Parashat Noach

Parashat Noach
Cheshvan 1, 5772 ~ October 29, 2011
by Joel Ackerman

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury:

What I am about to tell you will run contrary to some thoughts of some of our most respected rabbis, those whom we often call our sages; those to whom we look for wisdom and advice. And, like you, I have the greatest respect for them. Nevertheless, it is necessary for me to take these contrary positions. I really have no other choice. For, you see, my client, Noah the son of Lemech, has been unjustly maligned by our sages – and not once, but several times.

We attorneys are typically taught that we should never repeat the charges against a client. To do so tends to highlight the charges in the minds of jurors. But here it is necessary to do so that I might give them a decent burial. So let me quickly lay the two main ones out for you.

1. The Torah states “Noah was a righteous man, perfect (or whole-hearted) in his generations; Noah walked with God”. This seems to be high praise. Yet there are those who take it to be faint praise. Yes, Noah was a righteous man in his generation, they say, but his generation was completely sinful. Had he lived in a different generation, that of Abraham, for example, he would not have been considered so righteous. And Rashi states: “Noah walked with God. And about Abraham the torah says ‘Walk before me.’ Noah needed support but Abraham would strengthen himself and walk in his own righteousness.” Nehama Leibowitz sums up these opinions and agrees with the conclusion of Rabbi Mordekhai Yaffe that Noah’s righteousness was “mediocre”.

2. Almost immediately on leaving the ark, Noah planted a grapevine and got drunk.

Ladies and gentlemen, our rabbis seek to compare Noah with Abraham in many ways, but I must point out that not only is this improper in general, but that the proper comparisons have not been made.

On the first point, please remember the testimony of that highly esteemed rabbi, Ramban:

“Rabbi, is it proper for the commentators to consider whether Noah would have been as righteous had he lived in Abraham’s generation?”

“No, not really. The plain meaning of the verse is simply that – that he was righteous in his corrupt generation. That is all! He was righteous! That is why the Torah states that he found favor in the eyes of G-d. This verse does not call for speculation as to how righteous he might have been in other generations or in comparison to anyone.”

Not only that; a comparison of the two men shows quite clearly that:

A. They lived at different times. Noah lived in a generation that otherwise was wholly sinful; in Abraham’s time some were more sinful, some not very sinful.

B. Noah is criticized in the Midrash for not arguing with G-d, as Abraham did about Sodom, not seeking to save others - only to save himself and his family. But could Abraham have saved that generation? Not likely. In his years in Haran, in a normal, not especially sinful society, Abraham saved a few people but most remained unchanged in their behavior. He probably could not have done even as well had he lived in Noah’s time. And besides, the Torah gives no basis for concluding that Noah did not argue with G-d. It is quite possible that in the supposed 120 years he spent building the Ark he did argue.

C. G-d gave them different tasks and different instructions. Noah’s task was to survive, to serve as an example. He was not a charismatic figure, as was Abraham; he probably lacked the ability to spread the word of G-d as well as Abraham. On the other hand, Abraham probably could not have built the Ark – he was too impatient to spend the length of time needed for that.

G-d told Abraham “Lech lecha” – leave! Leave your land, your relatives, the people and places that are familiar to you, and go to a land that I will show you. He took Abraham away from the bad influences of his society.

G-d told Noah “Stay put”. Stay in the midst of this sinful society and try to convince them that I plan to destroy the world if they do not change their ways. I am not taking you out of there. You are to spend 120 years slowly building that Ark, absorbing all the scorn, the ridicule, the evil that you will receive from this society, in order to try to accomplish what I ask of you.

No, Noah was no Abraham, but Abraham also was no Noah. He could not have done what Noah was asked to do.

And about the getting drunk. The authors of Midrash like especially to beat up on Noah about this. They concoct ways that the grapevine could have been planted, grown, ripened, and made into wine in just one day – that Noah would have gotten drunk almost immediately after leaving the Ark.

No, ladies and gentlemen, I don’t buy that, and neither should you. You live very close to the top winemaking areas of our country; you all know better. It took the normal time for all this to happen – perhaps five or six months for the grapevine to grow and the grapes to ripen, and at least a few weeks to make even the simplest wine from those grapes.

Here was Noah. He had to face the extreme sorrow that everyone else in the world had been killed – all of his siblings, their children and grandchildren, all of his relatives, neighbors, friends – and everyone else, whether he knew them or not. And he had been unable to convince any of them to change their ways.

On top of that, he had just spent the greater part of a year locked up in a boat full of animals. It was a bedlam; animals screaming, animals that had to be cared for, had to be fed every day, and their wastes had to be cleaned up. And only eight people to do all that, day in and day out.

Who wouldn’t want to get drunk after all that!

But Noah had to wait at least six months before he could get drunk. And on top of that, planting a grapevine was not the first thing he did – the first thing was to offer a sacrifice to G-d. So, he had his priorities straight.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure that you agree that Noah has been unjustly maligned. He was a person for whom the world should be re-established – a fine example of humanity, a righteous man in a corrupt generation, who did not go along with the crowd, who did not succumb to peer pressure. A man with all of the good basic character that a person should have – and yes, perhaps a few shortcomings, just like all of us. But they could be overcome. He was, after all, very human.

I rest my case.

Parashat Bereshit

Parashat Bereshit

Tishrei 24, 5772 ~ October 24, 2011
by Neska

The following teaching on Bereshit is gratefully dedicated to Hashem for the Joy of Anya Leah Newman's 9th birthday.

Out Of Order. We read this sign and go oh! That's not working. But why it is not working is the more important fact. Something in the mechanism is out of its' working order. Steps one, two, three, five, six, and seven are all intact, but step four is missing; therefore the mechanism is not working because its' parts are out of their order.

We begin Bereshit … I am hoping this time that the Snake does not come near Chava. I am hoping that even if the Snake comes close to Chava she will not listen. I am hoping that if Chava goes ahead and eats the Fruit she will instantly regret it and not approach Adam. I am hoping the Kayin decides to bring the best of his fruit. I am hoping that Kayin does not accidentally strike out at his brother. But no. All is happening as it happens since Hashem Created. All appears to be in the order that we are familiar with.

However, there is something Out Of Order. Adam and Chava are permitted to eat of any of the fruit of the trees in the Garden – in fact, eating the fruit provides spiritual enlightment. There is, however, one tree that is “poisonous – spiritually damaging”, if eaten out of order – The Tree of Knowledge. Had they eaten of the Tree of Life first, they would have had the spiritual growth necessary to digest the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. (Chasam Sofer Commentary on Bereshit). We humans rush things....we want things NOW! We go out of order. And, in fact, in the Chasam Sofer's commentary, many of the quotations said by Hashem are spoken out of order by Adam to Chava, by the Snake to Chava, by Chava to Adam.

There is an Order in Our Existence placed for us by The Creator. It seems we have for a long time tried to take too many short cuts.

DRASHA 2

Since the month of Elul I have been seeking to find my relationship with Hashem. This has been a difficult, joyous, frustrating, tear invoking journey because I ultimately wind up feeling that I don't even know how to scratch the surface of beginning this relationship. Or that no matter what I do, I am only on the surface of this relationship. And, no matter how hard I try, I cannot believe that it matters not to Hashem what I do. I cannot believe that Hashem does not Sense each and every thing on this earth – animate and inanimate. If I am to have a relationship there has to be an Entity On The Other “End” that is responding.

AND THEN I READ CHAPTER 6 LINE 6: “…AND HASHEM HAD HEARTFELT SADNESS...” and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. I have never seen that line before or if I did, I certainly just glanced over it. But here was, for me, my answer.

I read the notes in Artscroll on this wording, along with several other comments and then I began re-reading Chassidic Masters by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, zt'L. Had I not had a cough I would have been jumping for joy.

Rabbi Kaplan has just given us the life history of the Baal Shem Tov and now we are in the part of his Ethical Will (page 26). “When I worship, my intent is not to fulfill my own needs, but to give pleasure to Him...” (page 27) “Do not pray for your needs … but when you want to pray, do so for the heaviness of the Head. For whatever you lack, the Divine Presence also lacks. This is because man is a “portion of G-d from on high”. Whatever any part lacks also exists in the Whole and the Whole feels the lack of the part. You should therefore pray for the needs of the Whole.” And this is part of Rabbi Kaplan's history of the Baal Shem, page 17.
“Man is a spark of the Divine, and any lack in man is also a lack in the Divine. One should therefore not pray merely for his own needs, but for those of the Divine Presence. If one truly believes in G-d, then there is nothing else”. Omein.

DRASHA 3

This teaching is from Rabbi Wilfred Shuchat's book The Creation According to the Midrash Rabbah

I wish to quote from the last page of his book.

Page 462: Concluding Seed Thought

The story of creation should not end with a period but with an exclamation point.

That is actually what has happened. The final words of the creation story are “which G-d has created [for man] to do.” It need not have ended that way. It could have ended “which G-d has created.” But by adding the phrase la'asot, “[in order] to”, the entire emphasis has now changed. We are now told that G-d created an incomplete world.

The key word here is la'asot. It does not say that man should complete the work, for who are we to claim that we are able to complete G-d's work. Nor does it say that man should perfect G-d's work. It says only that G-d created this world for man “to do”. But what does that mean?

In the first place, to do means to do exactly what G-d has been doing, namely, to create. But G-d is able to create ex nihilo. From nothing, while we can only create from something. It so happens that modern man has exceled in this kind of creating. The breakthroughs in science, the information revolution, the internet....this kind of creativity is only possible by gifted individuals, but all of us benefit and have a great opportunity to do many things that otherwise would have been impossible for us, had these developments not taken place.

But “to do” means much more than that. It means to make the most of our lives. G-d created this world so that man should make the most of his life…

Someone once said that a human being needs three things: something to do, someone to love, and something to hope for. All of these elements are referred to in the last line of the creation story.

La'asot, to do, is the challenge to make the most of our lives. The seventh day, Sabbath, is the festival of love....as for something to hope for, the verse says “and G-d rested from His work.” What is His work? It is to create hope for the world, to give it purpose and significance.

The prayerbook says about G-d, that in His goodness, G-d “reviews every day the work of creation.” The creation story never ends. It is ongoing, continuous for man “to do” until the end of time.

Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot

Chol HaMoed Sukkot
Tishrei 17, 5772 ~ October 15, 2011
by Shoshannah Chana Somerville

Among my dearest memories is the one that relates to a very small Succah, that was probably not intended for “dwelling,” as only about 5-8 people could just stand inside of it. It was one that was in the courtyard of Temple Emanu-El in SF. One Sunday each year, I would see it, go into the building so that everyone would think that I was going to my Sunday school class, but then, I would dodge out another door and make a beeline for the succah. For a few years, there were pomegranates and some other fruit that hung from the schach; but then in other years, there were only palm branches or those from a Eucalyptus tree. It did not matter because being inside of that structure was so wondrous to me – like a secret palace. I absolutely loved it!

From Psalm 125, line 2:

As the mountains surround Yerushalayim, so HaShem encircles and embraces His people. (My translation.)

The Succah, which has been likened to a Mikvah, has this same all-encompassing feeling for me. (Well, you do not have to emerge as rapidly from a Succah as from a Mikvah, since you can dwell for 8 days instead of for a few minutes.) We dwell in the Succah and there is an awesome sense of well-being, partly because we are dwelling within the Mitzvah, something that is tremendously powerful. It may also be because there is such a magnitude of difference between Rosh HaShannah/Yom HaKippur and Succot.

According to the Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson in Likutei Sichot, G-d's presence – or rather, His “Divine Service” - is hidden during the first two holidays when we pray with intensity for Rachmones. But during the holiday of Succot, G-d's presence is revealed; and His Rachmones is with us. Without getting into the depth and mystical meaning of this statement, it is more easily said that the Shechinah makes Her presence felt through the schach of each and every succah. As we sit there, we are amazed by this aspect of existence.

There is a sense of well-being and a joy in the kindness and love that we experience. We are at one!

With Shechinah present in the succah, we cannot just sit and merely observe this awesome presence. We are also commanded to reach out and attach ourselves to HaShem in another way; and so we shake the lulav to make Him happy with us. How does this work?

Consider that the 4 species represent the unity of the Jewish people. The lulav (palm branch)

is the tallest and its sweet fruit indicates Jews whose level of Torah study is so high, but they do not perform good deeds. The fragrant hadass (myrtle branch) represents Jewish people who possesses a high level of Mitzvot and good deeds, but who do not delve into Torah. The arava (willow) symbolizes Jews who do not engage in either Torah or Mitzvot. The fragrant and tasty etrog stands for those of us who delve into Torah and Mitzvot at the highest level. The three branches are bound to each other and shaken, and the etrog is held and moved. Together, their being shaken in 4 directions and up and down, shows the bond between His people. This oneness makes G-d happy.

The Book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), which is usually read on Shabbat Chol HaMoed Succot, is an exploration into every direction of physical existence plus a probe into the heart and practices of being a Jewish person. All is found to be flimsily in vain except “fear[ing] G-d and keep[ing] His commandments...”

The appropriateness of reading Kohelet is easily related to Succot. One way is by thinking of the flimsiness and fragility of the succah structure. Yet, as we are enveloped in the awesome Mitzvah of dwelling in the succah, the everlasting existence of HaShem is so close and evident that the strength of our trust in Him is sturdy; and we are well on our way into a year of total sweetness.

As an aside, I want to tell you about being at BJC during the 1989 earthquake. When the quake happened, my 4^th and 5^th grade class dove under the 4 tables that were together. I thought I was Mother Goose with her wings extended to protect my huddled and frightened students; and their fear increased with the crashing of the dining room ceiling above us. Later, we learned of the collapse of the freeway connection from the bridge to Highway 880 and we saw many power lines that were down. However, upon inspection of the succah, which was in the children's playground, we were astonished to see that it had withstood any damage. It was not a “temporary” structure, after all.

Moadim L'Simcha to everyone in this terrific community.

Parashat Ki Tavo

Parashat Ki Tavo
Elul 18, 5771 ~ September 17, 2011
by Dan Cohen

A departure from Joy – making some sense of “The Rebuke”

Learning Torah and preparing these mini-drashes over the past few years has become a joy. Writing about it only adds to the true connectedness I feel to our Torah scholars and the long line of wisdom that I get to access while doing research.

Rarely, if ever, have I accentuated the negative in these writings because I am usually excited about what the parsha is revealing.

However, this week there is a giant list of curses smack dab in the midst of the sixth aliyah. They number ninety-eight and are often called the “Rebuke.”
Even while reading the torah out loud during this section, the reader is asked to lower his voice – that is how excruciating and vivid the descriptions are.

It begins at Chapter 28, Verse 15 saying, “And it will be, if you do not obey the Lord, your God, to observe to fulfill all His commandments and statutes which I am commanding you this day, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.”

It concludes fifty-five incredible verses later. And the curses range from the horrible to the horrific.

We are told that the crops in our fields will be rendered useless due to bugs, our children sold into slavery, that we will be sent back to Egypt as slaves, and most notably, Jerusalem will be sacked, our temple destroyed, and our people reduced to the worst acts imaginable.

How are we to understand why this is here - especially at a key moment during Moshe's enduring goodbye speech to the nation?

When offered the old "I've got good news & bad news" statement, some choose good news while others choose the bad news. Moshe is laying it out - all the bad news possible - and saying to us a few things.

First, the Good news...that Hashem is with us - in the good times and not so good times.

That no matter how badly we mess up (and Moshe predicts exactly how we will ...) that we are protected and chosen. Our job is to remember that and act upon it. The famous song said, "You don't know what you've got till its gone." So we are urged to remember before its too late.

I've been reminded of this often in the past few weeks. Here in Oakland, there was an attempt to display horrific and anti-Semitic art at a children's museum. The news from the Middle East is getting more troubling by the day. Sometimes it can be overwhelming.

And yet, here we are, in Elul, with an opportunity to hit control-alt-delete on our spiritual path and find the GOOD in the world starting with our relationship to Hashem.

We get the chance to look inward at ourselves and ask how we are serving G-d and each other. As horrific as the news around us can be, remembering and rebooting on the notion that Hashem is with us can be job #1 for all of us..and a piece of good news when all else seems funky.

Second, the bad news (kinda). Among the curses, we see the extent of how bad it can get. We will be sold back into slavery. Our children will be taken from us. Hashem might even turn his back.

This is a two-part dance. In Chapter 28, Verse 66 says, "And your life will hang in suspense before you. You will be in fear night and day, and you will not believe in your life."

In the language of this rebuke, we are told that we may be doomed to live in a constant state of limbo - not sure of the path ahead or our place in the world. That we will live in constant fear and anxiety. Commonly known back east as "agita."

However, we are provided an extensive list of how bad it will get - amazingly we get clarity among the uncertainty. Many people, like me, take solace in knowing the full extent of the difficulty they are about to face. Some find the strength in that moment of knowing, and summon the courage to act. These are the "Bad News First" folks in our lives.

I would guess that for many, having a benchmark of how bad it can get creates a window in which we can make an informed decision about our actions - do we stray from Torah? If so, what is the cost?

Finally, Ruth Sohn, writing in an on-line journal of Reform Judaism linked the Rebuke to personal responsibility to ourselves and each other. She said that as Elul approaches, we are required to ask..."Where have I missed the mark? How can I best seek forgiveness and forgive? How will I know if my actions have caused hurt?"

She continued saying "But even the most honest self-reflection has its limits. That is why sometimes we need others to hold a mirror up to us so we can see ourselves clearly. It takes courage to invite another to hold before us the mirror of truth. It also takes courage to be the one to hold up the mirror of truth so a friend or partner can see himself or herself more clearly. And Jewish tradition expects us to do no less every day of the year."

Here we are, thousands of years after Moshe has left the stage. I think the Rebuke can remind us that each of us is accountable to each other, not just to Hashem, in our covenant. Moshe has left us a very clear accounting of the good news & bad news equation of what can happen if/when we forget that notion. Our job is to make an informed choice and have each other's backs.

May you have a New Year full of health, blessing and general awesomeness.

Parashat Ki Teitzei

Parashat Ki Teitzei
Elul 11, 5771 ~ September, 2011
by Danielle Elkins 

         Writing about Parshat Ki Tetzei was determined by my calendar. My kids would be in school for a couple of weeks, and it was still far enough away from the holidays: Both allowing me the time to write.   To my surprise 68 of the 613 Mitzvot are in this Parsha, which is more than any other Parsha. It is all laws! I have truly loved studying the Parshiot with dialogue, poetry and plots, but the Parshiot with endless lists of seemingly obscure Mitzvot are a struggle.

          In thinking about this Parsha, while getting ready for another school year with my three children, I gained a newfound feeling of obligation to read them as well as awe of their creation. Every year about this time I make endless lists, rules, and charts for my family in hopes to make the year a little less chaotic. My goal is a more peaceful and productive home, but every year the list, rules, and charts are forgotten within a month. My planning is always too short sighted to make it through the unexpected. Who feeds the dog, if designated child is sick or not around? Soon enough we don't look at the list. The lists definitely don't work if we don't look at them. It is back to me delegating and organizing as we go.   Why do I even bother? As a mother, I make these lists because I love my family so much that I want us to have as little conflict as possible, so we can spend our time being together and helping others in a positive way. Suddenly, Parshat Ki Tetzei feels like a Parsha with the most love and concern from HaShem for us. The Torah provides us with Mitzvot for all time, not just for the first month of the school year.

          We need to go no further than the first law in this Parsha, The Woman of Beautiful Form, to wonder how this applies to our present day world. In summary, when a man goes to battle and desires a beautiful woman, who by the way may actually be ugly, he may take her for a wife but first he must bring her home where she will spend a month in mourning. The beautiful captive shaves her head, doesn't cut her nails, and mourns her lost family for one month. After the one month, the man can decide to marry her or not. If he still wants to marry her, the wedding will proceed after two more months. If he doesn't want to marry her, she is free. The woman actually converts to Judaism, if the marriage takes place and even if they do not marry she may still have a choice to convert (The Torah Anthology, pg-7-8).   In theory at least, I wonder why this procedure was never actually used in our battle against assimilation. In this situation the use of the word battle refers to battles other than battles pertaining to the Land of Israel (such as a moral battle). Assimilation due to inter-marriage after exile from Israel has hurt our people. The parents of sons who wanted to marry women outside the faith must have felt like they were loosing the "battle" to keep Judaism alive. "In the opinion of the Talmud, the Torah only allowed the taking of the beautiful captive because forbidding the action would have been ineffective..." (Aish.com, The Spiral Staircase, by Rabbi Noson Weisz) Sounds familiar.   The stories of forbidden love are endless.  

          The captive woman in this context could equate to the forbidden. This Parsha and the Talmud are trying to teach us about how to approach the forbidden. The soldier is given a way to elevate his seemingly superficial feelings in a way that will reveal truth or inner beauty. Just the mental process of this captive mourning her life and family and strip herself of all physical beauty was enough for the soldiers to use self-control, because even though there is extensive detail on how to marry a woman, you desire in battle, it was never actually done. By this law existing, it alludes to the idea that there could be a desire of the soldier toward the captive that is a true attraction of the soul.  "This says Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar (1696-1743) in his Ohr HaChaim commentary on Torah, is the deeper significance of the law of the "beautiful captive." A Jewish soldier is physically attracted to an enemy maiden. But beneath this corporeal "husk" a deeper attraction is at play; indeed, the physical attraction is but the external (and corrupted) expression of the inner spiritual craving. In truth, the soldier is being drawn toward a holy soul held captive in the depths of the kelipot(the "husks" which conceal G-dliness in our world). By following the regimen of prescribed by the Torah-designed to strip his desire of its mundane trappings and reveal its holy core---he can redeem this "beautiful captive." (The Cry of the Holy Sparks, by Zvi Yair, Chabad.org). Today, our people having lived through thousands of years of exile and persecution, I wonder if attractions outside the faith are expressions of true desire of lost Jewish souls.  

 

          If nothing else, we should learn from this seemingly dated law that as parents sometimes the way to battle the negative desires of our children is not by making it forbidden, but finding a path to making good choices. The laws and lessons of the Torah only help us, if we take the time to look. "Whatever the period or the circumstances in which you live, it is the Torah that must determine your course of life for you; you must unremittingly and continually seek to educate yourself up to it;" (Horeb, by Samson Raphael Hirsch, page 381-382)