COUNTDOWN TO SINAI - WORKING ON OUR “INNER SELF” SO THAT WE ARE READY TO RECEIVE THE TORAH!

Contained in this week’s Torah portion, EMOR is, among other things, a list of God’s “appointed seasons” or holy times. God outlines when and how we are to observe festivals and holy days.  We are told the exact days of the month, the duration of the festival or observance, and the appropriate sacrifices or offerings. Among the items in Emor are the rules for Shabbat as well as the rules for Passover. Throughout this section we keep hearing the phrase “Kol Melechet Avodah, Lo Ta-ah-su.”  Translated, this means “All manner of work you shall not do!”  Well, why not?  Because it is God Time!  We are instructed to separate “havdil” the mundane, from the holy. The Torah commands “a time out” for holy time because it isn’t YOUR time, it is GOD’S TIME…giving your time is an offering of sorts, not unlike the offerings brought to the mishkan for sacrifice!

Just think of how many times you’ve heard the phrase “Time is Money.”  If you ask most working folk to name their most valuable and limited asset...the words “gold” and “silver” don’t usually jump to the forefront…no, the answer is usually TIME.  What is the true meaning of sacrifice?  Giving up that which you hold valuable!  Ironic how so few people, Jews and Gentiles alike, are willing to give up “their time” for God.  The holy times are not just while the Israelites are in the desert.  No, this is forever. “Chu-kat olam l’doro-tay-chem b’chol mosh-vo-tay-hem.”  This is an eternal statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

After the rules pertaining to Passover, we encounter twelve verses describing the counting of the Omer; What, you may ask, is an Omer?  And why do we need to count it? Simply put, an Omer is a sheave of barley, which is the first grain harvest in Israel. This measured sheave or Omer was brought to the Temple for a forty-nine day period commencing with Passover and culminating on the 50^th day with a holy day we now call Shavuot.  Shavuot means ‘weeks’ and occurs seven weeks after Pesach. On the 50^th day, two loaves of bread are offered up to God.  This is the first day of the wheat harvest and the two loaves are symbolic of the first fruits of the wheat harvest. 

I am not an agronomist, but I do know that barley was considered a lesser grain, and wheat was the major grain in the diet of our ancestors.  Without a good wheat harvest, their lives were in peril. Too much water isn’t good for wheat, so in our daily prayers we switch from praying for rain to praying for dew instead. From Passover forward, the fruit trees in Israel start producing… and their first fruits were presented as an offering on Shavuot as well. Passover and Shavuot are also connected spiritually. While Passover freed us from physical bondage, it is the giving of the Torah at Sinai on Shavuot that redeemed us spiritually.

Judaism’s customs and religious seasons are deeply connected with agricultural seasons. So how do we, as modern Jews, infuse spiritual meaning into this week’s agricultural biblical passage?  First, let’s strip away all the noise of modern life and step back in time. The outcome of the season’s wheat harvest is still up in the air… your very existence is at stake. That being the case, you might then find these fifty days between Passover and Shavuot to be pretty tense!

So what IS a modern person to do over this seven-week period of time, other than say a blessing at sunset, announce the number of the day of the Omer and cross your fingers that you won’t need to buy wheat from CHINA?

Well, the rabbis suggest working on YOUR OWN potential INNER GROWTH, those aspects and characteristics over which, you CAN exercise some control!  Think of it as “49 days to a better you!”  These character builders are called Middot, and 48 of them can be found in Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers.  How convenient… 48 for a 49 day period!   I won’t list all of them, but here are some highlights:  Keeping small talk to a minimum.  Learning contentment with one’s lot.  Having a Good Heart.  Cleaving to friends.  Having a perceptive heart.  Spend time absorbing knowledge and adding to it.  Working on trying to concentrate on studies, and learning how to ask and answer. 

Imagine taking on one of these every day for 48 of the 49 days of the Omer!

I know what you are thinking.  Your life is SO BUSY, how would you EVER remember to Count the Omer or study a Middah a day?  DON’T WORRY.  You can download all sorts of apps to help you.  Go to Neohasid.com and get an Omer counter for your website or I Phone.  You can get a Counting the Omer Widget for your Android, or go to Jewish I Phone Community.org to find any number of Jewish Apps.

I know we are already more than halfway through Sefirat Ha Omer, Counting the Omer, and time is at a premium, but when it comes to improving your spiritual health, it is NEVER too late!  Shavuot is just a few weeks away, so do a little spiritual “spring cleaning!”  Remember, between Passover and Shavuot is the perfect opportunity and TIME to get your sheaves together!

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Rose

THERE ARE AMALEKITES IN EVERY GENERATION…. EVEN IN BOSTON!

The Torah records that as the people of Israel were leaving Egypt, the Amalekites attacked them on the way, cutting down the weak, the stragglers, the famished. This cruelty is to be remembered and we are commanded to oppose the cruel and heartless - the “Amalekites” in every generation.

Monday’s attack of the runners of the Boston Marathon immediately struck a chord.  Whoever did this did not attack the front-runners, those with strong, tested, athletic bodies, those with powerful strides who crossed the finish line first.  Instead the target was the “middle section runners” consisting of runners for charities, first time runners, runners who were a little older, a bit slower, some with physical challenges to overcome.  Cheering them on, their supporters, friends and family, were at the finish line waiting for them. Along with these runners and supporters near the point of explosion, was the VIP section, where first responders and relatives of those killed in the Newtown Massacre were seated.   Seems there are more and more Amalekites these days, waiting to take advantage of the vulnerable.

My mind could barely process the news out of Boston as the events unfolded. Through the afternoon and evening on Monday, April 15, I listened to the radio coverage and switched rapidly between Internet sites for details.  How many of the broadcast “details” were fact and how many rumor, had not been established… but did it really matter?  All of us saw the video clips.  Some “one” or some “thing” had terrorized the city of Boston. The runners and spectators were in the open, vulnerable, unaware and enjoying life, and a beautiful day, with friends and family.

Tuesday brought a heightened sense of concern to cities, governments, and marathon planners all over the world.  It also brought gruesome images and stories. But for me, Tuesday brought a heightened sense of awareness. At 6:30 a.m. I opened the door so I could hear the morning concert of roosters and hundreds of spring birds.  I put out my feeders and watched the finches eat thistle.  These little fellows had, in the course of a few weeks, shed their brown winter feathers and were, once again, “gold” finches. I looked up to the mountain, then walked down to the river, threw some stones, felt the early morning breeze.

And I thought.  I thought about the two blasts and how they blew out eardrums while I listened to birdsong. I thought about flying shrapnel blinding eyes, as I looked out at the brilliant yellow of the finches and the mountain. I thought about their burning flesh, while I felt spring breezes on my skin. I thought about missing arms, and hands never reaching out to hold or touch - while I skipped stones. And while I strolled to the river, I dwelt on the nightmare of so many missing legs – carefully trained legs - that had carried humans so swiftly for so many miles just minutes before. I thought about the hundreds of lives, dreams, and aspirations blown apart by some entity without a conscience, without a soul, incapable of compassion.

What I didn’t do was think about God.  Well, that isn’t completely true.  But I wasn’t “blaming” and I wasn’t looking for a “reason” and I wasn’t asking the age old question, “where was God.” That territory is covered by clergy at the myriad services held after horrific acts of terror.  What I did think about was…. “Did I thank God today for the gifts given to me?”  When Jews say the morning prayer upon rising, “Modeh Ani,” we thank God for restoring us to life. But are we fully aware of all the gifts that come with every moment of life?  Certainly we are stunned by lives cut short, but do we pay full attention to our lives as they are lived?

Judaism teaches that there are always Amalekites, whether domestic or foreign, ready to cut down the weak that cannot defend themselves.  We may not be able to control the threat, but we CAN control how we respond to it.  And therefore, I fervently hope that all of us will work very hard to be thankful for each moment, to be thankful for God-given gifts, and to be thankful that most of humanity is capable of doing the right thing. Above all, today, and every day, take the time to be thankful for those you love and for those who love you.

Modeh (modah) ani lifanekha melekh ḥai v'kayam

sheheḥezarta bi nishmahti b'ḥemlah, rabah emunatekha.

I offer thanks before you, living and eternal King,

for You have mercifully restored my soul within me; Your faithfulness is great.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Rose Lyn Jacob

ISRAEL’S “OTHER HIGH HOLY DAYS” -The Emotional Roller Coaster of Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut

In September, Jews everywhere observe the “High Holy Days,” a ten-day period of reflection with a standard mantra repeated often during our prayers.  “On Rosh Hashanah it (our fate for the coming year) is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed; pretty cut and dry and with little variation through history.

In the spring, however, during the Hebrew month of Iyyar, The State of Israel observes another period of reflection, beginning with Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, followed a week later by Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, followed immediately, at sundown, by Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day.  For this period of time, nothing is “cut and dry.”  Emotions are raw and ever changing for Israeli Jews when it comes to these three events. These three commemorative days weave together and form the mythology of the founding of the State of Israel.

The rest of the world observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27.  Not so Israel.  January 27 marks the date of the Liberation of the Auschwitz Death Camp.  Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day is, instead, observed on the date of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising! In creating it’s own mythology, Israel chose not to dwell on those who “went like sheep to the slaughter” but instead, chose to focus on the Warsaw Ghetto fighters and their acts of “heroic rebellion” in the face of death and destruction. The New Nation of Israel would come not from the dust and smoke of the crematoria, but instead from the spirited ghetto fighters, as well as the resistance and partisans who dwelt in the forests, who put their lives on the line to help save Jews and commit acts of sabotage!

One  week after Yom HaShoah, Israel is plunged into the darkness of its Memorial Day.  Once a day to honor the heroic exploits of those cut down while creating the State, or defending the State, this day has become, since the Yom Kippur War and the First Lebanon War, a very quiet time of reflection, mourning and sadness.  Traffic stops for the wailing sirens of remembrance, and motorists get out of their cars to stand at attention. Only somber music is broadcast, stores are closed, and only four television channels offer programming.  The programs are all interviews with families who have lost loved ones. Their stories are not about “heroic actions,” but rather they are stories of families in grief. The “new hero” in Israel is the family left behind. And, of course, on Yom HaZikaron, there are cemetery visits to those who have served in the military in Israel.  The whole nation grieves in a country where no family or town is left passed over by the Angel of Death. 

How then can the State of Israel rally at sunset to begin its observance of Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Independence Day?   How does one rise from such grief to dance in the streets?  Each one of these days is a religious holiday as well as a secular holiday in Israel, complete with Torah readings, psalms, music and poetry.  And so, in trying to create ‘new ways for these new days,’ some synagogues have a Havdalah service at the end of Yom HaZikaron.  When they walk in to the synagogue, it is still the somber day of sorrow and reflection.  After the Havdalah service ends, they walk out into the streets to find evening descended and the air filled with the music, dancing and rejoicing of Independence Day.  It is literally a ‘transformative experience.’

On our trip to Israel two years ago, Gary and I visited the Ghetto Fighter’s Museum.  As with most venues in Israel, you expect “tourists,” especially during the summer months, and so, as we viewed the artwork and memorabilia, maps and artifacts, we were surprised to stumble upon a group of eighteen young men and women in uniform sitting around a large table receiving a lecture on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.  These were future police officers.  As part of their training, they were learning about the Holocaust and the ghetto fighters.  I thought it an unusual field trip.  It struck me as odd that you had to “teach” about the Holocaust in Israel.  For some reason I thought knowledge of the Holocaust was passed down like a birthright from generation to generation.  Not so.

For many young Israelis, the Holocaust is simply not part of their ‘mythology.’ After all, by 1977 the political elite of Israel was no longer composed of Ashkenazic Jews, but Sephardic Jews! Many of today’s young Israeli’s come from countries, families and traditions not connected to the Holocaust.  And this creates a problem. Previous generations were aware of extreme anti-semitism, and how it fed into the creation of the Jewish State. 

Today, when young Jews can simply pick up and move away from Israel there needs to be a reason to stay! And, if they stay, they expose themselves to years of military commitment as well as danger for themselves and their families.  If they stay, they must be motivated by higher ideals.

At this year’s Yom HaShoah observance at Yad VaShem, Shimon Peres made the following observation:

"A clear line exists between the resistance in the ghettos, in the camps and in the forests and the rebirth and bravery of the State of Israel. It is a line of dignity, of renewed independence, of mutual responsibility, of exalting God's name," he said, "as a ray of hope which was not extinguished even during terrible anguish. The ghetto fighters sought life even when circumstance screamed despair."

Those are the words of the last generation’s collective memory. What then to do about future generations? Towards remediating the problem of lack of connectedness, 25% of Israeli military officers visit Poland to learn about the past.  Israeli high school students in record numbers are now participating in The March of the Living, (long a ritual of passage for American Jewish Teens), which is a trip to Poland that takes thousands of teens annually to visit the concentration camp at Auschwitz and then flies them to Israel just in time to for the drama of Israel Memorial Day and the elation of Independence Day.  

American Memorial Day sends a signal that the beaches and pools open, there are great sales in the stores, and you can safely wear white shoes without creating a fashion faux pas. How many generations did it take for THAT to happen? As Israeli Memorial Day approaches, let the message we pass on to future generations be thus: “There but by the grace of Israel go I.”

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Rose Lyn Jacob