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Parshat Shoftim 2010-The Spirit of Prophecy

Summary:

The commandment to appoint judges and law enforcement is given.
The commandment on how to deal with idolaters is given.
The commandment to appoint a king is given.
The commandment on how to deal with a rebellious legal authority is given.

G-d tells us we will have prophets. Although only a handful of prophets are actually mentioned in Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible), our tradition tells us it was a common phenomenon before the destruction of the First Temple.

The rules of engagement are enumerated.
The commandment of what to do with a stranger who died on the road is given.

My analysis:

Prophecy is such an alien concept to us. In the rabbinic world they make the joke (I expect no one to laugh)”What is it called when you talk to G-d? Prayer. What is it called when G-d talks to you? Schizophrenia.” Clearly then, to say that there were many people walking around at one point claiming G-d was talking in their ears and telling them the secrets of the world. I can understand why religion might not be taken seriously with that perception.

To understand what prophecy was about, one needs to understand what prophecy is. We have a number of words in Hebrew that are used in reference to prophecy. All of them are words related to seeing. Prophecy was clarity of perception of the world not just in terms of the physical space, but it was an ability to see into the spiritual world. Science subscribes to the concept of four dimensions (the three that compose space and time) and Judaism acknowledges a fifth (soul). Someone with a real clarity can conceptualize that fourth dimension and in a sense they can see from the beginning of time to the end. Of course, we say G-d needs to help you with this process since it is beyond this world, but that is the process very simplified.

Among the different qualities a prophet had to have, one was that they needed an open, settled mind. Someone with a narrow viewpoint or allows the world to mess with their head won’t be able to achieve this level of perception. The rabbis tell us that level of serenity hasn’t existed since the First Temple.
That doesn’t mean we can’t have a piece of it, and that piece won’t help us get by in life. If you take the time to settle your own head before making a decision, you’re going to make better decisions. If you take the time to smell the flowers, meditate, or study up on heavy-duty philosophical things, like Torah, it’s going to affect your decisions. The most important part of that process however is the ability to be receptive to new ideas and innovations. It means sometimes doing away or challenging preconceived notions. That doesn’t mean don’t think or question. Quite the opposite is true. Only with an open, settled mind can you achieve some level of this thing we call prophecy, and some say that it is even possible for the right person to achieve even that state in the present time.

Parshat Eikev 2010

Summary:

G-d promises that the Jews will be able to take over Eretz Yisrael (The Land of Israel) and that He will provide for them.

G-d prepares the Jews to enter the Land by reviewing incidents where they had messed up along the way and how G-d had helped them as well as punished them.

Moshe describes how he had interceded on behalf of the Jews during the incident of the Golden Calf.

The Torah makes a correlation between the performance of good or bad deeds and positive and negative consequences in this world.

My analysis:

I just remember this one Maharal I learned a number of years back that helped me to understand some of these reward and punishment portions. I happened to really like Maharal because of his heavy philosophical analysis that makes you feel smarter every time you pick up his books:

There’s so many places where people are getting rewarded with treasure or getting zapped all throughout Tanakh. If you notice, there are no explicit mentions of reward or punishment in the Next World. It seems odd to have a religion with no afterworld, and the fact is that the same people who put Tanakh together, the rabbis, say that in fact we do have a conception of a next world, including reincarnation, resurrection, and an ethereal next world of reward and punishment. So why no explicit mention of any of this?

Imagine this: you spend three weeks writing a paper on your laptop which gets stolen, you don’t have the paper so you fail the class and lose your scholarship and are forced to leave school and work in a gas station, and someone tells you as a reward for your good deeds you’ll get to do it all over again? Spiritual concepts such as the Next World can’t really be spelled out in physical terms, and to write them out would distort the concept. Only through allusions made in the prophetic literature coupled with a good teacher can someone begin to get a picture of what these things really are.

Incidentally, the fact that these things aren’t spelled out also tells you how much of your time should be spent worrying about what’s going to be. Take care of the here and now and you will be taken care of.

Tisha B’Av 2010

I wanted to have this written before or on Tisha B’Av but only toward the end of the fast did it actually hit me what to put up.

Tisha B’Av is the national mourning holiday for the Jews. A number of the major Jewish tragedies happened on this day and the day after, and fast on this day from sunset until the stars come out the next evening. Showering, wearing leather shoes, and being with your spouse are also off limits. Here is a quick rundown, though it is not an inclusive list:

The proclamation the Jews would wander in the desert for 40 years
The destruction of the Two Temples in Jerusalem
The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492
The liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust
The expulsion of the Jews from Gaza in 2005, many of whom still lack permanent housing

I don’t do well with fasts, and even after a very powerful class in the morning I still wasn’t feeling anything except hungry, tired, and cranky, all the way until the end of the fast. It was at afternoon services that I just was going over in my head the different things I had learned when I saw an old student of mine. Both of us lit up when we saw each other, but we only spoke afterward.

I was very happy to hear he’s taking the MCAT’s in a few weeks, and everyone should wish him luck. That’s a different story.

The only reason I mention is we both understood that as happy as we were to see each other was that it wasn’t the time then. You have to be able to compartmentalize, like the Byrd’s song goes (taken from the book of Kohelet/Ecclesiastics incidentally) “a time to live, a time to die”. So there was certainly time for us to talk, but there was also a time, a necessary time, to sit and reflect on what’s gone wrong in the past and what we plan to do in the future so that it doesn’t happen again. Tisha B’Av is that day, and now I fully plan on enjoying the rest of the summer, and checking up on a few of my students in the process.

Parshat V’Ethanan

In 
education,
we
 do
 a
 lot
 with 
mission
 statements.

  We
 write
 them.

We 
plan
 curriculums
 around
 them.

  Mission
statements 
are
 very
 important.  

Schools,
 corporations,
 even
 the
 government 
has
 a
 mission 
statement: 
the
Preamble 
of
 the
 Constitution.

  A 
mission
 statement 
guides 
the 
rest 
of
 the 
behavior 
that 
a 
person
 engages 
on 
both
 a 
daily 
basis 
and
 in 
their 
long‐term
 goal
 setting, 
though
 many
 of
 us
 never
 actually
 formula te
a 
formal 
mission
statement
 for 
ourselves.

Let’s 
take
 a
 quick 
look
 at
 some
 of 
the 
major
 points 
of
 our
 mission 
statement:

One
 G‐d:‐ That’s 
pretty 
big.

  No
 one 
at 
that
 time 
period
 was 
monotheistic 
in 
any 
pure
 sense,
and
 this 
is 
the 
case 
for 
much 
of 
the 
world 
even 
now.

  The
 concept
 of 
an 
all‐ reaching 
unified 
entity
 that’s 
beyond
 the 
limits 
of 
the
physical 
universe 
is 
a 
very
 difficult 
concept.

Mesirat 
Nefesh‐That 
means
 giving 
over
 of 
yourself,
 time‐wise, 
monetarily, 
and 
even
 in 
extreme 
cases 
your
 life.

There 
have
 unfortunately 
been 
many 
Jews 
who
 were
 told
 to 
convert
 or
 die,
 and
 chose
 not
 to
 convert.

  It’s
 a
 hard
 concept 
for 
most
 of 
us.

Education‐There 
is 
a
 requirement 
to 
be 
educated
 and 
to 
educate 
your 
kids 
about
 being 
Jewish.  

Jews 
have 
always
been 
very 
into
 education,
 which 
is 
why
 we
 are
 so
 disproportionately 
represented
 in 
colleges
 and
 universities
around 
the 
country, 
as
 well
 as 
in 
professions
 that 
require 
advanced
 degrees.

Reward 
and 
Punishment‐No
 one 
wants 
to 
walk
 around
 thinking 
G‐d
 is 
going
 to 
zap
 them, 
and
 we
 don’t
 advocate
that.
  
However, 
no 
one 
wants 
to 
think 
all 
the 
murderers
 and
 rapists 
who 
don’t 
get 
caught
by 
the 
police 
get 
to 
just
have 
an 
easily
 life
 with
 no
 repercussions.


Nor 
does 
such 
a 
world 
make
 sense.

We
 certainly
 don’t
 believe
 that.

 We
 believe 
that 
you
 are
 rewarded 
for
 every 
good
 deed
 and
 punished 
fo r
every 
bad
 one.  

Everyone
 has 
a 
share
 in 
the
Next 
World,
 even 
non‐Jews, 
but 
what’s
 waiting
 for
 you
 depends 
on
 your
 behavior
 down
 here.

The 
Exodus:
 
It’s 
the
 defining 
moment 
for 
us 
as 
Jews,
 and
 we
 should 
keep
 this
 unifying 
experience
 in 
our
 heads 
to
 remind 
us
 who
 we 
are.

I’d 
say 
if 
you
 wanted 
a 
nice 
summary 
of 
what 
it 
means 
to 
be 
Jewish, 
this
 is
 it 
right
 here.  

Obviously, 
there 
is 
a 
lot
more 
but 
this 
is 
certainly 
a 
good 
start.

Parshat Devarim 2010

Summary:
It is Moshe’s last days on Earth, and he is giving over the history of the Jews, going through the different stops they took along the way, and going over the times that the messed up and what they did wrong.

My analysis:
I wonder how many of you are history majors. I’m sure I’m not the first to tell you that career-wise it’s not the smartest choice, unless you’re doing law or you really want to become a teacher (FYI Social Studies teachers have the hardest time finding a job of any of the other core subjects). I would say don’t make the same mistake I did, but for some people it ultimately does work itself out.
For those of you who avoided history, that’s whom I’m writing this piece for. I happen to like it, but I can understand why you wouldn’t. Leave it to a textbook to take a perfectly good war and turn it into a sleep medication. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take it. History is not like that class in conspiracy theories or multi-variable Calculus. History is relevant to your life whether you know it or not.
Americans don’t always have such a concept of history the way people in other parts or the world do. We sometimes have difficulty understanding animosity that people have for one another in different countries just because of something that happened hundreds of years ago. It seems silly and stupid. While I agree some of it is, it’s not so simple.
History is the combined experiences of a people. Have you ever thought about what makes you Jewish? Many people might think: “Oh, it’s because we all went through the Holocaust.” That’s the right track, but such a small piece of the story, which starts with the historical narratives in the Torah and keeps going right through to today. The things the Rabbis of old wrote affect your life and perceptions in ways you might not realize. I could go through examples but not every example applies to every person. You can see if you ever take the time to go through our sources how much is reflected in your attitudes no matter what your affiliation.

Shelah 2010

I would think personally if I were going to move into a new house, or take over some piece of land in order to install myself as emperor, I would probably want to know what I was getting myself into. That’s just prudent. So why would anyone get punished for doing their due diligence (catch phrase from one of my jobs)?
We learn that the spies already made up their mind about what Israel was going to be like, for a variety of reasons. They were resistant to change and used to being coddled. They didn’t want the new responsibilities waiting for them on the other side. They also seemed to have had a negative self-concept. The whole event was meant simply to substantiate their beliefs and sell the Jews on the idea of not going in when they were promised the land already.
Change can be difficult. College is an adjustment. The real world is an even bigger shock. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t jump into it anyway. Most of us who have been through college have had a really positive experience. There are people you’ve never met before and clubs you’ll never get an opportunity to take part in anywhere else. There’s also a lot of work, and difficult work. Not the type you can do on your lunch period or during commercials. That doesn’t mean you should opt out of college.
Usually though, most of you know college is good. It’s the real world that you will most likely resist. Some people take their time finishing, or go for a master’s or doctoral degree they may not even want in order to stay in the college bubble. There was one guy who made the news because he stayed in undergrad for ten years. (I can’t find the story but it was absurd.) There was a guy at Brandeis where I went who was bumming guest meals from the freshman 6 years after he graduated. I’ll be curious to see if he’s still there at my reunion. Brandeis was not that cool; move on!
The real world isn’t that bad, and there’s a lot to see. I haven’t lived in any one place for more than five years since I graduated, and I think I’m better off for it. I’ve lived in the U.S. and Israel, Boston and New York. It might be time to go somewhere else. I certainly am not resisting the change.

BeAlaotcha 2010

Summary:

The command to light the Menorah (candelabrum) is given.

The Leviim are officially inaugurated into the service in the Mishkan.
Pesah Sheni (2nd Passover), the make up day for the Pesah (Passover) sacrificial offering, is established. It’s not really celebrated nowadays except some people eat matzah.
There are two verses that discuss the Jews moving through the desert, and the rest of what it looked like when the Jews moved around is described. These two verses are treated like its own separate book.
The Jews complain and ask for meat. They got quail. Quail are small birds with not a whole lot of meat on them from what I’ve been told. Not worth what happened to them next.
Miriam makes an off-handed comment about her brother Moshe’s wife, and is punished with Tzaraat (the leprosy-like disease discussed in Parshat Tazria).

My analysis:

Forgive this one being a bit philosophical but I just read Halachic Man by R’ Yosef Ber Soloveitchik. It’s heavy and touches on a number of philosophers I never bothered reading in college like Plato and Aristotle. It made me feel a bit dumb actually. I may go back and read them but I have a lot on my plate right now.
The word used when the Cohen lights the Menorah means “to raise up”, not to light. Rashi says the wick has to be lit until the flame goes up by itself. It the midst of what is usually a purely spiritual event, which it is in most religions, there’s a little law thrown right in there. There are actually many laws to be learned from every verse.

Rav Soloveitchik makes the argument that the essence of Jewish spiritualty is the laws themselves. The laws, while seeming burdensome, actually orient you to relate to the world in a spiritual manner. The laws are a representation of cosmic perfect concepts that the Jew takes and imposes on an imperfect reality, thus perfecting it to a higher spiritual order. He says a person accomplishes this without the need of mystical intentions or intentions, and is fulfilled by living in the world rather than escaping it. The phrase I’ve heard is that it is bringing heaven down to Earth. He said it is possible to corrupt this notion by using laws or concepts invented by man, such as Social Darwinism, which has actually been used to advance some very destructive agendas. He says the concepts represented in our laws are divine concepts, divine principles, which have even been expressed in mathematic equations. The Menorah represents all of this because it is light that comes out from the walls of the Mikdash and illuminates the world.
I personally don’t know how I feel about a Judaism without Kabbalah (mysticism) the way Rav Soloveitchik expressed it. My friend follows this path and came up with a nice compromise position. He says Judaism has room for mysticism, but Judaism is unique that you can be spiritual without being mystical. Point taken.

Parshat Nasso 2010

I always kind of nod my head when somebody says that such-and-such comment is the famous comment of so-and-so.  There’s very little in the way of famous Rabbi comments, at least in the way you and I conceive of famous.  However, this one I’ve heard over so many times I think it’s actually made it into the mainstream:

Rashi asks the question why the account of the Sotah is right next to the account of the Nazir.  He says because when someone sees a Sotah in her downfall, one should take a vow of Nazirut to keep him or her (I hate grammar check) from slipping off the straight and narrow path.

Dr. David Pelcovitz, who was one of my professors at YU and a really nice guy, said this doesn’t make sense.  Shouldn’t it be seeing someone being smitten Biblical style be enough of a deterrent?   What he said was is human nature is to see the crime and not the consequences.

Tell me: when you see in the police log that someone got written up for something, did that make you want to not do it.  My friends and I used to try to get into the police log on purpose, without getting caught of course.  And for the record we were successful three or four times sophomore year.  Clearly no one was scared of the big bad blotter.

My wife had a similar story that I like and she is grossed out by: she met this one redneck while hanging out with her friends in her native Texas.  Someone brought up the fact that they were having roach problems or something like that.  The redneck said in order to show the roaches that they shouldn’t come in, you have to show them what happens if they violate.  Any time he caught a roach, he would pin it up around his apartment so they would “see what happens.”  He claims his strategy was effective in warding off the roaches after a few months.  He also apparently had a bigger body count tacked to the wall that Vlad the Impaler.  It just doesn’t work.

I’m sure we all know someone who’s having issues in their life and is being at least somewhat self destructive.  We’d all like to help these people.  Scare tactics are not the way to go.  Apparently “Scared Straight” did work with many of the teens that went to the prison for the filming of that movie.   I’m skeptical though.  My experience is that it hasn’t been effective at completely curbing the self-destructive behavior.  Helping someone take proactive steps to make their life better does.  The nazir is called holy for taking on this level of restraint.  Someone should feel good about themselves (I’m not changing it this time.  I’m sick of grammar check) for holding back on being self-destructive.  All the more so if they do something actually positive.

Yom Yerushaliyim 2010

Yom Yerushaliyim is the last of the three days on the calendar that are the “modern Jewish holidays.” I put this in quotation marks because not everyone treats them as actual holidays, even if the dates are worth commemorating. The first, Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day), is the day that began the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of the Jews against the Nazis. Not everyone feels that the Holocaust should be remembered on this particular day. Yom HaAzmaut (Israel Independence Day) is certainly a significant day, but again it’s a day that has mixed emotions attached to it because it’s the day David Ben Gurion signed the declaration of independence of the State of Israel, which was followed the next day by an assault by all of the surrounding Arab nations trying to destroy the new Jewish State. It’s fitting in this light that Israel’s Memorial Day is set for the day right before Independence Day.
Yom Yerushaliyim, Jerusalem Day, is the last of these three days, and much less ambiguous to its importance to our people. The history of the day is as follows:
After Israel declared its independence in 1948, all of the surrounding Arab Nations (Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and I believe also Iraq but I’m not sure who else got in on the game) decided to wipe Israel off the map and “throw the Jews into the sea.” (An exact quote I believe). The Jews won the war in the sense they survived, but there were many Jews displaced from their homes in areas like the West Bank and Gaza. The Jordanians threw all of the Jews living in Jerusalem out, and no Jews were permitted to enter Israel’s holiest city, much less the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest place.
In 1967, the Arab Nations again tried to wipe Israel off the map. In the famed Six Day War, which actually lasted six days, the Jews managed to fend off all of the enemies, reclaim the lands of the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights, and to even take over the Sinai Desert. On June 7, 1967, the Jews returned to the Old City of Jerusalem and reunited the city of Jerusalem. Although the Temple Mount itself was turned over to Jordanian authority, the Jews still took back their homes. It was a big deal, and the war itself changed the world’s view of the Jewish State, and the Jews themselves, at least for a little while.
Even Jews who aren’t Zionists still recognize what an incredible day this was for our people. Most other religions have been able to practice their own religion in their own holy sites. This was not the case for us, and now it is, or at least it’s a major step in the right direction. Religious or not, it’s nice to know the option is there, and Judaism has really not been the same since. Judaism was for almost two thousand years a closet religion. You practiced it in whatever country you lived in, but you kept your head down and didn’t get too public with it. America is a little different because you will have the occasional public Menorah lighting or parades in very uber Jewish neighborhoods. It’s just not the same. Hanukah in Israel is as public as Xmas is America. During Sukkot, the streets are lined with little wooden huts. It’s something you have to see for yourself.