Dvar Torah: Beshalach - Shabbat Shira, Shabbat of Song

Dvar Torah Beshalach:  What do we need more of?

When we read about the military attack, Pharaoh’s chariots and officers charging against the Israelites.  When we picture God as cloud and fire, the images are images of war.  As Moses tells sthe people, “God will fight for you.”  Or in the Song of the Sea, the song that celebrates crossing the sea to safety, “Ado-nai ish milchamah,” “Ado-nai is a God of war.”

All these clues might make us wonder why is this Shabbat called “Shabbat Shirah”, the Shabbat of Song?  Is it enough that we read the song of the sea?  With all the plagues and destruction associated with the Exodus, maybe we don’t feel like singing at all?

But isn’t there singing even at moments of conflict?  During war, soldiers sing.  I think about my favorite film of all time, Casablanca; German soldiers at Rick’s start singing Die Wacht am Rhein, a German patriotic song, and then Victor Laszlo, leader of the underground, starts the band to playing the Marseillaise, the French national anthem, and they sing at each other, with the allied voices eventually drowning out the voices of the enemy.

The singing that happens this Shabbat is about triumph, celebration, thankfulness.  And we need much more singing.  Every Shabbat evening and every Shabbat morning, every holiday, at ceremonies celebrating birth, marriage, there is singing, even mournful songs at funerals and shivah.

Even God wants more singing from us, as the Rabbis explain, “From the day the world was created until the Israelites stood at the Sea, we did not find those who sang to God except Israel.  God created the first human being, and he did not sing a song.  God saved Abraham from the fiery furnace and from the kings and he did not sing a song, and the same with Isaac, who was saved from the knife (at the Akedah) and did not sing a song…the same with Jacob…(but) when the Israelites came to the Sea and it was split for them, immediately they sang a song…”

And here is where we see what God was thinking all along…

The Rabbis tell us that God then said, “It was for them (for this nation of Israelites) that I was waiting.”

God was waiting for us to sing as a group, as a people.

Why do we often not sing as much as we could?

We worry about the sound of our voice.  Gevalt, what has American Idol done to us?!  We feel self-conscious with our sound, wondering when the man with the British accent will reduce us to a weeping lump of tears at our lack of talent.

We do not know the words.

Here in our synagogue we’ve produced booklets to help everyone be able to join in with the Hebrew prayers.  And we recognize at the same time the power of singing without words.  Jewish tradition raised the art of singing melodies without words to a high art form.  The Niggun, the wordless melody is an extraordinary way into our own hearts and into God’s heart.  Whether it’s a soft hum, singing on Lai Dai Dai, or a personal favorite, Oy, yo yoy yoy yoy, being part of the group singing whether with words or without words means that we are praying with our voices, contributing our sound to the group sound and affirming our place in the community, affirming the meaning of the prayer, of the song in a way that is meaningful for us.

On this Shabbat Shirah, the Shabbat of song, let us recommit to filling our lives with music.  Instead of watching TV, put music on, sing and dance.  At family meals, the Seder, Thanksgiving, Shabbat, any other time, make a song sheet and sing together.

Unlike Simon Cowell, God does not critique the quality of our sound or our performance. 

God wants us to open up and sing, Az Yashi Moshe uv’nei Yisrael, Az, they just opened up in song at that moment, filled with joy, bursting to express that joy and out came an amazing song. 

Let’s join our ancestors and sing with them.

Shabbat Shalom.

Dvar Torah: Parshat Bo - Who's speaking?

You might remember the classic Abbot and Costello routine “Who’s on first?”  It’s timeless.

In parshat Bo, when God teaches the people how to remember the Exodus from Egypt into the future, God tells Moses and Aaron, speak to all the community of Israel – but who will actually do the talking?

Moses or Aaron? 

They each speak to Pharaoh at different moments.

The Rabbis teach us a lesson in building a leadership team in the way they answer this question.

Moses and Aaron decide to share the honor of speaking to the people.  Each says to the other “Teach me”, Lamdeni, and with this openness to learning from one another and working together, the Rabbis say a miracle happens and the word of God comes from the space between them, as though they were both speaking.

Building an effective leadership team in synagogue, in any organization, is about openness to learning and listening, from a willingness to think creatively and to put the good of the community first -- to trust that with this spirit, we will create a holy space where we will hear God’s voice speaking through us.

Invocation offered at the January 28, 2015 Bergen County Board of Freeholders public meeting

Good evening.

As this public meeting begins tonight, we seek inspiration for the work of decision making.  We seek help to focus on what is most important as we ask for the strength and clarity of mind to help and guide the residents of Bergen County.

The Rabbis teach us that the world stands on three things, Torah – study, Avodah – service, and gemilut hasadim – acts of lovingkindness.

Through study we seek to discern the truth as we adjust our perspective to see through the eyes of others.

Through service, we remember that we are responsible for this amazing and often confusing world, that as difficult as it is to chart a path through uncertainty, we still must confront our challenges so that we might remove obstacles for others.

Through acts of lovingkindness, we affirm that people are more important than things, and reaffirm the teaching from Jewish tradition that giving is what makes us wealthy.

May these three core values and objectives inform, support, and create a path for tonight’s meeting as the Jewish community of Bergen County prepares to celebrate next week the Tu Bishevat holiday, the New Year for the trees, the trees which, like the leaders of our communities, watch over us, provide us support, help shade us in times of trouble, and encourage us to build stronger communities by rooting our highest values deep in the rich earth on which we live.

Amen.

Dvar Torah: Va'era - "Let My People God", Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Parshat Va’era

5775/2015

In 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, Martin Luther King, Jr. said

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

Meet physical force with soul force.

Meet the sword with the pen.

Meet the police baton with courage, the water hoses with silent and impassive presence.

It is just this approach that God takes through Moses when Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh for the first time.

Martin Luther King and civil rights leaders confronted public officials who did not recognize their authority nor did they wish to make changes in laws pertaining to segregation. 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others sought to establish themselves as spokespeople for civil rights in the same way that God seeks to give Moses and Aaron authority in the face of Pharaoh.

Seforno explains that the first sign, changing the stick into a snake, is a wonder that is designed to show the stature of God’s servant Moses, that it would be wise for Pharaoh to listen to him.  This and the other signs and wonders also convinced the Israelites of Moses’ power to represent God.  Pharaoh claims he does not know of the God of Israel, and so he questions not only the servant but also the God who sent him.

While the Egyptian magicians are able to replicate the first two plagues, blood and frogs, they cannot produce the third plague of lice. 

Pharaoh’s heart grows tougher and colder.  He fears the loss of his precious Israelite slaves.

The hearts of the authorities and police in Selma also grew tougher and colder.  50 years ago, March 7, 1965, a day called Bloody Sunday, was the first Selma to Montgomery march, a day the police clubbed and beat the marches, and that evening a white group beat and murdered Minister James Reeb, a clergyman from Boston who had come for the second planned march.

And still they marched on.

And still the segregationists held fast.

We know that in the end the soul force was successful.  It sent a message as strong as the plagues that humble the mighty Egyptian empire.  It sent a message that there can be dignity in conflict, that violence in the end is self-destructive – it turns around and hits the perpetrators back, and it helps convince those on the sidelines of the grace and truth of the message. 

What then do we do in the face of rampant violence in the Middle East, a place where people who do humanitarian work, who use soul force, often end up victims of violence?

We lament that it took the death of 14 to bring people out to the streets in Paris in protests against terrorism, and those who attack the freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

Is it possible to hold onto a forceful deterrent while trying our best to offer peaceful protests, as Theodore Roosevelt said, “Speak softly, but carry a big stick.”?

We need to build strength from within.  Only well trained young people were able to conduct sit ins during the civil rights movement, people who role played what it would be like to have people push and browbeat them. 

We also need to first feel bothered by inequality and injustice.  We need to feel angry at those who take away freedom from others.

Soul force is only successful when we prepare the soul to meet the opposition.  As much as Shabbat is a time of rest, it is also a time to build up reserves of strength, time to consider both the beauty of creation and the places within creation that are painful and broken.  It’s a time to gird ourselves for being agents of justice in the world.

Join us for the annual march in Van Neste Square on Monday, it’s one way to practice, to show that despite the cold, despite the fact that it’s a small group of marchers with a much larger group of onlookers and others who continue with business as usual, that on this one day we stop traffic not for a musical parade and for cheering, but for sending a message that we are ready to take on the challenges to justice that we still face here in this country, 52 years after I have a dream, 50 years after Selma, 50 years after the voting rights act, at a time when relationships between police forces and minority groups are tense, there is still work to do to make Dr. King’s dream a reality.

Dvar Torah - Vayechi: Do we know ourselves?

Parshat Vayechi:  Do we know our children, do we know ourselves?

The Jewish and secular New Year is a time of making resolutions and plans for the New Year.  The only resolutions that are achievable are plans that are realistic, that follow a reasonable time table, that we have the ability to pursue given our abilities and resources. 

As Steve Martin once said, “You have to set goals for yourself, something you can achieve, you see, I want to be the all being master of time space and dimension, then I want to go to Europe.”

Know thyself, the ancient Greek proverb says. 

I prefer a variation on the Spanish proverb, dime con quien andas, y te dire quien eres, tell me who you walk with, and I will tell you who you are.

Closer to the truth, I believe, is know better how you relate to the people around you, and you will know who you are.

We learn this lesson from Jacob, now, at the end of his life, and at the end of Braysheet, The Book of Genesis, as he speaks to each of his sons in turn and offers each a prophecy, a statement of who they are, who they may become, in connection with one another, in connection to the land, in connection to God. 

The Rabbis teach us that what Jacob is saying is in fact not prophecy.  The spirit of prophecy departed from Jacob.  He is speaking to them as a father, as a human being.

Jacob teaches us how to think about who we are, where we begin in the work of teshuvah, the work of self-renewal, that began three months ago at Rosh Hashanah.  We begin by seeing ourselves in a web of relationships.  What is the status and quality of each relationship, from the most distant, our relationship with, say, old friends who live far away and the status of closer and more complicated relationships, spouse, best friend, people with whom we are in conflict, co-workers, other relatives.

Jacob uses metaphors, word pictures, and poetry to describe his children.  We might feel so moved and speak in verse ourselves, or we could simply make a list of people to whom we’re connected and write a word or two for each line connected us to them.  And then we can possibly add a question to each line. 

It’s in the question that we begin to sense the contours of our connections – are we on the same page?  Is there something about the conflict that might be coming from us rather than from the other person?  Are we as active as we think we could be, or are we letting events dictate our responses?

In Jacob’s final moments, he is showing his family how to ask these types of questions and encouraging us family to do the same. 

Unfortunately, he does not ask the questions of himself.  Jacob has always operated out of ambition and fear.  He has been alternately passive and devious.  We may be seeing a realization at the end of his life that he’s waited so long to be reflective he can only help others to do so.

As 2015 begins, as 5775 continues, let’s take this Shabbat as a moment to draw what Rabbi Lawrence Kushner calls ‘invisible lines of connection’, and let’s see if we can discover not only who we are but also how we can do for one another what the Rabbis said Jacob was trying to do, create a more cohesive human family.

Shabbat Shalom

Dvar Torah - Vayigash: Stepping Aside

Parshat Vayigash:  Stepping Aside

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost....”

Charlie Chaplain spoke these stirring words in his 1940 satire, The Great Dictator.

I don’t want to be an emperor he says…

He advocated democracy instead.

One of the hallmarks of healthy democracy is called the peaceful transfer of power.  In two years, if all goes smoothly, the outgoing president will walk out of the White House, greet the incoming president, and escort them inside. 

A peaceful, graceful, transfer of power.

When we think of power, and the transfer of power, in Jewish history, we tend to think of Moses passing the torch to Joshua.

As we see this week the time just prior to when Jacob’s life will end, we recognize that while Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob may not have led the people – after all, there wasn’t a nation yet – they are the spiritual leaders of God’s people and message in the world.

Jacob, whose name is also Israel, says to Joseph upon seeing him after so long, “Now I can die, after seeing your face, for you are indeed alive.”  In a way, Jacob is now saying he is ready to die.

As difficult as the end of life is for us as human beings, we find that for God, death is equally difficult.  As the poet of psalms writes, “Dear in the eyes of God is the death of the righteous.  The Rabbis teach us it was difficult for God to Jacob that he must die.  He had studied Torah all his days, made God’s name holy in the world.

And God is hesitant to grant the end of life that Jacob is now ready for, motivating the Rabbis to observe that if the righteous ones like Jacob did not say they are ready, they would end up living forever.

And so God must arrange a peaceful transfer of power, or presence – not only because humans are mortal and must continue to be, but also because the transfer, the stepping aside, is necessary and healthy for the people.  God says, “If Abraham were immortal then how could Isaac ever fulfill his leadership, and the same is true of Jacob,” one must step aside for the next.

The piece that the Rabbis leave out here is that handing over leadership is not just a matter of handing over the keys to the White House, or the reins of the camels to the individuals who will take over, it is about grooming those new leaders to be the leaders they can be, to fulfill their potential.  Leadership training must be active.  It cannot happen in a vacuum.  It is about character, leading by example, creativity, humility, patience, thoughtfulness.

Some of Jacob’s children learn the lesson, some do not.  Shimon and Levi are firebrands, and pass through fire before they take up their destiny.  Judah struggles with himself and his role until he finds his way.  Joseph goes through many trials before he becomes the man who can stand up and speak to Pharaoh with confidence.

The transfer is significant, though, all other things being equal.  And according to the Torah, Jacob is now ready, prepared, and feels himself fulfilled and motivated for his children to take up the banner of his second name Israel and to represent God’s vision for him by becoming a nation within a nation, as the people of Israel are born in Egypt.

Shabbat Shalom.