Torah for now

Posts tagged ‘judaism’

The power of Words: Emor

Language is one of the very few features that defines being Human. Certainly other creatures have language: Trees in the forest speak to one another chemically beneath the soil, (would that be amazing to hear and speak that language!), bees dance to tell one another where the good flowers are. Other great apes can be taught sign Language. But the brain space devoted to the motor and sensory parts of language in humans is enormous! (shaded in this diagram) When I was four years old, I learned about lying, from Michael, the four-year-old little boy next door, who just made up a lie in answer to my question. When I asked him why, he just shrugged. We have the full range of words and the power to abuse them or write poetry so true it makes the heart soar. What could it mean for the troubling times we’re in?

In Genesis, G8d speaks, and the world comes to be. This week’s reading Emor, begins “speak”(emor) to the Priests (Aaron’s sons, Kohanim), speaking…. Emor begins with the silent letter “Aleph”. Moses is instructing the Priests to avoid contact with the dead, except for their immediate relatives. The Hasidic masterpiece Mei Hashiloach explains this: A Kohen will see every harsh thing in the world as a purposeful act of the Holy One, and become really angry, so upset is he with the suffering. “as discussed in the holy Zohar. Therefore God commanded, “Emor el haKohanim – say to the Kohanim.” “Emor – say,” means speaking softly. God enjoins us to whisper into the ears of the servants of God that they should not hold grudges (against G8d) Source page linked Here (for Torah nerds!)

The end of the reading contains a narrative teaching more on the power of words: What does it mean to curse G8d’s name, and why does it matter? After all, it’s just words: sticks and stones can break my bones…. In the narrative, a fight breaks out when a man with an Egyptian father tries to camp in the area reserved for the tribe of Dan, which was his Israelite mother’s tribe. Apparently, you only get to camp according to Dad’s tribe. The midrash identifies the Egyptian father as the task master who was beating the slaves so severely, that Moses slew him, and had to flee Egypt. His mother was an Israelite woman (likely the child was born of rape, his mother being a slave at the time). During the scuffle, the man screams out the ineffable name of G8d (in Hebrew YHVH) whose meaning is existence itself, and curses it. This is the only form of “cursing G8d” which earns the death penalty! (Rash 24:16:1)

This seems harsh to a man in pain, ostracized, trying to defend his mother and his parentage, not to mention the fact that Moses killed his father. Like the Kohen he gets super angry. Moses is at a loss: it is one of the four times in Torah that G8d’s help is sought for judgment. (Moses’ kids do not have an Israelite Mother either) What sense can be made of it all?

The book of Job also has a dramatic discussion about using words to curse G8d. When he loses everything, Job still blesses G8d. When he’s covered in painful sores, he curses the day he’s born, but refuses to curse the Source of life itself. An angry response is understandable, but “mad” is a synonym for angry, and there can be psychological and physical chaos if we release our anger. The idea that words can create worlds has a corollary: words can destroy worlds.

There are two different words for “cursing” or blaspheming used here in Hebrew. The words used here are לקלל l’kallel and ונקב V’nikav, which mean both mean to puncture, to put a hole in something. I am reminded of a balloon suddenly pierced, it flies away and collapses as the air is released. The name for G8d YHVH is a mashup of past, present and future tenses of the verb “to be” and the “breath of life” according to Rabbi Arthur Waskow which, if it were to be pronounced, would sound like breathing. This reminds me of the ‘whispering” that is spoken to the Kohanim. To scream this name in anger and curse it is to curse existence itself . To mess with it is to question that there is meaning and goodness at the heart of life. All those who heard the curse were to place their hands upon his head and witness the punishment. In Hearing the curse, there is danger. Quoting Mei HaShiloach again “Zohar says (Vayikra, 106a), “He took the final Hei in God’s holy name and cursed him, in order to defend his mother.” This is because the final Hei hints at the world of Asiyah, the world of action. Though God desires that we fulfill His mitzvot with our actions, still He wanted to create an opening whereby He would bring about salvation even without the actions of man” This is a fascinating comment: there are no shortcuts, only by partnering with the Holy One of Blessing can we perfect the brokenness. For more on the blasphemer, see Aviva Gottleib Zornberg’s book on Leviticus: The Hidden order of Intimacy, Chapter Emor. Through her books on Torah, she has been a powerful teacher!

The air waves and print are full of screams, and lies. The Name of G8d is being used, as it has been during the Crusades and pogroms, to hurt people. Chaos, hatred and anger are being used for the power they bring. These are dangerous times. To witness all that we hold sacred, ideals such as “love the stranger” “love your neighbor as yourself” the imperative to care for the gift of creation, and that we should pursue justice, truth and peace upon which the world rests (Mishnah Avot) being threatened is profoundly disturbing. What life raft will keep us afloat? I am reminded of a story of a king who is told that his country’s wheat fields are almost completely contaminated by a fungus which causes insanity. They have enough of the old flour left to support one man – “shall it be for you, Majesty”? Ask the king’s advisors. The King thinks for a bit, and decides, “no, it must be reserved for my wisest, trusted advisor. That way when everyone has gone mad, I will have someone to look to whisper the truth in my ear and to guide me.” Can you hear the whispers, because it seems to me the world has gone made, from the abuse of words. What do you think?

Deflating balloon flies away flat cartoon vector illustration isolated on white background. Air balloon deflates with puffs of air. Kids rubber toy and decoration element.

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Passover 5785

In the middle of all the cooking and preparing for the Holiday this year, I recognize, this year is different. Mah nishtanah ha Pesach HaZeh: How is this Passover different from all the others? What part of today’s world can we let the world in to our seder that won’t ruin this cherished family tradition? This year we are torn by events of the times, as was Joseph’s cloak, torn and dipped into the blood of a goat. The song at seder’s end, Khad gadya, or “one little goat” reminds us of that cruelty.“Do you recognize this coat? A wild beast must have torn Joseph,” the brothers lie to their heartbroken father. Is this cloak the broken, bloody remnant of our hopes? The karpas on the seder plate, reminding us of the greenery of the field also means “a woven cloak” in the Persian-speak of Purim. The prequel of the Exodus story is the story of parental favoritism, unequal treatment and near fratricide: Exodus begins with that reminder: a new King arose who did not know Joseph. Things go very wrong from here on: slavery, abuse, and the murder of the first-born male infants. In other words – tough times, like those we are in now, make up the first part of the seder. This story of despotic, cruel dictators with delusions of G8d-hood collides with current reality of being terrorized by power run amok.

Then come the plagues: When you throw infants into the river, of course it turns to blood, it is already bloodied! When you pour ten million tons of carbon dioxide per day into the atmosphere, of course there will be karma/ Divine consequence. And without these consequences, the status quo could never change. The plagues, awful as they are, are the turning point toward redemption. as the pogroms, and Cossack conscription, drove my grandparents across an ocean.

As the group of refugees makes their way to the wilderness, they bring the memory of that torn coat, and the slaughtered goat, with them: Joseph’s bones are exhumed from the Nile, and carried with them.

This Shabbat is called Shabbat HaGadol the “Great Sabbath”. We read of a day of justice and judgment, in the finale of the prophet Malachi, culminating in a great healing: “I will send Elijah the prophet… he will turn the heart of the parents to the children and children to their parents. Some in the generation of potential young parents are wondering if it’s ok to even bring children into the world. How heartbreaking! The apples of the charoset on the seder plate remind us of the merit of women who seduced their reluctant enslaved husbands under the apple trees, that brought children into a world of genocide in Exodus. Shabbat ends, and immediately Passover begins. Perhaps this year at the seder we can once again honor our tears with salt water, dip our torn hearts into it, and acknowledge the transformative nature of the Blessed Divine One. Then we can envision that kinder world, keeping it in our sights, and keeping our hearts turned to one another.

Resource: Dayenu’s guide, an insert for the Haggadah, with Climate change in mind.

Arthur Waskov 50 years of the Freedom seder

Make your own Hagaddah, featuring Ellen Bernstein’s Promise of the Land

PS I am now in the afterglow (and exhaustion) of seder, and cleaning up. Thesa are my addenda to my family seder this year Lion King Passover

This first song was so much fun: used for the Maggid section, from 613’s music video

  1. Circle of life.                   Call out:

Mah nishtanah ha’layla hazeh, mikol halailot

(mah nishtanah, nishtanah ha’laya) repeat chant 4x

In the days we prepare for the seder

It seems like we’ll never be done

There’s more to clean than can ever be cleaned

Grab a candle and search for the crumbs

When the seder table is ready

And all the chametz has been found

Our family arrives, and the sun leaves the sky

At the table we’ll gather around

At the seder tonight, Passover retold

With our prayers of hope; .

And the seder plate; Helps us tell our story

At the seder , the seder tonight.

I JUST  CAN’T WAIT TO BE FREE

Now, Pharoah you’re a mighty king,

But I’m tellin’ you beware

(Pharoah) You’ve come into my palace making threats now don’t you dare

Your days of making us your slaves are done forever more

And if you challenge G8d, ten plagues will shake you to your core

I’m telling you, you’d best listen to me

It’s time to let my people go, you see

‘Cause we just can’t wait to be free!

From Rabbi Ebn Leider on Substack: As we witness the truly shocking events of our day: … the terrifying injustices coming from the highest levels of power, it is natural to be angry, fearful, shocked and devastated…. we can try to shift our perspective …Pesach is perhaps an opportunity to see a larger perspective and to vision together, not just a return to a more peaceful status quo, but a truly transformative change that is in the pangs of being born. ~R Ebn Leider             

This version of the four Children is by Rachel Barenblat’s, from the Bayit publication “The Broken Matzah”

All Four Children (are one)

Today the Four Children are a Zionist,

a Palestinian solidarity activist, a peacenik, and

one who doesn’t know what to even dream.

The Zionist, what does she say? Two thousand years

we dreamed of return. “Next year in Jerusalem”

is now, and hope is the beacon we steer by.

The solidarity activist, what do they say?

We know the heart of the stranger. To be oppressors

is unbearable. Uplift the downtrodden.

The peacenik, what does he say? We both love this land

and neither is leaving. We’re in this together.

Between the river and the sea two peoples must be free.

And the one who doesn’t know what to even dream:

feed that one sweet haroset, a reminder that

building a just future has always been our call.

All of us are wise. None of us is wicked….

We are one people, one family. Not only

because history’s flames never asked what kind

of Jew one might be, but because

the dream of collective liberation is our legacy.

We need each other in this wilderness.

Only together can we build redemption.

R. Rachel Barenblat

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Make a Mishkan today, for healing of the earth!

This week’s reading in Torah is “Pekudei” and is the end of the dramatic book of Exodus, which told of our redemption and revelation. We were freed to follow the Mysterious Forces of liberation, rather than a human ruler, and to follow pathways of “loving the stranger” because we were once strangers. Moses climbed a mountain, and was inspired to bring down, not just stone tablets, but the gorgeous Divinely inspired blueprints. With the help of inspired artists, we created a space to take G8d with us on our journeys. This inspired, beautiful, community-made space is the Mishkan. (see last week’s teaching)

Once upon a time we built a Mishkan in this country. We came together from all parts of the country to make the AIDS quilt*. The HIV/AIDS epidemic was terrifying, and we had come through a very narrow place (Mitzrayim/Egypt means narrow) with many souls lost. We who were alive then all knew someone who had died, it was a scary time. (the HIV pandemic is still happening, I know.) From their grief and memories, each family brought a square with the name of their lost loved one, filling the Washington mall. Then the squares were connected very much like the panels on the Mishkan, looping connections through the grommets. When it was completed, it was an enormous, portable, communal work of art. It travelled around the country, and folks added names to it. Last week in Vayakhel, we saw how the Mishkan could be the measurement of a human soul. The many connections between the end of Exodus and the first chapter of Genesis (source page here) show some of the parallels of the creation of the Mishkan to the creation of the universe: the human-made and G8d/nature-made are intertwined. In today’s fractured world, where fighting seems to be the default way of dealing with one another, what if we were to build another communal work of art? If the Mishkan represents creation, perhaps we can fashion squares with the images of creatures and features of this beautiful planet, alternating with the beautiful and diverse images of babies born this year who will inherit the land? This could be our travelling sanctuary to bring healing to our planetary one. (*gratitude to Rabbi Arthur Waskow, whose book “Freedom Journeys” p.99, reminded me of this quilt and the link to the Mishkan!)

Hazak, Hazak, v’nitchazek, is chanted as we complete a book of the Torah: Be very strong, and may we be strengthened!

Diverse babies sitting on the floorPetition · Save Threatened animals before its to late! - Ireland · Change.org

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Don’t worry, be happy?

Every life has its creation, revelation of great truths, and redemption from forces greater than us. It seems to me that we in the US have suddenly started ignoring our revelation of democracy. It was only 250 or so years ago, that we conceived a new way of government meant to empower the populace: a better way than monarchy. And we’ve turned our back on it. Satan has been whispering in our ears, something about immigrants, the price of eggs, and things aren’t like they used to be. We made the bad old days into the new normal. And we’re laughing and partying?

On the holiday of Purim, we’re supposed to be happy. “I always hated Purim, admitted my friend, Chaim.” He didn’t like to be told to “be happy!” That’s understandable! American culture loves to tell us to be happy: party, have fun, divert yourself. Here’s Dick Van Dyke singing Put On a Happy Face. “wipe off that frown and cheer up, put on a happy face” It sounds obnoxious to be told “cheer up, it’s not that bat” On the other hand, Laughter really can be the best medicine! When is the last time you had a really good belly laugh? It is wonderful at breaking the tension, and it’s great, and humbling to make fun of your self, or impossible situations. Clowns and comedians are among our favorite entertainers.(Make ’em Laugh) Even if things are rough, it’s good to laugh at it! Who can forget Mel Brooks’ “Springtime for Hitler”, from the Producers?!

Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Deutschland is happy and gay
We’re marching to a faster pace
Look out, here comes the master race!

But humor is subjective, and sometimes not at all the right timing. On Purim The Book of Esther is an amazing political farce, basically SNL in Ancient Persia, railing against the monarchy. It begins with a king who is so disinterested in the people he rules that at the end of a 180-day drinking and feasting party for the princes, he declares, you guessed it, another week-long drinking party. When his queen refuses his demand to “dance” for his princes, he proclaims an edict to disempower all uppity wives. This is a dangerous situation, one which leads in just a few moves to a proclamation of genocide from the monarchy. If not for the courage of a woman who hid her identity, and was clueless about the genocide order, who seduced the king and made him jealous (careful not to appear uppity) all would have been lost. Whew. For this reason we fast on the day of the edict, and when the day is done we are supposed to joke, drink and be happy? Isn’t it drinking to a stupor that got us in this predicament.

For many, these are difficult times: our democracy seems to be replacing itself with something not very kind: A ruling party that cares about empowering and enriching itself, to the exclusion of the welfare of the most vulnerable. A party seeking scapegoats, who has little respect for truth or justice, and even empathy for others. We can stop assistance to fight malaria and AIDS abroad, round up folks who are undocumented, and scare the insides out of those of us who have lost a federal job, who know about climate change and the 1% among us who are trans, and their parents. And yet life seems to go on. Superbowl parties, celebrities partying on TV…. Yet what is wrong with trying to party and have a great time all the time? As I was preparing to chant from the book of Esther, I noticed a new line, from chapter 4, verse 2, that I had never paid attention to. The hero of the story, Mordechai comes to the gate of the walled city, but is not allowed in. He is in mourning, dressed in sac cloth, and no-one dressed that way is allowed in. Trying to shut out what and who disturbs us so we can be more cheerful? That’s not a time for laughter.

In the Torah reading for this week, the Israelites are also having a good party, dancing and in bawdy, raucous joy around a golden calf. They had been so worried that Moses was late, Satan whispering in their hearts that he was gone, “whew, that was a close one, good thing we made this calf!” they must have thought. This uninhibited dancing and release is why Moses broke the G8d-carved set of tablets. Not when he saw the idol, but the inappropriate revelry. The legend/ midrash tells of a character that disappears mysteriously from the tale: Hur, an assistant to Moses and Aaron. The legend explains he was murdered when Aaron hesitated to build the calf. Hur’s name translates to “hole” This is no time to be dancing ecstatically. We have just been freed from slavery. The Israelites saw the awesomeness of revelation, a scripture that would bring us closer to “love our near ones as ourself” and in a flash have been “stiff necked” unable to apply it when Moses was “late” coming down the mountain. In a flash, the old way of doing things becomes the new normal.

In the Babylonian Talmud Rava instructs us: It is one’s duty levasumei,  to make oneself fragrant [with wine] on Purim until one cannot tell the difference between ‘arur Haman‘ (cursed be Haman) and ‘barukh Mordekhai’ (Babylonian Talmud) levasumei is sometimes translated as “get drunk” The S’fat Emet disagrees, we get drunk on, not wine, but the fragrance of the Ten Commandments, the fragrance of revelation. Drunk with this we get silly, we get on the floor with the kids, as was the habit or the Baal Shem Tov, get messy and make mistakes so that we may rise again. And we see beyond the dualities of right and wrong. The Israelites have committed idolatry, yes. But in this same weekly reading, a new covenant based on forgiveness are revealed as Moses makes a second trip up the mountain and yearns to experience. El rachum v’chanun, erech apayim v’rav chesed v’emet. Love, grace, patience, kindness and truth. Second and third chances are possible. Perhaps it was a good thing the tablets of the commandments were smashed so they wouldn’t become an idol, says the S’fat emet.

On that Purim day, when we’re snookered on the Commandments, and loving one another as ourselves, we’ll be able to sing this song, and all will be Eden again.

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn’t make any sense ~Rumi

(Melody coming soon for this!)

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Why the 8th Day of Chanukah Should be a Holy Day Again.

When I was a kid, Chanukah was barely celebrated. We lit a menora, and at Grandma’s house got a plastic dreidel (top) filled with chocolate coins. I was taught that Chanukah, which is not mentioned in Torah, is a minor Holiday, enlarged today by it’s proximity to Christmas in America. I propose that it is an ancient, eight day celebration of the winter solstice, that was celebrated by lighting candles at a dark time.

There were once FOUR, rather than three pilgrimage holidays, where one would travel to Jerusalem and give animal and produce sacrifices to the Levites to share, celebrate, give thanks and to support the priestly and Levite class who did not own land. The winter in Canaan however was the rainy season, and the wheels of the wagons would get stuck in mud. Due to the difficulties of travel, this Festival was moved! Tacked on to the prior fall Holiday, Sukkot, it still retains remnants of being a full festival. It is called Shemini Atzeret. It is a separate Holiday from Sukkot, with its own festival blessing. The Festival songs, Hallel, psalms 113-118 are sung in full on each of the eight days of Chanukah! Shemen means oil, as well as being from the root that mans eight. This festival may well have celebrated the oil which lights the dark and cold. Rejecting a solstice celebration, and unable to make the trek to Jerusalem, Chanukah became reduced, replacing a winter festival with a lesser festival of lights.

Atzeret means stop, rest,  just be, and let love filling the spaces within and between (asu li Mikdash v’shachanti b’tocham). I am convinced that this was once, and should be celebrated again on the 8th day of our winter festival, not an addendum, or even a culminating addendum to the fall.  The connections to winter are many, such as the reading of Kohelet, the connection to shemen/oil, which lights our way in the winter darkness as well as our menorahs, and the word Atzeret meaning pause, which the winter weather causes us to take. See this interview with Katherine May on Wintering in a 2021 (covid year) podcast on the power of the winter pause to replenish our inner light.

Chanukah The light of G8d is hidden twice, Firstly, The light of YHVH, or creation, the ohr ganuz is lost and found in the Torah. The light of G8d (Shechinah) expelled with the Temple’s destruction. This light (or both lights) are returned with the kindling of Chanukah candles, perhaps a reflection of the menorah of the mishkan (Tabernacle)! The Mishkan we must rebuild to hold The Holy One’s light is our breathtakingly beautiful, awe inspiring and life-giving planet, that has been beleaguered viciously close to the point of no return. The light of expanded consciousness had to be withdrawn, perhaps G8d knew we would weaponize it. Having discovered the nuclear strong force, we have weaponized it. The light of G8d is more loving, warmer. The eight lights are Holy sparks to inspire the rebuilding of a peaceful and life sustaining planet

There are 70 days from Simchat Torah to Tevet 2nd, the eight day of Chanukah. Perhaps one for each of the other 70 nations, which are gone now that it’s just us and G8d, or the 70 bulls (one per day) now just one sacrificed.

This year three of us studied on the eighth day of Chanukah.  What a joy! I will continue to look for the light of the 8th day, Shemini Atzeret.               

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Entering G8d’s Palace

Psalm 27, verse 4, read each day during Elul declares that we have one over-arching request, “to dwell in Your house all the days of my life, and gaze on Divine Beauty. What is this “house?” It is prayed for each early morning: Mah Tovu, what goodness is in this tent (our earthy home)….And as for me, with your great loving kindness, I will go to your house, I will bow in awe in your Holy Palace!

In my Mah Tovu practice each morning, I summon the emotion of awe at this time. However, recently contemplating the discouraging happenings, during these difficult times, I recall the “palace on fire” (birah doleket) from Midrash on Lech L’chah, where Avraham sees a beautiful palace on fire, and seemingly without a Master, when G8d answers him, “I am the master” of the palace on fire.

Perhaps the reason we cultivate love and awe at the world, a palace on fire, is to enter the palace, to protect the world we love. We in this nation have voted in power a false “master”, one who is amoral. Simply that should be enough to disqualify. The brilliance of Jewish tradition is that the Divine is not a power hungry god like Zeus, but who is our teacher, and our healer, and urgently cares about our moral integrity. Zeus only cared about his ego. In addition the whole earth is filled with G8d’s “Kavod” This word for “glory” also indicates Shechina, the feminine, indwelling aspect of G8d, the only sephirah directly accessible to us.

Halachah (Jewish law) clearly implies that it should be forbidden to consume fossil fuels due to the damages to future generations, and to Sh’khina herself. Creatures are dying, our children are/future is endangered. (Nina Beth Cardin, Sustainability as Mitzvah)

Fossil fuel  technology however is established and entrenched in our time, in the US it garners most of the public dollars spent on transit, and as such it enables our lives, to connect with our loved ones, to do mitzvot (what G8d wants us to do) to learn, etc. Which of these are the greater of our obligations? This is a terrible conflict of obligations, and calls us to activism to change the situation. The burning of fossil fuels, (among other causes ) also damages G8d’s presence on earth, Sh’chinah herself. This makes living with this technology a series of impossible choices to those on a spiritual path. When Shechina is loved, blessing flows to us. To love G8d is to care for the earth.

The amoral leadership now elected to power in the US is preparing to turn up the dial on fossil fuel use. This looming danger cannot be ignored. As we enter spiritually into this beautiful palace of a planet, “the day is short, the work is great and the Master of the house is pressing” says pirke avot. It is not ours to complete the task, neither are we free just zero it out. We are “eved Elohim” Servants of the most high. Even if we feel overwhelmed and weary. Perhaps Jefferson Smith was right that “Lost Causes are the only ones worth fighting for” (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington)

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