teach, to lead prayer, to preach:  Professor Alice Shalvi, founder of the Israel Women's Network, Naomi Sarig
Project Coordinator, Jewish Art and Visual Culture Research Project at Tel Aviv University, Rachel Azaria, a member of the Jerusalem City Council, Emily Levy-Shochat, Chair of the Masorti Movement in Israel . . . and me! 

When I was a rabbinical student, I was studying in the Israeli rabbinical school at The Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.  But Schechter was not officially accepting women at that time, so I was officially registered as a student of The Jewish Theological Seminary of New York.  During the first few years of my rabbinical training, Schechter was undergoing a process of studying and examining and contemplating the ordination of women as rabbis. I was privileged to be a student of Rabbi Zev Falk, z"l ... a brilliant and committed and inspired professor of halacha (Jewish Law).  At one of our very intense school-wide discussions of women's ordination at Schechter, Professor Falk got up and said that the Jewish people had been robbed of the teaching and insights of Torah for too long.  We have the Talmud of the men, Professor Falk declared, it is time to train women so that we can also embrace the Talmud of the women. 

Professor Falk used to be a member of the daily minyan at Moreshet Israel, he would have been so proud of the Shabbat we are about to celebrate there this week:  It will be a Shabbat of women's Torah, Talmud, prayer and inspiration. ]]>