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Sermon: Following the Crowd There’s a joke about rice, and the punchline is: “A billion Chinese can’t be wrong”. The point is that the majority is always right. In the real world, however, this is not always the case. The corollary to this is that just because everyone says it, doesn’t make it so. This week’s Torah portion is “Pinchas”. Pinchas was the grandson of Aaron, the first chosen high priest. His father, Elazar, was the successor to Aaron. When Aaron went off to the cave to join Hashem, Elazar accompanied him and Moses. Before Aaron laid down to be taken, Moses helped him disrobe his priestly garments and put them on Elazar as the confirmation that he was now taking his place. However, there was—at this point—no formal line of succession of high priests. In the last portion, we see how Balak worked to defeat the Israelites on a spiritual level by conscripting Bala’am, the prophet/wizard/sorcerer to curse them. When that didn’t work, they tried to demoralize them by seducing them with the daughters of Moabite and Midianite chieftains. They knew that the Israelites’ strength was Torah, and if they could corrupt them on that level, overtaking them militarily would be easy. Pinchas was a righteous man and adhered to Torah. He drew his sword and made quick work out of those that succumbed to the immorality. This caused a backlash of some of the clans of those whom Pinchas attacked and they wanted retribution for what they saw as murder. G-d and Moses intervened told the people that Pinchas had acted justly. So justly had Pinchas acted that G-d decided that the lineage of the High Priest would continue with Pinchas when the time came and thus be handed down to his children and children’s children. Many of us go through life making decisions based on what other people do. They don’t want to feel left out or let alone be the oddball, so they go along. Some younger people get in trouble because of their desire to be accepted. If the crowd does something wrong, like drugs or pilfer, they join in because they want to fit in and be part of the crowd. People will sometimes laugh at or make fun of those that go their own way. Anyone who doesn’t go along with the crowd or do what everyone else is doing is ostracized and sometimes bullied. Peer pressure at its height. It’s tough to stand your ground when you know you’re right while everyone around is going alone. It takes a lot of backbone to confront the crowd when you feel they’re in the wrong for fear of getting attacked by those in cahoots. It takes a lot of integrity to stand up for what you believe in. In fact, the Torah supports this. One of our commandments is not join with others in a false report. Hashem understands that just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it right. He knows how hard it is to go against the crowd. There are times in our lives when we have to face injustice. Even though at times “majority rules”, it doesn’t mean that the majority is right. In fact, many people will use that as an excuse to get their way. Many people don’t confront injustice because they’re afraid of the backlash. And rightly so. When you have someone who by virtue of a position or strong personality forcing their opinion, and everyone else going along because they just don’t like confrontation, it’s tough to be that lone voice of righteousness. The thought of everyone being against you for standing up for what you believe is right is very intimidating. Some might contend that if the majority isn’t always right, the minority isn’t either. That’s true. Here’s the difference: someone who is fair and just will not be afraid to hear a dissenting opinion. This is why boards and governments have a plurality, so that there is enough of a diverse input to arrive at a fair conclusion. Anyone who tries to stop that process, by virtue of their response, is wrong because of that alone. Yes, it takes a lot of strength of character to face a consortium. Phinehas had that and didn’t care about any backlash. As his reward, the High Priesthood was cemented into his family. We may not always get such a reward for doing what’s right, but let’s follow his lead. #FridayNightSermon

This week's 10-Minute Torah: "Parashat Pinchas 5779" 07/27/2019 #ParashatPinchas5779 #DvarTorah #TorahCommentary

Presentation of Sermon Balak was a good strategist and tactician. He saw that the Israelites had Hashem on their side and thus had what he perceived to be a distinct spiritual advantage. He considered that might alone wasn’t going to do anything so he decided he would level the playing field. He sent for this wizard he knew from his days in Mesopotamia. He knew that the sorcerer or prophet (depending on your point of view) Bala’am was the man for the job. Bala’am had studied some ancient texts (some thought he was one of three of the Pharaoh’s advisers in Egypt) and knew what time of the day G-d was “angry”, and judged people. Bala’am would then curse people at that specific time since people would be spiritually vulnerable. Others give Bala’am more validity and refer to him as a prophet. They say that G-d gave all the 70 nations a prophet so no one people could complain that it wasn’t fair that Israel had a spiritual advantage by being so close to Hashem. So as Bala’am was traveling to Balak to negotiate, G-d intervened. He told him that He (G-d) would put the words in his mouth of what he should say about the Israelites. G-d did this by sending an angel to block his path. This angel was standing in his way and had sword drawn. The Hebrew states that he encountered an obstruction in his path or—you guessed it—a satan. In the Middle Ages, parts of Judaic culture succumbed to superstition. There are references in the Talmud about not taking specific paths at certain times because demons were out and would possess you. There are references in the Zohar that state that you bring good or evil influence upon yourself by whether you do good or evil. Demons are part of the latter choice. So since the text in the Torah describes an angel blocking Bala’am’s path, and the Hebrew word to describe it was “satan”, then that angel was Satan. And therefore arose up a whole discussion of this antagonizing angel. Yes, it was Satan who disguised himself as a snake to test Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. And it is Satan that will tempt you to see how strong your integrity is. And it is Satan that will be G-d’s prosecuting attorney on the Day of Judgement. As other religions and cultures arose out of Judaism, Satan took on a more distinct evil persona. He was now a “fallen” angel; his agenda was to destroy goodness and take over the world. Like an evil banker, his mission was to collect souls for an eternity in hell. Clearly, this mythology got out of control. Contrary to the late, great Mr. Wilson’s rants, in Judaism, the devil doesn’t make you do anything. Thanks to Adam and Eve (with a possible assist from the serpent), we now have free will. We can decide whether to be good or evil. And let’s face it, it’s not so distinct. We make good and evil choices. Good people can do evil things every now and then, and bad people will do good things. There’s some of each in all of us. On a spiritual level, you attract the forces that you put out. When you put out good vibes, good comes back to you. When you put out bad vibes, you become surrounded by evil. Of course, you can change, midstream even. If you see that your path is fraught with difficulty, consider what energy surrounds you. Sometimes, of course, when we’re stressed, we want to do evil. We want that vengeance to alleviate the stress of these difficulties. That’s when it’s time to revert back to the good character. It’s like the cartoons where the hero has an angel on one shoulder and a “satan” on the other. It’s your choice. And by the way, that’s the Jewish concept of the good and bad forces. #FridayNightSermon

This week's 10-Minute Torah: "Parashat Balak" #ParashatBalak #DvarTorah #TorahCommentary

Presentation of sermon about "More about Anger" “Who is strong? He (she) who controls their passions” so said King Solomon is Proverbs (Chapter 16, verse 32). Throughout the ages, the sages have warned us to control our passions. That’s why, after all, we have commandments. Just wear the fringes, obey the commandments, and you’re fine, right? If only…. Probably the strongest “passion” is anger. Anger is a drug. It gives you, sometimes, superhuman strength and endurance. It gives you courage when you are faced with a daunting situation. Anger scares the people who aren’t angry and motivates them to retreat rather than face your venom. It’s the ultimate fight when you can’t flight. And it’s quite the high, isn’t it? But like all drugs, there is a downside. It can become addicting and used when it’s not needed. Years ago when I worked in mental health, I spent a year working in an adolescent dual diagnosis unit. This was specifically for teenagers who not only had behavior problems, but also problems with chemical dependency. At that time, the facility was undergoing evaluation to be part of the JCAAH which would allow us more latitude in billing insurance. Part of that process involved not discriminating specific patient populations in our units. We took in a young kid who was thirteen years old and had never seen a drug, let alone used. The problem became coordinating his treatment with the rest of the kids so he could participate in groups. The treatment team considered how to best apply his issues to the 12-step program, one of the main modalities. I asked him what issue he thought he might be so caught up in that it served as an addiction. He said he had a problem with anger. We had him work the 12-step process using anger. It was amazing how well that process worked. In this week’s Torah portion, the children of Israel are out in the wilderness and Aaron—everybody’s favorite high priest—dies. There is now no water. G-d tells Moses to talk to the rock and water will be plentiful. Moses loses it; perhaps all the whining and sniveling got to him. He tells the “rebels” to behold water and strikes the rock. Water pours forth, but G-d tells him that because he didn’t sanctify His name in front of the congregation, he will not go into the promised land. The moral of the story: anger has its consequences. In the wrong application, it will do more harm than good. Moses did not control his passions. Many of us don’t. Our cable is out, and we spend however many minutes sitting on the phone waiting for that hapless customer service person to be our scapegoat. We are on the road in rush hour and protected by a covering of armor we will display obscene gestures at nameless strangers who commit the horrible offense of pulling in front of us. Moses was supposed to know better. He was a prophet’s prophet. Other prophets have glimpses of the ultimate; he had a front row seat to Hashem. That connection must have given him insight into the structure of Reality, and yet in one unfortunate moment, he threw it all away. Such is the danger of anger. In fact, “anger” is “danger” without the “d”. Like any drug, it gives you a marvelous high and a horrible comedown. The morning after is not unlike any hangover. And, like drugs, we seem to regret what we did and how we acted while under the influence. The sages recognized this. They looked at Moses’ behavior and must have thought, hmmm, if he succumbed, we’re doomed! To moderate our most violent emotion, they ended our thrice daily “tefillah”, or Amidah, with “Oh L-rd, guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking falsehood”. We know what we can say while in the throes. G-d recognized this as well. One of our commandments is to not take vengeance. Easier said than done. Consider that anger is a lot like pain; it’s telling us that there’s something amiss. What gets you angry? Certainly, some of the little annoyances we face each day, like when the car won’t start or when we get to the store and find they’re out of our favorite whatever, or our electric bill is higher than we thought. Those things typically come and go. But maybe there are things we face in our daily lives that seem to keep coming up. Maybe our job or associates or acquaintances are too much for us to handle and we wish they’d go away. Sometimes it seems like we face the same conflicts and/or situations over and over. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Like pain, anger is a warning. It’s telling us that we need to remove the offending circumstance. We need to look deep into ourselves and see what need we have that is not being fulfilled, and what change do we need to make to fulfill it. And part of that is thinking out of the box—the box we’ve locked ourselves into in which we play out the same scenarios over and over. Anger is not about just controlling passions, though. We’ve tried that and tried that and it seemed to work until the pressure cooker blew. It may also not be about changing our situation either. It may be about how we deal with things. You want a different result, try a different tactic. #FridayNightSermon #Anger

This Week's 10-Minute Torah: "Parashat Chukkat" 7/13/2019 #ParashatChukkat #DvarTorah #TorahCommentary

Friday Night Sermon: "Concentration camps vs detention centers" 7/5/2019 Usually for sermons, I take the current Torah portion and expand on how some of the points relate to our daily current lives. This is how we imbue spiritual inspiration and make Torah relevant. It’s also how we enhance our Shabbat experience with thankfulness for Hashem’s involvement in our lives. Today I feel a need to depart from that usual structure and talk about current events. The political landscape has become more and more unfriendly to us Jews and this latest incident, in my opinion, just continues the downhill slope towards disrespect. I feel that it is important to address these issues every now and then when they come up because awareness may help us to intervene before they become more prominent. In our current political environment, it has become a strategy to present or “spin” certain situations in a certain way to demean opponents to gain political advantage. Conditions at these detention centers have been allegedly exaggerated for that purpose. Here’s where we Jews become involved. Many of you are probably aware of a certain freshman Congresswoman comparing the detention centers holding the influx of people seeking a better life in our country and concentration camps in the 1940’s that facilitated the murder of our people. In using that language, she is insinuating a comparison between our government’s attempt to manage the flow of people to the Nazi’s organized efforts to house Jews during the 1940’s and find ways to mass exterminate us. Obviously, she was using the hyperbole to make a point. As a side note, as Jews we believe in helping the downtrodden achieve fulfillment so we, as a people, would generally be sympathetic to their cause. Unfortunately, the sheer number of people seeking asylum is overwhelming our immigration system. Our government agencies have been doing what they can to accommodate these people, but because of the volume, resources are stretched thin and people are suffering. Her comparison upset some Jewish agencies, like the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai Brith and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. They came out and expressed their dismay and outrage at the comparison. Instead of making an apology or at least an explanation, this congresswoman rationalized her points by “doubling down” and looking to justify her points. Other congresspeople came to her defense. Some even went so far as to try to define “concentration camp” in terms that would support and justify her claims. The real height of this offense came with a letter signed by hundreds of historians, self-proclaimed experts in the Holocaust and mostly from academia, to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum asking them to reverse their opposition to those comparisons. The tragedy is that while some of these historians were not Jewish, some were. A few even teach at universities in Israel. It is outrageous, however, that these people would challenge an organization that is specifically set up to commemorate and educate about the Holocaust! To quote another famous Jew, Rodney Dangerfield, we get no respect. Yes, we get no respect. Many people are familiar with a current situation of a sneaker manufacturer issuing, for the 4th of July, a special commemorative sport shoe with the first, original flag of the United States, “Old Faithful”, on the sneaker with the original thirteen stars. An African American football player became incensed that the company would post such an offensive gesture considering that this country was founded on the backs of the slave labor of his people. Outrage by minorities is commonplace. College students dressing up for Halloween are excoriated for wearing a sombrero and a fake bushy mustache. Some political figures were called out for using black face as a gag during their college days (reminiscent of a popular black comedian in the 1970’s saying he used white shoe polish to infiltrate white society) as a stunt. With all this sensitivity towards disadvantaged people, one would think that it would apply to all minorities. This congresswoman who started this is, in fact, a minority herself. For some reason, people take issue whenever we get sensitive about a topic. And isn’t it interesting that as barely two per cent of the US population, we aren’t considered a minority, let alone disadvantaged. A 93-year-old Holocaust survivor offered to take said congresswoman on a tour of Auschwitz. This would be the same tour that a certain congressman from Iowa, himself castigated for outlandish remarks about minorities, took. She declined. Many pictures have been published on media about the overcrowding of these immigration facilities. We see many people sitting around looking pretty forlorn. Wouldn’t it be interesting to put some of these pictures side-by-side with pictures of victims and survivors from the Holocaust, emaciated people, clearly undernourished in squalid conditions? One would think the contrast would quiet even the most stubborn critics. Then again… So how do we as Jews overcome this disrespect for our tragedies? Simple: we need to stick together. While there are indeed groups of people who are sympathetic to our cause—and we appreciate that—we are our best reinforcement. Stay close to your synagogue and get involved with your people. Perhaps not all of the time or even a majority of the time because we all live in a secular world, but we have a distinct identity and we need to sustain that. We have survived oppression for 1800 years. We’ve done it by sticking together and keeping to our heritage. In our more liberal society, we can let our elected officials know how we feel. To paraphrase Hillel: “If {we} are not for {ourselves}, who will be for {us}. If not now, when?” #FridayNightSermon

Commentary on this week's Torah Portion: "Korach" 5779 07/06/2019 #ParashatKorach5779 #DvarTorah #TorahCommentary

https://youtu.be/ri9I3B4yQ4U This week’s portion of the Torah is “Shelach L’cha”. Many remember this portion as the incident of the spies and the mandate from Hashem that all the Israelites over the age of 20 are doomed to die off in the desert. However, there are other situations addressed here that are also important to our people. Towards the end of the portion, we are told of a man who was out in Wilderness gathering wood on Shabbat. People were outraged that he was desecrating the day of rest and went to Moses. Moses went to G-d and the consequence was capital punishment. This seems pretty severe, especially 3300 years later as we look towards the Torah for guidance. It is almost incomprehensible that someone is punished this severely for just not resting. And if we want to do something on Shabbat, isn’t that our business anyway? And just to clarify, there’s more to the story than that. The individual in question was first warned, two witnesses saw hm do this after the warning, and let’s face it, he did it in front of the whole community. Under the surface, it probably wasn’t just about gathering wood. Nowadays, it seems that a seven-day week is not enough, let alone six. Not only do we have to spend forty hours of each week earning a livelihood, but then there’s the commuting. Most of us also have chores and everyday tasks to do as well. On the weekends, many of us have kids or grandkids that we take to or watch their activities. We also have projects. Who has time to rest? Maybe if Hashem wanted us to rest a day, maybe our weeks should be eight or nine days! Then it would be a lot easier to take one day and do nothing (or maybe we’d be just as busy and want a 10 or 11 day week). How can He expect us to forego one day a week and let all the other stuff just pile up? And if we did take that day to rest, all we’d do is fret and worry over all the things we have to do and didn’t get to do last week. Oh, by the way, did we mention paying bills in all those tasks? We can get anxious just listening to all we have to do and then figuring out when to do it all. So what’s the point? Well, that is the point. First of all, rest is not just important, it’s critical and crucial to engaging in our daily activities. Everyone knows this, because everyone has had days when they didn’t get enough sleep or had a lot to do over the weekend and then came back to the workweek completely exhausted hating life. We rationalize by saying that it’s either that or let things pile up and then it would even worse. We would probably all agree that conceptually, having one day in seven to kick back is a pretty good idea. If only…. Well, in Judaism, having a day off is so important, it’s one of the top ten. In fact, it’s number four, even before not killing or stealing. Of course, the implication is not that if you get too tired, you’re going to go out and commit crimes! The obvious point is that there’s more to it than just resting. The verses after this passage, the Maftir, is the third paragraph of the “Shema”. This introduces us to the commandment of putting tzitzis on the corners of our clothes. The knots that we tie on those strings remind us to remember and do all the commandments. We know that the sequence of the Torah is not random; the verses are in their specific places and in a specific order for a reason. Consider that it is on purpose that the commandment to put tzitzis on our clothes follows the incident of someone desecrating the Shabbat. It would seem that observing Shabbat is specifically related to knowing and performing all the commandments. And that is exactly the point. Not only is the Shabbat a day off and a time out from mundane and material work, it a day of spiritual refreshment. With all our attention directed out into the material world, it can be easy to forget the purpose of life. With all our efforts directed at managing life, sometimes we forget or sidestep some of the ethics and morality. Being so busy, there is this temptation to take shortcuts. But it’s not necessarily so simple. It’s not as easy as when you’re busy, you lose your integrity. The point is that it’s sometimes easy to become so busy and focused on doing things in life that we forget what’s it all about. We go to work support our families, so life isn’t so stressful, and we have time to impart important values to our offspring. The main reason we observe Shabbat is to remember what’s important. While engaging in life is necessary and critical for our survival, we need to study our roots. We need to remind ourselves to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with Hashem. We do that, and life takes care of itself. #FridayNightSermon

https://youtu.be/JtaNYAhRWiA #ParashatShelachLecha #TorahCommentary #TorahPortion #DvarTorah

https://youtu.be/hA0Hk_8fntU I have a friend who’s a business coach. A few months ago, she published a series of affirmations over a period of forty days with a new, different affirmation for each day all of which focused on creating prosperity and wealth. Although they were all different, they seemed to revolve around five or six themes. One of the themes that I found very meaningful and particularly stood out to me was the idea that prosperity doesn’t come from without, it comes from within. We all go through life looking for the right situation, the right people, the right venue, for us to prosper. She contended that prosperity really doesn’t depend on external factors. The crux of the theme is that it is really our connection to a Higher Power or G-d that creates our wealth. This is a concept that is the focus of the Vedas. The Vedas—or “knowledge” in Sanskrit—are ancient texts that have been studied for hundreds of years and part of which is the basis of Hinduism. One of their concepts is that we all live in a physical world and therefore our focus is directed out. Part of the path to enlightenment is to turn the focus inward and identify with the big Self that is connected to the Universe. The problem that humankind faces is that we are so focused on what happens on the outside that we get overwhelmed when situations don’t go our way. In fact, we can also get overwhelmed when things go well. We are so focused that we let anything that happens dictate our moods, thoughts, and particularly actions. In short, we react to our environment. The idea in the Vedas is that we need to know that, as my business coach contends, it is really our essence that is connected to Hashem that dictates our lives. One of the books of the Vedas is the Bhagavad Gita. This is an allegory that revolves around a crisis that the hero of the story, Arjuna, is facing. Arjuna is a great warrior, skilled in leadership and the bow. And he stands on the battlefield, in the midst of a tragic situation of having to go to war against members of his clan. While he is dedicated to doing what needs to done, he is troubled and indecisive. However, he has the advantage of being counseled by Lord Krishna. The Gita focuses on Arjuna’s spiritual journey towards enlightenment as Krishna guides him to be in a perfect state of bliss in accord with the Universe and then perform action. Only when he realizes the true nature of his inner Self, can he be skilled in action. Part of this guidance, though, involves removing himself from the effects of action, or Karma. This concept has created confusion for centuries. People felt that in order to be in bliss, one had to physically remove himself from the effects of karma, the results of our action. So people thought they to achieve enlightenment, in which one is not affected by the results of action, they had to go into a cave and contemplate their navel. People didn’t understand that one can achieve the right action of enlightenment through acting in the material world. As we think about the conflict of Arjuna, we are reminded of something closer to home. Even though the Torah is called the Five Books of Moses, it is really in the middle three books—Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers—that Moses is active in establishing G-d’s Law. And especially now as we go through the latter of those books, Numbers, we see that Moses faces a very similar situation as Arjuna. In fact, Moshe Rabbeinu himself was a warrior. And like Arjuna, Moses is facing rebellions from his clan, the Levites, some of whom question his leadership and wisdom to the point of outright rebellion. And whereas Arjuna had Krishna, Moses has Hashem. And like Arjuna, G-d gives Moses the commandments that are designed to help us act rightly and justly in this world. We humans get so involved in our activity that it takes holds of our moods. The Torah, however, tells us what to do. The third paragraph of the “Shema” is very explicit as it tells us not to follow our hearts or our eyes, but ONLY G-d’s commandments. And thus we do right action. And by performing mitzvot, we remove our Selves from the consequences of action because we only do right action. That action is to love our neighbor, help those in need, give to people who are needy, etc. The Jewish path to enlightenment is very clear. Really, we don’t have to worry or let life’s little annoyances rule our lives. Of course, yes, it’s inconvenient when a large appliance or car breaks down, or our business situation or family changes; one can’t help but have feelings. But we know, as Jews, that G-d will take care of us as long as we’re true to the covenant. And that’s how we know that our true selves, our true basis of prosperity is not something that is happening out there, it’s really from in here. #FridayNightSermon #CreatingProsperityfromWithin

https://youtu.be/UX5IDb727WA #ParashatBahalotcha #DvarTorah #TorahCommentary