Moses and the Mob - Reflections on Parashat Ki Tavo 5775

(Deuteronomy 26:1 - 29:8)

A Facebook friend recently posted the following:

When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind. - Jiddu Krishnamurti

Krishnamurti's sentiment is typical of the very dangerous post-enlightenment twaddle that passes for wisdom in our benighted age. 

Why do I call it dangerous? Let's engage our little grey cells and tease his idea apart a little.

Krishnamurti's Prime Axiom: All Violence is (by definition) Evil and Must Be Eliminated. It sounds so noble, doesn't it? Only, the corollary to this sentiment is that there is absolutely nothing worth fighting for, no set of values important enough to defend, even (if need be) with our lives.

For example, the world watches unmoved as ISIS rapes young infidel girls; even as they march to rape and enslave our wives. Raise no hand against the monstrous beheadings of non-believers, even as they come to behead your parents and children. After all, better to be slaves than to fight the oppressor; the Prime Axiom states that there is no evil wicked enough to justify violence, because violence itself is the supreme evil. 

Krishnamurti's Second Axiom: Distinctions are Violence. It follows, then, that the solution to the ills of society is to eliminate divisiveness and distinction; to create a society devoid of hues, of shades, of vibrant colors, of individuality. For the benefit of mankind, we must build a uniformly gray utopia, for any deviation breeds violence, and violence is the ultimate evil (refer to Prime Axiom).

Let's play a little semantic game. Try substituting "Proletariat" for "Mankind":

When you call yourself a [person of conscience or unique identity or distinction], you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of [the Proletariat]. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of [the Proletariat].

Anyone who presumes to rise above the proletariat must be ruthlessly punished for crimes against society. Have a good idea and want to start a little business? We will reward you with punitive regulations, massive bureaucracies and confiscatory tax codes. How dare you show initiative, because your comrades have none. How dare you invent or dream, because your comrades have no dreams. Your ambition is subversive; your dangerous thinking threatens the common good. 

Does that sound more familiar? It should. If not, dust off a copy of Das Kapital or Huxley's Brave New World or Orwell's 1984. (Orwell was just off by a few decades.)

I urge you to think seriously about the implications of Krishnamurti's sentiment, because it is the intellectual underpinning for the social and political philosophies that guide modern Western society. 

Then contrast it with the following idea in this week's Torah Portion:

On this day, the Lcrd your Gcd commands you to do all these ordinances and statutes, that you should be careful and not just do them, but do them with all your heart and all your might. Then you can declare to the Lord that He will be your Gcd, that you will walk in His ways, and will observe His Mitzvoth (commandments) and listen to His voice; and [in return] Gcd declares today that you will be a treasured nation unto Him as He has spoken to you, precisely because you observe His Mitzvoth; and to raise you above all the other nations for praise, for fame and for splendor; that you should be a consecrated nation to the Lord your Gcd, as He has spoken. - Deuteronomy 26:17-19

 Rashi on these verses states:

It seems to me that that the Hebrew word "He'emartah" (declare) denotes a setting apart or separating: just as you (the Jews) have separated yourselves from alien gods and devoted yourselves to My service, He has set you apart from among the Nations of the Earth to be His Treasured Nation.

(BTW: Want to be part of the Treasured Nation? No problem - keep the mitzvoth.)

We Jews are all about distinctions. "In the beginning Gcd created the Heaven and the Earth."  He created distinctions between the spiritual and physical, between light and darkness, between good and evil, between life and death, between the Holy Sabbath Day and the other six days of the week, between the Jews and other Nations of the World.

In a word, He created the concept of mitzvah.

Jews are distinct precisely because we carefully observe those mitzvoth. Bilaam the Wicked is forced to concede that, because of the mitzvoth that we faithfully perform, the Jews are "a nation that dwells apart, not to be reckoned among the other nations." 

Every time we read the Torah (which is a lot), Jews stand up and proclaim in a loud voice: "Blessed Are You, O Lcrd, Our Gcd, King of the Universe, Who chose us ("Asher Bachar Banu") from among all the other Nations and gave us His Torah."

So we Jews are the poster children for the very thing which Krishnamurti explicitly condemns: we separate ourselves by belief, by nationality, and by tradition. We don't eat your food or drink your wine; we don't share your social values or priorities; we have a different rhythm to the days of the years of our lives and march to the beat of an entirely different drummer. 

We proudly preserve those distinctions that have preserved us alive for close to four thousand years. Like Rashi's quid pro quo: separation for separation.

But according to Krishnamurti and his ilk, the very distinctions which define us are violent and violence is evil. 

The implication is chilling. 

Yet again, the Jew is cast as the enemy of humanity. (Another totalitarian regime did the same thing about 80 years ago...who was it...hmmm...let me think...finger tapping chin)

This neo-totalitarianism holds that it is Israel's fault that Iran wants the bomb. It is Israel's fault Arab peasants live in squalor while their potentates live like robber barons (which they pretty much are.)

But mainly, it is the Jew's tenacity in maintaining his unique identity that is the cause of violence in the world. The Jew's principal crime against humanity is his stubborn insistence on surviving.

I hope I am wrong, but it looks like the day is quickly approaching when to openly declare "Asher Bachar Banu" is to expose oneself to criminal prosecution for hate speech and perhaps far worse.

No matter who you are or where you live, every person is going to have to take a stand in this Kulturkampf. Will you capitulate to the tyranny of conformity, or will you stand with the Jews - which is to say, take a stand for distinction, for individuality, for conscience, for objective Truth?

In the face of frank evil..."Moses stood up at the entrance to the encampment and declared, 'All Who are for Gcd, Come to Me!'" (Exodus 32:26)

As the entire world stands before the Heavenly Court this Rosh HaShanah, Gcd will undoubtedly want to know: will you stand with Moses, or with the Mob?

Shabbat Shalom.

Billy Jack & the Mullahs - Reflections on Parashat Shoftim 5775

(Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9)

Those of you of my vintage may remember a cult film In the early '70's called Billy Jack starring Tom Laughlin in the title role. Billy Jack was the ultimate outsider: part Native American, a Green Beret Vietnam war veteran and martial arts master. In the context of the time: he was bi-racial, rejected by both whites and Indians; he was a Vietnam war veteran at a time when Vietnam vets were being publicly humiliated; and a martial arts master long before anyone in the US had ever heard of Kung Fu or Bruce Lee. He was an odd duck, pretty much ostracized by everybody. 

Except for the people he defends. In the film, Billy Jack takes on predatory biker gangs and corrupt politicians who prey on the weak and the vulnerable of their society. For those whom the law had abandoned, he uses his own unique brand of street justice and martial arts to extract justice and becomes a cult hero in the process.

The one thing that stands out in my mind about Billy Jack (and I must confess I haven't seen the movie since I was 10 years old) is how he prepared for the big showdown with the baddies. In a strange melding of Native American spirituality and reminiscences of his Hapkido Master, he goes out into the desert for self-reflection, enduring a rigorous regimen of spiritual preparation, self-awareness and physical discipline. 

It was only by turning inward that he could prepare for the battle to come, because in the battle between good and evil, spiritual, not physical, preparation is demanded. 

This week's parashah is all about War and Peace. Moses describes how to establish an orderly, peaceful civil society based upon the rule of law. 

He also discusses the rules of War.

The Jewish Army was an army of citizens: we had no professional soldiery. Deuteronomy Chapter 20 describes the words of encouragement given to the citizen-soldier by the Cohen, the Jewish Priest: 'this is a defensive war, and A-lmighty Gcd will go before you to fight your battles for you and perform miracles for you as He has done since the days of Moses.' 

After this oration, the Priests would then offer army exemptions for newlyweds and the like. And after that, the Torah says:

[After the Priests has spoken] the Shotrim (police/sergeants) added on the following exemption: Let any man who is afraid or is soft-hearted go and return to his home, lest he demoralize the hearts of his brethren like his. (20:8)

The commentators cite a dispute in the Talmud (Sotah 43) on this verse between Rabbi Yossi of the Galilee and Rabbi Akiva: Rabbi Akiva understood "soft-hearted" to mean that, despite the priestly promises of success on the battlefield, this man lacked faith in the outcome of battle. In other words, he lacked faith in Gcd.

Rabbi Yossi, however, felt that the soft-hearted soldier believed plenty in Gcd, only he didn't believe in himself: in reflecting upon his own behavior, the soft-hearted man realized that he was not deserving of the Providential intervention promised by the Cohen. He believed that the Jewish Army would prevail, but he feared that he personally might not survive owing to his less than valorous behavior in his private life.

And who is valorous? He who possesses self-control. As the Torah states: he who is slow to anger is greater than a hero, and he who is the master of his emotions is greater than a general who conquers a city. (Avot 4:1)

This week, secret codicils of the Iranian Nuclear Agreement were revealed which allow the Iranians to verify compliance of the agreement with their own nuclear experts. In other words, the wolves are guarding the hen house.

Neither advocates nor opponents of the Agreement seriously believe that the Iranian Nuclear Development Program is intended to develop therapeutic medical radio-isotopes. (Oh, sorry: except the BBC.)

Throughout the negotiations and even as recently as this week, the Iranians have publicly and unabashedly reiterated their stated goal of destroying Israel and her seven million Jews. And if the Twentieth Century has taught us anything, it's that when demagogues threaten genocide it is foolhardy ignore those threats. Iran and her allies will attack Israel with every means at its disposal when it believes it has sufficient advantage to prevail.

At best, the agreement might defer war until the politicians responsible for crafting it are no longer accountable for their actions. That's the general modus operandi of politicians: take the money now, and kick the can down the road for someone else to deal with later. 

But when all the dust settles, tens of billions of dollars in hard currency will have been released to the Iranians in exchange for unverifiable assurances of their goodwill. The goodwill of the same Iranians who are gleefully and very openly preparing for genocide.

The Iranian Nuclear Agreement guarantees war. 

But take heart: the Torah likens the Jewish People to the moon: no matter how bright it may appear in the night sky, the moon has no internal light of its own, its brightness reflects a mere fraction of the light of the sun. So too the Jewish People: the light that others see in us is actually the Gcdly Light as reflected through the Covenant of Sinai. 

In other words, those who fight Israel have no quarrel with us; they fight against Gcd Himself, and can never prevail. As the Torah says, Gcd will go before the Jewish People to fight our battles for us and save us. 

Just ask the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Nazis. They may get in their licks, but we always wind up on the winning side of history, surviving and enduring.

The question is Rabbi Yossi's: are we worthy of that Divine Intervention? Are we worthy of the Miracle?

Again: who is a Gibor (valorous)? He who possesses self-control. As the Torah states: he who is slow to anger is greater than a hero, and he who is the master of his emotions is greater than a general who conquers a city. (Avot 4:1)

How well served are we by a Jewish Leadership that is dragged through the mud almost weekly by revelations of sexual or financial impropriety? By the leadership of gutless technocrats who weigh every decision not on the basis of right or wrong, but on the basis of mitigating liability, and who tilt justice towards the haves at the expense of the have-nots? Who publicly blather pieties while privately chasing power, money and sex?

We need Giborim (the brave, the mighty) as our leaders, not the rachi halev, the soft of heart and mind, like our current crop of complacent, corpulent cowards.

And what of ourselves? All Jews (and everyone who believes in the One True Gcd) must prepare for the coming difficulties by making ourselves worthy of the Miracle that is about to occur: by rectifying our behavior, returning to the basics, and preparing spiritually for the rocky path ahead. 

Difficult times await. Here and now, during the penitential month of Elul, we must each go to the "desert" for self-reflection, spiritual preparation and self-awareness. 

For it is only by turning to Gcd as a united people with one heart that we will make ourselves worthy of the great Redemption which is about to unfold before our very eyes.

Shabbat Shalom.

Silver Swans and Crusts of Bread - Reflections on Parashat Eikev 5775

(Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25)

The silver swan, who, living, had no note,
When Death approached, unlocked her silent throat.
Leaning her head against the reedy shore, 
Thus sang her first and last, and sang no more:
"Farewell, all Joys! O Death, come close mine eyes!
More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise."
                                                     - Orlando Gibbons, 1612

The entire Book of Deuteronomy is Moses' swan song, his final testament; his last, desperate attempt to warn the Jewish People of the ethical pitfalls that attend to great prosperity and power, and which could (and did) lead to our undoing.

We are taught that Moses had a debilitating speech impediment. And yet here, at the end of his life, his silent throat is unlocked, eloquently and passionately bidding us not to behave like the boorish, honking goose. 

Parashat Eikev is curious in the following respect: together with Dvarim and Va'etchanan, these first three parshiot, i.e., the first 334 verses of his Grand Oration, contain only a scattering of Mitzvot (commandments). One might have expected Moses The Lawgiver to be cramming his final words with law.

Instead, he speaks of broad themes, and drives them home over and over again:

- Each time I prayed for Gcd to forgive the Israelites, they were forgiven; but when I asked forgiveness for my own (minor) tresspass, I got crickets;
- You get to settle the Land of Israel, while I will be left behind to die in this desert;
- Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had their squash together and Gcd loved them for it, but you all, their descendants? You leave an awful lot to be desired;
- So the blessings about to be bestowed upon you are not a consequence of your great righteousness, but rather the fulfillment of the Divine Covenant with the Patriarchs;
                                                AND YET...
- Gcd loves you despite your failings, because He sees the great potential in you;
- Gcd pushes you and tests you and challenges you to help you grow and develop;
                                             THEREFORE...
- Don't anger Gcd by worshiping false gods (can I say that enough times?);
- Observe, internalize and do the Mitzvot, because they are ultimately for your own good;
- And in light of the (undeserved) blessings that you are about to receive, do not forget to thank Gcd in your prosperity.

Moses is sharing a hugely important secret with us: the secret of Context.

Context is defined as the set of circumstances or facts surrounding a particular event or situation. For our purposes, Context means a Torah-based framework for understanding our relationship to Gcd, as well as for understanding ourselves, our neighbors and the greater world we inhabit.

That's why here, at the very beginning of his speech, Moses isn't giving us any specific mitzvot; they will come later. 

But right up front, he is laying down a historical, social, ethical and political framework to use in understanding the mitzvot he is about to teach; tools that he is also bequeathing to us, here in the 21st Century, to accurately analyze our own lives and our own current events (it's the 58th Century, actually, but hey - who's counting?).

Without context, facts are merely isolated data points. But with context, data becomes information, organized facts become knowledge - and knowledge is the prerequisite to wisdom.

Moses famously says,  "...not by bread alone does Man live, but from everything which flows from Gcd does Man live." (8:3) The entirety of that which flows from Gcd, i.e., understanding the deeper meaning of life; not just our physical existence, but the holistic view of mind, body and spirit - that is Context.

That's also why Moses commands us this week to bless Gcd for our most basic need, that of food: "And when you eat and are satisfied, you must bless the Lord your Gcd..." (8:10) For millennia, no matter how poor or how rich, Jews do not let a crust of bread pass their lips without saying thank you to Gcd, because in so doing, we provide context to the act of eating.

And the hundreds of other blessings the Jew recites every day constitute the backdrop, the context, of our spiritual life.

Moses was the greatest prophet that ever lived, and yet even he could not foresee every future problem the Jewish People would encounter on our long and difficult path back home. So he gave us a set of tools, adaptable to every culture and situation; a moral sextant to guide us through the inky night of the diaspora.

As parents, we must absolutely teach our children how to properly perform the Mitzvot. But we must also provide them with Context, a cogent worldview that explains why the Mitzvot matter. When you raise a child in the Context of Torah; that is, when you raise a child who can't wait for Shabbat to arrive; when you raise a child who wants to pray every day; when you raise a child who respects her parents out of love and not out of fear; when you raise a child who willingly separates a portion of her allowance to those less fortunate without being told; when you raise that kind of kid, you don't have to worry about teenage drunkenness, accidental pregnancies, assimilation and intermarriage. 

In the age of the 24/7 cable news cycle, we are deluged by thousands of data points every day. The News outrages, shocks, titillates, entertains - for a moment, anyway, before we are distracted by the next disaster or wardrobe malfunction or Kardashian break up.

In the absence of context, the news itself become little more than a carnival freak show, itself a distraction from the most urgent issues of our time.

But with the Perspective of Torah, wise conclusions can be reached. In fact, with the proper perspective, Torah might even be found in the lyrics to a 400 year old madrigal. (wink)

Shabbat Shalom.

PS: To read an earlier Blog Post on this Parasha click HERE.

PPS: Anyone in the Lehigh Valley is cordially invited to my Tuesday parasha classes. There is of course no charge, and people from many different walks of life participate. Please contact me for times and places.

Allusion and Illusion - Reflections on Parashat Masei 5775

(Numbers 30:2 - 36:13)

Remember Robin Williams' shtick about "Reality: What A Concept"?  This week's Torah portion challenges our perception of reality, although perhaps taking a slightly different, less drug-induced, approach than Robin's.

In it, we read of the sojourns of the the Jewish People during their 40 years in the desert.

Specifically, the Torah names all the places that they stopped on their twisting path toward the Promised Land. Place names like Marah. Ilem. Dafka. Alush. Refidim. Kivroth Hata'avah. Chatzerot. Ritmah. And on and on. Forty-two of them, to be exact.

But guess what? The Ba'al HaTurim and others say the list of names aren't actual places. Rather, each name is an allusion to some notable event that occurred at that encampment. Like, 'the spot on the trail where I twisted my ankle.'

Marah - the place where the bitter waters were made sweet. Kivrot Hata'avah - the burial place of the lustful. In other words, you'll never find these places on Mapquest; these "places" don't exist per se.  

This makes sense: after all, the Jews were sojourning in a desert - do you think the wilderness was dotted with little frontier towns, complete with saloons, banks and blacksmiths?  Of course not. They made camp in the wide expanses of nowhere; as my Zayde would have said in Yiddish, in Chandikeveh.

So the Jewish People - whom the Maharal describes as the otherworldly people - survived for 40 years with no natural food or water, encamped in places that don't actually exist, and somehow emerged out the other side intact.

There was no there there, almost as if they existed in another dimension of reality.

150 years ago, scientists felt they had a pretty good grasp on reality. They had proven that there were these little particles called "atoms" - from the Greek meaning smallest indivisible unit, aka "elements." Hydrogen. Helium. Lithium. Berylium. These were the building blocks of the entire universe, and Mendeleev had even worked out their orderly arrangement in what became known as the Periodic Table. 

This was huge, because everything in the physical universe, without exception, is composed of atoms. You, me, that big sycamore down the lane, the car that drives down that lane - everything. (Did I mention everything? Because I meant ab-so-lute-ly everything.)

So with great confidence, Science claimed that it had cracked the mystery of the essence of matter.

Only...Science soon discovered that the atom - supposed to be the smallest indivisible unit - was actually composed of smaller, sub-atomic particles. (Ouch! got that wrong...) Protons. Neutrons. Electrons. So the hunt was on for the smallest individual sub-atomic particle, so Science could re-assert its conviction that it had a handle on the essence of physical reality.

Since then, though, the deeper we have looked into the structure of the atom, the more particles we have found, and, to complicate matters further, sub-atomic particles ignore the laws of physics. So Particle Physics has quietly abandoned its efforts to find the smallest particle, but rather catalogues the existence and behavior of sub-atomic particles that might exist for a billionth or a trillionth of a second. 

In other words, when you start seriously studying matter, the more we attempt to peel back its layers to get to the core of reality, the more it seems there's nothing there. 

Similarly, most everyone who has taken high-school level chemistry knows that atoms are composed of a positively charged nucleus around which spin negatively charged electrons in various "shells" or states of energy. We are all familiar with the symbol of nuclear energy, showing rings of electrons spinning around a nucleus:

However, this depiction is not at all to scale. If we were to draw the atom accurately, the nucleus would be the size of a ping pong ball on the 50 yard line of the Superdome, while the electrons would be spinning around way out in the nosebleed section - at the edge of the uppermost bleachers. 

But what's in between the teeny weeny nucleus and those far out spinning electrons? 

Nothing. Not air, not anything. 99.99% of the atom is composed of nothingness. There's no there there.

And we're all composed of atoms. 

Which means that you, me, that big sycamore down the lane, the car that drives down that lane - all that physical reality is chimerical. It is quite literally 99.99% nothingness. 

No matter how immediate, how palpable reality may seem, it's just an illusion - nothing but a momentary hiccup in the unending flow of energy in the universe.

For over 3,000 years, Torah has been teaching us what Science is just now getting around to: that we are spiritual beings - neshamot - shrouded in a veil of physicality, and that physicality itself is nothing more than a Holodeck image - an incredibly convincing illusion.

Like the Jews of old, we are all sojourners in the wilderness, trapped for a time in a dimension foreign to our essential nature. 

In our travels, the wise will stay true to the spiritual self, while the fool will chase the shimmering oasis of physical comfort and self-indulgence. 

Thanks, Robin: "Reality" is just that - a concept. 

Shabbat Shalom.

International Relations - Reflections on Chukat 5775

(Numbers 19:1 - 22:1)

Knock knock? How to get in.

That was the problem for Moses and the Jewish People. After forty long years of perambulating in the desert, they were itching to settle down, plant fields and vineyards, and get to work. But every route was blocked; how were they going to get in to the Land of Israel, long promised to them by Gcd?

Edom controlled the region south of the Dead Sea, straddling the Negev and the Arabian desert. When Moses sends emissaries asking to transit through Edom, he is met by a threat of war. 

What could Moses do? Israel had no quarrel with the nation of Edom; they inhabited their ancestral homeland of Mount Seir and surrounds, on which Israel had no territorial claim. Edom had every right to grant safe passage through his land - or not. His answer was 'no', and the Children of Israel withdrew.

Similarly, the Moabites and Ammonites resided on their ancestral homelands and (up to this point in the history) Israel had no quarrel with them either. 

But this state of affairs effectively blocked both the southern and eastern approaches into Israel. There was simply no way to sneak three million people, and untold millions of head of livestock, through the cordon set up by these nations.

And then the status quo changes dramatically. Sihon, the king of the Amorites, attacks Moab. Why? The Torah doesn't say, but wars are usually started over one of three reasons: power, wealth or women (Helen of Troy comes to mind.)

The Torah also suggests that the Amorites were an unstoppable military force: 

"Thus did the troubadours say: 

A fire came forth from Heshbon, a conflagration from the city of Sihon...

Woe unto you, O Moab, you are lost, O people of Chemosh,

His sons became fugitives, his daughters captives...(22:27 ff.)

Blitzkrieg! When the dust of war settles, the new map looks like this:

The Torah records that the Amorites conquered a large swath of Moabite land east of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea, from the Arnon River in the south to the Yabok River in the north. 

The Amorites were an altogether different beast: unlike Edom, Ammon or Moab, they were one of the Seven Nations whom we were bidden by Gcd to expel from the Land for their evil and perverse behavior.

Sihon's little military adventure temporarily gained him territory, riches and fame. But without his even realizing it, he had also solved our problem, for in displacing Moab he had also created a corridor for the Jewish People directly into the Land of Israel. 

When the Jews request safe passage through his newly-won territory, Sihon, drunk with victory, responds to the overture by waging war against us. The Jews not only repel his unprovoked attack, but the unconquerable Sihon and his army are swept aside like so many bowling pins. In a Six-Day-War-style rout, the Jews conquer and subdue all Amorite territory east of the Jordan River.  

In an amazing about-face, the Jews suddenly find themselves standing on the threshold of the Land of Israel. Yesterday, every door was slammed in their faces; today they stood within grasp of the dream.

We must conclude that the evil, pagan king Sihon, in launching a war against Moab for his own craven ends, was, in some crazy way, actually doing Gcd's will.

Like the Pharaoh, who, by refusing to free the Jews from bondage, was doing Gcd's will.

Like the early Zionist pioneers, who thought they were building a socialist utopia, but with every whack of the hammer and cut of the saw were unwittingly heralding the coming of the messianic age.

In 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm II visited the Holy Land. Theodore Herzl arranged for an audience with the Kaiser in Jerusalem. There, Herzl made an impassioned plea for the case of a Jewish State in Palestine.

The Kaiser replied (in a very patronizing tone) that in order for there to be a Jewish State in Palestine, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire, and the German Empire would all have to consent. Alternatively, all four dynasties would have to fall. 

The Kaiser dismissed him by concluding, "And neither, my dear Mr. Herzl, is ever going to happen."

Kaiser Wilhelm was a prophet. For not only did those four great powers of 19th Century Europe get thrown onto garbage heap of history, so, too, did the British Empire, which worked tirelessly to prevent the Jews from getting to the Land of Israel, both before WWII and after. (They even threatened death camp survivors with deportation directly back to Germany if they attempted to enter Palestine illegally.)

"Our enemy said, 'I will hound them, I will overtake them, I will dole out the plunder; I will fill my lust for their blood, I will unsheathe my sword, and I will take everything from them.'  [But what happened?] You [Gcd] blew your wind, he [the enemy] was covered by the sea; he sunk like lead in the deepest waters." (Exodus 15:9)

Even in our day, there are those in the world who still attempt to close Israel's borders with boycotts and sanctions; who attempt to wrest Israel from her rightful owners, by diplomacy if possible, or by war and nuclear weapons if necessary.

They should pay heed to the fate of their predecessors. Presidents and potentates may craft foreign policy based upon their narrow self-interests, but it is the King who reigns over all kings that directs the events on the stage of history - and often in the most unlikely and unexpected ways.

Shabbat Shalom.

The Candy Store - Reflections on Parashat Korach 5775

(Numbers 16:1-18:32)

Korach was one clever cookie.

By dangling plums of power and glory, he cobbled together a rebellion from the most improbable group of malcontents: (1) some firstborn among the various Tribes of Israel, who sought the restoration of the traditional priesthood to the eldest sons; (2) some Reubenites, who, as descendants of Jacob's firstborn son Reuben, felt entitled to the priesthood; and (3) some Levites, who were dissatisfied with the support role they were assigned in Gcd's service, and coveted the priesthood for themselves.

These rival factions could agree on nothing - except that the High Priest Aaron (and his sons the Cohanim) had to go.

Korach knew that he couldn't keep his promises to them all, but no matter: they were useful idiots in the advancement of his secret agenda: a coup d'etat to topple Moses, to be replaced by none other than - Korach himself. 

And why not? Korach was rich where his cousin Moses was not; charismatic where Moses was reserved and stern. (Korach probably had whiter teeth, fresher breath and could bench press twice his body weight, too.)

But for all his advantages, Korach, as his name hints in the Hebrew, was cold as ice and just as slippery. Wealth made Korach insufferably arrogant (as wealth is wont to do), and his natural charisma drove his limitless ambition.

At the heart of Korach's insurrection is a question which bears heavily on Jewish life to this day: does "religion" serve Gcd, or is religion meant to serve us?

Korach stroked the egos of the insurrectionists by arguing that the purpose of religion was to serve them: after all, "kulam kedoshim," all the people are holy. Accordingly, Moses' lawbook should be edited to conform to the evolving needs and aesthetic sensibilities of the people. 

In this view, the synagogue is a spiritual service center, where people turn to have their afflictions comforted, their marriages sanctioned, their dead buried, their children bar-mitzvahed. And just like the local tire shop or dry cleaner, you don't give the place much thought when you aren't in need of the services provided.  

The consumerist view posits that religion is like powerful medicine: good to know it's there when you need it, but who takes Dayquil if you don't have the flu?

In the spiritual marketplace, the customer is king. Is your rabbi coming down a little hard on your lifestyle choices? No problem, go rabbi shopping! There are boatloads of others, one of whom is sure to give religious sanction to anything - and I mean anything - your little heart desires, and all for the most reasonable of fees. 

As savvy consumers, Korach and his motley crew were trading up - on both Moses and Aaron.

By contrast, Moses, the eved Hashem, the servant of Gcd, embodied the opposite view: that the religious life is a life of service, first to Gcd and then, by extension, to our fellow man.

Avodah, service, is all about performing Gcd's mitzvot with joy. Avodah is recognizing that the mitzvot come from Gcd through Moses, but not from Moses. Thus it's about doing the mitzvah even if we don't fully understand why, (and even as we resolve to gain deeper understanding) because we trust the Source. Avodah is about loving Gcd by doing His mitzvot with all your heart and all your soul and all your might.

In other words, true piety is not about calculating the take, the bennies that we extract from our religious experience as a spiritual consumer. Rather, it's all about the moment-to-moment hard work of spiritual growth and development, of what we give of ourselves to Gcd, quietly and without fanfare.

This contrast between Moses and Korach's view of the utility of religion is reflected in Pirkei Avot (5:17):

Every argument that is for the sake of heaven is destined to endure. But if it is not for the sake of heaven -- it is not destined to endure. What is an example of an argument for the sake of heaven? The argument of Hillel and Shammai. What is an example of an argument not for the sake of heaven? The argument of Korach and all of his followers.

Korach wasn't casting his eyes heavenward, in the service of Gcd, he was casting his eyes downward, dispensing candy to the Jews. Moses had nothing to offer them but spinach and hard work. 

Which is easier to sell?

Tragically, there is a lot of candy for sale in the Jewish world today. We live in a time when it has become fashionable to modernize Judaism with all kinds of updates and tweaks and improvements. 

The thorny problem is Moses' Lawbook, which is an obstacle to the new-and-improved Judaism. So Job One must be to delegitimize the Torah, undercut its authority. Then we can begin crafting a Judaism in our own image.

Don't like the wording of a particular prayer? A little liturgical nip-and-tuck is in order. Trim the fat. Cut out the parts you don't like, or better yet, write your own prayer book, which reflects your uber-sophisticated modern sensibilities (because let's just say it - it's all about you.)

Don't like a particular mitzvah? Cut and paste it out of the Book. Better yet, chuck the Torah out the window altogether and design your own customized faith system. Invent your own mitzvot. Then head out to the marketplace where you're sure to find a rabbi to call it "Judaism." 

And the pluralism thought-police demand that we equate candy corn and corn corn.

The Edward Scissorhands routine has become so pervasive in American Judaism that it becomes harder by the day to find the simple faith of our forbears, that dedication to truth, so nobly embodied for all generations by Moses.

Ultimately, Gcd had to intervene to remind people that the heart of the Jewish faith is not the Jewish People or Jewish Tradition, but the service of Gcd. Korach was literally swallowed by his own ambition, and his rebels destroyed. But as the parsha goes on to tell, the ripples of that rebellion spread in their time and in ours. 

Candy tastes good going down, but you will get sick and die if candy is your only food. Snickers doesn't satisfy. 

So it should come as no surprise that many Jews are rejecting the empty spiritual junk food on which they were raised in their suburban temples, or, at the other extreme, certain yeshivot where rigid conformity substitutes for honest intellectual inquiry. The spiritual seekers look instead to feed their souls from someone else's garden.

But more than a few have turned inward to discover the rich spiritual nutrition of avodah.

"Behold the days are coming, saith the Lcrd, when I will send a terrible famine in the land; not a hunger for bread or a thirst for water, but a hunger to hear the authentic words of Hashem." (Amos 8:11)

My prayer is that the entirety of the Jewish people will drink from the vivifying waters of Torah, and come to merit the great appellation conferred on Moses, Eved Ne'eman, the faithful servant of Gcd.

Shabbat Shalom.

Humble Pie - Reflections on Parashat Ba'Haalotecha 5775

There is a well worn story about the rabbi who, looking out upon his flock on Yom Kippur, prostrates himself before Holy Ark and declares, "Oh Gcd! Before you, I am as nothing!"

The cantor, upon seeing the devotions of the rabbi (and never to be outdone), quickly falls upon his face and also cries out, "Oh Gcd! Before you, I am as nothing!" 

A simple congregant, deeply moved by these acts of piety, prostrates himself as well and screams out, "Oh Gcd! Before you, I too am as nothing!"

To this, the cantor whispers to the rabbi: "Ha! Look who thinks he's as nothing!"

Don't hate me for my bad jokes.

This week's parasha describes Moses as the humblest man to ever walk the earth. (Numbers 12:3)  How does that statement help us understand the personality of Moses? Did he see himself as a 'nothing'? How do we define humility anyway? And lastly, why is this character trait so important? 

The definitions of humility are all over the map. Rashi succinctly defines humility as being of lowly spirit and patient. The Ibn Ezra says that Moses was humble in his estimation of himself, in that he never aspired to greatness, to be elevated above his brethren. The Ramban says Moses' humility was defined by his willingness to remain silent in the face of the hurtful rumors against him. And so, says the Ramban, Gcd Himself rose to his defense. 

In the 19th century, Rabbi Israel Salanter defined humility as focusing on our own personality flaws (for the purposes of self-improvement) while overlooking the flaws in others. And in the 20th century, Rabbi Avrohom Twerski in Let Us Make Man defines humility as always looking forward, towards the next task to which we can apply our unique talents and gifts, rather than looking backwards at our accomplishments, constantly pointing to a mantlepiece bulging with awards and trophies.

Perhaps humility is, as Oliver Wendell Holmes observed (on a very different subject) hard to define, but you know it when you see it.

I suggest that Moses' humility was rooted in another key concept Gcd uses in these verses to describe him: Avdi, My servant. 

Moses' life was utterly devoted to the service of Gcd and to the service of his fellow. He was indefatigable in this. Unlike the rest of us, he never needed a mental health day, or "me" time, or summer vacation. Moses was forever thinking about the needs of others; and when a person is wholly, utterly preoccupied with the needs of others, there is simply no time to consider the self. 

That's an almost impossible standard, and that's why Moses was in a league by himself. 

Humility is not lack of self-esteem,  a sense of worthlessness or self-abnegation; it is rooted in selflessness and service to others. C.S. Lewis once said that, "True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less."

And it must be said that arrogance and narcissism, the great spiritual scourges of our time, are the polar opposites of humility. The Arizal understands arrogance to be the root of all sin, so we can infer that humility is the root of Gcdliness.

Humility comes from being a holistic, centered person, one with an healthy sense of their own strengths and weaknesses. When a person has a balanced life and healthy relationships (see more on this subject HERE) they have a clear sense of the contribution they can make, and are thereby in a position to truly serve others.

By contrast, off-center people who feel some lack in their lives are perpetually focused on themselves, vainly attempting to fill the unfillable black hole of "what-I-need." Any service such a person may attempt to render to Gcd or their fellow man is flawed because it is ultimately self-serving.

I am indebted to my friend Brian Goldman for sharing a recent David Brooks op-ed in the New York Times. In it, Brooks asked readers to describe where they found fulfillment and meaning. Many of the respondents found meaning in a "small, happy life."

He recounts the story of a young man

...who was asked by a journalist to show his most precious possession. The man...was proud and excited to show the journalist the gift he had been bequeathed. A banged up tin pot he kept carefully wrapped in cloth as though it was fragile. The journalist was confused, what made this dingy old pot so valuable? ‘The message,’ the friend replied. The message was ‘we do not all have to shine.’ This story resonated deeply. In that moment I was able to relieve myself of the need to do something important, from which I would reap praise and be rewarded with fulfillment. My vision cleared. [My emphasis. - YM]  

Moses, as great as he was, was the icon of humility because he tackled the challenges Gcd had assigned him to tackle. It is not for us to do Moses' task. For the rest of us, humility is a willingness to accept the challenges and solve the problems that Gcd presents in our own lives, and to do so with quiet dignity, with grace, and without fanfare.

The verse in Psalms 131 states: "My heart was not proud, nor my eyes haughty, nor did I pursue matters too great and wondrous for me." 

Most of us are not kings or generals or captains of industry; it's probably not your job to single-handedly to invent "the-next-big-thing" or abolish hate or war or hunger or avarice. So instead of stressing out over things we have no power to control, better to do those mitzvot that Gcd lays at our doorstep: study Torah; feed the poor; care for our cherished ones and our community; plant a tree, tend a garden or put up a bird feeder.

And as we learn in this week's parasha, those who cultivate within themselves a spirit of genuine humility can be assured that Gcd will rise to their defense.

Ours is to apply our efforts to the task ahead. As Rabbi Tarfon said: The day is short; there is much work to do; yet the workers are lazy though the incentive is great; and the Business Owner is insistent. (Avot 2:20)

Shabbat Shalom.