Parashat VaYichi 5768/2007

Torah Gems - December 21

Friday evening services begin at 4:02 pm, 5 minutes following a 3:57 pm candle lighting (the latest appropriate time to light Shabbat candles - beginning 5 minutes following such a time, theoretically allows people 5 minutes to walk from home to shul for services) in our Rabb Chapel.

Saturday morning services will begin at 8:45 am.

Following a noontime Kiddush, Landers Playspace will be open. Talmud will convene at 4:00 pm. Mincha will be in our Rabb Chapel at 3:42 pm. My Mincha and Metaphysics topic will be "Entering Exodus." Havdallah takes place no earlier than 4:57 pm.

--Rabbi Hamilton

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From the Torah Commentary of Richard Elliot Friedman

Commandments can be promises and blessings.

Chapter 48:4 I'm making you fruitful and multiplying you, and I'll make you..But God did not say "I'll make you fruitful.." God said, "Be fruitful.."(35:11). Why does Jacob tell Joseph that God promised to do it when God actually told him to do it? Perhaps it is because Jacob has only one more son (Benjamin) after God tells him this, and so the becoming fruitful must refer to the births of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Jacob would not see this as in his power but rather as God's doing, and so he understands God's words not as a command but as a promise and a blessing.

Judah's Preeminence

Chapter 49:8 Judah. Reuben is demoted from firstborn preeminence (49:4); Simeon and Levi are condemned to be scattered (49:7). The fourth-born Judah is the one to receive praise, success, and dominion. The fulfillment will come when Judah becomes the largest of the tribes, and its royal family, the kings descended from David, rule for centuries and hold the messianic promise, Judah was the brother who saved Joseph's life, who promised to be the protector of Benjamin, whose relationship with Tamar resulted in the birth of the clan of the future kings of Israel. The patriarchs will all be buried in Hebron, the capital city of the tribe of Judah. Here at the end of Genesis we find the denounement of the stories of the brothers, and we are made aware of their significance for the future.

Mourning and healing

50:16 Your father had commanded before his death. We never find out whether Joseph - or his brothers - ever told Jacob what his brothers did to him. The brothers claim that Jacob commanded that Joseph should forgive them, but we do not know if they are making it up or not. Either way, it is the right message: after a parent's death, the children should try to heal any old wounds and draw close.

Why is Joseph (eventually) buried in Shchem?

Chapter 50:15 When Joseph's brothers saw. According to a Midrash, (Tanhuma 17) when Jacob's body was brought to Hebron for burial, the brothers saw Joseph make a side trip to the pit into which he had been thrown as a child. Joseph went there to reflect on the wondrous deliverance he had experienced since that day, but the brothers feared that he was harboring thoughts of revenge. Where was that pit located? Shchem. I prefer to imagine that Joseph was offering a nod to his brothers that, in the future, their descendants will bury him in this place as a form of repair (Tikkun), as the Talmud states "from that place he was removed from the Land, and to that place he shall be returned to the Land."

From The Beginning of Wisdom (Leon Kass)

The last chapter of Genesis begins with the burial of Jacob at Machpelah and ends with the mummification of Joseph in Egypt. The contrast between burial and embalming/mummification reveals a crucial difference between Israel and Egypt: the difference between acceptance and denial or defiance of death. Embalming the body is an attempt at human control over death. The putative beneficiary of this treatment is the deceased: embalming resists time and change, prevents decay, beautifies the body, and prepares for reanimation and continued life - not to say immortality. Burial accepts that we are "dust to dust." It manifests a different attitude toward the body and its fragile beauty, toward time and finitude and memory...The way of Israel is the way of memory, keeping alive not the bodies of the dead but their ever-living legacy in relation to the ever-living God, who in the beginning created heaven and earth and made man alone in His own image, and who later summoned Father Abraham and his descendants to "walk before Me and be wholehearted."

In honor of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's yahrzeit, this coming Wednesday evening, I offer a couple of passages which I find particularly resonant.

"Mindfulness of God rises slowly, a thought at a time. Suddenly we are there. Or He is here, at the margin of our soul? When we begin to feel a qualm of diffidence lest we hurt what is holy, lest we break what is whole, then we discover that He is not austere. He answers with love our trembling awe. Repentant or forgetting Him even for a while, we become sharers of gentle joy; we would like to dedicate ourselves forever to the unfolding of His final order."

"How often does justice lapse into cruelty and righteousness into hypocrisy. Prayer revives and keeps alive the rare greatness of some past experience in which things glowed with meaning and blessing. It remains important, even when we ignore it for a while, like a candlestick set aside for the day. Night will come, and we shall again gather round its tiny flame. Our affection for the trifles of living will be mixed with longing for the comfort of all men."

"We must learn how to study the inner life of the words that fill the world of the prayer book. Without intense study of their meaning, we feel, indeed, bewildered when we encounter the multitude of those strange, lofty beings that populate the inner cosmos of the Jewish spirit. It is not enough to know how to translate Hebrew into English; it is not enough to have met a word in the dictionary and to have experienced unpleasant adventures with it in the study of grammar. A word has a soul, and we must learn how to attain insight into its life."

SHABBAT SHALOM

Parashat Vayigash 5768/2007

Torah Gems - December 14

Friday evening services begin at 3:59 pm, 5 minutes following a 3:54 pm candle lighting (the latest appropriate time to light Shabbat candles - beginning 5 minutes following such a time, theoretically allows people 5 minutes to walk from home to shul for services) in our Rabb Chapel.

Saturday morning services will begin at 8:45 am.

Following a noontime Kiddush, Landers Playspace will be open. Talmud will convene at 4:00 pm. Mincha will be in our Rabb Chapel at 3:39 pm. My Mincha and Metaphysics topic will be "Jealousy's Test on the Tenth of Teveth." Havdallah takes place no earlier than 4:54 pm.

--Rabbi Hamilton

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Most of us love a good story. The Book of Genesis is filled with
elaborate stories with convoluted plots full of deception and
intrigue. Parshat Vayigash is no exception and begins with the
dramatic reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers. The Torah
has provided much room for the development of this story culminating
in the emotionally charged reconciliation that we read at the
beginning of this parsha. The story does not end here, but continues
until the end of the Book of Genesis with the dramatic and tearful
scene in which Joseph grants his brethren forgiveness and promises to
sustain them and their children in Egypt after his death.

Why does the Torah devote so much space to narrative while employing
brevity when prescribing mitzvot? For example, we are told to do no
work on Shabbat but we are not told what exactly constitutes work. By
giving so much room to the development of stories, is the Torah
acknowledging the power of the narrative to transform our actions and
our lives?

Jewish literature is replete with Agadot, Chasidic tales, and
speculative ruminations by rabbis and scholars concerning our history
and its various characters. Reconciliation is a theme that appears
more than once in the Torah especially in the Book of Genesis.
Forgiveness and the ability to forgive is a recurrent theme in
Judaism. Each one of us can certainly think of at least one powerful
example in our own lives of a strained relationship that has never
been resolved. It is most painful when this occurs between family
members. The story of Joseph and his brothers spans many years and
goes into great detail to both describe and define the nature of the
resentment, the wrong-doing, the estrangement, the reconciliation,
and the final forgiveness.

Though Joseph has every right to punish his brothers for the crime
they committed against him, he demonstrates the ability, one we all
possess, to transcend his bitterness. Rather than focusing on
revenge, which may certainly have been his right, he chooses
reconciliation. The ability to transcend one's more basic instincts
represents the development of mature reason and action - in essence
the ability to rise to the occasion.
Here are a few rabbinic comments on forgiveness:

Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel taught: "Each night before going to sleep,
forgive whoever wronged you." (Hanhaga, c 1320)

Raba taught: "He (she) who forgives ..will himself (herself) be
forgiven." (Yoma 23a)

Within great literature (and the Torah is no exception) the reader
often discovers a theme or situation that relates to his or her life.
Identifying with a narrative and with the characters in a story adds
legitimacy to our own stories. This identification can be especially
powerful when the story with which we identify contains a difficult
or painful situation that is finally resolved. The power of the
narrative can then give us the push we may need to resolve
outstanding grievances in our lives.

SHABBAT SHALOM

Parashat MiKetz 5768/2007

Torah Gems - December 7

Friday evening services begin at 3:59 pm, 5 minutes following a 3:54 pm candle lighting (the latest appropriate time to light Shabbat candles - beginning 5 minutes following such a time, theoretically allows people 5 minutes to walk from home to shul for services) in our Rabb Chapel. Saturday morning services will begin at 8:45 am.

Following a noontime Kiddush, Landers Playspace will be open. Talmud will convene at 4:00 pm. Mincha will be in our Rabb Chapel at 3:39 pm. My Mincha and Metaphysics topic will be "Havdalah's Bond with Hanukkah and Purim." Havdallah takes place no earlier than 4:54 pm. --Rabbi Hamilton

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Earlier this week, a member of our KI family asked me a question of Jewish law: "Should a blind person recite the early-morning blessing (pokeach ivrim) which thanks God for opening ours eyes to a new day." In pondering the question Tuesday night after lighting Hanukkah's first lights, several present suggested that a blind person indeed should say this blessing - even if she/he may not be able to experience eyesight.

Rabbi David Wolpe offers the following reflection, which seems fitting for our Festival of Lights. "What does it mean to have vision? The prophets and sages of our tradition had vision; they did not see or act like those around them. At times, no doubt, they seemed strange to their contemporaries. We can imagine the prophets eliciting the kind of remark that the poet William Blake once prompted when someone said to a friend of his, "I believe Blake is cracked." The friend answered, "Yes, but it is the sort of crack that lets in the light."

Religious vision means seeing beyond what is apparent. There is a blessing we recite each morning, thanking God for the marvelous workings of the human body. The chatima, the end of the blessing, declares that God is mafli la'asot, that in fashioning the human body, God acts wondrously, that God has fashioned miracles.

The author of that ancient Talmudic blessing was Rav Sheshet, who was blind. Imagine the vision granted to that sage. He did not see what was visible, but he saw what was essential. In his life and ours, Rav Sheshet let in the light."

A couple of comments from Richard Elliot Friedman follow. In this week's Torah portion, Miketz, we read (Chapter 42:1) that "Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt..and he said, "I've heard there's grain in Egypt."" How could he have seen it? Rashi says that he had a vision. This rather reflects the metaphor of seeing as meaning to know, to learn, to find out, to comprehend. It shows the high value we place on sight over the other senses. The Torah will convey this in many ways, including a progression: Isaac cannot see on his deathbed, and so he is deceived. Jacob cannot see on his deathbed, but he has more insight than he did when he was young and could see. (He sees his grandsons' destinies, when earlier he could not see what was going on among his sons.) And then Moses' "eye was not dim" up to the time of his death at the age of 120.

"And he asked if they were well, and he said, "Is your old father whom you mentioned well? Is he still alive?"(Chapter 43:27). Recall that the brothers were described earlier as being unable to speak to Joseph of shalom, that is, to say "hello" or "how are you?" (37:4). Now they and Joseph finally speak of shalom. Even though it is unwitting, it is the beginning of their reconciliation with their brother. Is he still alive? Here is an exceptional example of the emotional power that looms in the background of the Torah's stories. From the point of view of the brothers and Egyptians who were present, Joseph is just making polite conversation, graciously asking about "your old father whom you mentioned." But, inside, Joseph is about to find out - with anticipation, dread, even guilt? - whether his own father, who loved him the most, is alive or dead.

Finally, in the spirit of pausing to 'let in the light' this Shabbat, consider the words of Abraham Joshua Heschel on the soul's attentiveness to the uniqueness of the present. "No other deficiency makes the soul more barren than the lack of a sense for the unique. The creative man is he who succeeds in capturing the exceptional and instantaneous before it becomes stagnant in his mind. In the language of creative thinking, whatever is alive is unique. And true insight is a moment of perceiving a situation before it freezes into similarity with something else..At night - in the soul - all moments look alike."

Heschel has said elsewhere "There is hardly a soul capable of radiating more light than it receives." May this Shabbat Hanukkah offer you unique (soul-dilating) moments that receive and radiate the light of insight and wonder. A bright, happy, and health Hanukkah to you, and Shabbat Shalom.

Parashat V'Yeshev 5768/2007

Torah Gems - November 30

Friday evening services begin at 4:00 pm, 5 minutes following a 3:55 pm candle lighting (the latest appropriate time to light Shabbat candles - beginning 5 minutes following such a time, theoretically allows people 5 minutes to walk from home to shul for services) in our Rabb Chapel. Saturday morning services will begin at 8:45 am.

We're excited to be continuing a tradition we began last year of inviting members of our community to compose and share Torah Gems (insights from that week's Torah portion).

This week, Rabbinic Resident Jim Morgan shares with us a few words of wisdom on the story of Joseph.

Following a noontime Kiddush, Landers Playspace will be open. Talmud will convene at 4:00 pm. Mincha will be in our Rabb Chapel at 3:40 pm. My Mincha and Metaphysics topic will be "The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars." Havdallah takes place no earlier than 4:55 pm. --Rabbi Hamilton

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The story of Joseph, which begins in this week's parashah and continues through the end of Genesis, is very different from the preceding stories in that God withdraws from the scene. Unlike his forefathers, Joseph does not converse directly with God. There are no obvious theophanies, and no wrestling matches with angels. Our tradition, however, starting with the Torah itself, locates God just behind the scenes, like a director moving actors around the stage. Or, as Avivah Zornberg suggests in her discussion of Va-yeshev, like an author who manipulates the characters to fulfill the demands of the narrative, in this case, the "plot" that requires Israel to go down to Egypt (see her The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, p. 254-7).

All the seemingly free actions that characters perform, like the dreams that Joseph explains, all turn out to be "from God," a subtle way for God to communicate with people and effect God's will. As Joseph himself later tells his brothers "So, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt" (Gen. 45:8). On one hand, this assurance is comforting, as it absolves the brothers of culpability for the crime of casting Joseph into the pit and selling him into slavery. Joseph instead focuses on the positive aspects of the journey down to Egypt: his power and his use of that power to save Egypt and his family from the worst effects of famine. On the other hand, this affirmation of God's active manipulation of people and events is disturbing: is there truly no human freedom? Are the brothers really not responsible for their crimes because it "all turned out okay?" And what is more, can we really see the migration down to Egypt as a positive development when a new Pharaoh will rise and enslave Israel?

The Rabbis see both sides of this argument and, characteristically, present both: "And Joseph was brought down (hurad) to Egypt." [Gen. 39:1] This means, he subdued it, as in the verse, "May he have dominion (we-yard) also from sea to sea" (Ps. 72: 8); he ruled over them [the Egyptians], as in the verse, "For he had dominion (rodeh) over all the region, etc." (I Kings 5: 4) [Another interpretation]: He brought Jacob down (horid) to Egypt. R. Berekiah said in the name of R. Judah b. Simon: This may be compared to a cow which was resisting being dragged to the abattoir. What did they do? They drew her young one before her, whereupon she followed, albeit unwillingly. In the same way, Jacob should have gone down to Egypt in chains (since this was the beginning of Israel's servitude in Egypt), but that God declared: "He is My firstborn son; shall I then bring him down in disgrace! Now, if I inspire Pharaoh [with the intention to bring him down], I will not bring him down with befitting honour. Therefore I will draw his son before him, and so he will follow despite himself." (Genesis Rabbah 86:2; Soncino Translation)

In the first interpretation, the midrash suggests that the passive verb "hurad" (was brought down) points, paradoxically, to Joseph's ascension to power in Egypt, echoing Joseph's own interpretation of the events of his life. The second, by contrast, presents a horrific scenario, in which a cow, standing in for Jacob/Israel, is manipulated into entering the abattoir (slavery in Egypt) by a slaughterer who "kidnaps" her calf. The midrash presents God as a kind of puppet master, moving people from Israel to Egypt in order to fulfill the prophecy offered to Abraham: "Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years..." (Gen. 15:13). God is concerned about Jacob's honor--he doesn't want him to be led down in chains--but the fact of Israel's enslavement remains. And given what Jacob endures in contemplating Joseph's apparent death (the terror that the cow experiences in the apparent loss of her calf), I for one am not convinced that the chains might not have been preferable. The rabbis, by not choosing a single reading of this verse, point to the very impossibility of these questions: do the events of our lives, the decisions we make, all conform to a God-given plan, or are we all free agents? The impulse to make narrative, to assign a plot to what happens to us, and, like Joseph, to assign God the rights of authorship to that narrative is very powerful. But it also carries significant tension. In order to act in the world we need to see ourselves as more or less autonomous agents. Beyond that, we need to contend with question of interpretation: whose narrative is correct? The rabbis live with this tension, and so do we. As Rabbi Akiva says in Ethics of the Fathers, "all is foreseen, but free-will is given" (Avot 3:15).

SHABBAT SHALOM

Parashat VaYishlach 5768/2007

Friday evening services begin at 4:04 pm, 5 minutes following a 3:59 pm candle lighting (the latest appropriate time to light Shabbat candles - beginning 5 minutes following such a time, theoretically allows people 5 minutes to walk from home to shul for services) in our Rabb Chapel.



Saturday morning services will begin at 8:45 am.



We're exciting to be continuing a tradition we began last year of inviting members of our community to compose and share Torah Gems (insights from that week's Torah portion). This week, Rabbinic Resident Chaim Koritzinsky shares with us a few words of wisdom on Thanksgiving.



Following a noontime Kiddush, Landers Playspace will be open. Talmud will convene at 4:00 pm. Mincha will be in our Rabb Chapel at 3:44 pm. My Mincha and Metaphysics topic will be "'Rashi's Comment on the Psalm of Thanksgiving". Havdallah takes place no earlier than 4:58 pm.

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Every Thanksgiving my family goes around the table and each person says something they are grateful for. Depending on people's moods, some will share something light or even humorous while others something deeply personal and poignant. Regardless, it's a moment of coming together of family and close friends around the blessings in our lives that we don't want to take for granted.


But there is always a part of me that wonders why my family only does this on Thanksgiving? Shouldn't we be giving thanks whenever we get together? Shouldn't we be giving thanks every day for the blessings in our lives?



I think about this a lot around this time of year, especially as we approach Hannukah. As strange as it may sound, every year I think about the connection between Thanksgiving and Hannukah and I wonder how we can use Thanksgiving as a spiritual kick-off (for all you Turkey Day football fans) to Hannukah.



Let me explain:



Preparation is essential for Jewish Holidays. We're familiar with the importance of spiritual preparation for other holidays. For Rosh Hashana, we devote the entire month of Elul as a time for reflection and soul searching. For Yom Kippur, we have the 10 days of Repentance (Eseret Yamei Teshuva) to help focus our teshuva. For Pesach, we spend days- if not weeks- cleaning our homes, preparing our kitchens, changing dishes, reviewing the hagaddah, shopping and cooking. Even for Shevuot, we count the fifty days as a meditation march toward Mt. Sinai to receive the Torah.



The preparation we do prior to the holiday enhances our experience of the holiday's essence- self-transformation, national liberation, Toraitic revelation.



But what about Hannukah? How do we spiritually prepare for Hannukah? What is the essence of this holiday toward which we would prepare our hearts and souls?



Miracles.



Hannukah is the time of the year when we bring our spiritual attention to the miracles in our history and in our own lives.



We recall the miracles that happened to our ancestors as they won the battle of the few over the many. We recall the miracle of the cruse of oil that burned for eight days. And we recall the miracle of Jewish survival in the face of Hellenistic acculturation.



The miracle of the battles and the cruse of oil are well told in the books of our Tradition. We can find the miracle of the battles in the Book of Maccabees and the miracle of the oil in a Rabbinic retelling of the story in the Talmud (Bavli, Shabbat 21b). And even the miracle of Jewish survival is told and retold by historians, contemporary scholars, and demographic experts.



But where do we find the source for the miracles in our own lives? I want to suggest that we discover these miracles through daily gratitude.



Historically speaking, when the Temple stood, there was an animal offering known as the korban todah, the thanksgiving offering (see Leviticus 7: 11-15 where the ritual of the Todah offering is described) This was a type of peace offering brought to the Temple during times when you had experienced the miraculous and beneficent hand of God. In fact, you were required to bring a korban todah if you:

1. Completed a journey at sea
2. Crossed a desert
3. Were freed from prison
4. Recovered from an illness



These situations are based on poignant descriptions in Psalm 107. The psalmist writes, "Let them praise the Lord for God's steadfast love, for God's wondrous deeds for humanity. Let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices and tell of God's deeds in joyful song."



Today, the todah offering is fulfilled by the birkat ha'gomel blessing that we say in synagogue after surviving a dangerous or life-threatening situation.



But this blessing of gratitude is not just something that we reserve exclusively for those rare occasions when we feel we have been saved from a life-threatening situation. Every day, we acknowledge God's beneficence in our daily liturgy when we recite Psalm 100, known as Mizmor L'Todah. (Interestingly, this psalm comes in the section of Psukei D'zimra that begins "hodu l'adonai"- thanks to God- immediately following after Baruch Sh'amar on weekdays) In Psalm 100, we sing ivdu et ha'shem b'simcha, let us serve God in joy..ki tov Adonai, le'olam hasdo, for the Lord is good, God's kindness endures forever." In other words, give thanks to God for the kindness that God bestows upon me daily.



The amidah takes it a step even further. If you look closely at the Modim blessing of the Amidah, it says "We thank You and praise You morning, noon, and night for the miracles which daily attend us and for Your wondrous kindness.." In other words, three times a day, we should give thanks for the miracles in our lives.



It's not a coincidence it was in this section of the amidah where the Rabbis chose to insert the additional paragraph for Hannukah which begins "al ha'nissim- for the miracles". The Rabbis understood this intrinsic link between expressing gratitude and discovering the miracles of our lives.



So this week, when you are sitting around the Thanksgiving table, I invite you to consider the connection between gratitude and miracles. How does acknowledging and expressing one lead to the other. And with Hannukah coming so "early" this year, what would it be like if we considered the 10 days between Thanksgiving and Hannukah to be a time of intense preparation?

Could we call this period the "eserat yamei ho'daya," the "10 Days of Gratitude"? Think about it and perhaps even share it around your Thanksgiving table.



Shabbat Shalom and Happy Thanksgiving.

Parashat Vayetze 5768/2007

Vayetze ויצא

Thoughts on going up and down...
When Yaakov leaves his father’s home fleeing from his brother Esav who was determined to kill him, the Torah tells us he slept and he had a dream. In his dream he saw a SULAM, a ladder, the foot of which was on the ground but the top was reaching into the heavens. One of the famous commentators on the Torah, the Baal Haturim points out that the Gematria or numerical value of the word SULAM is the same as the Hebrew and Aramaic word MAMON which means money. The numerical value of both words is 136 (both written with a Vav). The Baal Haturim explains that money can elevate a person or bring him down. The Baal Shem Tov elaborates on the same theme and says that money is similar to a ladder. People can go up with it or can come down with it. Money is a very essential aspect in life but what we do with it is what matters. If we spend it wisely, if we use it for necessities, if it helps us do charity, then it elevates our existence and meaning in life. If, however, we use it for pleasures only, if we squander it, if we fail to share it with the less fortunate, then it only helps to demean us and lower the meaning of our life. [http://torahportion.wordpress.com]

Walk into any department store this time of year and you will be overwhelmed by the latest technological gizmo that is meant as a teaching tool for your children: toddlers to teens. Despite the fact that there are yearly lists of the hottest toys and games, there is nothing new under the sun. We didn't know it at the time, but the games we played as children were also meant to be instructional. Many of us spent hours playing Chutes and Ladders. It was meant to help us learn to count from one to one hundred. What we didn't realize at the time was that it was also meant to teach us how to be decent human beings. If you landed on a square with a ladder, there was a picture of a child doing something good, and so you were rewarded by climbing up a few rows. Land on a square with a chute, illustrated with a child behaving inappropriately, and you slid down several rows. Some of you might be more familiar with this game by a slightly different name: Snakes and Ladders. This is what the game was called when it was first introduced in Victorian England. The British brought it home from India. There it was a game to educate young Hindus. If you behaved well, you ascended to a higher level of life; inappropriate behavior resulted in reincarnation on a lower level. The ladder leading you to a higher state is found in many cultures, in which the ladder oftentimes symbolizes the path between our world and God's world. At first glance, this seems to be the case in Parashat VaYetze. After tricking his father into giving him the birthright, Jacob has run off, to escape his elder brother Esau's wrath. Jacob left Beer-sheba, and set out for Haran. He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it. (Genesis 28:10-12). Ever since Jacob had this dream, his first vision, we have been trying to understand what it means. The sulam that leads to heaven is most often translated as ladder. Sulam could also mean a ramp or a series of steps. Of greater interest is the movement of the angels, who were going up and down on it. Why up and down, ask the commentators, why not down and up? Midrash Genesis Rabbah explains that the angels who were to accompany Jacob on his journey were descending while those who were remaining in the Promised Land were ascending. Another midrash (Leviticus Rabbah 8:1) views God as being involved in construction. A Roman woman asks what God been up to since the six days of creation, Rabbi Jose ben Halafta answers that God has been building ladders for some people to ascend and others to descend. A Hassidic. interpretation takes a different view entirely, focusing on the end of the verse ascending and descending on it (bo). Bo can also be taken to mean within it or within him. In this interpretation, the ascending and descending is dependent on humanity's prayers and actions. If a person behaves in a certain way, then the entire world is elevated, if not, the world is degraded. [http://www.kolel.org/blog/parasha.html]

Who's Who...
Baal Haturim: Jacob ben Asher, in Hebrew Ya'akov ben Asher, (1270-ca 1340) was an influential Medieval rabbinic authority. He is often referred to as the Baal ha-Turim ("Master of the Turim (Pillars)"), after his main work in halakha (Jewish law), the Arba'ah Turim. He was the third son of the Rabbi Asher ben Jehiel (known as the "Rosh"), a German-born Rabbi who moved to Spain.

Parashat Toldot 5768/2007

Early Shabbatot have arrived. Services this evening begin at 4:15pm (with candle lighting taking place no later than 4:10pm) in our Rabb Chapel. There will also be a Cuddle Up Shabbat service in the Main Sanctuary at 6:00 pm with Jennifer Rudin and Jon Nelson, all are welcome.

Services tomorrow morning begin at 8:45am in our Main Sanctuary. We look forward to learning Parshat Toldot together. Following Kiddush, Landers Playspace will be open and Talmud will convene at 4:00pm.


Mincha services tomorrow afternoon begin at 3:45pm in our Rabb Chapel. At that time we look forward to celebrating the Bar Mitzvah of Jacob Heineman. Mazel tov to Jacob and his whole family. Shabbat ends not before 5:09 pm.

Rosh Hodesh Kislev services begin on Sunday morning at 8:00am in our Rabb Chapel.

Thanks to an anonymous member of our KI family for sharing many insights that make up this week's Torah Gems. First I wish to consider a few thoughts and questions.

Parshat Toldot contrasts the relatively sedentary life of Isaac with the emotional turmoil surrounding the transmission of a blessing to Jacob.

Isaac is the only patriarch to never set foot outside of the land of Canaan. He seems to follow, quite literally, in the footsteps of his father Abraham, simulating a wife/sister switch with Avimelech, re digging his father's wells, and dedicating an altar at Beer Sheva. It appears as if nothing is new here. We've seen it all before in the life of his father Abraham.


Yet these three incidents in Isaac's life, I have argued in the past, offer three compelling models for how we inherit as Jews. In the first instance, when Isaac claims to Avimelech that Rebecca is his sister (not the truth that she is his wife), Isaac is engaging in simple imitation. Often this is our aim in honoring the particular customs of our ancestors, simply imitate and enact them. In the second case, when Isaac redigs the wells that had been dug by his father, he is engaging in conscious reclamation. This form of inheriting is more purposeful (as opposed to the default mode of simply imitating), requiring more effort deliberating, considering, appropriating. Finally, a comment on Isaac's dedication at Beer Sheva (ir beer sheva) suggests that he is speaking of the whole region of Beer Sheva (as opposed to Abraham that is only attentive to the well in a more circumscribed space). This third mode of inheriting I will call creative expansion. It invites a form of inheriting that expands creatively on the gifts we are given by our ancestors that we might adapt and change traditions as purposefully and as reverently as they may have.

On the emotional anguish surrounding the deception which enables Isaac's blessing to be bestowed upon Jacob, Rebecca has a curious role. When we first met her last week, she is singled out for her Hesed (lovingkindness). More considerate, caring, and kind than most, Isaac is blessed to make her his wife. Yet, I have always been troubled by Rebecca's conduct in the deception of Isaac and the supplanting of Essau's blessings her role is to get God's blessing to the intended son Jacob. Yet the manner she chooses to achieve this fills Essau with agony and Isaac with trembling and travail. What has happened to her Hesed? I am eager to here of your thoughts on this matter over Shabbat.


Shabbat Shalom and enjoy the additional comments and insights that follow.

Rabbi William Hamilton



Of all the people in the Torah, Isaac is the one I would have wanted for a friend. He is kind, caring, compassionate, and passive or gentle, depending on your mindset. He might have been the prototype for the game show "Who(m) Do You Trust"? He never argues (except once, which we'll get to later), he accepts; he is guileless, but everyone tries to betray him.

His life never really gathers momentum because he is the embodiment of momentum. He is the live link between Abraham and Jacob. Unlike Abraham, he is not a leader; unlike Jacob, he never tries to kill his brother, or anyone else; he never goes to war. He is the only patriarch who is monogamous, who never leaves home, who grows up as an only child, and who doesn't choose his own wife. Everything is done for him, or is given to him, Yet, he is far from spoiled. His faith has the consistency of a rock, and though he is attributed with blindness in his old age, I suspect that if the maxim "Love is blind" is true, he would have been born blind. Could that be why he lived the longest of any of the patriarachs?

The facts of his life are simple:


Sarah and Abraham bore him when she was ninety and they named him "Isaac" meaning "to laugh" since they had laughed when the angels had told her she was to have a baby.

Isaac's sole playmate was Ishmael, son of Hagar, Sarah's handmaiden, whom she had asked to bear a son for her husband fearing that she could not. Ishmael was in his teens when Isaac was born and though they got along, Ishmael was perceived by Sarah as being too rough, and so she entreated Isaac to send him and Hagar away, to banish them. This did not sit well with Abraham, but God told him to listen to Sarah, and thus her wish was granted and they were exiled into the desert. This is the first time I have to wonder what Isaac thought, or, indeed, what he was told, when his half brother suddenly disappeared. They do reunite to bury Abraham at Cave Machpelah.

Then there is the famous enigma of Isaac's near sacrifice on Mount Moriah. His silent temerity, his disquieting solitude, plague us to this day. Why did he comply so willingly? What did he think? Did he think? Or did he just

the rest of his years I suspect the latter. He never saw what he could not fathom.

Sarah died when he was thirty six and he grieved sorely for her. She had been his fiercest protector and had taught him to love the Lord with her Shechinah.

When he was forty, Abraham sent a slave, Eliezer, to find a wife for him, with strict considerations as to what would be acceptable. Rebekkah fit the description and she willingly went to meet her betrothed; they supposedly fell in love at first sight. He took her into his mother's tent and the Shechinah became her.

Twenty years later God answered their prayers for children by blessing Rebekkah with twins, Jacob and Esau, who began fighting in her womb and apparently never stopped. Esau, the eldest, disdains Torah for love of the wilds, and so it is Jacob the scholar, the second, to whom Isaac wants to entrust the leadership of the Jewish people, but alas, he cannot.

Isaac does well as a farmer, but is almost forced to leave his land when there was a famine. God appeared to him and told him not to leave, but to settle elsewhere, and so he did. In his travels he copies his father's plan of passing his wife off as his sister.

He prospers so greatly in his new home that his neighbors try to annoy him by plugging up his wells. Rather than fighting back, he digs new wells and they are so impressed by his kindness that they approach him to be friends. His love of peace is thus manifest. Could this be the first instance of "Love thy neighbor as thyself?"

And now comes the one time when Isaac challenges the Almighty. A dispute over what else? The children. A midrash states, "When Abraham and Jacob, says the Talmud, were told that their children had sinned, they answered, "Let them be blotted out for the sanctification of Thy name"; but when God said to Isaac, "Thy children have sinned." Isaac answered, "Why are they my children more than Thine? When they answered, 'We will do [all that God shall command] and we will listen,' Thou calledst them 'My first Fborn'; yet now they are mine and not Thine! Moreover, how long can they have sinned? The duration of man's life is seventy years. In the first twenty years he is not punished [being irresponsible]; half of the remaining fifty is passed in sleeping. Half of the remainder is spent in praying, eating, etc. There remain only twelve and a half years. If thou art willing to bear the whole, it is for the better; if not, let half be borne by me and the other half by Thee. But if Thou insist upon my bearing the whole, I have already sacrificed myself for Thee" (Shab. 89b)."

And so the buck was first passed. Isaac won that one hands down!

And finally, the last humiliation by Rebekkah when she encourages Jacob to dress as Esau to secure the blessing of the eldest although his entitlement springs not from law but from nature. Jacob never lies. When Isaac queries, "Is it you, Esau? You have the arms of Esau but the voice of Jacob." Jacob's reply, "It is I, Father," cleverly begs the question, and seemingly satisfies Isaac. The blessing is given and Isaac loses both his sons when Esau's rage forces Jacob to flee. What did Isaac know of the ruse? Did he care to know? Was he deceived or did he embrace trust?

They, too, reunite to bury their parents at Machpelah.

What can we make of life so mildly lived, of a nature ostensibly so innocent, of a temperament so harmless? Is he a simpleton to be scorned, or a gentle giant of gallantry? My vote is for the latter and I wish I had been his friend.

Parashat Chayei Sarah 5768/2007

Torah Gems - November 2


This week's Torah portion is Chayei Sarah. Mincha begins tonight at 5:24 pm, and candles may be lit no later than 5:19 pm. Mincha will begin tomorrow at 5:04 (Talmud study will still be held at 5 pm). Shabbat ends not before 6:19 pm.


KI takes great pride in having produced nearly 50 rabbis, scholars, and professional educators over our 90 year history. Today, we pause to honor, as well, more than a dozen current KI members who are rabbis. Some of them have agreed to share a brief comment on a passage in this week's Torah portion. When Abraham's servant Eliezer prays for success in his mission to find a bride for Isaac, his prayer (the first of its kind in the Bible) offers an opportunity to ponder how we imagine God's rapport with the words we utter in prayer each week in our Main Sanctuary and daily in our Chapel, enjoy.



"And he said, "O Lord, God of my master Abraham, grant me good fortune this day, and deal graciously with my master Abraham" (Genesis 24:12)
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Samson Raphael Hirsch says of our the choice of words Hakrei na, "Nothing is farther from the Jewish concept of mikreh than the idea of "chance" (Rather it) refers to moments in life that he himself did not direct but which directed him(As a result, it is not chance but) could be the most intentional messages sent by the One Who directs and brings about all things."

In other words, to quote Albert Einstein, "Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous."

Rabbi Nechama Goldberg



How does Hope work? Eliezer has an overwhelming commission: a long journey, the responsibility to find a spouse for Isaac, and the obligation to negotiate with strangers while carrying treasures from Abraham's house. We too face tough missions including: work challenges, health issues, family pressures, community demands. How do we plug away without being paralyzed by worry or stress? Eliezer is a model: first he takes a time-out-- notice verse 12 begins vayyomar (it means both "he thought" and "he said") which is accented with a shalshelet requiring a deep breath and a pause because Eliezer relaxes in order to brainstorm about his situation. He visualizes achieving his goal rather than bemoaning his fate. Then focusing on values he learned from Abraham (especially hospitality), he verbalizes how he will take an ordinary situation (shepherdesses watering their flock) and will creatively turn it into an opportunity to find the right girl. Finally, by asking for God's help, he reminds himself that he is not alone in his struggles. In his ability to take risks, seek help, trust that things will work out, and succeed, Eliezer is one of the heroes of the text. As Rabbi Maurice Lamm writes in The Power of Hope: "Fear paralyzes us. It provides no energy, gives us no courage, offers no practical solutions." Rabbi Lamm suggests always reminding ourselves: "I am the hero of my own life story-- I will behave like one."


Rabbi Judy Weiss




One of the most pervasive qualities of Biblical Man was a belief in G-d's providence in human affairs. We are impressed by the fact that this prayer for divine guidance comes from Abraham's humble servant. Its relevance to today's world is that no matter what our station in life is, we all need G-d's guidance and we are equal in G-d's sight. this is an example of Judaism's democratic outlook.

Rabbi William E. Kaufman




Avraham's servant could have dismounted from his camel and headed straight to the well. Instead, he pauses to pray for hesed, for Divine love for Avraham, and defines what he is seeking - a woman whose love for others would embody that hesed. Later, Isaac prays in the field just before Rebecca arrives, and I cannot help but imagine that he is praying to find his life partner. Prayer helps us name our deepest yearnings, and when our heart and mind open to what we most need and hope for, only then do we have the possibility of finding that which we seek.

Rabbi Tracy Nathan




Abraham's servant, Eliezer, makes a powerful request of God that he "make happen" the discovery of a proper young maiden for a shiddukh with his master's son, Isaac. The verb is strange: it is the hifil or causative mode implying very strong action. The point is: you have to take strong action and not be passive if you are going to do something important and earth-shattering. And what is more important than making a good match between a man and a woman? The sages charmingly suggest that God is constantly busy making matches for marriage. And so should we if we are ever to stem the tide of mixed marriages or no marriages. This explains why, in my next life, I expect to come back as Yenta the Matchmaker.

Rabbi Gilbert S. Rosenthal




In the polytheistic world of Abraham, the non Hebrew Eliezer, on a
mission for his master Abraham, prayed to the GOD OF ABRAHAM for
success on his mission to find a proper bride for Isaac. He was
looking for a kind-hearted and good natured woman. Eliezer was
successful in his mission and found Rebecca. This reminds me of our
teacher Rabbi Robert Gordis' definition of a natural miracle: when the right thing happens at the right time to the right person. Thus, God
answered Eliezer's prayer.

Rabbi Marc Samuels



Eliezer refers to a powerful force active in the world and in human life. Carl Jung called it synchronicity. For example, you meet the right person just at the right time as Eliezer did. Or, for example, you are agonizing over a decision and you see a billboard with a sign that says JUST DO IT! For people of faith and for believing Jews it is called Hashgachah.

Rabbi Joseph Schultz



It's all about the ask. We don't know the outcome, all we know is we need to ask. We can't go through life alone; the Jew returns to the Divine, creator and giver of blessing.

Rabbi David Starr

Parashat Vayerah 5768/2007

This week's Parashah, Vayerah, presents the most formative experiences of our people's founding figure - Abraham. Much has been said and written about Abraham's advocacy on behalf of justice in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and on many other passages that make up our Sedra. I wish to reflect briefly on verses from the Binding of Isaac narrative (the Akedah) - a story that continues to challenge me greatly even as I find within it enduring lessons and timeless insights.



A few curious observations follow. When God calls Abraham by name (Chapter 22:1), it is the first and only time in the Torah that God uses Abraham's full (recently amended from Abram) name. If one considers the context of Akedah, it is worth noting that God has not informed Abraham that Lot and his daughters have indeed been spared (Abraham's family members saved from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah). Does this lack of information matter in shaping Abraham's frame of mind as God puts him through the test which is the Akedah?



When Abraham and Isaac speak to each other on their three-day journey, it is the first time that the Bible records a conversation between a parent and a child. Within their very brief dialogue, I believe, we find enduring lessons at the core of the whole purpose of the Akedah. Although they are unchanged, walking together (yachdav) before and after their brief dialogue, a few points in their sharing resonate for me. First, when Isaac asks "Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the offering? (22:7), he does not mention the knife. Why not?



Second, Abraham's response is both enigmatic and prophetic - "God will see to the lamb for the offering, my son." (22:8). It seems to hide more than it reveals. Yet the very name Abraham bestows on the mountaintop is derived from the word for "God will see to". Abraham's capacity to respond prophetically, while not duplicitously, is quite telling. Is there a connection between seeing and the unknowable being asserted here?



Finally, the actual sacrifice is of a ram, not a lamb - of the father, not the child. Perhaps a portion of Abraham, whom God never again speaks directly to following the Akedah, is sacrificed. What might this suggest about the inscrutability of the Almighty's ways?



I look forward to probing with you these and numerous other deep and challenging questions on our Parasha this Shabbat. Shabbat Shalom. Rabbi William Hamilton

Parashat Lech Lecha 2007/5768

We're excited to be continuing a tradition we began last year of inviting members of our community and other scholars to compose and share Torah Gems (insights from that week's Torah portion). This weeks selection is taken from Commentary on the Torah by Richard Elliott Friedman.

Following a noontime Kiddush, Landers Playspace will be open. Talmud will convene at 5:00 pm. Mincha will be in our Rabb Chapel at 5:23 pm. My Mincha and Metaphysics topic will be "Divine Hospitality". Havdallah takes place no earlier than 6:37 pm.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi William Hamilton

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12:3. all the families will be blessed through you. The Tanak is so focused on the people of Israel that one can underestimate the overwhelming significance of its opening section. The first eleven chapters (Parshat Bereshit and Parashat Noah) are about the relationship between God and the entire human community. That relationship does not go well, and after ten generations the deity decides to destroy the mass and start over with a single virtuous man's family. But it turns out that choosing a virtuous individual does not guarantee that this individual's descendants will be virtuous as well. Another ten generations pass, and humans in general are not a planet-full of Noahs. So once again the focus narrows to a single virtuous person, Abraham. We must keep in mind what has happened up to this point when we read this, or else we will lose the significance of what is happening here. Wiping out everyone but a virtuous person does not work. So God leaves the species alive but chooses an individual who will produce a family that will ultimately bring blessing to all the families of the earth.

To make sure we get it, it is the final point of God's first revelation to Abraham: Go to the land I'll show you. I'll make you a big nation. I'll bless you. "And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you" (Gen 12:3).

To make sure we do not forget it, it is repeated four times - and always in crucial moments of revelation: during the appearance of the three visitors to Abraham (Gen 18:17-18); in the blessing following the near-sacrifice of Isaac (22:16-18); in God's first appearance to Isaac (26:2-4); and in Jacob's first encounter with God in the dream of the ladder at Beth-El (28:10-14).

It is important. In some way, at some time, the result of the divine choice of Abraham is supposed to be some good for all humankind. We are never told what this good is supposed to be. Is it that Abraham's descendants are supposed to bring blessing by being "a light to the nations" - setting an example, showing how a community can live: caring for one another, not cheating one another, not enslaving one another, not lending to each other for profit, and so on and on? Or is it that they are to bring blessing by doing things that benefit the species: inventions, cures, literature, music, learning? It does not say. But at the minimum it must mean that the people of Israel do not live alone or apart. Their destiny - our destiny - whatever it is, must be bound up in the destiny of all humankind.

This adds a dimension, an additional layer of significance, to every story that will follow in the Torah. When Abraham travels to Canaan, we might imagine it from a God's-eye view above the earth: the tiny movement of a man and his family along with the globe is a first step in the process that is to bring benefit for all the earth. When Abraham travels to Egypt, this is the first in a series of encounters that he and his descendants will have with the peoples of the world. When he and Lot are forced to part, this is a step in distinguishing his destiny from that of the families of his brothers Haran and Nahor, though he and his descendants will continue to interact with them. When he joins in a battle among kings in order to rescue Lot (Genesis 14), he is being drawn into world events, and it is another first step, an anticipation of all the times that his descendants, the people of Israel, will be drawn into contact and interaction with nations. When Abraham covenants with God (Genesis 15 and 17) the ceremony includes specific references to Ur of the Chaldees, the land from which Abraham has come; to Egypt, the land where his descendants will be enslaved; and to ten peoples of the land that Abraham is promised. It also includes the announcement of his coming son Isaac, the key to the fulfillment of the destiny to be a blessing to all the families of the earth - as will be confirmed explicitly following the Aqedah. And in between the two chapters concerning the Abrahamic covenant comes the story of the birth of Abraham's son Ishmael, whose descendants, the Ishmaelites, will be among Israel's related neighbors.

All of these episodes are conveying the formative stages of development that begins with that narrowing of attention to Abraham. The interpretive point is that we must understand every section of the Torah with awareness of what has preceded it and what will come after it. The social and moral point is that Abraham's descendants are not to live by themselves or only for themselves. Whether dealing with non-Jews who live in Israel or dealing with non-Jews who are their neighbors in the countries in which they reside, the Jews are a community that connects its birth with a prediction (?), a promise (?), an obligation (?), a destiny (?) to be a blessing to them all.

SHABBAT SHALOM

Parashat Noach 5768/2007

We're exciting to be continuing a tradition we began last year of inviting members of our community to compose and share Torah Gems (insights from that week's Torah portion). This week, Rabbi Nechama Goldberg's message, originally published in the Schechter Shavuon (Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston), offers a delightful and insightful teaching on Parshat Noah (her teaching appears below).

Hodesh Tov and Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi William Hamilton

The story of Noah is a very familiar one. Everyone can sing to you that "the animals they came on, they came on by twosie, twosie." God spoke to Noah and commanded that he build an ark and Noah did just as God had commanded. The story seems simple, but it raises so many questions out of its simplicity. Why does God choose Noah? Did it just come out of the blue? Do they have a relationship? Does Noah have any response to God's commands or does he just blindly obey?

I am struck by the fact that there is no conversation between God and Noah. God has spoken to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God has conversed with Cain and Abel. We can see that there is some kind of relationship there. What exists between God and Noah? Noah is described as a tzaddik (righteous). He is the one human being in Scripture called tzaddik. Neither Abraham, nor Moses, nor Elijah, nor any other biblical hero is so called in Scripture itself. And further, Noah is also called tamim (blameless) to underscore just how special he was. It is said of Noah that he walks with God. Yet it is said of Abraham that he walks before God. Noah is passive and does not protest when he hears of God's plans to destroy the world. He never displayed any anger or grief at what befalls him. Abraham protests vigorously when God reveals God's plans to destroy Sodom and Gemorrah. Noah appears to be a man of limited spiritual resources, who needed God by his side constantly.

When the details are sparse in the Torah, we can turn to midrash to explain what might have taken place. The rabbis are not alone in their desire to create stories to fill in the gaps. There is a classic "midrash" on the conversation that might have taken place between God and Noah.

Lord: (Sound of a bell) Noah.

Noah: "Who is that?"

Lord: "It's the Lord, Noah."

(Silence)

Noah: "Right..Where are you? What do you want? I've been good."

Lord: "I want you to build an ark."

(Silence)

Noah: "Right..What's an ark?"

Lord:..When you get that done, go out into the world to collect all of the animals in the world by twos-male and female- and put them into the ark."

(Silence)

Noah: "Right..Who is this really? What's going on? How come you want me to do all these weird things?"

(excerpted from Bill Cosby Noah:Right)

We might expect that there would have been such a conversation. Noah's persistent silence disturbed the rabbis as well. The following is a midrash from the Zohar, the classic work of medieval Jewish mysticism.

"When Noah came out of the ark, he opened his eyes and saw the whole world completely destroyed. He began crying for the world and said: 'Master of the World! If you destroyed Your world because of human sin or human fools, then why did You create them? One or the other You should do: either do not create the human being or do not destroy the world!

The Blessed Holy One answered him, "Foolish shepherd! Now you say this, but not when I spoke to you tenderly saying: 'Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.." I lingered with you and spoke to you at length so that you would ask for mercy for the world! But as soon as you heard that you would be safe in the ark, the evil of the world did not touch your heart. You built the ark and saved yourself. Now that the world has been destroyed, you open your mouth to utter questions and pleas!"

Noah merited being chosen to start the world anew. But think about how much more he might have done.

Shabbat shalom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyc1315KawQ