Friday, October 10, 2008

Yom Kippur Sermon 5759

Yom Kippur Sermon 5759

I am sure you have said it a thousand times, Ignorance is Bliss, Ignorance is Bliss. A corollary of this statement is that Ignorance or the lack of knowledge is an excuse. On this Yom Kippur as we Klap Al Chet for our sins, I would like to ask the following question. According to Judaism, Is ignorance an excuse for our sins? Is ignorance really that Blissful?

Allow me to focus the question through presenting two scenarios…
You have been observant for some time. You still violate Shabbat from time to time but not out of disregard or lack of commitment. But because of lack of knowledge. You simply do not know all the rules of Shabbat. Are you responsible? Or Is ignorance an excuse?
You meet someone new, hit it off, and quickly begin a friendship. A couple of months into the friendship you make what you think is an innocent comment but it deeply offends and hurts your new friend. Without knowledge you have just reopened a very deep wound that you knew nothing about. Have you committed a sin? Or Is ignorance an excuse?

At first glance it seems that Judaism strongly supports the notion that Ignorance is Bliss or Ignorance is an excuse. In Halakhic terminology there is a distinction made between a sin committed במזיד – intentionally (with knowledge) versus ones committed בשוגג – unintentionally (without realizing they were sins). Sins committed בשוגג (unintentionally) are not punishable. In practical terms this means that if I go out and commit a capital crime, say murder, I am only legally punishable if two witnesses approach me before the murder and inform me that murder is a capital crime. Without the warning, I can always say, I didn’t know murder was illegal! In other words, Ignorance of Law in Judaism, is a valid defense to any criminal charge. Ignorance is an excuse.

This is in stark contrast to every western legal system which follows the Ancient Roman Legal principle which states Ignorantia juris non excusat which means “ignorance of the law does not excuse.” Ignorance is not an excuse in every western legal system. Yet in Halakha, ignorance is a legal excuse.

Halakha takes this one step further. Not only does halakha consider ignorance to be a legal excuse, it even, on occasion, encourages ignorance.

The example that is found in the Talmud of rabbis encouraging ignorance actually touches on the issue of Tefilah decorum which is a subject of debate here at Beth Sholom. Some of us find a spirited tefilah with clapping and dancing very spiritually uplifting. Others of us believe that clapping and dancing are inappropriate forms of expression during Teffilah; especially during the High Holidays. Putting aside the issue of decorum and spiritual preference, there is actually a halakhic issue at stake. The mishna in Beitzah says: ולא מטפחין... ולא מרקדין – On Shabbat and Yom Tov, we may not clap hands…and we may not dance.

The straightforward halakha seems to be that clapping and dancing are prohibited but that did not stop Jews living in Talmudic times. They still clapped and danced. And whats more? The rabbis didn’t even stop them. So the Talmud asks, why are none of the rabbis rebuking the sinners who clap and dance on Shabbat and Yom Tov.

The Talmud answers and here is the important line:
הנח להם לישראל, מוטב שיהיו שוגגין ואל יהיו מזידין
Leave the Jews (leave them with their anti-halakhic practice)
For it is preferable that they be unintentional violators (out if ignorance) then intentional violators.
In other words, it is better for Jews to remain ignorant and therefore give them a legal excuse, ignorance of the law. This is Amazing! This halakha actually advocates ignorance. Ignorance is not only a legal excuse, it is encouraged. Ignorance is bliss.

Before I leave this example, I do not want anyone leaving this talk saying that Rabbi Antine said that it is prohibited to clap and dance on Shabbat and Yom Tov. After all, I hope that before the end of this evening, I will be moved to clap and maybe even dance! So how can we do it? Well most commentators explain that clapping and dancing are prohibited in the Talmud because the rabbis were worried that if we would clap and dance we would get so into it that we might repair musical instruments to accompany us. But since we are no longer experts at repairing instruments it is now according to most rabbis 100% permitted to clap and dance on Shabbat and Yom Tov.

I would like to throw out one more halakhic example of rabbis encouraging ignorance. This one comes from Algeria, a small port city called Oran, in the 14th century. Jews first arrived in Oran in 1392. They were fleeing persecutions in Spain and the Muslims of Algeria were actually quite welcoming. A young rabbi named Rabbi Amram ben Merrovas Ephrati of Valencia arrives in Oran and he is frustrated with some of the practices of his new community. He writes to his teacher Rabbi Yitzhak bar Sheshet (Ribash) (1326-1408) the following question: In Oran, Rabbi Amram tells his teacher, the Jews have a מנהג רע an awful custom. Each morning of shiva they leave the shiva house and go the cemetery and daven at the grave. Rabbi Amram is convinced that this bad custom came from the Muslims. Rabbi Amram has told them that it is prohibited, he tried to stop them, but they are not listening. So rabbi Amram is writing to his teacher back in Spain, The Rivash and asking what should he do. The Rivash responds as follows:

First of all, what they are doing is not against halakha. While it is true that mourners should not leave their house during the shiva. But since these mourners are leaving to honor the dead, it is permitted. What about the fact that the Muslims do it. This is also not a problem for if we follow that logic that we do not do what the Muslims do, we wouldn’t have eulogies because muslims also have eulogies! That was Point #1.

Second piece of advice that the Rivash teaches the young rabbi is,
וכבר בקשתי ממך כמה פעמים לבל תדקדק לשנות מנהגיהם בדברים כאלה, אם תרצה לעמוד עמהם בשלום
“I have already pleaded with you many times to not try to change their customs … if you want to live with them in peace.” The Rivash is teaching his student that a new rabbi should not come into town and try to change everything!

Finally, says the Rivash to his immature student,
ואפי' בדבר שהוא אסור גמור, כל שאין מקבלין, אמרו ז"ל (שבת קמח:): מוטב יהו שוגגין ואל יהו מזידין.
Even if they were violating an explicit prohibition, Our rabbis have taught us that it is preferable that they sin unintentionally (out of ignorance) than intentionally (out of knowledge) and therefore you better keep quiet if they are not going to listen. Once again, our sources are encouraging ignorance. Ignorance seems to be an excuse.

All of the sources seem to favor ignorance until we turn to the Yom Kippur Liturgy. The third על חטא (confession) reads: על חטא שחטאנו לפניך בבלי דעת. We confess the sins that we have committed against you without knowledge. Out of ignorance. Ignorance is no longer bliss. Ignorance is no longer an excuse. How can this על חטא be reconciled with all of Jewish law which seems to encourage ignorance and deem ignorance an excuse?

In order to answer this question, I would like to turn to one more responsum, this one closer to our time. In 1963, a rabbi named Mordechai Telem asked the great Rabbi Moshe Feinstein the following question that pertains to an experience that we all had 10 days ago. On Rosh Hashana before the shofar is sounded, the Rabbi usually announces that it is prohibited to make an interruption from the time that the berakha on the shofar is made before mussaf all the way until the end of mussaf when the final shofar blast is sounded. This means no talking during the entire musaf. Now apparently, Rabbi Telem’s shul had the same problem that we have. Despite the Rabbis announcement there is still some talking during davening! So Rabbi Telem wanted to know if maybe it would be better not to make the announcement. For if he continues to make the announcement and his community doesn’t listen, they will be considered intentional sinners but if he doesn’t make the announcement they will remain ignorant of the law and they will be considered unintentional sinners.

Rav Moshe’s response was as follows: Rabbi Telem should certainly continue making the announcement before tekiat shofar. Rav Moshe says that the rabbis only encourage ignorance when they know that nobody will listen. If however, there is even a possibility that the people will listen, that people will learn and change, then we must inform people of the law and take them out of their blissful ignorance.

This to me sums up Judaism’s view on ignorance. Ignorance might be a legal excuse but it is not a spiritual excuse. Nobody is expected to know everything. We do not know everything about halakha, we do not know everything about others and we don’t even know everything about ourselves. And when we lack knowledge we make mistakes; in ritual observance in our friendships (we hurt people). The question that everyone must ask him or herself is: Am I someone who is thirsty to learn more and change based on that knowledge? Am I someone who is content with where I am at, or am I always striving for more?

Allow me to conclude with a short story:
A Chasid comes to his rebbe and says Rebbe: I am not doing too well. My business just went bankrupt and I have no money to support my family.
The Rebbe says: “so why don’t you try another business”?
The chasid says you don’t understand, not only did this business fail but every business that I ever tried, failed. I am just not a good businessman.
The rebbe thinks for a moment, looks at his Chasid and says: “You always were a great student of Talmud. You are very knowledgeable. You work very well with people. I have an idea. Why don't you become a rabbi?"
The chasid sheepishly turns to his teacher and says: "Rebbe, you know the truth of the matter is that I always dreamed of becoming a rabbi. But I am scared to be a rabbi. Rabbis must make a Halakhic decisions for people. Rabbis must give people advice about the most important issues in their lives. A rabbi’s judgment might affect the destiny of a person's soul. I can't be a rabbi. I do not know all of Torah. I do not know everything about people and human psychology. I'm afraid I do not have enough knowledge to be a rabbi.
The rebbe looks at his chasid and says to him: Who do you think should be a rabbi. The person who thinks he has enough knowledge to be a rabbi! The day you think you know enough to be a rabbi is the day you are no longer fit to be a rabbi.

Just like the chasid of that story, we are not obligated to be know everything. But we must be prepared to work on ourselves. We must be prepared to accept the possibility that there is more to learn and that that knowledge might change our lives. We can never be satisfied with our lack of knowledge. We must learn more about our tradition about others and about ourselves.

May we all be blessed with a Yom Kippur of Teshuva Gemura, of complete repentence. A yom kippur where we go deep inside ourselves and discover areas where we lack knowledge that will transform us. And finally a Yom Kippur that leads us to the wonderful realization, that knowledge and awareness, in all its forms is blissful!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Rosh Hashana Sermon 5769 - The Shofar of Revelation

“The Shofar of Revelation”

A young man, in his mid twenties, not sure what he wants to do with his life, (the kind of person who we say “is trying to find himself) decides to travel to Israel. He is on a spiritual mission. He wants to find G-d in the Holyland. He arrives in Israel, and after a few months of travel, he enrolls in a Yeshiva and begins his studies. Now, a typical day in a yeshiva consists of an hour and a half of prayer, what I would call direct contact with G-d, and 10 to 12 hours of Talmud study. The young man had come to Israel and the yeshiva to learn about G-d but that year the yeshiva was studying tractate Baba Kama. Baba Kama, for those of you who have not studied that particular tractate, is not the most spiritually exciting tractate. It deals with theft and violence. It spends a considerable amount of folios discussing what happens if my ox gores your cow and the legal differences between an ox that has gored three times and an ox that has gored fewer than three times. Suffice to say that this was not exactly what our young man was looking for.

After a number of months, the young man begins to get depressed; he cannot take it any longer. He approaches the Rebbe, his teacher, and says, “Rebbe, I came to yeshiva to find God and all I am doing is learning about property damages and theft and cows?

The rebbe looks at his student and gives him a 4 word answer:
Nefesh Hachaim chapter 4.

What is Nefesh Hachaim Chapter 4? Nefesh Hachaim is one of the most important books of the 19th century. The book was authored by the great Rabbi Chaim of Voloshin. Fortunately, one of the greatest scholars of our generation, Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, wrote his doctoral dissertation on the life of Rav Chaim of Voloshin and I will rely heavily on Dr. Lamm’s research in this sermon.

Rabbi Chaim’s greatest contribution to Judaism was the following: He invented the modern yeshiva. The yeshiva of Voloshin which he founded became the model for all subsequent yeshivot. It is true that before the Voloshin Yeshiva individual Jewish young men found teachers and become scholars. But the 18th century was really a period of neglect of Torah study. Jews simply could not afford to study.

Rav Chaim’s yeshiva was probably the first to have a professional fundraiser on staff. His name was R. Yosef Krynky. In one letter penned by Rabbi Krynky to prospective donors illustrates the degree of neglect of Torah Study before the establishment of the Voloshin Yeshiva. Rabbi Krynkry writes that “before the Voloshin Yeshiva was established, even in synagogues of large towns, a complete set of the Talmud could not be found, for there was no need for it, since hardly anyone was engaged in the study of Torah.” We must take the letter with a grain of salt because it was after all a fundraising letter, but the fact the someone could say this is astounding. Think about the Beth Sholom community. Before Rosh Hashana I went around and counted that we have almost 10 sets of the Talmud! And I am sure that almost every family sitting here today has a set of Talmud at home. Yet in major cities in Eastern Europe in the 18th century, one complete set of Talmud could not be found!

Rav Chaim comes on the scene during this period of great Torah neglect and created a yeshiva, a Talmudic Academy par excellence with the greatest teachers and the brightest students from across Lithuania. He even procured funding so that the students could study without financial worries.

What did the students of this great yeshiva actually do all day? It is true that the young men came to get close to God. But they did not spend all day praying or saying to tehilim with great piety. They didn’t even spend much time perfecting their mitzvah observance. These young men spent almost every hour of every day and every night studying Talmud; studying laws of damages, tort law, laws of marriage, divorce, laws of 1 person trying to cheat another. Why? Why would Rav Chaim set up a yeshiva at great cost to himself and the Jewish community for 200 young men to study laws of damages for a legal system that to many, was no longer relevant?

This question is the subject of Nefesh Hachaim Chapter 4 and it was the topic of many discussions and debates in the Yeshiva. Reb Chaim taught his students that if you really want to find G-d, you shouldn’t look to prayer. You shouldn’t look to chesed and you shouldn’t even look to scrupulous observance of mitzvoth. If you really want to find God you need to study Torah.
Now it was undisputed that Torah study was of utmost importance. But why was Torah study so important?
And herein lies on the greatest controversies of Jewish History.
During Rav Chaim’s lifetime, a debate was raging that threatened to rip European Jewry apart. The Baal Shem Tov had recently revealed himself and his followers, the Chassidim, were debating the anti-chasidim (mitnagdim) with tremendous acrimony. One focus of the debate revolved around the purpose of Torah study.

In Hassidic thought, most notably in the writings of Elimelech of Lizhensk, the author of Noam Elimelech, The purpose of Torah study is Dvekut, clinging to God. The Chassidim would take the words of torah and meditate on them with tremendous piety and devotion and use the words of Torah to cling to God. For many chassidim, Torah study was not about comprehension and intellectual rigor. The goal is to use learning spiritually to cling to God.

It was this Chassidic, anti-intellectual approach that so angered Rav Chaim of Voloshin and became his motivation to author the 4th chapter of Nefesh Hachaim and offer another theory.

For Rav Chaim, studying Torah is not about spiritually clinging to God, but it is about intellectually comprehending the word of God. While the Chassidim use Torah as a means to get to God. Rav Chaim uses God to get to God’s Torah.
I do not want to get bogged down in this highly nuanced debate about Torah study between the Chassidim and the Mitnagdim. Some of us are more inspired by the spiritual approach of the Chassidim and others are more attracted to the intellectual approach of the Mitnagdim. I would like to make this conversation more concrete by turning to a text that we recite at least twice a day, the shema.

We say that the shema is the most important liturgical paragraph. We close our eyes in deep concentration when we say it. We say it the first thing in the morning and last thing at night. It is the first prayer that we learn as toddlers and it is the last prayer on our lips before we die. It could be called the Jewish People’s mission statement. But I have a difficult question that we need to ask ourselves on this Rosh Hashana morning. How many of us really take the shema seriously? How many of us really live by its mission.

Allow me to read one line from first paragraph of shema and I am going to use it to plug some of the learning opportunities that are coming this year. You can follow along with me on page 276 of the machzor:

ושננתם לבנך - “Teach them thoroughly to your children”
The cornerstone of Chinuch; of raising our children as Jews is teaching them Torah. Note what is not said. It does not say “send your children to day school so that teachers can teach your children.” It says you should teach them. It is true that many of us do not have the time, resources and knowledge to be the primary Jewish Educators for our children. But we have to remember that that ultimate responsibility is on us. ושננתם לבנך.
After sukkot, we are going to have a Sunday morning learning program for Parent – Children learning. We will provide the source material, we will be there to answer questions, but you will teach your children Torah.

ודברת בם - “Speak of them (speak the words of Torah),
Its not enough to teach your children. In order to teach you have to learn as well. You have become knowledgeable in order to impart knowledge. I have had some very frustrating conversations with Jewish adults, none of them of course from this synagogue. Some of these people are the smartest I know; doctors, lawyers and professors. So knowledgeable. But when it comes to Judaism, they are on the 6th or 8th grade level, whatever the last year of formal Jewish education. We need to continue learning. We need to be Jewish adults, spiritually and cognitively. Please take advantage of our new Wednesday Night Live adult ed program. We will have something for everyone; Talmud, Bible, Jewish thought, jewish art. Take learning seriously. Make the commitment to learn this year.

At this point, if I have done a good job, you are probably thinking, “ok I want to study Torah, I want to recommit, but what does Torah Study have to do with Rosh Hashana?

My answer is the following: In the entire 5 books of the Torah, the shofar is only sounded once, at Mount Sinai during the Revelation. The Shofar of Revelation, of Torah study. The final section of the Mussaf amidah which we are about to recite is called Shofarot. All of the Torah verses quoted are taken right from the Revelation, from the Giving the Torah. There are so many voices that we can hear in the shofar but one that we often ignore is the shofar of revelation. The shofar of Torah study. That Shofar calls out to us giving a voice to the Torah. It says, “please study me. I have been neglected. Take me seriously and it will enhance your life.”

I would like to conclude with a story. Reb Hershele Riminover was just 21 years old when he became the Rebbe. He was still a single man. One day, a woman in her 20s comes to see him. She says, “Rebbe, you have to help me. I am an orphan and I have not parents to find a match for me. Please help me find a shidduch.” The rebbe looks at the woman, and he studies her a little better and he says, “Let me ask you a question. Would you marry me?” The woman thinks the rebbe is making fun of her and she breaks down crying. She says, “Rebbe, I am so broken, please don’t make fun of me.” And the Rebbe says, “My question was serious. Are you from such and such town. The woman says, yes. And do you have 10 brothers and sisters. The woman says yes, but how do you know that. The rebbe says “and was your father’s name R’ Moshe? She says yes. So the rebbe asks her, do you remember a boy named Hershele. She says, “of course I remember. Hershele was the tailors son and my brothers were very wild and they would always rip their shabbos pants and we would send them to Hershele’s father. On Erev shabbos, Hershele was often come to deliver the pants. The rebbe said, I am Hershele and every time that I would go to your house I saw something so beautiful. Your mother, your father and the your 10 brothers and sisters would sit at the shabbos table and study of the parshah of the week together. I would leave your house and I would start crying because my father was a poor illiterate tailor who did not know how to learn and I so envied your family. And I would cry to God, “Please let me have a family like that. Bless me so that I can marry one of those girls.” And the rebbe looks at the orphan and he says to her, “And now, you have come. It is as if we are soulmates. Please marry me.” Of course the couple got married, they raised a beautiful family, and every shabhos they would sit as a family at the table and study Torah together.

This year, as we hear the shofar, let us recommit to Torah study. Rosh Hashana, which is also a day of memory (יום הזכרון) forces us to ask what kind of memories to do want our children to have of us. Lets create memories of family Torah study. Of parents who were always making time to go to classes and to study. Of parents who learned with each other. And most important, lets create memories of parents who made time to study with their children and grandchildren. Our success as jews depends upon it.

May we all be blessed with a year of learning, a year of health and year when we can see all of those important things in life become a reality. Shana Tova

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

"How to Become G-d" Sermon August 9, 2008

This morning marks the beginning of the 5th and final book of the Torah, ספר דברים – The book of Devarim. The Book of Devarim is often translated as the book of speeches. After all, the entire book consists of a series of very long sermons that Moshe gave to the Jewish people right before they entered the Land of Israel.

Now there is something ironic and a bit surprising about the fact that Moshe is all of the sudden giving these long sermons. Those of you who have been following the story of Moshe and know anything about his natural abilities might know what I am referring to.

Way back at the Burning Bush when Moshe originally was interviewing for the job, he said לא איש דברים אנכי which means, “I am not a man of words” and we know that this was Moshe’s major impediment. But yet now at the end of his life he is giving one long sermon after another!

The Midrash Tanchuma lays out this question in a somewhat humorous way and puts the question in the mouths of the Jews who had to listen to these speeches.

במדרש תנחומא אלה הדברים וגו'
אמרו ישראל למשה אתמול אמרת לא איש דברים אנכי ועכשיו אתה מדבר כ"כ

This is a loose translation of the midrash: The Jews say to Moshe, when you interviewed to be our rabbi, you promised you would never speak and that is why we hired you. But now all of the sudden you are giving sermon after sermon and each one is way too long!

I would like to answer this contradiction (whether Moshe is a man of no words or a man of very many words) with a very powerful thought of the Chasidic Master, Reb Nochum of Chernobyl. Since Reb Nochum is probably someone who many of you have never heard of and are not familiar with his thought, I would like to introduce his idea by first giving over some of his biography and his story which I believe will give added insight into his idea.

I am sure that many of you heard of the Twersky family. The Twersky Chasidic dynasty began in the Ukraine with Reb Nochum of Chernobyl. Reb Nochum (1730 – 1787) studied under the Baal Shem Tov (the founder of chassidut) And then under the Maggid of Mezeritch. He was one of the first to propagate Ḥasidism;

Now there are actually two kinds of rebbes or Chassidic leaders. One kind of leader is the classic rebbe. The Rebbe has a court and is based in one town. He has a small tight nit group of followers and then a larger group of Chassidim who live in other towns and come to visit him on the holidays. But the other kind of Rebbe is called a Maggid, or a preacher. A maggid would travel from city to city and town to town and try to offer words of inspiration and chassidut to the masses. Reb Nochum was a Maggid. Being a maggid isn’t an easy job. You are away from home, it is very tiring; but it is a labor of love because it is the only way of bringing Judaism and Chassidut to the people. And Reb Nochum was really one of the first Maggidim in Hassidut.


Now back to Moshe. Was he a man of words or not? In order to answer the question, Reb Nochum first has to explain some key kabbilistic ideas. Reb Nochum tells us that there are essentially two kinds of people in terms of their spiritual orientation. There are some people who are what is called מוחין דקטנים which comes from the Hebrew phrase מוח קטן which I will call small brained. And then there are people who he says have מוחין דגדולין which means big brained people. What is the difference between these two groups? It comes down to whether or not you have what is called דעת or knowledge. The small brained people don’t have it and the big brained people have it.

So then the next question is, what is this דעת that separates the big brains from the small brains. Well Reb Nochum defines people who have דעת, and this is very important, as those who understand that it is possible that when they speak, God is speaking through them.

How does God speak through people? Well according to Hassidic and Kabbilistic teaching, the shchinah is trapped in all of us. We are all God at our core. But we have layers of Ego and impurity that traps the shechinah inside of us. But as soon as we can pull away all of those layers, The shechinah starts talking through our mouth (השכינה מדברת מתוך גרונו).

This is what divides the small brain people from the big brain people. The small brain people worship God out of יראה or fear. They pray to God to avert punishment and they ask God to take care of their needs; health, parnasah, all important things but from Reb Nochum’s perspective, not ideal.
The Big Brain People on the other hand worship God so that they can strip away those layers and so they can experience the ecstasy of being egoless, having God speak through you and in a certain sense becoming G-d.

This is how we can understand how Moshe went from someone who couldn’t put together a sentence to being someone who delivered the most important speeches in history. He started off as being one who couldn’t speak and at the end of his life he was still someone who couldn’t speak. So who was speaking those important speeches on the Plains of Moav just before he died? Over Moshe’s 40 year career his brain got bigger and bigger. He now truly divested himself of his ego and everytime he opened his mouth, he mouth was moving but it was God who was talking. To some extent Moshe became God.

Now I would like to get back to Reb Nochum’s personal story. He was a Maggid. I mentioned being a maggid is difficult. You have to leave home and never really settle down. But now I think I understand Reb Nochum and what motivated him. He truly believed that wherever he was teaching, he was allowing God to speak through him. He must have craved the spiritual pleasure of transcending himself and becoming God.

On this Shabbat of דברים of speeches, I ask us all to remember that the shechinah resides in all of us. And even if we cannot perfect ourselves like Moshe or even like Reb Nochum, we can at our own level transcend our egos, go beyond ourselves and allow God to speak through us. And yes, if we do that, we can in some way become G-d!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

A Living Covenant - Class 3 - "Oven of Akhnai"


To Listen to class click here

To download source sheet click here

This class will focus on amazing story from the Talmud, "The Oven of Achnai." In addition to learning Hartman's take on the story, we will introduce an exciting methodology of the study of Rabbinic Narrative.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

"A Living Covenant" - Introduction

To Listen to the class click here

To see the source sheet click here

This class will focus on David Hartman's book, A Living Covenant. The book's premise (taken from the bookcover) is that Jewish life "need not be passive, insulated, or self effacing, but can be lived with... passion, tolerance and spontaneity." "The Living Covenant explores the thought of Maimonides, Rav Soloveitchik and Yeshayahu Leibowitz so we will also spend time on these three thinkers.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Yizkor Sermon: 8'th day of Pesach 5768

Why do we light a Yizkor Candle?
Yizkor Derasha, Pesach 5758

It has only been about two weeks since we were shocked to find out about the tragic deaths of Rabbi Jake and Debbie Rubinstein of Scarsdale New York. One particularly horrific aspect of this tragedy is the cause of death. They died through fire. There was no illness, no period of waiting to allow them to in some sense come to terms with their deaths. There was just a sudden, unexpected, overwhelming, overpowering and utterly destructive fire.

What strikes me on this Yizkor morning two weeks later, the first Yizkor after their deaths as their family and community are just going through the initial stages of grieving is the way in which we will memorialize them and all of our departed loved ones. Besides reciting Yizkor, we do one act. Most of us did it last night as Yom Tov came in. We light a candle, a little fire. Most of us have candles lit at home and if look in the back of the sanctuary you will see hundreds of little electric candles that were lit by our lamplighters in memory of Beth Sholom members who are no longer with us. And my question this morning is very simple; Why? Why do we take the fire, which can be and was so destructive just two weeks ago and has killed so many jews throughout the ages; Why do we take the destructive force and use it to memorialize our loved ones?

In order to answer this question, I think we need to take a step back and understand the significance of fire in the Torah.In the Torah, Fire is present at almost every important communication between God and the Jewish People. At the brit bein habetarim, God is represented by a לפיד אש – a flaming torch which blazed through animals that Avraham had cut in two. And how does God first appear to Moshe? At a bush set on fire. At the revelation at Sinai, the mountain is said to be full of smoke because God descended upon it in Fire. Finally, God leads Israel through the desert for 40 years with an עמוד אש a pillar of fire.

So if it is true that Fire is present at almost every important moment in Jewish History, then why is it missing during the most holy day of the week. We all know that there are 39 categories of prohibited work on shabbat. But the only prohibition that is explicitly mentioned in the Torah is לא תבערו אש בכל משבתיכם ביום השבת – Do not light a fire in all of your dwelling places on shabbat. Shabbat is sandwiched between fire. We light a fire right before shabbat with the Shabbat candles and we light a fire right after shabbat (Havdalah).But on shabbat itself there is no fire. If fire is so holy and Shabbat is the holiest time, then the absence of fire on Shabbat is glaring.

Perhaps we can offer the following thought which will help explain the nature of fire and Shabbat. Everyone knows that without Fire, there is no civilization. Fire is necessary for light, for cooking, for fuel, for building. Fire is therefore understood as the symbol of creativity and ingenuity. This is the reason that at almost every important moment in the Jewish people’s historical relationship with God, fire is present. When God appears to Abraham, he is asking Abraham to be the builder of a new nation. It is about holy building, fire is therefore present. At Har Sinai, the Jewish People are given the Torah. The Torah is meant to be used as a blueprint for the jewish people to create a state and build a home in the land of Israel. It is all about holy creating, fire is therefore present. But then it comes to shabbat and the point of shabbat is to stop creating. To turn inward, to catch our spiritual breath and gain an inner balance. Fire is therefore absent on shabbat.

There is a very important idea in Judaism which I think is applicable to our understanding of fire. Judaism teaches us that anything that has tremendous power for good (כח לטוב), also has potential to be very bad, very destructive (כח לרע). That is why the same fire which creates, which provides food, which builds, also has the power to destroy. The same power which brings so much joy also brings pain and suffering. Fire is either really good or really bad. It is never pareve, never neutral.

To some extent, the same can be said of relationships with parents and close relatives. I never heard of someone who had a pareve relationship with their parents. I never heard someone say, “My parents, they are alright. It is ok to spend time with them, nothing special, but it is alright. At times, you are so drawn to your parents like a candle which provides light and warmth. But at other times, the relationship might be difficult and then it is like a fire which is overwhelming and overpowering; you need to be away.

Perhaps that is why we light a yizkor candle. The fire is contained but it has a bright glow. The candle represents the neshama of a person because fire represents the life force, the creativity. And now during yizkor we remember the loved one during those times when their light was a guide providing warmth and comfort.

I would like to conclude with a fascinating halakhic dispute concerning the lighting of the Yizkor candle and it has to do with when and how you light the candle. When did you light the yizkor candle? Most of us probably lit the candle last night right after we lit the Yom Tov candles. The problem is that there is actually a halakhic problem with lighting the yizkor candle. This is because even though it is permitted to kindle a light on Yom Tov (from an existing flame), it is only permitted if we need the fire for cooking, for warmth or for light. But if just light it for the sake of lighting a candle, it is called a נר של בטלה a light that serves no purpose and it is forbidden to light this kind of candle on Yom Tov, even from an existing flame. Therefore the question about whether one may light a yizkor candle on Yom Tov was raised in the beginning of the 19th century and it was actually the subject of a debate.

Rabbi Meir Eisenshtat was asked whether or not a yizkor candle may be lit and he said that it is forbidden. Ironically, the name of the book that records this prohibition of kindling the Yizkor candle on Yom Tov is called אמרי אש which means The Sayings of Fire. So the Imrei Eish would have told all of us last night that we should not light our yizkor candles.

But then a few years later in the middle of the 19th century, Rabbi Abraham Sofer, the son of the famous Chatam Sofer was asked the same question. And I think that he understood the spiritual and emotional need of children to light the Yizkor candle for their parents. But he also knew the law. And the law said that if a candle was not going to be used to enhance the simcha of Yom Tov that it could not be kindled on Yom Tov even if it was for a memorial. He therefore he came up with the following compromise. He said that the Yizkor candle could be kindled on Yom Tov. But that it needs to be placed on the table where people would eat or read and thereby use the candle to enhance the simcha of Yom Tov. I think that some of us might be taken aback by Rabbi Abraham Sofer’s suggestion. We should use the Yizkor candle? Doesn’t it represent the soul of our departed loved ones? Isn’t it holy?

But I think the suggestion is beautiful. It teaches us that we need to take the light which represents the soul, the life and creative force of our parents and grandparents and use it to provide light in our own lives.

In this vein, I would like to offer a possible ritual that we can adopt which will not only make our lighting of the Yizkor candle conform with halakha, it will also provide a powerful ritual in the spirit of Yizkor. This afternoon, take a few minutes and open up a Jewish text or a book that your parents or grandparents thought was very important. Maybe a parsha from chumash, the shema or a favorite Psalm or Prayer, maybe a mishna from Avot or even something from secular literature. Sit down next to the yizkor light and use the flame that represents their neshama and learn the text. And as your learning, imagine that they are there with you and learning with you BeChavruta – in partnership. What kinds of questions would they ask about the text? What kinds of insights would they derive from the text and take this as an opportunity to allow their light to still shine in the world and to help guide you in your life today.

My berakha to us all on this Yizkor morning is that the lessons that we have learned and continue to learn from our parents and grandparents be passed down to our children, grandchildren and all of the Jewish people for many generations to come. And if that happens, the light of their souls will always burn. Chag Sameach.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Seder Seminar class #2 - "Mah Nishtanah: The Four Questions"

The "Mah Nishtana" is always an enjoyable part of the seder because it is often recited by our young children. In this class we will examine the "ma nishtana" and come to realize that many of us are really missing the point in forcing our children to memorize "the four questions."

To listen to the class, click here

To download the source sheet, click here

Monday, March 24, 2008

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Is the Law immutable? (Purim Sermon 5758)

For the first 20 or 30 years of the Reform Movement, in the early 19th century, most of the movement’s reforms were relatively minor, from a halakhic perspective. They included; a sermon in the vernacular, a mixed male and female choir accompanied by an organ, and a combination of Hebrew and German prayers. From the point of view of Jewish law, these reforms were relatively small in scale.
Yet one rabbi, Rabbi Moshe Sofer (commonly knows as the Chatam Sofer) fought these reforms with all of his energy. His most famous anti-reform slogan was “Chadash Assur Min Hatorah” – which means anything new, any innovation whatsoever (even one that was a minor halakhic change) is 100% forbidden. To put it another way, for the Chatam Sofer, Change = Transgression and Jewish Law never changed and never should change.

The Chatam Sofer had his reasons for using this slogan and employing this strategy in combating reform. But it is interesting to ask whether or not the slogan is true from an historical perspective. Is it the case that from the moment that the Jews received the Torah at Mount Sinai, Jewish Law has never changed?

Since today is Shushan Purim, I would like to analyze this question in light of Megilat Esther.

There is a tiny word, just 2 letters that is the most common and most important word in Megillat Esther. The word is Dat (דת). It is a word that is used in Israel today to distinguish between the religious and the secular. The word for one who is secular is חלוני and the word for one who is religious is דתי. But דתי and דת means more than just religious. It means a religious law. Under the Chupah, the chatan says to the kallah, הרי את מקודשת לי בטבעת זו – With this ring, you are betrothed to me, כדת משה וישראל according to the religious Law of Moshe and Israel.

The megilah depicts an Ancient Persia that is obsessed with דת ודין. – with laws
There is a law for everything: There is a law telling you what happens to Vashti when she refuses to show up upon the king’s request. There is a law concerning how much makeup and perfume a woman must wear before she appears before the king. There is even a law telling you how much alcohol you must drink at the King’s party.

But ancient Persia is not unique because it had many laws. It is unique because these laws were immutable. In the language of the Megilah, these laws were לא יעבר – they could not change.

Much of the Megillah is satire. It is satire in the sense that it makes fun of many of the practices of Ahasuerus’ royal court; the drinking, the corruption, the rash way that decisions are made.

I would argue that the aspect of Ahasuerus’ court that is most ridiculed by the Megilah is the idea that laws cannot be revoked, they are immutable.

This theme runs through the Megilah. In the beginning of the story, Ahasuerus gets upset at his wife Vashti and he makes a decree that she shall never again appear before him. Of course after he calms down and sobers up he realizes that he loves and misses her and he wants her back. This shouldn’t be a problem. He should have been able to simply change his mind and forgive her. The problem was that his decree was לא יעבר. It could not be revoked; it was immutable. He therefore tragically loses his wife forever.

The story continues. Haman convinces Ahasuerus to allow him to issue a genocidal decree against the Jews. On the 13 of the month of Adar, the non-jews were to get up and kill all of the Jews; men, women and children.

We all know what happens. Esther invited Ahasuerus and Haman to a party and “outs” Haman as the one who is trying to kill her people. Ahasuerus orders that Haman be killed and then Esther asks Ahasuerus to revoke the decree of Genocide against her people. And here Ahasuerus does something very strange. Instead of revoking the original decree of genocide, he issues a second decree which allows the Jews to get up and defend themselves. And why doesn’t Ahasuerus just revoke the first decree? Because he cannot כי כתב אשר נכתב בשם המלך...אין להשיב – a decree issued by the King cannot be revoked. The law is immutable. And therefore a second decree permitting the Jews to defend themselves must be issued. And what is the result of this silly provision which doesn’t allow the king to revoke his own decree after he changes his mind? In the process of defending themselves, the Jews had to kill 75,000 people. 75,000 people are killed because a law cannot be changed. This is satire but I have to say, it isn’t funny. When laws are immutable, tragedy occurs.

So if Megillat Esther makes fun of Ahasuerus and Ancient Persia for having immutable laws, why is the common perception that Halakha, or the Jewish Legal system is immutable?

So here is the controversial statement that is the crux of my talk: It is a mistake to say that Halakah has never changed. The History of Halakha is a history of innovation and change. It is true that there is a body of law that is immutable. That goes back to Mount Sinai. These laws are known as Halakha L”Moshe M’Sina. Laws of Moshe which go back To Sinai. But the Rambam, in his introduction to his Legal Work, the Mishna Torah teaches us that besides for those laws which goes back to Sinai there is an even larger body of laws that “were not received from Moses but rather were innovated in every generation using the 13 principles of Biblical Exegesis.

For the Rambam, it is very important for us to believe that a core group of laws go all the way back to Sinai. This gives us stability, authenticity and it anchors us in a direct line going all the way back to Moses and the giving of the Torah. But that is not sufficient. Because if the law remains immutable then it is not a Torat Chayim, a Living Breathing Torah which is relevant to people in every generation regardless of changes that are taking place in the world. Therefore, again using the term of the Rambam, the rabbis of each generation are מחדש – they innovate laws for their time.

How does the law change? When can it change? Who can make it change? These are all important questions and I hope to teach on this topic in the future. But for this morning, I think that the following statement is sufficient. One of our obligations on Purim is to recognize the major difference between Ancient Persian culture and Judaism. Both cultures are centered on law. But for the Persians, Law is immutable and for the Jews, the Law is a Torat Chayim; an expanding, adapting, living, breathing organism.

I would like to conclude with a rather famous passage from the Talmud which I now understand in a new light. The Talmud teaches us that when the Jewish people originally received the Torah, G-d picked up Mount Sinai like an inverted barrel and said to us, “if you accept the Torah fine but if not your burial will be there.” In other words, the Torah was coerced upon us. It was an immutable Law forced upon us that will never change. And there is this tremendous moment of tension in the Talmud. For if the Torah was forced upon us then we never willingly accepted it and the deal is off.

But then Rava, the great Talmudic Sage saves the day. He quotes a verse from Megilat Esther that says קימו וקבלו. The Jews reaccept the Torah at the time of Ahasuerus and this time they do it willingly, out of love. Because the Torah the Jews accept on Purim is contrasted with the Law of Persia. It is a living Torah; One that adapts, lives and breathes and is accepted by all of Israel willingly as a guide for life.
I hope that on this Purim we can all reaccept the Torah as a Torat Chayim; a torah which is meaningful and relevant to every aspect of our lives.
Shabbat Shalom and Shushan Purim Sameach!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Maimonides Class - Essay on Resurrection

To Listen to the Lecture Click Here

To download the source sheet Click Here


The Essay on Resurrection is the Rambam's response to accusations that had been made against him that he did not believe in Resurrection of the Dead. It deals with the nature of the Resurrection, the world to come, reward and punishment and miracles. It is a fascinating letter because, at points, the rambam shows his personal frustration and pain over being accused of heresy.