Parsha Acharei Mos – An after death experience

On a normal week, I think about the Torah portion and what in it that inspires me either when I’m learning or at shul.  Unfortunately this week, instead of going to shul for morning and evening services, I spent most days at a Shiva house. 

A close friend and member of my community lost his father late last week and as the usually custom, services were held throughout the week of Shiva (Same root as Sheva meaning seven or Shabbat) at his home.  I tend to say a fair amount of extra things after morning services so I’m usually the last to leave and the other day I found myself alone with the mourners and their immediate family.  My friend expressed to me how grateful he was that the community had rallied around him in his time of need and this experience has strengthened is faith.

As I left the home and made my way to work, I thought to myself that it was just the normal thing to do to support someone in their time of need.  Nothing so special. It’s just what we do as a community.

It wasn’t until a period in between the afternoon and evening services later that day that what he said started to sink in.  As the Rabbi was teaching a Mishnah (yes I should have been paying attention) I found myself staring at the sign on the wall with the traditional mourners blessing “May the Omnipresent console you among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.” 

I further thought about the room we were sitting in.  Services were being held in my friend’s basement.  I thought about how many times I had been in that basement before on countless Shabbas afternoons playing with my son and my friend’s son.  We laughed and always had fun times.  So many times, I sat playing games on the same couch that I now sat on to pray and comfort my friend in his time of need. 

When we bless someone, we typically extend the blessing to others as well.  When we comfort the mourner, the blessing is “may G-d comfort you and all of the other mourners.”  When we celebrate with someone, we typically sing Siman Tov U Mazel Tov… which the full translation is “May there be a good sign and a good fortune for us and for all of Israel.”  The same is true for the blessings of the Shemona Esrei.

There are many reasons for the plurality of our blessings.  I’ve learned such explanations as to ward off the evil eye and the collective merit of the Jewish people.  Individually, someone may not deserve a to be comforted so quickly, but when combined with the other mourners of Israel, maybe the whole group is greater then the individual mourners. 

As I sat there, I thought of another possibility.  Maybe it’s not only that we’re wishing consolation on the mourner in front of us and the other mourners of Israel, but we’re also wishing consolation on ourselves.  After all, the Jewish people are one family.  If a fellow Jew passes to the next world and he leaves behind mourners, shouldn’t a part of me be mourning with them?  I once read a story where Rebbetzen Jungreis described that when her father would go to a Shiva house.  He wouldn’t say a word.  He would embrace the mourner and weep with them.  He was so sensitive that he felt their sorrow essentially turning himself into a mourner along side of them.  Mourners reported back to her that this was more comforting than anything that anyone else said to them.

It would be great if we could always be so sensitive to our fellow, but sometimes it’s only when our friend is celebrating or, as in the name of the parsha acharei mos (literally after death), that we can really reach a point where we can truly merge our feelings to be one with our fellow.

If we can do get to the point where we can do that on a regular basis then we don’t need to look any further in the Haftorah for Acharei Mos, as Amos says “On that day, I will erect David’s fallen Sukkah. (Allusion to the Third Temple)  I will repair their breaches and erect their ruins, and I will rebuild it as in the days of old.”

This week’s Dvar Torah in the memory of Leib ben Bear.

Parsha Tazria – 7 Days to Life

The Torah tells us that we should establish special Levite cities of refuge in the land of Israel.  When someone murders someone else inadvertently, a relative (also known as the blood avenger) of the victim can take revenge on the inadvertent murderer according to Torah law.  However, this can only happen if the inadvertent murderer is not in one of the 6 cities of refuge.  (There were 3 east of the Jordan River and 3 west of the Jordan River.)

Once the inadvertent murderer reaches the city of refuge, the blood avenger can not harm him while he’s there.  He must remain in the city for the rest of his life or until the High Priest dies in order to be safe from the blood avenger.  I always found it particularly interesting how the Torah sees people that made mistakes as opposed to the secular system of courts. 

In our society, if someone died due to the negligence of another, the guilty party may very well be sent to prison.  That prison will be filled with all kinds of terrible criminals.  After spending the required amount of time with other criminals, what do we think the guilty party learned?  I would venture to say that they didn’t find too many positive role models in prison.  They probably found violence and negativity.

The Torah’s sentence for people like this is very different.  They go to the city of Levites where the priests live.  They interact with people of the highest moral caliber.  Chances are, they learn from these people and improve their lives.

Even though I am mostly involved with Jewish causes, I also am involve with a program that helps young minority men re-enter society after spending some time in prison.  The original goal of the program was to train them in the field of construction so that they can earn a decent living and not have to resort to criminal behavior.  Early on, it became very apparent, that income was only half the battle.  Because these people spent so much time either with poor parenting or in prison, they had no positive role models and were missing the basic life skills that we take for granted.

In G-d’s wisdom, he saw that the best way to rehabilitate someone who made this type of mistake was to surround them with inspirational people and through that was the key for them to reenter society.  In following G-d’s infinite wisdom, I also try to keep these people away from negative influences and surround them with positivity.

This week’s parsha tells about someone who became inflicted with the disease of Tzara’as which is the spiritual reaction to the person engaging in evil speech.  Unlike the inadvertent murder or the perpetrator in our secular legal system, once it’s proclaimed that someone has tzara’as, they neither go to a place with inspirational people or a place with criminals.  They are sent outside the camp away from everyone, even the other people with tzara’as.  We can only imagine what would happen if two perpetrators of evil speech got together.  They would keep talking forever and never heal.  It’s only when the perpetrator is left in isolation that they can cease their evil speech and prepare themselves for reentry into society.

The lesson for us is not just that we shouldn’t engage in evil speech, but we should also isolate ourselves from other people who do. 

We need to be very careful of who we chose to spend time with.  If we surround ourselves with the Levites (great men) of our generation, we’ll be able to raise ourselves to the loftiest of spiritual heights.    

Mourning During the Omer

The seven weeks between Passover and Shavous represent the periods where we fulfill the mitzvah of counting the Omer, commemorate the time between when the Jews left Egypt and received the Torah on Mount Sinai and finally a mourning period for the death of the students of Rabbi Akiva.

Omer – Counting the Omer is a biblical mitzvah that we fulfill when every night we acknowledge what day it is.  This is day One.  This is day Two, etc.

Passover to Shavous – We also recognize that when the Jewish people left Egypt they were at an extremely spiritually low point.  The Rabbi’s tell us that they were on the 49^th level of impurity and they use each of these 49 days to raise themselves another level.  There are 7 emotional traits that interact with each other with a different combination each day representing different aspects of our personality.  It’s a good thing to work on ourselves every day so that we’re ready to re-accept the Torah on Shavous.

Rabbi Akiva’s Students - Whereas the first two periods are happy occasions, the third is both sad and confusing.   The Rabbis tell us that during this period Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students all died.  There are a few different opinions as to how they died, but the most popular one is that they died in a plague, because they failed to show each other the proper respect and honor.  We commemorate this period by not shaving or having haircuts along with not listening to music.

This should lead one to a couple questions.  The first is: How could it be that Rabbi Akiva’s students weren’t so nice to each other when Rabbi Akiva exemplified the mitzvah of loving your fellow as yourself?  The second question is: Even though the death of 24,000 Jews is a tragedy, why do we specify such a long mourning period for them?  There have been many other tragedies in Jewish history that we’ve lost many more lives, The Exile of the 10 tribes, the Spanish Inquisition, the Khmelnitsky Massacres and the Holocaust just to name a few where many, many more Jews died.  Even when we commemorate the destruction of both the first and second Temples, we only morn for 21 days in between the 17^th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz and the 9^th of the Hebrew month of Av.  There are debates as to when the Omer mourning period starts and ends (either from Pesach until Lag B’Omer or from Rosh Chodesh Iyar until Shavous), but it runs a minimum of 33 days to a maximum of 49 days.  What’s different about this time? 

We understand the first question by saying that they were such great people that the showing each other a lack of respect or honor was judged severely.  The second question is much more troubling to me and there’s no real answer for it.  It took me a long time to develop the following possible answer.

Another explanation of how Rabbi Akiva’s students died is that they were killed in the Bar Kochba uprising.

The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.  In the year 132 of the CE a great warier arose from among the Jewish people named Bar Kochba.  He had a tremendous success in the beginning of his revolt, defeating the Romans.  There was such an excitement surrounding him, that some people, including Rabbi Akiva declared him to be the Moshiach (Messiah) and Rabbi Akiva’s students joined Bar Kochba’s army. 

The sages did not all join in Rabbi Akiva’s view about Bar Kochba being the Moshiach.  This created a riff within the Jewish people.  Bar Kochba, becoming increasingly paranoid had Rabbi Eliezer killed.  Soon after the Romans put down the Jewish revolt, killing Bar Kochba and possibly Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students.

According to the Rabbis, there are many possible proofs how we know someone is the Moshiach.  One of them is that if every Jew agrees that someone is the Moshiach, then he’s the Moshiach.  This poses two interesting philosophical questions. 

What if someone really has the potential to be the Moshiach and almost everyone agrees that he is, but there are a few people that disagree?  Presumably, then the Moshiach would not reveal himself.

Alternatively, what if someone is really isn’t supposed to be the Moshiach, but everyone agrees that he is?  Presumably, then the potential of Moshiach that lies within him will spring forth.

I believe that what we’re really mourning during this period is not necessarily the lack of unity among Rabbi Akiva’s students, but the lack of Jewish unity within ourselves.  This mourning observance will continue every year until the Jewish people can finally get together and speak with one voice.  As we lead up to Shavous, may we focus on the mitzvah that Rabbi Akiva loved so much, to love our fellow Jew.  If we can master that mitzvah, the Rabbi Akiva’s dream of Moshiach will become a reality and we can re-accept the Torah on this Shavous at the Third Holy Temple in Jerusalem… with one voice. 

Parsha Shemini – Opening Day at the Mishkan

The Torah portion of Shemini tells us about the opening day of the (Mishkan) temporary tabernacle in the desert on the 1^st of the Hebrew month of Nissan almost one year after they Jews left Egypt.

At some point after the initial service, the two eldest sons of Aaron the High Priest, (Kohen Gadol), Nadab and Abihu brought what the Torah calls an alien fire on the alter and died. 

Nadab and Abihu were great men.  What did they do that was so wrong that would cause such a strong reaction from Heaven on such an important day?

There are a lot of questions and commentaries about what exactly is going on here.  Here are some of them:

1. Rabbi Yishmael holds that they used a fire from the alter, but it was alien because they had not been bidden to offer it.

2. Rabbi Yishmael also says that Nadab and Abihu had been drinking wine and it is not permissible to enter the sanctuary after drinking wine.

3. Rabbi Akiva holds that the fire was alien, because it didn’t come from the alter.

4. Rabbi Eliezer holds that their actual offense is that they ruled the fire holy, but it was inappropriate to make a decision about Jewish law in front of their teacher, Moses. 

5. They also did not consult their father, Aaron.

6. Only the high priest is permitted to enter the Holy of Holy’s and they were not the high priest, nor did they wear the high priests garments.

7. They didn’t wash their hands and feet before entering.

8. They weren’t married

9. They didn’t have children.

There are few incidents in Torah where there are so many different opinions about what happened in a particular situation.

The only thing that all of the commentators agree upon is that these were great men and they acted with the intention of serving G-d.  They were judged so severely because they were so great.

The core of their mistake and the running theme throughout all of the explanations is that they served G-d in a manner in which they wished to serve him, not in a manner that he wished to be served.

If a vegetarian is hungry and you bring him a nice juicy steak, you didn’t do him a favor.

If a car has a flat tire and you bring gasoline, you didn’t help the situation.

If we really want to help someone or serve G-d, we need to do give them what they need, not what we feel like giving.

I recently read an article online about Conservative Judaism.  The article was presenting the argument that Conservative Judaism should recognize Jews whose father is Jewish, but mother is Gentile.  The foundation of the argument was Conservative Jews already drove on Shabbat, so if they broke that Torah law, why not break this one too.  I found it almost amusing, in a strange sort of way, that the article never even considered that maybe they should actually stay true to the words of G-d’s eternal Torah as opposed to adjusting our practices to fit our needs.

The only way to truly serve G-d is by following the instructions of the Torah.  Anything other than that is like brining a vegetarian a piece of meat and really only serving ourselves.

The 5th Son, the 5th question and the 5th Cup… a Passover story

The Haggadah tells us that there are 4 sons that ask questions on Passover, the wise son, the wicked son, the simple son and the son who doesn’t know how to ask a question.

The 5^th Son - To the wise son, we instruct him in Jewish law.  To the wicked son, we’re strict.  To the simple son, we explain that everything we have is because G-d took us out of Egypt.  To the son who doesn’t know how to ask a question, we must engage him.  The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that there is actually one more son.  This is the son who is so far removed from Judaism that doesn’t even come to the Passover Seder.  In our generation, there are an increasing number of Jews who fall into this 5^th son category.  They’re so confused about their Judaism they may not even know that it’s Passover.  To this son, we must engage them on whatever level we can to try to peak their curiosity.  After morning services of the first day of Passover, I got into a conversation with a friend of mine at synagogue.  He told me that for the first Seder, he had a guest over who had never been to a Seder before.  He practically beamed as he told me how engaged she was and the questions that she asked.  He truly did a great job getting the 5^th son to the table.

The 5^th Question – At some point after the 4 questions, one of my Seder guests leaned over to me and asked a fairly disturbing 5^th question.  He asked ”What do you think Israeli soldiers are thinking right now as they read about the Jews being oppressed by the Egyptians, knowing that they are oppressing the Palestinians.”  I generally consider myself a political centrist, but this question seemed to come from the left most point on the spectrum.  What was even more troubling then the question was that the asker was someone who is an intelligent, professional, and by every other standard, a reasonable person who I respect and like very much.  Even though I already had 2 cups of wine, I firmly said that I did not believe his question was valid.  His question made the assumption that Israel as a whole and its soldiers in particular are oppressing the Palestinian people.  I explained to him that, even though there were some incidents of cruelty from individual soldiers, Israel as a whole has acted with a greater sensitivity to human rights and suffering then any other country in similar situation that has ever existed in the history of civilization.  The worst thing that Israel can legitimately be accused of is a proactive defense.  The only people directly responsible for the oppression of the Palestinian people, is and has always been Palestinian leadership.  My point in bringing this up is not to defend Israel’s record on human rights.  I would imagine that most people reading this article are at least sympathetic towards Israel if not out right Zionist.  My point is too illustrate how an educated modern day Jew can be so far off base.  Like the 5^th son that the Rebbe describes, they are so far removed from the situation; they don’t know which end is up.

The 5^th Cup – There’s a Chassidic custom to have a final meal in between Mincha and Maariv (afternoon and evening services) on the final day of Passover.  In this final meal, called the Seudas Moshiach (The Meal of the Messiah) they consume matzah and have 4 cups of wine.  Traditionally, it lasts well after Passover ends.  The prolonging of Passover is an key part of the meal.  Maybe we can consider these final tastes of wine an extension of the 4 cups we have on the Seder.  I once heard that if someone is exactly the same after praying as they were before praying, they didn’t do it right.  I would imagine that the same analogy can be applied to every mitzvah and experience. 

Our goal throughout Passover is to educate & inspire the 5^th son… both literally Jews who don’t go to a Seder and the 5^th son in ourselves that has moments of doubt.  It’s also to inspire ourselves to think about things from G-d perspective as opposed to our own.  I once heard Rabbi Berel Wein speak about a situation where a businessman was trying to get the head of the Orthodox Union to break a technical rule for certifying their business as kosher.  After a few back and forths, the Rabbi asked the businessman what he thought G-d would say to his proposal.  By the same notion, what would G-d say to this 5^th question?  What would he say to all of our questions of doubt and compromise?  We must strengthen our resolve to take away the validity of questions of doubt.  The only true question is; what does G-d want me to do right now?  If we can strengthen ourselves and inspire others, maybe we can have the 5^th cup of wine with the Kiddush of the Moshiach at this years Seudas Moshiach in Jerusalem.

Pesach, Childbirth and Redemption

This past Thursday night my wife and I were blessed with a perfectly healthy baby boy. 

Over the past 9 months or so I’ve been praying for three things. 1. That my wife comes through the delivery healthy.  2. That our new baby is healthy. 3. That the L-rd limits the pain that my wife has to endure during childbirth.  I was fortunate enough to be blessed with all three.  Since the sin of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, women have had to have pain during childbirth, but some labors take longer and some go shorter.  While I prayed many times that the labor be short, I didn’t quite expect what I received.

At roughly 12:45 am Thursday night, my wife woke me up and told me that labor at started.  I called my mother in law, who came over, got dressed and we left the house around 1:25 am or so.  The hospital was 20 minutes or so away.  At about 1:45 am, when we were only a few blocks away from the hospital, our new baby decided that he didn’t want to wait and we gave birth somewhere between 8^th & Market Streets and 12^th & Sansom Streets.  Considering how close we were to the hospital, I kept driving as quickly as possible until I got to the ER entrance just a few moments after my child was born.

After we settled down in the hospital, my wife had the frame of mind to tell me about a Dvar Torah that she had read a few days before.  She said that we think that the coming of the Moshiach (messiah) and the redemption seem to be far off things.  In our minds, we can’t imagine them happening so soon and when they do happen, we expect to have some warning.  The reality is that the very next mitzvah that someone does anywhere in the world can bring the Moshiach and we can all be together in Jerusalem at the 3^rd Temple in a matter of moments.  In fact, one of the Rambam’s 13 principles of Jewish faith is to believe that the Moshiach can come today.  Just like when our baby was born in roughly an hour from the onset of labor, the redemption can come even faster.

A car birth, especially one where the car doesn’t stop, is rare enough where word spreads and it gets people talking.  My mother, like many others, had a very hard time wrapping her arms around what happened.  She asked me “Did you deliver the baby?”   Me: “No.”  Her: “Did a paramedic or a policeman come? Me: “No.” Her: “Then who delivered the baby!?”  Me: “The only people in the car were me, my wife and Hashem.” Her: “Then you delivered the baby!?” Me: “My wife delivered her own baby.”  Her: “Who does that?” 

It was an odd conversation, but I had many similar ones over the course of Shabbas.  Who delivers their own baby?

As soon as I heard the question, I realized the answer.  The Torah tells us of the harsh decrees Pharaoh inflicted upon the Jewish people before Moses led us out of Egypt.  When the time for Moses’ birth had arrived, Pharaohs astrologers foresaw that the redeemer was being born and advised Pharaoh to murder all Jewish male newborns.  To accomplish this, he enlisted two Jewish midwives named Shifra and Puah to do his bidding.  Pharaoh didn’t realize it, but these righteous women would never commit such a terrible act.  When Pharaoh questioned why they hadn’t murdered the Jewish baby boys, they told Pharaoh that the Jewish women aren’t like Egyptian women.  They deliver their own babies before the midwife even arrives.  The Rabbis tell us the midwives were in fact Moses’ mother Yocheved and his older sister Miriam.  Since they were righteous women, there must have been truth to their statement to Pharaoh.

It was this generation, born to mothers who delivered themselves that led the redemption from Egypt.

Almost all, if not all, great Rabbis say that we are in the birth pangs (final stage of redemption) of Moshiach.    

As most of you reading this perform the mitzvahs of the final preparations before Pesach, and I have the two fold privilege of both preparing for Pesach and preparing for my sons bris which will, G-d willing, take place on the morning before the first Seder, may these mitzvahs usher in the coming of the Moshiach and the final redemption.  As you may recall, at the end of our Seders, we call for “Next Year in Jerusalem.”  I believe that if we perform these mitzvahs with proper intention, it can truly be “This Year in Jerusalem.”

Have a Happy and Kosher Pesach and I hope to see you in Jerusalem soon.

Pesach: The BT Family Seder

Over the past generation or so unaffiliated Jews have moved more and more away from Jewish customs and traditions.  A generation or two ago, the most secular Jews still went to synagogue on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, didn’t eat pork and shellfish and intermarriage was almost non existent. 

A lot has changed in our generation.  Now, unaffiliated Jews do very little in terms of Jewish holidays and laws, but virtually everyone still observes the mitzvah of circumcision and attends at least one of the Passover Seders.  There’s something about the Seder that keeps us connected.  Maybe it’s the unique food or that on some level we still identify with leaving slavery. 

Whatever the reason is, since non religious Jews still want to go to a Pesach Seder, Passover becomes the most difficult holiday for Ba’al Teshuvas.  The issues that come up are numerous and cross some very difficult waters.

Unlike Shavuot and Sukkas, which most secular Jews don’t care so much about, most families want/insist to get together for a Seder.  My goal is to always find the balance between maintaining my commitment to Torah values and having a healthy relationship with my non-religious family.  This isn’t such an easy balance.  For fans of the TV show Seinfeld, you may remember an episode where George Costanza’s fiancée, Susan, started spending time with George’s friends Elaine and Jerry.  Since George saw himself as having two sides, “Relationship George” and “Independent George”, he had a very hard time holding things together when is fiancé and friends where all together.

This isn’t so different then a BT managing his commitment to the Seder without causing a family feud.

Here are the top 4 issues that most of us face…

1. Where’s it going to be – In many families, there’s a tradition of having a Seder at a certain family member’s home.  There are two major problems that come up… Kosher food and traveling.  When I first became religious, my Seder host agreed to get me kosher food for the Seder.  This was a big help, but I recognize that not everyone’s family is so open and giving.  Travel was more of an issue.  My first Passover after I became religious, I asked to sleep over for two nights at my brothers house so I could be with the family for a Seder.  The problem was that my family only had one Seder.  For the second night, my brother’s family drove to his in laws.  I ended up walking 6 miles to a Rabbis house to have the second Seder.

Solution: If possible, offer to have the Seders at your house.  This will solve both the problem of kosher food and travel for you.

2. Sleepover party? – Having the Seder at your home solves the travel problem for you, but doesn’t help solve the travel problem for your guests.  Most secular Jews aren’t going to be so keen on your insistence on a 48 hour sleepover party.

Solution: I’ve heard different opinions on this matter, but the one that I go by is that one can invite guests for Shabbas or Yuntuf as long as the host is prepared for the guests to sleep over as opposed to driving home.  You should consult your local orthodox Rabbi to see what’s right for you. 

3. Can we eat yet? – The Seders can be very long and some of your guests can grow hungry and impatient along the way.

Solution: Serve some food before the Seder.  This should be done before sunset.  This way you’ll be able to hold your guests attention for longer.  For the kids, have snacks to give out during the Seder.

4. Boring – For you the Seder may be very interesting, but we need to keep our guests in mind.  If we don’t keep it interesting, we’re going to lose them.  Also, some of the text is more relatable then others.
1. Solution: My wife and I came up with a system where, during certain less inspiring paragraphs, I will read them silently to myself while she leads everyone in a game.  The paragraphs I usually read silently are 1. It happened that Rabbi Eliezer… until the 4 sons.  2. One might think that the obligation to discuss the Exodus commences… through Blessed is He Who keeps his pledge.  3. Rabbi Yose the Galiliean said… until Dayenu.  For the games, we’ve done Passover-Jeopardy, Name that song, Passover-Who wants to be a millionaire?, etc.  We’ll prepare a variety of questions in different decrees of difficulty and ask them according to our guests.  You might ask someone without a strong Jewish education to name Moses’s sister.  You may ask someone with a stronger Jewish education to name Aaron’s two brothers in law that we know of.  (Feel free to post the answer to question 2.)  My wife does a great job on this and it keeps it interesting for all.  I usually try to prepare some other commentary as we go along that I feel is particularly interesting. 

Good luck and keep in mind that one of the most important things we can do at the Seder is to educate and inspire our guests.  If we work hard to do both then it will truly be a Shana Habah B’Yerushalayim… Next year in Jerusalem!

Toulouse Murders: How can we understand such tragedies?

Whenever a tragedy happens, we search for answers as to why.  There’s something in our nature that we have a hard time accepting meaningless destruction.  If something happened for a purpose greater than ourselves, we have a much easier time accepting it.

Only G-d knows why he does what he does, but we can come up with a list of potential answers as to why such things occur.  We won’t be able to come up with a clear understanding, but maybe we can derive some comfort through the process.

These answers has as much to do with the 4 Jewish souls and 3 French policemen that were taken from this world by a madman as much as they have to do with any similar event.

1. Pre-ordained – I once heard a Rabbi ask the question; can someone die before their time?  Dealing with it from a hypothetical scenario, it’s an interesting debate.  I’ve heard knowledgeable Rabbis debate both sides of the issue.  There doesn’t seem to be a consensus, but the possibility does exist that someone can’t die before their time.  I once heard a story of a childless couple ask their Rebbe for a blessing that they should have children, but he refused to give it.  Time went on and they kept asking and he kept refusing.  Eventually, the Rebbe gave in and the couple had a child.  After some time, the child got sick and died.  They came distraught to the Rebbe and he explained that he understood that the soul of their child had completed almost everything it needed to complete in a previous life and it just needed a few months more in this world.  The ramifications to this opinion are clear.  The victims of this or any other tragedy has simply reached their allotted time on this earth.  This, by no way, absolves the murderer.  Each of us as free will and a killer has no justification.  G-d deal with things the way he wants to.  He doesn’t need our help to fulfill his will.

2. Atonement for Past Lives – Since we do have the concept of reincarnation in Judaism, any punishment that we receive in this world could be a punishment or atonement for since in our past lives.

3. Atonement for this life – When G-d created humans, he gave us free will and temptation.  We also contain an evil inclination and animalistic desires.  With all this in mind, we all make mistakes.  Since the righteous among us are judged more severely, their minor sins are treated as willful transgressions.  It could be that victims of atrocities are going through their respective atonement for their actions.  This answer falls apart when it comes to children who are not responsible for their actions and require no atonement.

4. The effect on us – It always struck me as odd that when Christians are persecuted somewhere in the world, by Christian friends don’t seem to be bothered so much.  Maybe because it’s a direct opposite of the feelings that we feel.  A Jew maybe in a country I’ve never been to, a different color then me and speak a language that I don’t understand, but if he is suffering, we feel it.  If he needs help, I want to do whatever I can to help him.  If he has been kidnapped or in danger, we’ll pay whatever price we need to save him.  With that in mind, when a Jew is murdered, G-d forbid, it’s not just their family and friends who feel the loss.  We all feel it.  When I hear that a father and his two children are savagely murdered in front of a Jewish day school, I think of how many times I brought my two children to their day school.  We mourn and we feel the loss. 

I can’t begin to clarify why this tragedy happened, but I do know that if we are grieving, there’s a reason for it.  We need to take the suffering that we feel and strengthen ourselves to dedicate even more of our lives to G-d. 

It’s not enough that we just go about our lives.

It’s not even enough if we make up for the mitzvahs that Rabbi Yonatan, Aryeh & Gavriel Sandler along with Miriam Montenago would have done.

In their merit and in the merit of all Jews who have been taken from this world by our enemies, we must learn enough Torah and perform enough mitzvahs until the time that we can be reunited with all of our brothers and sisters with the coming of the moshiach may he come immediately.

Parsha Vayikra – Animal sacrifice… gross!

For the past 10 or so years, I’ve been a quasi vegetarian.  My reasons for not eating so much meat are the same as the “quasi” part of my quasi vegetarianism.  I didn’t stop eating meat, because of health or moral reasons.  I did so, because meat, or the idea that meat comes for an animal grosses me out.

I’ll eat chicken, fish or even beef in the right circumstances.  The right circumstances don’t always happen.  If I see bone, fat, feathers, skin, or anything similar anywhere near my plate, I get squeamish and stick with the vegetables.  After 7 years of marriage, my wife, who’s a dietician, knows what to do if she wants to cook me any of the above.  She prepares my dish in the kitchen or at the other end of the table and brings me a plate that has no reminders that the food used to be alive.  Though this is a pain in the neck for her, she does it without complaint.

Even though most people don’t share my views on eating meat, there are few of us who can spend a lot of time at a slaughter house and not be a little nauseous. 

All the more so, the thought of animal sacrifice, as outlined in this weeks Torah portion, can make us feel a bit uneasy.  Vayikra goes into many graphic details about how animals were slaughtered in the Mishkan (Temporary Tabernacle) and in the Beis Hamikdash (Holy Temple.)  What many people don’t talk about is that when the Moshiach (Messiah or Savior) comes and builds the third and final Beis Hamikdash, we will start performing regular animal sacrifices again. 

On the surface, slaughtering animals as offerings seems not so nice and barbaric at best. 

Does G-d really need our sacrifices?  Do we really think that we can make up for a sin by sending a nice piece of steak up to G-d?  Both of these answers seem to clearly be no.  We know the G-d is totally self sufficient and doesn’t need anything from us.  Following that logic, if he doesn’t need to receive the animal offering, it must be that there’s something about us where we, spiritually, need to give the offering.

There are many possible explanations.  I’m going to try to focus on a few that best answer the question for me.  An animal offering not only represents a monetary gift, it also represents a dedication towards the fulfillment of Hashem’s will.  Imagine planting a new fruit tree and waiting patiently for it to produce fruit.  Those of us with backyard gardens can tell you that the first fruit or vegetable is always the best, because it’s the first product of your hard work.  Torah law demands that we give those first fruits to G-d.  If it was just a monetary gift, then it wouldn’t make a difference whether it be the first, second or third.  The first is only worth more to the owner, not to general buyers.  By giving it to G-d, we are acknowledging that he is the true source for all that we have.

Another explanation is that Chassidic sources explain that our soul is made up of several parts.  There is a G-dly soul that wants to perform the commandments set forth in the Torah.  Then there is an animal soul that wants to fulfill its basic wants and desires, even if the contradict the Torah.  By sacrificing an animal, we are in a sense, diminishing the power of our animal soul and strengthening the power of our G-dly soul.  If we can perfect this process then by the time the Third Beis Hamikdash gets here, which should be very soon, we’ll have a complete understanding of animal offerings.

Parsha Vayakhel – Pekudei – You got to have faith…

As we come to the end of the book of Exodus (Shemos), the Torah portion of Vayakhel, among other things, discusses the construction of the Mishkan (temporary tabernacle) and all of the vessels and items that it needed to operate.

In the Jewish people’s first building campaign, they gave with such generosity that Moses actually had to tell them to stop giving.  This was probably the first and last time that a Rabbi told his congregants to stop giving money.  J

Chapter 25, verse 27 tells us that “the princes brought shoham stones...”  The great Torah commentator, Rashi, asks why the Princes did not contribute anything when the Mishkan was first constructed and only contributed at the inauguration of the alter (Mizbeach)?

He answers that the Princes lacked faith in the generosity of the Jewish people.  They said to themselves that the Jewish people should contribute first to the Mishkan and we’ll contribute whatever is missing.  When they saw that the Jewish people were contributing with an open hand, they got nervous and scrambled.  They ran to donate whatever was left before the Jewish people donated everything and they lost the opportunity to have contributed.

Thankfully for them, they got in the shoham stones for the High Priests breast plate.

There are several lessons that we can draw from this story.

Lesson 1... Alacrity

In the great work of  Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato, the Path of the Just, he explains to us that doing a mitzvah is only the first step towards greatness.  We must strive to do it with alacrity.  We shouldn’t passively sit back and wait until we feel like doing the mitzvah.  We should get up and run towards it.  Every time that we’re faced with the opportunity to do a mitzvah to a kindness for our fellow, it’s literally an opportunity to accomplish the will of G-d.  If someone saw a winning lottery ticket on the ground, they wouldn’t stand around and pick it up when they felt like it.  They’d jump on top of it with all of their speed and might.  If we would behave that way for a finite reward, how much more so should we behave that way for the infinite reward of following G-d properly.

Lesson 2… Faith

It always surprises me when naysayers doubt the potential of a Jew trying to accomplish something great.  Whenever someone sets out a bold goal, there always seem to be people around who, not only don’t want to participate, they want to tell the person that their goal is impossible.  If a Jew is fulfilling the will of G-d with all of their being, what could be impossible?  For years I’ve been involved with many different Jewish organizations and I can tell you with complete faith that when a Jew acts for the sake of Heaven, mountains can be moved. 

As the leaders of the people of Israel, the Princes should have not only acted with alacrity for the sake of their own mitzvah, they should have understood that there was no way the Jewish people wouldn’t deliver everything in their power at such a momentous occasion.

As the future leaders of Israel (yes I’m talking to you who’s reading this article) we must strengthen ourselves to attach on to mitzvah opportunities and not only believe that our fellow can accomplish them, but to run right along side him to help get it done.

Parsha Ki Sisa – The Golden Calf… what the heck is going on here?!

The incident of the golden calf in the Torah portion of Ki Sisa is one of the most troubling things in all of Chumash. 

It’s hard for us to understand that a nation that stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and heard the words of the G-d directly could possibly sink so low in a short 39 days later. 

To better understand the situation, let’s first go over the words of the Torah translated from the Sapirstein Edition Artscroll Rashi Chumash.  I’m going to highlight some key words that we’ll focus on after the text.

Chapter 32, Verses 1-5: The people saw that Moses delayed in descending the mountain and the people gathered around Aaron and said to him “Rise up, make for us g-ds who will go before us, for this Moses, the man who brought us up from Egypt – we do not know what became of him!”  Aaron said to them, “Remove the golden rings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.”  The entire people unburdened themselves of the golden rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.  He took it from their hands and he bound it in a scarf, and made it into a molten calf; then they said, “These are your g-ds” O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”  Aaron saw and built an alter before him; Aaron called out and said, “A festival to Hashem tomorrow!”

Verse 25-28: Moses stood at the gateway of the camp and said, “Whoever is for Hashem, the me!” and all the Levites gathered unto him.  He said to them, “So said Hashem the G-d of Israel, ‘Let them place every man his sword on his thigh, and pass back and forth from gate to gate in the camp; and let them kill every man his brother, every man his fellow and every man his relative’”  The Levites did according to the word of Moses, and there fell from the people about three thousand men on that day.”

Verse 35: Hashem smote the people with a plague, because they made the calf that Aaron had made.

Let’s delve a little deeper into some of the back round stories (Midrashim) and commentaries. 

1.      Let’s start with the word “g-ds” in the second line of my text.  As we know, the Torah has many names for G-d.  Some of those names can also be used for other things.  In our verse, the Torah uses the name Elokim which can mean G-d, but can also mean leader.

2.      To back up the “leader” explanation, we only need to go to the next line where the Torah uses the word “man.”  If the people really wanted to make an idol or another G-d, why would the purpose of its creation be because Moses was missing?  Moses was clearly a man and their leader.  The creation of the golden calf was clearly a poor attempt and trying to create a middle entity between them and G-d.  Why did they think that needed something in between them and G-d?  For that we can go back to the 10 commandments in the Torah portion Yisro where the commentators tell us that after hearing the first 2 commandments directly from G-d, it was too much for the people and they asked that Moses say the remaining commandments instead of G-d.

3.      In line 5, Rashi tells us that Aaron told the men to get the jewelry from their wives as a delay tactic.  He expected their wives to give them a hard time.  In fact, he was correct.  None of their wives gave up their gold or participated in the incident with the golden calf in any way.

4.      In line 8 it says that, “They said” “O Israel.”  Clearly it seems like some people who are not Jews are speaking to the Jewish people.  Rashi tells us that when the Jewish people left Egypt, a great conglomeration of different people followed them and it was in fact these people who incited the incident with the golden calf.  This also explains who “the people” were that gathered around Aaron in the first place.

5.      Once the calf was complete, Aaron states that there will be a festival to Hashem tomorrow.  In doing this, he was saying two things.  The first is that he was trying to delay them a day, because he knew that Moses would be back tomorrow.  The second was that he was telling them that there is only one G-d, using the proper, undisputable name of Hashem.

6.      Popular misconception is that the golden calf was worshiped by the entire nation or at least close to it.  The Torah tells us that only 3,000 men committed the most grievous of sins.  I can’t find a reliable source for how many people died in the plague, but I’ve heard the number 30,000 thrown around.  There were roughly 3 million people that left Egypt.  30,000 represent 1% of that.  3,000 represents .01% of that… a rather minuscule number compared to the people at large.

The crime that the rest of the people were guilty of was not stopping it.  We are truly one people and we share in each others joys and sorrows.  If our fellow sins and we have the ability to stop it and we don’t, we bare some of the responsibility.  We should try to keep this shared responsibility in mind in our daily lives

I originally wanted to also write about Aaron’s role in the incident and how someone of his greatness could have participated and then get elevated to become High priest just a few Torah portions later, but since the article is long enough already you’ll have to wait until next year.