Category: Torah (Page 1 of 2)

Doing something By Heart – Reflections on Parsha Terumah

February 21, 2015 / gurevitzr

I was sent a lovely Shabbat greeting earlier today by Jewish poet Stacey Zisook Robinson that she had read somewhere else. It was the words of a 5th grade child who had said: ‘God made me by heart.’ It was a beautiful sentiment and one that could take us to very deep places if we sat and contemplated it a while. But I was struck at the timing of the message, coinciding with this particular Shabbat – Shabbat Terumah – which begins with the words, ‘Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts; you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart so moves him.’

What does it mean to do something by heart? In colloquial terms, it often means to know something by memory. But even in the everyday contexts to which we might apply the phrase, that definition doesn’t really do it justice. I know that even when there were times in my youth when I tried to commit a piece of music or a poem to memory, if I truly had something down ‘by heart’ it was much deeper than that. Relying on my memory I’d often get mixed up, or second-guess myself and make mistakes. But truly knowing something ‘by heart’ meant that I had deeply integrated it within myself – it had become a part of me, and sharing it was a way of now expressing a part of me.

There are countless idiomatic expressions in the English language that rely on the heart. Just a few examples: (found at Idiom Connection)

at heart

– basically, essentially, what one really is rather than what one appears to be

The man seems to be angry all the time but actually he is a very gentle person at heart.

close to (someone’s) heart

– an idea or something that is important to you and that you care about

The plan to improve the downtown area is very close to the mayor’s heart.

find it in one’s heart to (do something)

– to have the courage or compassion to do something

from the bottom of one`s heart

– with great feeling, sincerely

The girl thanked the man from the bottom of her heart for saving her dog`s life.

have a heart-to-heart talk with (someone)

to have a sincere and intimate talk with someone

open one`s heart to (someone)

– to talk about one`s feelings honestly, to confide in someone

with all one`s heart (and soul)

– with all one’s energy and feeling

To do something by heart is to do something that deeply expresses some essential aspect of our self. I love the idea that ‘God made us by heart’ – it expresses so beautifully something of what it might mean to be made in God’s likeness. And when the Children of Israel were asked that those whose hearts moved them should contribute to the Mishkan – the Tabernacle that represents the Presence of God in their midst, this notion then becomes reciprocal. In fact, I think it goes deeper than that. When the Children of Israel do something with all their heart – something that innately expresses an essential piece of who each one of them is (and they do that by bringing not only things but also the talents and skills that they possess to the job of building the Mishkan), they actually manifest God’s Presence in their midst.

This is a powerful lesson. The notion that, by being fully present and sharing something of our deepest sense through our gifts and our giving, we are actually manifesting the God Who Dwells Among Us. And we, mere human beings, have the power to do this because our essential selves are, in turn, a manifestation of an aspect of God’s essence. All we need to do is search within, and then let it out.

So each and every one us of can ask ourselves the question, ‘What can I do ‘by heart’ to build the mishkan in my home, my congregation, my community, my world?’ The Children of Israel were given the gift of an opportunity – to help create a great symbol that would travel with them throughout the wilderness journeys to remind them how to manifest God in their midst. What reminders do we need? How can this place – this holy space – provide us with the reminders that we need to live more of life ‘by heart?’ We say that the study of Torah leads us to a life of mitzvot – the spiritual practice of being together, hearing Torah together, praying for and with each other… this is our modern Mishkan, and it is one place to start.

Four stages of Redemption – Why the Freedom story for African Americans is incomplete

January 22, 2015 / gurevitzr

This posting is a version of the sermon I gave last Friday, for MLK Weekend

It is appropriate that tonight is a Torah Shabbat where we find ourselves in the early chapters of Sh’mot – the 2^nd book of the Torah – Exodus. We find our ancestors have become slaves in Egypt, and we begin the narrative that will lead to our redemption. And this is Martin Luther King Jr Weekend. Martin Luther King Jr – an inspiring leader and orator who drew heavily on the freedom narrative in the Torah to point the way forward for this country.

And while we remember and celebrate his legacy, and can clearly look back and see the progress that has been made since he led the fight for civil rights for African Americans, recent events continue to remind us that their freedom story is incomplete. Just this week, major highways around Boston were shut down during the morning commute by those protesting to keep reminding us that Black Lives Matter and there is a systemic set of problems that have not been satisfactorily addressed in our country where our African American brother and sisters are concerned. The picture is more complicated and nuanced than in MLK’s time. ‘How can it be’, we ask, ‘that we can live in an era where a person of color is President of the USA, and yet such inculcated and systemic racism continues to be present in our society?’

Let’s take a look at this week’s parsha, and the midrashim that our Rabbis spun from this text to reflect on what freedom and redemption truly look like, as these insights can inform our understanding of why there is more work to be done in our society today.

Let’s begin with a core text that becomes the basis for the 4 cups of wine at a Passover Seder:

Exodus 6:6-7:

6 “Say, therefore, to the Children of Israel, ‘I am the Eternal, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

7 ‘Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Eternal your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

The Midrash on these two verses gives us the historical background:

“There are four expressions of redemption: I will bring you out—I will deliver you—I will redeem you and I will take you. These correspond to the four decrees which Pharaoh issued regarding them. The Sages accordingly ordained four cups to be drunk on the eve of Passover to correspond with these four expressions, in order to fulfill the verse: I will lift up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord (Psalm 116:13).”

The Jerusalem Talmud expands on this:

“Why do we have four cups of wine? R. Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Benayah, this refers to four stages in the redemption. . . “I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt.” Even if God had left us in Egypt to be slaves, God would have ceased the burdensome yoke. For this alone we would have been grateful to Him and therefore we drink the first cup. “I will deliver you from their slavery.” We drink the cup of salvation for God delivered us completely from serving them. “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm . . . .” Because God confused them and crushed them on our behalf so that they could no longer afflict us, we drink the third cup. “I will take you . . . .” The greatest aspect of the redemption is that God brought us near and granted us also spiritual redemption. For this we raise the fourth cup.

What these Rabbis are teaching us is that true freedom does not happen in a single act. True freedom is never simply the removal of one kind of enslavement or limitation. We can look back at the Torah narrative and see that our ultimate state of freedom was represented by first escaping from slavery in Egypt. But then we began a period of wandering. We received Revelation and we are presented with a whole system of laws, practices and ethical principles that provide the scaffolding for a society that can better ensure the redemptive possibilities for all, albeit through the limited lens of society at that time (where slaves were still permitted, and women were not equal to men).

Finally, we are able to enter the Promised Land. This is the place where we have the ability for true self-realization, where no other group determine what is possible for us.

We can highlight a similar set of steps when we pull back the lens of history and look at the longer perspective. Jews took a giant leap in the redemptive journey when the era of Enlightenment in Europe brought us the status of full citizens. However, as our history cruelly demonstrated to us, this alone could not secure our sense of freedom while a society continued to view us as ‘other’. Theodore Herzl understood this, and the world via the United Nations was finally willing to accept this after the Holocaust. And so the State of Israel came into being. Whether we choose to make it our home or not, its existence – even the troubled existence that it continues to have with its neighbors – provides a place of ultimate self-realization for us as a people.

And what of the African-American experience in the US? We see that significant stages of redemption have come into being. Freed from slavery. But then subject to Jim Crow laws. Civil rights granted, but other socio-economic and cultural factors continuing to make a less systematic but still present kind of segregation a reality in the lives of many. Why is this still so?

There is one step in that ancient midrash that I skipped over – the step where God confuses and crushes Pharaoh and his army so that they can no longer oppress us. Hitler was defeated. The Jewish people won the war of Independence that had to be fought right after the modern State of Israel was declared. Is this step inevitable? Is the only way to truly arrive at redemption to overthrow those who were once the oppressors? No-one wants to see any kind of literal war in this country again. Having just returned from a vacation in Charleston and Savannah, I have a new awareness of the devastation wrought by America’s civil war. I hear fear expressed in voices that wonder whether peaceful protest might inflame some to literally fight back against our police forces; fears that might not be entirely unfounded given what has already transpired in recent weeks, even if only by the hand of one or two unstable and violent individuals. But I reject the inevitability or even the necessity as loudly as MLK Jr himself rejected violence as a means to accomplishing his ends.

Nevertheless, we have a real challenge that we, as a society, must be willing to confront. I look at the realities for many members of our African American communities and I recognize that those realities have been created by a complex set of systemic issues and remnants of a history of oppression that continues to leave its mark. Attempts that were made to rebalance society by providing additional points of entry into schools, colleges, the workplace, and the voting booth have actually been undone in recent years by many local and state legislative bodies. The Supreme Court itself has contributed to the undoing of some of these systems, however blunt and clumsy they might have been, that helped to level the playing field just a bit. This is not right. We must not, through our actions or through our silence, be contributors to the hand of Pharaoh that continues to shape the lives of African Americans in our country.

How can we do our part? There are many civil rights organizations who are leading the way at this time that we can work with and support. But there is no better place for us to start than our Reform movement’s very own Religious Action Center. Get on their mailing list. Respond to their calls for advocacy and action. They work with broad coalitions of organizations to help get legislation passed in Washington that can provide the system-wide structures through which change for the better can come. For example, right now you can sign up to support their call for the ‘End Racial Profiling Act’. The End Racial Profiling Act would legally prohibit racial profiling, ensure specialized instruction in federal law enforcement training, condition state and local governments’ receipt of federal funds on the successful adoption of anti-racial profiling policies, award Justice Department grants to state and local governments that best implement practices that defeat racial profiling, and position the U.S. Attorney General as watchdog to assess such practices.

At the end of February we will be taking our 10^th grade Confirmation Class on our annual trip to learn with the Religious Action Center in Washington D.C. They will learn how their own powers of advocacy and action can be informed by Jewish values, and how to assess whether legislation being voted on by our politicians brings us closer to a vision of the kind of society we want to live in, or further from it. They end their trip with a visit to the offices of our Congressional and State legislators, to lobby on those issues that they most care about, on behalf of the membership of the approximately 900 Reform congregations in North America.

Don’t just leave this work to our teens. The journey to freedom is not complete until we can say of others, as we can say of ourselves that we have been brought out, delivered, redeemed and taken to a place where we have the potential for full self-realization within the society in which we live. In 1958 as he stood before the American Jewish Congress, MLK said these words:

My people were brought to America in chains. Your people were driven here to escape the chains fashioned for them in Europe. Our unity is born out of our common struggle for centuries, not only to rid us of bondage, but to make oppression of any people by others an impossibility.

Friends… we have work to do.

Reaching for holiness after death: Torah wisdom after Boston and Texas

April 21, 2013 / gurevitzr

D’var Torah given at Congregation B’nai Shalom, Westborough, MA, this past Shabbat.

After the death… you will be holy. That is the meaning of the opening phrases of the two parshiot allocated to this Shabbat. The timing is somewhat uncanny given the unfolding of events in Boston these past 24 hours. Two of Aaron’s sons commit an act that is displeasing to God – in their case it is a ritual act and nothing as horrific as the act of terror committed by two brothers at the Boston Marathon. In the Torah story, both brothers die in the explosion that is a result of their behavior.

At the beginning of the next parsha, Kedoshim, God tells Moses to speak to the people and tell them, ‘You shall be holy, because I the Eternal your God am holy.’ What follows are a set of laws that begin with our relationship with our parents, moves on to reminders to keep far from idolatry, but then primarily focus on providing the kind of social structures that will enable us to preserve relationships with others in our community, built on lovingkindness and mutual respect. And, even as we are told to do justice, we are reminded, ‘do not hate your brother in your heart.’ Yes to justice, yes to rebuking someone when they do wrong, but we must not take vengeance. We must love our neighbor as ourselves.

Earlier this week I posted a blog on myjewishlearning.com in which I shared my sense of anger. It was partly in response to a slew of prayers that other colleagues had written and were sharing on line. Loving, gentle words; words that expressed sorrow and loss, yet hope and inspiration too. Thoroughly appropriate prayers. Prayers like the one we will hear tonight when we pray for healing. Some of our local town churches called mid-week prayer circles together. I’ll be honest. I didn’t much feel like praying. Perhaps it was partly because I, personally, don’t pray to a God that does or does not do something that brings about or fails to prevent these kinds of human-driven evils. I didn’t want to bring God into this picture of terrorism or, for that matter, the terrible images from Texas in the wake of the explosion at a fertilizer factory.

But our ancestors responsible for compiling the text of our Torah were inspired by a sense that we human beings, made in God’s image, could emulate God’s holiness by living according to a code of values and practices. In that sense, whether we believe in a God who literally speaks the commandments to Moses as portrayed or not, we can understand that our people spoke words that were understood as a response to God’s revelation. A deep sense that God’s presence can be revealed at any time and place when we tune in to our highest, holiest selves and choose to act inspired by that sense, rather than react based on fear, anger or despair.

It is very easy to respond from that lower place; all we need do is unleash the energy of our raw emotions. Rev Paul Raushenbush, writing in the Huffington Post Religion pages earlier this week, articulates the difference between Holy Anger and demonic anger; not literally demons, but those raw emotions that can unleash vengeful and destructive acts. Holy Anger, however, is that sense of outrage that human beings commit these acts and take away the lives and futures of others with such randomness and disregard for the value of another human life. But instead of lashing out, as a group of men in the Bronx did this week to the first Muslim they came across, we channel our anger into energy that we intentionally direct to countering hate with love. We counter those who would disregard the value of another human life by acting in ways that honors those lives, treats others with respect, and fosters more love and understanding between us.

And that, I believe, is the message of Kedoshim. We channel our energy in ways that lifts us up as a community and as individuals, to our highest image of ourselves. We respond to death and darkness with lovingkindess and light. I’ve heard the media tell us this week that we are ‘resilient’. I worry, sometimes, that this word might be interchangeable with ‘desensitized.’ But if we are choosing to respond to the negative and evil that would seek to poison our society in a way that makes us truly worthy of the label ‘holy’ then, indeed, we are resilient in the true sense of the word. And, understood through the lens of our ancestor’s response to the call of Revelation, we draw a little closer to the purity of the powerful life-giving energy that I choose to call God.

Hareini m’kabel alai et mitzvat haBoreh v’ahavta l’reicha kamocha, l’reicha kamocha

Here I am, ready to take upon myself the commandment of the Creator, to love your neighbor as yourself. (Leviticus 19:18; lyric from Sheva).

Jewish History, Torah, and Rabbis in the Twitter Age

May 12, 2011 / gurevitzr

This is Jewish History Month. As a High School student, History was always something that I loved to know and hated to learn. What I mean by that is that I was always fascinated by the unfolding of events and the significance that one thing could have on another. I always loved social and cultural history especially – the way that people used to live. But I’ve never been very good at remembering the facts. In fact, one of my repetitive stress dreams used to be that it was just a few days from a major High School history exam (A levels – the exams in the UK that determine where you will go for University) and I am faced with two extra-thick lever files of handwritten notes that I have to memorize that consist of endless lists of dates and European wars.

We are blessed to live in an age when engaging with our history, learning, exploring, and studying, is more accessible than it has ever been.

This past week I have been having fun learning a great deal of history, and helping to share the amazing resources of the Encyclopedia of the Jewish Women’s Archives. The full archives are online but, in a wonderful, innovative project using technology at its best, a team consisting of anyone who chooses to participate have been tweeting individual entries of the encyclopedia this month. For those already using Twitter, just follow #jwapedia and you’ll be able to tune in to the entries being shared, re-tweet them to share them with your followers, and explore the encyclopedia yourself to take part in this community educational project. If you don’t use Twitter, keep reading! I want to make the case for why you might want to get into Twitter, but first, here’s another great upcoming project to wet your appetite.

In the 24 hours leading up to Shavuot (which begins in the evening on June 6), many individuals are planning a mass Tweeting of verses and teachings from Torah. As with any topic that you want to follow on Twitter, you’ll just be looking up #Torah. The goal is to Tweet Torah to the top of the things that people are sharing on Twitter, just as we prepare for the peak experience of Receiving Torah again at Sinai when we reach Shavuot. Its a great way to be reminded of the ‘greatest hits’ of Torah, and be introduced to lines, stories, characters, ethics and ideas that you might have never known were in Torah.

Here’s my case for why Twitter is something that might be for you (and at the bottom of this post will be some instructions to help you get started if you are new to this medium).

There are a number of organizations and publications whose materials I like to read online. Some of them I receive via an email directly from them. Others are things that I have ‘liked’ on Facebook and so, when they post something new, it will appear on my Facebook wall. There are other great articles I am introduced to when Facebook friends post the links with words of encouragement about why others might want to read them too. But the other way that I get great information is through the links to news, blogs, articles and TV interview clips that individuals and organizations post on Twitter. It would be overwhelming for me to try and follow every single blog or publication that sometimes posts a particular piece that catches my attention. But by following them on Twitter, I can log on, skim through the brief headings and descriptions that have been posted in the past couple of hours within a couple of minutes, and perhaps find 3 or 4 online articles that I’d really like to read. Think of it as subscribing to a magazine where you are the Editor – you get to decide whose content you want to include. Of course, as the author of a blog and local newspaper articles, its also a way to distribute things that I write more widely, but you can still get a lot out of Twitter even if you just want to be reader.

When you first open up a Twitter account, you can search for potential individuals or organizations to follow by general topic, but the best way to go is to zero in on someone who shares similar interests to you and then look at who they are following (much in the same way that you build up Friends lists on Facebook). To make it even easier, many of us have created ‘Lists’ of categories of Tweeters. So, for example, if you follow me @RabbiGurevitz, you’ll see that I have a list of Jewish organizations that I follow and Jewish professionals. I also have a list of interfaith resources. There are also several online resources that will tell you who some of the ‘top tweeters’ are in a particular field of interest, helping you to build your network of individuals and organizations that are of particular interest to you.

So, give it a go! See below for more info on how to get started. Join the Jewish Women’s Archive #jwapedia project this month and learn about some fantastic Jewish Women who have done astonishing things. Follow #Torah in the first week of June and immerse yourself in our Holy text and heritage to help get into a Shavuot state of mind. And go and explore the great network of Jewish individuals and organizations who are sharing great ideas, great teaching, and great commentary on our community and world affairs on Twitter.

There are a number of good online tutorials for using Twitter.
http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/ takes you through every aspect, step-by-step.
If ‘seeing’ it done via video is more helpful, then check out the video below:

How To Use Twitter on Howcast

And, if you are a ‘local’ at B’nai Israel, and would like a personal demo, drop me a line and I’ll do what I can to help you get started.

Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz

Women’s Torah Project – celebrating a ‘first’ in the Jewish world.

November 27, 2010 / gurevitzr

On October 15,2010, the Women’s Torah Project, the joint work of 6 sofrot – 6 female Torah scribes – from all over the world, was brought together and completed for the Kadima Reconstructionist congregation in Seattle, Washington. Below, a short video tells the story of this wonderful project.

Women’s Torah from Sasha Perry on Vimeo.

The full story of the Women’s Torah project can be found at http://www.womenstorah.com/. On their website is the following poem to mark the culmination of this wonderful achievement:

The Torah Completed by Women

Together we worked,
Embellished it all,
Together, we wove, many pieces;

Together we joined,
The parchment — each line,
Accurately, singing its praises;

That moment in time,
His-tory was changed,
By her work, which was honored and cherished;

To set a new stride,
Carried forward by one,
Whose insight was never daunting;

That beautiful sight,
Not fathomed before,
Was ordered by deep emotion;

And witnessed by many,
Like on Mt. Sinai,
Proclaimed — by the spirit, there, present;

A dream that was high,
We knew its dear meaning,
Much more, than just fulfilling;

With love and affection;
The pinnacle reached:
The contract with G-d — Unbroken!

So let it be told —
In words very Bold —
The Torah — Completed — by Women!

by I. Penn, Oct. 2010
Sisters of the Torah Siyyum Oct 13 – 17, 2010
Seattle, Washington, USA

Kol hakavod! What a wonderful achievement!

Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz (with thanks to Judith Lessler at B’nai Israel for sharing this)

Elul Reflections 8: The Islamic Cultural Center in My Jewish New Year’s Prayers

September 2, 2010 / gurevitzr

This is a re-posting from ‘Torah Around the World’ – a weekly Torah commentary produced by the World Union for Progressive Judaism in their e-newsletter. To subscribe to the e-newsletter, simply send an email with no subject and no message to wupjnews-subscribe@wupj.org.il

“The Islamic Cultural Center in My Jewish New Year’s Prayers” – on Akedat Yitzchak (Genesis 22:1-24)

By Rabbi Mark L. Winer, Senior Rabbi, West London Synagogue

At the season of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hoshana, a time for taking stock has been established. God commands us as Jews to confront the world in which we are God’s partners, and do something about making it a better place. That is our mission, God’s purpose for Jewish existence,L’taken Olam B’Malchut Shaddai, “to repair the world under the rule of God.”

In this season of self-reflection and prayer, my heart reaches out to You, O Lord. We need Your help. This year when the Book of Life is opened and You judge us, we seek a pathway to reconciliation with You and our community. We wish to act so that we may both honor our dead and preserve our values. Please Lord Hear Our Prayers.

Give courage and strength to those who have lost loved ones.
Comfort them in their grief and suffering.
Give understanding and compassion to those of all traditions
who would build centers for cultural understanding.
Guard us from confusing those who would help us
with those who would harm us.
Bring us together in goodwill and peace, and not in pain, fear, and outrage.
Grant us the vision to build bridges between our differences so that
we may honor our dead, preserve our values,
and create a more secure community.
May the bonds forged in our endeavors to bring peace and understanding to
Your world be an ever-lasting testament to Your grace and love.

Do not allow anyone to destroy what we would build with Your help and guidance.
Silence those who would exploit this conflict, pander to our weaknesses,
or use our pain to gain power for themselves.

When the Book of Life is closed at the conclusion of Yom Kippur,
may we know that we have done everything that we can to bring about
peace and reconciliation with You and our community.

Blessed are You O Lord our God who grants the greatest gift of peace to our hearts and our world.

Though these words have broad implications, they are, of course, about the building of an Islamic Cultural Center near ground zero. I consider the Islamic Cultural Center as one who has spent my life’s work in Tikkun Olam – repairing the world through interfaith dialogue and action, trying to reconcile the members of God’s dysfunctional family of humanity. For thirteen years I have lived and worked in the heart of Arab London. Together with my Muslim neighbors and imam colleagues I have on a daily basis studied the ancient wisdom of the Talmudic dictum “one who makes peace within his neighborhood is viewed as having made peace within the entire world.” I have read about the development of the controversy in New York, and I have been deeply saddened by it. This is especially true because we share so much with Islam as this time of year so vividly reminds me.

The Torah portion Jews read in synagogue on Rosh Hoshana morning,Akedat Yitzchak, “the binding of Isaac,” has a parallel in the Koran. In the Jewish version, God tests Abraham’s faith by commanding his willingness to sacrifice his only son by Sarah, Isaac. In the Koran, God commands Ibrahim to sacrifice his only son by Hagar, Ismail. In its essence, both versions are the story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son. For both religions, this story plays a central role in its traditions. For Judaism, the story is told every Rosh Hoshana. For Islam, the story is central to the celebration of Id Al-Adha that comes at the end of the Hajj on the 10th day of the last month of the Islamic calendar. In both cases, the sons of Abraham live, and there are indications in the Hebrew Bible that they come together afterwards. The lesson for all of us is that human sacrifice is forbidden.

We seem to need this reminder. We seem too ready to hate, and too slow to listen. We take pride in our intolerance, and despise anyone who disagrees with us. I fear more the kind of world we would create with such responses than I fear the world that terrorists would impose upon us, because it is easier to fight terrorism than the worst in ourselves.

Our ancestors fought for the freedoms with which we have been blessed. The people who died on 9/11 died for the way of life these freedoms gave us. These freedoms are the basis of our strength and have encouraged our great diversity. They have made us among the most inventive people in the world, and have given us a depth and breadth that is a source of ever-renewable wealth. In our pain, please do not allow us to compromise these freedoms, and thereby weaken ourselves. With hope, I will end my New Year’s prayers by tapping into the very diversity of our resources.

I pray that we allow the values of equality, charity, and hospitality
which are so much a part of the Muslim culture and tradition be extended to all.

I pray that we allow the respect for diverse understandings
that is so much a part of Jewish tradition be extended to all.

I pray that the love and grace that is integral to
Christian tradition be extended to all.

And finally I pray that all of our religious traditions teach us to seek
understanding because only a world filled
with understanding can be filled with Your presence, O Lord,
and Your great gift of peace.
We need Your Help; we cannot do it alone. Please God Hear Our Prayers.

_______________________________________________________________
Mark L Winer is the President of FAITH: the Foundation to Advance Interfaith Trust and Harmony and has been the Senior Rabbi of the West London Synagogue of British Jews since 1998

Manna is for real!

June 9, 2010 / gurevitzr

Photo by Erin Gleeson

In case you didn’t see it, today’s New York Times had a fascinating article about the modern-day existence and use of Manna. What is fascinating is that the description of what Manna is, when and where it is found, how it is created in nature, its texture and its variety of tastes attributed to it, fits incredibly well with what the Bible tells us about the stuff.

Here is the biblical description (text from Mechon-Mamre) – then click here for the NY Times article.

וַיְהִי בָעֶרֶב–וַתַּעַל הַשְּׂלָו, וַתְּכַס אֶת-הַמַּחֲנֶה; וּבַבֹּקֶר, הָיְתָה שִׁכְבַת הַטַּל, סָבִיב, לַמַּחֲנֶה.	13 And it came to pass at even, that the quails came up, and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew round about the camp.
יד וַתַּעַל, שִׁכְבַת הַטָּל; וְהִנֵּה עַל-פְּנֵי הַמִּדְבָּר, דַּק מְחֻסְפָּס–דַּק כַּכְּפֹר, עַל-הָאָרֶץ.	14 And when the layer of dew was gone up, behold upon the face of the wilderness a fine, scale-like thing, fine as the hoar-frost on the ground.
טו וַיִּרְאוּ בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִישׁ אֶל-אָחִיו מָן הוּא–כִּי לֹא יָדְעוּ, מַה-הוּא; וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה, אֲלֵהֶם, הוּא הַלֶּחֶם, אֲשֶׁר נָתַן יְהוָה לָכֶם לְאָכְלָה.	15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another: ‘What is it?’–for they knew not what it was. And Moses said unto them: ‘It is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
טז זֶה הַדָּבָר, אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה, לִקְטוּ מִמֶּנּוּ, אִישׁ לְפִי אָכְלוֹ: עֹמֶר לַגֻּלְגֹּלֶת, מִסְפַּר נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם–אִישׁ לַאֲשֶׁר בְּאָהֳלוֹ, תִּקָּחוּ.	16 This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded: Gather ye of it every man according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, shall ye take it, every man for them that are in his tent.’
יז וַיַּעֲשׂוּ-כֵן, בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל; וַיִּלְקְטוּ, הַמַּרְבֶּה וְהַמַּמְעִיט.	17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less.
יח וַיָּמֹדּוּ בָעֹמֶר–וְלֹא הֶעְדִּיף הַמַּרְבֶּה, וְהַמַּמְעִיט לֹא הֶחְסִיר: אִישׁ לְפִי-אָכְלוֹ, לָקָטוּ.	18 And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.
יט וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה, אֲלֵהֶם: אִישׁ, אַל-יוֹתֵר מִמֶּנּוּ עַד-בֹּקֶר.	19 And Moses said unto them: ‘Let no man leave of it till the morning.’
כ וְלֹא-שָׁמְעוּ אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, וַיּוֹתִרוּ אֲנָשִׁים מִמֶּנּוּ עַד-בֹּקֶר, וַיָּרֻם תּוֹלָעִים, וַיִּבְאַשׁ; וַיִּקְצֹף עֲלֵהֶם, מֹשֶׁה.	20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and rotted; and Moses was wroth with them.
כא וַיִּלְקְטוּ אֹתוֹ בַּבֹּקֶר בַּבֹּקֶר, אִישׁ כְּפִי אָכְלוֹ; וְחַם הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ, וְנָמָס.	21 And they gathered it morning by morning, every man according to his eating; and as the sun waxed hot, it melted.
כב וַיְהִי בַּיּוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי, לָקְטוּ לֶחֶם מִשְׁנֶה–שְׁנֵי הָעֹמֶר, לָאֶחָד; וַיָּבֹאוּ כָּל-נְשִׂיאֵי הָעֵדָה, וַיַּגִּידוּ לְמֹשֶׁה.	22 And it came to pass that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one; and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
כג וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם, הוּא אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה–שַׁבָּתוֹן שַׁבַּת-קֹדֶשׁ לַיהוָה, מָחָר: אֵת אֲשֶׁר-תֹּאפוּ אֵפוּ, וְאֵת אֲשֶׁר-תְּבַשְּׁלוּ בַּשֵּׁלוּ, וְאֵת כָּל-הָעֹדֵף, הַנִּיחוּ לָכֶם לְמִשְׁמֶרֶת עַד-הַבֹּקֶר.	23 And he said unto them: ‘This is that which the LORD hath spoken: To-morrow is a solemn rest, a holy sabbath unto the LORD. Bake that which ye will bake, and seethe that which ye will seethe; and all that remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.’
כד וַיַּנִּיחוּ אֹתוֹ עַד-הַבֹּקֶר, כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה מֹשֶׁה; וְלֹא הִבְאִישׁ, וְרִמָּה לֹא-הָיְתָה בּוֹ.	24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade; and it did not rot, neither was there any worm therein.

Standing Again at Sinai: Reflections 2010

May 17, 2010 / gurevitzr

This year, the Rosh Hodesh group at Congregation B’nai Israel was inspired by Merle Feld’s spiritual memoir and poetry collection, ‘A Spiritual Life.’ We dipped in to read many of the prose narratives and poems, adding our own personal stories to hers. Inspired by her writing, we sought out and found the spiritual in everyday life, and found how our own everyday lives were enriched by the cycle of the Jewish year and ritual practices. Last month, we read one of her most well-known poems, We all Stood Together. Another author, Chava Weissler, wrote a response to this poem a number of years ago, which you can read here. Taking these two sources as our text, the women in the group described their own ‘Standing at Sinai’ moment. On the day before Shavuot, when we stand again at Sinai to remember and receive Revelation, I share some of these creative pieces with you.

I’m standing at Sinai. I feel isolated and left out. I’m supposed to feel something that everyone else is feeling. I don’t. Is there something wrong with me? I fake it, so I don’t stand out. I’m 12. I feel little. Maybe some day, when I grow up, I’ll fit in better.

A young woman, I danced with Miriam at the shores of the Red Sea. And I look up to Miriam as a friend and mentor. And now I follow her to the foot of Mt. Sinai with curiosity and eagerness. I find the trembling of the earth and noise overwhelming. It’s awesome. I feel that the God that Miriam spoke about is present. I am excited and afraid at the same time.

I am a 50 year old woman and I am taking my place up front, not only for myself, but for the other women and those on the margins in order to witness God’s message. I feel, though, not totally a part of the community. I am only observing, contemplating the happenings; communing with God.

My children cling to me, and I am afraid they will be lost in the crowd. I keep them close as we women proceed slowly, surrounded by our children, always worried – do they need food or drink? Will they stay close? The oldest may stray. I remind her to watch her little brother. Maybe I will hear the message too.

I’m standing next to a friend. But we’re not talking. We’re comforted by the security of knowing the other is standing there next to us. I’m trying really hard to understand – to comprehend the moment. But I’m confused. The sounds and sights are disorienting, and I can’t figure out what the essence of this Revelation is. Should I close my eyes and let the sounds wash over me? Will I find enlightenment in the stillness in the midst of the chaos? Or have I misunderstood? Perhaps the essence of Revelation is about what we’re all doing here together – perhaps its all about this mass of people. Perhaps I should open my eyes and take in who we all are – is it the connections that invisibly bind us all together that is the true essence of Revelation? Eyes open or eyes closed? Sight or sound? Inside or in-between? I’m hear the sights and seeing the sounds. Perhaps it is all ECHAD – ONE.

The skeptic: What is going on here? What’s with the pushing and the shoving? We’ve been shlepping around for years and nothing happens and today we’re supposed to Get the Message? Yeah, right. I’ll get the news second-hand. Why ruin my shoes?

The mother with two absent boys is thinking of others – while the business executive wants the mother to fully experience and the mother with three little children says she is too busy and can’t fully benefit. While I am deeply emotional and hope to have the answers for the rest of my life.

I am hiking. I stop. Here. This is the place. Picking up a stone, I stare at it. Everything is here. Holy, holy, holy.

I am afraid of the unknown. We are foreigners in someone else’s land. The immenseness of the place is overwhelming. I’m a stranger in a strange land.

My Bat Mitzvah Miracle: In solidarity with Women of the Wall

December 26, 2009 / gurevitzr

Tonight’s blog, in solidarity with Women of the Wall, is written by Barbara Levine:

Most of my life I was religiously non-observant. Born Jewish, growing up in Brooklyn NY, I was connected Jewishly in my heart, but not ritualistically. After marriage and children, we moved to Connecticut and eventually joined B’nai Israel. I almost never went to services – not even on the High Holy days. My children grew up at B’nai Israel since we wanted them to have the Jewish education I never had. Each had a Bar or Bat mitzvah. I was then, and remain to this day, very spiritual in my outlook.

After Rabbi Prosnit became our Rabbi, I began to study with him and questioned ‘why should I be Jewish’ as a faith. I already believed strongly in God and prayer. But I hadn’t felt a comfortable fit within any worship community. I felt challenged by Rabbi and committed myself to attend Friday night services every week for a year, no matter what.

I remember feeling uncomfortable and afraid, thinking people would notice and question, ‘why is this woman coming here all of a sudden?’ I thought they knew each other and would see me as the outsider – the interloper. Instead, after less than a month, I realized that I was a regular and loved services. The clergy and others saw me as one who could be counted on to be there. For over 10 years morning or evening I rarely missed a service or weekly torah study. I belonged and people knew me. It was a good fit!

After much time and study, I decided I would attempt to have a Bat Mitzvah. Cantor Gilbert believed I could do it even though my paralyzed vocal cord inhibits my ability to speak loudly, much less chant. My portion in Vayetze – Jacob’s dream meant a lot to me.

Before the Friday evening group Bat Mitzvah service, I went to the local mikvah for the ritual of purification by immersion in water. I had wondered what the mikvah experience felt like. This was a perfect time to do it. Basya, a very pregnant busy mother with many children, was the mikvah attendant. I was overwhelmed (in a good way) by the loving, caring attention I received from her. We spoke about my expecting a miracle that my paralyzed vocal cord would be healed, in front of the congregation, when I got to chant my Torah portion. I believed God might heal my voice from weak and gravelly to strong and melodic thus inspiring whoever was there. She disavowed me of that belief in a very loving way and showed me that just because Ithought God would want to use me for a miracle, that might not be God’s plan. Her words of wisdom astounded me.

The Bat Mitzvah was wonderful and many of my loved ones – family and friends were there. My voice remained the same. But I was overjoyed and uplifted, not disappointed. Over time I recognized the many real blessings I received. I had my miracle.

Later, I wrote about the mikvah experience and my Bat mitzvah for the Jewish Ledger and Reform Judaism magazine. Still later (perhaps 2 or 3 years on), I was at a lecture sponsored by Ahavas Achim (the local Orthodox synagogue). I got to talk with the guest speaker and somehow she heard that I had written the article about the mikvah experience. I was really surprised she was so excited to meet me. She then shared that she and others had read my article about the kindness and wisdom of the mikvah attendant and the Many Blessings of my experience. She used my article to convince many Orthodox, and other women, to go to the mikvah. And she thanked me!

Touching the Torah: In solidarity with Women of the Wall

December 24, 2009 / gurevitzr

Part of a solidarity blog series for Women of the Wall. Each piece is written by a member of the Rosh Hodesh group of Congregation B’nai Israel. Tonight, Beth Lazar reflects on meaningful moments drawing close to the Torah.

My cousins are Reconstructionist Jews and I went to services with them. They sang some of the same tunes that we sing at B’nai Israel and they also have a Saturday morning Torah study group that meets before Saturday morning services, to study and discuss the portion of the week. I felt very at home at my cousins’ temple.

My cousin also took me to a gathering of Conservative and Orthodox Jews who rented space to have Shabbat and Festival services. We went to pray with them for a Passover Shabbat service. The leaders of the service noticed that I was a new face, and asked me to dress the Torah after the reading.

I have a T-shirt with a picture of women dancing with the Torah at the Western Wall. It is my hope that someday that drawing become a reality. And all Jews can pray together here in the USA, and Israel.