The Choice of Your Life - Reflections on Parashat Nitzavim

What to make of this odd phone call?

Shortly before we made aliyah, I received an urgent call from an old family friend (we'll call him Otto.) Otto was one of the fortunate few on the kindertransport, the impromptu effort to rescue as many Jewish children as possible from Central Europe between Kristallnacht and the start of World War II.

After the war, he moved to Israel, and later made yerida to the US.

I was glad to receive Otto's call. He knew that I was a passionate religious Zionist, that we were living our values and beginning a new life in Israel, and what I expected was a warm phone call filled with sweet wishes for our future. 

What I got instead was an earful from a very troubled old man.

"Shuki," he pleaded, almost to the point of tears, "the religious must never be allowed to take control of the government. You must hear me on this. Israel must always remain a democracy. The religious will turn Israel into an Iran-style theocracy, a Jew-istan. 

"Shuki, I am not religious, and I know that you are religious, but promise me that your generation will always work to ensure that Israel is democratic and free."

Wow. Talk about a non-sequitur. Did Otto, did Tel-Avivians, did most people think that Orthodox Jews seek the reins of government in order to compel others to religious conformity?  

Much later in my life, I read an insightful biography by Alan Bullock called Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives. In it he describes Stalin's early attraction to the Russian Orthodox priesthood and "...the requirements of orthodoxy: the exclusion of doubt, the intolerance of dissent, and the persecution of heretics..."

Otto was terribly afraid that rabbis, if given half a chance, will behave like ayatollahs.  But Bullock's definition is most decidedly not the Jewish definition of orthodoxy. 

In this week's Torah Portion, Moses defines the elemental requirements of Jewish Orthodoxy. He pleads: "I bear witness before you today, with heaven and earth as my witnesses, that I place before you life and death, blessing and curse; and CHOOSE LIFE that you and your descendants may live." (Deuteronomy 30:19)

Emphasis on the word CHOOSE. 

Moses is saying that in order for any authentic spiritual impulse to arise in the human heart, there must exist a background, a societal infrastructure, of absolute free will. If coercion is present, the spiritual ember that smolders in all of us is snuffed out.

Yes! Of course I urgently long for my fellow Jews to observe the mitzvot - to observe the Sabbath Day and keep it holy; to keep kosher; for people to treat one another with dignity, integrity and respect. I plead guilty as charged on all counts, your honor! We pray for these things every day. But the way to achieve these lofty goals is not to legislate respect, or compel prayer, or to force someone to observe the mitzvot against their will.

Back in parashat Chukat, Moses hits the rock instead of speaking to it, as Gcd had commanded. Water still gushed out, but for this seemingly minor infraction, Moses is (disproportionately?) punished by being barred from entering Israel. Poof! - the crowning achievement of a lifetime of hard work and self-sacrifice - gone in a moment. 

What did he do that was so horrible so as to deserve being barred from Israel? Rav Kook teaches that Moses, in his impatience, introduced religious coercion into the world. Instead of speaking to the rock - using the gentle influence of logic and persuasion and example - he impatiently hit the rock, used force to get the desired result. It is for that reason that Moses is punished so severely.

It is a stark truth that most of the pain in our lives is self-inflicted. Almost all human suffering is a consequence of bad decision-making - most people choose the path of least resistance, the path of instant gratification, the path of the lie - the path of death. And like Moses and the rock, the impulse of the illuminati, born of the pain of seeing our fellow man suffer, is to force people to make better choices, in their own self-interest.

But that is not Gcd's plan. Gcd wants ritual observances to spring naturally from a desire to connect with the Lifesource. 

When our hard-won life's lessons bring us to a place of wanting "to love the Lord your Gcd and to cling to Him," at that moment a religious person is born. And the complex string of life choices (and their consequences) that can bring a person to that place of spiritual enlightenment can only happen in a framework of human freedom and dignity, where each and every one of us is free to sort these issues out for ourselves.

No thoughtful, authentic Jew wants to create a society where the irreligious are compelled to perform mitzvot under duress. To the contrary, we wish to create a just society, based on the norms of ethical, compassionate monotheism which protects the widow and orphan, upholds human freedoms, and gives everyone the unfettered opportunity to choose for themselves life or death, blessing or curse.

Otto need not have been concerned; religious Zionists are no threat to democracy and freedom. Yes, we will educate, persuade, advocate - and blog - for our fellow Jew and our fellow humans to choose life - but ultimately, the decision of your life is in your own hands.

U'vacharta B'Chaim - Choose the path of Mitzvot, the path of Torah, the Path of Life.

Shabbat Shalom.

Who Are You? - Reflections on Parashat Eikev

Throughout the poetic parasha of Eikev, Moshe urges us several times not to forget his teachings. In other verses in the Parasha, he asks us also to remember. In one particular verse, he even says "Remember - do not forget." (Deuteronomy 9:7)

Huh? We know that there are no superfluous words in the Torah. Every word, every letter, even every flourish above a letter, is put there by the A-lmighty to teach us something unique and special. So what's with Moshe telling us both to remember and not to forget? To quote Yogi Berra, isn't that redundant all over again? Is Moshe starting to repeat himself, like Bubbies and Zaydes sometimes do?

Quick aside: my Zayde a"h loved to sit and shmooze over a cup of coffee. Nothing would please him more than to have an unannounced visitor drop in. He would quickly put some water in the kettle, bring out some cake or cookies (his pantry was always magically full of cakes and cookies), and settle in for a nice long kibbitz session. I tell ya, that kitchen was made for coffee klatches. 

We lived four hours away, but once a month or so, we'd make a day of it, just to sit at the signature turquoise table with the matching swivel chairs, rest our chins in our hands, sip coffee, nibble on cake, catch up on family news, and listen to the stories flow.

Anyone who visited at Zayde's table regularly knew that you'd begin to hear his stories, well, more than once. Maybe even more than a few times. To the point where we knew most of them by heart, actually. But we never complained, since the joy was in the telling and in his company.

Every once in a while though, mixed in among the stories that we had heard over and over again, he would tell us some amazing story from his long life that we'd never heard before. We'd almost fall off our chairs in astonishment. "Zayde," we'd say, "you've told us the bootleg schnapps story a hundred times, how can it be we never heard this story before?" His eyes would twinkle; he'd just shrug his shoulders and smile.

Was Moshe getting repetitious in his dotage? Or is there a real distinction to be made between 'remembering' and 'not forgetting?'

Here is the difference: remembering is an act. It is a mitzvah. The famous example is the annual commandment to remember what Amalek did to us when we left Egypt. We build museums to memorialize the six million killed by the Nazis. We remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. We also remember life cycle events like birthdays and anniversaries with parties, cards and gifts.

Remembering is a conscious act. It means pausing from the bustle of daily life, and even if only for a moment, focusing the mind on that which is remembered. 

Throughout Israel on Memorial Day (and a week before on Holocaust Remembrance Day), air raid sirens wail for two full minutes. Cars stop in the middle of the road, in intersections, even on the superhighways. People step out of their cars, and standing with heads bowed, they remember their dead. Sometimes people weep openly in the street. It is a deeply moving experience. 

Remembering means doing something; it is a call to action.

Not-forgetting, on the other hand, is passive. Not-forgetting lurks just below our conscious thought, always present, yet just out of reach, barely noticeable in the shadows of our mind. It is content to gently make its presence known without commanding center stage. 

There is no act to not-forgetting. It is not a moment, rather it is a constant companion, a part of the backdrop of our life. It is the foundation stone upon which our every decision is built, the prism through which we experience the world around us. Not-forgetting influences the way we see, hear, smell, touch and taste. As we mature and build on our life's experiences, those experiences are incorporated into the foundational database of not-forgetting, of our truest essence.

In other words, not-forgetting is about identity; it's speaks directly to who we are.

Specifically, Moshe is telling us not to forget our Jewish identity. No matter how affluent or influential we may become in the future, we mustn't ever forget our roots - we were slaves in Egypt, with no pretensions to greatness or lives of ease. Simplicity, honesty, hard work, devotion to Gcd - these are the gifts of our grandparents. 

Yet people try (in vain) to erase their past. Rabinowitz becomes Roberts, joins the best clubs, drives the finest cars, drinks the most expensive sherry, and marries the supermodel - and still they call him "Jew" behind his back.

By embracing our past, we have a shot at crafting our future. Deny your past, Moshe warns, and you're on the path to oblivion.

So we must show kindness to strangers because we were once strangers in Egypt. We must be humble, for our past is littered with our mistakes. We must show gratitude, because we are Jews, and the word "Jew" means to give thanks to Gcd. We must be devotional, because we strive to emulate the spiritual greatness of the Bubbies and Zaydes of our past.

My Zayde knew to the core of his being who he was - a Jew, a Galitzianer, a perpetual student, a devoted husband, father and grandfather. He never played at being anyone other than who he was. 

And endless times over coffee, my Zayde would take your hand in his, look you in the eye and say: no matter where you go or what you do in life, never forget you are a Jew.

So with apologies to Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend: Who Are You?  The voice of Moshe whispers across the generations: be very clear on that question, and "al tishkach," don't ever forget.

Shabbat Shalom.

Sinat Chinam - The Hatred in Our Midst

This Tuesday is Tisha B'Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av. It is a day of fasting, of mourning, and of deep personal introspection. We remember this day as the anniversary of the destruction of the first Holy Temple by the Babylonians, the second Temple by the Romans, and the myriad tragedies, pogroms and disasters that have befallen the Jewish people on this ill-fated day throughout history.

We are taught that the cause of the destruction of the second Temple was sinat chinam, gratuitous hatred between Jew and Jew. We are directed to the infamous incident in Gittin 56a of Kamtza & Bar Kamtza. 

Briefly: a wealthy man held a sumptuous banquet and invited all the "A-List" dignitaries of Judea. He also sent an invite to his friend Kamtza. By accident, the invitation was delivered to a guy named Bar-Kamtza (no relation.) Bar-Kamtza also happened to be a bitter enemy of the host. (You can see where this is going.)

Bar-Kamtza goes to the banquet, thinking that the invite might be an opening to a rapproachment between the adversaries. But when he gets there, the host goes ballistic at the temerity of his enemy showing up at the exclusive shindig and orders Bar-Kamtza unceremoniously ushered to the curb. 

Bar-Kamtza sizes up the situation. He quietly and urgently pleads with the host not to make an awkward situation worse and humiliate him in front of all the rabbis, politicians, business moguls and celebrities in attendance. He offers to pay for his meal. No. He offers to pay for half of the banquet. No. He finally offers to pay for the entire blasted affair if the host will merely allow the evening to pass without incident. Again the answer is an unyielding NO.

The anger that consumes Bar-Kamtza over his humiliation and mistreatment leads to a chain of events which resulted in the Temple being razed by the Romans. In other words,  sinat chinam was the precipitate cause of the destruction of the Temple and ultimately, the Roman expulsion which we experience down to today.

In thinking about this gemara, most people focus on the egregious behavior of the host. People think, "if I ever hosted an A-List-black-tie soiree, I'd never behave that ungraciously to a guest, even an enemy."  Excellent, but few (if any) of us will be having Gwyneth Paltrow to dinner anytime soon. Since, when we look in the mirror, we don't see someone who would act with that much venom, we conclude that sinat chinam is somebody else's problem. We cluck our tongues, point to the other guy, and conveniently exempt ourselves.

Let me clue you in to a little secret: the REAL sinat chinam in the story was that the learned rabbis in attendance did not intervene on Bar-Kamtza's behalf; and once he was bodily ejected, they shrugged their shoulders and went back to the party.

True sinat chinam is ignoring the plight of your fellow. It is plugging your ears with your fingers, squeezing your eyes shut, and saying, "leave me out of it, I have enough troubles of my own." 

Sinat chinam is moral cowardice. Sinat chinam is not standing up to speak truth and righteousness on behalf of a friend in distress; it's taking the easy and convenient path; it's averting your eyes, turning your back and going about your own business. This kind of sinat chinam is very relateable and tragically is very, very prevalent in Jewish life today.

This week, I witnessed this pernicious form of sinat chinam firsthand. A person in our community was accused of a monstrous crime based only on hearsay and innuendo, with no evidence to support the charge. In fact, strong evidence exculpated him, but the campaign of whispers persisted. 

Thank Gcd, some people stood up for their friend; but several more, rabbis among them, sided with the fear, with the lies, with innuendo and rumor and shadows. It was self-evidently a case of first degree character assassination. But instead of standing up for truth, the moral cowards averted their eyes, chose not to get involved, cowered behind their voice mails, shunning this hapless victim. In the end, he lost his job over nothing more than a vile, malicious whisper.

What do we mourn for on Tisha B'Av? A building? A return of the ritual sacrifices? I suggest we mourn for something much deeper.

The Jewish people are supposed to be the exemplars of ethical monotheism. Our elevated and holy society, driven by love of Gcd, love of Torah and love of our fellow man is intended to be what Isaiah calls 'a light unto the nations.' Our highest ideals and aspirations are embodied in the order, beauty and splendor of the Temple, resplendent on Gcd's holy mountain. 

But the Temple is in ruins, and the Jewish people have lost the voice of moral authority in the world. If the world thinks about us at all, they look at us as an anachronism, or as a curiosity, or as a nuisance. 

It is over our personal failings and the inability to fulfill our holy mission that we cry on Tisha B'Av.

How do we presume to preach truth to world if we turn our backs to our own brother in distress? That is the sinat chinam that destroyed - and continues to destroy - everything that the Temple represents.

To those who stood up for truth this week - and you know who you are - it is in your merit that the Holy Temple will be speedily rebuilt in our lifetimes.

And to the moral cowards - and you know who you are - shame on you.

May we merit to see Tisha B'Av go from a fast day to a feast day, and from a day of mourning to a day of joy.

Shabbat Shalom.

The Ordination of Joshua - Reflections on Parashat Pinchas

In this week’s parasha, Parashat Pinchas, Moses is told that the ride is almost over. He is commanded by Hashem to appoint his successor: “…take for yourself Yehoshua bin Noon, the spiritual man, and place your hands on him.” (Numbers 27:18) The Hebrew word for “placing the hands” of the teacher upon the student is called ‘semichah.’

And so it was that on the Sunday of Parashat Pinchas, I attended a mind-blowing rabbinical conference which culminated in the granting of semichah, rabbinical investiture, to about 40 individuals, including me, after years of study, testing and preparation.

Why is this significant? Aren’t there enough unemployed rabbis in the world?

Well yes…but no. You see, this Yeshivah and these rabbis are a very unique lot, for three reasons.

First: My yeshivah is a virtual yeshivah. Yeshivat Pirchei Shoshanim (YPS) harnesses the incredible potential of the internet to spread the light of Torah in the world. My teachers, the Rabbanim, live in Israel, and their students live all over the world. A student in Miami can have a chavruta (study partner) in Johannesburg. A global network of friendships is forged poring over the great books of Jewish law, all plugged into the Rabbanim in Israel. Laptops, tablets and smart phones are the new tools of the Torah trade.

This speaks to a larger point: there are certain voices in Torah that want to declare the internet off-limits because of all the shmutz and frank evil that can be found out there. And there’s no denying it – it’s out there. But YPS disagrees with this impulse to ban. Just like radio and TV in earlier generations, the medium itself is neutral; it can be used for good or for evil. The internet is like a fertile field; it can grow food or it can grow weeds. The field doesn’t particularly care one way or the other. 

Online Torah study dispels enormous darkness in the world, just like a single kernel of corn is worth an acre of weeds. Rav Kook taught that the proper way to fight evil in the world is not to confront it on its own terms, but rather to flood the world with goodness: with Torah study, with mitzvoth, and with acts of kindness towards our fellow man.

Second: Students of YPS span the spectrum of Jewish life: Gerrer Hasidim, Litvish (people schooled in the intellectualism of the Lithuanian yeshivah tradition), Modern Orthodox, Chabad, Religious Zionists, Ba’alei Teshuvah (people who have returned to a life of religious observance), and more. Despite our disparate backgrounds, we all stand together in brotherhood and amity, united by a common commitment to an informed, centrist understanding of Halachah (Jewish Law).

Meaning: We are witness to a disturbing polarization in Jewish life. On the left is the complete rejection of the authority and authenticity of Jewish Law. Like a rose clipped from the bush, it may be fragrant for a short time, but its end is inevitable.

On the right is a growing trend to pile stringency upon stringency in the interpretation of the law. To extend the metaphor: this is like wrapping that beautiful rose in protective netting so tightly that it gets neither light nor water. This trend towards stringency is born of insecurity, or a flawed or inadequate understanding of the Halachic decision-making process.

Both approaches are self-destructive. Holding the religious center is always the most difficult path. YPS and its talmidim, Jews from all walks of life, are committed to deciding questions of Jewish Law leniently whenever possible, and strictly only when necessary. This requires in-depth study, close consultation with the Rabbanim, a clear understanding of legal precedent and the rationale behind those precedents, and the courage to speak the Halachah unequivocally in the face of opposing views.

Third: there is an old aphorism that if you want something done, give it to a busy person. The talmidim of YPS all work for a living. We are doctors, lawyers, educators, business owners. We have mortgages, car payments, and tuition bills. We are busy. We are classic overachievers - overbooked and straight up exhausted.

But like rabbis through the generations, we are making a strong statement about the critical importance of combining Torah study with an honorable living. The new normal in the Torah world that eschews productive work in favor of learning Torah full-time on public support violates Jewish Law and is ultimately counter-productive.

As business owners and communal leaders, our sphere of influence is considerable. We leverage that influence to carry the message of Torah and authentic, passionate Judaism to an audience all out of proportion to our numbers, and far greater than could any young man fresh out of school.

And think about this: after working 10 hours or more at the office; after seeing to our familial obligations, social and communal obligations, we commit 2 or 3 hours every day to Torah study. Why? What could be so important?

The answer goes to the heart of the mission of YPS and its talmidim.

We live in a world that has lost its way. 

In the chase for the almighty dollar...we have forgotten that true wealth is being content with what you have. 

In the quest for power...we have forgotten that true power is self-control. 

In the pursuit of self-gratification and the endless buzz...we have forgotten that true happiness is found in the service of others. 

The things that really count are the things you really can’t count.

YPS and its talmidim go out into the world to proclaim these truths. Many people intuit that something is amiss in their lives, but don’t quite know what it is or how to fix it. Maybe a YPS rabbi is there to speak to their heart - of Torah study, of Shabbat, of spending real time with the fam, of the power of keeping kosher. Maybe, just maybe, there is deep truth in the discarded values of our Bubbies and Zaydes.

So when a person is ready to improve their lives, a YPS rabbi or military chaplain will be there to provide instruction, guidance, support and help. And so we bring Gcd’s light to the world, one page of Torah at a time, one soul at a time.

For these and many other reasons, I am both proud and humbled to be a musmach (graduate) of YPS.

Shabbat Shalom.

For more information about Yeshivat Pirchei Shoshanim, please contact me or go to www.shulchanaruch.com

A "Chok" By Any Other Name...Insights into Parshat Chukat

The Parasha opens with the words, "זאת חוקת התורה" (This is a "Chok" of the Torah [Numbers 19:2]). By these words, our Sages understood that the Law of the Red Heifer was the quintessential chok, i.e., a law that defies human rationale. We fulfill this mitzvah, even though we don't understand it, because we love Gcd, we trust the Source, and by so doing, we implicitly acknowledge that there are limits to human understanding.

The conundrum of the Red Heifer revolves around the following paradox: the ashes of the Red Heifer render one who is "impure" (from contact with a dead body) pure, simultaneously rendering one who is "pure" impure.* (המטהר את הטמא והמטמא את הטהור) The Midrash teaches that this paradox was so difficult to understand that it's rationale eluded even the great King Solomon, widely regarded as the deepest thinker of Jewish history.

At least that's what we teach our Fifth Graders.

But is the Law of the Red Heifer really so difficult to understand?

To borrow a phrase from H.L. Menken, let us attempt to "unscrew the inscrutable." What follows are no less than three independent approaches to understanding the rationale behind the Laws of the Red Heifer.

I.    The first is the approach of the Kli Yakar. He writes that in order to understand the Red Heifer, we have to break down the ritual into it's constituent parts.

The admixture that was sprinkled on the impure person was "Living Water" such as we have in a mikveh, and the ashes of the Red Heifer. The Red Heifer, in turn, is a specialized form of "Chatat," the sin offering brought in the Holy Temple.

In truth, he writes, it's the Living Water that is affecting the purification; the ashes, while necessary, serve a more symbolic function.

The symbolism of the ashes of the Red Heifer is as follows: First, sin equals death. When a person sins, they distance themselves from the Life-Source, and any living thing that is disconnected from the Life-Source will eventually wither and die.

Second, if an individual wishes to purge sin from their lives, they must destroy it root and branch. Treating the symptoms of sin without dealing with underlying root cause ensures that the sin will resurface in the future.

The archetypal sin in the Jewish consciousness is the sin of the Golden Calf. Thus, if one wishes to rectify this sin at it's root, one must look to the source of the calf...which is the heifer that bore it.

And it can't just be any heifer, it must be completely red. This recalls the verse in Isaiah 1:18: "Though your sins are like scarlet, they will become white as snow; though they will be red as crimson, they become as white as wool." After it is completely consumed by the fire, the Red Heifer is reduced to white cinders, and it is these cinders that are mixed with the Living Waters.

So during the week of mourning over our dead, the ashes of the Red Heifer remind us of the opportunity at hand to reflect on our own lives; to banish sin;  and emulate the piety, erudition and devotion of the deceased.

II.    The second approach to understanding the Law of the Red Heifer is from Rabbi Soloveitchik, zt"l, which I refer to as the "Lifeguard Theorem." Simply put: any attempt to save a drowning man probably means getting a little wet yourself. If someone is lying face down in the mud, in order to extract him, you're likely to get some mud on your shoes.

So, too, with the ashes of the Red Heifer. The process of restoring one who is profoundly impure to a state of purity necessarily involves some minor impurity on the part of the Soref and the Osef, the ones who actually prepared the ashes for sprinkling.

III.    The third approach is retro-tech. The ashes of the red heifer functioned as an ancient semiconductor. What is a semiconductor? It is a material that can have regions of positive charge and regions of negative charge, simultaneously blocking the flow of electricity or allowing it.  Like a semiconductor, the ashes of the red Heifer could simultaneously make the impure pure and  the pure impure.

This idea takes on added weight when one considers the construction of the Ark of the Covenant. We read in Exodus 25:10 that the Ark of the Covenant was constructed from acacia wood, lined on the inside and the outside with pure gold. So we have two excellent conductors (the gold) separated by an insulator (the wood) - in other words, the Ark, upon which the Divine presence hovered, functioned as some sort of capacitor or battery or energy transmission device. If we can conceive of the A-lmighty as the Life/Energy Source of the universe, then somehow that Divine energy flowed through the Ark and into the world.

We have just briefly outlined three rationales for the mitzvah of the Red Heifer. The question remains: if we, who are nominally as smart as fifth graders, could articulate a rationale for the Red Heifer, why couldn't Solomon?

In the end, the Law of the Red Heifer is the quintessential chok. Solomon wasn't confounded by the mechanisms of the pure/impure paradox, which (forgive me for saying this) is almost a trivial matter, but by something much deeper.

It is curious that the Torah calls the water of purification מי חטאת or "water of the sin offering" and refers to the purification process with the language of chet/sin: הוא יתחטא בו (Numbers 19:12).

Water is life, and water itself is a paradox. We can't go more than a few days without it, and yet water can sometimes destroy.

Later in our parashah, at the Mei Merivah, the very water that saves the Jews heralds the deaths of Aharon and Moses.

In Jewish Law, we know that water affects purification, but it can also be a medium for conveying impurity.

Water is life, and life is water. The paradoxes of water are the paradoxes of life. And the paradox of the red heifer water suggested to Solomon epic questions of existence, of life and death itself.

Why do we exist? Given that the A-lmighty deigned to create a universe, why did he plant us on this tiny rock, in a miniscule solar system, in a tiny galaxy, in a remote corner of His created universe?

And now that we exist, to what purpose?

Why is it that when we give with no expectation of return, it is only then that we truly receive?

Why do the righteous suffer while the wicked enjoy lives of ease?

If we have unfettered free will, the future is unwritten. Yet we know that Gcd knows the future. If that is so, the future is in some sense pre-ordained, which means we don't have unfettered free will. But we know we have unfettered free will...

How is it that true freedom comes only through subservience to Gcd?

And perhaps the greatest paradox of all: why is it only through death that we achieve eternal life (חיי עולם הבא)?

It took a Solomonic mind to see all these questions encapsulated in and symbolized by the ashes of the Red Heifer; vexing questions which do not lend themselves to easy answers.

As the Talmud suggests in Tractate Shabbat 83b (at the bottom, beginning with Amar Rabbi Yonatan) perhaps the question itself is the answer. Contained within the Torah are the answers to these questions, and even though we haven't yet successfully decoded the answers, they're in there. So must stay in the study hall and keep asking the hard questions. We must continue to learn Torah, attempting to unlock its secrets, until our dying day.

Thus we come full circle to our opening phrase:  "זאת חוקת התורה" This is the "chok," the conundrum - and the Torah is the solution.

--------------------
* I use the terms "pure" and "impure" for the Hebrew ""tahor" and tamei" reservedly and only in the interest of clarity. These terms are not translatable and the imperfect English translation conveys connotations that do not exist in the Hebrew. Subject for another time.

Of Prostitutes, Paternity and P'tilim; Reflections on Parshat Vayeshev5773

How are we to understand the bizarre encounter between Tamar and Judah in Genesis Chapter 38? 

("Oh Mildred, it's just another of those whack-a-doo Bible fables. It don't mean nuthin'.") Is it, though? 

The essential facts are these: Judah's oldest son marries but dies, leaving behind Tamar, a childless widow. Judah instructs his second son to fulfill the obligation of levirate marriage with Tamar, and he too dies. Judah sends his daughter-in-law packing, still childless and still in her mourning clothes, back to her father's house, with vague promises of an eventual levirate marriage to Shelah, Judah's last remaining son, as soon as he is old enough to do the deed.

She waits. And waits. And waits. She waits for years. She waits until it is self-evident that Judah has (rather conveniently) forgotten her. So she cooks up a plan to entrap Judah in a tryst that would result in her long-desired pregnancy. The trap works. Judah reluctantly acknowledges paternity, and this union is sanctioned in Heaven; indeed, the Davidic/Messianic line is to ultimately come this most unlikely liaison.

At first blush, this story seems more suited for the Montel Williams Show than the Torah. It certainly does not cast Judah in a positive light. Why is this story presented here, embedded in the saga of the selling of Joseph; indeed, why is it related at all? What is the deeper lesson of Tamar & Judah?

Judah was the ringleader in selling Joseph into slavery, at a time when slavery meant probable death. Once the cash was counted and the gravity of his act begins to press upon him, Judah, like Lady Macbeth, freaks out. He flees, trying to outrun his guilty heart. And where does he go? To a place called Adulam, which in Hebrew sounds like Ad Olam, "to the end of the earth." And he befriends a fellow named Hirah, which sounds a lot like the Hebrew word Herut, which means freedom.

So he runs away to re-invent himself, someplace where he and his famous family are unknown. He wants to be free of his past. He throws off his true identity. He tries to bury the cry of his guilty heart with booze, with showgirls, with diversions of every type. He gains a reputation as a rake, as a party animal's party animal. He was the kind of guy who couldn't take even the shortest drive in the car without the radio blaring, because he dreaded the whisper of his soul that could be discerned in the cavernous emptiness of his heart.

Does any of this sound even vaguely familiar? How many Jewish teens run off to college to re-invent themselves, to gain distance from their family, to party hard, to forget their past (there's plenty of time to worry about the future later...) I remember working with the Hillel advisor at the University of Maine, where there were hundreds of Jewish students, but only three or four active in the Hillel. When I asked him about this, he said, "Jewish kids come up to UMaine from all over the country precisely to forget that they're Jewish."

And what of Tamar? In contrast to Judah, Tamar knows exactly who she is, and where her destiny lies. She is determined to graft herself into the Abrahamitic line, and in so doing contribute to the greater destiny of the Jewish people. But despite repeated attempts, her ambition is thwarted. She understands that the key to solving her problem lies with Judah. So she has to come up with a plan.

What plan is most likely to succeed? She knows Judah's nature all too well. She doesn't come around disguised as a seller of holy books; no, her best chance of cornering Judah is as a fille de joie, the tawdry underbelly of life that she knows Judah is not unfamiliar with.

And so Tamar seduces Judah on his way to Timnah, to the county fair, for the annual sheep-shearing. The county fair! Just think how much trouble you can find there if you're looking for it! And for Judah, the party starts early. As they negotiate a price, Judah pledges his signet ring, a p'til and his staff as guarantee of payment after the fair. The Kli Yakar, R' Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz, points out that these three items represent his rejected former life. The signet ring ('chotam') symbolizes the Covenant of Abraham (circumcision); p'til recalls the p'til t'chelet, the blue thread of the tzitzit which we wear precisely to remind ourselves not to engage in improper behavior; and his staff represents his position of leadership within the clan of Jacob. By giving them away, he was saying, in essence, "I would gladly trade these symbols of my former life, which I despise, for a few minutes of pain-numbing intimacy with you."

And what is the significance of the place-name Timnah? Three generations earlier, a woman named Timnah wanted desperately to join the clan of Abraham, but for whatever reason, Abraham rejected her as a convert. Ultimately she fulfilled her goal by becoming a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's firstborn son. So Timnah and Tamar were soul-sisters on a certain level.

When Tamar identifies the father of her baby with the pledges, Judah is absolutely gobsmacked. He is put on the spot, and he has to make a choice: continue the lie that is his new life and deny paternity, or admit to it, and in so doing, admit to all of it - who he really is, and finally deal with the consequences of his choices.

In that instant Judah has a blinding flash of clarity and purpose. Tamar's behavior teaches him something fundamental: although we may run, we can never hide from our true identity, from our true destiny, from our true selves. Gcd's Will in the world will be accomplished with or without our help. In admitting paternity of this child (twins, as it turns out) he takes back his pledges, the symbols of his real life; he spares an innocent woman her life; and he resolves to return home and rebuild his shattered family.

He now confronts the painful realities he has been avoiding for years. In that instant, his path is laid out for him, and he realizes what he must do. Perhaps he cannot undo the selling of Joseph, but he can re-unite with his remaining brothers and make peace among them. The time for petty rivalries is long past; the survival of the Abrahamitic mission is very much in jeopardy. Reuben, who is well meaning but a little soft in the head, is not up to this task. Shimon and Levi will always be suspect by their father after their bloody over-reaction to the rape of Dinah. Judah is the next in line. If he doesn't step up, who will? So here we see the emergence of Judah's role as leader, and ultimately king, of Israel.

Every one of us is put on earth for a reason; every one of us is intended to partner with Gcd to help perfect the world He started. It is our job to define the mission of our lives and execute on it. We all have to make Judah's decision for ourselves. We can run for a while, but we cannot hide forever. If we refuse the mantle of leadership, the nations of the world will force it upon us: "Ten men from each of the Seventy Nations will grab the Jew by the hem of his garment and say, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that Gcd is with you.'" (Zechariah 8:23)

Especially today, in the troubled times in which we live, the world needs the message of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob more urgently than ever before.

The Trial of Jacob Isaacson - Reflections on Parshat Toledot 5773

"Order in the court!" The sharp cracks of the gavel echoed through the crowded courtroom. "I will have order in my court!"

The packed courtroom gradually settled down to a restive silence. 

"Counsel, proceed with your summation."

"Yes, your honor. My client, Ya'acov (Jacob) Isaacson, stands accused of being a thief, trickster, con-artist and schemer; specifically, that he wrongfully acquired the birthright from his older brother, and later conned his blind, ailing father Isaac into giving him the blessing Isaac had intended for Esau. It is said that an oft-repeated lie becomes the truth; and because these scurrilous charges went unanswered for so long, they have been magnified, perpetuated and hurled at my client's progeny by their enemies to advance their own pernicious agendas. 

"I would like to lead the jury through the facts in evidence to demonstrate categorically that not only is my client innocent of these charges, but that the real deceiver is none other than his primary accuser - his twin brother Esau Isaacson."

The jury sat a little straighter, while the spectators in the courtroom shifted nervously in their seats.

"Let's begin with my client's parents. My client is accused of conspiring with his mother, Rebecca, to swindle the Blessing from Isaac; that somehow the mother and father were on opposite sides of this intense fraternal dispute. And yet we have been presented evidence that that they were, in fact, an exceptionally close-knit couple. Eyewitnesses report that when Rebecca first laid eyes on her future husband, she was so smitten that she fell off her camel! Isaac returned her love with a passion and depth that even eluded Abraham and Sarah, his parents. Later on in Gerar, they are seen trading caresses, confidences and private jokes the way only young lovers do - so much so that it was obvious they were married and very much in love. 

"Isaac was orphaned at a relatively young age, and Rebecca was an immigrant, completely cut off from her family in the old country. Isaac and Rebecca had only each other upon whom to rely, and by all accounts, they were inseparable in both thought and deed. I ask the jury to consider: is this a couple that would abide secrets and dissension between them?

"Now let us turn to their two sons: Esau and Jacob. As you know, Esau, the elder, became a proficient hunter, but perhaps 'predator' is a more fitting term. Rabbi Shlomo came all the way from France to testify before this court that Esau acted more like the wild animals he hunted: he was guilty of murder, rape, extortion, blasphemy and idol worship. Damning evidence, indeed! But when he came home, he would tuck a book under his arm and pepper his father with intricate ethico-legal questions, in order to convey the impression that he was just as thoughtful and scholarly as Jacob. Is that the behavior of an honest man?

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: I now ask you to cast your gaze upon my client. He is an "Ish Tam" a simple man, incapable of artifice or chicanery; a contemplative young man whose best friends were the books he surrounded himself with day and night. Through his academic studies he was animated and inspired by the exploits of the grandfather he barely knew, the towering personality of Abraham. He desperately, passionately wanted to carry on in those footsteps. More than anything else in life, he wanted the Blessing of Abraham, through Isaac, to be bestowed upon him. He knew that somehow it was his destiny. And for my client, that Blessing was inextricably entwined in the birthright. (In the original Hebrew, the words "my birthright" and my blessing" are anagrams of each other. Genesis 27:36)

"Let us turn now to the first charge: that my client wrongfully acquired the birthright from his older brother. I will re-create the scene, but before I do, let us recall the testimony of Rabbi Ibn Ezra, who stated that despite the grand wealth of grandfather Abraham, by this time the family had been reduced to penury. This was the reason my client was cooking rice and beans - it was the only food they could afford. This also explains why my client later left for Labanland without a drachma to his name.

"Picture the scene if you will: as my client is cooking his lentils, in bursts Esau - dirty, exhausted and ravenously hungry from a day of predations. Without so much as a 'hello' or a 'bid thee well" he imperiously demands the red porridge my client was cooking. Thinking on his feet, my client offered an exchange: the food for the birthright. The evidence has shown that Esau viewed his birthright as being of no financial value; true the firstborn normally receives a double portion of inheritance, but as we have seen, Isaac was impecunious, so Esau reckoned that double of nothing is still nothing. Something for what amounted to nothing? The deal was quickly struck.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: a valid and binding sale took place on that day. Each party to the sale thought that they had the better end of the bargain. Esau - because he had traded something of no value (his birthright) for something of tangible value (food); and Jacob - because he believed that he had secured for himself his life's goal - the Blessing of Abraham.

"We now turn to the most serious charge - that my client, Jacob Isaacson, tricked his blind, ailing father and stole the Blessing of Abraham that Isaac intended to bestow upon Esau." 

A low murmur began to ascend through the crowd. One bang of the gavel brought the murmur back down to a simmer.

"Now let us review the relevant testimony regarding the alleged swindle.

- Isaac bids Esau to go out and trap a deer; dress, prepare and cook the venison; and finally serve it up in order that Isaac may bless Esau before he dies. 

- Rebecca casually overhears these instructions, and rushes to alert Jacob that Isaac is preparing to bless Esau. 

- Rebecca devises an elaborate plan, seemingly on the spot: she will quickly cook some goat meat for Isaac. Jacob will serve it, bluffing through this charade as Esau, and receive the blessing Isaac is preparing to give.

- Jacob objects that Esau is hairy and smelly, while he is smooth-skinned and fair. He is certain his father will see through this transparent hoax and will curse him instead of blessing him. Rebecca suggests putting goatskins on Jacob's arms and neck to "hair him up," and dress him Esau's clothes to "smell him up." Despite my client's objections, Rebecca is completely confident this improbable plan will work. Somehow, she's not worried about a negative outcome.

- My client reluctantly yields to his mother and the plan proceeds. Incredibly, Isaac falls prey to this slipshod hoax, eats the goat meat and never notices that it's not venison. He blesses his "first born" with a generic blessing of strength and abundance. Jacob quickly exits.

- Just then, Esau enters with his prepared dish. Isaac trembles when he discovers the deception. He claims to have no blessing for the real Esau, and then scares up a blessing not dissimilar from the one he granted Jacob a few moments earlier.

- Esau seethes with rage, vowing to kill Jacob after their father dies. 

- Isaac and Rebecca dispatch Jacob to Labanland to escape the wrath of Esau. Before he leaves, Isaac bestows upon him the Blessing of Abraham. 

The defense attorney paused, and cast his eye for a long moment across the judge, jury and gallery.

"Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury: I must confess, that in all my years at the bar, I have never heard a more outrageous and frankly unbelievable story than the testimony presented to us in this case. Why, may I ask:

- Did Isaac request venison for dinner, when something simpler would have sufficed? How does Rebecca dream up this hoax on the spot? Why she is assured of it's success? Why is Isaac taken in by the crude and childish deception of the goatskins? Why does he not notice that the goat is not venison? Why does he give both brothers a rather generic blessing during the hoax? And most important of all:

- Why, after the hoax, wasn't Isaac upset with Jacob? Instead of demonstrating feelings of anger and betrayal, Isaac protects Jacob and bestows upon him his most precious legacy: the mantle and blessing of Father Abraham.

Perhaps...the request for venison will get Esau out of the house for several hours.

Perhaps...Rebecca's embellishes Isaac's words to Esau by adding  "before God" as she relates what she heard to Jacob in order to spur him to action.

Perhaps...Isaac is taken in by Rebecca's hoax BECAUSE THEY DEVISED THE PLAN TOGETHER, IN ADVANCE!!"

Bedlam erupted in the courtroom. After fifteen minutes of gavel banging and the appearance of several armed bailiffs, a semblance of order was restored to the courtroom. 

"Mr. Orekhdin, do you realize that you are exculpating your client by implicating his parents in a massive conspiracy?"

"Your honor, I can see no other way to account for all the facts. You see, Although Isaac was visually blind, his other senses were actually heightened. Furthermore, he was, by all accounts, a very holy and wise man, and it is well known that sages become even more perceptive as they get older. Esau thought he had his father fooled, but Isaac had Esau's number from the very start.

"However, Isaac and Rebecca had a problem. Esau had married two Hittite women - both of whom were known idolaters and possessed of - ahem - a rather colorful and scandalous reputation. This act confirmed what they knew all along: that Esau was not the intellectual and spiritual heir of Abraham. They had to devise a ploy to give Jacob the Blessing, and yet protect themselves and Jacob from Esau's uncontrollable and bloody rage. And so this elaborate ruse was conceived.

"As further evidence, your honor, I respectfully direct you to the transcript, where Isaac and Rebecca facilitate Jacob's escape. They charge him in the strongest possible terms not to marry a Canaanite woman, but rather to find a bride among the kinsfolk of Rebecca in Labanland. They expect him to be home again very soon, after Esau's temper has cooled and he was once again distracted by his normal appetites and diversions.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: justice and history demand that you acquit my client, Jacob Isaacson, of all the charges leveled against him. The defense rests."