Archive for September, 2011
5771 — Ki Teitzei — “Waging War”
“Waging War”
Parashat Ki Teitzei
Neil F. Blumofe
10 September 2011
What kind of people do we become when we think that we are at war? How rattled are we, and how skittish? How fast do we barricade ourselves into our homes or into our own narratives, armed against any encroachment? What acts do we perform in the heat of the moment – perhaps instinctual or unthinking, that in recollection may seem inhumane or gruesome? What emotions, opinions or actions do we keep pent up, or tightly controlled as we live our life, from day to day?
Our Torah, in its honest magnificence, recognizes that war is inevitable in our lives. Rather than proclaim that love can solve any crisis, our Torah deftly takes on the challenge of how to manage our inner animal in trying times. To open our portion, the Torah states — ki teitzei lamilchama al oivecha un’tano haShem Elokecha b’yadecha v’shavitah shiv’yo – when you will go out to war again your enemies and haShem, your God, will deliver them into your hands, and you will take them captive. One may interpret these words as fate – that there will be times that we go to war, yet we should not be afraid, because God is on our side and will inevitably, deliver our enemies into our hands. This kind of reading could justify any conflict – if we are soldiers possessing the truth, or at least, God’s sanction, then we perhaps even have an obligation to move out on the offensive against our enemies – and they will be subdued.
We certainly have seen this rhetoric come alive in our world – those for whom the world is black or white – one thing or another – good or evil, with nothing in between. All too often we see people who sacrifice their children, sending them out to fight battles, or who poison their youth with reflexive hatred – and all too often we see people who send out others, convinced to blow themselves up for a belief.
Judaism lives amid the wreckage of all of this – not making an absolute proclamation that certain actions bring either paradise or damnation – Judaism does allow for blessings or curses, yes – however, these are lived within an evolving relationship and are not permanent and have to do with mitzvot ben adam lamakom – a relationship between a person and God, rather than mizvot bein adam v’haveiro – mitzvot performed (or not performed) between one person and another. It is God who can sanction us or reward us – our most cherished prizes do not emanate from this world – rather, hopefully, our deepest and most enduring happinesses come from the miraculous moments that we have to enjoy and live simply in each other’s company, that are largely beyond our control and rarely have anything to do with us, specifically.
So, Judaism departs from this all or nothing approach that seems to be before us in the Torah. This is not a war where a mission will finally be accomplished – however, it is a war that is constant against a shifting elusive enemy, fought in different theatres around the world – for wherever we go, wherever we travel, we encounter it, without end. Our enemies feed on our fear, coaxing us to act in ways that don’t seem like us at all, that spur us to actions that in retrospect are beneath us – for the war that brings us out against are enemies is not a physical one – rather, it is a spiritual one, waged against the yetzer hara – the tendency that is within us to do harm or cause ourselves or others, ruin.
Our mystical tradition teaches that we must constantly be on guard against our yetzer hara. We should go out against it, anticipating it – thereby having a greater chance of success in overcoming it – however, if we are caught unawares and find that have to defend ourselves against it, if we see that it is already rooted deeply within us, we are in need of divine mercy in order to vanquish it. The Torah is teaching that the strongest defense is a consistent offense against that which threatens our very life.
And the Torah goes further in our war against the yetzer hara. What tools do we use to fight it? Do we rely on broad moral principles that bring us some sort of satisfaction? Do we proclaim some matrix determining that we possess the upper hand, as we take pride in our decorous generosity, not employing any sophisticated weapons to root out such a well-established enemy? Our Torah teaches the opposite. We fight this determined enemy with its own weapons, learning from and applying the same tactics – using the same alacrity, vigor and obstinacy that it uses again us in a gradually lifetime conflict. It is not the battles that matter – rather it is the war that counts. Any dramatic victory could be celebrated, yet it is short-lived, while there is a perennial enemy that lurks – the yetzer hara is also our Amalek – the enemy that exists in every generation, and who closes this Torah portion with a culmination of inevitability.
It would be easy and convenient to ascribe all of this to some global war that seems never ending in our time – whether a war on terror or something else. While not denying the importance of readiness and vigilance in this regard, our Torah is even more universal and timeless – asking us to consider our daily struggles closest to home, which is in our most intimate relationships – how we identify and satisfy our sexual urges and how we negotiate our interactions with our lover or lovers, and with our children, and too, with our money.
Ki Tetzei teaches us that the yetzer hara is present in every thing and threatens to break us down and upset all that we work for – accomplishments that can be negated in the blink of an eye. Our Torah is teaching us to pay attention to our attitude and our proclivities, especially under stress, when our decisions may be unreliable. Our Torah is guiding us to have confidence and faith that we will be supported in our struggle against our baser nature – to realize that we are not alone as we identify, locate, and work to control the various parts of our lives and the unseemly parts of our soul.
In these days that lead us towards the opening of the Gates, let us continue to recognize what is most important and not overreact as we see the world madly spinning. Let us be alert and responsive to those who would harm us, at the same time, let us be more mindful of the things that could steadily destroy us from within.
Let us use this opportunity to do the hard work that is necessary in combat, setting up dependable supply chains, nourishing our best efforts, with our best arsenal, and cultivating patience and determination that allows us to live to fight on, to live another day.
Shabbat Shalom.
9/9/11 — Words of Torah — Celebrating the Installation of R’ Rick Brody @ Congregation Kol Halev
INSTALLATION OF RABBI RICK BRODY
CONGREGATION KOL HALEV – AUSTIN, TEXAS
9 September 2011/10 Elul 5771
Rabbi Neil F. Blumofe
Baruch ha’bah b’sheim haShem – beirachnuchem mibeit haShem.
Eli atah v’ode’ka, Elohai arom’mechka – hodu la’Shem ki tov, ki l’olam hasdo.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God – from whose house, blessing flows and lights our way. We sing thanks to God who is good and whose love is everlasting.
In this assembly, this congregation made holy by appreciating the presence of each other, we gather and acknowledge on this Shabbat, a formal shift in identity, a different, more significant status – in the celebration of welcoming this rabbi to serve Congregation Kol Halev – you entrust Rabbi Brody to faithfully and sensitively speak, and encourage, and most importantly, to listen to the words of your community and too, to the timeless voice of our Jewish tradition.
You have each gained a partner in strengthening your mutual steps into the immediate future. Our tradition makes lofty comparisons when speaking about the worthiness of having a rabbi lead a community – and too, our Talmud compares rabbis to malachei hashareit – ministering angels – angels which perform the daily, sacred tasks within God’s holy chamber. These are beings who perform service and simultaneous raise the world and themselves in so doing.
Around this time, as Shabbat begins progressively around the globe, many homes and synagogues sing Shalom Aleichem – a song about these angels as one sets an intention for sacred space and time – and too, we greet each other in this familiar way – Shalom Aleichem. Shalom, be to you – which happens to be in the plural form. Our mystics appreciate this, writing that when you greet someone, especially on Shabbat, you are speaking to the whole person – both body and soul, simultaneously.
May I suggest that when we sing Shalom Aleichem in a synagogue – or when we greet each other with Shabbat Shalom – that we realize that we are in partnership, in conversation, with each other – may Rabbi Brody help our community realize this important sensibility. May he act as a one of the malachei hashareit – as one of the angels of service, in bringing people together, in creating community and in strengthening bonds between the ordinariness of our lives and the majesty of who we can be.
May Congregation Kol Halev be good also to Rabbi Brody and his family – helping him continue to grow and find a calming intensity that comes with patience and perspective. May he continue to have a wise heart that beats with generosity and love, may he find precise words in speech that help lift conversation and that shines a gentle, soft light into darker places. May he be blessed with courage and the strength to respond to challenges with careful thought and sometimes with a necessary silence – always bringing dignity and respect to himself and to his community. May he make decisions with compassion and kindness, bringing individuals what they need in the moment that continues to l’hagdil Torah ul’ha’adirah Torah – to raise up the banner of Torah and to give it power.
May his family be blessed and find every occasion to become closer, encouraged by the varieties of human experience that one finds in a congregation. May Noa and Adin be raised with a love of the Jewish people and with holiness and respect on their tongues. May Congregation Kol Halev continue to flourish and build bridges – making community, and continuing your rich history of creating individual, extraordinary paths within the beautiful gardens of our traditions.
In your character, Rabbi Brody, may you cultivate aspects of the scholar, the sage, the righteous man, and the prophet, as you seek success as the rabbi of this community and as you continue to define the mission and purpose of your own life – always welcoming in God as you find your direction.
May leading this congregation be a spiritual experience – even when speaking about budget line items – may service and volunteering be both honorable and exalted. To Rabbi Brody I wish personally that on your climb, you trust your imagination – may you walk right out of the machinery, with your nefesh – your heart alive inside of you – and may you bring principle to your craft as you are both wide awake and now formally installed, homeward bound.
You as an angel – inspiring others to be angels. May you have the tender, refreshing rains of God’s blessings for what you do, what you say, and how you will become.
(Shalom Aleichem Malachei haSha’aret)
5771 – Shoftim — “A Civilized Disobedience”
“A Civilized Disobedience”
Parashat Shoftim
Neil F. Blumofe
3 September 2011
The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development sponsored a recent Gallup poll finding that Israelis are among the happiest people in the world – ranking 8th overall, surprising many who would assume that with the constant threat of terror and barrage of rockets to any point in the small country, the citizens of Israel would be stymied, uncomfortable, and angst-ridden. The Gallup survey tries to measure happiness – which is a subjective thing to try and measure. Respondents were asked to rank their satisfaction on a 1 to 10 scale including – how respected they felt, and how intellectually engaged they were – the results were tallied and put into three categories overall – are the people thriving, struggling, or suffering? Somehow it’s comforting to think that with all of the difficulties bound up in their daily lives, our brothers and sisters in Israel are sanguine about their prospects, confident about their circumstances, and optimistic about their future.
So why, literally as we are speaking, are people gathering all across Israel to participate in what is called, “the demonstration of one million,” – an organized protest against the rising costs of living in the Jewish state? The one million number is not insignificant in Israel – if truly one million people participated in this evening’s event, that would mean one out of 8 Israelis is now taking to the streets – an unprecedented number.
While the significance, purpose, and goals of this event and others like it – including the erecting of tent cities across Israel – are not uniform, there is a general consensus that for an average person, the cost of living in Israel is too high – that it’s too hard to make ends meet and to create a decent life in the current economic situation. There are broad and scattered calls of a renovation o some say, a revolution, steeped in social and economic justice.
What creates happiness for people? Certainly financial security, or wealth is a big piece of the puzzle, yet it is not the only piece – other factors are work-life balance, the strength of family, social, and community networks, and the opportunity to be productive – in other words, having something to do – whether a job or some other positive, directed work.
When one feels that one does not have a firm floor to stand on, or an unobstructed path on which to walk to accomplish one’s goals – or, if one feels that a government or a group of concerted interests are actively preventing one from achieving a modicum of success, a real sense of frustration can surface or worse, a pervading attitude of defeat can take hold, effecting one’s outlook and ultimately, one’s health.
How can such happy people be dissatisfied? What will be the lessons of these demonstrations? How can we as Jews or a community in Austin enter the conversation and even participate? Should we even try to do so? How do we react with our own government, with the latest poll numbers expressing majority dissatisfaction with our president (51% disapproving) and Congress (84% disapproving)?
What do we need for our own happiness? How much does governmental policy or food-price indices affect our outlook? Recently, because of the high temperatures my electricity bill was much higher than normal and could have paid for two months rent in New Orleans when I lived there 18 years ago. It’s all perspective – while I struggled to pay rent back then, one could make a good case either way – that currently my happiness is beyond measure based on current goals and family, etc., and one could say that I was happier back then, based on the attitudes and freedoms that were then part of my life. How much do we need? How far are we willing to adjust?
The spokespeople for the demonstrations in Israel speak about social and economic justice – and while that is stirring, even they acknowledge that these goals are divergent and unfocussed. Some people may want a lower price of cottage cheese and then be satisfied – while others may not rest until the entire housing market is overturned and building permits are redistributed. Different priorities for different people.
While holding on to these ideas, as we explore Shoftim this week, we are reminded that tsedek, tsedek tirdof is a rallying cry of our tradition – justice, justice, you shall pursue. What is this justice? One commentary on this teaches that justice alone is not enough, recognizing that there are many types of justice, just as there are many kinds of truth. The lesson here is that one must pursue justice justly, where both the ends and the means are just. As a student of history, this kind of activism is difficult to follow.
While it is impossible to predict what real changes these demonstrations will bring, it is strangely comforting to know that unlike elsewhere in the world, that perhaps only in Israel can throngs of happy people come out to march for a better society without fearing that the government will begin to fire on its citizens, or that groups of people will begin to turn on each other. This is what is needed in our world – a different paradigm – the way that events are unfolding in Israel allows for this happy, careworn people to be an ohr hagoyim – a light unto the nations demonstrating how things get accomplished. A civilized disobedience may be just what our people needs to truly change – not to move from one regime to another – not to find empty promises in current candidates and campaigns. Perhaps this movement now present in Israel is a wave of the future – to demonstrate that persistent and normal inquiry can face down unstable borders and extremists who are both outliers and who reside within. Convention can defeat fanaticism and ultimately, if one is dedicated to the task can help bring about the small or even grand changes that one seeks. It is this confidence that perhaps brings deepest happiness – not having to resort to hostility, rather bringing about incremental changes and finding unexpected boons in a willingness to participate in determining a life trying to find economic opportunity and affordable housing within a system. So, I say to keep marching and resort our priorities again, discovering what is most important and what we must live for – and letting everything else settle. To change a system, one must sometimes pull on the rope and sometimes let it go. Taking to the streets with 1/8th of the population this evening can shift some ground, however imperceptibly, and is a fine example to tomorrow’s leaders to continue to walk in dignity and with a meaningful happiness from as far as we have already gone.
Shabbat Shalom.
5771 – Re’eh — “There is No Overtime”
“There is No Overtime”
Parashat Re’eh
Neil F. Blumofe
27 August 2011
When do we know enough is enough? Throughout our lives, many of us establish goals that may shift a bit over the years, yet act to keep us engaged and on track to work towards specific things. What happens when we can no longer apply ourselves to work towards these goals? Even if we have gained much accomplishment, our premature retirement due to health or changed circumstances or other factors is bittersweet at best and life crushing at worst. We may not be ready. How do we prepare for such a thing?
This week, amid many of the larger stories that have held our attention, are two stories about two lives that seem lifted out of the pages of this week’s Torah portion. The first is about Pat Summitt, the University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach, who holds the NCAA record for most wins in any sport, men’s or women’s. She has revealed this week that at age 59, she has been diagnosed with early onset dementia — Alzheimer’s disease, and while she suffers memory loss from time to time, will continue in her position as head coach of the team she hopes, for another three years – a position that she has already held for 38 years.
Also, the world certainly took notice this week as Steve Jobs, 56, the visionary behind Apple, announced his immediate resignation from the company that he founded – having people speculate if his health is failing – knowing that he has suffered from pancreatic cancer and underwent a liver transplant in 2009. In his letter of resignation, Jobs wrote, “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.”
These are two examples of leaders in their field, who have encountered life-threatening illness that now block them from their career and their craft. Already highly accomplished, this sobering reality of diminished function unalterably changes their life – reminding all of us that if we don’t have our health, then everything else suffers.
Ultimately, we do not know the true measure of another – and we can only speculate on what motivations keep people alive. We consider how people compensate and compromise to remain active and vital. We conjecture about the rationale people use to convince themselves of things and to continue to act, even when apparent that their time, perhaps tragically, has come to and end.
These are the themes that we are encouraged to bear in mind in this season — our own mortality, how our circumstances can change in a flash, and how nothing compensates for our physical and spiritual wellbeing. Ultimately, we may find ourselves alone, possibly taken care of by trained staff, or aided by a tight circle of family or friends. In our Torah portions, we listen as Moses, on the brink of his contemporary obsolescence, retraces his story for the gathered tribes and in the greatest miracle of all, he tells his story also for us to hear, so we can learn and apply his hard earned lessons to our life as well.
In hearing the words of Torah, we hear Moses’ fear and trepidation, we hear too, his tendency to repeat himself and to add new details to an already established narrative. We hear too, how he picks a successor, Joshua, to lead the people, which will insure that the ideas and inspirations of Moses remain a part of the unfolding strategic plan.
As John Wooden, a revered men’s basketball coach at UCLA, who won 10 national championships in a 12 year period in the 1960’s and 70’s, said, “things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out,” and as our Torah teaches us this week, v’achalta lifnei haShem elokecha bamakom asher yivchar l’shakein sh’mo sham…l’ma’an tilmad l’yir’ah et haShem elokecha kol hayamim – and you shall eat before haShem, your God, in the place that God will choose to rest God’s name, so that you will learn to have reverence for God, your God, all of the days.
There is no magic potion that will convince us to have yirat shamayim, or reverence for God. Even a bolt out of the blue, a health scare, may not bring about a change of our attitude as it may inhibit us and force us to change our ways. We do not get a bonus round, or an over time. As Rabbi Simcha Bunim, an incredibly insightful and creative Hasidic leader in the 18th and 19th centuries, taught on this verse – yirat shamayim is just one step in self-awareness and thus, self-improvement. The most important thing is tilmad, you shall learn, in the days that you have – it is learning that will see us through – through learning from our experiences and our mistakes, we will realize that the entire world is filled with the radiance of God and that every thing, no matter how much we consider it to be a setback, has a spark of the Divine contained within.
We know that sometimes in our life, it seems that our priorities are not duly honored. We cannot know the plan that God is on, or if there is a plan in the first place, or why certain things happen to us that seem unjust, or cause us pain, and sadness. So, taking a page from the Rebbe, Simcha Bunim, what can we learn from Pat Summitt and Steve Jobs this week – I am not asking if each did the right thing in how they are handling their health challenges – let us apply their stories to our timeless story of Moses, who will be back in this situation exactly again, next year. How will we have changed? How will we have lived our lives that will bring us a better sense of how we are connected – and will also bring us composure, even in the face of the most trying circumstances?
It is not the blessing and it is not the curse – it is the learning that we do everyday that compels us not to say, “is this all there is”, or, “I’m not finished” – rather our lesson is to appreciate what we have in this moment and to express ourselves with all of our might, with gratitude and appreciation, certainly for our past triumphs, but more so, for how we have even unwittingly influenced and changed those who will follow us after the time that we pass from this stage, and God willing, learn from what we have patiently and skillfully modeled and taught.
Shabbat Shalom.
5771 – Ekev — “Reward and Punishment”
“Reward and Punishment”
Parashat Ekev
Neil F. Blumofe
20 August 2011
What is the Shema?
-declaration of faith – prayed twice daily
three sections
- v’ahavta – accepting malchut shamayim
- vehayah – accepting mitzvot
- vayomer – mitzvah regarding tzitzit
Why do we have this order of the Shema? First paragraph is singular, second is plural – first we must say hineni – to be part of a living relationship with God – to do so necessarily involves being in community – Second paragraph ecologically, spiritually – we truly are responsible for and affect each other. Third paragraph, answers the question – okay, where do I start – why start with tzitzit?
The words of the middle section are derived from this week’s Torah portion and in many ways are difficult for a modern theological ear to hear. There are two concepts contained within this section – (i) kabbalat ol hamitzvot, and (ii) the concept of reward and punishment.
This structure of reward and punishment brings us to an enduring dilemma – why bad things happen to good people, or in Hebrew – tzaddik v’ra lo, rasha v’tov lo — this opens up the issues of theodicy or the study of trying to explain the continued existence of evil in the world and God’s apparent inability or unwillingness to eradicate it.
It’s appropriate that we consider these themes – especially before the Yamim Noraim. The reward for observing the mitzvot is agricultural productivity and securing the land of Israel – not performing the mitzvot will bring about agricultural disaster and exile. This communal responsibility is different than in other places of the Tanach, like Ezekiel 18, which emphasizes personal responsibility and individual punishment and reward. In this conflict between Deuteronomy and Ezekiel, the rabbis determined that God acts in this world, yet the idea of reward and punishment is fully enacted in the world to come.
We are asked to consider if we truly have free will in this world and how it manifests, in any given moment. We are asked to consider the nature of God – is God a part of this world (immanent) or existing separate and apart from us – we would say in a different dimension or different conception of time – or a transcendent God.
Maimonides – reasoned that we have choice in this world. Another medieval philosopher, Joseph Albo, has written that the one who truly loves God is indifferent to considerations of rewards other than the greatest rewards of all, the privilege of serving the Creator. The mystics maintained that the appearance is that God control us, however if you look closely, you will see that in fact, it is we who control God.
Perhaps our conclusion is that we cannot fathom God’s justice – and the terms that we use for good and evil are limited and do not speak to the depth of what is really at stake and how life really is, well beyond our own individual or even communal perception. This section makes the demand on us that we accept that God is ultimately just.
Shabbat Shalom.
5771 — Va’etchanan — “It is About Us”
“It is About Us”
Parashat Va’etchanan
Neil F. Blumofe
13 August 2011
As we together now enter these seven weeks of repair through this gate of Shabbat Nachamu, this Shabbat of Comfort, we look off into the seven-week distance and perhaps dimly see the outlines gathering of a new year. We can be confident that we don’t know how events in the new year will go – and today we look with unease across the world at the gathering storms in the financial markets, and at the even present threat of terrorism, we look at Israel at the demonstrations for economic equity among its hard-working citizens, we look into East Africa and see famine and starvation, we look across the Arab world at political instability and unrest, we look at England and see rioting and social unrest, and perhaps we wonder when more of thesse events will come to our shores and how deeply and for how long, even just a few of these events will effect us.
Amid this opaque uncertainty, our Jewish tradition gives us valuable guidance as we make our way through these rocky paths. We hear Isaiah’s uplifting words in our Haftarah – nachamu, nachamu ami yomar eloheichem – comfort, comfort My people says God – although the Midrash teaches that God, who is directly involved in this consolation, is the last who tries to give comfort to a beleaguered people, stepping in only after all of our Avot, our ancestors, are unsuccessful – our great patriarchs and matriarchs who cannot adequately address the fears and the anxieties of the people – so we see that Isaiah’s prophecy is mixed – half with reassurance and half with affliction.
However, as we turn to our Torah portion, we see that Moses, in addressing the people is engaged in a soul searching – in a review and reflection of his life that may help us too, that may be exactly what we need to do in these seven weeks before us, as we assess the world around us. Moses tells his story to the people, however, you may see that his is speaking mainly to himself – in order to process so much that is on his mind. The first word of this portion, the word that gives its name to our Torah portion is va’etchanan – which is a verb that is found as a synonym for prayer, meaning beseech. In this case, it is in the hitpael form, the self-reflexive form which can mean that Moses is looking inward, turning himself inside out, pondering and hoping that things will get better, even though he knows that his circumstances are grim.
Interestingly, here Moses is not thinking about the world around him and the numerous delays and detours that he has had in leading the people in the wilderness. As is our human tendency, here Moses localizes all of the trouble and inconvenience around him and makes it about himself – he chooses to dwell on God’s statement that for some inscrutable reason, Moses will not enter the Promised Land. This seems to be a clear directive, and if anything, it is helpful that Moses may know this ahead of time – that God’s decision to tell Moses is one of loving kindness – that he shouldn’t have to wonder this or get his hopes up too high or die with this unrequited wish on his lips – God is giving advance warning and here, Moses is working through it – beseeching within himself that maybe, something will change – that perhaps with a crisis looming, Congress will meet and raise the debt ceiling, again and again, averting total disaster.
So, in his imploring, in hoping for a different outcome, for God to change the decree, Moses changes his terms for entry. Here, Moses prays that he be allowed to cross the Jordan River and enter the land and just walk in the land – its length and breadth. According to our Talmud, Moses is no longer concerned about having a place of leadership before the people – his connection and love of the Promised Land supersedes any worldly consideration. He just wants to experience the land, itself – to be in the land and walk among its riches.
This prayer of Moses is an incredible prayer. Moses comes out of his position as leader, one who for 40 years crafted a mixed multitude, survivors of slavery into a robust nation – one who pleaded before God on their behalf and guided them and ministered to them – here, for Moses, it’s personal – as a man, outside of his assumed heroic role, and he is denied. The reply from God is direct – rav lach. Al tosef dabeir alai od ba’davar hazeh – enough. Do not speak to Me further about this matter.
God is letting Moses know that the world has changed and that while his life was a good life, it has come to an end. Our tradition has made much of this reply – however, let us look at the passion with which Moses presents his case to walk the length and breadth of the land. When leading the people, Moses was not on automatic pilot – he believed in his cause and he believed in the necessity of getting the people to their promised destination. While many of us struggle with purpose and the lasting value of the work that we do, Moses was confident and sure that beyond anything he wanted to feel the land under his toes.
We recognize that things change quickly, and as we continue to make a life for ourselves, we cannot be certain what tomorrow will bring. We are being guided, that as we perform this great act of teshuvah, of turning ourselves, of literally, rebooting and updating ourselves in a whole and fresh way that underneath it all, we need to stand for something. Something must be of value, beyond our professional goals. Our Torah portion is asking us – beyond everything, what matters most to us? The question is not, what have we sacrificed our lives for – it is, in our inner depths, what is most enduring and what keeps us alive?
It is this idea, this hope for attainment, which roots us and invites us to do any of the work that we do. In this initial week of comfort, we realize that our conversation is between us and God – not through any human intermediary and as we enter into this conversation of transformation, we recognize that we are not being asked about the work that we do – as important as it may be – we are not being asked about the conditions in the world around us – rather, in this beginning step towards action and repairing the world thought mitzvot, we are asked perhaps the most difficult question of all – what do we want most of all, that we would continue to pester God and try to overrule a given decree? On what would we sacrifice our life, striving to change the rendered decisions of nature or fate or God’s will, to bring us not more material comfort, rather an alignment, a harmony of our soul and the ultimate, living truth?
Shabbat Shalom.
5771 — Devarim — “Reading a Familiar Story, Rendering it Unfamiliar”
“Reading a Familiar Story, Rendering It Unfamiliar”
Parashat Devarim
Neil F. Blumofe
6 August 2011
I have often wondered why we always begin our renewed study and exploration of this last book of Torah – Sefer Devarim – on the Shabbat before Tisha b’Av. Certainly there is a linguistic parallel – the word Eicha, which can be translated as, “how can this be” – introduces the Book of Lamentations and is found in the opening verses of Deuteronomy; and also, the codes of our halachic literature maintain that Devarim precedes Tisha b’Av because Moshe’s rebuke to the Israelites is appropriate for introducing this day of mourning.
However, I maintain that Tisha b’Av is not an end unto itself – it is not just a day of feeling sad and diminished. What can we do with the power of this day – where do we go from here – how can we go forward knowing that acknowledging such grief is a part of our life? Thinking about the relationship between Devarim and Tisha b’Av gives us added insight in how masterfully our tradition guides us. When the floor is opened beneath us – as we move through Tisha b’Av, we are encouraged to reset our priorities and address our assumptions.
What is Sefer Devarim? Besides being known as the Book of Deuteronomy, our sages also call this last book of the Torah, the Mishneh Torah, or the review of the Torah. It tells the story of the people again – much like one would when catching up with a friend that you haven’t seen in a while. Our tradition is asking us how we tell our stories. When we review something for someone – what are the familiar paths that we go down in relating the events – what do we embellish? What do we leave out? What details are changed for our benefit? The ways that our Torah retells our experiences in the wilderness can give us important lessons of how we think about our own lives – especially in this time, in these seven weeks before Rosh haShanah and the turning of the New Year.
As you may know, on the High Holydays, we are encouraged to review our actions and strive to improve as we walk a path toward teshuvah. We are encouraged to leaven the good from the bad – to gently shift our experiences, not to come to any dire conclusions about our general worth of character. Indeed, the image that we hold during these Days of Awe is setting our dealings out for a review in plain sight, so God can see them and look at the relative merits of what we have said or accomplished. Perhaps we acknowledge that there are many truths and complexities in our deeds and rarely is something all good or bad.
In setting out the Mishneh Torah before us as we begin this process of opening ourselves up through Tisha b’Av and in the weeks that follow, we begin to review our own stories, in all of their grandeur and pettiness – and we relearn to tell ourselves better truths that what we might normally admit.
In our relationships with each other, especially our loved ones, it would be easy to qualify deficiencies and strengths in two separate columns, rationalizing why we may be better off alone or with someone else – yet we know that our relationships are not that absolute – we make compromises and choices, deciding what we can live with, and what is inadmissible – what crosses our red line.
So, in our review of our Torah – in retelling our story, this too is a deeper connection – beginning Deuteronomy just before Tisha b’Av. As we study this narrative as related by Moses to the people, gathered on the shores of the Jordan, prepared to enter into the Promised Land, we take to heart the subtle lessons of our larger story as we come to terms with our own – and also, we know the ending. We know that God had a red line that Moses crossed, that prevented Moses from entering into the land – namely, if we follow the commentary of Rashi, striking the rock instead of speaking to it. We know that for whatever reason, and our traditions do exegetical gymnastics to try and explain it – God did not want Moses in the new land, no matter what he said.
In our review of our own stories – for who do we also have a red line? Who do we also banish to the farthest reaches of our access – and we know that there may not be a clear or rational reason for what we feel so. In Judaism, that some describe as a tent – who fits underneath it, and who must go to another campsite? Do we have people in our lives that no matter what, teshuvah is not going to happen? Are there people in our community whose beliefs, politics, or practices are just not consistent with what we consider to be appropriate? Further, do we have a red line in what we think is appropriate in advocacy for Israel? Is there a way in our minds for someone to separate themselves from what is acceptable?
We begin telling the Book of Deuteronomy as we begin to review our own – as we create our own Mishneh Torah in these important weeks. We begin by separating out the larger, most obvious pieces – what we are willing to live with and what we are not – and by Rosh haShanah we are examining the finer grades of shale that exist in our lives – and perhaps, our tradition is guiding us, that what we think are the biggest, easiest pieces, are really more intricate and involved and less obviously good or bad, and the biggest pieces especially need to be reexamined.
In this Book of Devarim, we are given the gift of many practical mitzvot – ways that would help govern our everyday life and our shared relationships as we create a responsible society together. We are given a blueprint that helpfully expands and adapts our story as we retell it. May we receive this guidance as we assess our own narrative – and not just tell our stories by rote – rather, may we continue to learn lessons from them, recognizing that things are not always as they seem, and that the validations that we give for why we made certain decisions should be turned over and over again in our scrutiny. Also, we should consider whom we don’t embrace in our lives for whatever reason, and freshly inspect whether those reasons still hold.
May this entry into Tisha b’Av and into these weeks that follow give us honesty and also, give us comfort and reassurance as we do this hard and necessary work of reading and then rereading again, our lives.
Shabbat Shalom.
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