tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46984222638036345042024-03-08T12:32:26.679-08:00etanu.blogRabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-50586972623686450472012-05-18T10:14:00.000-07:002012-05-18T10:14:45.686-07:00You Say Goodbye, And I Say HelloNOTE: This, my final blog posting for Temple Solel and etanu.blog, will be double posted as the <a href="http://seventyfaces.weebly.com/1/post/2012/05/you-say-goodbye-and-i-say-hello.html" target="_blank">inaugural entry on my new blog</a> ("Seventy Faces"). Please take a moment to explore <a href="http://seventyfaces.weebly.com/blog.html" target="_blank">the new blog</a> and <a href="http://seventyfaces.weebly.com/index.html" target="_blank">companion website</a> (still under construction!). I welcome your feedback about how I can improve it.<br />
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* * *<br />
<br />
All endings birth new beginnings. And all new beginnings start with endings.<br />
<br />
I have lived those dual realities since my new friends at <a href="http://www.sstte.org/" target="_blank">Scarsdale Synagogue</a> (in Scarsdale, NY) invited me to become their new rabbi (as of July 1, 2012) this past fall. I am honored and overwhelmed to be taking this next step in my career and in my rabbinate. And my family and I are most excited to be <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=temple+solel,+cardiff,+ca&daddr=2+Ogden+Road,+Scarsdale,+NY+10583+%28Scarsdale+Synagogue+Temples+Tremont+and+Emanu-El%29&hl=en&ll=37.370157,-95.625&spn=27.199732,67.631836&sll=37.009087,-95.510992&sspn=27.321416,67.631836&geocode=FZnd9wEd0M0C-SFjfEKS4eCvEinvXGNOVwncgDF59ecyRFm3dA%3BFeaPcQIdjdqZ-yGRXT81HJYlXilljWpfepPCiTHQ1RNBOFiCcA&mra=pd&t=m&z=5" target="_blank">returning home</a> to the East Coast to our family and friends. And yet: there is also much sadness: Because this new beginning of our's necessitates a certain 'ending' to the life we have loved and known here in San Diego.<br />
<br />
As we prepare to wish everyone in California farewell, my family and I have been struck by a profound sense of gratitude. And so, if you will permit me in this final Solel blog posting, I'd like to briefly reflect on the Jewish notion of gratitude, as I say to you all: thank you.
Allow me to begin by recommending Alan Morinis' chapter on gratitude in his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Holiness-Jewish-Spiritual-Mussar/dp/1590306090/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337187611&sr=8-1"><i>Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar</i></a>. Morinis is a master teacher who has breathed new life into the practice of <a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Modern_History/1700-1914/traditional-jewish-life/Musar_Movement.shtml" target="_blank"><i>mussar</i></a> over the last few years. All of us can benefit from the practical wisdom that he distills.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;">He opens his chapter by quoting from the Talmud (my own
adapted translation): "Ben Zoma used to say: A good guest says: 'How
much my host has toiled for me! He put so much meat in front of me, so
much wine, so much bread - all his exertion was just for me!' A bad
guest says: 'What did my host do for me? I ate just a tiny roll, a
single piece of meat, and I drank just one cup of wine - all of his
exertion was on behalf of his family.'"<br /><br /> With tears in my eyes: I
look back over these last seven years, and I proclaim: "How much my
host has toiled for me!" There are no words to describe how grateful I
am to my fellow staff members, and the lay people I was privileged to
work, partner, study, celebrate, and mourn with...for sacrificing a bit
of yourselves as I learned from you what it means to be a rabbi. My new
community at Scarsdale Synagogue will be the ultimate beneficiaries of
your <i>chesed</i>. Though the gifts you have given me are
far too numerous to mention individually, please know that I cherish
each and every one of them - as I cherish each and every one of you.<br /><br />
The only thing that has amazed Amy and I more than the professional
kindnesses showered on me as a rabbi has been the way that the entire
Temple Solel family welcomed and extended itself to our family. How
blessed we feel that Temple Solel was the place where we had the chance
to begin our family. When I think of our building, I will always think
of it first as the place where Siona was named in 2006, and where Avi's <i>bris</i>
was held in 2010. It was in the midst of those rituals that Amy and I
learned the essence of what Solel is all about: a place of deep love and
warmth. Like you, we came to intimately appreciate the presence of
Rabbi Frank, Cantor Robbins, and more recently Cantor Tiep as we marked
those two holy moments in our lifecycle. What else can we say, but
thank you for those memories.<br /><br /> Most of all, I remain humbled by
the fact that the temple's Assistant Rabbi Search Committee saw a
glimmer of potential in the "green" graduating rabbinical student they
met in the winter of 2005. For the faith that you had in me in that
season: I will forever be in your debt.<br /><br /> That same sense of
humility is something that I am very much aware of, as I look forward to
beginning my new tenure in New York...and as my family excitedly looks
forward to our coming move, and the new life that awaits us there.
While it is true that I know much, much more now about what it means to
be a rabbi (as compared to seven years ago), I am also aware of the new
responsibilities and expectations that await me in Scarsdale. And so it
is that I am in Scarsdale Synagogue's debt as well, for the sacred
trust you will shortly place in my hands, and for your belief that we
can work together to write the next chapter of SSTTE's history. To my
new friends there: I can only say how privileged and delighted I am to
be able to begin to dream big dreams with you about what a vibrant 21st
century progressive Jewish community can look like.<br /><br /> So, to friends old and new, I say: THANK YOU.<br /><br />
Morinis concludes piously by quoting Psalm 92: "It is good to give
thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High, To
proclaim Your goodness in the morning, And Your faithfulness at night."<br /><br />
But equally appropriate would be the words of the The Beatles. To my
Solel friends: You (We!) say goodbye....And to my Scarsdale friends: I
say hello!</span><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4pFMC4D-JJ0" width="420"></iframe>Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-56719408414000270772012-05-11T11:16:00.000-07:002012-05-11T11:16:03.732-07:00The Corners of Our Fields<div style="font-family: inherit;">
This week's Torah portion (<a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/emor.shtml" target="_blank">Parshat Emor)</a> contains one of the Torah's iconic notions. According to Leviticus 23:22: "<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When you reap the
harvest of your land, you shall not completely reap the corners of your field,
and the gleanings of your harvest you shall not gather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the poor and the stranger you shall leave
them, I am Adonai your God."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></b></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">More than any other image in the Torah about the giving of <i>tzedakah</i>, and the obligation to feed the hungry, this is the one that speaks to me the most. In plain terms, the Torah is making a radical statement: that just because a person might own a given piece of land...It does not mean that he/she actually has the right to claim/keep all of the monetary value of that land to herself. Let's say the landowner grows corn...According to this week's Torah portion and the mitzvah of <i>peah</i> (literally: a corner), the corn in the corners is left unharvested. The farmer doesn't get to sell it in the market, or eat it in his home. It remains in the field. So that the poor can come by at their convenience (perhaps at night so as to minimize public shame) to eat and be filled.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I also love this idea because it is so radically destabilizing to the capitalism that we have all been brought up to believe in here in America...that what we earn: we get to keep for ourselves!</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Not so, according to Judaism. We should be humbled to know that whatever wealth/materialistic comforts we have are gifts that are but lent to us. And the time is going to come when we are going to be expected to return them.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the meantime, we are specifically commanded to share what we have with others. (This would be the cue for Craig's "Share and Be Nice" song...)</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The agricultural imagery of the Torah portion might lead you to think that none of this is relevant today. After all: <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/everyday_economics/2003/06/why_jews_dont_farm.html" target="_blank">how many Jewish farmers do you actually know</a>?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>But I would argue that the farming piece is the least relevant part of <i>peah</i>. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Consider, for a moment, the words of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, who wrote this about this week's Torah portion (gender sensitive translation!): "</span><span>For the wealthy person
who cares for the needy of her people merely fulfills her duty to God.<span> </span>This duty was thrust upon her with every
grain of produce that God caused to grow in her field.<span> </span>This concept of <i>tzedakah</i> is the
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>The triumph that Hirsch is referring to is not about farming per se. It is the reminder and realization that our wealth (represented for us by a physical paycheck, or the numbers on the screen of the webpage of our bank account) comes to us from God...or some other power or Force in the world, depending on your theology. According to Judaism: we <i>have</i> to share our wealth....because the wealth actually doesn't belong to us in the first place. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span>Given how trendy and hip Eastern spiritual practices are right now...it's worth noting that karma is also a long-held Jewish idea.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>In the 15th century, Rabbi Isaac Caro (teacher and uncle of the more famous Rabbi Joseph Caro) wrote: "</span><span>The reason that the poor
person is poor is because the rich person is rich.<span> </span>When your star ascends, his star
descends.<span> </span>[Our tradition teaches us that you, the rich person]<span> </span>are the reason that he
is poor.<span> </span>And if you do not give to him,
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span>The material wealth that we enjoy is simply the result of a cosmic accident, according to this view. The wealth had to be split up somehow...and it fell to us, and not to "them." But if we don't exercise a little humility about that...and if we fail to support those whose needs are significant, then...according to Caro, God will punish us...by turning our worlds literally upside down, so that everyone's economic position is reversed.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span>The lesson here is clear: if we want to avoid having our universe upended, we need to plant our feet firmly to the ground....to stay humbly grounded about who we are, and what it means to be able to acquire and spend wealth. We are<i> commanded</i>....not invited...but specifically <i>ordered</i> to share what we have with others who need it more than we do. How wonderful it would be if that generosity of spirit might touch us all, and enable us to feed the world, and heal it, by transforming it into a better place.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span>Shabbat Shalom,</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span>Rabbi Brown</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span>PS: If you are interested in the topic of Judaism and Social Justice, I highly recommend Rabbi Jill Hammer's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/There-Shall-Be-Needy-Tradition/dp/1580234259/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336759630&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><i>There Shall Be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice Through Jewish Law and Tradition</i></a>. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span>PPS: 3 organizations that you might make a small donation to (whether it's $3, $36, or $360 - and do it in honor of Mom this Mother's Day weekend!) are:</span></span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><a href="http://www.mazon.org/" target="_blank">www.mazon.org</a> - Mazon is the foremost American Jewish response to hunger.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><a href="http://www.ajws.org/" target="_blank">www.ajws.org</a> - American Jewish World Service is a leading Jewish organization that sends volunteers to impoverished communities around the world.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><a href="http://bendthearc.us/" target="_blank">http://bendthearc.us/</a> - Bend the Arc is a new Jewish partnership to fight for a greater sense of justice in our world. </span></span></span></li>
</ul>Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-59273744820270592142012-05-04T11:35:00.000-07:002012-05-04T11:35:37.472-07:00Shout Out to SL: Revisiting Domestic ViolenceIn the email message that I sent out to my Etanu followers with information about <a href="http://etanublog.blogspot.com/2012/04/meaning-of-blood-thats-been-shed.html" target="_blank">last week's blog posting</a>, I invited readers to request a topic for my final three blog postings.<br />
<br />
S.L., a longtime devoted reader of Etanu, wrote back and asked for a re-posting of his favorite article....one I wrote more than 3 years ago (before the etanu website went up!).<br />
<br />
Domestic violence remains a troubling issue today. Since this message was originally written on March 13, 2009 approximately 11 <b>million</b> new incidents of domestic violence have taken place in the United States. This is based on the statistic that a woman is beaten or assaulted in the US once every 9 seconds. If that statistic does not make you ill, I don't know what will.<br />
<br />
As for Chris Brown and Rihanna...there's <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/02/20/rihanna-and-chris-brown-kobe-and-vanessa-bryant-spark-rumors-who-should-not-get/" target="_blank">mad speculation</a> that they are/were back together (again). That raises interesting questions about the forgiveness piece mentioned below. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this important, pressing, and relevant issue for our time.<br />
<br />
* * * <br />
Have you been following the maddening/saddening (is that
a word?) celebrity news out of Hollywood that has chronicled the incident of
domestic violence committed by Chris Brown against Rihanna? (Check out the blurb <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20263113,00.html" target="_blank">in People Magazine</a>.) <br />
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Although all domestic abuse is a terrible tragedy, the
one good thing that comes out of cases involving celebrities is that at least
it gives us an opportunity to be reminded that this is still a major problem
facing our society.</div>
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You can read all of the statistics on DV <a href="http://www.now.org/issues/violence/stats.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://domesticviolencestatistics.org/domestic-violence-statistics/" target="_blank">here</a>.
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The interesting thing about the Rihanna case is that,
soon after being beaten, she decided to (forgive??) or at least take Chris
back. It is now widely reported that
they have reconciled and are back together, even as his criminal case is making
its way through the Los Angeles court system.</div>
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Are there certain things in a relationship that are
unforgivable? And if so, is domestic
abuse one of them? Oprah, a victim of
domestic violence herself, seems to think so.
She has publicly admonished Rihanna for getting back together with
Brown, warning her that he will hit her again.</div>
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I share all of this for two reasons.</div>
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First, and most importantly, this really IS a good excuse
to take a moment to reflect on the dangers of domestic violence (the video <a href="http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Tyra-Banks-Talks-About-Dating-Violence-After-the-Show-Video" target="_blank">here</a> is very helpful in this respect). And,
we can take this opportunity to remind everyone that there are amazing
resources in our communities to help people who are being victimized (or think
they might be victimized) by domestic violence.
We have the National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline at 866-331-9474. And we have the National Domestic Violence
Hotline at 800-799-SAFE. Much closer to
home, we have PROJECT SARAH, the San Diego Jewish community’s response to
domestic violence. Find them <a href="http://www.jfssd.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_counseling_project_sarah" target="_blank">here</a> or call 858-637-3200. Or call me
instead. Please reach out to someone if
you need help.</div>
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Secondly, I mention all of this because I think that the
central question that Rihanna’s plight raises – about whether or not there are
things in a relationship that are forgivable – is a very Jewish kind of a
question.</div>
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Although this week’s [March 2009] Torah portion (<a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/kitissa.shtml" target="_blank">Parshat Ki Tisa</a>)
makes no mention of domestic violence, it is very much interested in the
question of forgiveness.</div>
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This week’s parsha includes the story of the Golden Calf
– the ultimate act of spiritual assault that our ancient Israelite ancestors
committed against their partner: God. In
worshipping the idol, they violate the sense of respect and sanctity that
exists between them and God so profoundly that I have always read it as an act
of violence.</div>
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And yet, even before this week’s parsha is over, Moses is
able to convince God not to destroy the Israelites who have realized the error
of their ways. </div>
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I’m always a little bit surprised that Moses was able to
pull that off. How was he able to
convince God to forgive those Israelites who so brazenly disrespected God?</div>
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For some commentators, they use this as a chance to write
about humanity’s imperfections. We’re
always going to fall short, in the eyes of God.
Part of God’s essential self is the attribute of mercy, because God knows
that if God wants to be in an ongoing relationship with us, God will have to
find a way to forgive us every time we inevitably mess up.</div>
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And that is true, to a certain extent, in the
relationships we share with other people as well. The only way that any relationship works is
if both people constantly find it within themselves to forgive each other. </div>
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But that brings us back to our original question. Are there limits? Are there certain things in romantic
relationship that are unforgivable? Are
there certain things that – if we do them – they should automatically lead to
the end of the relationship? Is domestic violence one of those things?</div>
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I’m not sure what the answers are to those
questions. But I would love to hear what
you have to say about it. </div>
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With prayers for the end of all violence in the world…</div>
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Shabbat Shalom,</div>
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Rabbi Jeff Brown</div>Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-37362936396590006822012-04-27T16:14:00.000-07:002012-04-27T16:14:51.752-07:00The Meaning of the Blood That's Been Shed<a href="http://etanublog.blogspot.com/2012/04/remembering-what-we-wish-we-could.html" target="_blank">Last week's posting</a> reflected on Holocaust Remembrance Day. This week, we marked <a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Modern_Holidays/Yom_Hazikaron.shtml" target="_blank">Yom HaZikaron: Israel's Day of Remembrance for fallen soldiers and victims of terror</a>.<br />
<br />
This week's double Torah portion (Parshat <a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/tazria.shtml" target="_blank">Tazria</a>-<a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/metzora.shtml" target="_blank">Metzora</a>) is bizarrely obsessed with all different kinds of bodily fluids. (We could talk for days about the meaning behind the Torah's fixation of this...but we won't right now. If you're interested, just read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Purity-Danger-Analysis-Pollution-Routledge/dp/0415289955/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335566068&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Mary Douglas</a>. She's the expert.)<br />
<br />
Nonetheless, the whole bodily fluid thing got me thinking about blood...and, in the context of Yom HaZikaron....the blood that has been shed over and over and over again...decade after decade....by the brave men and women of the Israeli Defense Forces, who sacrifice the prime of their lives to serve a cause greater than themselves: their country....and our homeland.<br />
<br />
I happened upon a remarkable midrash (from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemenite_Jews" target="_blank">historic Jewish community of Yemen</a>) this week that I had never read before. In it, the author meditates on the story of Joseph (chapter 37-ff. of the Book of Genesis). <br />
<br />
As you may recall, Joseph as a child believes that he is better than his brothers. Because of his general obnoxiousness, and because his brothers are jealous of the fact that Joseph is their father Jacob's favorite, they decide to sell him into slavery. To explain his disappearance, they catch a goat, slaughter it, smear Joseph's coat with its blood, and then they present the coat to Jacob as proof of Joseph's death.<br />
<br />
The story (and the Yemenite midrash), addresses Yom HaZikaron in two ways. First: the midrash imagines the soul, and personality, of the goat. Our rabbis saw the goat as representing the suffering and death of all innocents. (After all: the goat <i>was</i> innocent! What did it ever do to deserve such a bloody end?) In protest, the midrash imagines the goat calling out for justice, and it demands: "Earth: do not cover up my blood!" And so it is that the midrash affirms that the goat's blood, and the blood of all innocents, remains on the ground (to be remembered) until the arrival of the <a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/beliefs/Theology/Afterlife_and_Messiah/Messianism/Who_is_the_Messiah.shtml" target="_blank">Messiah</a>.<br />
<br />
Yom HaZikaron - a Day of Remembrance. The blood of our fallen soldiers cries out to us, and demands not to be forgotten....not until there is true and enduring peace in the world....when neighbors will no longer be compelled to fight with each other.<br />
<br />
One other reflection about the Joseph narrative, its blood, and the connection to this week's Yom HaZikaron. In the Torah (Gen. 37:33), Jacob - reacting to the bloody coat that his sons have presented him with - declares: "My son's tunic! A savage beast devoured him! <u>Joseph was surely torn</u> (<i>tarof toraf</i>) by a beast."<br />
<br />
Responding to the imagery of being torn, the modern Torah commentator and literary scholar Aviva Zornberg writes:<br />
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<![endif]--><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Far beyond their [the brothers'] intent,
in fact, is the anguish of <i>teruf</i>, of dismemberment, that they cause in
the world.<span> </span>“The blood of the old man,”
as the midrash [Midrash HaGadol 42:22] has Reuben refer to Jacob, is shed.<span> </span>Something essential in him dies.</span></span></blockquote>
Notice how Zornberg uses the Hebrew <i>tarof toraf</i> from the Torah to beautifully comment on the 'emotional dismemberment' that occurs when we find out about the death of a loved one.<br />
<br />
She goes on to teach us that a part of ourselves dies when we learn of the death of a loved one.<br />
<br />
Imagine the sort of emotional dismemberment that was on the forefronts of all Israelis' minds this week, as the country - and Jews around the world - mourned the loss of every single soldier that has ever died for the State, and every civilian who has been a victim of terror.<br />
<br />
Their blood cries out from the ground to us: that we shall remember them and never forget the sacrifice they made.<br />
<br />
And so too do we think of all of their loved ones....who may still be alive today, even though a part of themselves perished with their loved ones.<br />
<br />
May the memories of the brave and the righteous live on to be for a blessing.<br />
<br />
Shabbat Shalom,<br />
Rabbi BrownRabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-51550306738240449282012-04-20T11:56:00.001-07:002012-04-20T11:56:54.056-07:00Remembering What We Wish We Could Forget<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYNp9wPKqo4nhaK4xrIcWHU_BphxZ-JyGAohjjtObKapXJ3Oy-__7iznMRUNHvPDzpANxoxvSDqSokjzdlXoSGUdc61dy6trpkg-xcp2nioutlbvs7I2qX87we-Gn3o2AWjHEVz4q-geQ/s1600/yom+hashoah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYNp9wPKqo4nhaK4xrIcWHU_BphxZ-JyGAohjjtObKapXJ3Oy-__7iznMRUNHvPDzpANxoxvSDqSokjzdlXoSGUdc61dy6trpkg-xcp2nioutlbvs7I2qX87we-Gn3o2AWjHEVz4q-geQ/s200/yom+hashoah.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
Yesterday, Jews around the world formally marked <a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Modern_Holidays/Yom_Hashoah.shtml" target="_blank">Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day</a>.<br />
<br />
Yom HaShoah is a day filled with paradoxes.<br />
First paradox: how can we possibly do anything to memorialize or honor the memories of six million? The number is so immense that it defies comprehension. Like the picture <a href="http://www.imagesofmythoughts.com/News/20111201-President-of-Ukraine/20366167_kv36mh/1611294117_MR4XWVQ#%21i=1611294117&k=MR4XWVQ&lb=1&s=A" target="_blank">here</a>, which hints at the enormity of the number without actually listing, or being, six million. What we remember on the Holocaust is the "idea of the six million" because remembering <i>each</i> of the six million is...impossible.<br />
<br />
Second paradox: why are we supposed to remember something so awful and gut-wrenching that normal people would prefer to forget it?<br />
<br />
The Torah itself seems to know of this paradox. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 recalls the tragedy that the Amalekites brought against our ancestors, and what we're supposed to do in response to it:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Remember what Amalek did to you, on the way, when you were leaving Egypt, how he happened upon you on the way, and he struck those of you who were hindmost [i.e. defenseless women and children], all the weaklings at your rear, when you were faint and exhausted, and he did not fear God. It shall be that when the Eternal your God gives you rest from all your enemies all around, in the Land that the Eternal your God gives to you as an inheritance to possess, that you shall <b>wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens - you shall not forget!</b></blockquote>
<br />
Take a look at that last clause: we should wipe out the memory of Amalek - and at the same time, we should absolutely not forget it.<br />
<br />
How is it possible to simultaneously wipe out a memory and remember it? <br />
<br />
This is the paradox of Holocaust remembrance. For what sane human being would not want to forget it? Wouldn't it be easier on all of us if we could just pretend that the death of six million didn't happen on our watch? <br />
<br />
(Brief tangent on "our watch": I think one of the most troubling parts of Holocaust remembrance for those of my generation and younger is that it's history to us. We didn't live through it. Some of the teens that I talked to about all of this yesterday thought about the Holocaust the same way they think about ancient Roman history - as something in the distant past. Young people today don't realize that the Holocaust happened...basically yesterday. This really hit home for me personally yesterday when I realized that my maternal grandmother (who is alive and well in Florida) was born <i>before</i> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_frank" target="_blank">Anne Frank</a> was.)<br />
<br />
I have two thoughts concerning the nature of Jewish existence. As Jews we wrestle with what we are supposed to think, and believe. And, we wrestle with what we are supposed to do.<br />
<br />
Regarding thoughts and beliefs: for me, the core question that grows out of the Holocaust, and anti-Semitism in general, is whether something like the Holocaust could ever (God forbid) happen here in America. And, since I am constantly polling my teenage and adult students about this, I can at least anecdotally report that most American Jews react in disgust to my question. They are insulted at even in the insinuation that America might be capable of turning on its Jews.<br />
<br />
Like them, I pay tribute to the virtues of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, and to the Judeo-Christian ethos that lies at the heart of what constitutes American law and values. But, although it brings me no joy to type these words, my own reading of Jewish history teaches me to be more realistic. For me, I must acknowledge that there is at least a <i>chance</i> that such a horror could happen here - however unlikely.<br />
<br />
(Everyone should absolutely read Philip Roth's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Plot-Against-America-Philip-Roth/dp/1400079497/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334947005&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><i>The Plot Against America</i> </a>for one fictionalized vision of what such a scenario could look like. And, from Jonathan Sarna, the dean of American Jewish historians, everyone should read the recently released <a href="http://www.amazon.com/When-General-Grant-Expelled-Jews/dp/0805242791/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334947051&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><i>When General Grant Expelled the Jews</i></a> to learn about the real life events that have come closest to federally-sanctioned anti-Semitism in the US).<br />
<br />
For me, the acknowledgement of the chance of such a horror repeating itself directly informs my own <a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Modern_History/1700-1914/Zionism.shtml" target="_blank">Zionism</a>. To put it as simply as I know how: I support the existence of the State of Israel so that - God forbid - it will be there for me, my family, and my descendants if we ever needed to (God forbid) flee there for safe haven. We have not yet discovered the silver bullet to rid anti-Semitism from the world. It still exists. And it could rear its ugly head again.<br />
<br />
Regarding what we are supposed to do after reflecting on the Holocaust: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Fackenheim" target="_blank">Rabbi Emil Fackenheim z"l</a> said it best when he wrote of an imagined 614th commandment created out of the Holocaust: a responsibility on the part of all Jews to keep on being Jewish, and perpetuating Judaism, lest Hitler score "a posthumous victory." The longer Judaism remains alive in the world, the longer we insure that Hitler was actually defeated.<br />
<br />
What are each of us to do to perpetuate Judaism? That's too large of a question and will have to wait for a later post. For now, it is enough for us to rise up from the end of Yom HaShoah and act...simply with the determination to affirm our identity as Jews, our pride as Jews, and to express a commitment to do what we can to pass the torch of Jewish life on to our next generation.<br />
<br />
Thanks for reading and remembering. I welcome your replies, as always.<br />
<br />
Rabbi Brown<br />
<br />Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-4283825976712452222012-03-30T13:04:00.001-07:002012-03-30T13:04:54.415-07:00On RecliningI just recently had my first chance to catch a movie at the new <a href="http://www.cinepolisusa.com/" target="_blank">Cinepolis</a> movie theater that opened near my home in La Costa. Yeah - it was more expensive than the typical movie. BUT IT WAS AWESOME. If you haven't been to one of these luxury movie places, you should check it out. It is totally worth the splurge.<br />
<br />
By far, the best part of the experience for me was the (reserved) seat. It was a state of the art leather recliner with easy push button control to extend it from seat to (practically) a 180 degree flat bed. Combined with the 'eat at your seat' food service...it was like enjoying all of the comforts of watching a movie at home, with the added benefit of catching a first run movie on the big screen in the theater. The best of both worlds!<br />
<br />
In light of the fact that Passover is once again upon us (it begins next Friday night), I couldn't help but remain fixated on the simple luxury of reclining. For the rabbis who crafted the Passover seder as we know it 2000 years ago, reclining represented the epitome of freedom. A free person gets to do what they want when they want it (within reason of course). How better to represent that than with the image of sprawling out, and relaxing? (And how great is it that the folks of Cinepolis <i>get</i> that!)<br />
<br />
Now the kind of reclining that the rabbis have in mind for a Passover seder was very particular: you were supposed to lounge on a floor of padded mattresses. Passages in the Talmud advise leaning on one side (I believe the left, but don't quote me) because the rabbis thought that there was less of a chance that you'd choke on your food if you were leaning to that side!<br />
<br />
But how many of us actually sprawl out on the ground for our seders today? <br />
<br />
Today, we eat our formal meals seated around a table. Lounging on the floor is not generally seen as a socially acceptable option. Some families that want to keep the religious tradition of lounging alive in the modern context will have everyone sit in formal dining room chairs (or, if your seder is like the ones I attended as a kid: folding chairs!) and add some kind of small pillow or cushion to it to make it feel more "relaxing."<br />
<br />
Now, in full disclosure, I've never been to a seder where the host has done this. But I have been to plenty of crowded seders in my life....and it boggles my mind as to why anyone would think that adding pillows/cushions to an already overly cramped space would make things more comfortable.<br />
<br />
If we are serious about wanting to authentically explore the value of reclining at a contemporary seder, I would politely suggest that we all make plans next year to have a La-Z-Boy seder! Now...I tried to do a search online for a picture to illustrate what I mean....and I came up empty-handed. The best I can do is ask you to take a close look at the picture below, and then imagine that you had these fancy recliners set up all around your dining room table. Now that would be a seder!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.furnitureanddesignideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/recliner-chairs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.furnitureanddesignideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/recliner-chairs.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
Or for another fantasy seder set up: Consider this picture of President Obama's conference room aboard Air Force One:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article760102.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/The+Interior+of+the+conference+-+dining+room+aboard+Air+Force+One" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://www.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article760102.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/The+Interior+of+the+conference+-+dining+room+aboard+Air+Force+One" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Do you think those chairs recline?!<br />
<br />
Well...the reality is that most of us don't get to travel in first class presidential luxury. We're relegated to coach (where it turns out that there are all sorts of <a href="http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/travel/your-knees-their-seat-discuss.html?src=dayp" target="_blank">newfangled devices</a> to prevent the seat in front of you from reclining on your knees!). And I wonder if our own seders are also the equivalent of celebrating in Coach?<br />
<br />
Even if it's not realistic to expect to be able to recline in a leather La-Z-Boy around your table next Friday night....here are a few quick suggestions on how you can bring a heightened sense of luxury/splurging to your seder table:<br />
<ul>
<li>Treat you/your guests to a <a href="http://www.examiner.com/cooking-in-atlanta/kosher-wines-and-spirits-for-passover-2012" target="_blank">halfway decent bottle of Passover wine</a>, instead of the Manischewitz</li>
<li>Take heed of ehow.com's suggestions about how you can <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:4K-q_7O6sewJ:www.ehow.com/how_2279376_beautify-passover-seder.html+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a" target="_blank">beautify your seder table</a></li>
<li>Invite the serene spirit of the spa to your seder table with these <a href="http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=141045" target="_blank">spa-inspired healthy and refreshing Passover recipes</a> </li>
</ul>
Whether you recline every night or just on seder night....or whether you never recline at all....wishing you and your families a happy, healthy, and meaningful Passover,<br />
<br />
Rabbi Brown <br />
<br />
<br />Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-52212499658051825302012-03-23T11:13:00.000-07:002012-03-23T13:27:52.892-07:00Who/What Calls Out to You?I have been quite distressed about the events that played out in France earlier this week. If you tuned out from the world over the last few days, then you missed the fact that an Al Qaeda sympathizer (and French citizen of North African descent) shot four Jews (including several children) connected to the Jewish day school in Toulouse, France and three French paratroopers. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/world/europe/mohammed-merah-toulouse-shooting-suspect-french-police-standoff.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=toulouse%20shootings&st=cse" target="_blank">The shooter is now dead.</a> For me the shocking anti-Semitism that sprang forth from this man's fundamentalist Islamic identity is only a tiny bit more disturbing than the fact that a human being would be able to commit this kind of heinous violence in any context.<br />
<br />
The incident got me to thinking about the broader philosophical question that asks: where does our morality...our sense of right and wrong...come from?<br />
<br />
This week, Jews all over the world begin reading the third book of the Torah: <i>Sefer Vayikra</i> (the Book of Leviticus). <i>Vayikra</i>, the Hebrew name of Leviticus as well as the name of <a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/vayikra.shtml" target="_blank">this week's Torah portion</a>, means "He [God] called."<br />
<br />
Responding to the fact that the portion opens with the announcement that God specifically called out to Moses, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbi_Samson_Raphael_Hirsch" target="_blank">Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch</a>, founder of Modern Orthodoxy in 19th century Germany, suggests that the Torah uses these words to emphasize Divine Authorship of the Torah. Which is to say that <i>vayikra</i>, to Hirsch, is proof of an actual, direct, personal revelation from God to Moses. And, for Hirsch and traditional Judaism....that Moses passed the contents of that revelation (i.e. message from God) to the Israelites who.....after a few thousand years ultimately passed it down to us.<br />
<br />
For Hirsch and for traditional Judaism: our morality...our sense of right and wrong comes directly from God. We know that we're not supposed to do X because the Torah says so. And we know that the Torah is "right" because God authored it.<br />
<br />
There are many, many Jews in the world today who embrace that theology. And not just in Orthodoxy. There are even some members of our own Reform community who think about the text (and God) in that way.<br />
<br />
Although it is my job as a rabbi to respect that view, and to support those whose faith journeys have brought them to that place, I myself cannot embrace that way of thinking about our sacred text, and about God.<br />
<br />
Over-venerating a sacred text, and justifying violence out of a belief that a person's sacred text is the 'absolute truth' is in my opinion extraordinarily irresponsible. It was extraordinarily irresponsible of this Muslim fanatic in France (whose name I cannot bring myself to type here) in exactly the same way that it was extraordinarily irresponsible of someone like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Goldstein" target="_blank">Baruch Goldstein</a> to massacre innocent Arabs or for Yigal Amir to assassinate Yitzchak Rabin. Goldstein and Amir, both so-called observant Jews, believed that their interpretations of Judaism justified their respective acts of violence.<br />
<br />
There is, of course, a wide wide gulf between a person who believes that Scripture was authored by God, and a person who uses that belief to justify acts of violence. Nonetheless, for me, there is a certain danger even in believing that the text was divinely authored...because it brings us that much closer to the slippery slope of authorizing violence in the name of God/tradition.<br />
<br />
(I hope some of you will disagree with me on this point! Would love to hear from you about it.) <br />
<br />
But let's say you agree with me...that the Torah was not authored by God. Where does that leave us? What is the source of our morality? If we do not believe that God authored the text, then what makes the Torah special? And if it is not 'special', then how/why should we rely on it more for moral guidance than any of the other <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Western-Canon-Books-School-Ages/dp/1573225142/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332526327&sr=1-1" target="_blank">great texts of our world</a>....like Homer or Shakespeare?<br />
<br />
I wish that this blog posting gave me the space to begin answering that central question! There are so many different answers that modern Judaism offers to it....answers from thinkers whose names are <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Jewish-Theology-A-Reader/dp/0195114671/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332526156&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Buber and Rosenzweig and Kaplan</a> - Jewish philosophers who 'privileged' the Bible because it is the sacred text handed down by our people....but who did not 'over-privilege it' - by presuming divine authorship.<br />
<br />
Anyone who cares about their Jewish identity outside of an Orthodox context should be spending more time studying these thinkers! But in the meantime, I want to turn the tables and ask you: Who/What Calls Out to You? How are you guided in the moral choices that you make every day? How do you distinguish between right and wrong? Are your choices based on words that are printed in a book (Bible or otherwise)? Are they based on values that a role model taught you? Are they based on a set of rules that you/your conscience deduced for yourself? On this week in which we celebrate <i>vayikra</i>, Who/What Calls Out to You?<br />
<br />
I'd love to hear your thoughts...as always.<br />
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Shabbat Shalom,<br />
Rabbi Brown <br />
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<br />Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-29099905984931206832012-03-16T19:19:00.001-07:002012-03-16T19:19:07.413-07:00An Ode to RestAlthough my wife would go livid if she read this, I'm going to put myself out there and proclaim that I yearn to be more of a couch potato than I already am. Ah...if I could take out my magic wand, and make the demands of young children and of my job go away...I could just wile the day away: on my sofa watching bad television, or on a lounge chair with an <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106983620" target="_blank">engrossing novel</a>. I wish that I had more time in my life to do absolutely nothing.<br />
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There's a part of me that feels incredibly guilty about sharing that. I mean....the American society that we live in today brainwashes us into thinking that resting is bad. We have been led to believe that the less productive we are, the less self worth we have. We see this in the working world, where <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/25/pf/unused_vacation_days/index.htm" target="_blank">American corporate culture rewards employees that work the most hours and take the least vacation</a>. And we see this in the parenting world, where we (consciously or unconsciously) start padding our kids resumes as early as preschool to make sure that they are as prepared as possible to get into Harvard. (As the parent of a five and a half year old, I'm living this right now. Am I a bad parent because my kindergartner isn't in seven extra-curricular activities and hasn't mastered Japanese yet?)<br />
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Thankfully, our own Jewish tradition offers us an antidote to all of this pressure, and it's found in this week's double Torah portion (Parshat <a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/vayakhel.shtml" target="_blank">Vayakheil</a>-<a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/pkudei.shtml" target="_blank">Pekudei</a>). The parsha opens with a seeming contradiction: the text has Moses gathering the people together....and then after that brief introduction there's a verse or two about observing Shabbat....and then the text launches into a long section about the most important work project contained in the Torah: the building of the Tent of Meeting. The question is: why would the Torah juxtapose the section about the building of the Tent with a passage about the observance of Shabbat?<br />
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A number of our teachers (including Rashi) have argued that the reason is to make it crystal clear to us that...even when it comes to the most important work that the Israelites were asked to do (build the Tent), we should not be distracted into thinking that that work is <i>most important</i> than the observance of Shabbat. The parsha is clear: resting on Shabbat always trumps the other work that we are supposed to be doing in our lives.<br />
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The terms 'rest' and 'work' are loaded ones in the Jewish legal tradition. I am not sitting here arguing for a rigorous Orthodox observance of Shabbat and the outmoded definitions of 'work' that come with it. <br />
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But I do think that the spirit of the passage is incredibly relevant to the way that we live our lives today. To put it loosely: our tradition believes that...for at least one day a week...we should all become couch potatoes!<br />
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By "doing" less, we "become" more.<br />
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It's a simple philosophical approach to life, and it is the opposite of the one that our American culture would have us believe.<br />
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Judaism believes that by taking care of ourselves...of our bodies and our souls...by resting (however we each define that)...that we can become more productive during the rest of the week.<br />
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Okay....so I can't tell Amy that the Torah encourages me to be a couch potato <i>all the time</i>. But it definitely encourages me to be a couch potato <i>some</i> of the time.<br />
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There are so many different ways to rest in this day and age...by spending quality time with friends or family...by doing leisure activities that we never permit ourselves to do the rest of the week...on top of all of those, I really want to encourage everyone to check out the material at <a href="http://www.sabbathmanifesto.org/" target="_blank">www.sabbathmanifesto.org</a>. We would all do well to take their advice!<br />
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What do you think about the idea of working a little less and resting a little more? How do you unplug and give yourself the space to re-charge? I'd love to hear from you...<br />
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Shabbat Shalom,<br />
Rabbi BrownRabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-41294583689831564392012-03-09T13:55:00.001-08:002012-03-09T13:55:58.319-08:00Purim 2012The holiday of Purim: the one day on the calendar in which we are permitted to go crazy and have a good time....we dress up in costume...<a href="http://www.jewcy.com/featured/cocktails-on-purim">drink a little alcohol</a>....laugh at a few jokes, and celebrate the fact that one maniacal anti-Semite after another has tried (and failed) to destroy the Jewish People throughout history.<br />
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Click <a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Purim.shtml">here</a> for everything you ever wanted to know about Purim.<br />
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When it comes to food on Purim, it all comes down to the hamantaschen. Three recipes worth trying out this weekend and all year round!<br />
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1) The <a href="http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/the-perfect-hamantaschen/">Traditionalist</a> (you'll have to let me know how it is; I have an aversion to prunes!)<br />
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2) The <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/culture/modern-manna-recipe-chocolate-hamantaschen-1.415756">Contemporary Alternative</a> - this recipe for hamantaschen filled with chocolate filling (yum) comes from Vered Guttman, one of the food writers for the Israeli newspaper <i>Ha'aretz</i>.<br />
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3) The <a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Purim/At_Home/Foods/Savory_Hamantaschen.shtml">Radical Newcomer</a> - who says hamantaschen just have to be for dessert? This recipe is savory and can be served as an entree or side dish during a meal. (We're trying it tonight for our Shabbat dinner...stay tuned!)<br />
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The great paradox of Purim is that it is both ridiculously silly, and deadly serious.<br />
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For your dose of silliness, check out the annual Purim website that the major American Jewish newspaper the <i>Forward</i> puts up. They call it <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1598174246">the </a><i><a href="http://forward.com/tags/purim-2012/">Backward</a>. </i>Get it? If the parodies there (check out the review of the Bar Mitzvah) don't make you smile, consider watching the 2006 movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470765/"><i>For Your Consideration</i></a>: by far the best (only?) mainstream American movie about Purim ever made! You can rent it <a href="http://www.youtube.com/movie?v=eyvqyNDrRmU&ob=av1n&feature=mv_sr">on YouTube</a> for only $1.99!<br />
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And for your dose of seriousness, do read <a href="http://danielgordis.org/2012/03/09/the-masks-we-wear-and-dont/">Rabbi Daniel Gordis' sobering column today</a> in the <i>Jerusalem Post </i>about the chasm that continues to divide Israelis and Palestinians.<br />
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Wishing you all a belatedly festive, joyous, and thought-provoking Purim,<br />
Rabbi Brown <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="247" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/90b8pVBIWkY?rel=0" width="320"></iframe>Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-1849550124650665402012-02-24T14:22:00.001-08:002012-02-24T14:22:51.527-08:00Big Tent JudaismThe Jewish Outreach Institute, a wonderful organization devoted to enabling Jewish orgs be as welcoming as possible to interfaith families, brands its approach by using the imagery of <a href="http://joi.org/bigtent/">a 'big tent.' </a> But there's a 'Big Tent Judaism' of a different sort on display in this week's Torah portion (<a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/terumah.shtml" target="_blank">Parshat Terumah</a>). I am speaking, of course, about the parsha's obsession with all things related to the construction of the Tent of Meeting....the portable structure that our ancestors constructed in order to have a place to encounter God during their travels through the wilderness. (Click <a href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=913&q=tent+of+meeting&gbv=2&oq=tent+of+meeting&aq=f&aqi=g6g-m1g-S2g-mS1&aql=&gs_sm=3&gs_upl=959l2131l0l2236l15l12l0l0l0l0l141l1069l7.4l11l0" target="_blank">here</a> for the results of a Google Images search re the Tent of Meeting, though keep in mind that some of these images come from Christian organizations who also find meaning in the Tent, and whose interpretation is potentially different from our own.)<br />
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I bring all of this up as background, because I think that we can't really evaluate the meaning of this part of the Torah's narrative without asking ourselves the central question: WHAT IS THE POINT OF THE TENT?<br />
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I know....I just wrote that the Tent was a place for our ancestors to encounter God in. But anyone who has studied anything about Jewish theology knows that we believe that God is <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/omnipresent">omnipresent</a>. If that's the case, why do we need a particular structure (or building) to "meet" God in? More importantly why does the Omnipresent One need a <i>mishkan</i> (the Hebrew word for the Tent that can alternatively be translated as a "dwelling place")?<br />
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Our rabbis have suggested different answers to these questions over the centuries. Today, I want to share with you one from mid 20th century America. Rabbi Jacob Weinstein (of Chicago) once wrote that: "Our sages believed that the building of holy places, the exercise of piety, prepares the heart for godliness. People who build synagogues [or spend time in them] are more likely to feel the spirit of holiness, the mood of sanctity."<br />
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Weinstein seems to admit that we absolutely <i>can</i> find God at the beach, or on the mountaintop....<i>but: </i>that our 'best chance' of finding/encountering God's Holy Presence is within the walls of the synagogue.<br />
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This is the essential question I'd like us to examine this Shabbat: does space matter?<br />
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Do the settings that we find ourselves in have anything to do with how meaningful an inner spiritual life we'll be able to have? And, more importantly, should we privilege the space of the synagogue above all others when it comes to considering the most spiritual spaces in Judaism? (FYI, my colleagues at <a href="http://www.adventurerabbi.org/" target="_blank">http://www.adventurerabbi.org/</a> definitely wouldn't!)<br />
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Do you feel different (Jewishly) about yourself when you spend time in a synagogue? Specifically when you're at Temple Solel? Why/why not?<br />
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Although the Biblical Author might never have imagined it - it turns out that these questions are also directly relevant as movie-lovers everywhere celebrate <a href="http://oscar.go.com/">the Oscars</a> this weekend! Click <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/dec/29/us-box-office-takings-fall" target="_blank">here</a> to read about the ongoing trend of declining movie ticket sales. One reason for that is that so many of us are perfectly comfortable staying at home and watching movies on our large flat screen TVs (with surround sound, etc.). Think about this: is there something qualitatively different/better about watching a movie in the theater than watching it at home?<br />
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The Torah thinks that there is. The attention to detail that the Torah gives to the instructions for the building of the Tent of Meeting suggests that space matters....that how we experience the world depends in large part on the settings that we find ourselves in. Magic and memories (spiritual or cinematic), according to the Torah, can't just happen anywhere. <br />
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What do you think? As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts publicly here on the blog, tweeting <a href="http://www.twitter.com/rabbijbrown" target="_blank">@RabbiJBrown</a>, or privately over email.<br />
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Shabbat Shalom,<br />
Rabbi Brown <br />
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<br />Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-26366414603949488342012-02-17T11:18:00.000-08:002012-02-17T11:20:09.550-08:00Make Love Not WarFor those that have been living in a cave over the last few weeks, you might have missed the furor that exploded in Washington regarding the Obama Administration's initial proposal that - with the exception of health plans offered by houses of worship to their employees - all other health plans in the country would have to include complimentary <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/contraceptive" target="_blank">contraceptives</a>. <br />
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The proposal caused outrage among the leadership of the <a href="http://www.usccb.org/news/2012/12-026.cfm" target="_blank">American Catholic community</a> (and in other circles), not only regarding the substance of the proposal, but also out of concern for possible church-state infringement. There are many religious institutions in this country that are not houses of worship (think seminaries, hospitals, and community centers) who are still, for example, affiliated with the Catholic Church. Under the original proposal, all of those institutions would on some level have been mandated to 'provide' contraceptives to covered employees who requested it.<br />
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President Obama, seeking a compromise, suggested that it would be possible for individuals to still receive contraceptives at no charge, without any financial obligation falling on the employee. Religious communities could opt out as a matter of conscience, and the government would then direct insurance companies to pick up the tab for the contraceptives.<br />
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The debate remains unresolved at this point, and I'll leave the politics of it all to others to sort out. But this does seem like the perfect time to write a few words about the Jewish perspective on contraceptives, which in my humble opinion are a perfectly kosher component of healthy family planning, and avoiding unwanted pregnancies.<br />
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It's worth quoting what my teacher, Dr. Mark Washofsky, writes about this subject in his important book on contemporary Reform Jewish life entitled <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Living-Contemporary-Practice-Revised/dp/080740702X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329504047&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><i>Jewish Living</i></a>:<br />
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According to Jewish tradition, it is a mitzvah, a religious duty, to have children. Yet tradition recognizes that there are times when a couple might justifiably not be prepared to have children or to increase the size of their family, and it acknowledges that sexual intercourse within marriage carries a value of its own even when it does not and cannot lead to procreation. For these reasons, Jewish law permits the use of birth control methods, including some artificial contraceptives, under these circumstances.</blockquote>
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Reform Judaism respects the right of parents to determine how many children they shall have, although we emphasize that bringing Jewish children into the world remains a special mitzvah and encourage couples to consider the matter of family size carefully and with due regard to the problem of Jewish survival. We discourage such permanent methods of birth control as sterilization and vasectomy. (Page 242, 2001 edition) </blockquote>
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From my vantage point: contraceptives are not just for "sexual intercourse within marriage." We're living in a day and age where the <a href="http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1380/marriage-and-divorce-by-state" target="_blank">average age of (first) marriage</a> for men is 28. Women are, on average, 26. If you look at historical trends, those numbers are definitely on the rise. All of which is a long way of saying - what I know I don't have to tell anyone who is reading this blog - that Americans are not waiting until marriage to have sex.<br />
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Which means that it is all the more important to insure that contraceptive devices (be they condoms, birth control pills, etc.) be made available to those that want or need them. Although our Jewish values teach us an incredible humility when it comes to how we should treat a fetus....And I do believe that that humility should encourage us to work together to minimize the number of abortions that are performed in the world...Nonetheless, I do not believe that Judaism encourages unwanted pregnancies. What good can come from a parent carrying to term a child that they know they don't want, and won't have the ability to love/raise? (Unless the parents are committed up front to putting the child up for adoption.)<br />
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Part of what it means to be a Jewishly responsible lover is to talk through these issues with your partner before you get into bed together. What would we do if we unexpectedly got pregnant? If we don't want to get pregnant, how are we going to prevent that from happening? Is it the man's responsibility or the woman's to take care of this? These are incredibly hard conversations to have....especially for those who are younger (or perhaps just less mature). Nonetheless, our Jewish ethics REQUIRE that you be talking about this with your partner. To skip these hard conversations is to be terribly irresponsible.<br />
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What do you think about all this? How, if at all, does the Jewish approach to birth control shape your own thinking and/or choices about family planning and intimacy?<br />
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As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts: privately over email, <a href="http://etanublog.blogspot.com/2012/02/make-love-not-war.html#comment-form">publicly here on the blog</a>, or on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/rabbijbrown" target="_blank">@RabbiJBrown</a>. <br />
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Shabbat Shalom.<br />
<br />Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-75215411100034971902012-02-10T12:36:00.000-08:002012-02-10T13:18:57.120-08:00Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's CarEarlier this week, the <a href="http://www.federalreserve.gov/" target="_blank">Federal Reserve</a> released economic <a href="http://federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/current/default.htm" target="_blank">data relating to the nation's reliance on loans/credit during the month of December</a>. According to the report, Americans used 9.3% more credit in December, which was preceded by an increase of 9.9% in November! According to the government, this was the biggest two month rise in more than a decade.<br />
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As with any economic report, there are always at least two way to interpret the data. On the one hand, this new and marked increase in spending and borrowing on the part of Americans <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-07/u-s-consumer-credit-climbed-by-19-3b-in-dec-.html" target="_blank">could indicate a real uptick in consumer confidence</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_product#Components_of_GDP_by_expenditure" target="_blank">Apparently, 70% of the country's GDP is made up of consumer spending</a>....so according to this theory, the increase borrowing and spending is a good thing. The more money we spent on cars and TVs, the stronger our economy will become.<br />
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Or, as our rabbis say, <i>dvar acher</i>: a completely different interpretation: what if these numbers are frighteningly scary? What if the increased borrowing numbers indicate that Americans are tired of cutting back and <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/43609261/Recession_s_Legacy_Twice_as_Many_Americans_Saving" target="_blank">saving responsibly (as they had been doing for most of the recent recession)</a>, and that....instead....the numbers indicate <a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/01/27/overconsumption_wont_save_america/" target="_blank">that we are irresponsibly relying on credit cards to buy things that we might not actually be able to afford right now</a>? This interpretation is bolstered by the fact that <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2011/oct/28/business/la-fi-spending-20111028" target="_blank">growth in consumer spending noticeably outpaces growth in personal incomes right now</a>. We are spending money that we don't exactly have.<br />
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<a href="http://www.bestbuy.com/" target="_blank">Now, I'm all for consumer spending</a> and the positive impact that the former interpretation might augur for our country! But I do think that this week's Torah portion (<a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/yitro.shtml" target="_blank">Parshat Yitro</a>) does give us a chance to pause and reflect on the questions surrounding the latter interpretation - so that's where I'll be concentrating my energies in this posting.<br />
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This week's Torah portion includes the giving of the Ten Commandments. And I am always taken by the relevance of the Tenth Commandment....the prohibition against coveting.<br />
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Our rabbis spend a lot of time debating if coveting happens the moment we lust after an object that doesn't belong to us....or if coveting only happens once we actually give in to our desires and acquire the object. (I'll be exploring that question in a little more depth during my sermon at Solel tomorrow morning.)<br />
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But in the meantime....I think we can all agree that greed and envy are dangerously unhealthy things. In the words of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbeinu_yonah" target="_blank">Rabbeinu Yonah</a> of 13th century Spain: "For the one that covets - all his days are filled with pain, as if the fire of his desire burns in his heart every single day. And so he shall know no peace."<br />
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Greedy envy, or covetousness, is something that we are all in danger of falling victim to. If we mistakenly indulge those feelings of desire....we run the risk of being mentally and spiritually consumed....we'll never be grateful or satisfied with what we have. We'll always want more, more, more.<br />
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How much of that is reflected in this week's economic data? Do you think that the numbers indicating Americans' increased use of credit cards is a sign of our society's materialistic envy? I'd love to hear you thoughts...<br />
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Shabbat Shalom.<br />
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<a href="http://knsfinancial.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Using-Credit-Cards-Responsibly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://knsfinancial.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Using-Credit-Cards-Responsibly.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-83016602715485036032012-02-03T15:55:00.001-08:002012-02-03T15:55:57.925-08:00Tweeting the Miracle of the ExodusThis Shabbat, Jews from around the world will be reading from <a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/beshallah.shtml">Parshat Beshallach</a>. Part of the significance of the parsha is that there is a long standing custom to designate the Shabbat of Parshat Beshallach as "Shabbat Shirah" - the Shabbat of Song. This is the one Shabbat (in particular) in which we celebrate Jewish music....because that was exactly the way our ancestors celebrated after successfully crossing the Sea to safety from the Egyptians (as told in this week's portion).<br />
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Regarding the notion of celebrating through song...our rabbis once asked: why is it that singing was the default way that our ancestors utilized to praise God? They could have praised by making sacrificial offerings, or by organizing the biblical version of a charitable fundraising drive. But instead: they sang! Why?<br />
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Our rabbis teach us that they learned of the power of song by listening to the tweeting of the birds during their enslavement in Egypt. All day, every day...amidst the hard manual labor that our ancestors had to endure...they listened to the tweeting and the singing of the birds. And, on some level, that singing....that pure unadulterated praise of God gave the Israelites the hope that they needed to carry on in the midst of their labors. Thus Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov (20th century Poland and Israel) suggests that our ancestors' Song of the Sea was not just a praise to God - but also a tribute to the tweeting of the birds.<br />
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Given the importance that our tradition places on tweeting this Shabbat, it seemed like the logical time for me to finally get around to opening a Twitter account! I want to invite all who are interested to follow me <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/search/realtime/rabbijbrown">@RabbiJBrown</a>. Maybe this will be the week that you'll be motivated to join Twitter as well! Just click on www.twitter.com. I'll look forward to "meeting you" online.<br />
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Shabbat Shalom.Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-51051408488163270232012-01-27T10:25:00.000-08:002012-01-27T10:25:52.462-08:00A 'New' New TestamentChristmas has come and gone, but for most American Jews, Christianity is never too far off our radar screen. Maybe that's because most of us have close friends who are Christian, or significant others, or a parent or grandparent. For most of us, to live in America is to be conscious on some level of the fact that our religion differs from most of the people that surround us.
For the last 2000 years, Jews have willfully kept Christians at arms' length. Historically speaking, this often happened as a result of the violent anti-Semitism that Jews suffered at the hands of Christians in medieval Europe. There was distrust between our community and theirs....and so we lived separately, worked separately, studied separately, and married separately.<br />
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The rise of the <a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Modern_History/1700-1914/Emancipation_and_Enlightenment.shtml" target="_blank">Enlightenment and its accompanying Emancipation</a> of Western and Central European Jews changed all of that. For the first time in history, Jews were permitted to live amongst their Christian neighbors, compete with them for the same jobs, study at the same universities, etc. Our communities mixed in other ways, as the phenomenon of interfaith dating (and ultimately marriage) came to be. <br />
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Today, even as we strive to authentically maintain the traditions of our ancestors by passing Judaism on to our children in every successive generation, we can celebrate the remarkable degree of acceptance (and some would say 'assimilation') that American Jews have achieved, vis a vis our relations with our Christian friends and neighbors. <br />
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And yet...even though we have such a high degree of comfort regarding relations with individual Christians, American Jews continue to keep Christianity (as a religion) at arms length. Some of us are still suspicious of Christian tradition, and to what degree contemporary Christianity embraces the anti-Jewish attitudes that were a part of the Christian past.<br />
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One result of this suspicion is our shocking lack of knowledge about Christianity! Jews (many of whom were raised to think that "Jesus" was a word that shouldn't be uttered out loud) hear <a href="http://s425.photobucket.com/albums/pp333/yelsid1/?action=view&current=1-david-bailey-beatles.jpg&sort=ascending" target="_blank">John and Paul</a> and think about the Beatles first - without even realizing the significance that those names bear to early Christianity.<br />
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Thankfully, the last few decades have marked the arrival of a new genre of non-fiction: excellent scholarly books on Christianity written by Jewish scholars for a Jewish audience. I would call your attention to two titles in particular:<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Understanding-New-Testament/dp/1594730482/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327687430&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><i>A Jewish Understanding of the New Testament</i> by Samuel Sandmel</a> - This is a great source to begin with. I appreciate this text because it is an excellent introduction to "Early Christianity 101" and the New Testament.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Jews-Engage-New-Testament/dp/1580233139/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327687583&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><i>Modern Jews Engage the New Testament: Enhancing Jewish Well-Being in a Christian Environment</i> by my teacher, Michael Cook</a> - Dr. Cook's volume serves as a more advanced resource for those who already have some background in Christianity. The text is also excellent for knowledgeable Christians who are curious about some of the longstanding Jewish concerns that have been raised about Christian scripture and theology over the ages.</li>
</ul>
This year, I can happily announce that there is a third title that is worthy of belonging on every Jewish bookshelf! Drs. Amy-Jill Levine (of Vanderbilt) and Marc Zvi Brettler (Brandeis), in partnership with Oxford University Press, have published <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Annotated-New-Testament/dp/0195297709/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327688022&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><i>The Jewish Annotated New Testament</i></a>. To put it quite simply: this text is unlike any other edition of any religion's scripture that I have ever seen.<br />
<br />
The volume contains a full English version of the New Testament. But every margin in this volume is filled with thought-provoking and engaging commentary offered up by <b>Jewish scholars</b>. This volume is safe for Jewish readers, who are now free to read/learn the New Testament and be guided by commentary, free from any suspicion about the accuracy of the commentary/its religious agenda. (Read a recent <i>New York Times </i>article about the book <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/us/a-jewish-edition-of-the-new-testament-beliefs.html" target="_blank">here</a>.)<br />
<br />
For those who are puzzled as to why a rabbi would encourage Jews to become more familiar with the New Testament, all I can say is that we live in a Christian world. I guess I'm presuming that your life is not all that different from mine: I have very close friends who are Christian. My neighbors are Christian. I have made peace with the fact that I live in a Christian world, surrounded by Christians. Shouldn't we Jews who find ourselves in that reality want to learn everything there is to know about Christians, so that we can better understand the people who surround us, and who play such important roles in our lives?<br />
<br />
Just as we should want to respectfully share the very best about our own Jewish identities, so do we have the responsibility to learn about the traditions of others. Levine and Brettler's new book most certainly helps us do so.<br />
<br />
Shabbat Shalom.Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-27932319368590363052012-01-20T14:25:00.000-08:002012-01-20T14:25:13.800-08:00Sacred Talking and ListeningOne of the things that has really set this year's Republican presidential primary campaign apart from primary seasons in years past has been the preponderance of debates. In case you haven't been keeping track, there have been <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_presidential_debates,_2012" target="_blank">17 so far</a> (the first one took place on May 5, 2011!). And the unbelievable thing is that Americans continue to tune in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/abc-news-gop-debate-grabs-highest-debate-ratings-yet-with-76-million-viewers/2011/12/12/gIQAHMcVqO_blog.html" target="_blank">in droves</a>! Say what you will about our broken political process, but it does <i>seem</i> as if Americans are genuinely interested in listening to what these candidates have to say.<br />
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Interestingly, this week's Torah portion - <a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/vaera.shtml" target="_blank">Parshat Va'eira</a> from the middle of the Book of Exodus - shows us a Moses who struggled in a way that this year's Republican candidates apparently don't have to. Moses was concerned that the Israelites wouldn't listen, or pay attention, to what he had to say.<br />
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We read that upon returning to Egypt, Moses "spoke to the Children of Israel [and informed them that he had come to free them from slavery] but they did not heed Moses, for they were exhausted from their labor. So the Holy One spoke to Moses, saying 'Come, speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt instead...that he might send the Children of Israel from his land.' Moses replied to the Holy One saying: 'Behold, the Children of Israel have not listened to me....so why should Pharaoh? For I have uncircumcised lips!" (Exodus 6:9-12)<br />
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The phrase about "uncircumcised lips" has puzzled our rabbis and commentators for more than 2000 years. What does it mean?<br />
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I'm quite fond of the insight offered here by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sfat_Emet" target="_blank">Sfat Emet</a> of 19th century Poland. The Sfat Emet notes on this passage that: "If the Israelites refuse to listen to their leaders, their leaders cannot serve as their spokesmen...and they thus become 'of uncircumcised lips.' Only if there are those who are prepared to listen is it possible to speak, because the leader's power is derived from the people."<br />
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There are common-sensical political ramifications to this insight. Even though viewers are tuning in in record numbers to watch the debates, we know that they are not necessarily interested in listening to everyone on the stage. Consider the candidates that were absent from last night's debate in South Carolina that featured Romney, Paul, Santorum, and Gingrich. There was no sign of candidates Bachmann, Cain, Huntsman, Johnson, Pawlenty, or Perry! They've dropped out of the race because they were polling in the single digits: the statistical evidence that few people were interested in hearing what they had to say.<br />
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The Sfat Emet's commentary goes on, by exploring the fact that neither the Israelites nor Pharaoh listened to Moses: "Therefore, had the Israelites at least listened to Moses, he would have had the power to speak to Pharaoh and to influence him. Here, though, the Israelites had not been willing to listen to him and so he had become 'of uncircumcised lips.' Thus Moses asked: <i>Why should Pharaoh listen to me?</i>"<br />
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Speaking and listening....the basic activities that make the world go round.<br />
<br />
Our tradition is suggesting here that if the Israelites had been better listeners, Moses would have been a more effective speaker with Pharaoh. And if Moses had been a more effective speaker...then maybe the Israelites would have been freed earlier, and both the Israelites slaves and the Egyptians (victimized by the subsequent plagues) would have all suffered a lot less.<br />
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The Sfat Emet also suggests some important lessons for our own lives today.<br />
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In the realm of Jewish ethics, reams and reams have been written on the proper Jewish way of speaking. There are whole legal discourses on the subject of <a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/practices/Ethics/Talk_and_Gossip.shtml" target="_blank">gossip</a> alone!<br />
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But there has been comparatively little written about sacred - or mindful - listening.<br />
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It seems to me that mindful listening has two components to it. On one level, there's an ethical component. Think about how vitally important it is for us to be good listeners to one another...because the person you are talking to might actually be crying out for help. They might not use those words exactly. But they might be expressing it nonetheless. And we can only pick up on that message, and respond accordingly, if we are listening truly, deeply, and carefully to what someone else is saying to us.<br />
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But there's also a spiritual component to sacred listening. Check out, for example, <a href="http://www.the-guided-meditation-site.com/mindful-listening.html" target="_blank">this link...which encourages us to listen more carefully to the sounds of the world around us by way of a guided meditation</a>. Consider how much more appreciative we might become of the beauty of the natural world, if we just became better listeners. (It's one reason that I love going to the zoo so much....not just because of the animals and the stunning landscaping...but because there's such a rich aural tapestry to encounter when you go to the zoo.)<br />
<br />
Martin Buber, the great 20th century Jewish philosopher married the spiritual and ethical components of sacred listening in his masterwork<a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/beliefs/Theology/Thinkers_and_Thought/Jewish_Philosophy/Philosophies/Modern/Martin_Buber/I_and_Thou.shtml?BFTH" target="_blank"> <i>I and Thou</i></a>. In it, he suggests that if we are truly present with others in an ethical way (i.e. deeply listening to what they have to say/being there for them, even as they are present for us)...then the resulting sense of deep, though temporary, connection between the two people is - for Buber - the presence of God (which he called the "Eternal [or Everpresent] Thou").<br />
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All of this should serve as a weighty reminder: that our words matter....and that our ability to hear the words of others might matter even more! We shouldn't just mind our words. We should mind the way we listen as well.<br />
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Shabbat Shalom.Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-11027554253624886532012-01-13T12:18:00.000-08:002012-01-13T12:18:30.400-08:00MLK Day 2012: Crossing Boundaries to Save the World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There’s been a great deal in the news recently about the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/world/middleeast/us-warns-top-iran-leader-not-to-shut-strait-of-hormuz.html?hp" target="_blank">rising tensions</a> between the United States and Iran. Iran has argued that their territorial sovereignty extends into the Persian Gulf. And we’ve argued that they have no right to close the international waters around the Strait of Hormuz, which would have an immediate global impact on <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/03/us-markets-oil-idUSTRE7AD06820120103" target="_blank">oil prices</a> and the world economy.<br />
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But while all of that bluster has been exchanged by both sides, two related stories were largely ignored by the American press.
<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2084863/U-S-forces-rescue-Iranian-sailors-just-days-saving-fishermen.html" target="_blank">Did you know that the US military has come to the aid of Iranians in danger twice in the last two weeks?!</a>
Ten days ago, the US Navy rescued 13 Iranian fishermen who had been held hostage for more than a month by dangerous Somali pirates.
And then, this past Tuesday, the US Coast Guard saved the lives of six Iranian sailors, whose cargo ship was sinking.<br />
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Isn’t it remarkable that we’ve done these acts of lovingkindness for a country that is an acknowledged enemy and threat?
Our own military doesn’t want to take any credit, insisting that humanitarian missions are a regular part of its mission.
But sacrificing oneself for the enemy….or for anyone who is markedly different from you is remarkable in this day and age….and is in my opinion, and in the opinion of our Jewish tradition, worthy of recognition.<br />
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That message is especially relevant this weekend, as people of all faiths and colors gather together to celebrate the life of the late <a href="http://www.thekingcenter.org/">Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King</a>. We Jews can look back at the Civil Rights Movement with pride…<a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Modern_History/1948-1980/America/Liberal_Politics/Black-Jewish_Relations/Civil_Rights_Movement.shtml" target="_blank">as a high point in the ongoing relationship between African Americans and Jewish Americans</a>. Different though we might have been, we bound ourselves together for one of the great legislative fights of the last century. And even though relations between the Jewish community and black community have <a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Jewish_World_Today/Jews_and_Non-Jews/Jewish-Black_Relations.shtml" target="_blank">frayed</a> in the present day, we can look back in pride at our shared past….and be inspired to work together again for a better future.<br />
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This value is also deeply reflected in the words of this week’s Torah portion, <a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/shemot.shtml" target="_blank">Parshat Shemot</a>…the very first portion of the Book of Exodus.
Before we learn of the birth of Moses, we learn of Pharaoh’s genocidal order that the male babies of all Jewish mothers be murdered. And that Pharaoh expected the midwives…the women that actually helped to deliver these babies….to carry out the horrible death sentence.<br />
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Take a look at the exact way that the Torah conveys the plight of the midwives: "The king of Egypt spoke <i>la’mi’yaldot ha-ivriyot</i> […] saying: “When you deliver the Hebrew women […] if it is a boy, kill him…” (Exod. 1:15-16).
The rabbis of the Talmud 2000 years ago were puzzled by the unique language that the Torah used here. To describe the midwives the text says <i>mi’yaldot ha-ivriyot</i> – the problem with the phrase is that it can be translated two different ways! Either as the Hebrew midwives….which would mean that the midwives were themselves Jewish. Or: the midwives of the Hebrews, which opens up the possibility that the midwives were not Jewish, but were rather Egyptian.<br />
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Okay, so there is an established tradition that the midwives were Jewish. But, in all honesty, I find the other interpretation to be more compelling. A number of sources and rabbis have suggested over the centuries that the midwives Shifrah and Puah were actually righteous gentiles….non-Jews who courageously stood up for right, and good, to save the Jewish people! According to this reading, the fact that the midwives were not Jewish makes their actions even <i>more</i> heroic and remarkable.<br />
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Now, there are some in our community today who would suggest that the religious identity of Shifrah and Puah does not matter. None other than <a href="http://www.chiefrabbi.org/" target="_blank">Rabbi Jonathan Sacks</a>, the well respected Orthodox chief rabbi of Great Britain, once wrote that: “The Torah’s ambiguity on this point is deliberate. We do not know to which people they belonged because their particular form of moral courage transcends nationality and race.”<br />
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For Sacks, their religion doesn’t matter. What’s right is right, and what’s wrong is wrong. And the midwives did the right thing. Their actions should be applauded. End of story.<br />
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But, with all due respect to Rabbi Sacks….I’m not sure that I see it that way.
It seems to me that our identities – who we are at our very core – make all the difference in the world. And that it is infinitely easier for us to do an act of lovingkindness for someone that is just like us….someone that we can totally and completely identify with. Whether it’s someone that is from our same religious community, or who is the same skin color, or who speaks the same language with the same accent, or whose kids go to the same school as our’s, or who live in the same neighborhood, or who drive the same car, etc etc etc…..we naturally identify with, and are more easily sympathetic to…the people that are like us.<br />
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That’s why the notion that Shifrah and Puah were not Jewish is so amazing to me. At a time when the Israelites were reviled in Egypt as worthless third class citizens destined to a life of hard labor, these non-Jewish midwives swept in, and not only saved the lives of those babies that were born under their care….but literally saved the entire Jewish people as well. We Jews would not be here today if it wasn’t for them.<br />
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I can’t think of a more apt reflection on this Martin Luther King Day Weekend. We don’t just celebrate his life and work….we celebrate all of the people from outside of the black community who came together in the common spirit of humanity to stand with African Americans in the fight toward equality.
And as we celebrate that partnership…a partnership that was not unlike the one that existed between the non-Jews Shifrah and Puah and the Jewish women they worked with…may we be inspired to reach across boundaries again today. To think again about those who are different from us….but who nonetheless deserve our compassion and our aid….in order that we might join together to unify and heal our most fractured world.<br />
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Shabbat Shalom.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu4gQYzCtt2gPtkuGCyBlmNnHAeB5vFdLu4Tk96xuX_cPAHO3HMFgndPAx9lGIMYSLpMtJt7btIakgSlMYZIXiYiOfzIUTGVEfgXT4kvTE38cPnAxwAheuhP34uokHmIyQlDAhDucaR4k/s1600/heschel+and+king.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu4gQYzCtt2gPtkuGCyBlmNnHAeB5vFdLu4Tk96xuX_cPAHO3HMFgndPAx9lGIMYSLpMtJt7btIakgSlMYZIXiYiOfzIUTGVEfgXT4kvTE38cPnAxwAheuhP34uokHmIyQlDAhDucaR4k/s320/heschel+and+king.png" width="320" /></a></div>Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-30203218758452083612012-01-06T14:06:00.001-08:002012-01-06T15:25:35.807-08:00The Great Shave<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="246" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WRmBChQjZPs" width="425"></iframe><br />
<br />
It's been a few weeks since our last posting. But while I was gone (happy 2012 by the way!), there was major news for our American Jewish community.<br />
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Many of you will have perhaps heard, by now, that the acclaimed American Jewish musician <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matisyahu">Matisyahu</a> shaved his beard in mid-December. It might not <i>seem</i> like big <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/hasidic-reggae-rapper-matisyahu-shaves-beard/2011/12/27/gIQAlZgPLP_story.html">news</a>. But JTA (the 'Jewish Associated Press') thought it was important enough to mail the news out to its thousands and thousands of subscribers via a BREAKING NEWS ALERT that is typically reserved for things like news of a devastating terrorist bombing.<br />
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But no...this was a bomb of a different sort. And it caught everyone off guard.<br />
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As background, click <a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/practices/Ethics/Our_Bodies/Adorning_the_Body/Beards_and_Sidelocks.shtml">here</a> for an introduction to the role of male facial hair in Judaism. And see below for an illustrated guide to contemporary American beards:<br />
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I am curious as to whether our interest in Matisyahu as a musician should change in light of this recent move. Although I am not the world's biggest Matisyahu fan, I can appreciate
that his beard was a key part of his image. It was a very tangible way
for him to broadcast to the world that his music, and his identity, were
rooted in traditional Judaism. The beard was a central component of his projected Jewish authenticity. <br />
Should we like his music less because of his choice to become 'less' Jewish? (Ordinarily I wouldn't describe beard-shaving as being less Jewish...but in this case he himself has indicated that the shaving reflects a desire to move beyond the confines of Chassidic Judaism.)<br />
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I'm not sure that I have an answer to that question. I guess you should like him if you like his music, and you shouldn't like him if you don't like his music. Leave the beard out of it.<br />
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But here's what I am sure of: when we think about the kind of musicians that we do like, there <i>should</i> be space for us to ask ourselves: what values does this person/group embrace and represent? And are those my values? And if they aren't my values, should I allow myself to enjoy that music/art/etc?<br />
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I thought about that over Hanukkah a few weeks ago, when everyone was emailing around again (it debuted in 2010) the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSJCSR4MuhU">link to the Maccabeats' song "Candlelight"</a>. Do take the time to watch the whole video...it's a catchy song! But if you watch the whole thing, you'll note that <u>there are no women that are featured in it at all</u>!<br />
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No offense is meant here to the Maccabeats or their (admittedly good) music. You have a group of guys that want to form an all-male acapella group? You've got no objection from me.<br />
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My concern here is really about the Orthodoxy with which the Maccabeats are affiliated (literally: they're a student group at Yeshiva University). Now it's not the same Orthodoxy that Matisyahu used to be connected with. Note that most of the Maccabeats don't sport beards!<br />
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Nonetheless, their Orthodoxy prevents them from singing with women. Because traditional Judaism believes that <i>kol ishah</i> - the voice of the woman - is sexually tantalizing and therefore inappropriate in the public (mixed gender) sphere.<br />
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For me, there's a basic disconnect between my own progressive Jewish values (which do not at all object to female singing), and the ones being promoted by Orthodoxy (perhaps not consciously but subconsciously in the Maccabeats' music). And that affects my opinion about the Maccabeats and their music. <br />
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I'm not trying to be a party pooper here. People have a great deal of Jewish pride when they encounter this kind of Jewish music. There's nothing wrong with that. Jewish pride is a powerful thing. (Read about it <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-shmuley-boteach/to-beard-or-not-to-beard-_b_1165399.html">here</a>, in this Shmuley Boteach article about Matisyahu and the beard shaving.) But, for me, the price to be paid for that pride is a bit too high.<br />
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I'd love to hear your thoughts...about Matisyahu and The Shave. And about whether or not the values (religious or otherwise) of a musician/actor/etc should impact the degree to which we "like", promote, and pay for the art that they produce.<br />
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Shabbat Shalom.Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-20384367429073993402011-12-16T13:46:00.000-08:002011-12-16T13:49:00.297-08:00Mirror Mirror on the WallHanukkah is upon us! For all of the general Hanukkah information you could ever want or need, <a href="http://etanublog.blogspot.com/2009/12/hanukkah-2009-spectacular.html" target="_blank">click here for my 2009 Hanukkah blog posting</a>.<br />
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This year...I've been thinking about the Hanukkah story. You might remember that the story begins with the evil <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiochus_IV" target="_blank">Antiochus IV</a> (of the "Syrian-Greeks") who is looking to violently foist Hellenism on the Jewish residents of the Land of Israel around 168 BCE.<br />
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What is Hellenism? Try <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_civilization" target="_blank">here</a> for one answer. But my simplified response is that Hellenism was the values, beliefs, and culture of Ancient Greece. Antiochus, a proud Greek himself, wanted to replicate those values amongst other peoples as well.<br />
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The aspect of Hellenism that I want to focus on this week is the one associated with physical beauty. The Greeks, conscious of aesthetics, sought out people and things that were physically beautiful, and celebrated them. Greek mathematics was partially organized around the belief that things that were symmetrical were beautiful...or perfect. This influenced Greek architecture, and art...and even the way that people perceived themselves. And although every culture has always offered up its own definition of what constitutes physical beauty, there is little question that our society's own ideas about beauty can be traced right on back to ancient Greece.<br />
<br />
Beyond the question of what constitutes American beauty today, I find it fascinating that - like the Greeks - we put so much IMPORTANCE on the physical appearance of ourselves and others. <br />
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I don't know if you heard about it...but there was an extraordinary <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/14/4121916/youre-so-vain-you-probably-think.html" target="_blank">survey published this week</a> about this subject...and according to the survey, <strong>32% of Americans believe that they themselves are stunningly beautiful</strong> - giving themselves an 8,9, or 10 on a scale of 1-10!<br />
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32%! Am I the only one that thinks that number is absurdly high?<br />
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But here's the best part: we Americans don't just think that we ourselves are beautiful. We have also deluded ourselves into thinking that we are <em>far more beautiful than everyone else</em>! <br />
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I say all of this by way of introduction to this week's Torah portion, <a href="http://www.hebcal.com/sedrot/vayeshev" target="_blank">Parshat Vayeishev</a>. It's the beginning of the Joseph epic (his story takes up all of the rest of the Book of Genesis!). And, curiously, this week's Torah portion contains the following (unexpected!) description of our famous ancestor: "Joseph was well built and good looking" (Genesis 39:6). How bizarre! The Torah does not usually describe our ancestors (especially men) in those kinds of terms.<br />
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Interestingly, the history of commentary on this verse sheds light on the Jewish approach to beauty - which, as we might expect given the Maccabean revolt against Hellenism - is notably different from the Greek one.<br />
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Rashi (c. 1100 France) criticizes Joseph for spending too much time at the ancient Egyptian version of the spa, especially while he knows that his father Jacob sits at home - inconsolable because he mistakenly believes that Joseph is dead. Rashi notes that the Torah's statement about Joseph's beauty comes right before Mrs. Potiphar (wife of Joseph's boss) attempts to seduce him. Rashi suggests that the attempted seduction is God's way of punishing Joseph for being too vain. <br />
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Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, of 19th century Germany, reads the text differently. The vanity suggested in the Torah itself is so preposterous to Hirsch that he cannot acknowledge that Joseph's looks had anything to do with Mrs. Potiphar's attraction to him. Instead, Hirsch insists that Joseph's "splendid spiritual attainments" far outshone his beauty....and those 'attainments' were the catalyst for the attempted seduction.<br />
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Whether you agree with Rashi or with Hirsch...our tradition is clear: a value judgement is being made against vanity and the preoccupation with one's own personal physical appearance. There is a danger, Judaism believes, in concentrating too much on the outside. If we do so, we make ourselves vulnerable to spoiling the beautiful sparks of our souls that rest within us.<br />
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As you gather around the menorah in the coming days, and admire the beauty of the lights....consider this week's Torah portion as well....and be reminded of the pitfalls of physical beauty. Contrary to the ancient Greeks, we Jews believe that our inner selves are always more precious and beautiful than our outer ones.<br />
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Happy Hanukkah and Shabbat Shalom,<br />
Rabbi BrownRabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-50838072084782395602011-12-09T15:35:00.000-08:002011-12-09T15:35:06.346-08:00Pearl Harbor: Seventy Years LaterEarlier this week, our country marked the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.<br />
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The anniversary provides us with the chance to reflect on our national and Jewish values...particularly as they apply to the question of war.<br />
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(For a broad introduction to Jewish law and what constitutes a "just" or permitted war, click <a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/beliefs/Issues/War_and_Peace.shtml" target="_blank">here</a>. And click <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bw1h34VZx85aZTRjMjhiNjYtZGRiYi00MmEyLWI0OWEtNjQ5MzZiMWU1Yjhj" target="_blank">here</a> for the landmark Reform responsum on the specific question of whether the war in Iraq meets the threshold of a Jewishly permitted war. That document is all the more pertinent as our country marks the formal conclusion of an American military presence in Iraq over the next few weeks.)<br />
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To frame this conversation, I want to refer you to <a href="http://www.forward.com/articles/146833/?p=all" target="_blank">this article</a>, which made the rounds this past week on a number of Jewish websites, written by JJ Goldberg, a prominent writer in the Jewish press.<br />
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Goldberg starts the article by insisting that we should not be afraid to use our military strength. He does this by articulating the two fundamental lessons (that he thinks we need to learn) from Pearl Harbor (and about the related subject of America's pre-Pearl Harbor hesitation to get involved in WWII):<br />
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1) "There are times when you can't run away from a fight, when you have to stand and face evil, when nothing will do but to struggle and win."<br />
2) "America is the essential nation. It is not enough to be a beacon of democracy and freedom: We must be their defender as well. There is no greatness in solitude, nor honor in indifference."<br />
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In other parts of the article, he <i>seems</i> to be implying that he takes this position because of the Jewish loss of six million during the Holocaust. If the US had gotten involved in the War in Europe earlier...more lives could have been saved. (Fascinatingly, see <a href="http://danielgordis.org/2011/12/09/the-danger-of-the-dangers/" target="_blank">Rabbi Daniel Gordis' piece this week</a> from Israel, in which he observes the opposite: while mourning the losses of Pearl Harbor, Gordis also expresses gratitude for it...because it ultimately got the US into the War and prevented the total annihilation of the Jewish people. Which perspective speaks to you?)<br />
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Okay. Back to J.J. Goldberg.<br />
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Remember, as I quoted above, Goldberg begins by seeming to suggest that the ultimate lesson of Pearl Harbor is that the US was too slow in using its force to police the Axis Powers.<br />
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But, at the end of the article, Goldberg seems to switch gears! Writing about the aftermath of WWII, and our long Cold War with the Soviets, Goldberg acknowledges that: "not every foe is pure evil and not every compromise is 1938. We used to understand that."<br />
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To me, that's a statement which argues for much more restraint regarding the use of force.<br />
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This question of what constitutes a "kosher" use of force could not be more important or relevant today. Even as we are withdrawing our troops from Iraq, they remain in Afghanistan. We remain unsure of a possible future war with Iran, or North Korea. And even further down the line: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/world/asia/obama-and-gillard-expand-us-australia-military-ties.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank">China</a>?<br />
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We hope and pray for a future filled only with peace.<br />
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But sadly, it seems to me that there will still be more wars to be fought, before the era of peace dawns. And if that is the case, then we American Jews should take this moment to reconsider: Which of Goldberg's approaches resonates more with you, and the Jewish values you hold dear? The former, which urges us to be fearless when it comes to exercising our military might? Or the latter, which urges restraint?<br />
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What are the conditions that seem "just" to us in using force? Saving more than X number of lives? The lives of a certain race? Or religion? (Are we more sympathetic to the saving of Jewish lives?) And how are our thoughts about Israel connected to all of this? In what cases should America's military be used to protect Israel? And when not? And when should Israel use force? And when not?<br />
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There are no easy answers here...only hard questions. I welcome your thoughts either publicly here on the blog (commenting works best when you are browsing with Internet Explorer) or privately over email.<br />
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Shabbat Shalom,<br />
Rabbi BrownRabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-32944700704075654412011-12-02T11:48:00.000-08:002011-12-02T11:48:03.386-08:00Taking the Blame<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>HE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">There was an important <a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/pakistan-releases-video-of-border-posts-hit-in-deadly-air-strike/?ref=middleeast" target="_blank">news story</a> that came out of Pakistan a few days ago….though most of us were probably too busy finishing off our turkey leftovers, and beginning our holiday gift shopping, to pay attention to it.</span> <div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">A week ago, American and NATO forces engaged in an operation against Taliban fighters around the infamous and amorphous border than runs between Pakistan and Afghanistan.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">In the process, 24 Pakistani soldiers were mistakenly killed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Tensions between our country and Pakistan have been running high since we captured and killed Osama bin Laden in May….without the help of the Pakistanis – because of our concern that <a href="http://theweek.com/article/index/214843/did-pakistan-help-hide-bin-laden" target="_blank">they might have been complicit in hiding him</a> over these last few years.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">The trouble is that we can’t just wash our hands of Pakistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are an essential and strategic partner in the ongoing war against terror….particularly vis a vis the American military presence in Afghanistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Which brings us back to the unfortunate loss of life that occurred in Pakistan seven days ago.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Washington has been abuzz about <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/world/middleeast/for-pakistan-no-formal-remorse-yet-from-obama.html" target="_blank">whether or not President Obama should publicly apologize to Pakistan</a> for the apparent error.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As best as we can determine, the State Department is in favor of an apology, in the hopes that that would placate Pakistan, and ease the way for continued partnership in the region.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">And the Defense Department has advised against such an apology, pending a thorough review of the incident that could take months, or even years, to complete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">In the meantime, Secretary of State Clinton and Secretary of Defense Panetta have issued <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/195507-clinton-panetta-send-condolences-back-probe-of-nato-strike" target="_blank">a joint statement expressing their “deepest condolences”</a> to Pakistan on the loss.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">The question is: is that enough?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or does our president and commander in chief have the responsibility to take the blame, and publicly apologize on America’s behalf?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">This is partially a <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/164833/crisis-pakistan" target="_blank">partisan</a> <a href="http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/12/01/pakistan-apology-obama/" target="_blank">political</a> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/pakistans-pique-and-the-afghan-war/2011/03/04/gIQAzMB1GO_blog.html" target="_blank">question</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">But for me, there is also a relevant <i>Jewish</i> question on the table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is the inherent value of an apology?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when should we be offering one?</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">The question arises, in part, from this week’s Torah portion, <a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/vayetze.shtml" target="_blank">Parshat Vayeitzei</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The portion includes the saga of the complicated relationship between Jacob and his father-in-law Lavan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After years and years of living together as an extended family, Jacob finally seeks to cut the cord…and settle down with his children on property that is separate from Lavan’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Jacob’s departure isn’t a simple matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lavan is concerned that Jacob’s departure is tied to some trickery…and he becomes paranoid that Jacob has stolen from him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lavan insists on inspecting all that Jacob has, to make sure that none of his stuff is hidden within.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15pt;">Jacob is naturally insulted that is father-in-law so distrusts him. He makes a speech in which he passionately reminds Lavan that time and again, he [Jacob] always "took responsibility" (Gen. 31: 39) for any of Lavan's property that was lost under his watch (particularly when he served as a shepherd of Lavan's animals).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15pt;"><br />
</span></div><b><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"></span></b><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">The text is attempting to make a profound statement about ethics in general, and about the Jewish qualifications for leadership more specifically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>What happens under our watch is our responsibility.</u></span><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Jacob is described as a respectable leader, and a praiseworthy individual, because he is someone who is willing to accept responsibility, and take the blame, when things happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if he did not want or choose for them to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they happened under his watch, then he knows that the responsibility rests with him.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Our commentators are quite interested in Jacob's use of the phrase<i> I took the blame. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>What does it mean in our tradition to accept responsibility for our actions?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashi" target="_blank">Rashi</a>, quoting the first century Torah translator and commentator <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onkelos" target="_blank">Onkelos</a>, offers one possible answer:</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"> "Onkelos [1<sup>st</sup> century] alternatively translates this phrase as ‘that which is lacking and missing’ as in ‘Not one person is missing from us.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether something went missing by day or by night, ‘I [replaced that which was missing] by compensating for everything.’"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">According to Rashi, Jacob took responsibility – and we can do the same – by offering up some kind of compensation…something tangible to the party that we wronged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not in terms of replacement value – because sometimes the things we take from others are <a href="http://www.mastercard.us/ads-and-offers.html" target="_blank">priceless</a> – but because compensation is an act that signifies that we recognize that a loss has happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that even though we can’t go back in time and change the past, we can offer up some sort of restitution that will allow for some healing to take place…so that we can begin to make whole that which had been ruptured in the relationship.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Perhaps it is premature for President Obama to apologize this week to the Pakistani people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do an investigation to find out exactly what happened, as the Defense Department has suggested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if the investigation indicates that the United States military was liable, then…Jewishly-speaking…I would humbly encourage the President to apologize.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The words “I’m sorry” carry tremendous weight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Especially when they come from the most powerful person in the world, those words carry a certain value…Thus an apology becomes compensation…..It’s not monetary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is a gesture that would indicate to Pakistan and to the world that we made an unfortunate mistake, and that we are prepared to rectify it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By taking responsibility for it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">These are all lessons that can be easily applied to our personal lives as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How often have we felt bad about something that we said or did to someone else, but failed to verbalize it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps we were afraid that an apology would make us less powerful, or appear weak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe we were just embarrassed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Our tradition reminds us that feeling bad about something is not enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Talmud notes that "thoughts of the heart – thoughts that have not been articulated out loud – are as if they do not exist" (Kiddushin 49b).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15.0pt;">Words matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Saying the words “I’m sorry” makes all the difference in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even when it not the easy or popular thing to do, our tradition is clear: we have to step up and lead, and be role models…just like our ancestor Jacob was…and take responsibility for our actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 15pt;">May God grant all of us the strength and courage to do so…as we say…Shabbat Shalom.</span><br />
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</div>Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-12387164756482742862011-11-18T14:43:00.000-08:002011-11-18T14:43:53.819-08:00The Parsha and the PilgrimsWith <a href="http://www.butterball.com/">Thanksgiving just a few days away</a>, we can’t help but think of some of time-honored values associated with our American tradition. Even as we recall the bounty that was shared between Pilgrim and Indian alike, so are we moved to think of all of those in our midst who might have less. We reach out to them – as our Pilgrim and Indian ancestors looked after each other so many years ago.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.valdosta.edu/%7Ewmwolvek/Native_American__Pilgrim_8.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.valdosta.edu/%7Ewmwolvek/Native_American__Pilgrim_8.gif" width="136" /></a></div> But while I would never want to minimize the ethical notion of tzedakah – of sharing our bounty with others who are in need – this week’s Torah portion, <a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/hayyeisarah.shtml">Parshat Chayei Sarah</a>, challenges us to explore other important values that are embedded in this Thanksgiving season.<br />
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We begin with the fact that this week's Torah portion contains the story of Eliezer (Abraham's servant) and his search for a wife for Isaac. The text refers to an elaborate and scripted test that Eliezer had constructed with God….a test that would prove to Eliezer that the woman who was generous with water was the worthy future wife of Isaac, his master’s son.<br />
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But our rabbis, who teach us that every word in the Torah is laden with meaning, can’t help but notice the fact that the wording in the Torah is somewhat strange. The text goes out of its way to indicate that Eliezer <i>ran</i> to meet Rebekah at the well in the center of town. Why would Eliezer have run to meet her? After a long journey in the desert, wouldn’t we expect him to be thirsty and tired? Hardly the kind of physical condition that would allow someone to run toward a stranger…<br />
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Rabbi Yehezkel of Kuzmir (19th century Poland) offers one provocative answer when he writes that Eliezer ran because he had seen the water perform a miracle!! The water magically rose up to meet Rebekah, so as to make it easier for her to draw it out!<br />
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He goes on to wonder...if Eliezer had in fact witnessed a true miracle, then why did he and Rebekah still have to follow the 'script' that God had constructed to <i>prove</i> that Rebekah was the right person? Rabbi Yehezkel's answer: "From this we can see that a single instance of proper behavior is more important than a hundred miracles and signs." <br />
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No doubt this will be music to the ears of the rationalists and humanists that follow my posts.<br />
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But I would humbly remind you that Judaism is not wholly rational and humanistic. At the core of our identity is a willingness to grapple with that which cannot be Seen or always Understood. We Jews have affirmed the existence of God for more than 3000 years. And although God cannot be witnessed in the physical sense of the word, the quest to come to know God lies at the heart of our Jewish experience nonetheless. <br />
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And let us not forget that it lies at the core of our Thanksgiving story as well. This holiday is not just about being grateful for our food, and for being reminded of the obligation to share it with others.<br />
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Thanksgiving also celebrates the fact that the original pilgrims came to this country in search of something….not just of a new kind of political freedom…but also a new kind of spirituality…they were seeking an experience of God, or of Holiness, that could not be found in the Europe of the17th and 18th centuries. They sought it here….in this wildly beautiful and expansive land that we are all fortunate enough to call home.<br />
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Imagine what it must have been like for the people who sailed on the Mayflower back in 1620. There wasn’t just anxiety about what the New World would bring. There was also hope, which grew out of a faith that there was more in the world, and that there could be more to their lives, than the existence that they knew in England. <br />
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I think that Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel understood, on some level, what the Mayflower’s voyage was all about it, when he wrote that:<br />
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"The search of reason ends at the shore of the known; on the immense expanse beyond it only the sense of the ineffable can glide. It alone knows the route to that which is remote from experience and understanding. Neither of them is amphibious: reason cannot go beyond the shore, and the sense of the ineffable is out of place where we measure, where we weigh.<br />
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We do not leave the shore of the known in search of adventure or suspense or because of the failure of reason to answer our questions. We sail because our mind is like a fantastic seashell, and when applying our ear to its lips we hear a perpetual murmur from the waves beyond the shore."<br />
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On this Thanksgiving, let us not just learn from the pilgrims’ example about the importance of sharing our bounty with others. Let us rejoice in the pilgrims’ faith, and curiosity…the fact that they heard the “perpetual murmur from the waves beyond the shore” and responded to it…by packing their bags, boarding a ship, and coming here….to found this country that we are all blessed to call Home.<br />
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And as we <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/ref/dining/recipes_turkey.html">eat our turkey on Thursday</a>, may we too pause long enough in our feasting to <a href="http://www.howstuffworks.com/question556.htm">give ear</a> to the “perpetual murmur from the waves beyond the shore” that speak to us. What are the dreams and possibilities that we yearn for in the weeks and months ahead? And what oceans are we willing to cross…what journeys are we willing to go on…to achieve them?<br />
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Shabbat Shalom and Happy Thanksgiving!Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-74092154720483006392011-11-04T14:29:00.000-07:002011-11-04T14:29:02.317-07:00Aspiring to a Life on the Ladder<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>HE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">My daughter, now five, definitely qualifies as a “<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodResourceCenter/picky-eating-medical-condition-covered-insurance/story?id=11361332#.TrRS47JnRBl" target="_blank">picky eater</a>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have about ten or fifteen go-to foods in the house that she loves, and is happy to eat in quantity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But getting her to try something new and – God forbid – actually like it…is virtually unheard of in our house.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">At first, Amy and I thought there was something wrong…either with her, or with our parenting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we soon came to discover that <a href="http://www.pediatricservices.com/parents/pc-33.htm" target="_blank">a lot of kids are incredibly picky, or “discerning,” eaters</a>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">In fact, today, most pediatric nutritionists believe that <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/childrens-health/HQ01107" target="_blank">parents have to expose their children to a new food more than 20 times</a> before there’s any realistic chance that the child might try it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>20 times!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of just putting it on the plate, and hoping for the best.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The more I’ve thought about that statistic over the last few years…the more I’ve concluded that there is something fixed in our human nature regarding regularity, and routine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">We get stuck doing what we do…We’ve always done it this way…And it is <i>so</i> hard to imagine ever doing it differently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=set-in-our-ways" target="_blank">Change, in other words, is incredibly hard.</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">This week’s Torah portion, <a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/lekhlekha.shtml" target="_blank">Parshat Lech Lecha</a>, seeks to shake things up a bit….by arguing against our inherent defense mechanism of retaining the status quo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We grow, our tradition asserts, when we take the risk of leaving the comfortable and familiar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16pt;">That's reflected in the story of Abraham - which opens by informing us that God commanded our patriarch to start his journey as a Jew by <b>leaving Ur</b>…his homeland, the only place he ever knew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Why – we wonder – does Abraham have to leave his home to begin the journey that will ultimately create Judaism?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashi" target="_blank">Rashi</a>, the great Torah commentator of medieval France, suggests that great benefit…or substantial positive change in our lives…only comes about when we have the courage to pick up our bags and start walking…away from that which we’re used to, and towards a destination that is fraught with uncertainty.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">There are some in our tradition that suggest that Ur, Abraham’s homeland, was somehow tainted…That there was something stale in the air that would have prevented Judaism from flowering there…and so God had Abraham begin travelling toward the Land of Israel.</span><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">But I think there’s a larger metaphorical point to be made here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not that there was anything wrong with Ur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was merely an awareness on the part of God that we can only become our best selves when we switch things up…when we physically move ourselves, or alter our routine, to give ourselves the chance to become something, and someone, different.</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Thus the brilliance of this week’s Torah portion, which seeks to teach us that all we have to do is start moving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not just in a physical sense – though that’s an easy way to live out this value, by getting up and exercising…or by getting up and moving to a different town or city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> <div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">But we can move in other ways…by changing the way we think about something, or by changing the way we talk about someone or something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the slightest change can put a process in motion that could result in a major difference in our lives for the better.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">To start moving is to begin walking the path, being on a journey…rather than remaining fixed in an unmoving spot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Austrian author <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schnitzler" target="_blank">Arthur Schnitzler</a> was an advocate of moving…of being open to going on the journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>He once wrote that:<u><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></u><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> "The meaning of our life is the road, not the goal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For each answer is delusive, each fulfillment melts away between our fingers, and the goal is no longer a goal once it is attained."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">To live a meaningful and fulfilled life is not to reach or achieve certain goals, according to Schnitzler.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is, rather, to remain committed to always going…always journeying…always seeking and moving toward a fuller and richer sense of self….a more meaningful way of looking at, and acting in, the world.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">In the 19<sup>th</sup> century, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yisrael_Meir_Kagan" target="_blank">Chofetz Chayyim</a> brought this approach to life as he contemplated the mysterious image of Jacob’s ladder, which is described in Chapter 28 of the Book of Genesis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Chofetz Chayyim wrote that:</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> "</span>Jacob dreamed of a ladder standing on the ground and reaching to heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means: We never stand still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We either ascend, or we descend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">" </span></div><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><b></b></span><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"></span>For the Chofetz Chayim, and for Abraham’s grandson Jacob, the ladder is just a dream…an ideal that we can, and must, yearn for: a vision of our lives in which we would be empowered to always keep moving…to never get stuck on a rung…but to always be exploring, experimenting, and even risk-taking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes we are blessed to ascend, and sometimes we are forced to descend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the path toward a more fulfilling life is the one in which we never stand still for too long.<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Shabbat Shalom.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.psycademy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/j0433152.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.psycademy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/j0433152.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></div>Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-88444788140990916342011-10-28T12:08:00.000-07:002011-10-28T12:08:25.732-07:00Celebrating...ResponsiblyTo all of the <a href="http://musingsonlifelawandgender.typepad.com/people_and_things_i_dont_/2006/10/people_who_dont.html">non-baseball fans out there</a>, I wanted to make sure you knew about last night's Game Six of the World Series between the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals. Commentators are already declaring the Cardinals' victory, which forces a Game Seven tonight, the greatest World Series game of all time!! Read the local St. Louis coverage of the game <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_66cbad54-012e-11e1-931e-001a4bcf6878.html">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">One of the things that caught my eye in reading all of the coverage of the game this morning was the fact that the Rangers' staff had already started preparing their locker room for the World Series victory party (which would have taken place had the Rangers won the game....which they literally on the verge of doing). But alas, the Cards won. And so, the hanging of plastic sheets over TV monitors and computers (to protect them from champagne) proved premature and unnecessary.</div><div style="text-align: center;">...</div><div style="text-align: left;">I love baseball (RIP 2011 Philadelphia Phillies). But I never understood why locker room celebrations had to be marked by an excess of champagne and beer (televised live of course).</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"> Either the Cards or the Rangers are going to win tonight's game, and the Series. And one of them is sure to be doing some serious celebrating. But at the risk of being a "party pooper," I want to devote this week's Etanu to the question of celebrating responsibly.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://sullybaseball.blogspot.com/2009/10/enough-with-champagne-celebrations.html">Some</a> have suggested that champagne use be curtailed in baseball's postseason....<a href="http://www.alcohol-rehab-info.com/alcoholrehabarticles/baseball-cracking-down-on-alcohol-filled-celebrations.php">Major League Baseball has asked teams to make sure that non-alcoholic choices are available</a>...But I am going one step further. I want to go on the record today to say that there is something wrong with the public glorification of excessive drinking - even when a team has just won the World Series.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I am deeply concerned about the mixed messages that we send our kids (and adults who continue to struggle with making healthy choices about alcohol) when network television broadcasts our larger than life heroes celebrating with champagne.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> <br />
I'm not suggesting that Judaism is "dry" and believes we should be too. Our tradition firmly accepts that there is a time and a place for enjoying alcohol responsibly...<b>in moderation</b>. Adults in our community are invited to enjoy a little bit of wine during <i>kiddush</i> on Shabbat. And we're invited to have four cups of wine on Passover (seders can get long and boring, after all). But maintaining that sense of moderation is key. Our tradition never allows or encourages binge drinking. And it certainly never endorses alcohol-induced irresponsible behavior like drunk driving.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Judaism's approach to alcohol comes from several different places in the Torah, including in this week's Torah portion, <a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/noah.shtml">Parshat Noach</a>. The portion is famously known for the story of the Great Flood...of Noah and his family (and all the animals) hunkering down on the Ark for 40 days and 40 nights....until eventually the rain stopped, they could get off the boat, get on with human history.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Except...there's a strange post-script to the story (Genesis 9:20-29). According to the text, the very first thing that Noah did when he got off the boat was plant a vineyard. (One commentator suggests that it was because Noah had an unhealthy dependence on alcohol, and desperately needed wine after the Flood. And so, before planting fruits or vegetables, he started taking steps so that he could ultimately drink.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Later, when he finally drank the wine, there is a bizarre incident with his sons. It involves Noah being naked. It's way strange. The text isn't clear if something sexual happened...or if Noah just got so drunk that he became immodest/didn't realize that he was stripping...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">What is clear is that the Torah is teaching us that alcohol (especially when we abuse it) has the power to make us do things that we don't even realize in the moment that we are doing. And that is terribly problematic when it comes to a Jewish way of life. Our ethics demand that we are constantly aware of our actions, and that we are always striving to make good, healthy, safe choices.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">This strange incident with Noah and his sons teaches us about the danger that we put ourselves (and others) in when we lose control, and give up the ability to evaluate our actions/interactions with others.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">So: to the Cardinals or the Rangers...whoever wins tonight...be conscious of your behavior, and of what kind of message your champagne party is sending to impressionable Americans who are watching on TV.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">And for the rest of us: a reminder that drinking requires a tremendous amount of maturity - to be self aware to know when we are approaching our limit, to know when we are potentially putting our bodies in harm's way...to know when we absolutely should not be getting behind the wheel of a car, or hooking up with someone that we hardly know (or trust).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">For anyone that has struggled with alcohol, the good news is that there are amazing resources to help! Click here for the <a href="http://www.aa.org/?Media=PlayFlash">website of Alcoholic Anonymous (AA)</a> or <a href="http://www.aa.org/lang/en/subpage.cfm?page=28">click here to find AA meetings around the country</a>. Everyone should also know about <a href="http://www.jbfcs.org/programs-services/jewish-community-services-2/jacs/">JACS</a> (Jewish Alcoholics, Chemically Dependent Persons, and Significant Others)...the Jewish response to Alcoholism. Click <a href="http://www.jbfcs.org/programs-services/jewish-community-services-2/jacs/jacs-meetings/">here</a> for a directory of their local meetings.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Hoping you'll keep all of this information in mind...And that the next time you have occasion to celebrate...that you do it responsibly.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Shabbat Shalom.</div>Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-67406196034133191022011-10-21T10:27:00.000-07:002011-10-21T10:27:38.994-07:00The Release of Gilad Shalit: Finding (and Fulfilling) Our Purpose in Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM97rOqb__bLJMXVT0Zc70-UUfTC4dXzCqn1EjpPyRlc34taX1rqeDSSsnfVrsiTJtMaCwU-mQJlnDkqBOQfEbS9E2TIMd1sTmu6Hc8LXmO1Qzbn5WNigEe_bETdJ4INJottQsAbvuMM0/s1600/shalit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM97rOqb__bLJMXVT0Zc70-UUfTC4dXzCqn1EjpPyRlc34taX1rqeDSSsnfVrsiTJtMaCwU-mQJlnDkqBOQfEbS9E2TIMd1sTmu6Hc8LXmO1Qzbn5WNigEe_bETdJ4INJottQsAbvuMM0/s200/shalit.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
Hopefully by now you've heard about <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/world/middleeast/shalits-release-came-after-familys-5-year-campaign.html?_r=1&ref=giladshalit" target="_blank">the big news</a> from Israel this week about the release of Gilad Shalit, after being held for five years as a hostage by Hamas.<br />
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In exchange for his release, the Israeli government agreed to release more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners - many of them convicted murderers and terrorists. (It's so important to remember that, even as we rejoice in Gilad's safe return, many of the families of the victims of other acts of terror are suffering - in knowing that the murderers of their children are being freed. Do take the time to click <a href="http://mstreiffer.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/gilad-and-marla/" target="_blank">here</a> to read the short but poignant reflection written by my good friend Rabbi Micah Streiffer about Gilad Shalit and our friend Marla Bennett z"l (who so many in San Diego knew and loved).)<br />
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The transaction of 1000 terrorists for one soldier presents a pressing moral question. <br />
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I'd like to briefly examine it through the lens of this week's Torah portion, <a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/bereshit.shtml" target="_blank">Parshat Breishit</a> - the very first portion of the Torah. <br />
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Breishit of course tells the story of creation. And one of the things that the text goes out of its way to emphasize is that every single thing in the world was created for a particular purpose. Light was created for Day. And Darkness was created for Night. Rivers were created to flow. Etc. Etc.<br />
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And according to the Torah, the essential purpose of humanity is to tend to our relationships with our loved ones.<br />
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How do we know this?<br />
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Because Adam (the first person) is never expected to live a solitary existence. From the moment Adam is created, God is conscious of the fact that Adam needs a partner (thus explaining the existence of Eve). Adam is not whole until he enters into relationship with another.<br />
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<b>To be human is to constantly be compelled to do everything in our power to care for the ones we love.</b><br />
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In light of the Gilad Shalit situation, I have been thinking about the families that I know that suffered the devastating and horrible loss of a child. And how that suffering can never fully be relieved because there is nothing that we can do to bring that child back.<br />
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And then I think of the Shalit's. And about the fact that even though the circumstances must have made them realize that getting Gilad back was extraordinarily unlikely...that they devoted their lives over the last 5 years to making it happen. They never gave up hope. They couldn't imagine doing so. Because, as parents, their chief purpose in life was to do everything they could to bring Gilad back. That's just what we do. It's how God made us human.<br />
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And so, in that sense, there's nothing terribly complicated for me about the transaction that Israel agreed to. A parent, or a country, can't really give up on one of their own. It's not how we were created to be. We're human. God endowed us with a DNA that dictates our concern for our own. It's our purpose in life.<br />
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What about you? On this Shabbat I challenge you to look in the mirror. Who do you see in the reflection? What is the reason <i>you</i> (in particular) were put on this planet? What is the unique purpose that <i>you</i> have? And what, if anything, are you doing to fulfill it?<br />
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Shabbat Shalom.Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4698422263803634504.post-8377200120265684792011-10-14T14:49:00.000-07:002011-10-14T14:49:48.604-07:00Sukkot: Challenging the Way We Think About the Other Religions of the World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://jewishj.pmhclients.com/images/uploads/story_images/sukkah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="http://jewishj.pmhclients.com/images/uploads/story_images/sukkah.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Sukkot.shtml">Sukkot</a> is the perfect time of year for us to think about those who are religiously different from us. The very nature of the design of the <i>sukkah</i> (a walled structure that is also open) hails visitors and guests of all backgrounds to come in, and join the occupants for a meal.<br />
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The long-honored custom of <i>ushpizin</i> (of ritually welcoming guests into the <i>sukkah</i> for hospitality) also encourages diversity. <a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Sukkot/At_Home/The_Sukkah/Ushpizin/Inviting_People_of_All_Faiths.shtml">Check out this attempt at an interfaith <i>ushpizin </i>ritual. </a><br />
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The non-permanence of the <i>sukkah</i> also suggests that the holiday is a time for us to meditate on breaking down boundaries/divisions, rather than establishing new ones. <br />
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This theme is also played out in the Haftarah reading that Jews around the world read on the first morning of Sukkot (this past Thursday). According to the prophet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Zechariah">Zechariah</a>, one of the things that might happen at the end of time is that: "The survivors of all the nations of the world who came against Jerusalem [and the Jewish People] shall annually go up to worship the Sovereign God of Heaven's Hosts and celebrate the festival of Sukkot" (Zechariah 14:16).<br />
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Some might read this passage as suggesting a fervent belief by our ancient Biblical ancestors that their religion was superior to all of the other religions of the world. And that, at the end of time, everyone else would realize the "error of their ways" and come to embrace Judaism as well.<br />
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But that would be a significant mistake. The passage doesn't say anything about everyone <u>needing to be Jewish</u>. It only suggests an immense value in having all of the people of the world <i>do something</i> (in this case, celebrate Sukkot) together.<br />
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Behind that statement is an assumption that we are more alike than we are different. And that whatever surface level religious beliefs might distinguish us from each other, at the end of the day we are all seeking a Higher Power and a worldview that will enable us to do Good in the world. And that, occasionally at least, it would be an awfully healthy thing if we were able to figure out a way to become friends with one another.<br />
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Off the top of my head, I would say that the Olympics are the closest we come in our society to actually pulling this off today. Once every four years (okay, every 2 for a Winter Games, and every 2 for a Summer Games), the whole world (regardless of race, religion, or political philosophy) comes together to celebrate, and compete in, Sport.<br />
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The bad news is that we have 287 days to go until the London Summer Games.<br />
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And, pending some other domestic or world crisis (God forbid), the only thing we have to distract ourselves with on television until then is...the Republican primary for the 2012 presidential election.<br />
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Remarkably...one of the dominant news stories coming out of that race thus far has been....the candidates' religion!<br />
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<a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#44896387">Watch this video from Chris Matthews' show on <i>Hardball</i> (Oct 13, 2011)</a>. It covers the basic background surrounding the suggestion by Rick Perry (and others associated with the Republican Party) that Mitt Romney (and, by extension, Jon Huntsman) are not qualified to be President because they are Mormons.<br />
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Some conservative Christians would discriminate against Mormons because of their religious beliefs. And some would discriminate against Catholics as well.<br />
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JFK's Catholicism has long been documented as an important component of the 1960 Presidential Campaign. But in 2011...we're still talking about this? Are people really going to cast their vote because they are suspicious of a candidate's religious affiliation?<br />
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I know...I'm naive. But it is so hard for me to believe that Americans are fixated on some one's religion in this day and age. Yes: I get that a person's religion informs their politics (my Judaism informs my politics, anyway). But - if I were ever to run for office - I don't think I would ever want someone to vote for <i>or</i> against me, just because I was Jewish. Voters should back the candidate that shares their overall values, and has a vision for the future of our country that they agree with.<br />
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So: my hope and prayer on this Sukkot is that the lessons of the holiday reach all of those in this country who would seek to use religion to divide us. Sukkot is a holiday that teaches us that our world will be better, and stronger, if we can find occasions when we can all join together: celebrating that which unites us...rather than that which pulls us apart.<br />
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<i>Chag Sameach</i> and Shabbat Shalom.Rabbi Jeff Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092569015694840742noreply@blogger.com0