My thoughts while the shofar was blown near the end of Shacharit this morning.

The Akedah, read each morning in Shacharit, tells of the ram being caught in the thicket by its horns.

The last verse of Psalm 148, also read each morning - and also read as the Torah scroll is taken up after the reading to begin its journey back to the Ark - speaks of G!d raising up the horn of G!d's people as a praise to G!d's chasidim, people of chesed, lovingkindness.

Maybe our task on Rosh Hashanah, when the shofar is blown in rabbinic communities, is to free the ram's horn from the thicket so G!d can raise it up and we can be people of chesed.

Basar b’Cholov: A Poem

Three times in the Torah it says not to boil a kid in its mother’s milk

The Shulchan Aruch says this teaches that there are three things one cannot do: cook it, eat it, or benefit from it

My name is Tomer Yitzchok – the Date-Palm Tree Will Laugh

The Yitzchok – he will laugh – seems like a mitzvah as well

Yitzchok appears in the Torah 94 times – do I have to find 94 ways to laugh?

Do I have to find five ways to laugh while someone close to me tries to murder me?

The biggest and best laugh was when I snuck out with the donkey – the chumrah chamor – and neither I nor the donkey were noticed when we fled

THAT makes me laugh!

Thoughts on Augustine and His Toxic Theological Legacy

Today, August 28, is celebrated by Roman Catholics and many Anglicans/Episcopalians, Independent Catholics, and Lutherans as the feast of Augustine of Hippo.

I had always disliked Augustine - the Confessions just never really did it for me, even as I know many who found it lifechanging.

Then, in the Independent Catholic jurisdiction of which I was the bishop, a tiny Augustinian order joined and, to show support, I became an oblate - and my dislike was transformed.

It was transformed from dislike to a very deep abiding hatred for the horrendous and very warped views of G!d and humanity that Augustine taught.

First, original sin, which he developed into a doctrine held by most of the Western church, teaches that humans are depraved and cut off from G!d by our nature (or, in the case of evangelicals who do not baptize infants, a tendency toward sin that, with the first sin after someone hits the "age of accountability") and are incapable of any good deeds until redeemed through Jesus. The Jewish teaching that we have both a yetzer tov, a good inclination, and a yetzer ra, an evil inclination - the latter being necessary and good when deployed appropriately but causing problems when it is deployed inappropriately - is much healthier. (Influenced by Rabbi Ira Stone, a contemporary mussar teacher, I see yetzer hara as being concern for self and yetzer tov being the concern for others and Today, August 28, is celebrated by Roman Catholics and many Anglicans/Episcopalians, Independent Catholics, and Lutherans as the feast of Augustine of Hippo.

I had always disliked Augustine - the Confessions just never really did it for me, even as I know many who found it lifechanging.

Then, in the Independent Catholic jurisdiction of which I was the bishop, a tiny Augustinian order joined and, to show support, I became an oblate - and my dislike was transformed.

It was transformed from dislike to a very deep abiding hatred for the horrendous and very warped views of G!d and humanity that Augustine taught.

First, original sin, which he developed into a doctrine held by most of the Western church, teaches that humans are depraved and cut off from G!d by our nature (or, in the case of evangelicals who do not baptize infants, a tendency toward sin that, with the first sin after someone hits the "age of accountability") and are incapable of any good deeds until redeemed through Jesus. The Jewish teaching that we have both a yetzer tov, a good inclination, and a yetzer ra, an evil inclination - the latter being necessary and good when deployed appropriately but causing problems when it is deployed inappropriately - is much healthier. (Influenced by Rabbi Ira Stone, a contemporary mussar teacher, I see yetzer hara as being concern for self and yetzer tov being the concern for others and G!d.)

If this doctrine itself were not bad enough, the idea that humans, despite being incapable of avoiding sin, are nonetheless deserving of eternal damnation and that G!d capriciously chooses to save only a small number of the elect and leaves the rest to suffer eternal conscious torment in hell is mindbogglingly horrifying. Why the "elect" are enjoying bliss by spending eternity with such a monstrous entity makes no sense. It would be hard to find an off-the-rack theological system more ready made to support racism and other forms of bigotry, seeing that humanity is divided into the elect and the damned through no merit of their own. The further development of this doctrine by Martin Luther, a antisemite so virulent that the Nazis reprinted some of his writings as propaganade, and the Genevan serial killer John Calvin only made it worse.

And speaking of antisemitism, Augustine explicitly blamed the Jews for the death of Jesus in his commentary on the Psalms in a passage that prior to Vatican II was part of the office of Matins on Good Friday, required to be read by priests and members of religious orders. The readings undoubtedly influenced the antisemitic preaching that stirred up mobs who attacked Jews on Good Friday.

So glad that I am no longer Augustine's coreligionist. May Christians find the courage and strength to eradicate his toxic legacy from their theology.

Yom Kippur Katan Reflection - Menachem Av 5783

A meaningful Yom Kippur Katan to all who observe. This is the last Yom Kippur Katan for three months, until Cheshvan, since it is not observed in Elul or Tishri.

Numbers/Bamidbar 28 – 29 contain a list of the regular sacrifices made for all the people for each day, Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, chag, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur. No chatat offering (usually translated as a “sin offering” and is brought to atone for unintentional sins) is brought as part of the daily and Shabbat sacrifices, and the sin offerings for the chagim (Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot), Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur are either mentioned without an indication on whose behalf they are being offered or else are offered “to cover over you” (literal) or “to atone on your behalf.” However, the Rosh Chodesh chatat offering is offered “LaShem” – “for/to HaShem.” The pshat, or plain meaning, is probably that is being offered TO G!d – but it is read midrashically as being brought to atone on G!d’s behalf, for an unintentional sin that G!d committed.

What is the sin? Well, the rabbis connect it, since it is related to the month, to the moon. In Genesis/Bereshit 1:16, it states that G!d made two great lights – the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night – and there is midrash explaining that G!d diminished the moon after making it one of the two great lights by assigning it to the night and causing it to xax and wane, with this diminishment damaging the moon. (There is also kabbalistic teaching relating this to tzimtzum, which I will leave to another time to explore.)

I want to ask these questions that might help us to utilize this opportunity for cheshbon hanefesh, accounting of the soul.

1. How have I diminished others and thereby damage them?

2. How have I been diminished by others and been damaged?

3. How have I diminished and damaged myself?

May the cheshbon hanefesh of this Yom Kippur Katan of Menachem Av lead to a time of deep reflection and teshuvah as we enter Elul.

Kiddushin daf 2 - Erusin/Betrothal to G!d

Learning the first daf of Kiddushin makes me uncomfortable, with the one-sided way that men have the power in the relationship and I’m not fond of the language of acquisition, comparing betrothing a woman to acquiring a field. I believe marriage should be conceived in egalitarian (and not strictly heteronormative) ways.

However, be that as it may, when I think of erusin, betrothal, I naturally think of Hosea 2:21-22:

וְאֵרַשְׂתִּ֥יךְ לִ֖י לְעוֹלָ֑ם וְאֵרַשְׂתִּ֥יךְ לִי֙ בְּצֶ֣דֶק וּבְמִשְׁפָּ֔ט וּבְחֶ֖סֶד וּֽבְרַחֲמִֽים׃

And I will betroth thee unto Me for ever; Yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in justice, And in lovingkindness, and in compassion.

וְאֵרַשְׂתִּ֥יךְ לִ֖י בֶּאֱמוּנָ֑ה וְיָדַ֖עַתְּ אֶת־יְהֹוָֽה׃ {פ}

And I will betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness; And thou shalt know the LORD.

These verses are said by adult Jews when wrapping tefillin and come from a passage where G!d is the speaker, saying G!d will betroth Israel to G!dself. By wrapping the strap of the tefillin around our finger, we imitate kiddushin (if not erusin, strictly speaking) with the giving of a ring. 

I wonder, given today’s daf, which of the three methods of acquisition G!d is using to betroth us, collectively as Israel and individually in our neshamos, to G!d.

Perhaps the tefillin strap is an item worth more than a pruta (if you’ve priced tefillin lately, you will know that it’s definitely worth more than a pruta!).

Perhaps the Torah is the shtar. There is a tradition that the Torah is the ketubah for kiddushin, which occurred on Shavuot. Maybe the texts written on the scrolls placed inside the tefillin are the shtar for erusin – and meditating on those – both loving G!d (v’ahavta) and living the life commanded (v’hayah im shamoa) are stipulated, and the other two look back to the redemption and exodus from Egypt (Kadesh li) and forward to coming into the land (v’hayah ki y’viacha).

But perhaps the strongest is biah – sexual intimacy – because it says that “you will know Hashem” – and the verb for “know” – in both Hebrew and English – can mean “know biblically.” 

How do each of these three ways of G!d betrothing us to G!dself resonate – or not – with you? How might thinking of this make you see your relationship with G!d differently?