1. Shabbat Shalom
2. In the Fourteenth chapter of Exodus, we come to one of the great climaxes of the story of the Exodus from Egypt. Three days have passed and even though Moses promised Pharaoh that they would return after three days, they do not return and the Egyptians send out the army, a host of chariots, to attack the former slaves and bring them back to Egypt.
3. When the People of Israel look up and see the Egyptian army advancing in the distance, they react as you might expect, with panic. In one of the less flattering moments in the Torah, Israel turns on their leaders and on Moses with all kinds of accusations. “Why did you bring us out into this wilderness?” “Why did you bring us here to die?” “Didn't we tell you that we wanted to stay and serve the Egyptians rather than leave and die in the wilderness?” My favorite accusation was “There were not enough tombs in Egypt that you needed to bring us here to die?” Considering that Egypt was the classic land of tombs, it is a really ironic complaint.
4. Moses tries to calm them down and they stop complaining to see what Moses wants them to do. But Moses really doesn't know what to do. God has not given him any instructions. So Moses turns to God to ask, “What should we do?” The Rabbis of the Talmud say that there was a difference of opinion as to what the best course of action should be. Should they stand and fight? Should they surrender and go back to slavery? Should they run? If so, where should they run? If they run north they will encounter the border garrison of Egyptian soldiers. If they run south they will enter a sandy desert. If they run west they will encounter the attacking army. If they run east, they will drown in the sea. What should they do?
5. God finally says to Moses, “What are you doing, wasting time and praying to me? Lead the people into the sea and hold your hand over it and see what happens.” Moses does and the greatest miracle the world has ever known opens up before them as the water parts, giving Israel a path to freedom and serving as a grave to the Egyptian soldiers.
6. This is just the first time that Israel will get nasty with their leaders. By the end of our Parsha they are complaining about the lack of good food and water. No matter what God does for them they have something new to complain about. There is never a council where the leaders and representatives of the people gather to discuss the challenges that they are facing and how best to address them. The people act spoiled and mean. It always seems to be about “What has God done for us lately?” Moses says one thing and the people often do the opposite. Finally, God will get so disgusted with the people that God decrees that they will all die in the wilderness and only their children will inherit the Promised Land.
7. This was not a really good week here in the United States. Last Shabbat, a lone gunman attempted to assassinate the member of Congress who represents Tucson, AZ. She did not die but seven others who were with her, including a nine year old child, were killed, and Representative Giffords and a dozen others were wounded and taken to the hospital. Only Ms. Giffords remains in critical condition but she appears to be making remarkable progress, a miracle that I am sure her family sees as great a miracle as the crossing of the sea. The deranged shooter was tackled by some bystanders, a small woman wrestled the ammunition away from the shooter so he could not reload his gun and a young aide ran to save Ms. Gifford's life. In those horrifying minutes, there were heroes, or maybe angels, who rushed in to save lives.
8. Just like our ancestors, the entire country then erupted into a debate on the reasons for the shooting and how it could have been prevented. Is this a good example of why we need better gun safety laws? Is this a good example of how our mental health programs are lacking? Is this a testimony to how limited our law enforcement officers are in handling criminals since they stopped him for running a red light but all they could do was give him a ticket? If they had arrested him, the tragedy could have been averted.
9. I can tell you now that I am a big supporter of better gun laws in this country, and I do believe that we could treat those with mental illnesses better. But the real issue, both for President Obama and for former governor Sarah Palin, the real issue is civil discourse. What used to be intelligent debates about real issues in this country, has mostly settled down into two sides shouting at each other, not listening to what the other side has to say and not caring that the other may have a few good points. It is all about yelling the loudest and getting your opinion out on the right cable or radio news talk station.
10. We like to think that such raucous debates are only in the political realm, but it can be found almost everywhere these days. The news shows often feature one side shouting at the other side. Talk show hosts regularly shout down the people who disagree with their opinions. People will publish on the internet and in letters to the editor the most vicious attacks on those who do not agree with their position. Most people with an idea or a position, if they don't want to be attacked, keep their heads down and their mouths shut, thus cutting off the kind of debate that is the heart and soul of democracy. Town hall meetings, city council meetings, county commission meetings even condo owners meetings, can quickly escalate out of control as people scream that they are right and everyone else is wrong.
11. Some people say that this state of affairs is because we no longer have the relationships with our neighbors that we used to have. We spend our time watching TV, listening to the radio and surfing the internet that we don't have regular human contact anymore. I have to remind everyone that we need to welcome the Temple Emeth newcomers that we do not know. We are no longer practiced at welcoming strangers. Politicians don't live in Washington DC anymore; they finish their work and fly back home to their families, to their local offices and to the fund- raising they need to do. If we don't talk to each other, we end up shouting at each other. How can we have civil discourse if we don't practice often what it means to be civil?
12. The Talmud is based on Sages debating the issues with each other. They were very good at debating points of law and sometimes they are so good, that we can't really tell which side finally won the debate and which opinion is to be considered the law. The Sages debated with people they liked, with people they did not like, with Jews and with Romans, with friends and foes and they even debated with Sages who lived in the generations before their own. Only a few times did the debate erupt into personal attacks; when it did, it never ended well. A mean word from one Rabbi resulted in the death of his closest friend. A moment of disrespect caused the head of the rabbinical court to resign and they only reinstated him after some serious repentance and a commitment to living a more humble life. In the Bible, a mean word from King David brought about the death of a great Jewish general. The sages teach us that “Life and Death are in the Power of the Tongue”
13. In the race toward ever more shocking attacks, political enemies begin to start contemplating not just destroying their opponents ideas, but destroying the opponent as well. And if we complain that this kind of incitement could cause serious repercussions, we are laughed at and accused of being just like the opponent and worthy of being destroyed as well. This is far from civil discourse. This is no different than speaking inappropriately in public. Freedom of speech may be one of the four freedoms we celebrate in this country, but it does not give us the right to hurt others either physically or emotionally. We can hurt feelings as easily as we can hurt bodies.
14. Judaism reminds us that we need to watch what comes out of our mouths as much as we watch what goes into our mouths. We are not genetically disposed to be mean and cruel to others. We are not hard wired to be kind. We need to learn how to do both and Judaism would have us practice being kind and concerned rather than combative and angry. Judaism still encourages students to study with partners, debating back and forth the meaning of Jewish texts and learning from the position that each of us takes. Calling names does not resolve a problem. Only speaking clearly and listening to others will bring about the resolution of issues.
15. There is a story told of a man who on a dark and stormy night gets a flat tire on a dark country road. As the rain pours down, the man tries to change the tire. The darkness is only broken by flashes of lightning followed by the crash of the thunder. The man is completely miserable and the repair takes a very long time. Finally as the lightning gets brighter and the thunder louder, the man finally turns his eyes to heaven saying, “Dear God, I could use a little more light and a lot less noise.”
16. Last weekend a Congresswoman stopped to talk to voters in front of a supermarket. As she spoke to a young girl, shots were fired. The killer clearly wanted to murder the congresswoman. This deranged man might have killed with or without the highly charged speeches of the most recent election in Arizona. There is no evidence that civil speech would have saved lives that morning in Tucson. But civil speech can save our country, making it a better place for each other, a better place for the sharing of ideas and a better place for democracy. Let us resolve to be the one who listens at least as much as we speak. Let each of us be responsible to bringing more light into our discussions and removing the noise that isolates us. Let us resolve to make our words strong, informative and passionate, but never hurtful, mean or inciting. Only if we can hear what our opponents say, can we hope to have them hear what we have to say. And when we listen to each other, we can solve problems, make friends and literally change the world.
May God help us make our words a blessing and not a curse, and may we use them to build bridges between ourselves and others, and not tear apart the ties that bind us to each other in freedom and blessing
As we say Amen and Shabbat Shalom.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Parshat Bo
1. Shabbat Shalom
2. With a mandate from God, Moses and Aaron appear for the first time, before Pharaoh, the ruler of all Egypt, and demand that Pharaoh let the people of Israel go from their slavery. But Pharaoh throws all their hopes out the window and asks a cold and perhaps cruel question.
“Who is the Lord that I should heed Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord nor will I let Israel go.”
3. I have always held that when the Torah has someone ask a question in the text, the question is not only about moving the plot of the story along, but that question is being addressed to us. For example, the first question in the Torah is God asking humanity, “Where are you?” The story of Joseph hangs on a question asked by a stranger, “Who are you looking for?” In the story of the Exodus from Egypt, it all hangs on this one question Pharaoh asks “Who is the Lord that I should heed Him?
4. All ten plagues are God's answer to this one question. As each plague comes, Pharaoh begins to understand that Moses is neither a rival for the throne of Egypt, nor is he a rebel seeking to overthrow the king. Pharaoh says at the end of last week's Parsha “I stand guilty this time. The Lord is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong. Plead with the Lord that there may be an end of God's thunder and of hail. I will let you go; you need stay no longer.” Pharaoh has given up; he now knows exactly who God is and what God is capable of doing. Pharaoh knows who the Lord is and why he needs to let Israel go. But he will once again change his mind. He may know God, but he is not yet prepared to capitulate to God. His heart will harden and there will be three more horrible plagues until the Exodus can happen.
5. There is no shortage of people today who ask the same question as Pharaoh every day. “Who is the Lord that I should listen to Him?” After all, this Lord is a very demanding God. God tells us when we can work and when we must rest. God tells us what we can eat and when we can eat it. God gives us laws to observe and sends punishments when we disobey. If we were to read our Siddur carefully, we would find a God that is very demanding, violent and seems to be in need of a lot of praise. Is it any wonder that people ask themselves about who is this God who requires my worship?
6. God seems to be jealous, demanding our full attention and not permitting any other “god” in our lives. God seems to be a punishing God. The second paragraph of the Shema tells us that communal disaster will result from the sins of just one person. The Torah teaches us that every time the people of Israel sinned, they were met with plague, war and disaster. God does not seem to forgive the Canaanites for their sins, requiring that the Canaanites and the Amalakites be entirely exterminated. For a minor infraction, Moses will be denied entrance into the promised land.
7. We too have had our moments when we have wondered about what kind of a God we worship. This loyalty to God is a great burden. It is not easy to be an observant Jew. Even the most pious person has doubts about the worship of God toward the end of Yom Kippur and a long day of fasting and prayer. What Jew, in the final dash to make our homes ready for Shabbat or to clean our homes of Hametz before Pesach, has not wondered if all of this work is worth the effort? We thank God with a blessing for just about everything imaginable. And, when we watch our friends and loved ones, who seem so innocent of any wrongdoing, suffer terribly with illness, can we say that we understand ourselves who God is that we should keep God's commandments? It sometimes seems easier to just forget the whole thing and do whatever we want.
8. And yet, we realize that throughout history, Jews have been prepared to die in the name of our God. In every generation there have been those who have risen up against us, demanding that we forget God, defame God, reject our God or deny God. For thousands of years our people have been rock solid in our faith, facing torture, inquisition, pogroms and gas chambers rather than deny who we are and the God who is central to our lives.
9. Even the Torah admits that it is not the persecutions that will bring us to deny God, but the blessings we receive. It is when we are settled in our land, safe in our homes, when we are well fed and prosperous that we begin to think that “My own hand as gotten me all of this” and we forget God, reject God and ignore God's commandments. Like in the Fable of Aesop, when the winds blow cold and hard, we cling to our faith and hold on tight. But when the sun shines down on us, warming us in its rays, we shed our faith as we might take off a coat, leaving ourselves and our families unprepared for whatever challenges may come next.
10. That is why it remains so important for us to consider the question of Pharaoh. Who is God that we should be listening to God's voice? The Rabbis and Sages in every generation have given us many reasons to stay loyal to the God of Israel. Many times in our liturgy we are reminded that God was there for us when our people were enslaved in Egypt. That God rescued us from our prison there, bringing us from slavery to freedom. Each Pesach we proclaim that WE ourselves were slaves and that God rescued us.
11. Judaism teaches us that life is a blessing and that we have at least 100 reasons each day to express our gratitude to God. Not because God needs to hear our praise, but because we need the lesson in humility. If we can find 100 reasons each day to thank God, we will find that life is not about chasing success or material goods. Life is about being thankful for all the good things in life that we often overlook or forget.
12. Sometimes, we complain about all the commandments that God places on our shoulders. There are holidays to observe throughout the entire year, there is Shabbat that calls us every week and there are a host of Mitzvot that we are called to perform every day, beginning from the moment we awaken to the last Shema we recite before we go to bed. And yet, if we stop to consider what we are being called to do in God's name: To be kind and considerate, to love our neighbor as ourselves, to care for the sick, the homeless and the mourner; God requires that we give charity to the poor, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, teach our children, care for our parents, pay attention to what we eat and take time from our busy day to pray; We are commanded to stop working one day in seven, to study Torah, be faithful to our spouse and then pray three times a day so we don't forget what is really important in life; If we consider all of this, we realize that Mitzvot are not designed to be a yoke around our necks, but a reminder of our responsibilities to ourselves, to those we love and to the stranger and those helpless in society.
13. And there is one more freedom that we are given that we must not forget. God gives us the freedom to choose if we will follow the path that God gives us or not. When the Torah comes to its concluding words, we hear these final lessons from Moses: “Surely this Torah which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens that you should say 'Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?' Neither is it beyond the sea that you should say 'Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?' No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart to observe it. See, I set before you this day life and prosperity, death and adversity. … I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life – if you and your offspring would live – by loving the Lord your God, heeding His commandments and holding fast to Him.”
14. The entire Torah is one long answer to the question of Pharaoh. The history of the Jewish People is one long answer to the question of Pharaoh. And we have to decide each day if our lives will be part of the eternal answer to the question, “Who is the Lord that I should heed Him?” How will you answer Pharaoh's question? Your answer will make all the difference in your life, in this synagogue and it may make the difference in the lives of many people all over the world.
May we search our souls for the answer to this question and may God grant us the strength, wisdom and faith to be true to what we believe as we say.... Amen and Shabbat Shalom
2. With a mandate from God, Moses and Aaron appear for the first time, before Pharaoh, the ruler of all Egypt, and demand that Pharaoh let the people of Israel go from their slavery. But Pharaoh throws all their hopes out the window and asks a cold and perhaps cruel question.
“Who is the Lord that I should heed Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord nor will I let Israel go.”
3. I have always held that when the Torah has someone ask a question in the text, the question is not only about moving the plot of the story along, but that question is being addressed to us. For example, the first question in the Torah is God asking humanity, “Where are you?” The story of Joseph hangs on a question asked by a stranger, “Who are you looking for?” In the story of the Exodus from Egypt, it all hangs on this one question Pharaoh asks “Who is the Lord that I should heed Him?
4. All ten plagues are God's answer to this one question. As each plague comes, Pharaoh begins to understand that Moses is neither a rival for the throne of Egypt, nor is he a rebel seeking to overthrow the king. Pharaoh says at the end of last week's Parsha “I stand guilty this time. The Lord is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong. Plead with the Lord that there may be an end of God's thunder and of hail. I will let you go; you need stay no longer.” Pharaoh has given up; he now knows exactly who God is and what God is capable of doing. Pharaoh knows who the Lord is and why he needs to let Israel go. But he will once again change his mind. He may know God, but he is not yet prepared to capitulate to God. His heart will harden and there will be three more horrible plagues until the Exodus can happen.
5. There is no shortage of people today who ask the same question as Pharaoh every day. “Who is the Lord that I should listen to Him?” After all, this Lord is a very demanding God. God tells us when we can work and when we must rest. God tells us what we can eat and when we can eat it. God gives us laws to observe and sends punishments when we disobey. If we were to read our Siddur carefully, we would find a God that is very demanding, violent and seems to be in need of a lot of praise. Is it any wonder that people ask themselves about who is this God who requires my worship?
6. God seems to be jealous, demanding our full attention and not permitting any other “god” in our lives. God seems to be a punishing God. The second paragraph of the Shema tells us that communal disaster will result from the sins of just one person. The Torah teaches us that every time the people of Israel sinned, they were met with plague, war and disaster. God does not seem to forgive the Canaanites for their sins, requiring that the Canaanites and the Amalakites be entirely exterminated. For a minor infraction, Moses will be denied entrance into the promised land.
7. We too have had our moments when we have wondered about what kind of a God we worship. This loyalty to God is a great burden. It is not easy to be an observant Jew. Even the most pious person has doubts about the worship of God toward the end of Yom Kippur and a long day of fasting and prayer. What Jew, in the final dash to make our homes ready for Shabbat or to clean our homes of Hametz before Pesach, has not wondered if all of this work is worth the effort? We thank God with a blessing for just about everything imaginable. And, when we watch our friends and loved ones, who seem so innocent of any wrongdoing, suffer terribly with illness, can we say that we understand ourselves who God is that we should keep God's commandments? It sometimes seems easier to just forget the whole thing and do whatever we want.
8. And yet, we realize that throughout history, Jews have been prepared to die in the name of our God. In every generation there have been those who have risen up against us, demanding that we forget God, defame God, reject our God or deny God. For thousands of years our people have been rock solid in our faith, facing torture, inquisition, pogroms and gas chambers rather than deny who we are and the God who is central to our lives.
9. Even the Torah admits that it is not the persecutions that will bring us to deny God, but the blessings we receive. It is when we are settled in our land, safe in our homes, when we are well fed and prosperous that we begin to think that “My own hand as gotten me all of this” and we forget God, reject God and ignore God's commandments. Like in the Fable of Aesop, when the winds blow cold and hard, we cling to our faith and hold on tight. But when the sun shines down on us, warming us in its rays, we shed our faith as we might take off a coat, leaving ourselves and our families unprepared for whatever challenges may come next.
10. That is why it remains so important for us to consider the question of Pharaoh. Who is God that we should be listening to God's voice? The Rabbis and Sages in every generation have given us many reasons to stay loyal to the God of Israel. Many times in our liturgy we are reminded that God was there for us when our people were enslaved in Egypt. That God rescued us from our prison there, bringing us from slavery to freedom. Each Pesach we proclaim that WE ourselves were slaves and that God rescued us.
11. Judaism teaches us that life is a blessing and that we have at least 100 reasons each day to express our gratitude to God. Not because God needs to hear our praise, but because we need the lesson in humility. If we can find 100 reasons each day to thank God, we will find that life is not about chasing success or material goods. Life is about being thankful for all the good things in life that we often overlook or forget.
12. Sometimes, we complain about all the commandments that God places on our shoulders. There are holidays to observe throughout the entire year, there is Shabbat that calls us every week and there are a host of Mitzvot that we are called to perform every day, beginning from the moment we awaken to the last Shema we recite before we go to bed. And yet, if we stop to consider what we are being called to do in God's name: To be kind and considerate, to love our neighbor as ourselves, to care for the sick, the homeless and the mourner; God requires that we give charity to the poor, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, teach our children, care for our parents, pay attention to what we eat and take time from our busy day to pray; We are commanded to stop working one day in seven, to study Torah, be faithful to our spouse and then pray three times a day so we don't forget what is really important in life; If we consider all of this, we realize that Mitzvot are not designed to be a yoke around our necks, but a reminder of our responsibilities to ourselves, to those we love and to the stranger and those helpless in society.
13. And there is one more freedom that we are given that we must not forget. God gives us the freedom to choose if we will follow the path that God gives us or not. When the Torah comes to its concluding words, we hear these final lessons from Moses: “Surely this Torah which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens that you should say 'Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?' Neither is it beyond the sea that you should say 'Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?' No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart to observe it. See, I set before you this day life and prosperity, death and adversity. … I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life – if you and your offspring would live – by loving the Lord your God, heeding His commandments and holding fast to Him.”
14. The entire Torah is one long answer to the question of Pharaoh. The history of the Jewish People is one long answer to the question of Pharaoh. And we have to decide each day if our lives will be part of the eternal answer to the question, “Who is the Lord that I should heed Him?” How will you answer Pharaoh's question? Your answer will make all the difference in your life, in this synagogue and it may make the difference in the lives of many people all over the world.
May we search our souls for the answer to this question and may God grant us the strength, wisdom and faith to be true to what we believe as we say.... Amen and Shabbat Shalom
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