The Challenge of Purim

We begin our celebration of Purim tomorrow evening with our Megillah reading. On Sunday morning with our Purim carnival. Purim is a story for the ages. Haman, the villain of the story, is the archetypical anti-Semite, the kind of government official that we have seen often in Jewish history. He is a wicked man whose lies about the Jews threaten the very existence of the Jewish people. “There is a certain people,” Haman tells the King,  “scattered and dispersed among the other peoples in all the provinces of your realm, whose laws are different from those of any other people and who do not obey the king's laws; and it is not in Your Majesty's interest to tolerate them.” Haman wants to rid the Kingdom of the Jewish People.

 The Megillah was likely written between 400 and 300 BCE. The historical setting is accurate, yet the events described in the Megillah likely never occurred as they are described. The story is read best as a farce.  After all, what Jewish father, let alone a holy man like Mordechai, enters his daughter in a beauty contest to compete for the chance to marry a King?  Yet the story told in the Megillah falls into that category of stories that may not be literally true, but that capture the truth of experience.

I love the story of Purim because it turns history on its head. Instead of the Jewish community helplessly suffering at the hands of an evil ruler, as has been the case throughout our history, Mordechai and Esther manage to turn the tables on their enemies and emerge victorious. Instead of Haman getting rid of the Jews, the Jews get rid of Haman and his allies. But the story also celebrates violence, and this troubles me. If you do not know what I mean, pick up a Bible and read the Book of Esther to the end.

The Torah does not command us to celebrate Purim, like it commands us to celebrate Passover, Succoth, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, or Yom Kippur. The Megillah itself that tells us that Mordechai and Esther decreed this Jewish holiday. The rabbis of the Talmud debated whether Purim should be included in the calendar of Jewish holidays. Should they ratify Mordechai and Esther’s edict to celebrate this holiday throughout the ages? Many Rabbis opposed the holiday. They argued, “Have we not had enough oppressions? Do we want to increase them by recalling the oppression of Haman?” The Talmud tells us that “Eighty elders, including more than thirty prophets, have been unwilling to grant recognition to the feast of Purim.”  Perhaps they understood that our enemies would use the more lurid parts of the story of Purim against us, thereby leading to greater antisemitism. For example, David Duke, the White Supremacist, describes Purim on his website as a festival of hatred that shows the world how Jews view Gentiles.

Of course, Haman and his ilk represent absolute evil, the kind of radical evil that we associate with a Pharaoh or a Hitler. These are men with whom no compromise was possible. One of the challenges in our own day is to distinguish between the evil of Haman, which needs to be confronted and eradicated, and the actions of enemies with whom we may be able to reach out and make peace. In this respect we might learn from the actions of the Hasidic Master Zvi Elimelekh of Dinov. During the Purim celebrations, the Rabbi announced to his disciples, “Saddle up the horses, we are going to blot out the name of Haman.” Not knowing what their meant, they followed him to a local inn, where the Polish peasants were involved in a wild party. “These men are our enemies,” said the disciples, to one another. “What does our Rebbe mean to do?”

The Rebbe and his disciples entered to inn. The peasants saw them and stopped their carousing. The music stopped. Tension filled the air. You could hear a pin drop. Then the Rebbe looked at one of the peasants and stretched out his hand. The peasants looked at one another. Slowly, one of them stepped forward and took the Rebbe’s hand in his own. They started dancing. The musicians began playing. In a few moments, the disciples of the Rebbe and the local peasants were dancing with one another.

This ought to be the message of Purim. Our ultimate goal should be that we work to rid the world of hatred, not of those who hate. On Purim may we re-dedicate ourselves to achieving the vision of Isaiah, that “nations shall not lift up sword against nations, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

Shabbat Shalom

Parasha Mishpatim -- Confronting Hatred

Early this February, four Muslim women rang the door to our synagogue. Alzeena Saleem, Sabrina Zubair, Saima Mussani and Seema Zafar were extremely alarmed and upset about the recent spate of bomb threats called in to Jewish Community Centers throughout the United States. Over the course of three days in January, forty eight JCCs in twenty seven states received nearly 60 bomb threats. One news agency reported that the caller said a plastic explosive bomb had been planted in the facility and that “a large number of Jews are going to be hurt.” The threats caused evacuations from Jewish Community Centers, many of which housed programs for preschoolers.  Several Centers saw students withdrawn from their early childhood education programs. Alzena, Saleem, Saima and Seema apparently could not sit by. They wanted to check in on us, their Jewish neighbors, and offer their support. That morning they came to our synagogue bearing flowers, goodies, and a note to our congregation.

“Thank you for making our community and our country richer,” they wrote. America is great and will continue to prosper because of our diversity. We support all of you. We will overcome hate. Love, Naperville Aurora Community American Muslim Moms”.

I imagine that Alzena, Saleem, Saima and Seema came to the synagogue that morning not only to express their love for their neighbors and their dismay at the hatred directed against Jewish communities across the United States. I suspect that they came because they realize that these series of threats represented more than a   hate crime against the Jewish religion. They realize that an assault on any one group is an assault on us all. An injury inflicted on any one group in our country tears at the fabric of this nation as a whole.  In our nation, children and adults alike are aware that expressions of hate, of intolerance, of exclusion, constitute a blow to the fundamental ideal, articulated in the Pledge of Allegiance: “one nation, under G-d, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”. The bigots, the racists and haters among us want to pit some of us against others of us and thereby divide us; the bigots, the racists and haters want to use their freedom to deprive us of our freedom. They want us to forget that G-d has implanted the spark of holiness into each of us --- “You shall be holy, because I am holy,” says G-d. We are called upon to act upon the holiness that is in our hearts, to “love thy neighbor as thyself” and to treat our fellow human beings with utmost respect, sensitivity, and compassion.

 In this week’s Torah reading we have the mitzvah, “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the very life of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.” The importance of this mitzvah, which is at the heart of our tradition, is of such magnitude that the Torah repeats it, in one way or another, 35 more times. G-d wants us to treat those who are different from us – whether a different race, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation, whether they are young or aged, rich or poor, able bodied or disabled –with the same compassion and respect as we would want to be treated ourselves.

We live in troubling times. We see antisemitism alive and well on college campuses, and we are deeply disturbed.  We see African American churches attacked and burned in the United States and we are horrified. We see anti - Muslim hate crimes rise 67% last year in our nation, and we are outraged. Although Jews constitute less than 2% of the population in our country, we are the targets of over 50% of the hate crimes directed against religious groups. Abroad we have witnessed 100,000 Christians in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia murdered because of their religion. In Syria, in Yemen, and in many African countries we see hundreds of thousands of innocent Muslims killed or raped or kidnapped in seemingly endless wars.

So what can we do? We need to meet hatred with love, wherever and whenever hatred rears its ugly head. The first thing that we can do is show up, as those four women showed up at the door of our synagogue a few weeks ago, as 25 Congregation Beth Shalom members showed up at the Islamic Center of Naperville this afternoon in a show of support for the Muslim community.  Secondly, we need to step up, as Temple B’nai Israel of Victoria, Texas did recently when a fire of unknown origin destroyed the Victoria Islamic Center. The members of Temple B’nai Israel promptly gave the mosque the keys to their synagogue so they would have a place to worship; step up, as residents of Whitefish, Montana did recently when hundreds gathered in sub-zero temperature to protest the harassment of Jewish citizens by neo-Nazis and White Supremacists. Third, we all need to speak up. We need to raise our voices, as individuals and as communities, in our houses of worship, in our schools and in our neighborhoods. We need to raise our voices in the name of love, inclusivity, solidarity, hope, unity, equality and peace.

Shabbat Shalom

Four Common Misunderstandings about Judaism

On Tuesday afternoon I was invited to speak on a luncheon panel entitled “Dialogue among the Abrahamic Religions” sponsored by the Muslim Student Association at North Central College. The other panelists were Eric Doolittle, chaplain at North Central College, who represented Christianity, and Aadil Farid, immediate past president of the Islamic Center of Naperville.  We were invited by Youseff Mekowy, an Egyption student in his senior year and President of the Muslim Student Association at NCC. He indicated that  the purpose of the panel was “to educate our audience to help clear the stereotypes and the ignorance that might lead to any sort of misunderstandings”.  The audience of about 50 consisted of about faculty and students from different countries  and different religious backgrounds.

I decided to talk about four common misconceptions or misunderstandings about Judaism.

The first is that one can understand Judaism by reading the Old Testament. It is true that in the Old Testament one can read the seminal Jewish stories about Abraham and Sarah, about Moses and the Exodus from Egypt, about the commandments to abstain from certain foods and about our history in the Land of Israel. But Biblical Judaism, with its Tabernacle and Temple, its Priestly service, its focus on animal sacrifice, its emphasis on ritual purity, its severe punishments – think “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” – and its very cross G-d – is not the Judaism that we practice today. Judaism is not a fossilized religion, but a living, breathing and developing tradition that has evolved and adapted to meet the challenges of new circumstances and changing times. There is always, of course, much tension around how much Judaism should change, or could change, before it ceases to be true to its origins. This has led to a variety of expressions of the Jewish faith throughout the world, from Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism to the more traditional interpretations from the Orthodox or Haredi movements.

A second common misunderstanding about Judaism is that going to a Seder replicates Jesus’ Last Supper. Although the Gospels situate the Last Supper around the time of Pesah and therefore Seder, there is no conclusive evidence that the Last Supper was the Jewish ritual known as a Seder. Scholarly consensus holds that is more likely to have been an ordinary Jewish meal. There is no mention in the Gospels of important symbols associated with a Seder -- Matzah, or bitter herbs, or four cups of wine, or the eating of the Paschal lamb. Furthermore, the Seder as we know it, began to be practiced sometime after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70CE, after Jesus’ time, and continued to develop throughout the Middle Ages up to our own present day.

A third common misconception is that all Jews support the State of Israel. In fact, prior to World War ll there was a great controversy about whether there should be a Jewish homeland in the Middle East . There was also controversy about and what kind of homeland it ought to be. Some sought to establish a Jewish cultural center within the Ottoman Empire. Others, such as Theodore Herzl the founder of Modern Zionism, saw the need for a Nation State of the Jewish people with real political power. Many Jews in America were concerned that the establishment of a Jewish state would lead to charges of “dual loyalty”. Justice Louis Brandeis addressed the issue in 1915 in a speech to Reform Rabbis:

“Let no American imagine that Zionism is inconsistent with Patriotism. Multiple loyalties are objectionable only if they are inconsistent. A man is a better citizen of the United States for being also a loyal citizen of his state, and of his city; or for being loyal to his college.... Every American Jew who aids in advancing the Jewish settlement in Palestine, though he feels that neither he nor his descendants will ever live there, will likewise be a better man and a better American for doing so. There is no inconsistency between loyalty to America and loyalty to Jewry.”

Today, 69 years after the establishment of the State of Israel, most Jews want to see a democratic Israel with secure boundaries who is at peace with her neighbors. At the same time, many Jews disagree with the policies of particular Israeli governments. Most American Jews support the official goals of the Israeli government, which is to work toward a two state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace and dignity.

A fourth misconception is that all Jews believe in G-d and are religious. Last year Rabbi Yehiel Poupko, Rabbinic Scholar of the Jewish United Fund of Chicago, wrote an article for the magazine “Christianity Today” explaining to Christians Bernie Sanders’ Judaism. He writes that Sanders’ “Judaism, and membership in the Jewish people, fit no category of faith and religion familiar to most Christians.” How then can Sanders say, as he did, “I am very proud of being Jewish, and that is an essential part of who I am as a human being” and yet not practice the Jewish faith or affirm a belief in G-d? This is because, writes Rabbi Poupko, “We are not merely a faith or a religion. We are a family. Our family life entails belief in God, responding to God’s revelation at Sinai, and God’s commanding voice summoning us to a life of justice, holiness, purity, and righteousness. Irrespective of how an individual Jew responds to that, they remain a member of the family.”

As we all know there are many other misconceptions about Judaism. Perhaps I will be invited back to NCC next year, so that we can continue to learn from one another.

 an dent of the Muslim Student Association, and he organizer of theety of religious backgrounds. orth Central College, who repr

Parasha Toldot -- Raising Children

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving with family and friends. Middy and I spent the holiday in Connecticut with our son Mario and his wife and two children. Our son Ariel joined us there. On Sunday all of us guys went on a hike in a game reservation. We hiked about a mile to the summit of a lookout, then walked down just before sunset. As we were walking down, my two grandchildren, boys ages 9 and 6, were having a grand time together. Ariel looked at me and his big brother, Mario and asked,  “Do you think that they will always get along like that?” Before anyone could say anything he asked, “Did you get along with your brother like that, Dad?” I told him that my brother and I were close in childhood, but our interests diverged as we approached adolescence and we went on to lead very different lives. I thought to myself that it is wonderful when siblings can be friends, as our two sons are, but it doesn’t always work out that way.

Is it all about parenting? Rabbi Sydney Greenberg, z”l tells the story of one student of child behavior who frequently delivered a lecture entitled, “Ten Commandments For Parents.”  He married and became a father.  He changed the title of his lecture to “Ten Hints For Parents.”  A second child was born and the lecture title became “Some Suggestions For Parents.”  When a third child arrived the lecturer simply stopped lecturing.

Despite having the same parents, growing up in the same household, and being exposed to the same influences, siblings often grow up to develop different talents, pursue different interests, and often see the world in different ways.  The late Gershom Scholem, of whom I spoke earlier, was one of four brothers.  One of them was attracted to no ideals or movements.  One became a right wing German nationalist.  A third, turned communist, was a member of the Reichstag and was killed by the Nazis in Buchenwald.  Of course, Gershom himself emigrated to pre-state Israel and devoted his life to studying and teaching our heritage.  But these differences pale in comparison with the siblings we meet in this week’s Torah portion.

Jacob and Esau are twin brothers born to Isaac and Rebecca after twenty years of infertility. You can imagine how happy this couple must have been to give birth to two sons after such a long period of childlessness. Right from birth they were totally different. Esau was a robust child who was born first. His head was covered with so much hair it gave him the appearance of an older child, not a newborn. Jacob was born second, grasping onto the heel of his older brother. Rashi cites a midrash that says that Jacob was conceived first, and should have legitimately been born first. His grasping of the heel was to try to prevent Esau from being first born.

Thus, the competition between these two brothers was present right from the get- go According to the rabbis, they were relatively similar to one another as children. But, as they reached adolescence their differences began to emerge.  Esau was an active man, an athlete and a hunter. Jacob was a quiet, studious sort, preferring the comforts of home to the challenges of the outdoor life. The Torah does not make a moral judgement on their character or their behaviors. Later rabbinic thought, however, idealizes Jacob and demonizes Esav.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, living in Germany in the 19^th century, accepts the Rabbi’s assertion that Jacob was virtuous and Esau was wicked.  He attributes the differences between Jacob and Esau to the mistakes that their parents made in raising them.  Esau could have turned out more like Jacob, according to Hirsch, had their parents recognized each one’s natural proclivities and tailored their education to take advantage of each one’s unique talents. Instead, Hirsch maintains, they educated the boys in the same way and treated them similarly. This worked out great for Jacob, who “drew with ever growing zeal from the well of wisdom and truth”. But Esau could not wait until his schooling was over, when he could throw away his books and set out on life. According to Hirsch, had Isaac and Rebecca been more sensitive to what Esau needed, he could have grown up to become a more virtuous, well rounded individual.

I’m not so sure about that!  Children are subject to many influences which help mold their lives and that are beyond the control of parents. As parents, we all make mistakes. No one is perfect, or omniscient, and can know exactly what each particular child needs. To hold ourselves solely responsible when our children do not turn out the way we hoped is a tendency we ought to resist.  It is not that we should totally absolve ourselves of all responsibility when it comes to who our children turn out to be – but we ought to maintain a reasonable perspective.  Nor should we succumb to the illusion that when things turn out well it is all to our credit. Parenting is a humbling undertaking. Parents can only do their best – and hope that when our children themselves become parents that they will do even better.

Shabbat Shalom

Lech Lecha and the Elections -- Going Forward From Here

Does it not seem like a long time since the Chicago Cubs won the World Series?  Last Friday night we were all gathered right here in our sanctuary celebrating the historic victory. What has happened to that spirit of joy and solidarity that we all experienced?  What happened?   The   election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States is what happened! In place of feelings of unity, joy and community that we experienced last week, there are feelings of fear, of division and of anxiety. The popular vote was pretty much split down the middle.  Half of the people in our country believe that the country has made a terrible mistake.  That half is worried about the future of our great nation. The other half of the country believes that in electing Donald Trump we have narrowly avoided a disaster. That half is relieved that our great nation is finally on the right path forward. One half of the nation is rejoicing in the election of our new President to be. The other half is dejected and demoralized by that very choice.  As we all know this has been one of the most divisive elections in our history. It has been an election like none in our lifetime, and perhaps like none in American history. We have lived through something unique and historic.

In our parasha for this week, Abraham is told by G-d to leave his home and go to a land that G-d will show him. So, Abraham sets out into the unknown. It is an unknown destination, and an unknown future.  In many ways, regardless of who you voted for, we all feel a little of what Abraham must have felt when he headed into an unknown future. The President of the United States holds the most powerful position in the world. Yet, no newly elected President has any experience whatsoever being the President of the United States. There is no internship for it, no formal training, and no apprenticeship. Only three Presidents of the United States were elected without previous political experience – Zachary Taylor, US Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower. However, they were all leaders of men -- Generals in the United States military.

Protests have already broken out in 25 cities across the United States in reaction to the election. Protesters chanted “Not My President” in demonstrations across the country. A few thousand people demonstrated in Chicago. In Los Angeles, 1500 High School students left class in a non-violent protest against the election.

Of course, they are fundamentally protesting because they are frightened. They are scared of the unknown, scared for themselves and scared for America.

They have reason to be scared. During the campaign, Donald Trump promised to do a lot of things that many considered unwise and some considered dangerous.  He also expressed frightening opinions about different groups of people who are part of the fabric of our nation. We learned alarming things about his behavior, both past and present. Both his rhetoric and his ideas on how to address crucial issues in our country and around the world were deeply disturbing to millions of our fellow Americans as well as many others around the world.

A couple of days after he won the election, I came across a sermon by Rabbi Mitch Wohlberg of Beth Tifiloh Congregation, an Orthodox synagogue in Baltimore. Rabbi Wohberg’s words made me feel a bit more optimistic about the future.  I want to share some of what Rabbi Wohlberg said with you this evening in the hope that, if you are worried about what a Trump Presidency will look like, you may find some comfort as well.

Rabbi Wohlberg quotes Mark Cuban, a Jewish billionaire, owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, and a severe Trump critic. Mark Cuban tweeted, “We all need to give President-Elect Trump a chance. Support the good. Lobby against what we disagree on. No one is bigger than us all.” I am glad he reminded us of this, as it is the Jewish way. Our tradition tells us to judge people, “lechaf zechut” – giving them the benefit of the doubt. But as Jews and as Americans, we have the responsibility to speak up when we disagree.

Why should we have any hope that President elect Donald Trump will speak and act any differently in the future? Rabbi Wohlberg referred to a Midrash related to this week’s Torah reading that highlights possibility of change. In the beginning of our Parasha G-d tells Avram and Sarai that they will become a great nation and that their name will become great. But years pass, and they have no children. They have no one to carry on after them, and they are in despair. G-d takes Avram and tells him to look into the heavens. G-d tells him that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. On the face of it, G-d is simply reassuring Avram that he and his wife will eventually have children, despite their advanced age. But the rabbis see something deeper. The rabbis say that when Avram is gazing at the stars, he is really reading his horoscope. He sees in his horoscope that he is not destined to have a child with Sarai. G-d tells him that he is correct!  As Avram and Sarai, they are not destined to have a child. However, because of their great faith, G-d is going to change their names. As Avraham and Sarah, they will have a child. Now, says G-d, look at your horoscope again, using the moment of your name change as the moment of your birth.  When Avraham recalculates their horoscopes keeping in mind this new moment of birth he sees that he and Sarah are destined to give birth to a son.

Donald Trump is, in a way, also getting a new name. His name is being changed from Donald Trump to Mr. President. With that new name come new and daunting responsibilities, and a new destiny.  In order to be a successful President, Donald Trump will have to work long and hard to unite the country. In order to be a successful President he has to bring us together. He cannot govern a country successfully where one half of the country is constantly at war with the other half. As President Donald Trump, he needs to slowly build consensus.  Regardless of our positions we all need to help him do just that.

Remember that when Ariel Sharon was Prime Minister of Israel, he oversaw the dismantling of Israeli settlements in the Gaza strip that displaced 8000 people. This was the same Ariel Sharon who was one of the primary architects of the settler movement. When right wing critics and former allies wondered how he could make such an about face, he famously replied, “The view from here is different from the view from there.” Becoming the head of the government, responsible for the welfare of your nation, is different from being the leader of a party or a political candidate. Let’s hope President elect Trump understands that.

These are the words that give me hope that the President-elect will become President for all the people, and not just the people who voted for him. These are the words that give me some hope to believe that a President Trump will temper the words and policies of Candidate Trump. These are the words that lead me to say, “Let’s give him a chance -- let’s withhold our judgement about how he may be as President.” And if that hope does not materialize, we must remember that we are a free people. The fate of our country is in our own hands. Though our country is not without its problems, none of us need surrender to hopelessness, despair or paralysis. We are all co-writers of the story of the United States of America and we should resolutely bear responsibility for that story. This responsibility gives us the opportunity to renew and to build and to strengthen the future of this nation in which we are all the primary authors. Please join me now as we recite the prayer for our country on page 418.

“Sovereign of the universe, mercifully receive our prayer for our land and its government. Let your blessing pour out on this land and on all officials of this country who are occupied, in good faith, with the public needs. Instruct them from your Torah’s laws, enable them to understand your principles of justice, so that peace and tranquility, happiness and freedom, might never turn away from our land. Please, Wise One, God of the lifebreath of all flesh, waken your spirit within all inhabitants of our land, and plant among the peoples of different nationalities and faiths who dwell here, love and brotherhood, peace and friendship. Uproot from their hearts all hatred and enmity, all jealousy and vying for supremacy. Fulfill the yearning of all the people of our country to speak proudly in its honor. Fulfill their desire to see it become a light to all nations.”

Amen, Shabbat Shalom

What Do Noah and Cubs Fans Have in Common?

Hank Greenberg was arguably the greatest Jewish baseball player of all time. Born, Hyman Greenberg, in 1911, he played first base for the Detroit Tigers in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Known also as “Hammerin’ Hank Greenberg and “Hankus Pankus”, Greenberg is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1934, Greenberg, his team in the middle of the American League pennant race, famously refused to play on Yom Kippur. Greenberg wrote in his biography, “The team was fighting for first place, and I was probably the only batter in the lineup who was not in a slump. But in the Jewish religion, it is traditional that one observe the holiday solemnly, with prayer.” His refusal to play on Yom Kippur was immortalized in a poem by Edward Guest which goes as follows:

"Came Yom Kippur — [holy-fast -day] world-wide-over to the Jew,

And Hank Greenberg to his teaching and the old tradition true

Spent the day among his people and he didn't come to play.

Said Murphy to Mulrooney, 'We shall lose the game today!

We shall miss him on the infield and shall miss him at the bat

But he's true to his religion — and I honor him for that!'"

There has always been a special relationship between Jews and baseball. Jewish lore has it that in 1903 when the young Talmudic scholar Louis Ginzberg joined the faculty of the Jewish Theological Seminary, he was advised by the legendary Chancellor Solomon Schecter to master baseball. “You can’t be a rabbi in America without understanding baseball,” said Schecter to his protégée.  Ginzberg went on to master both the Talmud and baseball! Over a century ago the Yiddish language newspaper The Jewish Daily Forward told its readers, in an advice column entitled Bintel Brief : “Let children play the "wild American game [of baseball]...Don't let your child grow up a stranger in his own country." – A wise exhortation to the millions of European Jewish immigrants arriving to the shores of the United States eager to learn how to become Americans.

The writer Jeffery Tobin identified a more profound reason for the affinity of Jews to the game of baseball. : "Baseball is a game that can break your heart, and to a people whose history has had more than its share of sadness, it was a perfect fit." Do we need to look any further to explain the love Jewish Chicagoans have had for the once hapless Chicago Cubs?

There are other similarities between the sport of Baseball and the Jewish people. At the conclusion of the Passover seder, we say “Next Year in Jerusalem.” And at the conclusion of the Baseball season – or more realistically for Cubs fans at the All Star Break – aren’t we accustomed to saying “There’s always next year!” Then there’s a Chasidic teaching that says that if all Jews in the world kept the Sabbath for only one Shabbat, the Messiah would come. In Chicago it has been widely accepted that if the Cubs ever won the World Series, it would be a sign that the Mashiach would be hard on the heels of the victory!

It seems to me perfectly fitting that the Cubs won the World Series the week that we are reading Parasha Noah. As you know, the Torah tells us that violence has spread across the world and G-d regrets that He created it.  G-d decides to destroy the world, but Noah finds favor in G-d’s eyes. G-d commands Noah to build and ark to save himself, his family, and other flora and fauna in order to begin again following the destruction of the flood. Noah does so. Then the Torah says, “Noah and his wife, and his sons and his daughters-in-law entered the ark because of the rain.” Rashi seizes upon this final clause “because of the rain”. Rashi asks, “Didn’t Noah enter the Ark because G-d commanded him to do so?  What is this “because of the rain?” Rashi concludes that this teaches us that Noah didn’t really believe that G-d would bring a flood to destroy the earth. Despite all the preparations in building the ark and collecting the plants and animals, Noah wasn’t really sure that that G-d would do what G-d said He would do. Sometimes Noah thought it would happen, sometimes he doubted it would happen, but it wasn’t until it started to pour that Noah decided he better get everyone into the ark. He didn’t get into that ark until circumstances forced him to. He was a man, says Rashi, of “mekatnei emunah” – he had little faith. Some say that Noah did not really believe there would be a flood that would destroy the world until he was up to his knees in water. Some say he did not believe it until he was up to his waist in water!  Then it was like, “This looks like it is really going to happen. We better get into that Ark!”

Isn’t that just like us Cubs fans? This past Sunday morning I met with our 8^th through 10^th graders during Sunday school. One student sheepishly asked me a question. Rabbi, do the Cubs still have a chance to win the World Series? This is the morning after the Cubs lost game four and are down 3-1. It was time for THE RABBI to offer some spiritual guidance! Of course they can still win, I said. First, they have to win Sunday night. If they do that, and they win on Tuesday night, there will be a seventh game, and who knows what could happen. To be a Jew is to never give up hope!

Of course, for Cubs fans, with our long, tormented history, we, like Noah, have little faith!  It was hard to believe. Even though they had the best regular season record in baseball, it was hard to believe. Even when they forced a seventh game, it was hard to believe. Even when they were up 5-1 late in the game, it was hard to believe. It was especially hard to believe when the Indians tied it at six in the bottom of the eighth!  It was just as hard to believe when the Cubs went up by two in the top of the tenth. How many Chicagoans were convinced with a certainly surpassing all certainties that the Indians would score three in their half of the inning and win the World Series?  Like Noah needing to be up to his knees in water before he believed it was happening, we didn’t believe the Cubs would or could win until the third out was firmly in the glove of first baseman Rizzo.

The Rabbis teach that there is no happier day on the calendar than Yom Kippur. This is because on Yom Kippur we are finally judged, and, “Ein Simcha Ka-Hatarot Sefeikot – “there is no greater happiness than release from doubt”. Noah was released from doubt when the flood finally came. We, Chicago Cubs fans, are released from doubt now that the drought is finally over. May we find many more reasons for happiness in the years to come. 

Shabbat Shalom

Braisheet -- When You Thought I Wasn't Looking

This week’s Torah reading is from the beginning of the Torah -- The Book of Genesis. On Simchat Torah, just celebrated on Monday evening, we concluded the final paragraphs of the Book of Deuteronomy which noted the death of Moses on the border of the Land of Israel. Our Torah reading concludes at that point.  Curiously, we never get to read about the conquest of the Land in the Torah.  We read about this in the Book of Joshua, which is part of the section of scriptures known as The Prophets. Instead of moving forward we wind backward, both figuratively and literally. We roll the Torah scroll back to the Story of Creation, and begin our yearly Torah cycle again.

“In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth”. In some ways it is fascinating that we begin the Torah in the beginning! Let me explain. If the Torah is meant to teach us how we ought to live our lives, why does it begin with the creation of the universe? If the Torah is primarily designed to teach us the proper way to live, why does the Torah not begin with LAWS? The Torah could simply begin with the commandment to be fruitful and multiply, then follow up with the commandment to circumcise our sons. It could move on to the commandment to observe the Sabbath. Then it could tell us to observe our Festivals. It could lay out the laws of keeping kosher. It could tell us to love our neighbor as ourselves. It could command us to give charity the poor, and to protect the stranger, the widow and the orphan. Of course, the Torah does tell us all of these but as we know, in addition the Torah tells us much more.

In other words, I dare say, perhaps G-d could have used a good editor when G-d wrote the Torah. Perhaps G-d should not have been so convinced of His own perfection, and let an angel read what He wrote before publication. I am not the only one to think this. The very first comment in the Torah by the great commentator Rashi poses this very question. Of what use is the entire book of Genesis, which is basically a book of stories about our ancestors, in helping us to lead our lives? Why didn’t G-d just start with the commandments?

One answer is that we can learn a great deal from examining the lives of the patriarchs and matriarchs about how we should conduct our own lives. From reading about the life of Abraham we learn about what a life of righteousness and justice looks like. We can see how a man with unshakable faith in the One G-d lives out his life in that faith. From looking at the life of Rivka we can learn about how a strong woman can shape the destiny of her family and the Jewish people. From the life of Jacob we can see someone who struggles with his own inner demons and overcomes them. From the story of Joseph we learn about how repentance and forgiveness play themselves out in the life of an individual and a family.  We learn best not by following a set of rules laid down to us by an authority. We learn best by modeling ourselves after the behavior of those who live out those rules in their own lives. By studying their lives, we come to love these holy ancestors and want to follow their example.

A few weeks ago, footage was released containing lewd remarks about women made by one of our Presidential candidates back in 2005. Much of the condemnation by public figures that followed these remarks noted the status of the speaker as a father of daughters. For example, Mitch McConnell identified himself as “the father of three daughters” in condemning the remarks. John McCain mentioned his daughters. Mitt Romney was outraged on behalf of his mother, wife and daughter. Texas senator John Cornyn, North Carolina senator Thom Tillis, New Jersey House representative Scott Garrett, and Florida representative Carlos Curbelo all condemned the lewd comments by invoking their status as a “father of daughters”.

I wondered about the fathers of sons! One columnist who addressed this issue wrote that men would not have to worry so much about defending the honor of their daughters if more men taught their sons to respect women! He advised men to sit down and talk to their sons about proper behavior toward women in light of the candidate’s comments. I think men have to do that, and much more! More than talking to our sons, we need to model for our sons the proper way to treat women and talk about women. Our children, who area astute observers, notice what we do. Our children are carefully watching how we behave. Just as the Torah gives us role models to emulate, to show us how to live our lives, we need to live out our values in our lives in order to teach our children the proper way to live. We cannot simply lay down the laws and expect them to be followed – especially when our children can see that our behavior is at odds with our words.

We have just concluded the Festival of Sukkot. The Torah commands us in Leviticus 23: “You shall sit in sukkos … so that your children will know”.  The Chofetz Chaim derives a lesson from this verse about Jewish education that is applicable to all our efforts to educate our children. He notes that the Torah first tells a parent to sit in a sukkah. Only then does it say, “so that your children will know”. The lesson – Only by sitting in the sukkah ourselves will we be able to teach our children. If we fail to sit in the sukkah first, then all attempts to teach our children will be wasted.

Our children learn primarily by example. Our children are watching us, for better or worse. We may think they are not looking, but they are soaking up everything we do. I leave you with this poem by an unknown author:

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator, and I wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you feed a stray cat, and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you make my favorite cake just for me, and I knew that little things are special things.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I heard you say a prayer, and I believed there is a God I could always talk to.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I felt you kiss me good night, and I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw tears come from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things hurt, but it’s all right to cry.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw that you cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I looked…and wanted to say thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn’t looking.

Shabbat Shalom