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Sermon There should be Justice and fair treatment for all. We are all familiar with what is going on in our country. We were starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the Covid virus. We were ready to start becoming a society again and were adopting the precautions. Now a tragedy has grabbed our country and affected everyone. We are all horrified that a life was senselessly taken unnecessarily. Those who are accused of committing crimes have a right to defense and a fair trial. As we see thousands taking to the street to express their feelings and protest the treatment of a fellow human being and unfortunately many others who have experienced a similar fate, we think that now, now after this horrific incident, that this is the final incident. We are thinking that now, things have gotten so bad, that our country, our world will now, finally start to take steps to prevent people of all descents, and minority groups to be singled out and/or treated unfairly. It’s sad that it is taking the loss of yet another life in such a brutal manner that will make people realize that indeed we all brothers and sisters. As Jews, we can relate. We too, experienced persecution for over 1500 years from many different groups. It took a disaster, the Shoah, for the world to finally acknowledge that we needed our homeland back. Unfortunately, while that may have given our people a respite from the oppression from others just because we are Jews, after many years, that sympathy has worn off and antisemitism is still rearing its ugly head. We’ve said this many times before: how pervasive it is in Torah and the Psalms and our prayers that G-d expects us—no, demands and commands us—to take care of the widow and orphan, our fellow who is in financial straits, and the stranger among us for we were strangers in a strange land ourselves. With this tragedy, and the one before it, it is all too obvious why this is so extant in our religion. How many incidents do there have to be before we “get it”? Violence and oppression is something we as a human race should never tolerate…In Genesis, it says that G-d created man. Someone once pointed out that that is all it says: G-d created man. It doesn’t say white man or black man or yellow man or red man or green man; just man. And the word for “man”, “Adom”, means earth. Gender is a minor issue especially since some Jews interpret the words to mean that G-d created a human with both genders first and then merely pulled them apart. We have seen divergent groups of people come together in solidarity. Yes, there are those who are taking advantage, but for the most part, people are civil. They are marching and expressing their anger and frustration in a very appropriate catharsis. As we look around our country, we even see law enforcement officials participating and expressing their grief as well. Many of us are seeing that this is a symptom of a disease allowed to go on for too long. It is time, now for us to come together in solidarity that despite superficial differences, we are all one. We all have the same color blood, same organs, same body shape; we are all human, that is our race. People are speaking out, but in positive terms. As we mourn the useless loss of life, we are all asking, what can we do to make things better? We are all reflecting and coming to terms with the division that has affected our society and people are saying “enough is enough”. As we go forward, let us remember the Torah that says, “Love your fellow as yourself”. Let us all act towards that goal. We don’t have to agree on everything, but let’s at least respect each other for our differences, and move forward in peace.

Sermon This week marks the end of the book of Leviticus with the double portion of Behar-Bechukotai. The portion of Bechukotai contains the “Tochacha” or warning. Here, G-d tells us that if we abide by the covenant and perform the commandments and follow in his ways, we will thrive and prosper and defeat our enemies. If we stray, then there are three levels of warnings, each progressively worse than the previous one. These are dire consequences and there is the understanding that our G-d is a jealous god and will visit his wrath on us for our failure to live up to our part of the covenant. Within this warning, however, is G-d’s assurance that he will always be with us no matter what and will await for us to come back to his Teachings. In his book, “The Prophets”, Rabbi Abraham Heschel discusses the anthropomorphism of God. Different cultures have assigned their own images and values to their images of their respective Divine Being. The gods of the Vikings, for example, were tall and blond. Ethiopian gods were dark with swarthy features and the Thracian gods were red-haired and grey-eyed. Concomitant with these views were the character traits and personalities of these gods. The Greek and Roman gods were jealous and vengeful. Anyone who crossed them were doomed to an eternity of torture, like being turned into an animal or having your intestines attacked by angry birds. Even today with any disaster, like this current pandemic, some religious figures are quick to ascribe to his wrath for all sorts of offenses like homosexuality. So is G-d vengeful? We’ve seen times in the Torah when G-d does indeed call Himself a Jealous G-d. In discussions with Moses, He’s said that he was angry with His people Israel and was going to destroy them. It was only Moses’ intervention and pleading that changed G-d’s mind to spare them. Reading this, one would imagine G-d to be a petty Being, like the rest of us, who can succumb to petty emotions. How is it that King Solomon in Proverbs state, “Who is mighty? One who controls their emotions” and yet the One who created us, who oversees our existence, who is supposed to be merciful and loving and compassionate, throw a temper tantrum at the slightest provocation? First of all, G-d doesn’t. We see those traits in G-d because we are viewing him from our perception and our values. These are emotions and feelings that we have; we interpolate that since we were created in G-d’s image, we are imbued with those divine emotions, but in human expression. Well, kind of sort of but not really. Remember that G-d is a perfect being. Like a big parent, He wants what best for us. His disciplining is merely to set us on the right path and get us out of the way of hurting ourselves and each other. And that’s whatever it takes. This is why the Tochacha comes in three progressive stages. When you were a young child, your parents told you not to eat the cookies. Cookies are delicious and yummy and you couldn’t, or wouldn’t, help yourself. Your parent saw you, took the cookie away and said, “no!”. But you didn’t listen because cookies were delicious. And our parents are a lot smarter and experienced than us so they saw you try again. This time, a slap on the wrist accompanied that “no!”. Since we all come from a stiff-necked stock, we tried again. We figured we had it down now and could get away with it. We were wrong. Yet a third time did our parents catch us. This time, we were sent to our room until dinner, which was why we couldn’t have the cookie in the first place that it would spoil our dinner. Our parents only wanted us to have the best nutrition so we could grow healthy and strong. Such it is with Hashem, and why, by the way, the commandment to honor our parents is extant in the Torah. Our parents are doing G-d’s work. It’s not about being jealous or vengeful or vindictive, it’s about keeping on the straight and narrow. The point is that once we start to stray from our mitzvot, we are led down a dark path. Once we ignore G-d and His commandments, we start to break the commandments, like not helping the widow or orphan, harassing the stranger, not giving to charity, etc. This is how society starts to break down and become corrupt. At that point, people don’t trust each other, commerce is affected and people’s livelihood and interactions suffer. By observing the commandments, society runs smoothly, everyone thrives and we all grow.

Parashat Behar-Bechukotai 5780

Parashat Emor 5780

Parashat Acherei Mot-Kedoshim

Sermon (I would like to acknowledge Rebbetzin Chris who's idea this was for the sermon and collaborated on the content) These two weeks have had some important days of observance for us Jews. This past Tuesday, April 21, Nissan 27, is Yom HaShoah. In English, this is the Day of the Catastrophe and it acknowledges the Holocaust. In Israel, this is observed with a moment of silence in which the whole country shuts down. Some of you may have seen on social media various posts about specific observances. One such incident showed some IDF soldiers standing in front of the home of a Holocaust survivor, standing at attention and saluting her. It was beautiful and touching. Others show various ceremonies honoring survivors in various venues. Locally, you may have seen the program presented by the Holocaust Remembrance Foundation of the Valley Tuesday evening at 7:00 pm PT. This was hosted by Pastor Jack Flournoy, who did a wonderful job of organizing and presenting. Participants included Dr. Alan Winklestein and Jeff Stone who gave inspiring messages. You can also go on their Facebook page or YouTube (links available) to view the replay (about 30 minutes). This has been observed for the last 5 years or so and now there is a Holocaust Memorial in the town square of Murrieta. This upcoming week we have two other notable Israel days. Yom HaZikaron /יום הזכרון is Israeli Memorial Day. Yom Hazikaron is normally observed on the 4th of Iyyar. Yom HaZikaron 2020 in Israel will begin in the evening of Monday, April 27 and ends in the evening of Tuesday, April 28. Yom HaAtzma'ut / יום העצמאות is Israeli Independence Day. It commemorates the declaration of independence of Israel in 1948. Yom Ha’Atzma'ut is normally observed on the 5th of Iyyar, it may be moved earlier or postponed if observance of the holiday (or Yom HaZikaron, which always precedes it) would conflict with Shabbat. Yom Ha'atzma’ut 2020 will begin in the evening of Tuesday, April 28 and ends in the evening of Wednesday, April 29. While these are Israeli holidays, Jews around the world also observe these holidays with some type of acknowledgment. Israel is our ancestral land and besides the evident political foundations, these holidays serve as a vital reminder and their flow is important. We Jews need to always remember the wanton, senseless persecution of our people and the subsequent re-establishment of our homeland. We must never forget and work to make sure catastrophes never happen again. For us in the Diaspora, these serve as a glue to keep us together. We may disagree on different things—to which movement we want to associate and how to run our various congregations—but ultimately, we are still Jews and need to work together towards the common good of our people. But even more than that, the Non-Jewish community in our area has been very sympathetic and supportive. They understand that while Jews are targeted more than most other cultural groups, antisemitism is everyone’s problem. When people are intolerant of other cultures, it serves to divide us as a race, the Human Race, that is. We must all work together for peace. We must accept each other as we are and appreciate diversity. In that way, we will build a better world.

Parashat Tazria-Metzora 5780

Parashat Shemini 5780

Sermon Happy Passover, everyone. And of course, Shabbat Shalom. Today is both Shabbat and the first intermediate day of Passover/Pesach, in Hebrew “Chol HaMoed”, the time during the week. We all know that Passover is eight days out here in the Diaspora and seven days in Israel. The former had an extra second day added to put a fence around the Torah. As Jews spread out into the world there was concern that they would miss out because information from our land by the court maybe didn’t have time to reach them in time for the proper observance. This extra first day created a buffer. The sages will say that Passover is maybe the most important holiday or festival because it celebrates the central theme around which Judaism was created. So much so that the phrase “I am Hashem who brought you out of Egypt to be your G-d” is pervasive in our daily liturgy. Here, according to the introduction to the Artscroll Talmud Tractate of Pesach, G-d is referred to as not the Creator, but the Redeemer. Hashem rescued us from Egyptian bondage to give us Torah and make us caretakers of His principals and laws and become a nation of priests. It is we who are to bring the light of G-d’s Word to All His peoples on Earth. While we acknowledge this daily in our prayers, it is during this time of the first month of Spring that we really focus in on it. Judaism is a very hands-on, in-your-face system. Our most important holidays involve longer prayer services and some change in diet and a focus on food. While during minor festivals of Hanukkah and Purim we eat a lot of dairy and special cookies, respectively, it is really Passover and Yom Kippur when the changes are more extreme. Yom Kippur has us abstaining from ALL food and liquid for about 26 hours. Passover requires that we abstain from any “leavened” food to commemorate how the Israelites prepared to leave Egyptian bondage immediately. The Tractate of Pesach in the Talmud focuses on the laws of observance. As the Artscroll edition states, it follows the order of the holiday. Commentary starts with the search for chametz and then talks about the Pascal sacrifice and finally the second Passover for those who were ritually impure from the mitzvah of final care for someone who just died. Such are the laws. Let’s talk about the spirituality. In Judaism there are typically two or three reasons, sometimes more, for doing something. One of the reasons that we eat a special diet of unleavened food is to remember what Hashem did for us back in Egypt. Consider that besides that, the specific diet during these seven or eight days is a constant reminder of that, and thus the Redemption is on our minds throughout this period. So there is the idea of gratitude. During the silent standing prayer, the Amidah, we recite the second to last blessing of Thanksgiving. We thank G-d for the daily miracles he provides us evening, morning and afternoon. The idea is that G-d has our backs. Now, there are times, like during this period of 120 years of slavery, when G-d doesn’t act right away. In our lives, there are challenges and times when we wonder where G-d is. When G-d reached out to Moshe Rabbeinu to be the agent of change for the Israelites, He said that He has heard their cries for help. The takeaway is that it had to be the right time. So it is in our own personal lives. We may get frustrated that we face a challenge, do what we feel is the best way to resolve—maybe adjust our actions as we see fit to meet those challenges—and things still don’t seem to improve. We then start questioning where is Hashem? As the story of Passover illustrates, G-d is always there behind us. He knows when the right time to resolve will be. We just need to patient and continue observing and doing the mitzvot of the commandments. There may a lesson to be learned that may take some time. We tend to appreciate that for which we work very hard. In this extraordinary time in which our lives are so disrupted by this pandemic, we need to be patient and keep the faith. There are experts who are telling how to act. And to our credit, we’ve complied with those dictums. Yes, there have been some tragedies and we do our best to deal with them. However, the experts are now telling us that because we all obeyed those instructions, this crisis may resolve sooner. It’s definitely hard to see past the human tragedies that have resulted from this. Because we have taken those precautions and adapted the best we can to the circumstances, pollution has abated in many places and the environment is becoming more sustaining. We’ve also, as the human race, dug down into our psyches and found the good in ourselves as we’ve reached out to those in need. Things may not always work out immediately; remember that our ancestors were slaves for over 120 years. But when we persist, we will be successful.

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Parashat Pesach 5780

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