The Nine Chanukahs of Light

Today is Shabbat Chanukah. We are in the midst of a whole week of commemorating the events of the Maccabbean rebellion. We all know the story, that Mattisyahu and his sons led a war against the Syrian king, Antiochus, who had demanded that the Jews give up their faith and merge with the pagan Hellenism of the day. They were successful and recaptured the Temple. It had been desecrated with idols and the sacrifices of pigs. The Jewish soldiers cleansed the Temple, brought in the priests, and rededicated it. This is in fact where we get the name Chanukah, it means “dedication”.

There is a midrash, that says there was not just one Chanukah but actually seven.

The seven mentioned in the midrash are:

• The Chanukah of Creation
• In Genesis it says “when the heavens and earth were completed” The midrash says that “completed” refers to dedication because when Israel had completed all of the accouterments of the Tabernacle that Moses blessed them in dedication to be used in holy service. So, goes the midrash, God dedicated creation.
• The Chanukah of the Tabernacle
• As we just mentioned Moses dedicated the Temple to the service of Hashem.
• The Chanukah of the First Temple
• King David wrote a psalm for the dedication of the First Temple, which was actually performed by his son Solomon. Psalm 30 starts out, “mizmor shir chanukat habayit”, A psalm, a song, for the dedication of the temple.
• The Chanukah of the Second Temple
• In the time of Ezra when they rebuilt the temple, they dedicated it with sacrifices.
• The Chanukah of the Wall of Jerusalem
• When Nehemiah led the people to finish the wall around Jerusalem they dedicated it. In Nehemiah 12 it says, “And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought all the Levites from all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to rejoice in the dedication”
• The Chanukah of Maccabees
• This is the Chanukah that we are currently celebrating.
• The Chanukah of Olam Ha-Ba
• In Isaiah 30 it says, “The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days”. This, say our Sages, refers to the end of time, Olam Ha-Ba. When Hashem will dedicate the New Heavens and New Earth.

What I would like to propose to you is that there are in fact 9 Chanukahs, not 7; these round out the Chanukah menorah. In fact, that is my title for this sermon, “The Nine Chanukahs of Light.” The 8^th Chanukah of light is the Chanukah of Yeshua. As we will see in a moment, He is our example of total dedication to Hashem. The 9^th Chanukah of light is the Chanukah of us. Each and every one of us is called to dedicate ourselves Hashem. I would like to look at 3 specific aspects of Chanukah that Yeshua exemplifies and we are also called to.

First, Chanukah is about dedication to Torah.

Antiochus had ordered our people to give up Torah and adopt Hellenistic ways. Mattisyahu and his sons and those who fought with them refused to do this. They showed their dedication to Torah by resisting this forced enculturation and, with God’s help, defeating their enemies.

The book of Maccabees records Mattisyahu’s words to his sons as he lay on his death bed. He said:

My children, be zealous for the Law, and give your lives in behalf of the testament of our fathers. Be mindful of the deeds of our fathers, which they performed in their generations, that you may receive great glory and eternal renown. Was not Abraham found faithful in time of trial, and it was accounted to him for righteousness?... Be strong and courageous in behalf of the Law… gather about you all who observe the Law, and avenge fully the wrong done to your people.”

If it were not for their dedication to Torah, we might not even be here today. Judaism could have simply ceased to exist.

Yeshua Himself was also dedicated to Torah. Yeshua did not abrogate or cancel the Torah; instead He upheld it and gave it its fullest meaning. He said, “I did not come to abolish the Torah, but to fulfill it.”

His issue with the leaders of His day wasn’t that they obeyed the Law, but that they let ritual aspects of Torah supersede what He called the weightier aspects, namely mercy and compassion. He says to them, “You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the Torah—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” Notice that He doesn’t tell them to not obey these lighter commandments, but that they should be practiced in addition to the weightier ones.

Yeshua showed His dedication to the Torah through His actions as well as His teachings. He consistently sent people that He healed to the priests for verification that they were in fact healed. He could have been a total rebel and told them not to mess with the priests and their rules. But instead He upholds their authority and ensures that they fulfill all of the aspects of Torah.

Chanukah calls upon us to also be dedicated to Torah. We are in an age not unlike that of the Maccabees. If you read historical accounts of Chanukah, you realize that observance was already on its way out when the edict came. Jews were already slowly being Hellenized; many had already fully assimilated into Greek culture. This is why the Sadducees were opposed to the doctrine of angels and life after death. They were priests highly assimilated into Greek culture. They felt it unsophisticated and contrary to modern philosophical thinking to believe in such things.

The reality is that it might have been for the best that Antiochus forced the issue with his edict, because it pushed the issue to the forefront. Had he not, some historians think that Judaism would have just simply slowly faded away.

Today is similar to that. We have a high rate of assimilation and inter-marriage. Torah observance is at an all time low in the United States and Israel. We must be dedicated enough to the observance of Torah that we do our part to preserve it. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch said, “One single spark, loyally treasured in but one single Jewish heart, is sufficient for God to set aflame once more the whole spirit of Judaism.” Each and every one of us is that one small vial of oil, which God can do a miracle with.

Every morning we pray in the Shacharit service:

“Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us to engross ourselves in the words of Torah. Please, Hashem, our God, sweeten the words of your Torah in our mouth and in the mouth of Your people, the family of Israel.”

The root word of Chanukah is Chanach, Chet-Nun-Chaf, which means “to train”. We are to train ourselves in Torah. Train like athletes do for a major competition.

The rabbis say that Chanukah marks a shift from Torah being transmitted by the prophets and the priests, to each individual Jew. When the Jews of that day were confronted with either apostasy or death, they were forced to internalize the Torah themselves and no longer just follow what their leaders said. After the Maccabean rebellion, the Torah is always quoted in the name of individuals. In the Mishnah we see references to the Torah of Rav so-and-so. We are called to make the Torah our Torah. We need to learn the Torah of Larry, and Julie, and Abby.

Chanukah calls us to be dedicated to God’s Torah, to teach it to our children, teach it to one another, and thereby preserve it.

Chanukah is also about being dedicated to shedding the light of Torah to the world.

We do this mostly by living out the precepts of Torah, in particular by doing gemilut hassidim, deeds of lovingkindness.

As the 8^th candle, Yeshua is our example par excellence in this area. We see Him consistently being drawn to and reaching out to the down and out, the unappreciated, the rejected, and the ignored. He eats with tax collectors and prostitutes. He touches lepers and pays attention to cripples and the blind. These are people whom society in this day as well as in His day tends to just overlook and cast aside. Yeshua loves them, lives with them, and grants them dignity.

As the 9^th candle, we too are called to live a life of chesed, of lovingkindness. The schools of Hillel and Shammai had a disagreement, as they often did, on how Hannukah menorahs should be lit. Shammai said that you should light all of the candles the first night and light one less each night. But Hillel said that you should light one candle the first night and one more each successive night because in matters of holiness we should be growing, not diminishing in them. This is the practice that our tradition has adopted. Chanukah is a call on us to be dedicated to growing ever more in our acts of hesed. In our own way, we can comfort the afflicted, give sight to the blind, heal the sick, and raise up those who are bowed down.

I have been reading lately Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ book titled “To Heal a Fractured World.” This is an excellent book that I highly recommend. His basic premise is that what the Torah has given the world is this sense of being accountable for our fellow human beings. He says, there is divine justice, but God calls for human justice. He calls for us to act to stop injustices and to reach out to people who are in need. This is exemplified in God’s call upon Abraham to “walk before me and be perfect”. The rabbis interpret this to mean “Don’t wait for me to command you to do good. See the need and do it.” The Torah calls us to be people of lovingkindness.

As one Jewish mystic put it, “Another person’s physical needs are my spiritual obligation.”

We had an example this past week of one who lived this principle of taking care of others. Some of us were at the funeral of Allen and Larry’s father, Sam Singer. At the funeral we heard about how Sam was always there for people in his community, helping them out when they were in need. Allen talked about trying to fill his father’s shoes when his father had surgery some years ago. He was running about helping neighbors and widows with all kinds of things, wondering how his father did it all. This is a man who lived a life of chesed, a life dedicated to lovingkindness. Rabbi Dobrusin even connected it to Chanukah in his words at the funeral. He said, “Sam was a simple candle, but a candle that showed a light to all of those around him.” His life is an example to us all.

Yeshua said, “let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Maimonides said, “If a person is scrupulous in his conduct, gentle in his conversation, pleasant towards his fellow creatures, affable in manner when receiving them, not retorting even when affronted, but showing courtesy to all, even to those who treat him with disdain, conducting his commercial affairs with integrity… such a person has sanctified God’s name.”

Each and everyone one of us are a Chanukah of light. We can shed our light upon others around us through dedication to good deeds.

Finally, Chanukah is about being dedicated to the mission that God has given us in life.

The Jews in the days of the rebellion against Antiochus did not so much find God’s mission as it found them. The very circumstances that they were thrust into begged for them to stand up for Torah and the Jewish way of life and fight against tyranny.

Yeshua knew God’s mission for Him because it was revealed to Him by the Father. He dedicated Himself to fulfilling the office of Mashiach because it was God’s will for him.

Some of us will be like those in the days of the first Chanukah and discover what God wants us to do by the circumstances we find ourselves in. Some of will be like Yeshua had have God tell us what He wants. Whichever way we discover it, we need to seek out His mission for us and dedicate ourselves to its fulfillment.

We have been talking about mission. We are all called to the mission of observing and encouraging observance of the Torah. We are all called to do good deeds. Collectively, we as Jews are called to be a light to the nations, a holy priesthood. But each of us has are particular role, our sub-mission if you will in accomplishing this task.

Martin Buber said, “Every person born into this world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique. Every person’s foremost task is the actualization of his unique, unprecedented and never recurring potentialities.”

Chanukah calls us to be dedicated to finding our particular mission in life and work towards its fulfillment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would just like to say that we should not be dismayed by the breadth and depth of these calls upon us. They indeed can be daunting. If you read a history of Chanukah, you will realize that the temple was dedicated before the war was over. Judah Maccabee sent soldiers to continue the fight with the city garrison while others began to clean up the temple. So we too can dedicate ourselves to these great tasks even though the battle isn’t over for us either.

Yeshua is the eighth Chanukah of light, our example of what it means to be dedicated to Torah, to the love of others, and to fulfilling our mission in life. He perfectly executed all of these.

As the ninth Chanukah of light, each of us are called to dedicate ourselves to Torah, to loving others and good deeds, and to fulfilling our mission in life. This Chanukah season, may each of us reflect on these and strive to fulfill them.

Proverbs says that each person’s soul is a lamp of Hashem. May we become a light that truly sheds light on all of those around us and may we all merit seeing that final Chanukah in the world to come. Amen.

Images of God & Self

Last week a friend was sharing with me about how God used her to bring together a woman who had cancer and a man who God has given the gift of healing. He prayed over her and two weeks later the doctors declared her cancer free. Baruch Hashem! (praise God).

She was sharing with me that she is just stunned that she was given the privilege of being a small part of this miracle. And that she was struggling with what God wanted her to do now.

This conversation reminded me a few things that I would like to share with you all.

Encounters with God like this always affect us. They assault our image of God and also our image of ourselves. Maybe we are doubtful that God can move in this way and then suddenly we are confronted with proof that He indeed, at least on occasion, does! Suddenly God becomes mystery again. We thought that we had Him figured out and then He throws us for a loop. Or maybe we think that we are not worthy to see or participate in such things.

"Who am I to be used in such a way?" we ask ourselves.

This kind of assault on our images of God and self can be very unsettling. A very common response to this is to try to gain control of it; we want to figure it out. God has jumped out of the box and we want to find a new and improved box to put Him into. The reason for this is it feels safe. If we understand God and how He acts and we know who we are, then we can feel like we have control of the situation.

To quote C.S. Lewis in the Chronicles of Narnia, "He is not a tame lion."

My encouragement for all of us who experience such things is to resist the temptation to try to control it and figure it out. Let God be mystery, for this is what He is. We miss out on many blessings and opportunities for spiritual growth when we do try to "figure it all out".

God calls us to be open and available to Him. Beginners on the spiritual path think that they are the initiators. This is a form of control and a way of holding back. As long as we control the encounters and set the agenda, we can steer away from anything that makes us feel uncomfortable or uneasy.

A few years ago I was teaching a class on spiritual disciplines. A person approached me and said that he would like to come to the class but he was too afraid of what God might say or ask of him. I gently encouraged him to try the class but he never came. Many of us live like this, holding God at arm's length, afraid to get too close.

If anyone continues on a serious spiritual quest for God, eventually he or she will be confronted by God demanding that He be in control of the relationship. It is at this point that we realize that He is the initiator and we are the responders. This is a more mature way of walking with God (and also more freeing and joyful!)

When you have these miraculous encounters with God, resolve yourself to being open and just take in the experience. Don't try to analyze it, diagnose it, pack it in a box and wrap it up tight. Just let it be.

Also, use the experience to explore what God may be wanting to show you about Himself or yourself. Ask him these two questions:

"God, how do you want me to see You in light of this event? How should my image of you change?"

"God, how do you see me? Do I have distorted images of who I am that you want to expose and heal?"

Letting scripture read you

Both Christian and Jewish mystics throughout the centuries have urged us to not read scripture, but to let it read us. We can open ourselves up to hearing God's voice speaking to us as we meditatively read scripture. If we do this, we will find that the same passage will say different things to us at different times in our lives.

I experienced this recently. A few weeks ago I was listening to an interview with Robert Alter, who has produced a new translation of the book of Psalms. As he was discussing his translation of Psalm 23, I was taken back to a time many years ago where I had an incredible experience with reading it. It was during a prolonged period where God seemed so distant to me. It seemed like my prayers were just bouncing off of the ceiling. This had been going on for over a year when one night I sat down and read Psalm 23. As I read "Yea, though I walk through the valley of death, You are with me..." I suddenly had this tremendous insight that God was with me this whole time, even though He was "invisible" and that I needed to know that He was present and to trust Him. This brought me great solace.

As I was listening to Robert Alter read his version of Psalm 23, however, I had a very different experience. I realized that rather than God making Himself "invisible" to me, it was the other way around. Lately, I have been holding God at arm's length, not wanting to be too close to Him. I have been avoiding God. In essence, I was the one making Him "walk through a dark valley" through my inattention to His presence. Unlike years ago, where I was fervently seeking Him and He was no where to be found, now God was fervently seeking me and could not "find" me.

So this same passage, read at two different times, years apart, said something different to me. The first one brought me solace and comfort at a time when I really needed it. The second time brought me a challenge and a wake up call to see that I was ignoring God.

I encourage all of you to let scripture read you rather than simply reading scripture. If you do so, in time, you will hear the voice of God speaking to you where you are at right now in the present moment.

A Rare Privilege

Last week was the ending of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). I had ordered a book that contains all sorts of stories and anecdotes about the holiday but did not get it until afterwards. There was one story that I liked enough to send along even if the holiday is over. Here it is.


A Rare Privilege

Rabbi Mordechai was not very wealthy but each year he managed to save up enough money to buy a nice lulav and etrog set[1]. On his way to a nearby city to buy it though, he came across a man who was crying next to a cart and his dead horse.

Filled with compassion, he asked the man, “Why are you crying?”

“My horse was just killed in an accident and without him I am unable to earn a living” the man said.

Immediately Rabbi Mordechai gave his lulav & etrog money to the man so that he could buy a new horse. He said, “God commanded me to wave the lulav and etrog, but He also commanded me to take care of the needy.” So he returned home empty handed.

When the village folk asked to see his new set, he told them, “All Jews will say a blessing over the lulav and etrog during Sukkot. But this year, only I have the rare privilege of saying it over a horse.”

---

[1]The lulav is a bundle of 3 plants; myrtle, palm, and willow. An etrog is a citrus fruit grown in Israel. These are waved in praise to God throughout the 7-day feast as commanded by God in the Torah.

We are all messed up

I was talking with a friend recently about a situation which revolves around a person who is a Christian and loves God but who is so completely caught up in their own issues that they are making life very difficult for themselves and those around them. This person is completely blind to the fact that much of their thoughts and behavior are driven by past hurts and present fears.

We tend to think that just because people are believers that they "have it all together". The reality is quite the opposite. We are a collection of fairly messed and sometimes downright dysfunctional people who happen to love God and seek to follow Him. We are in need of much healing. Like it or not we are more often than not driven by our past hurts, current desires, and fear of the future.

Quite often the message that we receive in our congregations is that since we have committed our hearts and lives to God, we don't need anything more; that we have somehow arrived. I think that such messages do all of us a great disservice. As followers of Yeshua, as people who desire to be holy and whole, we should be constantly striving to improve ourselves and freeing ourselves from these driving forces within us that lead to hurting ourselves and others. We need to be seeking God's face on a regular basis asking for Him to reveal to us where we need healing.

Quite often we are totally blind to the reality of this. We cannot see without careful self-awareness and introspection.

Where are you driven by past hurts? Do you react strongly to certain "triggers"? Are you harboring past resentments? Are you afraid of the future? Do you have inordinate desires for something?

These questions are difficult to face, but they must be on a regular basis if we are to grow into God's image. These things keep us from being unconditional love. We need to ruthlessly ferret them out of our lives through prayer, through reflection, and through talking with trusted friends or a spiritual leader.


peace,
izzy

Voice of Silence

Yom Kippur begins tomorrow night at sundown. We will end Yom Kippur on Saturday night by hearing a long piercing blast of the shofar (ram's horn).

Here is a brief meditation by Rabbi Stephan Parnes:

The ancient voice calls:
Awake- and know fear!
Choose! Decide!
Which road will you travel this year?
But today- Shabbat-
the Shofar's voice is not heard.

In this silence, in this stillness,
Where is God?
Is silence God's absence?
Or is it a call to respond?

Shema Israel- Hear now O Israel-
The sound of silence-
The sound that pierces the strongest armor.

The voice of the shofar
Helped bring down Jericho's walls,
But silence can shatter
the strongest walls
The walls we build around ourselves.

Shema Israel- Hear now O Israel-
the sound of silence
The crushing, deafening, sound of silence-
And choose life.

Choosing Life

Deut 30:15-20

In our Torah reading today we have the words, “See, I set before you today, life and death. Choose life.”

The Hebrew word for impurity in the Bible is “tumah”. The Torah defines for us various states that are considered impure. When a woman is in her menstrual cycle she is considered to be impure. She must go through a mikveh after it is over to purify herself. A man having an seminal emission is also impure. The Torah also has many laws around tzarat, sometimes translated as leprosy, but really more like dead patches of skin. These people are unclean and are not to live within the community of Israel until they have been rid of the disease and made atonement for it. Coming into contact with a dead body also makes one tumah. Cohens, priests, are not even allowed to enter a cemetery except under special conditions.

What all of these things have in common, is that they speak of death. Menstration is caused by the loss of an ovum that could have been a life. The same with a man with a seminal discharge, the seed that could have fertilized the egg is lost. Tzarat is a disease, and diseases lead to death.

So why this obsession with uncleanness in the Torah? The reason for this is that Israel, created by Hashem to be this place that is halfway between heaven and earth, is meant to be an archetype of life. God created Life. He created beautiful sunsets, soft warm rain, good friends, and cooing babies. Death is the antithesis of Life. Death is illness, disease, hatred, and violence. Nothing that represented death was to be in Israel, this “in-between” land. And so we have these commandments that seek to eradicate these things from the Holy Land. Death contaminates the land. Death requires expiation and atonement.

Life is so important, it is held in such high regard, that we are allowed to break all of the commandments to save one, with the exception of three; idolatry, murder, sexual immorality.

The Torah itself is called a “tree of life”. We sing this in our liturgy. Those who hold it fast are called happy.

When we think about life and death, we tend to think in terms of issues foremost in our minds today. Issues like abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty. We also question whether we should be doing genetic engineering to create modified forms of life.

While all of these issues are important and should be addressed, I think what the Torah has in mind is something much deeper. It is clear from the Scriptures that God created us to live life to the fullest. We are to live in peace and joy and gladness. It is only because things went awry that we have less than this.

Death and Life are not just referring to something physical. They can refer to something emotional, mental, or spiritual as well. We can think of things like anxiety, hatred, fear, and bitterness as little deaths. When we are consumed with these things we are cutting ourselves off from the Source of Life, and also from one another. I think that God is laying before us in our Parsha today, to choose life. Life being joy, compassion, peace, love, hope; these are the stuff of life.

The fact that life and death mean something more than just physical is borne out in the teachings of our Sages. They say that embarrassing someone publicly is tantamount to killing them.

This also is taught by Yeshua Rabbenu. He said that looking down on someone was like killing them and lusting in our hearts was like adultery. These are choices of death.

I would like to discuss three ways in which we can choose between life and death.

First of all, we can choose between life and death for ourselves.

We choose death when we succumb to low self-esteem, addictions, anger, bitterness, and the like. Recent studies have clearly shown that we not only do damage to ourselves psychically but also physically. If we have a lot of negative emotions and pack them down and don’t deal with them they will come out in our bodies. People sometimes develop ulcers from excessive worry. A few years ago I met a man who did healing prayer over people. He said that his experience has been that 80% of his clients’ illnesses were emotional and/or spiritual in nature. Even cancer can be brought on by extreme emotional duress. I had a co-worker some years ago who came down with and ultimately died of cancer. She told me that studies have shown that many people who develop cancer have had some major trauma in their lives about 5-7 years prior to the onset of symptoms. In her case it was her husband being unfaithful.

We all struggle with these things from time to time; some of us more, some less. I have had to accept the reality lately that I have bouts of depression, more often than I would like to admit. I get caught up in feeling like I am not doing anything significant or meaningful with my life. I just get sad and don’t feel like doing anything. When I do this, though, I am choosing death.

Rabbi Abraham Twerski is a psychiatrist who runs a clinic for addictions. He says in his book, The Spiritual Self, that “Many people are indeed incapable of tolerating themselves because they harbor self-directed feelings of negativity… this sorry state of affairs is the result of a distortion of the self-concept. In other words, these people who are in actuality fine, competent, and likable people. The problem is that they are unaware of this reality. Instead of seeing themselves as they really are, they somehow develop a distorted image of themselves, and it is this distorted image which they assume to be the real image…”

He goes on to say that because of this, many people use addictions as ways of not facing themselves. Addictions may be to drugs and alcohol, but also to gambling, sex, affirmation, power, prestige, etc… This ultimately leads to self-destruction.

The Torah says to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Our sages point out that you have to first love yourself in order to love others. Whether we choose death or life for ourselves, these choices have a rippling effect out into the lives of others. If we choose death, then we will spew forth death to others, but if we choose life then we will be, in the words of Yeshua, “founts of living water”. Which leads into my second point.

Secondly, we can choose between life and death for others.

Moving beyond the obvious that we don’t choose to murder someone, we can look at the deeper layers of meaning. We are moving from the p’shat to the remez and drash levels. We choose death for others when we act in ways that tear them down. We already mentioned that Yeshua taught that treating a person with contempt was like murder and the rabbis said that embarrassing someone was also like murder. We can also choose death for others when we are consumed with bitterness, hatred, bigotry, and the like. In addition, if we are some consumed with our own anxieties, fears, low self-esteem, we are less likely to be attentive to others needs, it makes us less gracious. This is that outflowing that I mentioned a moment ago. Oftentimes because of the death we deal ourselves, we bring death to others. We hold back out of fear of rejection, we tell people what they want to hear because we want to be liked. This is called enabling behavior by psychologists. We enable people to continue in their own dysfunction because we want them to accept us or continue to be with us. And we can also just simply ignore others’ needs.

You know, when you write a sermon, if you are attentive, it preaches to you too. I was working on this talk at lunch one day. I realized that I was not looking at my waitress because she was overweight, and to be honest, kinda ugly. I really felt bad. As I meditated on this I realized that I wasn’t looking at her because of my own issues with struggling with my own weight. (Quite often we don’t like in others what we don’t like in ourselves). I thought to myself, how many times does she experience that during a day? I would imagine that she gets a lot of it. And this subtle rejection feeds into her own self-esteem. Studies have shown, for example, that cute babies tend to grow up to feel better about themselves because of all the positive attention they received. I was dealing death to this waitress because of my own issues.

But we can choose life for others. We can act out of compassion, seek to understand others’ viewpoints and needs, we can be open to new ideas, and we can treat people with respect, even if we don’t like them.

Our tradition tells us that one of the greatest life giving acts is to provide charity to others. Its best we are told when it can be done in a way that preserves a person’s dignity.

There is a Hasidic story about a man who came to a village and asked to see the rebbe. People told him that he wasn’t around. When asked where he was, they said that they didn’t know. The rumor was that the holy man went up to heaven every Friday morning and came back for Shabbat. Skeptical of this explanation, the visitor resolved that next week he would watch and see what happened. So early the next Friday morning, before dawn, he got up and watched the rebbe’s house. Sure enough, the rebbe came out of his house, but he was dressed in rags! The man followed the rebbe out into the woods where the rebbe cut some wood and then took it to a widow’s cottage. The rebbe asked the widow if she would like to buy some wood for the old beggar. She said that she couldn’t afford it. He said, “That’s ok. You can pay some other time.” Then the woman said that she couldn’t make a fire anyway, she was too old. The rebbe said, “That’s ok. I will make it for you.” And he proceeded to make the stack the wood and make the fire for the woman.

After this, whenever people in the village would talk about the rebbe disappearing on Friday mornings and going up to heaven, the visitor would whisper to himself, “And maybe even higher.”

Yeshua Rabbenu (Jesus, Our Great Teacher) is our example par excellance of choosing life for others. He consistently treated the down and out, the oppressed, and the rejects of society with compassion and dignity. One of the most beautiful passages in the Besorah is where a leper says to Him, “Lord, if you are willing you can heal me.” Yeshua tenderly looks into his eyes and says, “I am willing” and reaches out and touches him.

I think that one of my greatest examples of someone who chooses life for others is our esteemed rabbi. He has been a model to me of someone who always treats others with respect and always wants the best for them. I have seen him handle many situations with calm and poise and truly want the best for all parties involved.

As Jews, we need to not only choose life for individuals, but for the Jewish people as a whole. We need to fight anti-Semitism, seek to improve Yiddishkeit amongst our people, encourage them to raise their children with a Jewish identity, and do what we can to encourage them to draw closer to Hashem.

As Messianic Jews, we need to choose life for our brothers and sisters in the Church, by seeking to bring peace and understanding between the Church and Israel and helping them to understand Israel and its God-ordained role in salvation history.

Thirdly, we can choose between life and death for God.

This is an aspect that we don’t normally think about. We tend to think of God as being above and beyond all of the stuff that happens and is unaffected. He is God after all, right? But we forget that God is also intimately close to and involved in His creation. The record of Scripture is very clear on this point. In the story of the flood, God is grieved that he made humanity because of its sinfulness. He is angry that Israel continues in its idolatry. He is joyful when Israel is faithful.

In our Haftorah reading today we have the verse, "In all [Israel's] afflictions, He, too, is afflicted, and the angel of His presence redeemed them..." God suffers when His people suffer.

When we choose life for ourselves and others, we also choose life for God, and vice versa. We bring blessing to Him.

This is reflected in the kabalistic notion of the releasing the divine sparks. These sparks are hidden in everyday things. When we say a barucha over wine and bread, we are not just doing a mitzvah, but we are returning the divine sparks hidden in the wine and bread back to God. In this view, grace flows down from Hashem, but it then requires humans to complete the circuit and return His grace back to Him. Our life-giving acts have their source in Hashem, and they give life to Hashem.

After being a parent for a while, I have developed a theory that one of the reasons that God gives us children is so that we can understand Him better. When my kids treat themselves and each other like animals, it grieves me. And when they treat themselves and others lovingly it makes me proud and happy. An example of this happened last spring. Samuel and Havah went thru several days of squabbling and tensions where high between them. They were yelling at each other things like “I can’t stand you.” “I wish you weren’t my brother / sister.” “I hate you”. But then Havah had her dance recital. When she came out on stage, I looked over at Samuel and he was positively beaming. He was so proud of his sister! It really warmed my heart, especially after the previous few days.

I think that it is this way with God. Have you ever asked what is in it for God? With all of this drama and suffering in our world? I think that Hashem is blessed when His children choose life for themselves and others. This blessing must be so great that it outweighs all the tsuris.

Intertwined

Jewish mysticism tells us that all three of these are intertwined. The tradition says that while each of has a unique component to our souls, our nefesh, we also all share that spark of divinity. Each of us has a share in the existence of God. This is the neshama, the soul. So when we treat ourselves and others well, we are treating God well too!

In the Talmud it says “If you slap a person’s face, it is like slapping the face of the Shekinah”, because we are all created in His image.

Hillel taught that caring for our bodies honors that image of God and likened it to a caretaker of a stature of the King. The Torah tells us to take care of ourselves because we are all a part of God.

So when we choose life for ourselves, we are choosing life for others because we are all interconnected. And God too is given life because we are all rooted in Him. And the same when we treat others well. Its all intertwined in a great circle of life and blessing.

Conclusion

We are entering into this season of the High Holy Days, a time when we evaluate ourselves, our behavior, and our relationship with others and God. As you take stock of yourself this year ask yourself:

• Am I choosing death or life for myself? Am I succumbing to distorted self-images of who I am that is then having negative impacts on those around me?
• Am I life giving in my relationships? Where can I improve in this area?
• How can I contribute to life of the Jewish people, our movement, and to the Body of Messiah?

Also take time to celebrate the successes that you have had in this past year. Look at:

What specific incidents this past year did I act in a life-giving way?

• Where was I tempted to react negatively but caught myself?
• Where did others give me life and blessing?

Then take time to thank God for these times and feel good that you were are part of these life-giving experiences. You have truly been a partner with God.

In this New Year, may we all choose life. For ourselves. For those around us. And for God. In doing so, we will give life to Hashem as well. And we will indeed become founts of living water. L’shana Tova. And may we all be inscribed in the Book of Life. Amen.

Personal Holiness vs. End of the World

Some years ago I heard an interview with Rabbi Harold Kushner on the radio. He is the author of books like “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” and “To Life”. During the interview he said, “Christianity is focused on getting to heaven, and if you happen to become a good person in the process, great! But Judaism is focused on being a good person, and if you happen to get to heaven, great!”

This statement is clearly an oversimplification for both groups. Yes, some streams of Christianity seem to be overly focused on the hereafter and they act as if life on this earth isn’t important. But there are also Christian traditions that emphasize spiritual growth and social justice. For example, the Methodist movement of the 1700s heavily emphasized personal holiness and devotion to God. The Salvation Army movement of the early 20^th century focused a lot of their attention and efforts on helping the poor and also helping people grow more deeply in their walk with God. And there are also streams within Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy that have emphasized becoming a good person and seeking to make the world a better place.

There is a story from the early church that says, “One of the brethren who possessed nothing but a copy of the Gospels, sold it, and distributed the price in food to the hungry, uttering this memorable saying—'I have sold the book which says, "Sell that you have and give to the poor."'

The Catholic group Opus Dei is founded on the idea that everyone is called to personal holiness and that ordinary everyday life here on earth is holy.

Eastern Christians talk about “Theosis- Divinization” becoming like God in attitude and behavior. It states, “As God became Man in all ways except sin, so God can make Man God in all ways except His divine essence”.

Likewise, it is a clear oversimplification to say that Judaism isn’t interested in the hereafter. While some liberal forms of Judaism (and some Christian too) may have given up looking for the Messiah and seeing God’s reign on earth, you only have to look at the whole breadth of Jewish tradition to see that it is infused with Messianic hope for the future.

In the Amidah, a set of prayers said three times a day, we say:

“Et tsemach david av-d’cha m’hey-rah tatz-mi-ach…”

“Speedily cause the offspring of David, your servant, to flourish, and lift up his glory by your divine help because we wait for your salvation all the day.”

The ending of the prayer service we chant the Aleynu. In it we say,

“We hope therefore, LORD our God, soon to behold Your majestic glory, when the world shall be perfected under the reign of the Almighty; when all human beings will call upon Your Name, and all the wicked will be turned to You; when all inhabitants of the earth will know and recognize, that to You every knee should bend and every tongue should swear.”

I just recently observed my father’s 4^th yahrzeit (anniversary of his death) and as I was saying Kaddish I was reminded of how this prayer which is in the very midst of mourning and grief, is not a prayer for my father or comfort to me; instead it is a prayer calling for God to bring an end to time, to establish His kingdom, and to bring peace to the whole world.

Maimonides’ thirteen principles of faith declare this faith that God will bring an end to the world. The twelfth principle states, “I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and, though he tarry, I will wait for his coming daily.”

These are just a few examples from many yearnings for olam ha-ba (the world to come) that can be found in the siddur.

So we have these two focuses which appear to be a dichotomy; a vision for a restored creation and becoming a good person. I would like to propose to you that these two are not a dichotomy; they are in fact, one and the same thing!

It all has to do with your view of salvation. Is salvation just not going to hell? Some would say so. But I think that it goes much beyond that. God says “Be holy as I am holy.” Salvation entails us becoming more and more like God. It is us growing into our destiny, our vocation. As human beings we are called to be like God.

In Genesis 1: 26 it says “And God said, “Let us make Man in our image, after Our likeness”. There are two words used here, image and likeness. The Hebrew word for image is “tselem” and for likeness is “demut”. The rabbis asked, “Why did God use two different words to describe His creation of Man to be like Him?”

The answer that they gave is that these two words denote two different aspects of being in God’s image. The word tselem refers to the reality that we are indeed created in the image of God. This is something that we cannot avoid. Like it or not, we are created in His image, we have no choice in the matter. By fiat God has given each human being characteristics that are consonant with His being. God has certain attributes; He is personal, he has a specific identity. He is social, He desires to live with others. He is emotional, God feels. He is Moral, He has the ability to make moral choices. He is rational, creative, and so on. So it is with us. Woven into the very fabric of our being is the fact that we too are personal, social, emotional, and moral beings.

But, the rabbis said, demut speaks of another aspect of God’s image. This word speaks of our potential to be like God in our holiness. Scripture describes God to us as One who is loving, compassionate, gracious, peaceful, good, and forgiving. The goal of our creation is for us to join Him in this, for us to achieve His image, His demut. Like God we can be loving towards others, compassionate, gracious, lovers of peace, holy, good and forgiving. But God gave us free will too. This is part of being a moral being. We have the right to choose that which is not of God. Because we are His children, we cannot avoid the fact that we are created in His tselem, His form, but we can choose to ignore His call to holiness and never achieve His demut, His likeness. We have the ability instead to be cruel, selfish, evil, hateful, and nasty. God created us in His image but He calls us to be in His likeness. This is our destiny, this is our vocation.

In Philippians, Rav Shaul (Rabbi Paul) says “…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” He is writing to believers of Yeshua. So if your view of salvation is that it’s just getting to heaven, this statement makes no sense. However, if you understand that salvation encompasses becoming more like Yeshua and God then it does. The beginning of redemption is turning to God. The continuing of redemption is learning to become more like Him in character and behavior. The finalization of redemption, however, is when we are perfected at the end of time. All three of these are underneath the umbrella that we would call “Salvation”. They are stages in the process of us being conformed in His image.

This is a significant part of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchek’s thesis in his book, “Halachic Man”. Halacha (Jewish Law), which has a very practical and ethical focus, which seems to be focused on the here and now, must be seen as eschatological; it must be viewed through the eyes of eternity. We are not working just to be good people now but towards a future in which this move towards holiness will be completed in the world to come. He describes God as standing at the end of time, calling us forward into our vocation. Through halacha, we are moving towards this future reality by conforming ourselves into His image.

And we see both of these aspects coming together in a passage in Ephesians.

For he chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Messiah Yeshua, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Messiah, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even the Messiah. (Eph 1:4-10)

Our future hope is that God will bring Creation to its fullness, restoring God’s sovereignty over the Earth, through the coming of Mashiach. However, this is the very thing that we work towards when we strive for personal holiness, for being a good person! We are striving to overcome our evil inclination and to become more like God, to be restored in His likeness. Is this not what we will be in olam ha-ba (the world to come)? God’s restoration of Creation encompasses our being holy!

As we strive to make ourselves better people, we are also participating in the culmination of history. We are looking forward to; we are leaning into that future day when we will be completely holy and like God! The same Voice that calls us to hope and long for the end of time also calls us to be good and holy.

So, what does all of this mean for us today?

First, it calls us to take comfort that things will not always be the way that they currently are now. It is easy for us in this day and age to get despondent over all the troubles in the world; for us to wonder if it will never end. We need to take comfort that it will indeed come to a close. We don’t know exactly when but we know it will happen. There is a midrash on our haftorah reading today that asks, “Why is the word nachamu, comfort, repeated?” The answer is that it points to the fact that there were two Temples destroyed. But more than that, it points to the fact that there will be a Third Temple. Just as the second temple was more glorious than the first, we can look forward to that even more glorious Third Temple which will be built by Hashem Himself. Another Messianic midrash, given by that great rabbi, Chana, says that this repetition also points to the coming of Mashiach. The first coming was more humble and quiet. But we can look forward to that Day when Yeshua will return as a conquering King and Lord of History.

It also calls us to renew our vision for the future, for the world to come. It is easy for us to become caught up in the busyness of everyday life and forget that we are part of a much greater drama in salvation history. It is also easy for us to get complacent and to not take these prayers for redemption seriously; to give up that eschatological hope and not really pray for the coming of the Almighty. The call for us during this season is to renew our yearning for the coming of Olam ha-Ba, the world to come; and to pray for it daily with great kavannah (spiritual intent).

In our parsha (weekly Torah reading) this week, Moshe longed to enter the Promised Land but was unable to. He could only stand on the mountaintop and look out over the horizon, grasping a faint hint of the Land. Likewise, we are standing on the mountain, looking into eternity. We have the scriptures, and the traditions, and the holidays, which give us but a hint of the reality that God is in control of history and will some day, return to assume His rightful throne over Creation. Like Moshe, we should long to see that day come.

Second, it calls us to strive with ever more energy and commitment to make ourselves better people, and to contribute to making the world a better place. We need to see that our personal holiness is a part of God’s culmination of history. As we enter into the High Holidays, a time when we reflect on our actions and behaviors, and also a time when we think about the end of human history, let us carry with us this realization that our personal holiness is indeed intertwined with the great drama which is unfolding in the cosmos. And let us all look forward to that glorious Day when Mashiach Yeshua shall return!

Fluttering Wings

This is a short talk that I gave this past weekend. Enjoy.

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In Genesis 1:2 it says, "The earth was astonishingly empty, with darkness upon the surface of the deep, and the Divine Presence hovered upon the surface of the waters."

This word translated as "hovered" is "mi-rah-khefet" in Hebrew. It can mean hovered, or brooded. In Isaiah it is used to describe a mother eagle fluttering her wings as she feeds her young. It can take on the meaning of "tender care".

God is like the deep dark water. He is mystery. We cannot comprehend Him. In Isaiah 55, God declares, "My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways."

But we are created in God's image and are also like the deep dark waters. We are mystery. All of us have struggled to understand our motivations, attitudes, and desires. We are complex beings. In Psalm 139 it says "I praise you Lord, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

But God knows us. We tend to think of God as being out there beyond the stars, which is indeed true. But He is also closer to us than we are to ourselves. God is also deep within us. He hovers over the deep dark waters of our soul. He broods over all of us like a mother eagle. He stirs these deep dark waters calling us to greater growth and healing.

We tend to think of God calling those who are far away from, those who don't know Him. But this is just the beginning. We are still in much need of healing and growth. He hovers over the deep dark waters of our soul, fluttering His wings, stirring us.

But have you ever heard a bird flutter its wings? It is a very soft sound. We have to strain our ears, we have to pay attention, to hear the soft fluttering of a bird's wings.

So, too, God's fluttering over the depths of our soul is the faintest of sounds. We have to train our ears to hear it. We do this through practicing silence, solitude, prayer, and meditation. We can also hear those faint flutterings in sermons, songs, friends, art, or nature. In all of these, we can hear God brooding over us if we but pay attention.

And just as God's hovering over the deep dark waters of primeval earth was the beginning of creation, so too can His hovering over us be the beginning of our re-creation each and every day! All too often, we blunder through life, making way to much noise to notice the soft flutterings of the Spirit's wings. I urge all of us to take up the practices that will allow us to hear them and thereby hear God's call to greater growth and healing.

I would like to end this today with a poem that I wrote:

Ah restless Spirit,
who hovers over
the deep dark waters
of my soul.

With the faintest stroke of Your wings,
You stir the waters.
Faint ripples radiate across
the surface of the deep.

I strain to hear
that faintest of sounds.
What are You calling me to,
O Holy Wings?

What is the next step of my creation?

Comfort, Comfort My People

This week's meditation comes to you from Toronto where I am in training all week. I am speaking tomorrow at the shul, but I thought that I would give you a little foretaste of it.

This week begins the 7 weeks of consolation. This follows on the 3 weeks of rebuke which culminated in the observance of Tisha B'Av, the commemoration of the destruction of the temples and many other tragedies.

Our Haftorah reading (reading from the prophets) this week is from the first verses of Isaiah 40. It begins, "Nachamu, nachamu ami", "Comfort, comfort, my people". God brings words of consolation to a severely chastened Israel. He tells them that their time of punishment is over, that He loves them, has not forgotten His covenant with them, and will restore them.

The rabbis asked why the word "comfort" is repeated twice. The answer is that they stand for the 2 temples. But it also points to the future temple, the Third Temple. The one that God will bring down from heaven at the end of time. Just as the second Temple was far more grand and glorious than the first, so too this third one will be infinitely more glorious than the second one.

So as we mourn for the destruction that continues to exist in the world, we can take comfort in the fact that someday this will all end in Yeshua's glorious return, not as humble servant, but as powerful king. And to that New Jerusalem, with its Temple at the center.

May we all be comforted.

Rebuke, Repentance, Consolation

Yesterday was the 3rd and last sabbath of rebuke leading up to Tisha B'Av. The reading was from Isaiah. In the Bible the three books are arranged chronologically; Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. But in the Talmud, they are arranged differently; Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah. Why is this? The rabbis said that it was because Jeremiah was full of pure rebuke, while Ezekiel was a mix of rebuke and consolation, while Isaiah was almost entirely filled with consolations.

But Isaiah begins with some of the harshest words that God ever sent a prophet to speak to Israel. Why should a book that is almost entirely filled with consoling words, start with this rebuke? Maimonides said that this was because the first step towards repentance was to recognize that you have done wrong. Only then can you repent and receive words of consolation from God.

Tomorrow night begins Tisha B'Av where we remember the destruction of the two Temples and many other tragedies that have befallen Israel on this day. It is tradition to read the book of Lamentations on this night while seated on the floor. It is also begins a day of fasting.

As we enter this commemoration, let us to stock of our failures and repent and receive the consolations of Hashem.

Avoiding Prophets

Tomorrow is the second of the three Sabbaths of Rebuke. If you recall, there are three weeks between the 17^th of Tammuz and the 9^th of Av where the readings from the prophets recall the sins of Israel that led to the destruction of the Temple and the Exile.

This week’s reading is from Jeremiah 2:4-28; 3:4; 4:1-2. God uses strong language through His prophet Jeremiah to chastise Israel for its idolatry. He uses metaphors like harlots spreading out under any tree and donkeys in heat. God plaintively calls out to Israel, “What have I not done for you that you would defile yourselves with these idols? Did I not redeem you out of Egypt and bring you to a rich land?” He then tells them that they have brought the coming destruction upon themselves.

This passage is reminiscent of Yeshua’s mournful lament over Jerusalem. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” (Mattityahu/Matthew 23:37)

The reading begins with the words, “Hear the words of Hashem[1], O House of Jacob…” There is a midrash[2] (Pesikta d’Rav Kahana) that says that the reason it begins with these words is to tell Israel, if you had listened to God’s words, the Holy Torah, you would not have needed prophets sent to you to reprimand you. Had Israel followed God’s Law and not worshipped idols, God would not be sending Jeremiah and the coming destruction would have been avoided.

So it is with us. I believe that sometimes life circumstances can be brought upon us as a wake up call; to call us back to obedience and devotion to God. I don’t believe as some do that everything we experience in this life is brought upon us by God as a chastisement, but I think sometimes it is. These are “prophets” that serve as a wake up call. If we listen and obey God’s holy law then there would be no need for Him to send us “prophets” to call us to repentance. We can avoid these prophets, if we would only listen to and follow God’s Holy Torah.

May we all seek a life of holiness and devotion to God’s Holy Torah so that we can avoid the need for Him to send us prophets.

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[1] Literally “The Name”. This is used so as not to speak God’s holy name, sometimes rendered as LORD.

[2] Creative interpretation of scripture

Three Weeks of Rebuke

Tomorrow night, 7/3, is the 17th of Tammuz in the Jewish calendar. This is the day where the Romans breached the walls into Jerusalem just prior to the destruction of the Temple. It is also on this day, according to Jewish tradition, that Moses shattered the tablets when he came down from the mountain and saw them worshipping the Golden Calf.

This is a minor fast day and marks the beginning of the Three Weeks of Rebuke leading up to Tisha B'Av. The readings from the prophets during each of these weeks are prophecies of the coming of the destruction of the Temple and speak of Israel's sins that caused it.

During these three weeks no weddings are performed, we do not cut our hair, nor purchase new clothes. It is a time of mourning, somewhat like the Christian Lenten season.

Tisha B'Av is Israel's darkest hour and is a major fast day. On this day the First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians and (centuries later) the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans. Yet, it is called Israel's brightest hour as well. For, according to Jewish tradition, it is also on this day that the Messiah will be born, who will bring restoration to Israel and be a healing to the nations. It is for this reason that the liturgical readings of the Besorah (NT) in many Messianic synagogues focus on the death and resurrection of Yeshua. He said that if we tore down the Temple (meaning His body) He would rebuild it in 3 days (meaning the resurrection).

It is a somber season and yet one filled with hope. The rabbis saw this as also a time when God heals the relationship with His "wife" Israel. Immediately after Tisha B'Av begins the Seven Weeks of Consolation leading up to Rosh Hashanah. The readings from the prophets during this period speak of God's love for Israel and His promise to return us to the Land, restore the Temple.

Rosh Hashanah points to this Great Day of Liberation. "On that day," proclaims the prophet, "the great shofar will be sounded. And they will come, those lost in the land of Assyria and those forsaken in the land of Egypt, and bow before God on the Holy mountain, Jerusalem." (Isaiah 27:13) It is on this Day, that Messiah Yeshua shall return bringing healing to Israel and the nations.

Which Yeshua?

This week’s reading from the Besorah (Good News) is Mark 15:1-15 which contains the story of Yeshua and Barabbas. Some scholars think that Barabbas was most likely not just a murder but a zealot who had killed for political reasons. He was fighting to rid Israel of Roman control. Also, Barabbas was not his real name. Barabbas is Aramaic for “Son of my father”. When arresting authorities would ask a Jew what his name was he would give this answer as a way of concealing his true identity and also as a form of rebellion. Ancient Christian tradition has it that Barabbas’ real name was Yeshua (Jesus). This was a common name of that day.

So in this scene, we have two Yeshua’s presented to the crowd. On the one hand is the political Yeshua, the earthly Yeshua, who stands for rebellion and independence from Rome. The other Yeshua is the spiritual Yeshua, who calls for letting what belongs to Cesar be given to Cesar and what belongs to God be given to God. The first Yeshua was what the people wanted. They wanted a messiah who would free them from the worldly dominion of Rome. They did not want the Messiah whose “kingdom was not of this world”. And so, when presented with a choice, they selected the worldly political “messiah”, and sent the true Messiah to His death.

This passage is also problematic for relations between Jews and Christians over the last 2000 years. In another version of the story the Jewish crowd asks to have Yeshua’s blood on its hands. This has been used by the church over the centuries to claim that Israel is accursed by God for rejecting the Messiah and has led to a long history of abuse and destruction.

We have to recall that this is one crowd, a mob really. A mob that was most likely picked and spurred on by a small band of priests and pharisees who were lackeys to Rome. Certainly we do not have all of Israel rejecting the Messiah in this scene, as evidence in many other passages of many people coming to faith in Yeshua, including scribes and Pharisees! A proper understanding of the dynamics of this passage will help heal the rift that has been made between the church and the nation that the church has been grafted into.

Moses Madness

In this last week's parsha (weekly Torah reading) we have the story of Moses striking the rock rather than speaking to it to bring forth water. God is angry with Moses and tells him that he will not get to enter the Promised Land.

This seems to be a bit harsh. Why did God mete out such a severe punishment for such a seemingly minor infraction? Well, the rabbis have varied opinion on it. And as is typical in Rabbinic tradition, they are all offered without an attempt to decide on which one is the correct interpretation. This is because we can learn from all of the opinions.

1. Rashi says that very simply, Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it.

2. Ramban says that it was because Moses got angry and since Moses was always the voice of God, this implied to the people that God was angry. The text doesn't say that God was angry with the people and so Moses was misrepresenting God and abusing his position as prophet.

3. Rambam says that its because Moses said, "Shall we bring forth water..." which implied that he was doing it by his might rather than giving the glory to God.

4. Abarbanel says that its because Moses and Aaron had sinned previously but had never been punished. Aaron had made the Golden Calf. Moses had sent the spies into the land which resulted in on of Israel's great apostasies.

5. Another rabbi said that it was because Moses got angry, which for you or I would not be so bad. However, because Moses was God's great prophet, he was held to a much higher standard of behavior.

What is Spiritual Direction?

As most of you know, I am a trained spiritual director. This is a little known area although it has been gaining in popularity in both the Christian and Jewish world in recent years. Here is my attempt to explain a little about it.

The underlying assumption of spiritual direction is that God is constantly speaking to us; we just have to learn how to listen. He speaks to us through the warp and woof of everyday life. We may hear His voice in a song, a painting, some words of a friend, while reading scripture, the liturgy, basically anywhere.

Spiritual direction is essentially a trained individual helping another to hear God speak to them. A spiritual director is a catalyst or a sounding board for the directee. It is not therapy where the emphasis is on diagnosing the causes of a person’s afflictions. It is not mentoring or discipleship where the emphasis is on teaching someone. Nor is it just two friends sharing their spiritual experiences. It is a focused prayerful listening time where the director hopes to help the directee delve deeper into his or her experiences and hear that Voice. I always emphasize “trained” because without training a director can easily let it slide into therapy, mentoring, simple spiritual conversation, or advice giving.

Typically directors meet with someone for about an hour every 4-6 weeks. The person brings to the session some experience that he or she would like to share and explore more deeply. It is the job of the director to prayerfully listen and ask open-ended questions to help the person process the experience more fully. Here is a sample session that I made up. In interest of space it is kept very concise.

Directee (T1): Last week I went to the art gallery and was captivated by this one painting.

Director (D1): What was it about the painting that captivated you?

T2: It was this scene of a beach with wind blowing through the trees; a person was walking along the beach. It made me feel calm, but I am not sure why.

D2: Calm?

T3: Yes. Just staring at it made me feel at peace and relaxed. I have been puzzling over why this captivated me so for the last week.

D3: Can you connect this painting to any other experience that may have had that gave you feelings of peace and calm?

T4: (thinks a moment) You know, I never thought about this, but I guess it sort of reminds me of this time that I was on such a beach, some years ago. I was going through a very difficult time in my life.

D4: How does that experience connect with peacefulness and calm?

T5: Well, on that beach that day, I was just soaking in the sun, feeling the breeze through my hair, thinking about all of my worries. Then suddenly I felt God’s presence. I felt Him say to me that He provides the sunshine and the breeze and that He would provide me the strength to get through this difficult time in my life. As soon as I “heard” this I was flooded with peace, knowing that things would be OK. It was tough for a while after that but I just seemed to have the strength to see it through.

D5: So this painting reminded you of this experience and brought back the same feelings?

T6: Yes. And you know, things have been hectic for me lately again. I have been feeling kind of abandoned by God. Maybe this was His way of reminding me that He will always be there for me.

D6: Would you be willing to spend some time in prayer right now and let us revisit this beach and see how it might speak to your current circumstances?

T7: Sure….

In this brief snippet, I have tried to illustrate how a session would normally go. Notice that the director is asking very open-ended and reflective questions. This helps the director avoid moving the conversation to his or her own agenda or perceived outcome. It also helps the person explore their memories, feelings, and insights and allows God to piece things together with the person. It may seem surprising that this person did not connect the two experiences before this session but it is not uncommon for people to not piece things together like this until they have an opportunity to talk about it and reflect on it in a concentrated way. I have frequently done this myself!

I have found having my own director to be very useful over the years. I have also found that being a director has been an incredible blessing to me as I have had the privilege of sharing in many people’s journeys. Quite often God has spoken to me through a directee, bringing insight into my own life circumstances.

If you are serious about your faith journey, I would highly recommend that you seek out a trained director. I think that you will find the benefits amazing. There are a number of spiritual directors around Michigan and the country. I can refer you to some here in the State. You can also contact local retreat houses, religious orders, etc… Many of these have or know of qualified directors. One national directory can be found at Spiritual Directors International (www.sdiworld.org).

Gratitude

I have been thinking this week about gratitude, and also practicing it a lot more! Gratitude really is an antidote to melancholy, which I can be prone to. When you start looking at all of the good things that you have and all of the good things that God has done for you, it’s hard to stay down long. This week I have thanked Him for a good job, good health, having a wonderful wife and kids, and many other things. Most of all I have been thanking Him for His gift of Himself. What more can a guy ask for?

The siddur (Jewish prayerbook) is full of reminders to be thankful. In the morning, we get up and we sing “Modeh ani lefanecha…”, “I offer thanks to You, living and eternal King, for You have mercifully restored my soul within me; Your faithfulness is great.” The very first words from our mouths are to be words of gratitude.

We then proceed to recite a whole litany of praises and thanksgiving to Hashem for the many good things He as done for us. “Blessed are You, Lord Our God, for… giving the rooster to know between day and night, opens the eyes of the blind, releases the bound, straightens the bowed, clothes the naked, …”

The central prayer of Judaism, prayed three times a day, is the Amidah, which literally means “standing”. We are standing before the King of the Universe offering our prayers and petitions to Him. In the midst of the Amidah, we thank God for many things. One of the prayers thanks Him for the miracles that are with us daily. A heart of gratitude allows us to see that His providence and love surrounds us constantly.

In the days of the Temple, there were thanksgiving offerings that had nothing to do with sin or guilt. They were simply opportunities for people to come to the Temple and thank God for His goodness.

May we all develop eyes of gratitude; it is a salve to the soul!

Quotable Quotes

“That which man acquires by contemplation he should spend in love.”

--Meister Eckhart

“Look how foolish humans are! The path to Heaven is open and no one enters,

And yet the gates of Hell they rush to break down!”

--Rabbi Simcha Bunam

Gut shabbes,

Izzy

Bitachon sermon

Bitachon- Trust in God

This is a sermon that I delivered at the shul last week...

There is a story about a shoe company in the early part of the 20^th century who sent two salesmen to Africa to see if it would be profitable to sell shoes there. The first salesman traveled around the land and sent back a telegram saying “Don’t bother. No one wears shoes here.” The second salesman also went around Africa and sent back this message, “Great opportunities! No one has shoes!” This story illustrates that how we perceive things can greatly influence our conclusions.

This is certainly true of our parsha[1] this week. The parsha starts off with the 12 spies sent into the Land to see if it was good. They return. Ten of them report bad news. They said that the land was indeed flowing with milk and honey, but they also say that the cities are strong, the people are giants. “We were like grasshoppers in our eyes and in theirs!” they exclaim. But 2, Yehoshua and Kalev (Joshua and Caleb), give a good report. They say the land is good and God is on our side. We can conquer this land.

Why the difference? How can two groups of people see the same things and draw completely different conclusions? The 10 saw the good land but reacted in fear and dismay. But the 2 had excitement, confidence, and joy. The reason is that Yehoshua and Kalev had bitachon—trust in God. They saw the same things that the others did, but instead of reacting in fear they were excited about the good land that they were about to receive. I am sure that the well fortified cities and the giant inhabitants were at first daunting to them as well. But they also trusted in God’s promise that they were taken out of Egypt for a reason, to receive the Torah and then enter the Promised Land.

Bitachon is considered a core virtue in Judaism. The Rambam’s son, Rabbi Avraham, once said, “Trust is one of man’s loftiest attributes, indeed one of the foundations of Torah. It is on everyone’s lips, but implanted in the hearts of a chosen few.”

Interestingly though, there was some debate amongst our sages as to whether trust in God is one of the mitzvoth or not. Rambam himself did not include it in his enumeration of the commandments. Ramban, Nachmonides[2], however, criticized him for leaving it out. He declared that it is based on the commandment to not listen to astrologers to determine the future. He argues that God is over all and therefore could even reorder the constellations that astrologers rely on. “From this we learn,” he writes, “the commandment to trust in God in all that we do, as is brought in the Prophets and the Writings.”

Bitachon, trust, makes all the difference in the world. It turns what would be fear and despair into strength and happiness. The Torah is replete with references to just how important trust is. The most famous one is in Mishlei (the book of Proverbs): “Trust in Hashem[3] with all your heart and do not rely on your understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight (Prov 3:5).” Trusting in God leads to peace and joy. Lack of trust in God leads to confusion, fear, doubts. When our people failed to trust in Hashem and instead listened to the ten spies, they certainly did not have straight paths, did they? They were condemned to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

There are plenty of other references. In the Psalms we have, “Put your hope in Hashem, be strong and He will give you courage. (Psa 27.14)” And, “Cast your burden upon Hashem and He will sustain you. (Psa 55.23)”

In the Besorah[4], Rav Shaul[5] states “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh[6]. (Rom 15.12-14)”

In the first letter to the believers of Corinth he says, “Love… always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres… (1Cor 13.7)”

Yeshua Himself lived a life of perfect bitachon. He trusted in that Hashem had the best in mind for Him. And He exhorted us to do the same. In the famous sermon on the mountain He said, “Do not worry about what you will wear or what you will eat. God knows that you need these things. Instead, seek His kingdom and its righteousness and He will give these other things to you.” In that same sermon he likened those who trusted in His words that He was bringing from the Father to a builder who built his house on rock. Those who do not trust in God are like those who build their houses on sand, which are washed away in storms.

Yeshua trusted in God even unto the point of death. In the Garden, He was standing on the edge of a new land—the land of suffering and death. Yet He was able to trust God and say “Your will not mine.”

Not surprisingly, since it is comprised largely of scripture, our siddur[7] is also full of references to trusting in God. At the end of the hymn “Adon Olam” we sing, “God is with me, I shall not fear.”

Just before we pray the Amidah[8], we refer to God as “tzur yisrael”, Rock of Israel. Rock is symbolic of trustworthiness in Jewish literature.

The second blessing from the Amidah calls out to God who is worthy of our trust. “M’chalkayl chayyim b’chesed, m’chyay maytim b’rachamim rabim…” You sustain the living with steadfast love, and give life to the dead with great compassion.You uphold the falling, heal the sick, free those in bondage, and keep faith with those who sleep in the dust. Who is like You, Lord of might, and who can be compared with You, O King,

who brings death, restores life, and causes salvation to spring forth.

And at the conclusion of the service, in the Alyenu, we call out to the God who will keeps his promises and will keep His promise of bringing the Messiah and the world-to-come.

“We hope therefore, LORD our God, soon to behold Your majestic glory,

when the world shall be perfected under the reign of the Almighty; when all human beings will call upon Your Name, and all the wicked will be turned to You;

when all inhabitants of the earth will know and recognize, that to You every knee should bend and every tongue should swear.”

Bitachon doesn’t mean that we just sit back and fold our hands in our lap and wait for someitng to happen. The rabbis have been very clear that we are to unite our efforts to trust in God, trusting that He will aid us. In fact, it is considered a mitzvah to do so.

In the 11th century, Rabbi Bachya ibn Pakuda wrote a book titled "Duties of the Heart". In it he said:

“When one goes about earning a livelihood, he should bear in mind that he is performing a mitzvah, for God commanded man to resort to his own resources, as we read ‘The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it.’”

We should not wear ourselves out working night and day trying to ensure that we are secure. Nor should we be lazy, trusting that God will provide. Instead, we should do a reasonable amount of work and trust that it will be sufficient.

Bitachon also doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t share our fears and concerns in prayer. We are encouraged to pour out our hearts to God, but again trust that He will hear us, comfort us, and answer our prayers. A number of years ago, a woman showed up for a spiritual direction session, and asked me if I had ever had God tell me to shut up before. I said that I hadn’t and asked her to tell me about it. She told me that her husband was going on a trip to a dangerous third world country and she had been very worried about his safety. She kept praying over and over again that God would protect him. Finally, the day arrived and she took him to the airport. As she drove away she was once again seized with fear and started to pray again. At that moment God busted through to her and told her to shut up. As we unpacked this we realized that she was basically praying without bitachon. She was so caught up in the fear that she was unable to do anything but repeat herself over and over again. She couldn’t hear God in any of this. She was acting like the spies and was freaking out.

One rabbi wrote, “One lacks trust in God if he does not preface the hope and expectation of salvation to his prayer when in trouble… Here lies our mistake, for we think that we have trust in God because we pray, while in truth we might be close to believing in God, yet far from truly trusting in Him.”

Bitachon also doesn’t mean that we always get what we want. Sometimes God says no because it is not in our best interest. Sometimes pain and suffering can be in our best interest. Other times he can’t grant us our request because to do so would violate another person’s free will. The prayer, “God make so-and-so love me” is likely to go unanswered. Ultimately, the rabbis say, trust in God means that we trust that He will be with us. With us in the pain, joys, desires, fears. Recall the midrash that says God’s name that He revealed to Moshe Rabbenu[9] at the burning bush could mean “I am that I am” but it could also mean “I am with you now and will be with you in the future.”?

In Jeremiah it says “Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord and the Lord is His trust.” The rabbis asked why does it say this twice? Their conclusion was that ultimately trust in God is trusting that He will simply be with us. Trust is not what He can do for us, but the trust that He will be with us. It is a realization that the greatest gift He can give us is His presence.

The spies entered into the land but because they didn’t have bitachon, they returned in fear.

Oftentimes we find ourselves standing on the edge of a new land, an undiscovered country. For us it may be a life change like a job change, retirement, marriage or (God forbid) divorce. It may be the loss of a loved one, facing a severe illness, or even death. All of us in this congregation have faced or are facing such transitions. Deb has a son who is now in the Navy and is no longer close to home. Abby just took a new job. Zora just retired. Laura is on this new journey into exploring her Jewishness. We ourselves are facing Hannah graduating and moving on to college next year.

Looking at any of these situations without bitachon, at least places the temptation to be consumed with doubts, fears, and anxiety; and if allowed to run amok can lead to total despair. We can become like the spies and freak out. Or we can choose to have trust in Hashem, who has promised that He will always be with us, always work for our good. Then we can have peace, joy, confidence, and strength. Do you recall the sermon that I did a few months ago about the Exodus from Egypt? Remember the handout? The indicators of whether we were moving towards or away from God, ourselves, and others were these very moods. If we are experiencing anxiety, fear, confusion, anger, despair then we are in a place that is not so close to Hashem and trust in Him. On the other hand, if we have peace, hope, joy, confidence, then we are drawing closer to Him and living in trust of Him.

The Messianic movement is also on the verge of a new land. As we approach this crucial period of passing from one generation to the next there are fears of whether the movement will last or not. As we continue in this direction and work towards our goals, we need to have bitachon, trusting that Hashem is doing something important and unique and that He will prosper us.

The broader Jewish community is also on the verge of a new land. With the high assimilation and intermarriage rates, there are fears about whether there will be any Jews left in America in a 100 years. While these are real concerns that we need to work towards resolving, we need to have bitachon, trusting that Hashem has promised that there will always be an Israel.

May we imitate the Yehoshua and Kalev’s bitachon. May we imitate the life of bitachon that Yeshua Rabbenu[10] had. If we do, it will give us peace, joy, and make us better servants of Hashem.

---

[1] Weekly Torah reading (Old Testament)

[2] Rambam and Ramban are two very famous and important Jewish authorities.

[3] A substitute for God’s name ( called Jehovah in churches) so that it is not pronounced. It means “The Name”.

[4] Lit. “Good News”, the New Testament

[5] The Hebrew name of the apostle Paul

[6] Hebrew for “Holy Spirit”

[7] Prayer book

[8] Central prayer recited during services

[9] Moses, Our Great Teacher

[10] Jesus, our Great Teacher