People show up for Friday night and Saturday morning services after a challenging week for spiritual inspiration. They come to hear prayers that soothe and calm them and citations from Torah, Prophets and Writings that will make it seem all worthwhile and put it all together. They look for meaning. Most of what we read and discuss does just that. There are also some commandments in the Torah that seem to have no logical basis to them. This week’s Torah portion is “Hukat”. A Hukat is a decree. Most commandments are understandably based in reality. The commandment, for example, “don’t steal” is very straightforward: if it’s not yours, don’t touch it. HaShem in His omniscience gives everyone what they need and deserve and by taking someone else’s stuff, you’ve gone against G-d’s plan and thus G-d Himself. Besides, society would deteriorate, and nothing would get done if everyone had to constantly worry about protecting their belongings. A Hukat by contract, is a proclamation that seems to make no sense at all. This week’s parish starts off addressing the procedure of the red heifer. This is a cow that is entirely red—two different colored hairs disqualify it—that is used in the sacrificial rite to purify anyone who comes in contact with a corpse. It makes no sense. Why not just take a shower? A similar hukat is the laws of Kashrut. The prime directive is “Don’t cook a kid in his mother’s milk”. As we proceed through the Torah, we are introduced to a whole laundry list of living creatures that we can not eat. Why can we eat cows and deer, but not pork? And why can’t we have a cheeseburger? Why chicken and turkey but not ostrich? Why carp and trout and not lobster and shrimp? We read these names of animals to the end waiting for the explanation. At the end we are met simply with the words, “…and you will be holy to your G-d”. Although we can understand this, it also seems kind of vague. It’s Friday evening. You take your family out to a restaurant. While you’re waiting for your food, your wait person brings you a basket of bread and a bottle of wine. You put on your kippot and pull out two candles. Of course, in this day and age, to light candles you’d have to be outside in the smoking section under the heat lamps. But what a great way to take our family out to dinner and celebrate Shabbat at the same time. Simply put: because we don’t. We don’t go to place that we know is not kosher (and a kosher restaurant would not be open on Friday night, of course), and speak words of Hashem that tell us not to follow our hearts or our eyes but follow the commandments. Jews have speculated for years what the purpose of these degrees is, especially kashrut. Some will say that there are certain health reasons that are only now in the modern age starting to come to light. Some will say that back in the olden days before hot water and dishwashers that raw meat could seep into clay eating ware and when combined with milk would leave one contaminated with germs. The sages would simply say that it doesn’t matter, it’s a decree from HaShem. How does this make us better people? In these times when man searches for meaning, how do these decrees enliven our spirit? How do we rationalize these obscure acts? We don’t. We go with them. Consider that we’re not doing anything to harm ourselves or others. But as Captain Kirk (played by a Jew) said to Charlie X: “There’s a million things in the Universe you can have and there’s a million things you can’t”. The bottom line, though? Ask any Marine why they do a lot of things and they’ll give a one-word, straightforward answer: discipline. We all know why we fast during Yom Kippur: to afflict ourselves and atone for our sins. But there is, as typical in Judaism, other reasons as well. And many a Marine would be proud to know that we afflict ourselves for discipline, to train ourselves to resist temptation. Many sages would also tell you that part of the reason may to wean us from indulging temptations which are the desires of the body. In this way, we get more used to our spiritual selves. In this way, we can minimize the desires that lead us to sin in general. Finally, this also sets us apart. We are a holy people, sanctified to Hashem. Yes, there may be times when it is not so convenient, but that is what makes us strong and has kept us alive as a people for thousands of years.

https://youtu.be/g_iD_KW5Nx8

Someone who was Christian, Catholic actually, was expressing frustration at a concept he was told by a priest. In the gospel, Jesus is quoted as saying that when two people are together is when he comes to them. He wanted to know why it takes two, or more, and why wouldn’t he get the same consideration if praying by himself? In Judaism we have a similar concept. There are certain prayers, sanctifications, which require a minyan in order to be said during services. Additionally, there is no repetition of the silent standing prayer (“Amidah”, “Tefillah”) unless there is that quorum of 10. Also, without the mandatory and minimum ten, we can’t even take out the Torah! He was dismayed at the thought that unless there are multiple participants in prayer, the prayers are not effective, or just plain don’t count. This isn’t such a foregone conclusion. Considering the context and framing of that type of requirement, who wouldn’t be dismayed that G-d only hears a crowd, not an individual? The reality, however, is different than the assumption. It is true that these sanctification prayers are supposed to be done only with a minyan. The sanctification prayers are the Kaddishes, which includes the Mourner’s Kaddish, and the Kedushah that is said during the reader’s repetition of the Amidah which incorporates the third prayer of HaShem’s name. One may think that without the quorum, our prayers are either not effective or outright useless. Remember, first of all, that most of our prayer service was developed after the destruction of the second Temple. The idea that these specific prayers can only be said with a minyan is from the Torah that states, “the people of Israel will sanctify the Lord”. Since “people” is plural, rather than just two or even three as in the case of the Birchat Hamazon, they derived the idea that it requires a minyan of ten. Consider also that the concept of having prayers that can only be said with a minyan may be a motivation to get a lot of people to pray together and thus keep the community together and focused on practicing Judaism. Of course, the idea that an individual by him or herself cannot pray alone would certainly contradict our Torah. After all, each of our patriarchs is credited with initiating each of the three daily prayer services (Morning-Afternoon-Evening) and each of them was alone when they first prayed to HaShem. Certainly, there wasn’t enough Jews in the world, let alone locally, to even consider a minyan. There are those of us who do pray three times daily and especially out here, the chances of getting a minyan for any one of those services is remote. Yet there is still a prayer service. The actual kiddushim that require a minyan are a very small percentage of the service, maybe five per cent. So we can still certainly pray on our own and hit almost all of the prayers, thus saying what we would want to say to G-d, expressing our innermost desires, supplications, thanks and acknowledgments. Even without a minyan, our praying is effective. In fact, that doesn’t mean we can’t study Torah. There is no preclusion for reading and studying Torah at any time, let alone during a morning service. What this does mean is that without the minyan we can’t do a specific Torah service in which we take out the Torah from the Ark, parade it around and then read directly from it. But as many people know, we have still done a D’var Torah on a Saturday morning even without the required ten. Now we have another concept. If we don’t ultimately need a minyan to pray so much of the service, why even bother? Why hold formal services at all? Why not pray at home and save gas and the bother of dressing up and wasting money on gas, or time to walk to shul? So that we can come together as a community and support each other. United we stand, divided we fall. Our sense of community has helped us survive for the last 2000 years in exile. When we come together to pray and see our brothers and sisters next to us reciting the same prayers with the same “cavod”/dedication, we feel part of something great. And that feeling of togetherness is not just about praying; it’s about supporting each other socially and financially. That’s a main concept in praying: coming together. When it is Saturday morning and we are spending time studying Torah, we are sharing ideas. When we share ideas, we feel as part of a community. And that’s what it’s about. #FridayNightSermon

https://youtu.be/T_zcUI3Zio8 #DvarTorah #ParashaKorach #TorahPortion #ParashChukat

https://youtu.be/uG66wenLFjQ #TorahPortion #DvarTorah #ParashaShelach

In this week’s Torah portion we start hearing about the dark side of the Wilderness journeys of Israelites on their march towards freedom in their home land. The Israelites had been taken away from the only place they’ve known as home for the last 400 years and are led out into new and strange territory with nothing more than a promise. The grumbling has begun. Reading about it now, about 3000 years later, we have to wonder why. The Israelites had seen plagues inflicted on Pharaoh and the Egyptians while they themselves remained untouched. They had been led out of Egypt, protected by a cloud and pillar of fire, watching the Sea of Reeds split open to allow them through only to be closed upon the Egyptian special forces. They had spent time in the Wilderness fed by manna, a perfect food, and quenched by water appearing almost out of nowhere. So what’s the problem now? They wanted meat. Meat, or more appropriately animal flesh, in the way of quail, was provided. The grumbling, however, continued. The obvious answer is G-d provides, why grumble? Maybe not exactly at the moment we think we need it…it’s not like we sit down to eat a meal, fork and knife in place, plate in front of us saying, “OK, HaShem, we’re ready. Send down that manna anytime”. No, life is a little more complicated than that. Three times per day in our “Amidah”, we thank HaShem for the daily miracles He provides. But does He? Does G-d intervene in our lives to help us as He did to our grumbling ancestors so long ago? Consider that He does. Proof? Israel. Anti-Semitic incidents are up over the last two years. Israel is being shelled and attacked almost constantly by an enemy who was given land 13 years ago in exchange for a peace that never happened. To boot, the world is siding with the aggressors, somehow concluding that Israel is the true aggressor going after innocent civilians when by all accounts the reverse is reality. Despite all this, sympathy towards Jews is actually up. Israel remains triumphant having the developed the technology and weaponry to fend off attacks and be victorious. And many municipalities are taking measures to fight the PR barrage to economically make Israel a pariah nation. Yes, the miracles are happening. Israel has been involved in yet another war, or skirmish, or conflict…whatever we can call it. They got over a war in 2014, and that’s only because it actually broke out. That’s not including the almost daily individual attacks on its citizens. Add to that the constant barrage of condemnation from the UN and the world. Israel is the only country in the world that doesn’t get to choose its own capital. Whatever Israel does to defend itself, it’s using excessive force. And yet Israel survives and thrives. Israel takes in wounded from…Gaza. Israel has this thing where they seem to have to be the first on the scene of any disaster. They have even fought with countries that hate them to bring in the most experienced relief teams in the world to help victims. So I guess we’ve learned our lesson, haven’t we? It may have taken 3000 years, but if you see scenes of people hanging out in cafes in Tel Aviv, these seem to be the happiest people in the world. They seem to be enjoying life. These are the miracles that we enjoy. Some of them are simple, daily. Some are more pronounced. We can even go so far as to appreciate our own little synagogue out here in the middle of nowhere. We’ve had our share of ups and downs, but we’ve survived and we’re still here. Whenever things here look bleak, something happens and we’ve back on our feet. Consider this our version of manna in the desert and water wells just when we need them. It’s hard sometimes to see this as we get so entrenched in our daily lives. This is why it’s good to stop and look around and not just look, but see what’s going on around us. (Shabbat Services plug). Let’s remember to take stock of the daily miracles in our own lives.

https://youtu.be/E3Ocjk7wXrU #DvarTorah #ParashaBahalotcha #ParshasBehaaloschaפרשתבהעלתך #פרשתבהעלתך

This past week we celebrated Shavuot. This is the pilgrimage festival that celebrates both Moshe Rabbeinu receiving the tablets of the Ten Commandments and Torah, and the first fruits of the harvest, the barley. This is why we count 49 days from the second day of Pesach to this holiday with the Omer, the unit of measure equal to about 43 eggs that was part of the Temple offerings. We also read the book of Ruth, part of the section, “Writings”. Ruth was a proselyte who stuck by her mother-in-law, Naomi, when they were in dire straits. She was the great-grandmother of David, and therefore the matriarch of the Messiah of the house of David. Ruth tells the story of Naomi and her husband were wealthy. They had two sons who both married Moabite women. Naomi’s husband and her two sons died leaving the three widows penniless and destitute. Naomi told both women to go back to their native people as they would have a better chance of marrying and living a more comfortable life. The other woman left, but Ruth stayed with Naomi. Ruth had converted and held her Judaism dear. Naomi was selfless and almost pleaded with Ruth to leave and seek a better life. Naomi felt that being old, no one would marry her, let alone allow her to have more children and why should Ruth subject herself to this misery as well? In one of the most touching and heartfelt responses in the Holy Scriptures, and literature itself, Ruth tells her she will stay. “Whither thou goest, I will go. Your people will be my people”, she insists. Ruth stays with Naomi. Together they beg for food and subsist on the gleanings of fields, quite a different from their former life of plenty. Ultimately, Ruth meets the Judge, Boaz, who falls in love with her. They marry and he provides her and Naomi with a comfortable life. It is primarily because she was the progenitor of the House of David that this book is read during Shavuot. The story of Ruth is a beautiful story of faithfulness, devotion and loyalty. It provides an example of the fifth commandment of honoring one’s father and mother. It highlights what happens when one acts righteously. Perhaps there’s another lesson here that we can glean. Ruth married into a family of very well means. And the Holy Scriptures discusses that for about, oh, four or five lines. The next three chapters or so discuss what happened after she lost her family and wealth and how she and her mother-in-law struggled to just survive. Through it all, she seems to have kept up a very positive attitude especially in caring for her mother-in-law. She accepted her current situation and made the most of it. She even helped Naomi keep up her spirits as well. And in the end, her perseverance, as the I Ching says, brought good fortune. How do we all deal with adversity? Many of us—and let’s face it, it’s human behavior—tend to get upset, angry, bemoaning our fate. We can be prone to negativity and thus inaction. Ultimately, things turn around, life being what it is, and we move on. Ruth, however, kept up her spirits the whole time and we see that she is rewarded. The Holy Scriptures tends to be sparse at times but we get a sense of what’s important from where it does focus. In this case, it focuses on Ruth’s journey. It focuses on the fact that she survived. It’s certainly hard when the chips are down to be positive and upbeat. Did Ruth know that in the end things would turn around so dramatically? Did she consider that she was being tested to become the matriarch of the Messiah? Probably not. She just knew she had to withstand tumultuous times. Consider the fact that Ruth’s origins weren’t even Jewish. As we start our day with the morning brachot, we thank HaShem for making us Jews. Ruth, in effect, made herself a Jewess. She adopted a philosophy that prided humanity and tzedakah about all else. More important, she lived and embodied it. We can all learn from Ruth’s integrity and tenacity. Perhaps we will not sink to such dire depths and rise to such great heights, but we are will navigate the vicissitudes of life. As we do, let us take it from Ruth, maintain our faith, and look and work towards a grander future.

https://youtu.be/xxO4m_PdQ-w #DvarTorah #ParashaNaso

https://youtu.be/pEg1rzk5Wgk

https://youtu.be/M5dzZd9WkY8

Some may feel that a sermon about gossiping is redundant. There was a sermon during the High Holidays after all. There are probably a lot more topics that can be covered. However, consider that during the yearly course of Torah portions, I submit that you can’t go four to five portions without encountering this topic, the idea of LaShoh Harah, “bad tongue”. Why? Because it’s so easy to do, so prevalent and what a great way to seize control and hurt someone without exposing yourself. Now that may sound very severe, and we’re going to explore that. But first, how does Torah address this? The idea of gossiping and character assassination is first encountered in the Torah in Genesis, Chapter 38 in the Parasha, “VaYeishev”. Tamar is Judah’s daughter-in-law and her husband dies without giving her a child. Anxious to have an heir, she turns, as was the custom, to her husband’s next younger brother to fulfill levirate. He dies as well. Judah is then concerned that his final son will succumb to the same fate and so refuses to consent. Tamar is undaunted and disguises herself as a prostitute and entraps Judah to fulfill the obligation. Tamar is soon discovered to be pregnant and accused of adultery. Judah finally relents and admits it was him and she is spared. Tamar would rather die than expose Judah, even though she is within her rights. This is our first example of the character of not succumbing to talebearing. A couple of portions later, we have Joseph. He is now in Egypt and resists the advances of his master’s wife, who being jilted, then lies and accuses him of attacking her. He ends up spending 12 years in prison. A few weeks later into the next book, Exodus, Moses save a couple of Israelites from an Egyptian taskmaster’s attacks by killing him. The Israelites threaten to basically “tell on him”. He now has to leave his home and his people and spend 40 years in exile. A few portions later, in the Parash Yitro, Moses climbs Mt. Sinai and receives the Ten Commandments. The ninth is “Do not bear false witness against thy neighbor”. This is repeated in Deuteronomy. The portion after that starts laying out the other 603 commandments, one of which is “Do not talebear”. This is repeated another five or six times throughout the Torah in one form or another. Finally, we have a discussion of “tzarat”, a skin blemish that resembles both leprosy and elephantiasis. This is the physical manifestation of someone’s impurity who has, you guessed it, gossiped. In fact, Miriam, who has been spreading rumors about Moses’ lack of affection with his wife, comes down with it herself. This impurity confines the afflicted person outside the camp, where they can’t gossip to anyone. The sages were so impressed with the importance of this concept that they made sure to insert it into our liturgy. At the end of the Amidah, which we recite during our three-times-a-day prayers, we end it with: “Oh, L-rd, guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking falsehood. To those who curse me, let my soul be silent.” (Artscroll Prayer Book, Wasserman edition, p. 119) More on this last statement in a minute. Unfortunately, our politics has devolved from discussing policy to character assassination. “Fake news” or what used to be called “propaganda” abounds. People have a taste for rumors and gossip. Why? Consider that it gives people control. It puts doubt in people’s minds and thus give the gossipmonger power. The gossipee is now on the hook to disprove the accusations. But the fact that they even came to the fore has now tarnished this person’s reputation. These comments can have a very real adverse effect on someone’s livelihood. People depend on their reputations to grow their businesses and make a living. The more severe the rumors, the worse the effect on their income. What can we, as Jews, do to combat gossip? Very simply, as the prayer states, don’t listen. Tell people you don’t listen to gossip. People gossip when that behavior is reinforced by getting attention, and thus power and control. With no audience, no power. We can also seek the truth. If we hear something disturbing, we can go to the source and check it out. Consider that there are always three sides to a story: your side, my side and what really happened. When gossippers see that you are not reinforcing their strategy, they’ll try to go on to someone who will. If they’re met with disinterest and they exhaust an audience, the issue is put to rest. The hardest thing to bear, though, is when you are the target. We hear accounts of bullies using social media to destroy someone’s reputation. These cowards are out of sight, not having to confront their targets personally, but do a lot of emotional damage. It is important to find support. Find people who know you and trust, and whom you can trust, to be an emotional support. It is also important that we always conduct ourselves with the utmost integrity so that these people are not believed in the first place. This is one of the reasons that we have this Torah, this code of moral conduct; if someone tries to defame us, our reputation and character speak for themselves. Similarly, be there to support people who are under attack. When these people see that they get nowhere with their degradation, they will end up ostracizing themselves, thus coming down with tzurat and having to remove themselves from the community.