Vayeshev: You, too can change the world!

What can you do to change the world?

So often we feel small, insignificant.  We are not Presidents or CEOs. How can we influence the world?  How can we make it a better place?

In this video I talk about this week's parsha and how we all have a role to play.  All you have to do is ask "How can I help?"  (I think Daniel Tiger would agree!)

One way I try to make a difference is through regular Torah study.  When we sit and look at our texts, we find the commonalities we have with our history and our future!

Tazria Metzora--Empathy, Medicine and OUR Rabbinical Assembly

Rabbi Philip Weintraub

Congregation Agudas Israel

4/29/17

Twenty years ago, I stood in front of Congregation Beth Shalom in Dunwoody, GA, with family and friends.  I read from the Torah, led the services, and shared words of Torah.  I suppose one might say not much has changed in the last twenty years!  Standing on that bimah I spoke about Parshat Tazria,  I still have not found my bar mitzvah speech.  I wonder if I spoke to the dermatologists in the audience or focused on the rabbinic relation to motzi shem ra, to evil speech.  I had two powerful experience this week relating to the parsha, that I would like to share with you all.

First is related to the parsha directly.  I read from my friend and colleague, Rabbi Noah Farkas.  He wrote in the LA Jewish Journal about how this parsha teaches empathy. (http://jewishjournal.com/culture/religion/torah_portion/218359/parshat-tazria-metzora-burden-gift-empathy/) He opened with a necessary theological apology.  SPeaking of this rabbinic connection between behavior and illness, he wrote of how so many feel guilt, that they somehow deserve their illness, and argued that we must break this link.  “When we graft morality too heavily onto purity and wellness, we cause more suffering while ignoring the sanctity of the sick. To be unclean is not to be immoral — ever.”  When I stand in a hospital room, I am reminded of this over and over again.  Illness comes to young and old, to innocent and guilty, to good and not so good people.   While there are some illnesses that are a consequence of past choices, they are still not punishment for sins in other parts of our life.  We may CHOOSE to try to gain strength from the suffering, but it does not mean the suffering is a consequence of our actions.  Rabbi Farkas has a Jewish bio-medical ethics group with doctors and wrote of the parallels between our modern doctors and the priests of old.  He reminds us that empathy is a necessity for medical care.  “After the priest sees them and welcomes them back to the community, a sacrificial rite is performed. The patient is brought to the literal center of the community and anointed in the same manner with the same rituals that anoint the High Priest over the people. Both priest and patient are bound together in this ritual of mutuality.” I think that as mechanized and technologicized (I may have made up that word) as medicine has become, the human connection is essential.  Some medical schools even have mock patient scenarios as part of their interviews to weed out potential doctors who have absolutely no bedside manner!  

Dovetailing with those words of Torah, were words I heard on Thursday at the Rabbinical Assembly’s Executive Council meeting.  I went perhaps unethusiastically.  How could I miss our annual meeting?  How could I be away from our community to think about the needs of the RA.  What is the purpose of the RA for me?  Yet after just a few hours, I saw great holiness.  I heard powerful Torah.  I saw an organization that is looking carefully at its past and future.  Like our congregation, the RA is over 100 years old.  Like us, it has people that are more and less connected, wondering about what comes next.

Over the two days I was at the Pearlstone Retreat Center (http://pearlstonecenter.org), we carefully considered a proposal from a Texan rabbi.  We went through a huge agenda and made significant progress.  We even changed our meeting structure for the future.  Rather than going through a standard agenda, our future meetings will only have action items.  If it is just a report, we will read it before the meeting.  Those reports will include follow-ups to ensure that previous items are dealt with.  This is called a consent agenda--we consent that we can group those reports into one agenda item and quickly move on to the things that matter!  The second day was follow-up on the RA’s strategic plan.  The last two years the board and another 30-60 rabbis have been heavily involved in considering what the RA has been successful at and what is essential for its future.  The biggest change may seem small, but has been to change the language.  Instead of saying THE RA as I just did, it is calling it OUR RA. When we speak of OUR RA, we are claiming ownership.  We remind ourselves and those around us that we are a part of that organization.  How would that work for us?  We might speak of OUR shul instead of THE shul.  Our Agudas Israel instead of just CAI.  Our home instead of just Kol.  

Returning the parsha, I want to share a verse that was mentioned in a Dvar Torah yesterday.  Vayikra 13:3 says:

וְרָאָ֣ה הַכֹּהֵ֣ן אֶת־הַנֶּ֣גַע בְּעֽוֹר־הַ֠בָּשָׂר וְשֵׂעָ֨ר בַּנֶּ֜גַע הָפַ֣ךְ ׀ לָבָ֗ן וּמַרְאֵ֤ה הַנֶּ֙גַע֙ עָמֹק֙ מֵע֣וֹר בְּשָׂר֔וֹ נֶ֥גַע צָרַ֖עַת ה֑וּא וְרָאָ֥הוּ הַכֹּהֵ֖ן וְטִמֵּ֥א אֹתֽוֹ.

׃The priest shall examine the affection on the skin of his body: if hair in the affected patch has turned white and the affection appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a leprous affection; when the priest sees it, he shall pronounce him unclean

As my colleagues noted, it is strange that the priest seems to examine or look at the person or irritation twice.  The question is the focus of the second look.  Before declaring the person clean or unclean, the priest must look at the WHOLE person.  Like every hospital and medical practice claims today, they must not just look at the illness, but the entire person.  Doctors, nurses and our ancient priests recognize that the illness is not in isolation. It is not just a skin infection.  It is on a human being.  That person has needs, wants, hopes, dreams.  That person lives in their economic, social, religious context.  If the doctor sees only the irritation, she cannot do her job.  

This is a major challenge of the economics of medicine today, when doctors are required by their employers to see far too many patients.  They have no time to be patient and to do their job well are often forced to work extra unpaid hours to deal with their paperwork and computers.  While I cannot claim to have a solution for that issue, our Torah reminds us that it is a problem!  So as I declare the importance of empathy FROM the medical professions, let us also have have empathy FOR the medical professions.  They, too, are people who must have lives and possibilities.

Shabbat Shalom!

Jewish values in a challenging time

What are our values?

What do we care about?

Our history and texts teach us that there are multiple paths to annunciate and demonstrate what we care about.  We can write, speak, march, do, listen, care, spend money.  Some say actions are louder than words, while others focus on the power of the pen (or keyboard).

In our morning prayers, we do not just bless the Holy One for the gift of Torah, but rather say:

Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu la’asok b’divrei torah.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Master of Space and Time, who has sanctified us with commandments, and commanded us to be occupied with words of Torah.

The word “la’asok” is key here.  Translations vary from study, to be occupied with, to practice, to engage with.  Regardless of how we translate the word, it is one that demands action.  It is an active word imagining us wrestling, fighting with, engaging with the texts.

Our texts debate which is more important--action or study, with strong arguments on each side.  One of the most popular of those debates in the Talmud ends with the command that we study--for it leads to action.  (See for example: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/learning-amp-doing/)

For me study is a gift.  It is time to consider our past, present and future.  It is a way to see the conversations that are relevant today have been with us for generations.  The Torah teaches repeatedly about caring for the stranger, widow and orphan--those who need a little more help.  The Talmud teaches about the importance of freeing slaves and redeeming captives--knowing that the world is not perfect and we can be both oppressor and victim.  Our identities are not static, but ever changing.  Our choices make all the difference.

This week has made me very antsy.  Hearing reports of cemeteries desecrated, of JCCs and Jewish centers and schools having bomb threats, I wonder how I can most actively contribute.  Donations are wonderful, but how can we prevent future attacks?  How can I be a voice for calm and reason when I, myself, am frustrated?

So I have made phone calls to my elected officials.  I have thanked my local police officers. I lock my doors and set the alarm, yet I also make sure that I remain active in community events. I have recommitted myself to study.  I pray that my study will lead me to further action.  What will you do next?

Building blocks and Axis of Awesome

Science tells us that atoms and matter are the building blocks of life.  In music, notes and chords form the musical universe.  This week a live version of an 

"old" video is racing around the internet.  Embedded below is the  Axis of Awesome's original "4 chords" a demonstration how most #1 hit songs are simple chord progressions.

As I was listening/watching, I thought about prayer and trying to connect to God.  What are the 3 or 4 chords of prayer?  When we teach prayer to children, we generally speak of "praise, petition and thanksgiving."  While simplistic, these frameworks do capture much of our prayer-lives.  Additionally, applied to our lives outside of prayer they can create goodwill in all aspects of our lives, improving our relationships and personal interactions.

• Praise:
• In prayer, praise helps us see the greatness of God, acknowledging our limited place in the world and helping us to reach out to our creator.
• In relationships, praise builds connections.  A sincere compliment opens the door to a sincere conversation.
• Petition:
• In prayer, our requests focus our thoughts on what matters, helping us decide what actions we need to take.  For those of us who believe that God hears and responds to prayer, formally asking God is opening the door to a better future.
• In relationships, asking for what we need helps us get what we need. Relationships are stronger when we communicate honestly.  Asking for what we need can be the second step to deeper connections.
• Thanksgiving:
• In prayer, offering thanks reminds us of our place in the world AND that we don't have everything in our control.  Gratitude truly changes us, seeing the greatness in the world makes us happier, more fulfilled individuals.
• In relationships, offering gratitude is a third step to happier relationships.  If we give thanks we appreciate one another more AND we are more generous in our judgments!

The song that started this entire thought process is below.  It's pretty awesome!

According to wikipedia "The Axis of Awesome is an Australian musical comedy act with members Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo and Benny Davis. The trio cover a wide variety of performance styles, and perform a combination of original material and pop parodies."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Axis_of_Awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ

Eat, be satisfied, and thank Gd, Eikev 2014

Rabbi Philip Weintraub

Congregation Agudas Israel

8/16/2014

Technology is a funny thing.  It helps us in so many ways, yet slows us down in others.  Looking at this week’s parsha, I realized there were topics I did not want to discuss, and topics I did, most specifically Chapter 8, vs 10  10 “When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.” (NJPS translation from http://learn.jtsa.edu/content/translations/eikev/torah-portion/eikev )

”   וְאָכַלְתָּ, וְשָׂבָעְתָּ--וּבֵרַכְתָּ אֶת-י--ה-ו--ה אֱ--לֹהֶיךָ, עַל-הָאָרֶץ הַטֹּבָה אֲשֶׁר נָתַן-לָךְ.

I knew that I had written about that verse, about the Talmud’s extensive discussion, but did not know when/where.  I scrolled down through pages and pages of tweets on twitter, eventually reminding myself that the Talmudic source for Grace after Meals is in Talmud Brachot 47 and following.  I searched my google drive--my old sermons in the cloud--and found from Rosh Hashanah 2012 the following:

Today’s study, p. 47, is in the seventh chapter, which mainly discusses Grace After Meals.  Just as the Gemara connects one story to another, this section reminds me of a story in my own life.  I was once finishing a lunch in the food court of a mall in Jerusalem.  Sitting with me was an Orthodox rabbi I had known in college.  As we prepared to say the Grace After Meals, he wondered aloud about people’s quest for spirituality.  He said he could not understand how some Jews described themselves as “spiritual but not religious” but that many of those very people did not say Thanks to Gd after they ate.  He said “How can you take the great blessing, that is eating, being blessed to have enough to eat in such an insecure world and NOT thank Gd for such good fortune!”  I was glad he spoke rhetorically, since I had no good answer to his challenge!  It made me think about my own difficulty in saying Birkat Hamazon, Grace after Meals, regularly, and he thus encouraged me to say it more often.

For us today, this is a great lesson.  Elsewhere in Brachot, it says that one of the reasons the Jews merited the land was that they blessed Gd even when they were NOT satisfied with their food, with their portion.  It is hard enough to offer thanks when we are satisfied, but to find it in our hearts to appreciate Gd when we do NOT have enough is even more challenging.  Returning to Rosh Hashanah two years ago, I wrote about the

the 47th daf/page of Brachot.  On that page I will see conversations about waiting for others to be served and bless their food before eating; when to say “Amen” to the blessings of others; how much food a waiter needs to eat to join a group who would like to say Grace after meals; the fact that a convert is not Jewish until he/she has gone to the mikvah (ritual bath); and can you have a minyan of 9 plus a Torah?  As you can see, some of those subjects are clearly related to Grace after Meals and others seem like tangents, but very interesting ones.  For more details, you’ll have to look at it yourself.  

The Talmud regularly demonstrates associative thinking.  Like many of us, it starts discussing a topic, then gets sidetracked.  For some modern thinkers, this is incredibly annoying--why can’t they just stick to a topic, but for others, the side notes are what they are coming for, those little pictures of Talmudic life, of Judaism in another era.  Yet, how many of us do exactly the same thing.  We are telling a story about our hilarious uncle, and then rather than finishing the story, we tell three others before getting back to the point.  On a side note, the books of Midrashim, Genesis Rabba, Sifra, Sifrei, include many early rabbinic sermons.  They start and end with a verse and tell many other stories in between--with the goal being to create a web of connections bringing you from the beginning to the end.  When Chasiddic rebbes would teach on Shabbat, this style was also very common, starting with a verse from the parsha, touching here and there and everywhere in rabbinic literature before coming back to the original to teach a lesson or a principle.   In some ways we have changed, in others we have stayed the same.

The real reason I shared this verse

וְאָכַלְתָּ, וְשָׂבָעְתָּ--וּבֵרַכְתָּ אֶת-י--ה-ו--ה אֱ--לֹהֶיךָ, עַל-הָאָרֶץ הַטֹּבָה אֲשֶׁר נָתַן-לָךְ.

was because of Robin Williams.  In the last couple days we have heard the story and the challenges of a man who struggled with addiction, with depression, with his own inner demons, yet managed to fight through all of that to teach poignant lessons to us all, to bring a light, a laughter, a humor to so many people.   He once joked “I went to rehab in wine country, just to keep my options open.”  His humor was incredible.  His openness to his struggles brought help to many.  I heard on the radio of his own openness to discuss therapy and the years that it brought him, the way it changed his life for the better.  As such, he was an inspiration for so many.  I pray that his death will encourage people to get the help they need.  All of us need the support of each other--one of the things I mentioned on Tisha B’Av.  Yet sometimes, we need more help.  With Judaism’s focus on Pikuach Nefesh, the saving of a life, we know that it is important to ask for help, but sometimes it is not easy.  

The challenge of depression is its power, its overwhelming nature.  In the midst, it seems there is no getting out.  The verse I mentioned is that we eat, we are satisfied and we bless/offer thanks.  When one is depressed there is no such thing as satisfaction.  Someone who is depressed cannot reach the level of thanks because they cannot recognize their own satisfaction.  Robin Williams could not be satisfied with the success, with the love, with anything, because he had a deadly disease--depression.  Until our society recognizes depression as a disease and not a character flaw, we are making this world more difficult for so many people.  I shared this week a blog from the wife of a rabbi I know.  She shared that when she was younger she went through a bout of depression.  At the time, she could see no way out.  Eventually she found support, therapy, etc., etc. and managed to be happy again.  Now she has been fighting cancer.  This time around, her community, her friends, her family, everyone rallied around her.  They helped take care of her son, helped around the house.  When people show the same level of support for those fighting depression as those fighting cancer, the world will be a better place. (See blog here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kenterskicklymphoma/journal/view/id/53ea7686a689b4bd04a369e2 )

From our holy Torah we learn that if we can eat and be satisfied, then we can find it in our hearts to be thankful to Gd for all of our gifts.  Many of us are good at the eating.  Some of us are pretty good at thanking Gd.  It is the being satisfied part that is challenging.  We may desire that which we do not have, that which our neighbors or friends or those on TV have.  If we live our lives in that space, we can find ourselves wanting, as in lacking and also wanting, as in wanting more.  As I mentioned earlier, we gain merit for offering thanks, especially when we are not completely satisfied.  The funny thing is that once we offer thanks, we find that we ARE satisfied.  Think about eating dinner.  How often do you go back for seconds?  What happens most of the time if you wait ten minutes--you realize you are full and don’t need those seconds!  If we took that time to thank Gd, we would realize we do not actually need anymore.  We have enough.  If we flip the order around, if we offer thanks second, we can find that missing satisfaction.

The simple lesson from this one verse is the secret to a good life.  Enjoy, be satisfied and offer thanks.  It can be lesson for how we treat one another--enjoy each others presence, recognize and appreciate it within yourself and then share that gratitude with the ones bringing you joy.  It can be a lesson for how we relate to Gd and the universe--for food, for comfort, for the very gift of life.  As we start looking ahead towards the holidays to come, let us recognize all the good and Gd in our lives and offer thanks.  Shabbat Shalom.

What is Torah? Shavuot Yizkor 2014

Rabbi Philip Weintraub

Congregation Agudas Israel

Torah of Law, Narrative or Memory?

What do you think of when I say Torah?

Do you think of the scrolls we read from this morning?

Or lists of do’s and don’ts?

How about love, of lovingkindness?

In our holy Talmud, in Tractate Sukkah 49B, there are two very powerful paragraphs about the nature of Torah.  The first we study many Shabbat mornings on  p. 69 of our Siddur.  From the translation there:

תלמוד בבלי מסכת סוכה דף מט עמוד ב

ואמר רבי אלעזר: כל העושה צדקה ומשפט - כאילו מילא כל העולם כולו חסד, שנאמר +תהלים לג+ אוהב צדקה ומשפט חסד ה' מלאה הארץ.

Rabbi Elazar said: whoever does deeds of charity and justice is considered as having filled the world with lovingkindness, as it is written “God loves charity and justice; the earth is filled with Adonai’s lovingkindness” (Ps. 33:5)

תלמוד בבלי מסכת סוכה דף מט עמוד ב

ואמר רבי אלעזר: מאי דכתיב +משלי לא+ פיה פתחה בחכמה ותורת חסד על לשונה וכי יש תורה של חסד ויש תורה שאינה של חסד? אלא: תורה לשמה - זו היא תורה של חסד, שלא לשמה - זו היא תורה שאינה של חסד. איכא דאמרי: תורה ללמדה - זו היא תורה של חסד, שלא ללמדה - זו היא תורה שאינה של חסד.

Rabbi Elazar quoted this verse: “She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the Torah of lovingkindness is on her tongue” (proverbs 31:26). What is the intent of this verse? Is there one Torah of lovingkindness and another which is not of lovingkindness? Torah studied for its own merit is a Torah of lovingkindness, whereas Torah studied for an ulterior motive is not.  And some say that Torah studied in order to teach is a Torah of lovingkindness, whereas Torah not studied in order to teach is not a Torah of lovingkindness. (Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals, p.69)

Our sages, our sage, Rabbi Elazar, is discussing how great a mitzvah, how great a command it is to be a good person, to treat others with respect, and to make sure that people have their basic needs met.  These needs are not only physical, but spiritual.  As Jews, we are commanded to study Torah, to teach Torah, to live Torah.  When we do mitzvot and when we do acts of lovingkindness (gemilut hasadim), we are bringing Gdliness into the world.  

In my more recent Talmud study, I have been studying Tractate Rosh Hashanah.  Within that study, there has been a discussion about life after death, about what happens to us next.  One of the conversations says that after death, we are in a type of purgatory for a year.  After 12 months, we either make our way to heaven, to the world to come, or become ashes.  From a Jewish perspective, this is one of the reasons we say Kaddish or do mitzvot or study in the name of ones we have lost.  By doing good things in their name, we help to bring them into the world to come.  This brings me to my next text, also from Sukkah 49B

תלמוד בבלי, סוכה מט:

Original Text:

תנו רבנן: בשלשה דברים גדולה גמילות חסדים יותר מן הצדקה, צדקה - בממונו, גמילות חסדים - בין בגופו בין בממונו. צדקה - לעניים, גמילות חסדים - בין לעניים בין לעשירים. צדקה - לחיים, גמילות חסדים - בין לחיים בין למתים.

Here my translation is from on1foot.org

Our Sages taught: Gemilut chasadim (acts of loving kindness) is greater than tzedakah in three ways: Acts of tzedakah involve only one’s money – gemilut chasadim can involve both money or one’s personal service. Tzedakah can be given only to the poor – gemilut chasadim can be done both for the rich and for the poor. Tzedakah can be given only to the living – gemilut chasadim can be done both for the living and the dead.

http://www.on1foot.org/text/babyloniantalmud-sukkah-49b

If you have been to a funeral with me, you may have heard me speak about what a holy opportunity it is to physically help bury someone, that the act of shoveling dirt onto a friend, loved one, or even any person’s grave, is tremendously holy.  I speak about how this is a great mitzvah because it has no expectation of reciprocity.  This is an example of how we can do mitzvot for those who are no longer with us.

To me, our holy Torah, our holy traditions can be boiled down to love.  We are commanded to love our neighbors.  Hillel taught that the essence of Torah is not to do what is hateful to us, to others.  Love is the start of ALL of our commandments.  Whether it is love of others or love of God, every command, even the ones that do not seem so are related to our love of God and God’s love for us.

When we think of our loved ones, we think not only of their love, but the ways that we showed love.  Whether it was making our beds because our spouse liked the bed made or making a special dinner or seeing a show or travelling because our parents or friends or children loved to do those things.  When we do those things without them, we are happy for the memories, but also a little sad that they are not with us.  

The same is true of Torah, of the mitzvot.  For some of us, we live Jewish lives because of our love for God.  Some observant Jews might not really care about the laws of kashrut, but they do them because they love God.  I don’t really care about making my bed, but I know that Rebecca is happier if I do!

The Torah teaches that when we show our love for others, when we help others, when we care for others, we are living the values taught by God.  We are emulating God.  What better way to show respect and love for someone but to follow their examples.

Many children follow their parents in the same way.  They become accountants or doctors to follow in their parents footsteps.  They make the same foods on holidays and special occasions, because Shabbat or Rosh Hashanah is not the same without Bubbe’s matzo ball soup.  By living our lives in the footsteps of the ones we love, in the footsteps of God, we can find great depth, great meaning in our lives.  By passing our traditions to our children, we can extend the memory of those that are no longer with us.

Today we stand together to remember, to say Yizkor, to say words that remind us of the ones that we have lost.  We remember those who have touched our lives, given birth to us or the ones we love.  They have been our partners and friends.  They have been our children and our relatives.  We are bereft without them, yet we know that by following in their footsteps we can make our lives better.  The magic of Yizkor, the magic of Jewish tradition is also the belief that we can better their existence through our actions.  By making good choices, doing good deeds, we may believe that we are not only bringing ourselves closer to God, but also the ones whom we have lost.  Now that is a powerful thought.  In the traditional prayers for Yizkor, there is a line about donating charity in their memory.  Through these donations, through good deeds, we continue to uplift their spirits AND our own.  Please open your Yizkor booklets or turn to the Siddur at this time.