Parshat Pikudey: Accountability, Holiness, and Blessing

 On a visit to Israel, I participated in a presentation with an Israeli activist whose goal was to improve the accountability of the Knesset, the parliament, to the people.  

 

We remember the Knesset does not offer direct representation to the people the same way we have local congresspeople.

 

He said one issue with the project was there was no word in modern Hebrew for accountability.  So he took the word אחריות for responsibility and added an ending to that word to turn it into a more formal term.  אחריותיות is the word he invented for accountability.

 

This week in our Torah reading our ancestors have a word, p’kudeem, that expresses accountability in terms of forthrightness and clarity about the materials used to create the Mishkan, the portable Holy Place.  As Rashi explains, our portion enumerates the amounts of the gold, silver, and copper collected to create all the holy items.

 

We’ve been reading about the plan for creating the Mishkan, the materials needed, the contributions, and the crafting of all these things.  God’s instructions are specific.  There’s complete clarity about what materials are needed and what the craftspeople will do with them.  

 

What is the reason then that we now have this complete accounting?

 

Dr. Everett Fox argues the accounting of the materials is intended to impress the audience with the vast amounts of precious metals and gemstones.

 

Or Ha’Chaim, R. Hayim ben Moshe Attar, has a different perspective.  

 

He explains the word p’kudeem that’s used here is different from other accountings in the Torah.  Whether for a census or otherwise it’s an unusual choice of words.

 

This word is associated with God’s action in the world and blessing.  It’s the same word family that describes God fulfilling the promise to Sarah, and the same word family that describes God remembering and taking action to free our ancestors from Egypt.

 

R. Hayim teaches us this specific choice of words means that unlike other things that have been counted in the Torah, the Mishkan will be a lasting blessing, and whereas God tends to dislike taking a headcount at other times, this accounting, every amount of precious items used to create the structure and its vessels, all of it increases praise and honor to God.

 

As we think about this last portion in Exodus, we think about how far we’ve come with God’s help, from living under the lash of taskmasters as slaves in Egypt, to Sinai to receive the Torah, and now to the creation of the first hoy place where God will abide.  Our people have been growing up, slowly, haltingly, and taking backward steps, but now, now they have come to a point I believe the Israeli activist who spoke to us would be proud, proud of the way they show their maturity by taking a careful inventory of everything they received and used for this special project. 

 

They’ve come to the point of recognizing how important it is to establish trust, for there to be honesty, reliability, and achrayutee’yut, accountability.  

 

The portion teaches us we can grow, we can evolve – with a supportive community, knowing God is present, and knowing we’re liable to take 2 steps back occasionally, we can create our own new worlds and keep track of our progress along the way.  Just like our ancestors keep records, we can keep records of our own – we can write a story for ourselves that lifts us up and challenges us to create and craft a life that is as full of richness and meaning as the Mishkan is full of gold, silver, and copper they shaped into a place of holiness, a symbol of freedom, and of a relationship with God that is growing stronger each day.

 

 

 

 

Mishpatim 2024/5784: The Blues

 Recently I got interested again in the blues, and added a blues channel to my Pandora account.

 

I’ve thought in the past the blues is the right genre of music for Yom Kippur, for Tisha B’Av, and other sad ansd reflective moments in the Jewish calendar. 

 

We continue to sing the blues with our people in Israel, and we’re aware Iran’s proxies are taking advantage of the war against Hamas to attack us and our allies.  And we’re also aware Hamas’ leadership lives comfortably away from Gaza under protection of Qat’r.  This week Vladimir Putin continued to spout lies and revisionism to justify his war against Ukraine.  

 

The blues do not cure the problems the songwriters deal with in their lyrics and in the way the guitar cries.  Instead, they remind us all we’ve experienced the same sadness and frustration in some form.  This is helpful, and healing.  

 

But more than this reassurance we’d like to have control over what happens, to reduce uncertainty, and see the words of the prophets be fulfilled.  To see the spears reformed into ploughs.

 

The great blues singer Robert Johnson wanted to be a better guitar player, so the legend goes he sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads and received guitar skills in exchange for his life, that ended mysteriously.

 

The wisdom in this week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim, reminds us there are no shortcuts like this toward justice, toward creating a world of respect, harmony, thoughtfulness and fairness.  Among the many other teachings in our portion that expand out from the Ten commandments, God teaches, “Do not take bribes, since bribes blind the clear sighted and upset the pleas of those who are in the right.”

 

Rabbi Isaiah Ha’Levi Horovitz teaches on this, there are people who regularly send gifts to doctors so that in the event they one day need medical attention, the doctor will think well of them and respond immediately.  And then others will send gifts to a judge so that the judge will think well of them if they ever come to a trial.

 

Horovitz explains God knows people are prone to behaviors like this, prone to doing things to reduce unpredictability, to reduce uncertainty and control their world.  And so God says here, fear God, that should be the motivation in your heart.  In other words, fear God, and do not try to BE God.

 

When we’re feeling lost, when the world is against us, and we’re stuck at the bottom of the valley – we can read the laments in the Bible, Lamentations, the sad Psalms asking for God’s help and why does it feel sometimes God has left us alone?  We can read Kohelet who explains all is vanity, eat drink and be merry while we can…and we can sing the blues, write our own song, sing it and give over our blue-ness, our sadness, into God’s waiting hands…here’s a starter from Little Milton:

Our car may be old, our two rooms cold
But were gonna make it, I know we will
We may not can spare a roach a crumb
But were gonna make it, I know we will
And if I have to carry round a sign
Sayin Help the deaf, the dumb, and the blind
I got your love and you know you got mine
So were gonna make it, I know we will

 

 

 

 

 

Aharey-Mot/Kedoshim 2023/5783: When we're like angels

I hope everyone had the chance to celebrate Israel’s 75^th birthday this past Wednesday, Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel’s independence day.

 

One of the features of Yom Ha’Atzmaut is called the מטס the flyover.  Israeli helicopters,  warplanes, and more,  fly over the country and citizens watch as they fly by.

 

This year, something was different about the flyover.  Israelis who looked up to the sky saw a warplane with a colorful decoration in honor of the celebration, a plane that also had the markings of the German Luftwaffe.

 

This was the first year a foreign nation participated in this major Independence Day event.  And beyond that, Germany is purchasing Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile systems from Israel.

 

General Ingo Gerhartz is the head of the German air force.  He said, how meaningful is it that Israel is now supplying systems for Germany to defend itself.

 

The flyover happens once a year.  It is a special occasion, a moment when despite ongoing political disputes, threats from Hamas and Iran, and shifting alliances in the middle east, all Israelis come together to celebrate.

 

These types of unique moments almost stand outside of time whether for Israelis or for us.  There are moments, like Shabbat, just as one example, moments when we allow other concerns to fade into the background and we are happy to be alive, to hopefully be surrounded by friends, family, and community members.  

 

Our Torah reading this week focuses on one such time, Yom Kippur.

 

Yom Kippur was the only time the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies and stood close to the Ark of the Covenant.  It was, and is, a time when Jewish communities across the world gather for prayer, to hear Kol Nidre when the holiday starts, and to hear the final shofar blast when it ends.

 

Our ancestors ask, how can our ancestors, including the High Priest, stand before God when all of them, when all of us, have sinned in some way or another?

 

Rabbi Ephraim of Luntschitz explains Yom Kippur is a day ‘beyond time’.  On this day, God transforms us into angels, and we exist in the heavenly realm during this day, a realm not bound by time.

 

Transformed as we are into angels, we, and the High Priest, can now approach God for atonement.

 

When Yom Kippur ends – we’re right back to work.  We’ve worked hard to evolve our ethical and spiritual selves, and the day after it is time to put our new self into the mix of life and all the opportunities and challenges it presents.  

 

Whether it’s Shabbat, a holiday like Yom Kippur, one of the main goals of these days is to allow us to stand outside of time for a short while.  Time is relentless and, often, unforgiving.  

 

When our ancestors were farmers and traders in the Holy Land, Shabbat and holidays enabled them to pause from the grind of manual labor.

 

For us today, these days may be more difficult for us to completely shut down.

 

Still, it’s worthwhile trying to imagine what it would be like to exist as angel, where there is not firm past, present, or future, everything then is an eternal present – one continuous moment in which all of existence somehow comes into unity, into harmony, meaning that any wickedness in the universe is balanced by good and there is only light, and lightness.  There’s nothing to do, since everything’s been done, but, at the same time, there’s everything to give since nothing holds us back.  

 

It’s difficult to put a world beyond time into words, so I hope you’ll accept my attempt to set the scene.  This is what our ancestors hoped we could feel on Shabbat, on other holy days of the year.  

 

This Shabbat let’s imagine ourselves in that dimension, try to feel what that existence would be like.

 

Thinking about the flyover in Israel this past week, I think transformation into angels would be a lot like flying in one of those airplanes – free to move about in space, untethered by time and fully free to express who we are and what we aspire to be and to become.  And, yes, in the Bible, angels do have wings.

 

 

 

Vayakhel-Pikudey - Shabbat Ha'Chodesh 2023/5783: One universe, one God, one team, one goal

 For some reason, this past week several videos of interviews with scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson.  As we continue to get ready for Passover, two of those videos come to mind.  In the first, Tyson explains the fact that we exist on this planet is an extraordinary thing – the fact is life does not always come into being and, although I don’t understand the science fully, he says there are many more lives that did not come into being than that did.  In the second, he explains the four elements that make up our bodies – Hydrogen, Oxygen, Carbon, and Nitrogen – are the same basic building blocks of the entire universe.  So, we are part and parcel of the universe and it is part of us.  We are one, unified creation.

 

Our ancestors, as we studied in this week’s reading, are grateful to be free from Egypt and Moses brings them together – Vayakhel, he gathers them – to teach and request materials for the creation of the Mishkan from anyone willing to give. 

 

This Shabbat we preview the aftermath of the Exodus.  We indulge in the privilege of knowing how the story turns out whereas on Passover itself, while even then we know the outcome, our tradition teaches us to re-experience the Exodus just as our ancestors did.  And let’s remember, they hear Pharaoh agree to let them free several times before they actually go free.  

 

If we’re going to be one nation, if we’re going to fulfill the potential of the freedom God gives us, then it’s important everyone knows they can stand with Moses and take part in the people’s first major project.  

 

Abraham Ibn Ezra explains Moses gathers the people, Vayakhel Moshe et Kol adat B’nai Yisrael, he gathers them so that everyone can hear from him, from one source, about the Mishkan and the plan for its construction. 

 

And unlike their days in Egypt, when most likely a weaker, or less able, person would be punished by taskmasters for not fulfilling their quotas, now, as Rebbe Nahman of Bratzlav explains, Moses reaches out to all the Israelites regardless of their level of faith, regardless of their status, so that everyone participates in this moment.  Rebbe Nahman teaches us, even when we see someone isolated and withdrawn, it’s up to us to follow Moses’ example and be with them, to validate them, and make sure they know they’re never alone – and that they are also partners in the ongoing holy work of creating a world of holiness and blessings.

 

In addition to watching several videos of Neil DeGrasse Tyson, I also was listening to some classic Israeli music this week.  I’ve always liked the old songs, folk songs, and the grainy sounding recordings of sweet voices singing about nature, relationships, love, and longing.

 

One song I listened to expands on the way Rebbe Nahman reminds us of the importance of reaching out, doing our best to include all voices.  Arik Einshten sings, “Ani ve’atah ne’sha’neh et’ha’olam…ani ve-atah az ya’vo’u kvar kulam…” You and I will change the world, you and I, and then others will follow.”

 

This week as we end the book of Exodus and get ready to celebrate Passover, we recognize the importance then of leading by example, of looking at a world that often marginalizes the softer voices, even the medium throttle voices, and lifting each other up, opening the door to each other, offering each other what little extra margin of strength we have so that together we rise stronger and persevere.

 

To create the Mishkan, everyone has something to give – if not materials, then a skill, if not a skill then a willingness to support those who are taking an active role.  We’re all responsible for one another as our tradition teaches us and so every mitzvah our ancestors do contributes to creating the Mishkan, and every mitzvah we do contributes to creating a holy space right here, right now.

 

We are fortunate to exist, even in adversity there is a chance to bring blessings into the world, and we are part of the universe just as it is part of us from the smallest hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen atoms.  We can see the broken places in the world, we can feel the pain others are feeling, we see conflict, and the Passover spirit encourages us to feel all these feelings,  literally to taste them, so that we can enable ourselves to lift up and free others.

 

Chazak chazak ve’nitchazek, may God bless us with the ability to do this mitzvah and others in the days ahead.

 

 

Shabbat Shirah/Beshalach: The Pillar of Fire and the Pillar of Cloud

Many of us I suspect are aware of the Chinese surveillance balloon that has been floating over the country for several days.

 

The increase in cameras and other surveillance technologies makes us think at the same time about God’s watchful eye on us.  Our tradition suggests God is always present, always aware, always paying attention.  

 

God’s constant and watchful presence could feel as intrusive as surveillance, but the Torah tells a story, both in words, and later by implication, that while God is mindful of us, we have free will, and we’re ultimately responsible for our choices.

 

At this stage in our Torah reading, God is directly involved in shaping events around our ancestors.  By the time we come to reading the Book of Psalms, Esther, and other books like it, God seldom engages directly with humanity anymore.

 

For the moment though, God is very much a part of the Exodus, and this a time when the people are in need of hand-holding, support, and help, and I believe we are living through a time now, similar to the emotional intensity of the Exodus in many ways.  A time of transitions across the globe, a time of conflict, a time of strident voices, technological breakthroughs, with ripple effects in the world’s economies.

 

The example of God’s watchfulness I find most meaningful and helpful shows up in our Torah reading today in the form of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  

 

These phenomena guide our ancestors without interfering in their lives, without changing reality, without fanfare.  This type of guidance and presence is gentle and reassuring.

 

Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo ben Isaac, explains the two pillars even act gently and respectfully with one another.  They trade off with one another, when one sets for the day, the other comes out for the night, and so on.  

 

It’s as though they are setting an example to the young nation of how to act as free people, allow the other space to be who they are and to become who they can be, just as we allow ourselves the space and time to develop ourselves.  Now that we’re free, Pharaoh does not determine our fate anymore – we will determine our future and the quality of that future depends upon the quality of our relationships with God and with each other.

 

As it happens, I also believe God sends the cloud and fire so that our ancestors recognize it is in fact God who is involved and who is guiding them.  Without these two pillars, our ancestors might choose to look up at the sun by day and the moon by night and think these represent God or they are gods themselves.

 

They also hint at an important lesson about tzedakah, about giving, which will be something new for our ancestors.  The pillars of cloud and fire do not request offerings or worship.  They give without expectation of receiving.  They are there to help and guide and have no self-interest of their own, and nor does God at this point.  

 

For this reason, our tradition sees this early time between the people and God as pure innocence and blessing.  

 

The prophet Jeremiah shares God’s thoughts about this time, “Zacharti lach chesed ne’u’ra’yich, I remember these early days of lovingkindness, when you followed Me into the wilderness, into an unsown land.” (Jer. 2:2)

 

I wouldn’t mind having the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.  Selfishly, these would be comforting to me – I wonder if they’d be comforting to all of us?

 

Often what we need most in life is reassurance, reassurance things will turn work out somehow, reassurance we’re doing the best we can, reassurance we and the people we care about will have the opportunity to fulfill at least some of our potential.

 

The miracle at the sea that we sang today is a visual delight, an amazing story, a legend for all time, but it is basically a one time occurrence.  Yes, the Jordan will yield for the Israelites to enter the Holy Land, but we all know the Jordan River isn’t so deep or wide, that later parting is a homage to the event at the Sea of Reeds.  

 

The fire and cloud are constant and reliable.  And maybe at some point our ancestors started to take the for granted, but being reliable and mindful of others never gets old, and we’re looking for reassurance and for God’s Presence today during these turbulent times, but unfortunately we don’t have the pillars of cloud and fire with us day and night.  But maybe we can find the spirit of these inside of us, the warmth inside us, all 98.6 degrees of it, reminds us of the fire and the clouds in the sky and our breath that crystallizes in front of us in the cold air remind us of the pillar of cloud.

 

And let’s remember we are not on a new journey, we’re on the same journey our ancestors started when they left Egypt – they’re with us too, marching on either side, and so are our fellow community members here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exodus - Non-Violent Protest and Community Service - Creative ways of repairing the world

This past week we watched as protestors stormed the capital area in Brazil.

Naturally these images conjured up memories of protestors crashing through barricades in Washington.

 

And now we’re about to observe the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday.  Contrary to the practice and spirit of these two incidents, Dr. King preached and modeled creative non-violent protest based upon the actions of Gandhi in India and on a long history of similar nonviolent civil disobedience.

 

I’d like to feature three women in this week’s Torah portion who stage creative nonviolent protests, possibly among the earliest examples I can think of for this type of social and political change-making.

 

We read this week about Shifra and Puah, and Yoheved.

 

Pharaoh instructs Shifra and Puah, who are midwives, to kill baby boys and allow baby girls to live.  Pharaoh believes his plan will eliminate the perceived threat of the Israelites to Egypt.

 

In response, the midwives do the exact opposite.  Pharaoh scolds them for their behavior but God protects them and their families.

 

Our commentary explains, Pharaoh assumed the only threat to his power would be physical resistance by Israelite males.  He could not conceive of the power of spiritual resistance, exemplified by the role women play in the Exodus narrative.(Etz Hayim, p. 320)

 

What a contrast to the Chanukah story we retold again this year just a few weeks ago.  At that time, it was necessary to take up arms against the Syrian-Greek overlords.

 

But Shifra and Puah show us another way of fighting back.  They act on their own conscience, without God’s instruction.

 

They take a big risk to defy Pharaoh, and they take this risk long before Moses and Aaron stand before the same Pharaoh and ask him to allow the people to leave.

 

In fact, without his mother Yoheved’s courage and non-violent protest Moses would not have survived to hear God’s call and return to Egypt.  Like the midwives, Yoheved sees blessing and potential in the young life of her newborn son.  Seforno explains she sees he is a beautiful child and knows in her heart God has also given him a good heart as well.  And our ancestors teach when Moses was born the whole house filled with light.  Clearly, there is hope in that moment, there is faith, courage, strength and a willingness to fight for life.

 

The trend over the past many years to dedicate MLK Day as a day of service can be traced in a direct line back to these ancient moments of creative civil disobedience.  We might think of community service as simply the goodness of giving and creating strong relationships, friendships, and warmth of compassion between people of all backgrounds.

But I believe, and I think Shifra, Puah, Yoheved, Gandhi, MLK, suffragettes, and others throughout history teach us community service, while not a protest activity per se, does in fact serve as a force of change.  Service is a counter-cultural activity.  Against the trend of focusing on the self that often is magnified in the media, service means we recognize it’s not about us.  When we volunteer for others we’re not expecting a reward in return, no matter how many hours we put in.  When we serve others we’re taking up our most precious resource – that is time—away from potentially easier and more convenient activities to recognize and respond to needs we may have not realized even existed or the extent to which they exist and persist.

 

Maimonides, the Rambam, reacts to the famous words of the Mishnah, the world stands on 3 things, Torah, Avodah/Prayer, and Gemilut Hasadim – acts of lovingkindness.  

 

It is saying that with wisdom, and that is the Torah; and with enhancement of [good] traits, and that is acts of lovingkindness; and with the fulfillment of commandments, and that is the sacrifices [referred to in the mishnah as service] - there will be a continuous refinement of the world and ordering of its existence in the most complete way.

 

When we engage in volunteering, in service to others, we are doing all 3 things the Rabbis say are the pillars of building a world of holiness and blessing.  We’re studying Torah, the Torah of people, issues, and raising our awareness.  As the Jerusalem Talmud explains, those occupied with the needs of the community are by doing so occupying themselves with the study of Torah.  And when we serve we’re praying, as Frederick Douglass and later Rabbi Heschel said, we’re praying with our feet – fulfilling the latent promise of the mitzvot in the real world and in real time, and clearly we’re doing deeds of lovingkindness.

 

May we continue to take inspiration from the example of Dr. King and all others who have come before us to demonstrate the power of creative protest in all its forms, all the way back to Shifra, Puah, Yocheved, Miryam, and Tziporah who all stand before the leaders of Egypt, even our God, to protect and promote life at the risk of their own lives.  May their courage be our courage today.

 

 

Vayigash: Welcoming in 2023 - Send the light through!

At the end of the last episode of Downtown Abbey, Lady Grantham says, “It makes me smile, the way we drink to the future, whatever it may bring…”

 

There is nothing objectively different about the world when the clock strikes midnight.  We don’t live in the Cinderella story when midnight means the coach becomes a pumpkin and our nice clothes become our house clothes. 

 

What affects us is passing through the transitional time with the reflection on the past and all the unknowns for the future.

 

What do we do though when the future is not unknown, just hidden, when it’s standing right in front of us but we cannot see it.

 

If we knew the answers to our questions were within arm’s reach, would we act differently?  Would we feel less uncertain?

 

For the past couple of weeks, Joseph’s brothers have crisscrossed the border between Canaan and Egypt.  They’ve stood in front of their brother Joseph, and they’ve been unable to tell who he really is.  

 

We’d like to think if our sibling were dressed in different clothes, living in a different place, and speaking a different language we’d still be able to recognize them.  But, maybe not…maybe we see what we’re used to seeing from the perspective we have.

 

Rashbam explains Joseph has been holding back his true identity and keeping himself calm and poised when interacting with his brothers.  When they only see the Egyptian official, Joseph is scrutinizing them and wondering about the same question we’re asking today – what is thre future in front of me?  Who are these brothers of mine at this stage?

 

Rabbenu Bahya teaches us Joseph is unsure, and potentially afraid, of who these men are and how they will react when he reveals his identity to them.  He brings a midrash that tells us the brothers might still want to kill him, possibly to maintain the story they told their father and to finish the job they started long ago.  According to the midrash, he decides to open up to them and take the chance they’ll kill him rather than revealing to all the Egyptians in the room these men sold him into slavery.  So he orders everyone out of the room…

 

I suspect, in the moments before he re-introduces himself, Joseph is wondering whether he can have a future with his siblings…if the story comes out will it change his status or will Pharaoh punish them?...will his father Jacob be able to recover from the shock of finding out his son is still alive and will Jacob himself want ot punish the brothers for their treachery and lies?

 

Joseph makes a clear choice.  As he tells his brothers, God orchestrated everything that led up to this point in time.  God placed him in just the right situation to be able to help and support the family during the famine.  

In other words, he decides to show gratitude to God, to forgive the people who wronged him, and to use his power not for revenge but to support his family through the rest of the lean years ahead.

 

By the end of the Book of Genesis the entire family is reunited and all sons surround Jacob as his life winds down.  And so the Book of Genesis, a book that began with defying God, with a murder, with a flood, and generations of family conflict, anger, scheming, and violence, finally comes to a point of unity around the last of the patriarchs.  They’re all far from home, but they’re all together.  The suffering that will come along when a new Pharaoh steps in will not be the suffering of one family, but of a whole nation. 

 

Joseph is the one responsible for remaking the family.  He overcomes doubt and fear to embrace his brothers and reunite with his father.  

 

He teaches us the power of achdut, of unity, the power of gratitude, of forgiveness, and of the possibility we can evolve as people, avoid the pettiness that can come with grudges, and decide to set a new course through time…opening up new light into a place of darkness.

 

A long time ago when ships were dark below deck, and candles were dangerous on wooden ships, they’d place a deck prism, a cone shaped glass item that would draw the sun’s light and reflect it below the deck.  

 

Joseph is the deck prism – the conduit of light into a fraught time, a time of exile, a time when the prophecy to Abraham of his descendants becoming slaves in a land not their own is about to be fulfilled.  

 

We can be the deck prisms for 2023, sharing into the New Year everything we’ve thought about since our new year at Rosh Hashanah.  We can take our teshuvah and pay it forward into the New Year, and fill the dark winter days ahead with light, blessing, and all the mitzvah energy we can summon up. 

 

And so let’s do what Lady Grantham does, and toast to the New Year, whatever it may bring!