Rabbi Philip Weintraub
Congregation Agudas Israel
6/29/2013
Parshat Pinchas
This morning is a special occasion. We are joining together with D---’s family to celebrate him becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Note my language. We are not celebrating D---’s Bar Mitzvah, but rather we are celebrating him BECOMING a Bar Mitzvah. To be a Bar (or Bat) Mitzvah is to become a son or daughter of the commandments. It means that one accepts one's responsibilities as a Jew. Classically, at a Bar Mitzvah, the father says a very interesting blessing. He says “בָּרוּךְ שֶׁפְּטָרַֽנִי מֵעָנְשׁוֹ שֶׁל זֶה” “Blessed (is the one) that exempts me from the punishment of this.” While the blessing sounds a little strange, what it is really saying is that, at this holy moment, at this time when a young man begins to acknowledge his own responsibility, he is taking charge of the Jewish choices in his life. When the son says that he is ready to take on the responsibilities of Jewish adulthood, the father, the parents must take a step back, as well.
The Torah reading that D--- read this morning was from Parshat Pinchas, named after a biblical Jewish priest, who saw injustice, saw public criminal behavior and stopped it. Yet the majority of this parsha is not the story of Pinchas, but instead, the story of the sacrifices for all of the Jewish holidays and every day of the year. As such, it is one of the most popular selections in the Jewish calendar. Some Jews read a selection from it every single day, while others read only on Shabbat or holidays. In our ark, I always keep one Torah rolled to this parsha, since I know that virtually every Jewish holiday will require a second Torah reading from this section.
This morning we heard of the specifics of the offerings. D--- read:
Chapter 29: 35
35 On the eighth day you shall hold a solemn gathering; you shall not work at your occupations. 36 You shall present a burnt offering, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord; one bull, one ram, seven yearling lambs, without blemish; 37 the meal offerings and libations for the bull, the ram, and the lambs, in the quantities prescribed; 38 and one goat for a sin offering—in addition to the regular burnt offering, its meal offering and libation.
39 All these you shall offer to the Lord at the stated times, in addition to your votive and freewill offerings, be they burnt offerings, meal offerings, libations, or offerings of well-being.
Chapter 30
1 So Moses spoke to the Israelites just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
One might wonder what a bunch of burning animals have to do with Jewish life today. Why should we care about what our ancestors made at their BBQs? Why would Gd even want any of those offerings?
In the prophets we read that our ancestors had some of the same questions. Hosea 6:6 says “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” Just last week in the Haftorah, we read from Micah: “And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” We have not even had a Temple since the year 70! In Avot D’Rabbi Natan 4:5, which we saw in our Siddur this morning we saw Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai consoling Rabbi Yehoshua, saying “Be not grieved, my son. There is another equally meritorious way of gaining atonement even though the Temple is destroyed. We can still gain atonement through deeds of lovingkindness.” (translation from Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals, p. 68 (1998))
When we think back to these sacrifices though, what we see is our ancestors doing three things. One, they were showing their gratitude to GD. Two, they were taking from themselves and giving to others. Three, they were showing that our lives have a rhythm, a calendar that organizes everything.
Jewish life today has all three of these elements. Through prayer, deeds of lovingkindness, and our daily choices, we acknowledge Gd in our lives. Whether it is saying a prayer when we wake up, before or after we eat, or simply when we see a rainbow or the ocean, acknowledging the blessings in our lives is a powerful force. When we see that we are not alone, but are instead connected to an entire community and the Creator of the Universe, we cannot help but live our lives with a greater sense of purpose.
To the second point, sacrifices were expensive. While certain offerings had substitutions based on one’s income, sacrifices required sacrifice. They required making decisions about how to spend one’s money, how to use one’s resources. Just as we have to make decisions about what in our lives are needs and what are wants, so too did our ancestors. Their choices might not have been iphone vs galaxy or ipad vs kindle fire. When giving tzedekah they didn’t have to consider giving to the Met or the Hebrew Free Burial Society or AJWS or their synagogue, but when choosing to give one of their animals for a sacrifice, choosing to follow Gd’s command they still had to give up a major part of their income for the year. Yet when they did, like when we give to those that need it, when we support our community, they found a deep sense of satisfaction, of knowing that their work supported not just themselves, but was also doing good.
To the third point, the rhythm of our lives, the calendar of our lives, this week’s parsha demonstrates exactly that. In showing the sacred calendar, the sacrifices for each day, for each Shabbat, for each month (Rosh Hodesh), for the festivals, Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we imagine ever expanding circles of time. In these circles, we see the rhythm of our lives. Yes, we could live without a calendar. We might even be able to live without holidays, but we cannot live without each day. The sacred calendar again gives us purpose. It brings meaning into our lives through its insistence that we take time with our families and friends, through its demand that we occasionally put aside our homework and tests, projects and papers. Through these oases of holiness, we find the sacred is not found in some esoteric place, not just in the rainbows and the oceans, but it is found within us, within each moment that we are aware of our own holiness and the sacred that is found within our friends, our family and GD.
As Jews, we have a sacred responsibility to live our lives in accordance with our traditions. While discovering the meaning of life is nice, living it can be more challenging! Following the mitzvot, the commandments adds so much to our lives, and that is truly what becoming a Bat Mitzvah is about. It is about recognizing that one is part of a sacred chain, going back long beyond our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents, all the way to Mt. Sinai, to Egypt, and to the Promised Land.
As tokens, of this occasion, as signs of this covenant, we share with D--- a few small gifts, reminders of this sacred time and all the sacred time to come. Now D---, I ask you to come forward. This morning we are presenting you with gifts from our community, from our congregation, Agudas Israel. We have a new book, The Observant Life, which while it might be a doorstop for the next year or two, I hope you will eventually open. WIthin it are explanations and conversations about every single aspect of Jewish life, from holidays to relationships, from prayer to business ethics, from college to childhood and back again. It is not a book to be read all at once, but to be perused, to be studied, to be discussed. If you are so moved, you can even join our monthly discussion group on the book, whose next session will be reading chapter 1, discussing Prayer, on July 11.
We also present you with a Kiddush Cup, which we hope you will use every Shabbat and festival, connecting you to your ancestors and your parents in sanctifying those holidays.
From the Jewish Federation of Greater Orange County we have a gift towards an Israel trip. Having just been in Israel earlier this month, I cannot begin to express how inspirational and simply powerful it is to spend time in our Holy Land.
From my heart, I offer this prayer.
D------,
As you walk the path of your life,
may our synagogue (and every synagogue) be a place of refuge for you.
May it be a place of joy, of holidays, of fun.
May it be a place of laughter, of food, of celebration.
May your Judaism be a part of every choice you make.
May it be a comfort when times are tough.
May Gd be a source of strength and thanks when life is good.
May you realize that when you are Jewish, you are never alone.
Wherever you go, you will have another brother or sister, another friend.
Most importantly, may you see in the examples of your parents and grandparents that today is not the end, but the beginning, that Judaism and Jewish leadership are not stops along your highway, but that they are the road itself.
יְבָרֶכְךָ ה’, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
May the LORD make His face shed light upon you and be gracious unto you -
יָאֵר ה’ פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
May the LORD lift up His face unto you and give you peace -
יִשָּׂא ה’ פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
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