https://youtu.be/mSZBIhNM3FE

https://youtu.be/DziC7diq8h0 #ParashatPassoverI #ParashasPesachI

https://youtu.be/r2zu0KQPcXI A few days ago from this writing, Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana and Democratic Presidential hopeful, confronted Vice President Mike Pence for the latter’s apparent lack of morals. Mayor Buttigieg referred to Vice President Pence as a hypocrite that espouses Christian values and yet engages in dishonest conduct not becoming the label. Mayor Buttigieg referred to Vice President Pence as a “Pharisee”. Most Christians are familiar with the term “Pharisee” from the Gospels of the New Testament. In reality, this was a sect of Judaism that would give way to the modern Judaism that we practice today and these were the first rabbis that oversaw the morphing of the Temple practices to how we worship today in synagogues all over the world after the Temple was destroyed. In the context of the New Testament, the Pharisees were seen as “hypocrites, fools…full of extortion and greed”, according to Amy-Jill Levine, a professor at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School who was quoted for an article in the Jerusalem Post on April 16, 2019. This term is an anti-Semitic trope that describes a stereotype. It is another “trope” to demean Jews. Some Jewish leaders have called on Mayor Buttigieg to stop using the term. In response, the Mayor’s national press secretary stated that the term “Pharisee” is a common expression for “hypocrite”. Years ago, my wife and I went to a local hotel conference center where they were selling paintings. We had moved into our first house and were in the process of decorating. I went to the counter to pay for the paintings and as the clerk and I were talking , she mentioned that some people came in, thought the prices were too high and tried to “Jew her down”. I politely and calmly told her I was Jewish and that this was really a slur. At first, she started to apologize but then, in the parlance of today, doubled down and insisted that this was a valid slang term that could be found in the dictionary to describe someone who’s cheap. Her lack of remorse prompted me to contact the directors of the operation who did apologize profusely. It is interesting that Mayor Buttigieg clings to such a trite term and uses it as a derogatory description. What he doesn’t really understand is that regardless of what he may have read or heard from whatever sources, we Jews invented charity. Jewish charities have been in place for years and given not just to Jews but non-Jews as well. It is commanded in our Torah to give to those less fortunate, specifically the widow and the orphan. Our system of tithes is set up to help needy people. We are also commanded to “love the stranger”; the modern-day application would be to befriend the new person at school or work. These Jewish values are what the Mayor embraces and yet is completely ignorant that they were Jewish values almost 2000 years before Christianity came into existence. Regardless of how the Mayor meant the term, it is nevertheless an anti-Semitic trope. Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more prominent in political circles to the extreme sides of mainstream political values. It also seems to be more prominent among liberal social Democrats. It is true that there have been fringe groups—White Nationalists—on the right that have proclaimed themselves anti-Semitic. This phenomenon of ultra-liberals using similar slurs seems to be growing in an environment which sees more and more attacks on Jews. We are familiar with Ilhan Omar, a sitting US Congresswoman, one the first Muslims to be elected, using anti-Semitic language. She has used similar tropes about how Jews run the world, control Congress and how “it’s all about the Benjamins, baby”. A resolution proposed in Congress recently to address the rising number of attacks of Jews had to be changed to include all groups due to the insistence of this ultra-liberal group. One would think that these two people ought to know better. Ms. Omar is a Somali refugee and knows what it’s like to be oppressed. Mr. Buttigieg is gay and also understands being on the fringes of society. Unfortunately, they are not alone. Both politicians and media have demeaned Israel for its persecution of Palestinians and use of excessive force in responding to protests. They all ignore that Hamas, the government of Gaza has instigated violent action by firing thousands (not an exaggeration) of missile at Israel and Israel has responded by doing their best to target only the leaders. These “peaceful” protests have included balloons with incendiary devices and rock throwing at Israel, which had their soldiers do their best to just maim and not kill. But these people dismiss bigoted allegations by stating that they just criticizing the government, not the people. Does this mean that this new movement of Liberal, Social Democrats have adopted an anti-Semitic stance in their ideology? It would almost seem so. It’s getting worse, not better. It is important that we stand up to this hypocrisy of espousing social justice while berating a people with slander and libel. We need to call attention to this and call it out among the leaders of both parties letting them know that we will not tolerate injustice in any form. #Sermon #AntiSemitism

https://youtu.be/fhr6NrTCxZ0 We all go through our travails in life. Some of the challenges we face seem so daunting as to be unfixable, and our moods and dispositions inconsolable. What does Judaism offer as comfort to those that face seemingly insurmountable challenges that seem to go on and on? First of all, there are some Psalms—like 23, “The Lord Is My Shepherd—that are good for comforting. Some of the Proverbs are inspirational, like 16:23: “Who is strong? One who controls their passions”. There are some healing prayers—Mi Shaberach—that are also useful in times of distress. And of course, one of the many reasons we pray three times each day is to revisit some of the laws and teachings and behaviors that help us go through life successfully. There are things that affirm that when we call out to HaShem, He or She hears our prayers and responds. Perhaps there is a central theme to all this. Many of us, especially in times of distress, feel that G-d is adversarial. We ask, rhetorically of course but often out of frustration, why G-d puts us in these situations or give us these problems because we have, after all, done our best to be good people? It can almost feel like we are being punished for some unknown sin. Let me offer some of my own feelings with you because I’ve had some very trying times in my life and this realization helped my cope and manage a lot better. This is when I changed my idea of G-d being adversarial to HaShem being a coach. Continuing the analogy, if you were training for a sport, your coach would make you exercise, do drills, practice over and over again. At times, you'd hate Her, wanting to just quit. But then when you're competing, and all that training has given you an edge, and you cross the finish line winning the event, you see how it was all worth it for your victory. After all, isn’t this why we pray, for guidance and help? These challenges that we face throughout our lives are challenges. We can speculate why they occur—past lives, our choices—but the fact is that they do. HaShem has made Herself available for support by giving us Torah. On a more general metaphysical frame of reference, these challenges are there to empower us. We go through them, we resolve them, and we become stronger, more confident, and better able to meet the next challenge. These trying times have compelled us to develop new, maybe different skills and points of view to ascend to the next level of evolution. And then life gets better because we’ve developed new tools and skills, and got better with the skills and traits that we do have. Even beyond working out our problems, we can now relate to others in a different, more effective and efficacious manner. The bottom line here is that for whatever reason, we have to deal with these things. Let’s make the most of them and turn lemons into lemonade, right? Sure, it’s easy to say this rationally sometimes, but being in the thick of battle, sometimes our passions and feeling get the better of us. That’s when we can use those psalms and prayers. #FridayNightSermon

https://youtu.be/BpIguWJVc3c

https://youtu.be/CIQLjrBzZ9Q Wild Cherry in the 1970’s proclaimed, “I believe in Miracles…”. Jefferson Starship lament, “If only you believed in miracles, so would I”. Many of us have driven up behind a car displaying the bumper sticker, “Expect A Miracle”. Very optimistic and positive. Except that in Judaism, we don’t. That may surprise a lot of people considering that we have two festivals, Hanukkah and Purim, that are based on miracles. We are also coming up on Passover that embodies some very fantastic occurrences, the Ten Plagues, that broke the back of Pharaoh, so to speak, and convinced him to let our people go. Not soon after that did a whole sea split in half and the ground harden so we could “pass through in safety.” Even in our thrice-daily prayers during the “Amidah”, we thank Hashem for our daily miracles. And yet we’re not supposed to believe or expect a miracle. Why? This was the answer the sages had when people asked why our greatest sages, Rabbi Akiva for one, was murdered by the Romans. Here was a great rabbi who lived and studied Torah and yet there was no miracle to save him. The answer is that, as you would expect, Hashem works in ways that we can not fathom. As we proclaim during the spiritual New Year, it is determined among other things, who shall live and who shall die. Each and every person has their own path and sometimes, in order to fulfill our destinies, we meet with unfortunate situations. We can go crazy wondering why, but the bottom line is that we just have to live our lives as best as we can and just prepare for contingencies. And that’s really the answer. Living life and preparing for contingencies. In fact, consider this as advice for living: hope for the best and prepare for the worst. So why do people go around in life expecting or wanting or hoping for miracles? Why is the lottery so popular? Why do some people gamble and buy penny stocks? The answer is that they want a quick fix. They want an answer to their prayers that will solve all their problems and they can live happily ever after. People want miracles to solve their problems. Now this is not to discourage or demean anyone; we all live with hope. But if you’ve noticed, Jews are among the most industrious people in world. We have won more than our share of Nobel prizes. We are disproportionately represented in the professions. Some of us have done very well working hard and building businesses and business empires (like Hollywood, for example). This may be just because we don’t expect miracles. When you don’t expect a miracle, you work hard to make sure that your needs are met. When you don’t expect a miracle, you take steps to prepare for contingencies. When you don’t expect a miracle, you live your life to expect the unexpected. Then if and when those extraordinary circumstances present themselves, you don’t need a miracle because you are all set. Part of living life is setting goals and evaluating your current situation. It is knowing where you’re at in life, where you want to go, and setting a path to get there. Some people are more focused on planning than others. Most of it involves organizing your resources. It is having a realistic appraisal of what can happen and what you need to have and do in order to meet any challenge. It also means acquiring skills or resources that may not have just in case. So what is this really about? Let’s face it. Some people live above their means and when a financial disaster occurs, they are completely unprepared. Some people have a job they don’t like and feel like they’re meant for something better, but they spend a lot of their time waiting for “their ship to come in.” It typically doesn’t. Maybe this is why our people have been successful. Not only do what not expect a miracle, we typically expect a disaster. Many times we live our lives waiting for the next hammer to drop. So we live our lives in a state of readiness. The point of this has not been to criticize hope. Rather it has been about avoiding unnecessary stress in life that can be very devastating. While we thank Hashem for the miracles wrought every day, we also thank HaShem for providing for our daily needs and leading us on our life’s path. Remember, preparation is half the battle. #FridayNightSermon #FridaysSermon

https://youtu.be/KwLYKMadyXM #ParashatTazria #TorahCommentary #DvarTorah

https://www.facebook.com/tes.kempner/videos/10156340094272914/?t=27 https://www.facebook.com/tes.kempner/videos/10156340094272914/ I pay weekly visits to a woman who 96-years-old and a Holocaust survivor. She is currently infirm and bed ridden. I have typically been going over there after teaching Hebrew school on Sundays, but this week we are on Spring Break. I went over before conducting Friday night Ma'ariv (Evening) service and played most of the singing parts for her. Her daughter decided to go on Facebook live, and here is the video. #ShabbatMaariv #ShabbatFridayNightService

https://youtu.be/OWLdq7yrKvw This week’s portion of the Torah is “Shemini”. In this portion, there is a section, quite brief, that addresses an interesting interaction between Moshe Rabbeinu, our greatest prophet, and Aaron, the newly ordained head priest. Aaron and his two younger sons were offering sacrifices as part of their duties. Since they were “onen”, that is, in mourning for the death of the two older sons who had been punished for transgressing the sanctity of the Aron HaKodesh, they had certain restriction regarding partaking of the meal of the sacrifice. Moses became angry and chastised Aaron for acting improperly in conducting the ritual. Aaron very calmly explained his rationale. Moses thought about it and acknowledged that Aaron was correct. While this is the first time in the Torah that interactions resembled Talmud and Oral Law there is also another, perhaps more secular, lesson in this interaction. Moshe Rabbeinu became angry and reacted emotionally. This prevented him from looking at the situation and seeing how all the parts fit. He erred in his response. Our greatest prophet was human and not immune to the frailties of his passions, just like the rest of us “Am Ha’aretz” (common folks). King Solomon, in Proverbs, wrote, “Who is mighty? He who contains his passions.” The Rabbis throughout our history have expanded this simple piece of advice and admonished people from reacting blindly to their passions. They have said numerous times that in succumbing to anger we lose our ability to reason and thus make a tentative situation worse. What is anger? One may say that it goes all the way to our ancestors who lived very primitively without any comforts. They lived, most of the time, day-to-day, catching their food and fending off hostile elements. Their protection was the flight-or-fight instinct. Their passions gave them an adrenaline boost that heightened their reactions and gave them an advantage to succeed in their survival. Years ago, I was working in mental health, working in a psychiatric hospital. I was an assistant charge nurse on a dual-diagnosis adolescent unit that treated teenagers for both behavior and chemical addiction issues. At that time, the hospital was going through a review by a regulatory organization and it was deemed that our unit was discriminating by only treating teens with addiction issues. In order to comply, then, we decided to admit someone who was not chemically addicted in order to be all-inclusive. Part of the treatment paradigm was having the teenagers use the 12-step process. The 12-step process was originally designed for alcoholics and has been widely applied to other forms of addiction. We looked for a way to include this kid in the model. I sat down with the kid and explained the treatment process to him and discussed how to include him in the milieu. I asked him what he thought his biggest issue was and he replied that it was anger. We decided that we would use the 12-step model with him focusing on anger as his addiction. It was amazing that as his recovery progressed, how much this 12-step model application helped him. It was interesting how approaching the issue of anger as an addiction was so fitting. It was a success. In short, anger is a drug. It empowers us, gives us strength, helps us take on challenges in order to survive. It is a sort of superpower. Unfortunately, in this day and age, this vestige is usually a hindrance rather than an advantage. Many of us call a help desk to resolve an issue for some service. We are so frustrated by the inconvenience that we are angry. The rep gets on the phone, asks what the problem is and how they can help, and what do we do? We unload on them in a horrible way. This upsets the help desk person and after minutes of apologies, you get down to the actual problem solving. In the end, the customer service rep has been as polite as they can be, they’ve resolved the problem one way or another and how do we feel? Ashamed. We’ve just upset a totally innocent person who was at no fault for the interruption in service yet did their best and resolved the issue for us. So we muster up a very awkward and embarrassed apology and promise ourselves we won’t do this again. And the next time? Yup, right back to allowing our passions to rule. There is an adage about counting to three before we lose it. It’s really very good advice and we should follow it. Moses didn’t count to three, or in his case “sholosh”, and as the sages say, he erred. Perhaps that’s why this episode is in the Torah. It may not be only there to demonstrate the need for critical thought in resolving issues of halachah, but also to calm down before approaching a problem.

https://youtu.be/B-hADQxsoRk #TorahCommentary #TorahPortionParashaReeh #ParashatShemini #ParashasShemini

https://youtu.be/gToyMwwyuqc There is an old saying about the relationship between a messenger and a message. HaShem shows us things sometimes in very interesting and unusual ways, sometimes where we least expect it. Nevertheless, growth is growth, and it can be very important to pay attention. Having said that, I feel like I got a message very recently. It came from a very unexpected source but seemed to be confirmed by more familiar personages. As a clergy, it is my responsibility to minister to not just our congregation, but also the Jewish and even the general community at large. It’s necessary, then, to not just try to make sense of things that happen to us, sometimes very horrific, in terms of our Jewish principles. In short, it is more helpful and efficacious to spend more time on the solution, rather than the problem. We’ve some terrible incidents lately, so let’s talk about how we can deal with them. Let us presume, for the moment, that people act in extreme ways because they are desperate, have reached the end of their rope, so to speak, and see no other way. Ours is to see that other way. Our Holy Scriptures and documents are full of uplifting, fulfilling and positive solutions. Probably the most important and well-known is to love your neighbor as yourself. This can probably be interpreted in a number of ways. Let us suppose that there are people you just don’t want to love no matter what’s at stake. OK, but then at least respect them, right? You may not want to invite certain people for tea, but understand that they have hopes and dreams just like you do, and are entitled to them. In business dealings it’s important to be honest and straightforward. We live by mitzvot. First and foremost, we believe that the highest form of charity is helping someone become financially self-sufficient; this means it is actually a good deed to do business with them. We also don’t put a stumbling block in front of the blind. Besides the obvious literal meaning, we also don’t take advantage of someone’s lack of experience or knowledge doing a business deal. Finally, we use accurate weights and measures and don’t try to fool them so we can make more money that to which we’re entitled. In our social interactions, we also want to be kind to the stranger because we were once strangers in a strange land. Torah commands us to help the widow, orphan and proselyte—people most vulnerable in society. We also help someone in need, someone who’s beast of burden has fallen by the road. It starts with just one person. The way to make a forest greener and more beautiful is to nurture the individual trees. If we would all start doing that, maybe people who are desperate might consider more productive ways to resolve their issues.

https://youtu.be/hMyTYncAulA