Parshat Mishpatim

There is a story in the Talmud of a perspective convert who goes to the great Rabbi Shammai and says, “teach me all of the torah on one foot (meaning in one moment).”  Immediately, Shammai kicks him out.  So he goes across the street to the other great Rabbi, Hillel, and asks him the same thing.  Hillel agrees, he says, “do unto your fellow as you would have done unto you, the rest is commentary now go and study.”  For the great Torah sage, Hillel, correct behavior is only half of the lesson of Judaism, the other half is that you need to study.

At the end of this week’s parsha there is a very famous and important passage.  It says, that Moses took the book of the covenant and read it out loud to the nation, and the nation responded: “Naaseh ViNishmah” – “all that God has said, we will do and we will listen.”  What an unusual  statement.  Usually, we LISTEN to a proposal, think about it, and then we decide whether or not we will do it. In this week’s parsha, the Jewish people first said they will do, and then only afterwards did they say they will listen.

The midrash explains that this is what made the Jewish people worthy of receiving the torah.  God went to all of the other nations of the world and asked them if they would like the torah.  All the other nations replied, what does the torah contain?  After hearing ideas distasteful to them, they each rejected the divine gift of the torah.  But the Jewish people merited to receive the torah from God because they first said (Naaseh), we will do, and then they said (vinishma) we will listen to what is contained in the Torah.

On the surface this story seems to be compelling us towards blind faith.  That we should blind ourselves to what is contained in the torah and just DO, even if we have no idea what we’re doing!!!  If this were the lesson of the midrash it would only be necessary for the Jews to have responded we will DO (naaseh).  But the real lesson comes from their whole response, we will do AND we will listen (ViNishma).

The addition of vinishma teaches us an important model of religious life.  It is not sufficient to just do religious things, in order to fully receive the torah in the way the Jewish people did after Sinai, we must also listen to what the torah is teaching us.  Listening means that we must learn about the religious acts that we do, not just the details about how to perform mitzvoth, but the reasons why we have each of the mitzvoth.  We must think about how these acts give meaning to our lives.  By taking this lesson of vinishma to heart, ultimately, our religious life will influence our Jewish identity.

This declaration, Naaseh ViNishma, we will do and we will listen is a lesson on how to educate towards religious practice.  The doing needs to come before the learning.  Let’s use art to illustrate this point.  You can describe to someone a beautiful work of art, describe the theory behind the piece, show them the techniques used in creating the artwork, and explain to them how the lighting and color makes it a masterpiece.  But, unless they have seen that work of art for themselves they will not appreciate its beauty.  In contrast, if after having seen a work of art, experienced its beauty first hand, and learnt about the technique and theory which made that work of art a masterpiece, then the appreciation of that work of art will be enhanced far greater than it could have been before.

The same can be said for religious experience.  Studying about religion, while a worthwhile endeavor, might not be a sufficient in itself as a way to enrich one’s personal religious experience.  In order for a religious life to be fully appreciated, it must be experienced.  Once someone has familiarized themselves with the religious experience study will enhance that practice.

This is why we teach children at an early age to do mitzvoth.  Even before they are capable of understanding the meaning of a mitzvah we encourage them to do.  Our hope is that doing the acts will lead them to wonder why they do it, and this inquiry will lead to their own unique personal connection to the mitzvah.

Another aspect of this unusual statement, Naaseh vinishmah, is that it describes how your religious choices can influence your religious perspective.  The things you do or don’t do can directly influence your questions and doubts.  Your overall religious perspective, the questions we ask, the challenges and doubts we struggle with about our religion are often, directly influenced by whether or not we are practicing.  Naaseh Vinishmah is telling us that our learning, our soul searching, our questions, and our doubts should exist, that learning is an integral part of the equation.  The statement says we will do and we will listen.  The torah is directing us to do the learning, search our souls, and have questions.  But the questions which stem from a place of observance are fundamentally different than those from a place of non-observance.

There is a story which is told about a group of young Jews during the Enlightenment.  They are questioning the value of religion, and they feel that religion is a thing of the past which no longer has any relevance.  But in the spirit of intellectual honesty they want to give Judaism one last chance.  So they write down a list of their questions and issues and they decide that one of the young men from the group will go to learn in a yeshiva and try to find out if Judaism can answer their questions.  After some time the group reconvenes, and they ask their friend who had just spent considerable time immersed in Jewish life and Jewish learning if he has found the answers for their questions..

He describes how great his experience has been, how he has learnt so much and that he is so happy, but no word about any “answers.”  So they ask him again, “what about our questions did you find the answers to our questions!?!?”  He responds, “no, but I no longer have those same questions.”  When his religious perspective shifted so did his questions.  The torah wants our questions, but it wants them to be from a place of commitment to a Jewish way of life.  Choosing to commit to a Jewish way of life will shape your perspective differently than questioning from the outside.

The message which comes from the entire statement of Naaseh Vinishma is a vital component of Jewish life.  Action is the body of Jewish life, without action there can be no Jewish experience.  Study needs to go hand in hand with our Jewish experiences, because study is the spirit of Jewish life.

Parshat Yitro

This week’s Parsha contains in it the receiving of the Torah by the Jewish people on Mt. Sinai.  It is one of two times in the Torah that the Ten Commandments are listed.  Today I’d like to focus on the last of the Ten Commandments, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female slave, or his ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Very simply, this commandment is instructing us not to desire things that don’t belong to us.  This commandment seems to instruct us regarding having a high quality of life as it relates to the statement in  Pirkei Avot (4:1), “Who is rich?  The one who is happy with his or her lot.”  The idea being, that the jealousy which comes from coveting what other people have is a result of not being content with what we have.  When our personal happiness is judged not by what we have alone and our own feelings of contentedness, but on what we have in comparison to others, we will never find true happiness.  There will always be someone with more me, therefore it will be impossible for me to achieve the true satisfaction of a happy life.  Therefore the Torah commands us not to covet the belongings of other people. 

If my focus is on what are the things that I need to make myself happy, then I will be able to set reasonable and meaningful goals for myself, resulting in a true sense of satisfaction and achievement with my accomplishments.    It is difficult in our consumer driven society to see other people’s nice stuff, (be it clothing, gadgets, cars, homes, schools our children attend, etc.) and want these things for ourselves.  It is human nature to desire nice things, so how do we fulfill this commandment?  The Talmud Yerushalmi (Berachot 4:2) describes a blessing that some of our great sages would say at the end of the day which relates to this idea.  The prayer is, “May it be your will (God) that others not be envious of us, and that we be envious of others.  By asking God for help and directing our minds to not want to covet we can train ourselves to want to overcome our jealous feelings.  It is difficult to overcome this strong emotion, but with God’s help and some practice and dedication on our part, we can train ourselves to minimize our jealous feelings.  

Parshat Beshalach

The Parsha opens with the verse, “Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, ‘The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.”  What’s interesting to me about this verse is that in Hebrew, the phrase, “although it was nearer,” could also be translated as “because it was nearer.” 

What does this change in translation add?  I believe it highlights a lesson about the importance of learning to cope with adversity.  The verse could now be saying, in my own words, “God did not want to take the people of Israel on the easy path, because if they didn’t learn how to deal with adversity they would not be able to successfully stand up to challenges.”

Religion is not about making life easier by taking away the need to think for ourselves and blindly follow commands.  Religious questions should not be dismissed with simple answers. Instead, we must first recognize the importance of the questions themselves and the struggle implicit in the questions being asked.  When approaching religious life without the depth and complexity that comes from struggle, often, that faith will not be able withstand challenge- it will easily fall apart.   

It is important to learn how to struggle with matters of life and religion so that when our beliefs are challenged, the foundations do not come tumbling down.  Furthermore, a deep personal connection to Judaism blossoms out of struggle and enhances our positive religious experiences.  This type of relationship with our Judaism is necessary to fulfill a phrase from later in the Parsha, “this is my God and I will glorify it.”

The sages used this term about glorifying God as the proof text for a concept of making the mitzvoth beautiful in the way that they are practiced.  A Midrash comments on that verse saying, “through my following of God’s commandments I will cause others to say that there is no God like God.”  It is necessary to have a deep and complex relationship with our religion to acquire such a deep and complex love of Torah and mitzvoth.  And, when a person fulfills God’s commandments from a place of such depth, it impacts not only on the individual himself, but on all those with whom he/she contacts. 

Parshat Bo

This week’s Parsha marks the beginning of the Jewish people’s freedom from slavery in Egypt.  It begins where last week’s Parsha left off, with the last 3 of the 10 plagues, and then continues with Pharaoh allowing the people to go free and of their preparations to leave. In addition, the Jewish concept of freedom begins to emerge in this week’s Parasha.
On the eve of the Jewish people’s departure from Egypt, Moses speaks to the people about educating their children on 3 different occasions.  This is important because it is teaching us that the importance of freedom is about much more than just achieving freedom from bondage.  Moses could have spoken about how great it will be to free and how amazing God is for freeing the Jews. Instead, he chooses to reveal those lessons through the perspective of “you will teach your children about those things.”  Because freedom is about much more than just being freed from slavery, freedom needs to be about preserving that freedom as well.
According to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Judaism’s concept of freedom needs 3 institutions to exist; parenthood, eduction and memory.  “You must tell your children (and the children of your community) about slavery and the long journey to liberation.  They must annually taste the bread of affliction and biiter herbs of slave labour.  They must know what oppression feels like if they are to fight against it in every age.  So Jews became the people whose passions was education, whose citadels were schools, and whose heroes were teachers.  Covenant and Conversation, p. 78-79.”
There is a line from Pirkei Avoth 6:2 which says, “There is no one so free as one who occupies himself with the study of Torah.”  Because true freedom is about the ability to rise above our passions, to control ourselves, and in the words of Rabbi Sacks, “To control oneself without having to be controlled by others.”
With this understanding we see that freedom is more than just doing whatever we want, and it’s not just another word for nothing left to lose (from the popular song, Me and my Bobby Mcgee). Freedom is sometimes expressed in our ability to not do whatever we want, to control our passions.  The Torah teaches us how to do this.  When we learn Torah and follow the Tora,h we learn how to control ourselves, and we keep ourselves from falling into unbreakable habits and from becoming slaves to the culture around us.  Torah gives us the means to march to the beat of our own drummer.

Parshat Va'era

The Midrash on this week’s Parsha makes an interesting observation on Pharaoh’s behavior.  There is only one time during the entire episode of the 10 plagues that Pharaoh says that the Lord is just.  In fact, from the beginning, Pharaoh denies even any recognition of God, let alone that God is right and he is wrong.  Yet, after the plague of Hail Pharaoh says, “I am wrong, God is right, And I and my people are the villains (Exodus 9:27).”  What influenced this change of heart in the Pharoah?

The answer proposed by the Midrash is a very interesting one, with implications about how to influence other people in our own lives.  The Midrash says that it is the way of human beings to surprise their enemies, attack them, and take what is theirs, but God does not act in this way. when God strikes human beings it is to educate.  Therefore when God intended to send the hail to Egypt as the 7^th plague, Pharaoh was instructed (Ex. 9:18-19) to make sure all of the beasts were in from the fields for their protection and the protection of the servants who tended them. 

On this verse, Sforno (16^th century Italian sage) comments:

So that I might show you my power – to move you to repent.  As it is written: “for I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies…” (Ezekiel 18:32). 

The most influential thing in the change of attitude in Pharaoh was not the strong hand of God, Pharaoh remains obstinate in the face of the plagues.  It was the way in which God displayed his mercy which impacted Pharaoh. 

It is important for us to remember this when trying to influence the people around us, friends, children, family.  It is often the case that people are influenced more by merciful and understanding behavior than by browbeating them into accepting that our way is correct.  

Parshat Shemot

Rabbi Bachy Ibn Pakuda (an 11th century Spanish Rabbi) in his book, “duties of the heart,” teaches an important lesson about humility and appreciating the value of other people.  He tells a story about a great Jewish sage who was once asked about how he became the greatest sage of his generation.   The wise man answered by saying that it is because every person that he ever encountered was greater than him at something.
The sage was saying that his greatness was not a result of his own superior qualities, but rather an appreciation of the fact that every person possesses some quality greater than his.  It’s often hard to see that in people.  I’m sure we can all  make a list of people whom we think don’t have much value, or whom we think dont have much to offer.  But this is counter to the lessons of our Jewish tradition.  There is a quote in Pirkei Avoth which says, who is a wise person, someone who can learn from all people.
This Jewish value is such an important lesson to the entire world about how to develop a worldview in which we see every single human being as posessing an inherent value. None of us are so great that we can’t learn from another.  This is lesson is reflected in the very beginning of this week’s Parsha.
The Parsha, Shemot, means names.  And the Parsha begins by listing the names of Jacobs’s sons who came to Egypt with him.  Most of us would think that when making a list of someone’s children, the obvious way to list them would be in age order.  Not only is it logical, it’s somewhat subconscious as well.  Having an order helps us remember things, sometimes to a fault.  I can remember numerous times when my mother, wanting to call me, had to go through all my older sibling’s names first- , Adam, Joshua, Deena, Daniel.  Her brain recalls all of her children in order until she finally gets to me, I’m sure many of us have done the same.  It’s just the way the brain works.
So it’s strange that when listing the names of the Jacob’s children, the names are not listed in age order.  Furthermore, over the course of the Chumash, the tribes of Israel are listed about 15 times, and they are almost never given in the same order twice.  What is the reason for this?  Other than to test our memory, why wouldn’t the Torah just list them in age order?  There has to be some reason for this arbitrary method.
The Midrash in Shemot Rabbah takes note of this disparity and teaches that the torah is not particular about maintaining a fixed order to teach that no one tribe is greater than the other.  Everyone has some inherent value for everyone else.
This message has two important lessons regarding our own self-worth.  We should never ever think that someone is of no value.  It’s often easier to believe that about others, because then we don’t have to force ourselves to see the good in others .  But achieving true wisdom requires us to see the value in everyone.  Sometimes, the only way to do this might be engaging someone whom we would usually avoid.  Going out of our way to connect to someone whom we’ve never spoken to before, or to someone whom we may dislike, with the attitude that this person has something to offer, is a positive model about how to interact within a community.  Respecting another does not necessarily even mean that you have to like them, but it means that you have to treat them civilly enough to interact with them and get to know them so that we can find their intrinsic value.
But it also has an important impact on the way we view ourselves.  It is also lesson to a person who thinks that they have no value, or that they are not worth much.  If one has that perspective of themselves, they may never offer insight for fear of appearing ignorant, or may never work for  a cause because of a belief that their opinion doesn’t matter.  But if we realize that we are all of equal value and all have something to teach, we should be motivated to feel confident in displaying our true selves to the world.
This is an important lesson to remember on Martin Luther King Day.  Amongst the many important legacies that he has left this world, Dr. Martin Luther King is a testament to the power that one person has to simply motivate and unite other people around a cause, and to the impact  of many disparate voices uniting on important issues can have on the world.  Good Shabbos!

Parshat Veyechi

Hello Everyone,

I came across a short paragraph while learning this week’s Parsha that I found very powerful.   I’d like to share it with you for this week’s dvar torah rather than offer my own words.  It is taken from a summary of a class on this week’s Parsha off of the website, www.tanach.org.   Here is a link to the page where the following paragraph is taken from, followed by the lesson on the Parsha itself.  Shabbat Shalom.  http://www.tanach.org/breishit/vaychiab.htm

Yaakov's blessings to his sons in Parashat Vayechi touches upon the very essence of the concept of "shevatim" (tribes).  Why should God's special nation divide itself into twelve factions?  Does this not invite contention and disunity?  The answer is that Bnei Yisrael must represent the ideal of Godliness to the rest of mankind.  It is only natural for people to group together according to common interests, inclinations, goals, talents and the like.  The objective, however, must be for the different groups to work together with one another, harnessing their unique capabilities for purposes of "Shem Shamayim" (God's Name).  Thus, the twelve-tribe system, when properly implemented, accurately captures the message God's nation must bring to humanity.  This nation declares that yes, different groups of people with different interests and tendencies can work together harmoniously and work towards the common good.  Yaakov blesses each son by wishing him the proper utilization of his respective talents, such that they all come together to fulfill the destiny of God's special nation.