Showing posts with label Torah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Torah. Show all posts

Sunday, May 3, 2009

The Man in the Mirror

(Editor's note: This blog post was originally given as a speech last Friday night at the Hillel house. If you were there, don't waste your time. It's probably not worth reading again. If you were not, enjoy. Also, the grammar isn't perfect. And I'm ok with that.)

So, yesterday we were privileged to hear two Torah portions in one service: Acharei Mot…and Kedoshim. Both are obviously wonderful in their own right, and to say one is better or more interesting than the other would be doing a disservice everyone. With that in mind, I will focus exclusively on the latter one. Kedoshim.

Parshat Kedoshim starts with one of my favorite Torah “catch phrases” of all time. And yes…there are some great catch phrases in those 5 books. “Daber el kol adat bnei yisrael v’amarta aleihem…Kedoshim tihiyu, ki kadosh…ani Hashem Elokeichem”. Leviticus 19:2, the second verse in the Parsha, states, “You shall be holy, for I, the LORD your God am holy”. So…great. We are commanded to be HOLY because God, the Being we so adoringly refer to as “The Name”, is holy. I don’t know what you guys think, but THAT…is pretty darn vague. What does it mean to be holy in this Godly sense?

When I have an issue with something, I always go to the same place. The Torah. Luckily for me, I was already there. The next two verses read, and I quote “Ish Imo v’aviv Tira’u, v’et Shabbtotai tishmoru, ani hashem elokeichem…al tifnu el ha’elilim, etc. ” To translate: “you shall each revere your mother and father and keep my Sabbaths…I am the LORD, your God…do not turn to idols…etc.” We get a list of laws. This, apparently, is how one becomes holy in the Godly sense. If we follow these laws, then we become holy. Case closed. Sounds easy enough. Only one problem: we’ve heard these, or variations of these, before. In fact, we’ve heard them quite prominently. These laws are part of the TOP TEN. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS! Moses screamed them in front of everyone. There were trumpets and shofars blowing…thunder and lightning…the whole deal! They were written on stone tablets, “B’etzbah elohim” with the divine finger of God! There is obviously a lesson to be learned. What can we learn from this, the most obvious of parallels, between the laws here in Kedoshim to the Ten Commandments.

Just so you all know, I was not the first person to realize the similarities. A whole bunch of commentators have written about, some even going as far as finding all ten in some form or another. I don’t buy it, but it’s still pretty cool stuff.

So, as I mentioned earlier, when I have a problem, I read the Torah. What is the connection? Why do we need to repeat these laws that we have clearly already heard before? This is where things start to get interesting. Immediately following these basic laws, these commandments that we have heard and come to keep and love so dutifully, we get…(pause for effect)…an OBSCURE law about sacrifices, known as “Pigul”. I’m gonna paraphrase this one for convenience…but it’s in there if you don’t trust me. When you slaughter a Korban Shelamim, the “Shelamim” offering, you gotta eat it in 2 days: the day you slaughter it and the next. If you don’t, and you eat it on the next day…BAM rejected. God no longer wants it. Oh and not only is this a tremendous waste of your livestock and money…you get Karet. Excommunicated. You didn’t finish eating on time, so God doesn’t want you…OR your korban. Hmm…seems a bit steep. And, for our purposes…pretty confusing. How can this law possibly be placed next to the most basic and important laws of our existence? What’s going on here?

Well, let’s look a little bit closer at the sacrifice we are dealing with here, the Shelamim sacrifice. According to the bottom of the Artscroll Bible, my source for any and all imporant Torah insight, the Shelamim was brought voluntarily by someone who was moved to express his love for God…or who just wanted to get closer to Him. A man would travel to Jerusalem, buy a cow, or a sheep and sacrifice it to the Lord. The fats would get burned on the Altar. The priest will get a little to feast on, and the man who, as we just learn, just wanted to praise the Lord would eat the rest. I don’t know if you guys have ever seen a cow, or a sheep before. But that…is a lot of meat. Believe me, I know. We had “lamb day” back when I spent a year in Israel. Some nutty Israeli came with a small lamb and slaughtered it in front of an adoring American crowd. I, of course, had a barbershop to run and couldn’t make it, but I do know that that little sucker fed a whole lot of hungry Yeshiva students. Like…everyone. But back to the point…why does this guy get punished for not being gluttonous? I mean…excommunication?! To make matters worse, Chazal, our sages of old, take this a step further: if a man even THINKS about eating it after the second day the sacrifice is rejected. What sense does that make??

The answer to these questions could not be found plainly in the text. I had to look deeper, and I did, with the help of “Rabbi” Menachem Leibtag…famous for being the only man who’s class I have never walked out on. He teaches, through his website (tanach.org), that…OF COURSE it’s impossible to finish the meat. For one man to finish an entire cow or sheep in 2 days is impossible. But that was the intention. In essence, God, in his ultimate wisdom, intended to “force” this guy to share. And, presumably, not with his family. Most ancient Jews did not live in Jerusalem. A man who wanted to bring this Shelamim sacrifice would have to trek all the way to the Temple in the capital city. His family wasn’t with him. In fact, he probably didn’t know anyone there. And that…was exactly the point. He is being forced to share with people he doesn’t know, with people he has never met before. And if he is not willing to do that, if he even thinks about being selfish…God no longer wants his Korban. In fact, God no longer wants this person at all: “v’nichrita ha nefesh ha’hi”, “and he is cut off from his people”.

Now that we solved the mystery of Pigul, let’s try to work backward to our earlier questions. To remind you, I was wondering aloud what someone has to do to be holy…and why the Torah felt it was necessary to repeat laws for us that were already quite well known.

The parallels of those verses, of revering your mother and father and not turning to idols, to the 10 commandments are quite obvious. But almost just as striking, to me at least, is the way in which the words here CONTRAST those that were announced at Har Sinai. There, in front of the whole congregation of Israel, and I’m starting with the 3rd commandment for convenience, we have (3) don’t have images of “heavenly” beings, (4) Remember the Sabbath and (5) Honor your father and mother. Here, we have, “Ish Imo v’aviv tira’u, v’et Shabbtotai tishmoru…” "…Mother and father fear…Shabbat we keep." Upon closer review, the words are not exactly the same. In fact, it’s almost…the reverse. It REFLECTS what Bnei Yisrael, the ancient Israelites, were told earlier. Even the wording is reversed. There, in the Ten Commandments (See Exodus 20:2-14 for all ten), it is written “honor your father and mother.” We have a verb, an action: to honor. Whom do we honor? Our father and mother. The progression is: verb…father…mother. Here, in our portion, Kedoshim: mother…father…then the verb, to fear. There it says, “remember the Shabbat” verb…and then noun. Here it says, “Shabbat Tishmoru”…the Sabbath…you should keep. Here, the noun comes before the verb.

I don’t know about you guys, but when it comes to the written word of the Torah, as related from the LORD to Moshe, it is hard for me to accept word choice as coincidence. Perhaps, God’s choice of words is a not-so-subtle reminder to all of us. In order for us to be Holy, in order for us to be Holy like GOD, we must be able to reflect on ourselves, and really objectively decide what kind of person we are, and whether or not THAT person is a good one. What is the best way to measure this? What is the best way to reach this ultimate self-awareness and acceptance? What immediately follows the “reflective” commandments? Pigul. That obscure sacrifice law, the quintessential point of which is that God is DESPISED by the idea of having someone in HIS community that won’t seek out his fellow man to break-bread, to have a beer with, to share in his sacrifice. Because if you don’t, if you’re NOT someone who looks to SHARE with his fellow man, it doesn’t matter how many Shabbats we keep, or how Kosher our food is, or what job we have…or what money we can spend…God does not want us. If YOU don’t, no…if I DON’T look out for my fellow man, how can I look at myself in the mirror and HONESTLY reflect on myself favorably.

And THAT I believe is the message the Torah is trying to teach us in placing the seemingly repetitive commandments about parents and Shabbat next to the seemingly random law of Pigul, and the Korban Shelmamim.

As I look back and reflect on my four years here, at Maryland, a lot has changed. The people have changed. My ideas about life have changed, and I am sure many of yours have also. I have not always made the right decisions, or done what was right. I, personally, have not always been holy. I can’t imagine any of you have either. But through the ups and downs, being able to look at myself in the mirror is something I have always striven for. And I recommend you do the same. It doesn’t really matter who does what to you, or who says what about you…or what anyone thinks about you. Because at the end of the day, when you’re in your pajamas brushing your teeth, you have only yourself in the mirror. Not me. Not even God.

Just you…staring right back at you.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The Exodus and Dancing Asians

So, I've been meaning to get a few blog posts up. There has been two ideas brewing in my head, and I intended to post them at the blog of my former employee, Moment Magazine. Due to the adjective "former", I have since decided against using their blog as a forum for my unsubstantiated comparisons between Jewish related topics and the real world. Anyways, here's the first.

I woke up one morning, about 6 weeks ago, and, as I always do, checked my email. What made this day different was that there was actually something in my inbox. But what really made this day different was that I had emails from two completely different friends, both requested I follow a certain link to youtube. I obliged, and, much to my delight, a small group of Asian women dazzled my dusty computer screen with a professionally performed synchronized dance to a Miami Boys Choir classic. Pure comedy. But what really amazed me was that two people, from completely different areas of my life, both got a hold of the same video. And both sent it to me. It was crazy.

As many of you are probably aware, the Jewish holiday of Passover is rapidly approaching. Aside from the unhealthy amount of Matzah consumed, the Holiday is mostly in celebration of the Jewish Exodus from their slavery in Egypt. The Bible tells us of the trials and tribulations the Israelites endured living a bitter life as "strangers in a strange land". But after enough time passed, and enough plagues were executed on the Egyptians, God told Moses to gather up the people and leave. Seems easy enough. Until you remember that over 600,000 people were there. And by people I mean men between the ages of 20 and 60. Including women, children, and maybe even a few elderly, that number can reach as many as 3 million, according to the Rabbis who taught me in Elementary school. The exact number doesn't matter. What does matter, is that it's a lot of people. I mean...a LOT of people. How did the speech impaired and self described "World's Most Humble Man" Moses spread the word fast enough to that many people?

That morning, after watching the ridiculous video of pre-pubescent males singing beautifully in Hebrew, I checked the amount of views the video had. A little over three-thousand. Not astounding, but definitely more significant than the 2007 UMD Purim Shpiel videos. Later that night, I was in the mood for a few more laughs, so I watched the video again (I'm a senior...I have time. Well, at least until we rediscovered the N64, arguably the most imporant discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls). The views had swelled to more than 10,000. A week later, the views had tripled to over 30,000.

The conclusion is clear. If there's one thing that has stayed consistent throughout the history of the Jewish people it's this: we can spread news faster than any other people out there...whether it's regarding something as important as leaving slavery or something as ridiculous as dancing Asian women.

Oh, by the way, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eAgxnaVirg

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

I'll Carry YOUR Torah (that's what SHE said)

Before we get started here, a brief note on the Raven's MNF loss to the still undefeated Patriots. You know the feeling the Jews got when they left Egypt? I had the complete OPPOSITE feeling about 4 different times during the 4th quarter of the game. That's about all I can say on the issue. The Ravens played their hearts out, and left everything out on the field. Well, except for the penalty flag Bart Scott threw into the stands. Classy.
Women: can't live with them...can't procreate without them. No, this is not going to be my first ever post devoted entirely to fashion. Although, I am very intrigued by the "let's just wear leggings" phenomenon. Seems like it really caught on. Do they provide the same warmth as actual pants? Has anyone ever shown up to a job interview donning the long shirt-belt-leggings trio? I'd like to think that Kobe Bryant is somewhat responsible for this. In any case, I'm really here to talk more about the role of women in Judaism, or, as it seems to be in most Orthodox circles, the lack there of. Now, I'm not just writing this because the Official Blog Girl was president of the entire Orthodox community here at the U of MD for a year (and she did a fantastic job, might I add. Not that I'm biased). I truly think this is a huge issue and I'm about 78 percent sure I heard that Rabbi J.J. Schachter agrees with me. Whoever that is.
So there have been a few different programs about women and Judaism here on campus. Most recently there has been interest in having the Torah being carried back on the ladies' side of the room on Shabbat morning. Of course there is plenty of opposition, not from a Halakhic perspective, but from those who value the "tradition" of men carrying back the Torah, and those who are concerned with the overall weird feeling that many in the Minyan will feel. Personally, I think it's a great idea. There's a difference between tradition as mandated by a legitimate source and tradition of "this is how we've always done it, so this is how we should always do it." If we are doing something because of a specific reason or legitimate source, and now that reason no longer exists, it BECOMES just "something we've always done." Before anyone looks into this issue, or any issue that pertains to women in Judaism they should take a figurative step back.
There are sexist statements in all different kinds of Judaic writings. My personal favorite is roughly translated as "If you teach a woman Torah, it is as if you are teaching them nonesense". I don't blame these people for writing these things because these people actually believed these things. Women couldn't do ANYTHING back in those days. Women didn't learn trades like men did. They didn't go out in the field like men did. They raised their children, and ran the household. These are the facts. During the time that the Talmud was compiled, and then the Shulchan Aruch women were really seen as second class citizens. I am willing to bet that when the Mishna Brurah was written there was still an overwhelming number of people who really believed that women didn't have the same brain capacity as men. They couldn't vote until the 1900s. They didn't really enter the work force until WWII because all the men were off fighting.
(I made the following point in a comment, but that it was important enough to "edit" it into the actual body of the post. Enjoy.)
Until relatively recently, women didn't even GO to shul. For modesty reasons, for traditional reasons, for whatever reasons, it just didn't happen. Now they do. Interesting. So there must have been ONE shul out there that decided to start using that mechitza (partition) thing that they had for davening purposes. No doubt when they started letting women in the shul there was outrage. Now, we look back and to us it seems like it was something that "evolved". But at the time it was surely seems like something that happened in one place over night, after much thought, and then it started spreading, until now where it is looked at as common place. We can even say that "this is how its always been".
Eliezer Berkovits said in his essay entitled "Conversion and the Decline of the Oral Law" that we have become Karaites to the Shulchan Aruch. Perhaps that's a bit extreme, but he makes a good point, and it is something to be aware of. I am not calling for an overnight change in all of Orthodoxy, and I know these things take time. Change is scary, and it could be dangerous. And I know it may even lead to mixed dancing. But with something as important as feeling close to God maybe it's time to let the women out of the kitchen.
Yes, me, the same guy who once chanted "bare-foot and pregnant!" at a "Battle of the Genders" camp event (we weren't allowed to call it "Battle of the Sexes" because all the giggling could have attracted unwanted wildlife) is now advocating for women's rights in Judaism.
Fantasy Football update: The F***** O***** just barely squeaked into the playoffs after Brett Favre got hurt and provided me with less than one fantasy point. I'm hoping Ladainian rallys the troops and we beat the Tony Romo led S******* that H*

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Throwing the Flag

Yesterday evening, while my first post was still nothing but a draft, I took a brief break for afternoon and evening services. Following services, and my brief announcements, I attended a short shiur (class) on this weeks Parsha (Torah portion). Sidenote: when I say "brief announcements" in this blog, it's kind of like when a character in a movie says its title during a pivotal scene. Sean Connery in "Entrapment" does this best. I SWEAR he pauses and looks at the camera before he says "entrapment". Pure comedy. Anyways, I try to make it to the shiur every week. Surely I am motivated by the free pizza, which allows me to save my defrosting salmon for a mid-night snack, but I am also interested in what God has to say. Usually, I regret to say, I leave the shiur disappointed. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised because the Hebrew word "shiur" comes from the same root as the word for "painful eye gauging". OK, that's a lie. In any case, this week was different. Why? Because the Rabbi did something that I rarely see. And I'm not referring to the fact that he shook a woman's hand, though that was a refreshing surprise. What struck me about this Shiur and this Rabbi was not the actual content. Rather, it was his approach that surprised me. Most shiurs or sermons I have listened to recently, and for most of my life, have consisted of the same basic formula: brief reading of some lines from the Parsha, then discussing what various Rishonim ("early Rabbis") have to say on the matter, most notably the man made famous by Shlock Rock, Rashi. Lather, rinse, repeat. In the end, everyone is left without any real conclusions and with many different answers to a single question, and somehow everyone is happy. Rather than follow this flawless model, this Rabbi talked about something...new. No Rishonim. He did bring a source from the Talmud, but it was not to provide direct commentary on the verses quoted. I know he's not the only rabbi who says new things. I know there are many Rabbis out there who do this, but that doesn't mean that it's not rare. Well, maybe it's not rare, but I am focusing really only on my personal experiences. This is my blog, I can do that.
I think what I am trying to say is this: being a Rabbi just isn't what it used to be. Nowadays, no one has anything NEW to say. No one is giving me a chidush. And I mean no disrespect. But the problem is not just within the Rabbinic world. We, the global congregation, have lowered our collective expectations. People are fine going to shul every week, listening to/sleeping through the sermon, picking up on a few obvious points that the Rabbi made, and going home to lunch with the family..."v'ein kol hadash tahat hashemesh" (Ecclesiastes 1:9. Look it up. I'm doing my first book review on Ecclesiastes one day. I'm half kidding.).
In today's society, no one is out there challenging authority. Except on the football field where coaches have the ability to throw the red flag (or my ridiculous group of friends who adopted the same custom, carrying around red flags in order to challenge every day situations. I'm not lying. These exist.). But that's a whole different kind of challenging. People have become so apathetic in their opinions towards everything from the War in Iraq to local elections to religion as a whole. These are the facts. We don't challenge our Rabbis to make their shiurs worthwhile, and they, in turn, don't challenge anything from past generations.
I'm not calling for rampant disrespect. Please, I'm a gentleman. But a little conversation never hurt anyone. So before they bring in the kicking unit for the extra point, throw the flag.
It doesn't help when it's stuck in your sock.