Krista Tippet on compassion

Amazing insight on how to heal our world!

Mayor of Newark Speaks at Chabad dinner

I like this video, despite the fact that he is promoting a specific brand of Judaism that is not my own. What he says about our need to to “not hide” and be proud of who we are is really important, not just as Jews but as human beings. I said on Friday night that, like Bezalel, it is our job to find our unique talents and gifts and bring them forward. We should not cower or hide behind fear, but we should share our light with the world. Amen.

Jewish Jordan

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D’var Torah Terumah– Open-Hearted Giving

I’d like to share with you a story of open-hearted giving. I was told this story on my first trip to Israel, while standing at the bottom of Har Tzion, the hilltop upon which the Old City of Jerusalem was built.

Two Brothers- Author unknown

Once there were two brothers who inherited their father’s land. The brothers divided the land in half and each one farmed his own section. Over time, the older brother married and had six children, while the younger brother never married.

One night, the younger brother lay awake. “It’s not fair that each of us has half the land to farm,” he thought. “My brother has six children to feed and I have none. He should have more grain than I do.”

So that night the younger brother went to his silo, gathered a large bundle of wheat, and climbed the hill that separated the two farms and over to his brother’s farm. Leaving the wheat in his brother’s silo, the younger brother returned home, feeling pleased with himself.

Earlier that very same night, the older brother was also lying awake. “It’s not fair that each of us has half the land to farm,” he thought. “In my old age my wife and I will have our grown children to take care of us, not to mention grandchildren, while my brother will probably have none. He should at least sell more grain from the fields now so he can provide for himself with dignity in his old age.”

So that night, too, he secretly gathered a large bundle of wheat, climbed the hill, left it in his brother’s silo, and returned home, feeling pleased with himself.

The next morning, the younger brother was surprised to see the amount of grain in his barn unchanged. “I must not have taken as much wheat as I thought,” he said, bemused. “Tonight I’ll be sure to take more.”

That very same moment, his older brother was also standing in his barn, musing much the same thoughts.

After night fell, each brother gathered a greater amount of wheat from his barn and in the dark, secretly delivered it to his brother’s barn. The next morning, the brothers were again puzzled and perplexed. “How can I be mistaken?” each one scratched his head. “There’s the same amount of grain here as there was before I cleared the pile for my brother. This is impossible! Tonight I’ll make no mistake – I’ll take the pile down to the very floor. That way I’ll be sure the grain gets delivered to my brother.”

The third night, more determined than ever, each brother gathered a large pile of wheat from his barn, loaded it onto a cart, and slowly pulled his haul through the fields and up the hill to his brother’s barn. At the top of the hill, under the shadow of a moon, each brother noticed a figure in the distance. Who could it be?

When the two brothers recognized the form of the other brother and the load he was pulling behind, they realized what had happened. Without a word, they dropped the ropes to their carts and embraced.

According to legend, the Temple in Jerusalem was built on the very hill where the brothers met and embraced.

This is a story of open-hearted giving. Neither expected to receive anything in return. Each of the brothers understood giving as a reward in itself.

At the beginning of this week’s parasha we find a command from G-d to give in an open-hearted way, expecting nothing in return. What is strange about this command is that the verb used is not “give” but rather “take.” The Torah says: “And those whose hearts are so moved should take me an offering.”

Usually when we give someone something we use the word give. But here the word “take” is used instead of give.

The Kotkzer Rebbe explains that this is because a wise person realizes that when he is giving he is really taking.

The poet Maya Angelou once said: “I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.”

It is important to remember the benefits of giving not only for ourselves, so that we should be generous, and realize that when we give we receive, but this also comes to teach us the importance of allowing others to give to us. When we let people give to us, we let them take too – we let them feel the joy that comes with giving. When we give, we really take. This is the secret of the open-hearted offering, the terumah.

February is Jewish Disability Awareness Month

“Jewish Disability Awareness Month is a unified effort to raise awareness and support efforts to foster inclusion of people with disabilities and their families in Jewish communities worldwide.
Jewish Disability Awareness Month is universally recognized in February. Several Jewish communities choose other months of the year, but most plan programming for the month of February. The first Jewish Disability Awareness Month was held in February 2009.”

As Jews, we are obligated not only by a sense of justice, but also the Torah’s injunctions regarding the way we ought to treat others. Awareness is a good first step. I am hopeful that efforts like this will result in the Jewish community making progress towards inclusion and honoring people with disabilities. If you have ideas for ways to promote these efforts, please let me know.

D’var Torah Mishpatim

Most of us have probably had the experience of saying yes to something before you really knew what you were getting yourself into.

Sometimes it is a matter of fear – I have a friend who accepted a job position without really figuring out if it was the right thing for him, because he was worried about money.

Sometimes it’s a matter of excitement – like when you are looking for a new home and you get so excited by the space that you forget to check the roof and the plumbing.

Sometimes it’s a matter of trusting your intuition – I know people who have gotten engaged after dating for a very short time, but they said, “Sometimes you just know.”

In all of these cases, regardless of the motivation, the act of jumping in quickly without having all of the information first can lead to either a favorable or a negative outcome.

You may end up with the proverbial “buyer’s remorse” or you may end up feeling grateful for your amazing instincts.

When the Jewish people received the Torah, they were standing in front of a spectacular display of G-d’s power: a trembling and smoking mountain, raining fireballs, and a blasting shofar. The people were scared. And probably a bit excited. I also wonder if they had that intuitive sense that this Torah they were about to receive would be something that would remain important for the Jewish people for generations to come. Who knows.

What we do know is that they said, “we’ll take it!” before they really knew what was in it.

But this is part of what it means to be human. We cannot see into the future. We live as though we know how our actions will play out, but unlike G-d, we cannot know what will be in years to come. This is the lesson we learned last week when we celebrated Tu BiShevat.

There is the famous story of Choni who sees a man planting a tree and asks him how long it will take before the tree will bare fruit. The man says it will take 70 years. Curious at his motivations, Choni asks, “Do you really think you’ll live long enough to get to eat the fruit of this tree?” The man answered that he was planting it for his children and their children, just as someone else had planted trees for him.

We do not know what the future holds and whether our actions will yield a positive result, but we still make decisions for the future. We hope that those decisions will bring about something good, but we really cannot predict it.

When the Israelites accepted the Torah, all they had were the Cliff’s notes – the Ten Commandments. They hadn’t read the fine print. It’s not until this week’s parasha that we get the details – an incredibly long list of laws – what’s really involved in this agreement with G-d.

The laws cover everything from how to repay someone for damages to how to treat your family. They are detailed, but still a bit confusing and for those of us who prefer to think in big picture terms, frankly they are just plain tedious. But, they are important.

Even when people get married, sure it is about love and white dresses and the excitement of a new beginning – but there are also the details: how will you share the responsibility of taking care of a home, how will finances be handled, etc?

When you make an agreement with someone, it is a special kind of relationship. When we make an agreement with G-d it is a covenant. It is binding. It is of the utmost importance.

The Israelites said “yes” too quickly. They agreed before they really knew what they were getting themselves into.

But it all worked out just fine. After hearing this long list of rules, they reconfirmed their agreement and responded with even more enthusiasm. They said, “we will do all of this and we will listen.” In other words—now we are even more sure.
It is like when people who have been married for 50 years still feel as committed to each other as on the day of their wedding.

The Torah has proven to be the best thing our people ever said yes to. It may have been a bit hasty, but maybe it is true what they say: sometimes you just know.

News Alert on Israeli Conversion Legislation

From the Rabbinical Assembly: Alert on Conversion Bill
Dear Friends,

We are writing to alert you to new developments regarding the Rotem Conversion Bill issue on which you were so effective over the past several months. The matter is somewhat confusing, as there are now two bills authored by MK David Rotem related to conversion.

Rotem I is the original Conversion Bill from this summer. The Diaspora community opposed this bill which would, for the first time, grant official legislative authority for conversion to the Chief Rabbi. This unprecedented legislative grant of broad powers over conversion, a fundamental matter of Jewish identity, and one that also relates directly to the Law of Return, threatens to divide the unity of the Jewish people. In its most recent form, the bill also defines conversion explicitly according to the halakhic interpretation of the Chief Rabbinate. Such a definition would additionally obviate any aid to Israeli olim from the FSU.

A coalition of the JFNA, the Conservative/Masorti and the Reform movements strongly opposed the bill. The bill was placed under a moratorium in July that is set to expire on December 31.

At the GA held in New Orleans in November, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that: “Any Jew, of any denomination, will always have the right to come home to the Jewish state. Religious pluralism and tolerance will always guide my policy.” This assertion was generally understood to refer directly to the Conversion Bill issue.

Julie Schonfeld spoke on a panel about the Conversion Bill chaired by Natan Sharansky.

Rotem II – The “Rotem IDF Conversion Bill” originated over the summer as concerns emerged regarding the refusal of some municipal rabbis to recognize IDF conversion for purposes of marriage registration. In response, MK David Rotem authored a second bill which gives parallel authority to the IDF Chief Rabbi with regard to IDF conversions, making it possible for IDF conversions signed by the IDF Chief Rabbi to be fully recognized in all matters of marriage and divorce as well as citizenship.

This legislation has the broad support of Israeli society, and indeed the RA and Conservative/Masorti Movement would support it as it protects the Jewish status, for all purposes, of soldiers converted in the IDF.

This Sunday, the matter became a crisis for the governing coalition, when Shas asked that the IDF Conversion Bill not be presented to the Knesset. The Prime Minister called upon Shas and Rabbi Amar to come up with a way to accept conversions approved by the IDF Chief Rabbi, by Wednesday. MK David Rotem of Yisrael Beitenu has indicated that his party will bring the IDF Conversion Bill to the Knesset on Wednesday regardless of the outcome of negotiations with Rabbi Amar and Shas.

Concerns have been raised and have been reported on in the press that the two bills could be linked, either into one piece of legislation or in some sort of a negotiation that would put Rotem I (the original Rotem Bill, dating back to the Knesset conversion crisis of last spring and summer) back on the agenda. At the moment, all of this remains speculative, but given the nature of the political process, we want you to be aware that we are taking active steps. The coalition of JFNA, the Conservative/Masorti and the Reform Movements has been meeting bi-weekly since last summer and met this morning to discuss and plan action steps.

We are not asking for any broad based actions at this time, but want to make you aware of the situation and our active involvement in continuing to prevent the original problematic Rotem bill from passing. We will keep you updated as we have more information.

Vayigash 5771 – Welcoming New Members

Sister Sledge sang it out proudly – “We Are Family”

As Jews, the story of our history is not just one of a people. It begins with family. When we tell the story of Joseph and his brothers, we see all that comes with that. With family there is of course love, but there is also aggravation, strife and sometimes even painful rifts and disconnection.

In parsha Miqeitz Joseph, estranged from his family, had to learn to make it on his own. He still prospers. He still manages to have a successful life – very successful in fact.

But, he as he becomes estranged from his family, he also loses much of his own culture. He assimilates to Egyptian culture, adopting their dress, their language and essentially becoming Egyptian – so much so that his brothers do not recognize him.

In Vayigash they reconcile. They recognize each other again. And it begins with the first sentence, where Judah approaches him. The encounter between Judah and Joseph is intensely charged. Judah does not realize that the person in front of him, who appears an adversary and with whom he must negotiate, is actually his brother. He does not realize that Joseph needs him just as much as he needs Joseph.

The Midrash says: Regarding the encounter between Judah and Joseph it is said: “Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out” (Proverbs 20:5). This may be compared to a deep well full of cold and excellent water, yet none could drink of it. Then came one who tied cord to cord and thread to thread, drew up its water and drank, whereupon all drew water thus and drank thereof. In the same way Judah did not cease from answering Joseph word for word until he penetrated to his very heart (Midrash Rabbah).

Judah and Joseph become brothers once again through that encounter. They need each other. Joseph realizes that he needs his brothers. He cannot fulfill G-d’s mission alone. And that is the beginning of the transformation from a family to a people. When they recognize the necessity of those bonds, of those relationships.

We are expanding our family at the Tri City Jewish Center.

As individuals we may come to the well of Torah, full of its excellent teachings and ready to drink, but alone we cannot drink of it. We cannot reach its depths.

When we come together, it is like tying the cords together, thread to thread, each of us connected to each other to reach deeper and draw from the well of our tradition. Each new cord, each new thread, allows us to reach deeper.

We become stronger that way. On the one hand numbers don’t matter. Our strength comes not only from the number of people in our congregation, but from the ties between us, from the fact that we are not just a people but a family.

Still, I want to say something about numbers. We are welcoming 19 new members, a total of 45 individuals including children (DEC 2010). That’s 45 more cords, 45 more connections to be made. Many of you already know each other well. This is more like the reunion of Joseph with his brothers, a reconnecting with family, as opposed to a welcoming.

So, maybe the actual number doesn’t matter as much as kind of relationship, but there is something really neat about the number 19. First of all, it is 18 plus one for good measure. 18 is chai, which is life. We are breathing new life, new energy and bringing that together with One, with G-d. 19 is the number of blessings in the weekday Amidah. It used to be 18, but we added one more. And 19 is the number of years it takes for the Jewish Calendar and the Secular calendar to be in sync. Every 19 years, we bring together the two aspects of our lives, the Jewish and the secular to be one.

We are very blessed tonight with the life and unity that each of our new members bring. We are tying a very strong and long rope, but what maters is not only the length of that rope, but the strength of each connection between cords.

We are not just a congregation or a people, we are an ever expanding family. You can marry in, you can be born in, or you can simply show up. But how wonderful it is to be together.

Hinei Mah Tov, Umah naim, shevet Achim gam yachad

How good and how pleasant when brothers and sisters come together!

Chanukah 5771 – Haifa Fire

As we find ourselves in the cold of winter, surrounded by snow, wishing for light and heat, we revel in the bits of joy we get from the little flames on the menorah. But a dark shadow has been cast upon Chanukah in Israel where a fire broke loose in the Carmel Forest near Haifa on Thursday.

More than 15,000 Israelis have been evacuated from their homes, including from parts of Tirat Carmel, Ein Hod and the Haifa suburb of Denia. Kibbutz Beit Oren is in ruins.

41 prison guards and policemen were burned to death when a bus overturned and caught fire on its way to transfer prisoners from a facility threatened by the flames. A further three, including a fire fighter, have been seriously burned and are fighting for their lives in Rambam hospital.

We talk about Chanukah as a time of miracles: the Maccabees’ incredible military victory, the single vial of oil that lasted for eight whole days. Our tradition teaches that around this time of year, miracles are more likely to occur. But there is a tremendous sadness to the reality we must face: tragedies still occur. We are not immune to them. Miracles do not always come when we want them to.

The way I see it we are left with two possible responses to this dilemma: we can hold on to the miracles of the past or we can find a new way of bringing the miraculous to our world. As I mentioned in my last Sedra article, the Sfat Emet believes that since G-d has not performed any miracles for us since the miracle of Chanukah, therefore the light of that miracle still shines for us today. In other words, miracles don’t exist today, but isn’t nice for us to remember that they once did and hope that someday G-d will again perform miracles for us (i.e. when the Moshiach comes).

I kind of like the idealization of the past. It’s nice to imagine that at one time things were easier, that G-d would simply intervene. And who knows, maybe that is the best explanation for the events that occurred.

Sometimes the impossible does actually happen.

But I do not think it is particularly useful to sit around waiting for those things to happen again. And what is the point of remembering the past if that is all that we do. It’s over and done with. It is useful only if we use it to better understand the present.

One of the distinctions the Sfat Emet makes is that there are miracles, which are above and beyond nature (i.e. supernatural, or from G-d) and there are miracles that are within nature. He says that the miracles from beyond nature no longer occur. He doesn’t say much about those within nature, but I understand him to be saying the following: maybe G-d doesn’t intervene and make everything better for us anymore, but that doesn’t mean that the miraculous is completely gone from our world.

The existence of miracles today depends upon us, on human beings. We have to bring them about. It is our opportunity to do G-d’s work in the world, to allow G-d to work through us.

I read in the paper that some of the surrounding countries such as Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and Jordan have sent in fire fighting planes to help Israel try to control the blaze. People are collecting money to send to Israel to help those who have been displaced and eventually to help rebuild.

Like other tragedies we have witnessed in the world, the miraculous comes not from a grand gesture of G-d making things better, but in the tremendous generosity of which human beings are capable. What is miraculous is when we act upon our ability to help. What is miraculous is that human beings have the ability to care about each other – even about people they have never met before — and do something to try to help them.

Our congregation will help collect funds to send to the Carmel region in Israel. If you would like to donate to this effort, please drop off or mail a check to office next week. It’s not the miracle of being able to stop the fires or immediately reverse the damage, but it is our chance to employ the incredible power we all have to make a difference in this world. When we are aware of that, the world seems a little less cold, a little less dark, and a little more miraculous.

Vayetzei 5771

Vayetzei, Gen. 28:11-21

Things don’t always work out the way we want them to. Sometimes we think we are doing the right thing, that we are setting ourselves up to succeed, then bam! something gets in the way. A disappointment. A failure. A rejection. At least those are the words we might use.

Some people try to see these moments as opportunities, possibilities, new doors opening. That’s if you remember one simple thing that is so hard to remember that we almost always forget it. We not only forget it, but we spend most of our time acting as though it is not true. But, it is the very truest thing of all: G-d is here, in this place, even in the place where things seem their worst.

Here is how our ancestor Jacob found this out in the parasha Vayetzei:

Jacob went out from Beer-sheva, and went toward Haran. (He was fleeing from his brother Esau who sought to kill him after Jacob stole his birthright). He came to a place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and saw a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and angels were going up and down the ladder. And behold G-d stood beside him, and said: ‘I am Adonai, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land you are laying upon, I will give to you and to your offspring. And your offspring will be as numerous as the dust of the earth, and will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in you and in your children will all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with you, and will stay with you wherever you go, and will bring you back into this land; for I will not leave you, until I have done what I said I will do.’ And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said: ‘Surely the LORD is in this place; and I didn’t know it.’ And he was afraid, and said: ‘How full of awe is this place! This is the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’

Now, Jacob wasn’t in any particularly special place – he was on the run. He was fleeing from his brother. His life had unraveled. He lost his family and had nothing to his name. It seemed like everything that he had worked so hard for was lost. But then he has the most profound realization. This desolation, this loneliness, this having absolutely nothing to his name – even in that lowest of places, G-d is there. It is a gate to heaven. It is the place of opportunity, new possibilities, pure potentiality.

Things don’t always work out the way we want them to.

But G-d is in that place. Surely we just don’t know it.

But when we see that G-d is really there, we open up the gates of heaven, of possibility, of what could be.

Not long after this, Jacob meets Rachel and Leah, and starts a new family. He has twelve sons. He becomes Israel. And here we are, still telling his story.