Wednesday, January 27, 2010


“There is nothing new under the sun!”
Ecclesiastes 1:9

These famous Jewish words often ring in my ears. How true that we think we are being creative only to repeat something that has already been tried. When it comes to taking care of the environment, we are certainly not the first to say we care. It is really an ancient Jewish ideal.

“When God created the first human beings, the Lord led them around the Garden of Eden and said, "Look at My works! See how beautiful they are! I created them for your sake. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy my world – for if you do, there will be no one else to repair it.”
Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:29

Judaism teaches that although it was created for our sake, the world does not belong to us. It is God's. We have it on loan. And it is up to us to pass it down, unspoiled and intact, to the next generation. We have the power to take care of our garden.

And yet, we see all around us that we have violated this part of our covenant, and in the process, lost part of our purpose. Why now do I focus on this issue? As the earth is literally beginning the process of waking from winter, we prepare for spring. We don't see it yet but life is starting to return – buds getting ready to form, and seeds stirring. We celebrate in the Jewish calendar with Tu BiShvat, the New Year of the Trees.

The first Mishna in the tractate of Rosh HaShanah tells us that there are four "new years." One for trees, one for tithes of animals, one for kings, and the new year celebration of years. If it sounds complicated, just think about how we mark our own year: taxes, school, summer, semester and so on.

The Kabbalists of the 16th century marked the turn of the seasons with a special seder for Tu BiShvat. This Friday durign Shabbat services we will do the same, and celebrate a Tu Bishvat seder together as a congregation. We hope that you will join us!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Tefillin Drama


First, here is the story...(after some thoughts)


Plane diverted over tefillin
January 21, 2010

(JTA) -- A commercial flight was diverted to Philadelphia after a Jewish passenger's tefillin were mistaken for a bomb.

A passenger on the US Air flight Thursday from New York to Louisville mistook the religious prayer article as a bomb after the Jewish passenger had taken them out to pray, according to reports.

Tefillin consist of two boxes each on a strap of leather.

The passengers and crew were taken off the plane in Philadelphia. Fire trucks and police met the plane on the runway.

The Jewish passenger, reportedly 17, was questioned and released. No one was arrested in the incident.

So what is Tefilin?

Tefillin, (Hebrew: תפילין‎), are a set of small cubic leather boxes painted black, containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Bible, with leather straps dyed black on one side, and worn during weekday morning prayers. The hand-tefillin, or shel yad, is placed on the upper arm, and the strap wrapped around the arm, hand and fingers; while the head-tefillin, or shel rosh, is placed above the forehead, with the strap going around the head and over the shoulders. The Torah commands that they should be worn to serve as a "sign" and "remembrance" that God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt.

I understand that not everyone has seen these "odd" little boxes. I get ho wforeign it may be. We need to ask ourselves have we lost our minds?

The source texts for tefillin in the Torah are obscure in literal meaning. For example, the following verse from the Shema states: "And you shall bind them as a sign upon your arm, and they shall be as totafot between your eyes."

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Miracles


In this weeks Torah portion Bo, we continue the story of Moses' struggle against Pharaoh, with the final three plagues: Locusts, Darkness, and the Slaying of the First Born. With this ultimate plague, the Jewish people are finally released from Egypt.
This incredible moment from Egypt forms the root of Jewish identity. Most Jewish holidays directly or indirectly commemorate it and it is mentioned daily in Jewish prayer. Indeed, God will subsequently identify himself not as the creator of heaven and earth, but as the Lord, your God, who delivered you from Egypt. We are taught by the Hassidic commentators that we don't have miracles like the parting of the Red Sea or the Exodus in our time. Our role they teach us, is to seek ways to create our own miracles by the good we do in the world. I couldn't help this week but draw a strong connection to what we are witnessing in Haiti.

Even with the problems the response and outpouring has been amazing. I must admit I have a great deal of pride especially for Israel. The other day I watched Dr. Jennifer Furin, of Harvard Medical School, as she stood in desperation and frustration over a dying patient interviewed on CNN. The man had survived the earthquake only to die from infection in an ill-equipped hospital.
“I’ve been here since Thursday,” Furin said. “No one but the Israelis has taken any of our patients.”

Two jumbo jets carrying more than 220 doctors, nurses, civil engineers, and other Israeli army personnel, including a rescue team and field hospital, were among the first rescue teams to arrive in Haiti. In fact, they were the first foreign backup team to set up medical treatment at the partially collapsed main hospital in Port-au-Prince. When others feared their saftey and felt hte need to stay the Israeli team remained.

“Our medical aid delegation to Haiti expresses the true heritage of the State of Israel and the Jewish People,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “This act joins similar action we have taken in the past in Mexico, Kenya and Turkey. We may be a small country, but we are a country with a big heart. This is the expression of Jewish ethics and heritage – to help others.”

Critics are already saying Israel is just trying to fix its world image. It doesn't matter what others may say it matters instead what we accomplish and do.

In the midst of the tragedy and chaos in the Haitian capital, Israeli doctors, delivered a healthy baby boy in an IDF field hospital. When the baby's grateful mother, saw her newborn son, alive and well, she named him Israel in gratitude to the people and nation who brought her true miracle.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010



This weekend we mark Martin Luther King, Jr. Day one of only four federal holidays that commemorate an individual person. The day signed into law not that many years ago has quickly evolved into a day of national service. The photograph displayed is of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel walking arm in arm with Martin Luther King, Jr., in the front row of marchers in Selma Alabama. It has become an icon of American Jewish life, and of Black-Jewish relations. The relationship between the two men began in January 1963, and was a genuine friendship as well as a relationship of two colleagues working together for Social Justice on a number of causes.

On March 25th 1968, just ten days before he was assassinated, King delivered the keynote address at a birthday celebration honoring Heschel. In his introduction of King to the audience, Heschel asked, "Where in America today do we hear a voice like the voice of the prophets of Israel? Martin Luther King is a sign that God has not forsaken the United States of America. God has sent him to us. His presence is the hope of America. His mission is sacred, his leadership of supreme importance to every one of us."

Shortly after returning from the march in Selma, Heschel wrote to King: "The day we marched together out of Selma was a day of sanctification. That day I hope will never be past to me - that day will continue to be this day...."

For Heschel, the march had spiritual significance. He wrote, "For many of us the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer. Legs are not lips and walking is not kneeling. And yet our legs uttered songs. Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying."

Like many I am inspired by Heschel's words and use them to define what I feel is the essence of Judaism. We are a people of the book and at the same time strive to make a difference in the world around us. How can we change the world for the better? Judaism is not simply about the words that we find on the pages of our Prayer book or in our Torah but about transforming our ideals into action. On this weekend of service in memory of Martin Luther King Jr. let us find a way to move our legs toward action.
On this shabbat we pray for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. We are in the process of starting a fundraising effort for the victims and I will post more information later today.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Shemot: The Narrow Places


Shemot: The Narrow Places
In Genesis, the first book of the Torah, many who will shape our Jewish identity are in place: Abraham, Sarah, Ishmael, Isaac, Esau, Jacob, Joseph and his brothers.

This week we read from the beginning of the second Book of the Torah, Exodus. Though it begins with enslavement and 200 plus years of terrible oppression by the Egyptians, our Sages somewhat shockingly called Exodus the “Book of Redemption,” the book “in which Israel goes from darkness to light.” After the deep exile in Egypt, the following chapters of Exodus relate the account of the redemption of the Jewish people.

With Exodus, life begins in the real world, and the past planted by our matriarchs and patriarchs begin to grow. The tools we inherit from them give us the power to be freed from oppression (Exodus). We are taught that the Exodus from Egypt symbolically opened the doors of freedom for all time. It empowered us with the ability to transcend our limits and constraints. The message is appropriate today more than ever.

We all deal with Mitzrayim (Egypt), or narrow places, in our own lives of struggle and challenge. As we face the mitzrayim in our lives today we can easily succumb to the notion that life is just too overwhelming. We can feel powerless amidst all the intense events happening around us.

The Exodus story reminds us that we can free ourselves from all forms of mitzrayim, every type of oppression, including the difficult events of our time. Just as we were freed then, we are promised through our covenant that we can be freed today.

But of course we struggle! Even when we eventually find freedom, we struggle as our people did in the wilderness! This week we are reminded that freedom from our narrow places is in our grasp. We just need to remember to reach!