“Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” - Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5; Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 37a

“Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” - Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5; Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 37a

For Goodness Sake - What does that have to do with Mayor Michael Bloomberg?
Poor Michael Bloomberg – well, not literally ‘poor’ – the man is worth $25 billion. Perhaps just misunderstood.  Say his name out loud and you may hear cries of “Nanny State.”
Michael Bloomberg, the philanthropist, is in the news this week for having donated $350 million to Johns Hopkins University. Comedian Jay Leno speculated the funds would build the “Michael Bloomberg Center to Eradicate 16 Ounce Sodas”… and that the structure would look like a “Big Gulp.” In reality, the money will go to fund 40 professors who will work across disciplines to solve some of the worlds most pressing problems. The rest of the money will fund over 2,500 financial aid scholarships.
With this latest donation, Bloomberg becomes the single largest financial donor to any American university in our history.  His total giving to that institution is now over 1 BILLION dollars. His first donation to the university, one year after his graduation, was five dollars. His greatest giving has been in the areas of Public Health, and Nursing, as well as a children’s hospital wing named after his mother.
So nu? Who is this man who tries to tell everyone in New York what to do? We (well, the media) think of him as the ‘Politician from New York who banned large sugary drinks; who took the trans-fats out of food in the Big Apple; who forced restaurants to list the calories in their foods; who is actively trying to reduce the sodium in NYC food; who deprives new mothers of baby formula to convince them that breast feeding is healthier; who made it impossible to smoke in public places as well as restaurants and anywhere else inhalation takes place; and who wants taxi’s to have lower emissions.’
Well this is America, and as we all know, we are free to do what we please, even if it kills us!
Michael, if I may call him by his first name, is a mensch. He is the kind of mensch who puts his money where his mouth is, where it does the most good, and he allocates that money GLOBALLY.  His Bloomberg Foundation has launched a $375 million initiative to combat tobacco use in low- and middle-income countries, where more than two-thirds of the world's smokers live. He’s pledged $125 million for five years to fund road safety interventions in 10 countries working to reduce traffic accident deaths and injuries through the Association for Safe International Road Travel. His foundation has also created a pilot program in Tanzania to reduce maternal deaths by providing training for emergency obstetric care in rural communities. It is hoped that this program will be transferable to other countries with high infant mortality and maternal deaths.
As I stated previously, Michael is a Mensch. He learned to give and to serve from his parents. He gives large and he gives without fanfare. He is modest in his acts of Tzedahkah. But most importantly he truly models the Talmudic passage “whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.”
Along with Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates, Bloomberg has vowed to give away half of his total wealth for philanthropic use before his death, or upon his death.
Michael Bloomberg may not be able to save New Yorkers from themselves, but almost every initiative he has undertaken to improve health in NYC has been adopted by other US cities. Over time, what seem to be outrageous laws and limits have become commonplace all over America.
In observing a lifetime of Michael Bloomberg’s initiatives in both the public and private spheres, I am reminded of a lesson from Pirke Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers. Hillel said it best "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am only for myself, what am 'I'? And if not now, when?”



Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rose

Negro Marchers from Selma Wear Yarmulkes

Dateline: March 22, 1965  – Negro Marchers from Selma Wear Yarmulkes

“Hundreds of Negro freedom marchers today wore yarmulkes (skullcaps), in respectful emulation of rabbis who participated in demonstrations in Alabama as Jewish participation in the march from Selma to Montgomery.” (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

The story, which may or may not be apocryphal, is that way before the Selma to Montgomery March, several rabbis had joined a prayer service at a black church.  When asked what the meaning of a yarmulke was, a rabbi explained, “that one’s head must be covered in the presence of the Lord.”  The response to this was, “wherever the freedom movement is, God is to be found there.”

The African-Americans wore them and called them “Freedom Caps.”  The Alabama State Police called them “Yankee Yamakas.”  (The demand was so high that an order of 1,000 skullcaps was wired to New York City to be delivered to Montgomery, in time for the great demonstration at the state capitol.)

There were many Jews from the North who came down for the March. (In fact five rabbis found themselves locked up by the Police in the Selma Jail for Shabbat!)  Among the rabbis who participated in the march was Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel, of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the seminary for Conservative rabbis.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked Dr. Heschel to take a position of honor at the head of the marchers. A famous photograph shows Dr. King and Dr. Heschel marching shoulder to shoulder.

 
One of the northern rabbi’s who participated in the march was my husband’s rabbi from Rhode Island, Rabbi William Braude. He was the spiritual leader of a large Reform Congregation in Providence. In line with Reform practice, yarmulkes were not worn at his shul; not even for those ascending the Bimah. It was considered too “old world.”

Rabbi Braude spoke before his congregation and gave the stirring details of his experiences in Montgomery, including a description of the unifying and symbolic wearing of yarmulkes by Jews and Blacks alike during the march.  What happened next was totally unexpected.  Rabbi Braude took a yarmulke out of his pocket and put it on his head. There was a long silence, then nothing but the sound of people getting up and walking out.  Here and there, in this very large sanctuary, people stood up and left, affronted by the donning of the head covering.

The following Shabbat, boxes of yarmulkes had been placed at the entrance to the sanctuary, for those who wished to wear one. This tradition continues.

Let’s not forget the Selma March, the Jewish college students who flocked to Alabama to register voters, those 1,000 yarmulkes in Montgomery, and the unifying passion of people like Dr. King and Dr. Heschel.  Our histories, and the history of the Civil Rights Movement, are forever intertwined.

Rabbi Rose Lyn Jacob

LES MISERABLES - An AMAZING FILM that should list GOD in the CREDITS!

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“To Love Another Person is to See the Face of God”

Victor Hugo

The last thing I expected when we went to see LES MISERABLES, the new film based on an English translation of the French musical theater adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel,…was to have a RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE!
I am familiar with the novel, the lyrics and music and saw the stage production when it came to DC. The film doesn’t contain any spoken dialogue and is completely sung, like an opera. I was prepared for a lush Hollywood production, beautifully orchestrated, with Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway lighting up a VERY LARGE screen. What I didn’t anticipate was the extreme, intense visual, visceral experience detailed down to the last drops of blood, sweat, tears and suffering of each tortured soul; or the blood literally running in the streets or the oceans of effluent streaming through the sewers of Paris. Above all, what I truly didn’t expect amidst all of this, was a feeling that God was present, there in the theater.
God’s hand is in every scene. Not religion, but God. Not Jesus, but God. Hugh Jackman, in his role as Jean Valjean, a felon who is given a chance at redemption, has a most personal relationship with his God.  With every note, every word, every look, every movement he asks for divine guidance and to a much lesser degree, divine intervention. When other men would have buckled under his burden, he receives his strength, both physical and moral, from God.  He is a man of uncompromising integrity. He is a man, who, when given the chance at redemption, seizes it with passion and intent.
What struck me is that while invoking God’s name, he doesn’t make deals with God, but rather he asks for God’s grace. Each superhuman challenge he undertakes is an act of devotion. Each accomplishment is an affirmation of God’s hand in the action. His life is lived as if every challenge was an opportunity to perform just one more MITZVAH!
How many times, in dark hours, do we ask “Where is God?” or “Why doesn’t God intervene?” When we look at our own petitions to God, we usually invoke God’s name to give a favorable outcome. It is almost like we ask the impossible just to prove that there IS no God. Victor Hugo’s character, however draws his strength from God and uses that strength to perform the MITZVOT that will BRING ABOUT God’s miracles. Jean Valjean doesn’t ask WHY is the world this way, but rather, what can I, as an individual, do with God’s help to change the outcome!
While the film is rated PG-13, I wouldn’t recommend it for a teen under the age of 15. If bringing a teen, it would be helpful to do a little “history lesson” before hand so that they can have a better grasp of the subject matter.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rose

LINCOLN and MOSES – LEADERSHIP IS BEING FULLY AWARE OF THE PEOPLE YOU LEAD!

It was off to the movies for us on New Year’s Day. A very popular destination as there wasn’t a single empty seat in the theater when we went to see Spielberg’s “LINCOLN.” It was a wonderful film with Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role. Abraham Lincoln has oft been called, among other things, a wonderful leader, a great orator, and the American Moses.
Coincidentally, this week we begin the book of Exodus, which brings us the life and events of the “original” Moses. This week’s parasha, Shemot , commences with the birth of Moses and continues on to the events that bring him to the leadership of the Israelites and his role in securing their exodus from Egypt and their journey from slavery to freedom.  Both Moses and Lincoln have, historically, been linked with the concept of leading the enslaved to freedom. And both men have made their place in history as remarkable leaders.
But what are the qualities of a really good leader? England’s Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, in response to the question, “who is a leader?” responds thus: the Jewish answer is, one who identifies with his or her people, mindful of their faults, to be sure, but convinced also of their potential greatness and their preciousness in the sight of G-d. “
Lincoln’s leadership certainly fits the description, but he led with greater confidence than Moses!
When God taps Moses for the job of going before the Pharaoh to intercede on the part of the enslaved Israelites and lead them out of Egypt, Moses has a list of reasons why he isn’t up to the job. He points to his speech impediment…”no sweat” says God, “Aaron will speak for you.” Moses wonders why the Jews would listen to him or believe he was acting on behalf of THE invisible God.  “No problem,” says God, “I’ll give you some magic tricks including this walking stick that converts into a snake and then back again”, and then God instructs him on how to turn Nile water into blood.  Still questioning God’s ability to back him up, God tells him to stick his hand in his robe then pull it out.  YIKES it is covered with white, scales of LEPROSY! On God’s command he sticks his hand back in, and VOILA, when he pulls it out the scales are gone. Even with God’s assurances that Moses was up to the task AND that the people would listen to him, he was the most reluctant of leaders.
Certainly, Moses was filled with insecurities and self -doubt. But remember, he wasn’t just a shepherd. He had been raised in the Pharaoh’s palace, as a Prince of Egypt, able to see and study, first hand, the ins and outs of power and leadership as he grew to adulthood.
His big worry is that he knows that the Israelites are a ‘stiff-necked’ people. They’ve already expressed how they feel about Moses years prior to these events, with one person even sneering “Who made YOU ruler and judge over US?” And after the first visit with Pharaoh, the people despise Moses even more, for making their lives even more difficult. But God reminds Moses that they are, despite all their shortcomings, a worthy people. Also, God points out that He had promised to fulfill a pact with their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and this included giving them a land of their own and making them as numerous as the stars in the sky, promises that can only be kept of the Chosen depart from Egypt. It is up to God to calm his doubts, not those regarding his capabilities, for they could be overcome. But his real insecurity, the ability to work with the people he is supposed to LEAD!  He knows what a handful the Children of Israel can be, and can only imagine what is in store for the journey ahead. God understands his concern and addresses Moses thus, “Those people of whom you have doubts,” said G-d to Moses, “are believers, the children of believers. They are My people, and they are your people. Just as you believe in Me, so you must believe in them.”

From this, let us learn that the key to true leadership is not just to inspire and direct but to believe and have faith in those you lead.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rose

Rabbi’s Corner
Maimonides FAVORITE Day of the Year – December 31^st, the biggest day to GIVE!
Moses ben Maimon, known as Maimonides, or the Rambam was a preeminent Jewish philosopher, scholar and physician in the Middle Ages. Among his many accomplishments was a fourteen volume work known as the Mishna Torah. One of the most widely referred to sections of the Mishneh Torah is that dealing with Tzedahkah. “Laws about Giving to Poor People.”
According to Charity Navigator ONE THIRD of all online charitable giving occurs in December, and 22% of annual giving happens in the last two days of the year, with most donations coming in between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm on December 31^st.
For Americans, this is the last day you can claim a deduction on your 2012 Tax Return. As American Jews, “giving” isn’t JUST about the deduction (hopefully) but an opportunity to perform acts of Tzedahkah. Call it charitable giving. Call it righteous giving. Whatever you personally call it, it is not just a Jewish “tradition,” it is a MITZVAH, that which is commanded by God.
Judaism points to eight Levels of ‘Giving’ or, as you might have learned it in Sunday School “Maimonides’ Ladder of Tzedahkah, where the first level is LEAST preferable, and the eighth the MOST. Think of this ladder as a precursor to David Letterman’s “Top Ten” without the ‘drumroll.’
MAIMONIDES LADDER OF TZEDAHKAH

8. Giving unwillingly.

7. Giving willingly, but inadequately.

6. Giving adequately after being asked.

5. Giving tzedakah before being asked.

4. Giving tzedakah publicly to an unknown recipient.

3. Giving tzedakah anonymously to a known recipient.

2. Giving tzedakah anonymously to an unknown recipient via a trustworthy person (or public fund), that can perform acts of tzedakah with your money.

1. Giving an interest-free loan to a person in need; forming a partnership with a person in need; giving a grant to a person in need; finding a job for a person in need; so long as that loan, grant, partnership, or job results in the person no longer living by relying upon others. (The root, in America, of “The Hebrew Free Loan Society.”)

Of course Maimonides created his ladder not to reflect one-time end of year giving, but how one should conduct oneself in giving throughout the year. Maimonides’ accountant didn’t clue him in on the ‘tax advantage’ point of view. If he HAD, Maimonides would have created an even HOLIER rung of giving; NON-DEDUCTIBLE!
So as you sit down and look at your “end of the year giving”, ask yourself, “WHAT WOULD MAIMONIDES DO?” Have you clothed the naked, fed the hungry, tended to the needs of the widow, the orphan or the elderly? Have you enabled the sick to be treated and the homeless to be housed? Have you supported scholarships for students and worthy civic causes? Have you given to support the homeland of the Jewish people, or assisted Jews in oppressive regimes to relocate? Have you underwritten Jewish Education, Jewish institutions or (even) your synagogue?
As we’ve learned recently through the ever-increasing number of disasters in this country, we don’t even have to write a check to donate, we just have to punch a few numbers on our cell phones, or surf the net to find charities that reflect our personal values. Click, click, click, and our pocket books can back up our principles.
No matter which step on Maimonides’ Ladder you find yourself, no matter what your comfort zone, no matter how public, how private, or how personal your giving is, your actions are part of a tradition that dates back more than a thousand years, a tradition that finds its roots even further back, in Torah times.
We are so fortunate. The Mayan Calendar didn’t signal the END OF THE WORLD and you still have a few days until December 31^st.
So whether you take the ‘standard deduction’ or ‘itemize’, may your hearts and your checkbook be motivated by the spirit of Maimonides.
Have a Happy and Healthy 2013. Drive safely and NO TEXTING while DRIVING!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rose

ATROCITIES HAPPEN

Excerpted from the High Holy Day Yizkor (memorial) Service.

“Some of us call to mind children, entrusted to our care all too briefly, taken from us before they reached the age of maturity and fulfillment, to whom we gave our loving care and from whom we received a trust which enriched our lives... We are sustained and comforted by the thought that the goodness which they brought into our lives remains an enduring blessing…” Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan

May God remember the souls of the victims of the Newtown School shooting who have gone to their eternal rest. In tribute to their memory, I pledge to perform acts of charity and goodness. May the deeds I perform and the prayers I offer help to keep their souls bound up in the bond of life as an enduring source of blessing. The Yizkor Prayer

Rabbis and clergy of every denomination sat down this week to face a blank page, a blank screen. What could they possibly say to their congregations when they, themselves were struggling with the questions: Why? How? Where was God? Why does God let bad things happen? And when we hear “sound bites” on the radio, why is it that words like “we need a time for healing” or “the children will be angels, gathered to God” sound so hollow…almost as hollow as cries for gun control and better psychiatric care. Almost as hollow as the oft heard pronouncement that ‘this time is different’ and ‘this time we must bring about change.’

But “change” isn’t always something we can count on or believe in. In 1966, Charles Whitman, a student at the University of Texas in Austin mounted the stairs of the University Tower, and from his vantage point above the campus, killed 13 people and wounded 32. The night before this, he killed his mother and wife so they wouldn’t have to “suffer” the ramifications of his pre-meditated actions the following day. Shortly before all this happened, he spoke to a mental health professional to say he just didn’t feel like himself. The doctor asked what he felt like. “I feel like I could climb up to the Tower and just start shooting.” There had never been any follow up on this visit, and Whitman never returned for another appointment.

There were no video games in 1966. There were fewer guns. Psychiatry was in its infancy. Try as we (or the media) wish to apply reasoning to horrific scenarios the fact is that atrocities happen. They’ve happened throughout history. They happen somewhere in the world every day.

The difference is that now, due to intense media coverage we can tick off the names of mass shootings with the familiarity of the Ten Plagues brought upon Egypt: US Postal Service – Oklahoma, Long Island Railroad Massacre, Columbine High School, Aurora Theater Shooting, Fort Hood Massacre, Amish School Shooting, Virginia Tech, Sikh Temple Shooting, The Portland Mall and now Newtown School.

We will never become immune to these tragedies. We will never become de-sensitized. And that is how we can retain OUR HUMANITY when we question the inhumanity of others.

Our prayer for the dead, EYL MALEY RAHAMIM, begins with the words “Merciful God,” somewhat ironic for times such as these. But it is a prayer of love and compassion for those we have lost. In reciting this prayer at a time when we would like to lash out or accuse or shake our fist at God, we remind ourselves that God did not commit these acts, and God could not have prevented them. Instead, we REACH OUT to GOD to help restore our internal peace so that we may continue to live in a world that is imperfect.

“Merciful God, who dwells on high and in our hearts, grant perfect peace to the souls of these beloved children and teachers who have gone to their eternal rest. Shelter them in Your Divine Presence among the holy and pure whose radiance is like the brightness of the firmament. May their memory inspire us to live justly and kindly. May their souls be at peace; and may they be bound up in the bond of eternal life.”

Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Rose Lyn Jacob

There is so much to learn from A CHRISTMAS CAROL

There is so much to learn from A CHRISTMAS CAROL - Charles Dickens’s Tale of Tzedahkah, Gimilut Hasadim, and Rachmonus Here we are, the middle of December, smack in the middle of the pre-Christmas frenzy, or, as one of my good Catholic friends calls the run-up to Christmas, “THE GENTILE MADNESS.”

‘Tis the season of shopping, parties, endless and merciless Christmas carols (secular and religious) in the malls and stores, a Salvation bell ringer in front of every supermarket, and TONS of charity solicitations by mail, and, if your are lucky, a work bonus or that holiday turkey or ham from the boss.

Christmas wasn’t always celebrated as it is today. Back in 1645 the Puritan Parliament declared it a working day and Christmas was banned! Even making Christmas pies could lead to arrest as an example to others! Holiday customs began to fade away, since anyone found celebrating could get into trouble. No caroling in the streets and both public and private feasting and decorating stopped.

So where did the Christmas we’ve all grown to know COME FROM? We have one person to thank, and that would be CHARLES DICKENS and his novella “A Christmas Carol.” Dickens had suffered a horrible loveless childhood of want, loneliness and despair.  His parents were sent to debtors prison and he was farmed out and put to work at an early age. Around him he saw the suffering of those displaced and driven into poverty by the Industrial Revolution. He witnessed and experienced the hunger, cold, dismal, hopeless lives of the downtrodden in London. He knew what it was to work long hours in a cold cubical heated by just one lump of coal, like his character Bob Cratchet. With “A Christmas Carol” Dickens sets out to create a festival of love, and generosity of spirit and wealth. He published the novel in December of 1843. By the spring of 1844 there was a sudden burst of charitable giving in Britain, which was attributed to Dickens’s novella. His tale of warning created a spirit of compassion, giving, and an obligation to take care of the poor in a more humane way. Employers began to give Christmas day off to employees, and some began to give out Turkeys and Hams to emulate Scrooges’ giving. For decades, the Queen of Sweden sent donations to the crippled children of London in remembrance of Tiny Tim!

In short, it is a tale of one man’s redemption, for if even old Scrooge has the possibility to mend his ways and have a second chance at life, so can the rest of us! You may ask, “ How Jewish is this story?” I’d say EXTREMELY! It encompasses the fundamental Jewish values we strive to impart to our children and to live by ourselves.  Each year at Rosh Hashanna and Yom Kippur we seek to be written in the book of life for another year. We are made aware of all our shortcomings in regard to our fellow man. We are offered a path away from the horrible decree. Tzedahkah – Charitable Giving, Teshuva – Returning to what we know is good and right. We are also encouraged to do– Gimelut Hassadim –literally, “the giving of loving-kindness.” These would include clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and burying the dead. 

There is one more Jewish value in the story, Rachmonus – Compassion.  When approached for a charitable donation for the poor, Scrooge demands of the two gentlemen soliciting, “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?” He sits in judgment of the poor rather than helping them. With regard to Tiny Tim, compassion wells up as he is shown a vision of the future in which Tiny Tim dies. He is so moved that after the revelation and redemption, Scrooge becomes a ‘second father’ to Tiny Tim and the boy survives.

So this holiday season, don’t change the station. Watch “A Christmas Carol”… any one of the hundreds of versions lurking around this time of year (A Muppet Christmas Carol is good for the Little Ones.) Discuss the values in the film, and that both Christians and Jews share. I know that I will be reading “A Christmas Carol” with friends this year, and we will once again share the message of redemption through change. Shabbat Shalom, “and God bless us, everyone”

Rabbi Rose Lyn Jacob