HOW CAN YOU PRAISE THE ACTS OF CREATION SITTING AT YOUR DESK? - Go Out and Commune with Nature!

This week we REWIND the Torah, back to the beginning… I mean, really, THE BEGINNING.  Genesis. We start with the opening words, “Breisheet Barah Eloheim et HaShamiyim v’et HaAretz”.  “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.  And God said: 'Let there be light.' And there was light!”

We recall the act of Creation each time we recite the Yotzer Or prayer “Who Brings forth Light.”

In mercy do You give light to the earth and to all who dwell upon it, and in Your goodness do you renew every day, continuously, the work of Creation. How great are Your works, Adonai! In wisdom you made them all, filling the earth with your creatures.

Personally, I think that there should be a prayer for PHOTOSYNTHESIS! Even if you are not into thanking God for acts of science… you’ve GOT to admit that Photosynthesis is just remarkable.  I thank God for photosynthesis early in the Spring, when, in less than 24 hours, that remarkable shade of green turns the brown of winter into rebirth and renewal.  I make the same blessing in the Fall, when tourists flock to our part of Virginia to see the leaves “turn.”

Autumn made its debut here this week. Again, in a period of 24 hours, the leaves blew off our cherry tree, leaving her alarmingly naked.  Gusting winds brought down swirls of yellow leaves and on cue, the forests started to thin.  The color scheme of the Blue Ridge Mountains began its change from solid green foliage into a riot of reds, orange, yellows, and shades of golden brown.

Colors are changing for the wildlife as well. Protective Coloration; also a gift from God’s Palette. Deer are getting harder to spot by predators, both natural and vehicular, as they turn from brown to dusky grey, blending with tree bark.  Wild turkey hens, now the color of harvested fields, flock by the road. “Our” Momma bear and cub lumber through the yard, down to the stream, their coats deep black with lustrous well-oiled winter fur. 

A final explosion of flowers and color can be seen by the roadside and in peoples’ yards. The last of the harvest is gathered. It is glorious!  Yes, each day God renews his Covenant with us.

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

I would like to conclude with a prayer, by Reb Nachman of Bratslav, the Hasidic Jewish Master, the great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov.

Reb Nachman's religious philosophy revolved around closeness to God and speaking to God in normal conversation "as you would with a best friend." The following prayer is just such a conversation:

A Prayer of Reb Nachman of Bratslav

Hashem:

Grant me the ability to be alone!

May it be my custom to go outdoors each day among the trees and grass-

among all growing things,

and there may I be alone,

and enter into prayer,

to talk with the One to whom I belong.

May I express there everything in my heart,

and may all the foliage of the field-

all grasses, trees and plants-

awake at my coming,

to send the powers of their life into the words of my prayer

so that my prayer and speech are made whole

through the life and the spirit of all growing things,

which are made as one by their transcendent Source.

May I then pour out the words of my heart

before your Presence like water, Hashem,

and lift up my hands to You in song,

on my behalf, and that of my children!

Just imagine a day that contains this prayer. Imagine taking a break from whatever else you are doing in your busy schedule to say these words.  Imagine having the courage to say these words on days you are held down by mental or physical inertia.  Imagine stepping outside each day, being in the moment, speaking these words.  Write these words down and say them everyday.  Shortly, they will be in your memory, allowing you to concentrate on your breathing and then, perhaps allow you to lift up your eyes, your arms and your heart in prayer.

Shavua Tov,

Rabbi Rose

 

La Crosse the Kitten ends Sukkot

 

This was La Crosse's first Sukkot. She was born in a barn. Her mother's name is Trudy Katz, so you can imagine that she was quite anxious to celebrate the holidays.

Sukkot at Fauquier Jewish Congetgation

A good time was had by all!

DESERTS, HURRICANES, FOXHOLES AND SUKKAHS - Wrapping Ourselves in God’s Protection

The old saying goes – “There are no atheists in foxholes” but I read a story that takes the whole FOXHOLE and religion thing to a different level.

During the Russo-Japanese war in 1904-1905, many young Jewish men were conscripted into the Russian Army.  Of these, a large number of Talmud students, disciples of Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, were sent to the Japanese front.  Picture underfed, under-clothed, under-trained young Torah scholars; a division of young Woody Allens.

They wrote their rebbe about their experiences. One such letter was about how those at the front made themselves a sukkah by digging a hole and covering it with branches!  All through the night they took turns scurrying to the sukkah with their rations so that they could fulfill the mitzvah of the festival, “in sukkas shall you dwell!” Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Ha-Olam, Asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav vitzivanu lay-shev ba-sukkah. Blessed are you, oh Lord our God, King of the Universe who has made us holy through the commandments and has commanded us to dwell (sit and eat) in the sukkah.

The front line of a war zone is a really good place to seek out God’s protection.  It is also a fine place to think about the fragility of life; but so is your own back yard. 

Sukkot is the third and final festival of the Jewish year.  Passover – God takes us out of Egypt.  Shavuot – God gives us the Torah/Ten Commandments.   Sukkot – God takes us into the desert to dwell in flimsy huts for FORTY YEARS!!!!  During that time, when the Jews traveled, they were led by the Ark, which was accompanied by a pillar of clouds at night, and a pillar of fire during the day.  God was with them.  The Shekinah, the sheltering spirit of God surrounded them.

Now I, personally, have spent a very limited amount of time in the desert; and during one visit there was an incident with a scorpion, but let’s just note that you don’t need a full forty years in the wilderness to appreciate the belief that without God, there is no water, no food, no shelter, no safety - the perfect environment for faith, right up there (or down there) with foxholes.

It doesn’t take forty years anymore for us to learn about the fragility of life. Today, we learn, at the speed of a tweet, how lives can be altered in an instant.  A forest fire.  A boardwalk fire.  A powerful hurricane. Rising flood waters. An act of war. A terrorist attack. A simple accident. A lone gunman. A diagnosis. A crisis that sets the marketplace in a spin sending fortunes plummeting and striping away any sense of security.

Sukkot’s lessons are for the high and mighty, for the wealthy, the powerful as well as those without.  They say to the poor, “Look how God provided for us! We are in our fragile sukkah, yet we are protected, we look up through the roof and sense God’s presence.  There is hope!” To the wealthy and powerful, it says, “Feel how the breeze shakes that which appears stable.  Your sense of security should be shaken as well! Life is fragile. Power, wealth, security can all disappear in a minute.”

The holiday of Sukkot has four names and can be appreciated at so many levels. It is the “Festival of Booths,” to remind us of our wanderings.  It is Chag Ha-Asif, the “Festival of Ingathering”…for we slept and ate in these booths in the fields as we gathered the harvest.  The festival is also called, ”The Chag” (THE Festival) as well as Zeman Simkhateinu, the “Season of Rejoicing”, for when the harvest is in, and the storehouses full, the farmers of Israel rejoice.  The cycle begins again as we add prayers for rain in Israel to our liturgy.

Today, in our prayer services, we still ask God to put those sheltering wings around us.  We still ask that God put a Sukkat Shlomecha, Sukkah of Peace over us and over all of the People of Israel.

So let us rejoice, reflect on the many gifts God bestows on us, remember our nomadic roots and be ever mindful of the fragility of our existence.

May God spread the Sukkah of Peace over you, over your loved ones, and over Am Yisrael, the People of Israel in this New Year of 5774, and let us say, Amen.

Shalom,

Rabbi Rose

"The Knock on The Door"

This sermon was given on Yom Kippur Day, 2013, at The Fauquier Jewish Congregation, Warrenton, Virginia

                

Finally… The knock on the door.  Jews.  Always waiting for the knock on the door. It was the summer of 1942, and they had come finally come for him.  They were there for my father. 

My mother, pregnant, peered over his shoulder, my sister Sandra at her side. The two men showed their badges. U.S. Federal Agents were at the door, at his home in Bound Brook, New Jersey.  An illegal immigrant, he had managed to avoid detection for 10 years. 

He was an “illegal” because, in 1932, desperate to get out of Hungary, but too close to military age to get a legal exit visa, his parents had paid a man to pass my father off as his slightly younger son. This allowed my father to get on a boat for America, albeit illegally, with a false identity.

Arriving with nothing but one family connection, he worked, studied, learned English, bought a new car, built a business, married and bought a home.  And he did all that before being caught.

His story ended well.  He wasn’t deported. A special Act of Congress allowed him to stay.  Once he was legal, he brought over as many of his family as he could and set them up in businesses of their own.

And although he tried, he wasn’t able to secure visas for his two sisters, and they, perished, along with their husbands and children, After the Holocaust, he brought over the surviving members of his family. He became a tax-payer… a very good one at that. He never went back to Hungary. 

Each of us has an American immigration story.  It’s just a matter of which generation, which boat, or which plane.

Each generation is held at the mercy of the immigration process.  Since the early 19^th century, the Jewish community has prided itself on taking an active role on immigration issues.   Fighting for a just and compassionate immigration system is not only a Jewish Imperative, it is our legacy. The Jewish Community holds dear these three values: “Protecting the Stranger, a fair justice system, and caring for the poor.”

There are at least 35 references to the Hebrew word “Ger” or “stranger who dwells among us” in the Torah and in the Books of the Prophets.

Leviticus 19:33-34 states:

 “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him.  The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt:  I am the Lord and your God”.

In the Book of Psalms as well as those of the prophets Jeremiah and Malachi, God repeatedly mentions the stranger or immigrant along with widows and orphans as the most vulnerable among us deserving special attention and protection.

Deuteronomy 16:12, commands us to establish a justice system: “Judges and police officers you shall place in all your gates… and they shall judge the people with righteous justice.." and we are also given this admonishment,  “Justice, Justice, Shall You Pursue.”

Leviticus 24:22

“You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.'"

Hillel said, “The main idea of the Torah is 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Everything else is commentary.” 

I’d like to quote Rabbi Jason Rosenberg, who, in writing about Immigration Reform cautions us: “ It would be incredibly ironic for us, as Jews, to be less than welcoming when it comes to immigration policy, because, we’ve often been the victim of it.  We’ve been the victims of restrictions on our own migrations for centuries.  We’ve fled persecution and been told, time and again, “you're not welcome here.” Even when others were trying to wipe our people off the map, we’ve been told to go somewhere else.  Just not here.”

When it comes to immigration issues, Jews have always had a dog in the fight. A strict immigration quota was imposed in 1921, to stem the wave of Jewish immigration from the pogroms in Russia.  The Immigration Act of 1924 brought even more restrictive quotas. And 1929 brought Jewish immigration to a trickle.

In 1938, shortly after Kristallnacht, “The Night of the Broken Glass," a poll by the National Opinion Research Center in Chicago showed that while 94 percent of Americans disapproved of Nazi treatment of Jews, 72 percent were opposed to admitting a large number of German Jewish in the United States. In 1939, the Wagner-Rodgers bill that would have permitted 20,000 Jewish children to enter the US, independent of the German quota, was allowed to die in the Senate. 

The more things change, the more they stay the same. We know our current immigration system is broken.  I am not even going to suggest a fix; the politics are too inflamed, as is the moral outrage.  All I can say is, “there but by the grace of God go I.”

There is no need to lecture on the current state of immigration, detention, and deportation. I don’t need to tell you the horror stories… the media takes care of that.  I don’t need to tell you how each state and jurisdiction handles or mishandles its immigrant population… be it legal or illegal…you’ve seen it all on TV or read about it.  And frankly, some of it is too troubling and graphic to talk about with children in the room. Let’s just say that the Jewish concept of RACHMONIS – COMPASSION… is totally lacking.

I recently read an article by a young modern orthodox Jewish man in New York City.  His parents came to America on vacation from Israel a dozen years ago.  He was a little boy at the time.  They overstayed their tourist visa, established a life here, and raised their son here.  But it wasn’t until recently the young man found out he was in America illegally.  His dilemma, as a Jew is this: According to the Halackhic  rule of Dina de-Malhut Dina, a law that has been on the books since the Babylonia captivity, a Jew is bound by the law of the land in which he dwells.  His conflict of conscience? If he is, in fact, bound to the law of the land, then is it his responsibility to self deport?

No one leaves his or her native country with out a good reason, as your family’s personal narrative will attest.  Look into your own heart: what circumstances would drive you to risk everything?

I’d like to give you a hopefully, science-fiction scenario.  What if Israel’s survival were on the brink?  Would America open it’s doors willingly? Who would protect the rights of THAT immigrant population?

I hope that during the coming year, you take the time to educate yourself on what Jews and other faith-based groups have done to safeguard the rights and safety of those in custody, or stuck in the quagmire of the immigration process.  I hope you learn enough to develop a compassionate position on Immigration Reform. 

As Jews we are in an unusual position.  We are supposed to live by the law of the land. But as AMERICAN’S we have the power to shape those laws… to create new laws… and to monitor their enforcement.

Repentance is the theme of Yom Kippur.  And as we will see later this morning in our Haftorah from the Book of Isaiah, fasting and prayer mark the day, but they avail nothing unless accompanied by acts of social justice.

Should we, God willing, be sealed in the Book of Life for another year, let each one of us take action on behalf of the stranger, so that none of us need to atone for standing idly by.

Hillel, in Pirket Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers, gives us these words of wisdom to live by. “EEm ayn ani lee, mi lee, If I am not for myself, who will be for me?  But if I am only for myself, what am I? And, if not now, when?

Rabbi Rose Lyn Jacob    09/13/2013

YOM KIPPUR – Tipping the Scales in Our Favor

For those of the Jewish “persuasion”, the following thought provoking words have resonated since childhood. “He knows if you are sleeping, He knows if you’re awake, He knows if you’ve been good… or bad…so be good for goodness sake.”

Jewish children didn’t anticipate a toy from Santa Claus as a result of good behavior, but it did get us all wondering.  “How does he know?”  “He’s making a list, and checking it twice”… How does this invisible entity track our every action? We wondered what improved the chances of a good outcome.  Perhaps a petition! A letter! “Dear Santa Claus.” Perhaps an offering could be made?  Cookies and milk!  And if it didn’t work out?  Worse case scenario… a lump of coal in your sock. (Jewish kids didn’t have “stockings,” they just desperately hung a sock on the mantle.)

Then came Hebrew School. Myth Buster Alert! Even though he had a big beard, an ample stomach, Santa was, in fact, not Jewish. That jolly fellow was replaced by stories of an all-knowing God, holding our lives in the balance on a divine scale. We spend the Ten Days of Repentance trying to tip the scale in our favor through prayer, sincere apologies, and charitable acts. We beat our chests and petition God to be written and sealed in the Book of Life for another year. We make a final appeal right before the Gates of Heaven are slammed shut for another year. Pretty traumatic for a kid, don’t you think?

Years pass, and we grow up. Synagogue attendance is “iffy,” life gets complicated. Often, in social settings, upon hearing that I am a Rabbi, Jewish people come up and confess “I am not a very good Jew.” I am taken aback.  Their perceived shortcomings are, with few exceptions, related to lapses in ritual practices and customs, poor or no Hebrew reading skills, no knowledge of prayer, or a lack of belief in God.  With rare exceptions, the person telling me this is a “MENSCH” (defined as a person of integrity and honor). They are infused with so many Jewish ethics and values, yet they sell themselves short as Jews.

We are the People of the Book and the People of the Law. The core of our identity as Jews rests on how we treat people, especially the weakest and most vulnerable, the “widow” and the “orphan” and the “stranger.” We are the recipients of a wonderful guiding principal, “Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue,”(Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof, Deut. 16:19-2). But unless we understand the texts and the Law, our Judaism might be reduced to a mere label… or maybe just a pile of latkes on Chanukah, not a system of living laws as it was originally conceived.

This Friday night Yom Kippur begins with the Kol Nidre.  It isn’t a prayer.  It isn’t a supplication.  It is a legal formula sung to an amazingly beautiful melody.  How very “Jewish.” While we make our final supplications, and review the list of our purported shortcomings, let’s make a commitment to personal Jewish exploration, so that we may continually learn the deeper meaning of what it is to be a “Good Jew.”

MAY YOU BE INSCRIBED AND SEALED IN THE BOOK OF LIFE FOR A GOOD YEAR. L’Shana Tovah,

Rabbi Rose

AND WHILE YOU’RE AT IT - DON’T FORGET TO FORGIVE YOURSELF!

The apples and honey were tasty… now it is time to get down to the serious work!

 

Asking “forgiveness” is a huge part of the Rosh Hashanah – Yom Kippur Liturgy. The “Al Chet” prayer gives a litany of misdeeds from Alef-Tav. (For a full listing of all your misdeeds, Google “Al Chet.”)

Those of us who read the list in the English instead of in Hebrew are truly misled by the poor translation. The key words, Al Chet are translated in the High Holiday Machzor (prayerbook) as “We Have Sinned.” 

The problem is that ‘sin’ is not a particularly “Jewish” concept. In fact, Hebrew has no word for sin.  So why translate it that way? Well, “Al Chet” was a concept that earlier generations understood. The words “Al Chet” refer to a Hebrew archery term, “missing the mark.”  God has set certain expectations of behavior, and WE have fallen short.  God set up a target of expectations, and we, as individuals and as community, have let fly our arrows throughout the year and missed the bull’s eye.

If you’ve ever shot an arrow, (yes, my years at Jewish Summer Camp included archery) you know that the only way you get good at it is by working at it. You quickly learn that if you keep the same stance, pull the same way, let fly the same way, you will never improve and therefore YOU WILL ALWAYS MISS THE MARK. 

During the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we don’t just “reflect” on our behavior, we consciously work on changing our behavior, so that when faced with the same situation again, we do not repeat the same mistake.  In the words of Albert Einstein, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

So, we’ve worked on improving our aim, we’ve asked forgiveness of those we have wronged, we have made our peace with God. What is left to do?  FORGIVE YOURSELF.  I know what you are thinking… forgiving YOURSELF doesn’t seem very Jewish either…. We couldn’t have JEWISH GUILT if we forgave ourselves… not only might we lose a key component of being Jewish, but we would lose the punch line of almost HALF of all JEWISH JOKES (and all Jewish Mother jokes).

Dr. Rick Hanson, a neuropsychologist and author of “Buddah’s Brain: The

Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom” writes, “Everyone messes up.  It is important to acknowledge mistakes, feel appropriate remorse, learn from them so they don’t happen again.”  He goes on to say that most people keep beating themselves up way past the point of usefulness.

He contends that there are two (among many) voices in your head. The “inner critic” who never stops finding fault with you, who magnifies your failings and punishes you over and over again… and who doesn’t even give brownie points for trying to make amends.  The second voice, the “inner protector” has the important role of telling “the critic” to shut up. This helps you see things in perspective, gets rid of the awful feeling, lets you clean up your mess so you can work on “hitting the mark”.

From a psychological point of view “the only wholesome purpose of guilt, shame or remorse is learning…not punishment.” But how do you move on? From a Jewish perspective, other than just beating your chest, what formula can you use to forgive and heal yourself?  Hansen offers 11 steps, which I will trim down to 4.

First – Acknowledge what moral faults you are responsible for (list them).

Second – List what you are NOT responsible for (misinterpretations of others).

Third – Reflect with the help of your “inner protector” to see if you need to repair relationships or make amends.

Fourth – Actively forgive yourself for what you have done and then say “I forgive myself for (list what you wish to forgive yourself for). I have taken responsibility and done what I could to make things better.” Then give it some time to sink in.

I hope your spiritual workout goes well this week.  Ask for forgiveness, work hard on plans to “hit the mark” in the coming year, and, for your own sanity and spiritual health don’t forget to FORGIVE YOURSELF!

May you be written in the Book of Life for a good year.

Rabbi Rose Jacob