Yom Kippur 5785

As we prepare to begin Yom Kippur, I'm thinking about the last three verses of the Haftarah for Mincha, Micah 7:18-20, added on to the book of Jonah:

Who is a G!d like unto You, that pardons the iniquity, And passes by the transgression of the remnant of G!d's heritage? G!d retains not G!d's anger for ever, Because G!d delights in mercy.

G!d will again have compassion upon us; G!d will subdue our iniquities; And You wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob, lovingkindness to Abraham, As You have sworn unto our ancestors from the days of old.

In the opening words of Tomer Devorah, Rabbi Moshe Cordevero makes the point that because we are made in the image and likeness of G!d, our actions must imitate G!d's actions as well. He goes on, in the first chapter of that work, to expound the Thirteen Supernal Attributes of Mercy contained in these three verses and consider how we might imitate them.

May we, on this Yom Kippur, reflect on how we have fallen short from imitating G!d's attributes in all of our actions and may we be given the strength to let these attributes shine forth in all of our deeds in the coming year.

G'mar chatimah tovah!

The Golden Calf, Kashrut, and You

The mitzvah not to boil a kid in its mother’s milk appears three times in the Torah – and from this, the rabbis derive that one is prohibited not to eat milk with meat, not to cook them together, and not to benefit from the mixture. One of the times the commandment is given occurs shortly after Moses goes up the mountain a second time with a second set of tablets and G!d reveals the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy and Moses is only allowed to see G!d’s backside (or the knot at the back of the tefillin G!d wears on the head according to midrash). (This appears in Exodus 34, with the commandment about boiling the kid in its mother’s milk in verse 26.) These events occur after the sin of the golden calf.

I believe this mitzvah and the incident of the golden calf are related.

The golden calf bears no actual resemblance to a real calf. Having grown up in small towns and rural areas, I encountered cows and their calves. They are smelly, they are stubborn, and they don’t care where they go to the bathroom. They are not perfect. We keep them to serve our needs, but they live their own lives and don’t really care about our wellbeing apart from our role in feeding them and giving them shelter.

The idol of the golden calf, in contrast, is an idealized perfect image of a calf that bears no actual resemblance to a real calf. Aaron tells the people, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:8) Not only is this false – the one living G!d actually brought them up – thus creating an idol in place of G!d – but it distorts the relationship to the calf, attributing to it a miracle it did not do – but also making the calf exist only in relationship to the people, only existing to meet our needs, erasing its existence as a being independent of humans with its own life. The idol is a false image of both G!d and the calf.

I would like to suggest that one reason this commandment against boiling the kid in its mother’s milk, which is seen by rabbinic Judaism as a prohibition against mixing meat and milk of any kind, is to give us a constant reminder to recognize that the animals we use for food are creatures independent of us – the calf or kid has a relationship with its mother – and that we must be grateful to it and to G!d, recognizing we are not the center of a universe that revolves around us. Even vegans can use this mitzvah to recall that the plants, too, have existence separate from us, creatures in their own right.

May we merit to remember at every meal that G!d is G!d, we are creatures, and we share that trait with all living beings apart from G!d who have ever existed, who exist now, or ever will exist.

Sarah's Paradox

Sarah hated Hagar and sent her away both when she was pregnant with Yishmael and when Yishmael laughed/played at Yitzchok's weaning - Yitzchok being Sarah's son.

But the gematria (mathematical value of the letters) of Hagar is 208 - and the gematria of Yitzchok is . . . also 208.

So what she hated and rejected in Hagar came to her as Yitzchok and she loved him - but he was taken away from her as well through the Akedah - or so she thought - and she died.

Perhaps had she loved and embraced Hagar, she would not have lost Yitzchok.

The Essence of Geirus - Conversion to Judaism

Written in response to Judaism Unbound's new conversion program. 

I am a convert to Judaism. I think that the validity and legitimacy of any conversion program must be judged on six criteria – which are laid out in Ruth 1:16-17 – “whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried.” There is a standard interpretation in Yevamot 47b, which I don’t find compelling, so I will provide my own.

First – ALL of these tie the actions of the ger, the convert, to the people born Jewish – the actions of the ger MUST be conformed to those of the Jewish people. There is a place for individual expression in religious ritual – but conversion to Judaism is not that place. The only real individual expression in the geirut rituals is the choice of a Hebrew name – and even that must be within the limits of the canon of Jewish names.

As for each of the six requirements – 1. Going is the same root as halacha – a convert MUST take on the mitzvot – and, perhaps more centrally, the concept of commandedness and obligation – a Jew’s actions must be governed by G!d’s desires and instructions – different movements have different understandings of what are the content and interpretation of those mitzvot, which is fine – but one CANNOT do away with them and call what remains “Judaism” in any authentic way. 2. Lodging – one MUST remain in genuine community with Jews in a significant way. Judaism is not and cannot be a primarily solitary path. 3. Peoplehood – being Jewish is not just a religion, it’s a peoplehood – geirut is as much naturalization as it is conversion and one must take on Jewish peoplehood as at least one central aspect of one’s primary identity. 4. G!d – yeah, gonna make enemies here – there is much latitude in how one conceives of G!d – but Judaism without G!d is pointless and geirut that does not seek for the ger to be in new relationship with the Divine is not a real geirut. 5. Death – it’s a lifelong commitment and that’s why most conversion programs are – and should! – be lengthy and rigorous. (Full disclosure – mine was only four months – but it was also forty-two years from first synagogue visit (1981) until mikveh (2023), I majored in Judaic studies with a minor in Hebrew in the 80s (and attended my first RH & YK services and Pesach seder prior to the birth of my Orthodox sponsoring rabbi and two of the three beis din rabbis – the third being a toddler at the time), took many Jewish studies courses in divinity school (three with a Chasidic rebbe), and was a member of two synagogues for nearly three years before converting – so there is room for customizing the process – but one must be aware of the gravity of the commitment one makes. 6. Burial – one’s legacy after death must include one’s Jewish identity as central to one’s identity (to the extent that one can determine one’s posthumous legacy).

If your conversion process includes these six things, great, may you have much hatzlacha. If not, you need to return to the drawing board.

 

Open my heart in your Torah

I had a thought while davening – P’tach libi b’toratecha – open my heart in your Torah – lev, heart, contains the last and first letters of the Torah. Perhaps this line in the prayer at the end of the Amidah is asking G!d to open our own Torah, that Torah given to us as our beating heart of our soul’s life, into the Torah as a whole – we nurture the Torah that is our heart and add that Torah – our letter – to the Torah to nurture others – even as we are nurtured by the Torah we are given by others – the letters they contribute.

Geshmak Fruit Slice Candy and Geulah

One of the best things about Pesach and the Seder, imho, is the geshmak candy fruit flavored slices served as one of the desserts at the Seder. I love them.

A couple of years ago, it occurred to me that perhaps the four flavors correlate to the four children and I mentioned this (and posted in various places) and - shockingly! - there is a machloket about which flavor goes with which child (try it at your Seder!). But one person suggested that they all tasted the same and that one could not distinguish them in a taste test.

So, last year, at one of the Sedarim I attended, we conducted just such a blindfolded taste test. A couple of people were able to correctly distinguish orange from the others - but I got all four wrong (yes, that;'s right, the process of elimination failed me!).

But . . . it now occurs to me that perhaps there is a powerful spiritual lession to be learned here - perhaps even two. First, several haggadot have attempted to reframe the four children in a less pejorative and judgmental way, suggesting that all four are needed – even the challenging one (as I’ve heard the “wicked” child named). The fact that different people differ about which flavor is “wicked” (and I’ve heard all four flavors so described!) indicate the truth of this statement – and, perhaps, the real key is when each child comes forward – there is a time for speaking uncomfortable truths (wicked) and a time to keep silent (too young to ask), a time for confident assertive lovingkindness (“good”) and a time for curiosity (“simple”).

Additionally, the fact that many can’t tell them apart teaches us that even the discernment of which child – which middah, to use Mussar language, if I may be so bold as to equate the two – is difficult and that, perhaps unlike the judgmental parent, we should embrace them all and get to know them all – both within ourselves and within others – and strive for a lot more savlanut – patience – as we live into the redemption from the narrow places G!d beckons us to receive this Pesach.

What's in a List of Names? The Edomite Genealogy in Genesis 36

I invite you to read Genesis 36 and, as you do, to see if any part of it speaks to you spiritually or religiously.

Did you find a spiritual or religious connection with this text?

Some rabbinic commentators, in contemplating why this chapter goes into great detail about the genealogy of Esau, not seemingly relevant to the history of the Jewish people, come to the astonishing conclusion that this chapter must contain some of the deepest Kabbalistic mysteries in the Torah. We could undertake a many-part series of classes looking at this topic, but suffice it to give the example that the first king, Bela ben Beor, is likened to Balaam (same spelling except for the letter mem), the great prophet among the Gentiles like Moses in Israel, Moses being the good da'at/knowledge and Balaam the evil da'at/knowledge, knowing the one moment when G!d is angry each day and issuing curses that are powerful as a result - hence, son of Burning. But there was a tikkun by the seventh generation, with Bela becoming Baal Chanan ben Achbor - letters of Bela/Baal rearranged, and Chanan, meaning "gracious", indicating Chesed - and Achbor having the same letters as Beor but with the addition of a kaf for Chesed. 

Here is the Kedushat Levi discussing another interpretive reading, based on wording differences between Edom leaving the land and Israel leaving the land: "Both the Ari z’al and others preceding him, ‎including Rashi, stated that holiness is also known as ‎אחת‎, ‎‎'a state of unity.' Rashi points out that when the ‎descendants of Yaakov set out on their journey to Egypt and ‎their names had been listed individually, the Torah (Genesis ‎‎46,27) concluded the list with ‎כל הנפש‎, “the sum total of the ‎soul,” (singular) when referring to this family. On the other hand, ‎when the Torah reports Esau and his family leaving the Holy Land ‎in order to settle in the region of Seir, (Genesis 36,6) Esau’s ‎descendants are referred to as ‎נפשות‎, “souls” (pl.). Such nuances ‎in the Torah reveal to us that not all souls originate in the same ‎region of the diagram portraying the emanations.‎" (Kedushat Levi, Toldot 22)

Not convinced? I'm not sure I am, either - but this raises the important question of what to do with our sacred texts. There are parts of the Torah that are very meaningful - I think of the Ten Commandments, the Thirteen Attributes, the Exodus from Egypt we celebrate at Pesach, and Ve'ahavta Le'Reacha Kamocha/You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And then there are the parts we struggle with, to find meaning in - like this chapter - like the commandment to observe yibum and chalitzah (levirate marriage and the often degrading ceremony to get out of it) - like the commandments to wipe out the nations inhabiting the land of Israel when entering in. And I'm just speaking here of the Five Books - when we expand our gaze to the Tanach, the Mishnah, the Talmud - even other works in the broader Jewish canon - we expand both the list of things we find profoundly meaningful and the list of things we recoil in horror from (or at least roll our eyes at, or that make us yawn - as perhaps this chapter does). 

Is the Torah a smorgasbord, from which we can pick and choose those dishes we like? Or is it a prie-fixe menu, where we are served what we're served and expected to eat all of it, trusting that the parts we find distasteful will nourish us in ways we cannot understand? Are there herbs and spices - also known as hermeneutics, or interpretive principles, that we can apply to the dishes, er I mean texts, to make them more palatable, to bring out flavors we might not be able to detect without them? 

What does it even mean to have a sacred text? What role does it play in our lives? In the lives of the sacred communities of which we are a part? How can a community remain a sacred beloved community connecting its members to the Divine and to one another when its members have different - sometimes radically different relationships to the text? 

To wrestle with these questions is part of what it means to be of the house of Israel, the one who wrestles with G!d.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

1. Which sections of the Torah do you eagerly await hearing each year, which make your heart sing and lift your spirit - and which sections do you dread, knowing that you find them difficult to find meaning in?

2. What is the role of sacred text in your own life? What metaphor would you use to describe that role?

3. What interpretive lens do you bring to the text? E.g., do you look for spiritual meaning? Religious commands? Expressions of Jewish peoplehood? Psychological insights? Modern scholarship? Midrash? Artistic inspiration?

4. Everyone has a letter in the Torah - do you know what yours is and why? What Torah in the broader sense do you have to add to the Torah of the Jewish people?

These are the notes, lightly revised, I used in teaching Genesis 36 in the 929 class at the South Philadelphia Shtiebel in March, 2022.