Parasha Ki Tetze "What Makes a Hero?"

Despite living in Chicagoland since 2008 I had not been to Wrigley Field until 12 days ago. If Middy and I were going to see one Chicago Cubs game this season, that game last Sunday, August 12, was the one to see. Many of you saw the game on national TV or read about it and certainly most of you have heard about it by now. The Cubs were playing the Nationals. The National’s ace, Max Scherzer, was locked in a pitching duel with Cole Hamels, recently acquired by Chicago from the Texas Rangers.  The Nationals were up 1-0 when they came up to bat in the top of the ninth. They scored two runs in the top of the ninth off of Cubs reliever Brandon Kintzler to take a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth. When the first Cub’s batter up in the bottom of the ninth grounded out, some people began to head for the exits. But the Cubs managed to load the bases and with two outs, pinch hitter David Bote came to the plate. Down to the last strike of the game, , Bote hit a grand slam home run to center field to win the game for the Cubs, 4-3. Wrigley Field erupted. People started hugging each other and dancing in the aisles as David Bote rounded the bases. The crowd roared for several minutes and even broke out into the “Go, Cubs Go” song. It was quite an exhilarating experience to be part of such an epic win.  Of course, in the middle of it all, being interviewed along the third base line was the hero of the moment, David Bote.  

He was not the first hero that evening to be recognized at Wrigley Field. Earlier in the game, between innings, we had been introduced to a young woman who had distinguished herself as a military hero. In fact, if you attend any ballpark, NFL stadium, NASCSAR race or golf tournament, on any day of the week, you will be asked to rise to recognize the contributions to our country by the military or the police or the firefighters who keep us safe. Often that recognition includes a salute to a “Hometown Hero” who was born and raised in that community.  This made me think about what Judaism says about “what makes a person a hero”.  

Tonight I would like to examine three texts from our tradition that define “heroism”. The first is from Pirke Avot, the “Ethics of the Fathers”. In this text, the word for “hero” in Hebrew is “Gibor”, which is derived from the three letter root meaning “to overcome” or “to conquer”.  In the fourth chapter of Pirke Avot , or “The Ethics of the Fathers”  Rabbi Ben Zoma asks, “Who is a hero?” He then answers his own question, “One who conquers his impulses”. How does Rabbi Ben Zoma know this? He cites a Biblical passage from the Book of Proverbs, “Being slow to anger is better than being a hero and one who can govern his passions is better than a warrior who conquers a city.” In Ben Zoma’s view, a person who has learned to reign in his or her impulses, to curb his or her destructive tendencies, to control his or her feelings in a difficult situation is the person deserving of the title “hero”.  

Our Torah reading for this week ostensibly starts out talking about rules for military engagement. “When you go out to war against your enemies,” begins the parasha. A Chassidic teaching holds that the Torah is not speaking only of doing battle against military opponents. The Torah is also directing us to do battle with ourselves by warring against our inherent selfishness, lust, rage, pride, laziness and envy. It is a person who subdues and masters his or her “Yetzer Ha-Rah” his or her “evil inclination” who is the true hero. 

Another model of heroism is the “Eshet Chayil”, or “Woman of Valor”. The text is from the Book of Proverbs. “Valor”, as a synonym for heroism, is defined as “courage in the face of a challenge”. Now the text could have chosen any number of heroines in the Bible to use as examples of the heroic woman. It could have chosen the story of Devorah, as a model of heroism. Devorah was a judge who heard her cases under a palm tree. She led an army against the Canaanites, who were oppressing her people. Or they could have sung the praises of Yael, who worked up the courage to kill the Canaanite general, Sisera after he sought refuge in her tent.  It could have chosen Esther, who risked her life to save her people.  But the author of Eshet Chayil chose none of these extraordinary women as the model of a hero. Instead, an Eshet Chayil, a “Heroic Woman” is described as a woman who is trustworthy, industrious, generous, wise and modest”.   

The final model of a hero that I want to share is found in the Book of Deuteronomy. Moses describes G-d as “Ha-el Ha-Gadol Ha-Gibor ve Ha-Norah – Great, Heroic and Awe-inspiring. Following that description are the words, “who shows no favor and takes no bribe, but upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing him with food and clothing.” According to this model of heroism, a hero is one who resists the temptation to enrich himself by acting unjustly, and who extends protection to the most vulnerable members of society – the orphan, the widow, the poor and the stranger.  

Clearly the Jewish model of a hero goes well beyond those who distinguish themselves by demonstrating their physical courage. If we broadened our definition of the heroic to encompass Jewish values, we would see American sports teams honor not only our heroic military, police and firefighters but also our heroic teachers, social workers, lawyers, scientists, volunteers, home aid workers, musicians, caregivers, farmers, journalists, poets, nurses, doctors, little league coaches and others. Shouldn’t they, too, be given the opportunity to be honored, recognized and celebrated at ballparks, stadiums, racetracks, golf courses and arenas across America? I, for one, think so.  

Shabbat Shalom 

Parasha Re-eh "When Things Work out Best"

Did you know that when we are awake, our brain generates 23 watts of energy, enough energy to light up a room? And that by simply opening our eyes, 75 percent of our brains’ energy is activated?

Perhaps that is why this week’s parasha opens with the Hebrew word “Re’eh” which means “see”.  The Torah wants us to really use our brains!  Yet those of us who pride ourselves on our ability to see ahead might have a particularly difficult time with the approach the Torah takes this week with respect to worship in the Land of Israel.

We read numerous descriptions of the sacrifices and offerings that will be made when the Israelites reach the Promised Land, but strangely, we are not told where the holy place to offer those sacrifices will be.  We are told instead, no less than 12 times, that we will offer sacrifices "ba-makom asher yivhar Adonai...", "in the place that the Lord your God will choose..."  We are to make a thank-you-God offering of the firstlings of our flock “in 'the place that G-d will choose”: We are to celebrate three festivals a year in  “the place that G-d will choose”; ……..

Why doesn’t G-d simply tell the people where that place is?  Surely, G-d already knows! 

Maimonides, in his Guide for the Perplexed, offers three reasons why G-d does not reveal to the people the place that He has chosen.  First, so that the nations of the world will not try to seize and fortify that place before the Jewish people get there, knowing what its significance will be in our religious life. This would make “that place” all the more difficult to conquer. Second, whoever had possession of Jerusalem at the time might be tempted to devastate it and the land around it, making it more difficult to inhabit. Third, and perhaps most likely, if the Israelites knew the location of “the place” they would struggle to have that place included in the area of their tribal inheritance, so as to rule over it. This might result in strife, controversy, and even civil war. Better to leave the location of “the place” vague until King David can unite the tribes and choose Jerusalem as the place.

This reminds me of another well-known story, this one at the beginning of our journey as a people.  G-d tells Abraham to go forth from the land of his birth, “to the place that I will show you.”  Although G-d knows that place, here too, G-d chooses to keep it to G-d’s-self.

Clearly, there is a “Trust-me” factor in both stories.  Abraham must trust that G-d will lead him to a land where he can flourish. The Israelites must also trust that one of the most important aspects of their new lives - where the central place of worship is to be located - will be made known to them only in the due course of time.

Thus, the title of this Torah portion, Re'eh  -- "See" -- refers to a lesson about stepping into an unknown future, with only a partial vision of what lies ahead and much yet that is to be revealed.  Our parasha begins by assuring us that if we follow in G-d’s way and live our lives according to Jewish values we will be blessed. Conversely, if we do not live our lives according to Jewish values, we will be cursed. But that does not seem to be exactly how the world works. As we know, misfortune, even tragedy, often touches the righteous. And, as our Psalms attest, the wicked often seem to flourish!

Living according to Jewish values surely brings blessings to our lives in and of itself. But it does not assure that nothing bad will ever happen to us. When and if those misfortunes occur, it is good to remember the words of wisdom of John Wooden, legendary basketball coach of UCLA who led the Bruins to 10 national collegiate basketball championships. Wooden said, “Things work out best for the people who make the best of how things work out.”

We are one week into the month of Elul.  Elul is a time of spiritual preparation for the upcoming Days of Awe.  In preparation for the High Holidays we look back at the past year and consider what lies ahead. Of course we all hope that the year ahead will bring much blessing and success, not unforeseen trouble and hardship. But should we need to confront something that we didn’t see coming, may we all make the best of how things work out.

Shabbat Shalom

Richard Wagner's Piano

Earlier this week, Mali Sharon, a fellow congregant, called me to ask if she could share a story with our congregation at Friday night services. Mali had recently returned from Bayreuth, composer Richard Wagner’s home in Germany. She was in Bayreuth to see her son Yuval conduct an opera at the famous Bayreuth Music Festival. Yuval is the first American Jew to conduct an opera at Bayreuth, a Festival that has been held yearly since 1876. The Festival was conceived and promoted by Richard Wagner himself as a venue to perform his operas.  Wagner descendants have been directors of the Festival ever since.

As Mali tells it, she was on a private tour of the Wagner museum, which was once Richard and wife Cosima Wagner’s private home in Bayreuth. They came to the room that housed Wagner’s beloved Steinway piano. Someone in the group asked if they could play it. Permission was granted, and composer and musician Marc Lowenstein, a colleague of Yuval’s from California who was on the tour, sat down on the bench. Mali asked if he could play Ha-Tikvah, the Israeli national anthem. He did, and the performance was captured on a cell phone by Sasha Anawalt, another colleague of Yuval’s from USC who was on the private tour.

As you read my introduction to Mali’s talk, below, I hope you will better understand the significance of Yuval Sharon, the son of two Israelis and the grandchild of survivors of Auschwitz, conducting an opera at Bayreuth. And I hope you will better understand why Yuval’s mother, Mali, the Israeli daughter of Auschwitz survivors from Romania, broke down in tears of joy when hearing HaTikvah played on Richard Wagner’s piano. Here is how I introduced Mali last Friday night to our congregation:

“In a few moments, I am going to invite Mali Sharon to address us. But before I do, I want to provide a framework, a context, as it were, to help us better understand the power of her experience.

“In his final speech in the White House, Ronald Reagan spoke about his understanding of what made our country the greatest country in the world. He said:

“‘…You can go to live in France, but you cannot become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Turkey or Japan, but you cannot become a German, a Turk, or a Japanese. But anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in America and become an American”…………… This, I believe, is one of the most important sources of America's greatness. We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people—our strength-from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation. While other countries cling to the stale past, here in America we breathe life into dreams. We create the future, and the world follows us into tomorrow. Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we're a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier. This quality is vital to our future as a nation. If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.’

“I share this with you tonight because in a few moments Mali Sharon is going to speak to us about her visit to Bayreuth, a town in Germany where the 19^th century composer Richard Wagner lived. Wagner was one of Germany’s great composers. He was also a German nationalist and virulent anti-Semite. Whereas, as Reagan articulated, we believe that people from all religions, races and countries can become “American”. Wagner believed that being “German” was reserved for one group of people only. Non-aryans could never be German. He reserved a particular animosity toward Jews, who, he felt, introduced a foreign and corrupting element into pure German culture. In an 1850 magazine article entitled “The Jew in Music”, Wagner wrote that “…the Jew is "incapable ... of artistic expression, neither through his outer appearance, nor through his language and least of all through his singing." Instead, Wagner believed Jews could only "imitate art."

“Because Wagner was considered a genius and held an exalted position in German culture, people paid attention to what he thought and said. According to German historian and musicologist Jens Malte Fischer, Wagner didn’t invent Antisemitism, but he “carried over the hatred of Jews of his era into the area of culture and - in particular - that of music…… He helped hoist Antisemitism out of dirty bars or scarcely read pamphlets and into the comfortable milieu of the middle class.”

“During Wagner’s lifetime, and even after his death, his home in Bayreuth became a convening place for Antisemites. His wife Cosima occasionally engaged Jewish soloists and musicians to play at the famed Bayreuth Music Festival, but these were token appearances meant to placate the liberal press. Overwhelmingly, important roles were cast with non-Jewish singers and performers. Their son Siegfried continued this practice right up until the Nazis took power in Germany in 1933.

“Hitler venerated Wagner as both a composer and as a fore-runner of the type of racial Antisemitism that Hitler himself formulated and popularized to the masses.

“Ronald Reagan’s bright and optimistic vision of what it is to be an American strikes us as the exact opposite of Wagner’s dark and pessimistic view of who could be considered “German”.  Whereas Reagan praised the “energy and new ideas” that immigrants bring with them to our shores, Wagner lamented the contributions of those he saw as “outsiders” as weakening and corrupting the pure Germanic culture.

“I now would like to introduce to you our own Mali Sharon, recently returned from a visit to Bayreuth. How she came to be at Bayreuth -- I am certain she will tell us. Mali ……”

Parasha Ekev: It's What's Inside that Counts

In 2008, researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan published a study to try to understand why putting an animal on the label of a bottle of wine – a kangaroo or a duck for example -- more than doubled the wine’s sales in the United States!  This strategy goes against the conventional wisdom that holds that, in order to be successful, a design should be highly relevant to the product that it seeks to represent. The researchers concluded that consumers were buying these wines because they identified with the animal on the label, that they associated these animals with themselves.

It is not only wine labels that sell wine. It turns out that you CAN sell a book by its cover. In fact, attractive packaging and labeling of any product is important to its ultimate commercial success. Now imagine going to a wine store and choosing a bottle of wine with the cutest frog on the label. When you check out, the clerk asks you, “Would you like wine in that bottle?” It turns out that you have bought the bottle, without the wine. The bottle you picked up only has water in it. Or you go to a book store and the cover of a book catches your eye. You go to purchase the book and the clerk asks you, “Would you like the words to this book?” You open the book, and stare at the blank pages. You have purchased the book, but nothing is inside.

Farfetched, you say? Yet, this is exactly what happens when we go to purchase one of the most familiar religious articles in all of Jewish life, a religious object that is so common we hardly even notice it.

In this week’s Torah reading we find the second paragraph of the Shema. In it, we are commanded to affix the mezuzah to the doorposts of our homes.  If we want to buy a mezuzah, we can either to a Judaica store, or to Amazon.com.  Amazon has many objects that are described as a mezuzah. There is the “married mezuzah” depicting a bride and a groom. There is a “winding scroll mezuzah” in the form of a Torah. There is a “seashell mezuzah” and a “granite crystal mezuzah” and even a mezuzah with pomegranates winding up its face --all graceful, beautifully designed and rather pricey. But although they are advertised as “mezuzahs” they are not mezuzahs. They are mezuzah cases. The case could be made of any material, in any design. It could be inexpensive or costly. But it is not a “mezuzah” unless it has a kosher scroll inside. If it does not have a kosher scroll inside, or if the kosher scroll has a defect in it, it is not considered an authentic mezuzah.

Many people don’t know this. Amazon certainly doesn’t tell you, and most Judaica stores will not tell you either. The mezuzah you buy at a store or on-line most often comes with a printed scroll, on paper. Unless you realize that the scroll has to be hand written on parchment by a scribe, you will put up your mezuzah with the paper scroll. You have the equivalent of a book cover with no words inside.

What matters about a mezuzah, just as in a bottle of wine or a book, is not what the cover looks like, it is what is inside. This is especially true of human beings.   You have probably never heard of Ed Feinhandler.  Mr. Feinhandler has appeared on a number of national television and radio talk shows, and was a contestant on television’s “Wheel of Fortune” a few year back. Ed can possibly lay claim to being America’s ugliest man. He has won 15 “Ugly Man” contests in a row, competing with men from across the country in this unusual annual contest. Yet he displays a heart of gold, so to speak.  Over the years Mr. Feinhandler has donated over $50,000 in his winnings to various charities. He has coached middle school and high school boys’ and girls’ basketball and tennis. He uses his mini-van with a license plate that reads “Mr. Ugly” to pick up underprivileged children during the summer to give them free tennis lessons.

Ed writes on his Facebook page that he is recovering from surgery. He writes, “As I was recovering slowly, I helped a lady with her loaded shopping cart at Walmart. She looked pretty tired and I took the bags to her at the back of her truck to make it easier on her. She thanked me three times. I held the door for twenty people at the movie theater and eight thanked me. One actually got even by holding the door for me when I left. I gave a homeless fellow five dollars to get some food at Wendy's”………He goes on in detail about the many things he has bought recently -- acne medicine, eyebrow cream, hair dye, two bottles of pink lemonade, art supplies, dental floss, pajamas, towels, and so forth – “all for the under-privileged children of northern Nevada.”

We all probably know people like Ed ourselves -- People whose beauty resides, not in their outer appearance, but in their hearts. Clearly beauty has little to do with what you see on the outside; and all to do with what is inside. You can purchase the fanciest mezuzah cover for thousands of dollars, but if the twenty five dollar parchment inside is defective, what is it, really? And you can have all the wealth in the world, but without values to guide your life, what are you, really? Ultimately, it is what is inside that really counts. 

Shabbat Shalom

The Menorah

 I and other Chicagoland Rabbis walked carefully, single file, down the narrow, dark and musty passage of the cavern that was part of the Jewish Catacombs of Rome. These catacombs are the ancient burial place of the Jewish community that lived in Rome before, during and well after, the time of Jesus. Above and to the sides of many of the burial places there are depictions of the menorah --but not he menorah that we are used to seeing. To our shock and astonishment, these seven branched candelabras stood on what seemed to be a tripod! 

The Menorah is one of the oldest Jewish symbols. In the Book of Exodus, G-d shows Moses the design of the Menorah, which is then executed by the artisan Bezalel. It is made out of one block of pure gold. In this week’s Torah portion, Aaron is commanded to light the Menorah in the Tabernacle every evening. Perhaps the most famous depiction of the Menorah, the one that shapes our idea of what the Menorah in the Temple looked like, is found in bass relief on the Arch of Titus in Rome. After the Roman general Titus destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, Rome erected a triumphal arch at the entrance of the Roman Forum to commemorate the event. The south panel of the arch depicts the sacred objects looted from the Temple and brought to Rome. The most prominent among them is the Menorah. The menorah depicted on the Arch of Titus was quite unlike the ones we saw in the catacombs with a tripedal base.The Menorah on the Arch of Titus was a stepped polygonal base.  

We don’t know the reason for the difference. Did King Herod re-design the menorah when he expanded the Temple, replacing the tripedal base with a stepped polygonal one?  Or, because of the sacred nature of the Menorah, was it always depicted in art a little differently than it was in reality? The Bible never describes the base of the Menorah. So, this remains a mystery. 

The founders of the modern State of Israel decided to use the Menorah as the central symbol on the national emblem. But, which depiction of a Menorah should they use? What model should they follow? They could follow the model of the menorah on the Arch of Titus. But that was a symbol of foreign conquest. Or, they could use the model that was widespread in antiquity, the tripedal model found on coins, at burial sites and on the mosaic floors ancient synagogues. It may surprise you what they chose, and why. 

The Menorah that appears on the official Emblem of the State of Israel, flanked by two olive branches, is the Menorah as depicted on the Arch of Titus. In using this image, the founders took a symbol that represented defeat, destruction and humiliation and turned it into a symbol representing triumph and rebirth. The Menorah that had been carried away to Rome would now, symbolically, at least, be returned to the Land of Israel as a symbol of the new state. While the Roman Empire had its day and would be no more, the Jewish people had endured and would rise again in a modern Jewish State.  

Moreover, that depiction of the Menorah on the Emblem of the State of Israel is flanked by two olive branches, one on the right and one on the left. These olive branches represent the hope for peace. The image as a whole also brings to mind the vision of Zachariah in this week’s Haftorah. In his vision, Zachariah sees a menorah between two olive trees. An angel asks him if he knows what that means, but Zachariah confesses that he does not understand the vision. It means, explains the angel, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, says G-d.” 

Perhaps Zachariah’s vision represents the only chance for peace between Israel and her neighbors. Neither Israelis nor the Palestinians will achieve peace through the naked use of might or power. In order to achieve peace, both sides will need to have something of the “spirit of G-d” in them. They will need to compromise and to recognize one another as human beings entitled to live freely and securely on their own piece of earth. Both sides will need to give up some of their most cherished dreams, chief among them, to put it baldly, the fantasy that the other side will simply disappear.  

Judging from the events of the past month, we still seem to be far from a time of peace. Yet, I believe there is hope. The Jerusalem Talmud records an opinion that the word for heavens --“shamayim”, in Hebrew, is a composite formed out of two Hebrew words, Aish, meaning “fire” and “mayim”, meaning water. That is, G-d brought these two competing elements, fire and water, together in order to create the heavens. According to this midrash, the water immediately tried to extinguish the fire, and the fire in turn tried to evaporate the water! Each wanted to obliterate the existence of the other. G-d was able to bring peace between them, because they were both needed to make “shamayim” -- the Heavens.  This is the meaning of the phrase --”Osheh Shalom Bimromav: “May the One Who makes peace  above make peace for Israel and all humankind.”  

Like the fire and water in the heavens, Israelis and Palestinians need one another. May the spirit of G-d enter both so they can create a little bit of Heaven in the Middle East.  

Shabbat Shalom