Everyone please turn to Leviticus 21, kthx. In this week’s parsha, Emor, Moshe Rabbeinu tells us about some of the laws regulating kohanim (Temple priests).

After the admonition for kohanim to not have contact with corpses, it lists the various deformities and disabilities that would disqualify a kohen from performing his Temple duties. They include: blindness, mobility impairment, sunken nose, unibrow, broken or twisted limb, one limb disproportionate to the other, sores, and, of course, crushed testicles. If the Temple was excluding disabled priests, does that mean Judaism (c”v”s) is discriminatory and ablist?

Josh over at parshablog says one possibility is that this is a concession to the prevailing cultural attitudes of the time. DovBear suggests that this is just one of several “rules and requirements and presumptions that no longer fit anyone’s idea of morality” in Torah.

I don’t fully agree with either of these opinions. I think there’s nothing we can’t learn from, especially words of Torah (nothing is not relevant, and if you’re not able to find something to learn from in a chapter, you’re not looking hard enough). What can we learn from this? Well, to me, ablism means blocking people with disabilities from doing things we can do, assuming we have nothing to contribute, and stifling our potential. It doesn’t mean I get an equal shot of playing shortstop for the Yankees. Maybe a disabled kohen can’t drag a bull up the ramp to the sacrificial altar. And we have to remember that Torah was recorded during a time where G-d was smiting people as an example that even minor infractions should not be committed with the Temple service. This was a lot more important than a Yankee game, and if you were reckless in the Temple, G-d would be reckless with us (ie. smiting). In Torah, every tribe and every person has a role they’re born for, and that’s one lesson we can take away. And in this life of confusion, chaos and darkness, one who finds their purpose, their meaning, is fortunate indeed.

I’m not offended by the stringent requirements for kohanim. Disabled kohanim were never stripped of their title, and were still allowed to eat from the holiest of sacrifices (they got all the benefits of their role). Some were even allowed to perform the priestly blessing (source).

Leonard Nimoy made the "Vulcan salute" identical to the birkat kohanim (priests' blessing) except that the benediction is done with both hands, horizontally, to resemble the Hebrew letter "Shin." For more on this, Nimoy's inspiration for the Vulcan salute, see this article on TrekJews.com.

And unlike illegitimate kohanim, disabled kohanim continued to keep all the benefits, and all the priestly laws. To suggest a physical defect is a spiritual defect (as this commenter did) is ablist and false.

Also in Leviticus, those with skin disease never have to pay for their affliction (free health care). The Torah makes sure that anyone in need is looked after and cared for. Kohanim were responsible for properly caring for and overseeing infection control for the community.

People with disabilities are never excluded or discriminated against in the Torah. Isaac’s blindness certainly never diminished his authority as a Patriarch and leader.

In this 1638 oil painting by Govert Flinck, a blind and aged Isaac blesses Jacob to be the next leader of Israel

I see Torah as proposing a semi-Utopian system, where everyone matters, everyone has a role, everyone has a portion, not the cruel dystopia many paint it as.

Nick

Here is the PunkTorah commentary on this blog. And check out the video:

And to see all the PunkTorah videos, go to the PunkTorah YouTube Channel.

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Idolatry. In Hebrew, avodah zora (strange service). The concept of idolatry is central in the Torah (Five books of Moses). Throughout the narrative, the Israelites often revert to idolatrous practices, the most famous of which is the sin of the Golden Calf. In that episode, Moses is gone a day longer than they expected, so some of the men declare him dead and “it’s party time!” They rip the earrings off the women and make a giant molten calf, then have an orgiastic festival in honor of the calf. When Moses comes back he is so disgusted he breaks the Tablets and starts smiting people. Throughout the Torah, idolatry is the greatest sin, the greatest challenge faced. In Deuteronomy, even though the generation of the Golden Calf had already died out, Moses tears into the congregation about their evil idolatry, just in case. It was that important to emphasize. Then throughout the prophets, it is page after page exhorting us to fight idolatry.

Some would say the notions of idolatry are obsolete, or are monuments to ancient intolerance. I’m arguing the opposite. I say idolatry is as prevalent as ever and the Torah prohibitions as relevant as ever.

It’s hard for me to tell you what idolatry is, to pin down exactly what is and what isn’t idolatry; it is a kind of nebulous spiritual issue. But like the Supreme Court famously ruled on pornography, you know it when you see it.

The biggest idol today is money, Mammon; and the biggest false religion is consumerism. Look no further than your TV to see this one.

In this insightful blog, Eastern Orthodox writer Terry Mattingly points out that people now take a sort of perverse communion at the mall:

About half the ads on television today make no sense whatsoever in a linear fashion in terms of having anything remotely to do with the product. They’re getting across an attitude, a mood. They’re asking, “Do you want to be the kind of person who uses this product?” One ad theorist has said that “they presume the product has a soul.” If you think as a sacramental Christian, people are taking communion at the mall. They are consuming the product, the soul of the product, to become the essence of the product. It’s a liturgical experience. They’re taking communion at the mall. They are what they eat, which is the essence of the ancient church’s definition of communion.

(photoshopped by me)

In a recent discussion of government programs for the poor and disabled on one of the disability Yahoo groups I’m in, I threw out “Do you serve G-d or serve Mammon?“

Someone shot back, “I don’t serve any god.”

My challenge was misunderstood. I didn’t mean “do you believe a specific theology?” I’m not concerned with that, I don’t think you’re wrong if you have different theological assumptions than me; that’s not the point. My question was, “do you serve the greater good, something larger, or are you only out for yourself?”

It is incredibly important we serve something greater. There is an epidemic of selfishness rotting our national soul. We’ve now reached such a low that our government is proposing $32.7 billion dollars in rebates to the Walton family (Wal-Mart) while removing $28 billion from hospitals for the poor, and the media doesn’t even mention it anymore (obscene rant from another blogger about this here). We are sacrificing the sick and the weak on the altar of greed, and few even notice anymore. It is all corrupt. It is spiritual blackness.

Money is the central motivation to too many people; it’s the main object people idolize. Before they act, they put “what’s in it for me?” ahead of decency. To save a little money or little convenience, we will do horrible things, overlook great wrongs. I’ve seen too much of it.

We naturally have this urge to be idolaters, putting ourself and our petty nonsense ahead of the good (also known as G-d).

Judaism recognizes this, that idolatry is a part of our nature, and it seeks to put a strong yoke on Jews to do the right thing. We need it badly.

I think in these dark times, it is more important than ever to pursue righteousness, to pursue justice. Deut. 16:20 is important now more than ever before.

We aren’t just monkeys in flesh suits. Humans can rise to be far greater than the animals, or far worse than the animals.

Now is the time to elevate.

Don’t just plug into the iCalf and tune out all the service and justice we’re supposed to be accomplishing. Stay involved.

If it ain’t helping bring about the total spiritual and physical perfection of the world, I’m not into it.

G-d, the planet, the Torah and humanity are ONE.

Nick

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I caught the wonderful old Negro spiritual “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep” on this episode of The Steve Earle Show. His show is great because his diverse guests unearth little gems you’d never find elsewhere.

“Oh Mary Don’t You Weep,” from the new record Get On Board! Underground Railroad & Civil Rights Freedom Songs – Volume 2 by Kim and Reggie Harris.

Hearing this I was very moved. It’s an inspiring anthem about the inevitability of justice.

I assume since the theme is “Pharoah’s army got drownded” they’re singing about Miriam / Mary, sister of Moses, who was smited with Tzaarat (supernatural leprosy) after leaving Egypt. But regardless, the message is: don’t cry, because Pharoah’s army drowned. The oppressor was defeated. Injustice is an inherently illegitimate, unstable status, and it will be removed. Karma.

Be comforted. G-d’s justice will eventually even everything out.

It’s easy to see why the anti-slavemaster narrative and G-d’s promise of freedom would be incredibly relevent to black people, and how this spawned a uniquely-American brand of “Old Testament Christianity” (I could do an entire essay on this alone.)

“Pharoah’s army got drownded.” All oppressors are on the wrong side of history and will fall. No tyranny will be allowed to stand indefinitely.

Be sure and get on the riqht side of the Reed Sea….

Nick

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Filling the Gap Called Life

I was born with some weird, unknown muscular dystrophy (yeah, Jerry’s Kids Telethon *gag*) believed to be related to the metabolic cycle. On September, Friday the 13th, 1991, at age 9, I had back surgery to put rods in and supposedly straighten my spine (unnecessarily, really). I developed a horrible, raging pseudomonas infection. Prior to this, I was able to go to school by myself, feed myself, and use a manual wheelchair. Sometimes I could even stand up on my own. I was very independent and would drive around the house on a self-propelled three-wheeled motorcycle. Some people didn’t realize that I had any sort of disability. The post-op infection I got (and the surgeon wouldn’t treat) knocked me off the metabolic balance beam. All the abilities I had before I soon lost. I got down to 35 pounds. My muscles wasted away; my digestive, cardiac and pulmonary systems shut down as doctors continued to make one horrible mistake after another. I wasn’t expected to live, but after many terrible episodes, hospitalizations and near death experiences, I was infection-free by 1993. The infection made the metal rods not fuse, and for years they were unstable, moving and grinding metal against bone; the pain was unbearable, and to this day I have to take painkillers at least every four hours.

But anyhow, since getting a trach and ventilator in ‘94 to breathe, my stamina’s improved and I have been relatively stable. Though my lack of muscle means I can barely move at all, can’t turn myself at night or eat without help, and need the machine for each breath, I get along fine with the proper help.
I can’t use a keyboard, lift my hands at all. I type with my thumb on a trackball mouse and click out text by hitting letters on onscreen keyboard software. Sometimes it takes me hours to type out something (nearing 4 hours on this one), but this also gives me time to consider my words and extract the best possible writing from myself. I was admitted to Spring Hill College at age 16, and from age 19-22 did the whole national campaign thing, speaking all over the country. Now I’m in the “WTF am I gonna do now?” phase.

I recount this difficult history not to self-flagellate, not to impress you, but to properly frame my spiritual struggle. To show you my path so far so you understand where I’m coming from.

I persevered and survived when several doctors said I couldn’t.

My faith didn’t survive.

Losing all physical ability in mere months crushed my belief in G-d. During my time of greatest anguish, with me a 10 year old child in ICU near-death with no father, the only religion I was exposed to was local Christians saying “it’s G-d’s will, ” or “everything happens for a reason.” I thought that G-d would never hurt me or use incompetent doctors as agents of His judgement, as that went against everything I had ever felt about G-d (e.g. that He is all good and all loving). Therefore, I concluded that G-d either does not exist, or He doesn’t control human actions. I rejected all religion for the next 10 years. I couldn’t even conceive of an Omnipotent Being under those terms, since it posited a divine torturer, so I recoiled in deep existential horror at any talk of G-d. The idea of a personal G-d was loathsome to me. I thought religion (at the very least) was passively assenting to a barbaric theology of a mass-murdering, evil, torturing Deity, and should (at best) be avoided, and (at worst) possibly denounced or ridiculed, because any Being responsible for the unendurable suffering I’ve seen is inherently illegitimate, and logically must be a lie, and all lies must be exposed for what they are. I was pretty sure a personal G-d could not exist, and I settled into a kind of content agnosticism for the intervening decade (“if G-d wants to exist, that’s His department! I’m not involved.”).

But my path in life cannot help but routinely scrape up against the limits of human rationality. And when the material world fails utterly, it is natural to seek answers from the spiritual. There is no real rational explanation for why the Jewish people (a distinct ethnic group that has no existence separate from its religion, Judaism) have survived against all odds. There is no good rational explanation for why I lived when I should have died, and still endure. There is no rational explanation for why I get awards and national media coverage, then am stuck in my room for three years. There is no good rational explanation for why I know deep down with such abiding passion that all disabled and elderly citizens MUST be secure if we are to have any semblance of a good society, it is just a deep spiritual truth I know. Because if there is only cold logic, the United States could achieve immense additional wealth (and the happiness freedom from taxation brings) if we euthanized every single disabled and elderly person. If there is no moral law, no soul connecting us, and I am just an inferior material product, why should I not be killed? There has to be something greater than ourselves, and whenever I advocate, I feel that pull toward this idea. Activism is most often pursued by those who don’t count on an all-controlling Being for salvation and think it is up to US to change the world, so the role of “do-gooder” has been increasingly filled by atheists and agnostics like I was, but activism for the downtrodden and oppressed is an innately, intensely spiritual act, even if I didn’t always know it acutely.

My work getting the law changed to save lots of disabled people from losing their care, in a sense, reconnected me to G-d. In recent years, I’ve embraced my mom’s Judaism and now am learning a lot, believing more and looking for answers. In 2006, I absorbed a massive amount of Jewish knowledge.

But the question of G-d’s role in every human action deeply troubled me, and often still does. If G-d is running the world, He’s not doing such a good job is He? It is this gripe, this apparent absence of G-d allowing unspeakable injustices and horrors to unfold, that for years animated my agnosticism and today spurs the skewering of religion from sites like WhyDoesG-dHateAmputees.com and books like Richard Dawkins’ The G-d Delusion and Sam Harris’ The End of Faith.

Does G-d hate me? Why doesn’t G-d grow limbs back for amputees? I rejected G-d most of my whole life because I thought a G-d that would allow me to suffer so much couldn’t possibly exist. I was right, such a G-d does not exist. I, and those like Sam Harris, fundamentally misunderstand the nature of The Matrix we find ourselves in when we pursue that flawed line of inquiry.

The only way the world exists and the only way G-d exists is if G-d contracts Himself and is absent and allowing free will to shape (and f**k up) the world. This absence of G-d is implicit every day we experience and every page of scripture we read. Genesis has barely begun when Cain whacks Abel. In chapter 34, Dinah is raped. In chapter 38, Yehuda (Judah, the father of our nation) pays for the services of a Canaanite temple prostitute (his daughter-in-law Tamar) in exchange for one goat, his staff and ring, and he impregnates her with the son that becomes the Davidic (Messianic) line, then tries to have her executed. She evades being killed only by showing she still has his signet ring.

In this painting by Horace Vernet, Yeduha gives his ‘ho some bling.

And this is all in the first book! This book is not about perfect morality and serendipity; far from it!

I was recently asked, “if G-d exists, why doesn’t He shield us and provide for us like He did for the Jews in Exodus?” I said “Shielded? O Rly? Famine, disease and war were way MORE common in Moshe’s era than today! FAR from cuddled heavenly utopia, tragedy happened in spades to those led out of Egypt: plagues, wars, the earth eating people, angels of death smiting people; the first generations ALL DIED before entering Israel, including Moshe and Aaron…. The Five Books of Moses show us how important our mitzvos are, how even one good act can change the world and avert disaster, and one bad act can precipitate one. Some may see horrible hopelessness in the text. Judaism sees hope for meeting the challenge. The challenge of life is precisely how to navigate this certain gap, this absence of G-d portrayed in everyday life and the text of the Torah, the gap we must fill, that we must take responsibility for protecting our gifts, we must perfect the world, and Judaism provides the guidebook for doing just that with our Torah.

So the good folks over at WhyDoesG-dHateAmputees.com are missing the whole concept of what G-d is all about. What is the point of the mitzvos (commandments) “do not blaspheme, do not kill, do not steal, do not amputate each other, etc.” if HE will intervene and fix it all for us? If He would always intervene, why have a covenant subcontracting out the work to mankind? The concept of commandments, by definition, mean that WE are responsible for this life; HE is not about smiting people, re-growing lost limbs, stopping wars, Holocausts, and so on. That is our task, our joy, and our tragedy.

As Rabbi Eliezer Berkovitz famously said, “G-d is mighty for He shackles His ominpotence and becomes powerless so that history may be possible.”

WHY Bad Things Happen to Good People Audio Series by Rabbi Benjamin Blech was a crucial resource for me to flesh this out. It does an amazing job giving the Jewish sages’ answers to these questions, explaining G-d and free will. I didn’t purchase any tapes, but they let you listen to half the lectures in the series free.

The jist is this: Hashem is all good and all powerful, but to preserve human freedom, without which we can have no real choice, and no relationship with Him, G-d limits His own intervention in our reality.

G-d performs many miracles, most of them we don’t even recognize, but most miracles WE have to do. He gave us the Torah and “thou shalt not murder” so that WE would stop the killing, so WE would stop Hitler, so WE would do righteousness. He didn’t give us the Torah so HE could do those mitzvos, He gave it to US to do them. So the Holocaust, and all suffering and death are the failures of humanity, not failures of G-d! If a perfect, omniscient G-d can exist, He is necessarily all loving, and incapable of failure.

WE are commanded the mitzvos, not G-d!
It is WE who have to make it right. Not G-d!

As Shakespeare wrote, “The fault, dear Brutus, lie not in our stars, but in ourselves…”

Life is the process of confronting this gap, this absence of G-d, and how we fill it.

May we do it well, and without arrogance.

I am still full of plenty of doubts, though the questions of where time began points me to theism, and the huge role of religion in providing organization to groups of unruly humans (and a Jewish identity that can never exist totally independent of Judaism) points me to theism, I still have questions.

Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, recoiling at the horrors humanity has wrought, have answers as certain as a fundamentalist, not just questions, and this lack of questioning, when conducted by anyone, can only stunt the search for truth.

Keep searching, and keep fighting to fill the gap called life G-d has left us; everything depends on it.

Nick

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There’s an interesting split among Jews regarding WHY we have these mitzvos.

Rambam says the mitzvah to stay away from them is because it’s all fake, all trickery, all BS, so stay away from it; it’s a deception.

RambaN, in the typical RambaN way, takes a different view from Rambam, and he says the mitzvah is because the dark side is very real and will eat you.

But all sides agree the Torah gives us a mitzvah to avoid it.

I heard a Lubavicher rabbi say there was a lost soul possessing somebody in a nursing home, and he said kaddish (mourner’s prayer) for that dead Jew and then she stopped possessing the patient. Out there? I don’t know.

Some Christians take this prohibition and run with it and go a bit too far. My brother Jamie had a middle school teacher of his handing out comics to the kids that said Halloween is all about demonic influence and will send you to directly to Hell; the controversy made the front page of the local paper. You’ve got Becky Fischer of Jesus Camp, famously shouting that “if this was the Old Testament, Harry Potter would be stoned to death!”
Well yeah lady, except you’re missing the fact that Harry Potter doesn’t exist and you can’t convict anyone when wizardry isn’t possible.

It’s fiction. There’s nothing wrong with entertainment. And you can find Torah lessons in it as well, as you can in anything. NCSY Rabbi Jack Abramowitz even argues Harry Potter is Jewish.

The Torah prohibitions are clearly delineated by the oral law, and they are to never recognize powers in the universe other than Hashem, never get wrapped up in non-Hashem abilities (no trusting magic and astrology instead of G-d) and yes, to stop people from leading others off the derech (path) with trickery. Rambam also says Lev. 19:26 bans being superstitious generally.

Whether Rambam is right or wrong that supernatural forces don’t even exist, I haven’t observed enough to determine. Based on my experience so far seeing plenty of unexplainable phenomenon, I could go either way. I sympathize with both positions.

What do you think?

Here’s a great song: “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder set to clips from the Harry Potter movies, hehe….

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Ishmael means “G-d hears,” because Hashem heard the pleas of Hagar, his mother.

“And G-d was with the lad, and he grew, and he dwelt in the desert, and he became an archer.” (Gen 21:20)

Notice I’ve shown (or tried to show) Ishmael drawing the bow with his thumb, the method of the Medieval Islamic armies, not the European method of the three-fingered draw. I saw a historian on the History Channel saying it was due to this slightly more-powerful thumb draw that gave Muslim armies the slight edge in close battles that led to them defeating the Crusaders and taking back control of the Middle East.

Islam claims (and Jews agree) that Ishmael is the father of the Arab nation, and thus all Muslims.

I’m highlighting when he first left Abraham’s house, and became an archer, surviving in the wild. This stuff is so fascinating to me.

Here’s the passage in context:

Genesis 21

Yaniv over at the Jew Is Beautiful blog has an excellent post on the subject of Ishmael, and the “Ishmaelites.”
The Ishmaelite Prophecies of Lech Lecha.

He focuses on the prophecy, “the angel of the Lord said to her, ‘Behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your affliction. And he will be a wild chamor (donkey, stubborn) of a man; his hand will be upon all, and everyone’s hand upon him, and before all his brothers he will dwell.’” (Genesis 16:11-12)

Yaniv tilts anti-Islam somewhat, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more detailed, intelligent analysis of Ishmael and his unique imprint on Islam. It’s a must-read.

He’s right that like Ishmael, Ishmaelites are aggressive, holy, monotheists.

And I think they have plenty to be proud of.

Nick

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Cartoons by Nick, drawn in Paint Shop Pro 6.

Much to the surprise of Abram and his camel, the booming voice of the Almighty commanded him:

Genesis chapter 12

1 “Now Hashem said unto Abram: ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee.

2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing..

3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’

4 So Abram went, as Hashem had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him; and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the terebinth of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

7 And Hashem appeared unto Abram, and said: ‘Unto thy seed will I give this land’; and he built there an altar unto Hashem, who appeared unto him.

8 And he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east; and he built there an altar unto Hashem, and called upon the name of Hashem.

9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.

10 And there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was sore in the land.

11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife: ‘Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon.

12 And it will come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they will say: This is his wife; and they will kill me, but thee they will keep alive.

13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister; that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee.’

14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.

15 And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

16 And he dealt well with Abram for her sake; and he had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and she-asses, and camels.

17 And Hashem plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.

18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and said: ‘What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

19 Why saidst thou: She is my sister? so that I took her to be my wife; now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.’

20 And Pharaoh gave men charge concerning him; and they brought him on the way, and his wife, and all that he had.

Commentary on this parsha

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Noah Fails To Save Most Humans

Cartoons by Nick, drawn in Paint Shop Pro 6.

All sources from Chabad.org: Parshat Noach

Rashi teaches us:
“Many ways to bring relief and rescue are available to Him; why, then, did He burden him with this construction [of the ark]?
In order that the people of the Generation of the Flood should see him occupying himself with it for one hundred twenty years and ask him, “For what do you need this?” And he would say to them,“The Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to bring a flood upon the world.” Perhaps they would repent. – [Aggadath Bereishith 1:2, Tan. Noach 5, Tan. Buber Bereishith 37, Gen. Rabbah 30:7]“

“For what do you need this?”

“HaKodesh Baruch Hu is destined to bring a flood upon the world.”

“What? Why?”

“The earth has become corrupt before G-d! The earth is full of robbery!” (Gen. 6:11)
“Everything is corrupted! There is no order or respect, people loot and do whatever they want! There are no boundaries at all; there is even mating between different species! dogs and cats living in peace! it’s madness!” (Tan. Noach 12)

“Why would the generation of the Flood be utterly destroyed, but not the generation of the Tower? Because the generation of the Flood is consumed by robbery and violence, while amongst the generation of the Tower love prevailed.” (Midrash Rabbah)
“Behold! Fowl and beast and man alike shall be destroyed from the earth!” (Gen. 6:13)
“So said the Lord of Hosts, Return to Me, said the Lord of Hosts, and I will return to you, said the Lord of Hosts.
So said the Lord of Hosts: Return now from your evil ways and your evil deeds!” (Zechariah 1:3-4)

“Meh. Whatever, you crazy old geezer. You can keep your religious fanaticism. I just bought gilded pottery and 72 virgins.”

“Renounce your money! Give it to the poor!” (Deuteronomy 15:7-8)

“Right. ByeBye.”

“The wicked boasts of his heart’s desire; he blesses the greedy and renounces Hashem!” (Psalms 10:3)

For my Christian readership, Matthew 19:21-22 is a good mirror of this scenario:
Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

“Now the Flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters increased, and they lifted the ark, and it rose off the earth.” (Gen. 7:17)

“Everything that had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils, of all that were on the dry land, died.” (Gen. 7:22)

“Noach was a righteous man in his generation.” (Gen. 6:9)

In other words, Noach’s involvement with others was limited to his sense of what he ought to do for them, as opposed to a true concern for their well-being. He understood the necessity to act for the sake of another, recognizing that to fail to do so is a defect in ones own character; but he fell short of transcending the self to care for others beyond the consideration of his own righteousness.

This also explains a curious aspect of Noach’s efforts to reach out to his generation. When the Flood came, Noach and his family entered the ark — alone. His 120-year campaign yielded not a single baal teshuvah (repentant)! Perhaps public relations was never Noach’s strong point, but how are we to explain the fact that, in all this time, he failed to win over a single individual?

But in order to influence others, one’s motives must be pure; in the words of our sages, “Words that come from the heart, enter the heart.” Deep down, a person will always sense whether you truly have his interests at heart, or you are filling a need of your own by seeking to change him. If your work to enlighten your fellow stems from a desire to “do the right thing” but without really caring about the result, your call will be met with scant response. The echo of personal motive, be it the most laudable of personal motives, will be sensed, if only subconsciously, by the object of your efforts, and will ultimately put him off.

(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)

Genocide can only be seen as a failure of mankind. Noach’s success, like ours today, has been limited. In every chapter of Torah the message is loud and clear: we have to do more.

We have to do more. BS”D this will be a year of doing more: more mitzvos, fewer sins of violence, robbery and economic disenfranchisement, which have gone so far they’ve now been legislated.

Fewer avieros (transgressions), more mitzvos.
We have to do more.

B”H!

Nick

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For Future Reference

HaShem lit. “the Name”: used in lieu of The Ineffable Name to refer to G-d

Baruch Hashem: Bless The Name! used like, “thank G-d!” abbrev. B”H!

B’Ezrat Hashem: “G-d willing!” or “with the help of G-d.”

BS”D: abbr. for “B‘Siyata D‘Shmaya,” an oft-used Aramaic term meaning “with the help of Heaven”

Abba: father.

Ahava: love; Ahavas Yisrael, “love of fellow Jew.”

Aliyah: to go up. immigration to Israel, “make aliyah”; to go up to the Torah in front of a congregation.

Assur: forbidden.

Ashkenazi: Eastern European Jew

Avodah: Service of G-d, like works and prayer.
On three things the world stands – On the Torah, on Avodah, and on Deeds of Chesed (Lovingkindess) Perkei Avos 1:2.

Avodah Zora lit. “strange service”: idol worship.

Ayin Hora: the evil eye!

B’: in.

Ba’al tshuva lit. “one who returns”: a newly observant Jew. abbr. BT.

Bentch, bentching: (Yiddish) Grace After Meals

Bochur, pl. bochurim: young man, esp. unmarried student, “yeshiva bochur”

Bar mitzvah: 13-year-old boy now responsible for fulfilling the commandments; the ceremony at which this rite of passage occurs. bat mitzvah for girls. comparable to confirmation for Catholics.

B’emet lit. in truth: “Really?”; “Really!”

Beis HaMikdash: the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Built twice but destroyed by invaders. Rebuilding of the third Temple in a Messianic Age is central in Jewish liturgy and theology.

Bikkur cholim: visiting the sick

B’nei: children; i.e. B’nei Yisrael (“children of Yisrael”), B’nei Noach (“children of Noah”) and B’nei Brith (lit. “children of the covenant”).

Brit (mila) lit. “covenant”: circumcision.

B’shert: destined; one’s soulmate/spouse.

Bubbe: grandmother

B’vakasha: “Please”; “You’re welcome.”

Chag Sameach: “happy holiday!”

Challah: braided egg bread for Shabbas and holidays

Chas v’shalom lit. mercy and peace: “G-d forbid!” abbr. c”v”s. Also, chas v’chalila.

Chavrusa: study partner or group.

Charedi: ultra-observant or “ultra-Orthodox.” black hat-wearing Jews.

Charem: state of excommunication, shunning

Chassan: groom

Chaza”l (abbr. of Chachomim, Zichronom L‘Vracha): our Sages, may their Memories (be) for a Blessing.

Chazan: cantor, i.e. singer of Hebrew liturgy.

Chazer: pig.

Chilul HaShem lit. “defamation of the Name”: a scandalous act or statement.

Chumash lit. “five”: The Five Books of Moses.

Chumra: stringency.

Chuppah: wedding canopy.

Chutzpah: sass, moxy; nerve, gall.

Chiloni: Israeli non-affiliated (secular) Jew.

Dayeinu “Enough,” “It Would Have Sufficed,” a Seder song; “Enough already!”

Daven: pray.

Derech lit. “the path”: Jewish observance. often used as on/off the derech. “his mom is terrified he’ll go off the derech.”

Diaspora: those Jews not living in Israel.

Din: judgement

Drasha: sermon

Dreidel: toy top used on Hannukah

D’var Torah lit. “word of Torah”: speech of Torah insights.

Emet: Truth.

Emunah: trust in Hashem

Eretz Yisrael: The Land of Israel

Farbrengen (Yiddish): gathering, party, esp. religious or family party

Frum: religious, Orthodox. “he’s so frum.”

Galus lit. “exile”: where the Diaspora lives

Gan Aden: The Garden of Eden

Gelt: money, esp. as Hannukah gift.

Ger lit. “sojourner”: convert to Judaism.

Get: divorce document.

Golem: legendary automaton brought to life from clay by Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah).

Gevalt: interjection of shock, dismay, or alarm (from Yiddish gvald “emergency”)

Goyim lit. nations: gentiles.

Ha: The

HaEretz: lit. “the land.”

HaLacha lit. “the way”: Jewish law.

Halachic, halachically: by Jewish law.

HaKodesh Baruch Hu: The Holy One, Blessed He; a name for G-d.

Hasid (pl. Hasidim) lit. “pious” or going beyond: a member of a Hasidic sect, or compliment, “he’s such a hasid.”

Hasidism: an Orthodox movement focusing on chesed and going beyond the letter of the law in observance.

Chesed: loving-kindness

Hashkafa: Jewish philosophy.

Heter: halachic loophole. “his rabbi gave him a heter for fasting on Yom Kippur.”

HaMotzi: the blessing over bread

Hannukah: winter holiday memorializing the victory over the Hellenists and the miracle of the lamp that burned for 8 nights.

Ima: mother

Im Yirtzeh Hashem: if Hashem wills it… abbr. IY”H, IYH

Kabbalas HaTorah: “receiving the Torah”

Kabbalah lit. “receive”: Jewish physics and mystical interpretations

Kaddish: mourner’s prayer

Kallah: bride

Kashrus: the laws of kosher-ness

Kefira: doubt or denial of G-d, sometimes considered mildly heretical, sometimes permitted. See here. LOL!!

Kedushin: the marriage ceremony

Kelev lit. “like heart”: a dog.

Kehilla: congregation; community

Ketubah lit. “writ”: marriage contract.

Kibbutz (pl. kibbutzim): Israeli collective farm

Kiddush: prayer/blessing for wine

Kiddush HaShem lit. sanctification of the Name: selfless act, glorious deed. opposite of chillul Hashem

Kinderlach: (small) children.

Kippah (pl. kippot): skullcap, yarmulke.

Kiruv lit. “to bring close”: religious outreach.

Klal Yisrael: The Jewish People

Klezmer: Yiddish music.

Kodesh: holy.

Kohen (pl. kohanim): descendant of Moses, Aaron; thus, a member of the priest class, which is still functioning.

Kol Ha’Kavod lit. “All of the respect”: all right, way to go, or a job well done. Can be used sarcastically.

Kosher: acceptable under Jewish law

Kotel: the Western Wall.

Kvell: derive deep pride or intense satisfaction. “she kvelled over her children.”

Kvetch: whine(r), complain(er)

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Different Religions Have Different Views Of The Creator

Hinduism

Brahma

Christianity

Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Judaism and Islam

LOL…..

This is especially relevent as we just marked Simchat Torah and began our annual Torah reading again with Genesis.

Judaism has always interpreted “His Image” as the immortal soul given to mankind, the intangible, animating divine spark within us that is inseparable from the Creator. This is how we explain the diversity of human visages despite our intrinsic unity with each other and the divine, and mesh this profound truth with the Torah’s insistence on an incorporeal, limitless One G-d (Deut. 4:15).

Nick

Filed Under: Torah Insights and Religion

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Celebrating The Gift Of Torah

We just passed the holiday of Simchat Torah (“Torah’s rejoicing”), the celebration of receiving G-d’s Torah as we finish Deuteronomy and begin our annual cycle of Torah reading anew with Genesis.

Here’s a tour of Simchat Torah celebrations I gleaned from Google images….

A Torah scroll is unfurled, and the first part of Genesis read.

Jews take out the big Torah scrolls that are usually locked up.

And dance and sing with joy that we have Torah.

Nick

Filed Under: Torah Insights and Religion

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Some favorites from my blogging for 2006…

Governor Riley Refuses Federal Funding For Home Care
My editorial on Alabama Medicaid’s institutional bias, and their resistance to do the right thing, even refusing federal help.

Nick Gets Religion
I explain what I’ve come to believe, and break down the Jewish idea of monotheism, its history and why it makes sense to me.

Religion Exists To Save The World
I lay out my views on the purpose of religion, which is the total transformation and elevation of the physical world into a perfect spiritual state, and how this must change our politics and our world, as the Jesuits put it “create G-d’s Kingdom on Earth.” And scripture does rule out right-wing individualist ideologies, which I explain here.

HaShem, Torah and The 613 Mitzvos
I delve into the significance of the Torah’s 613 commandments.

A Divided Nation, But Not Like You Think
Here I tackle the issue of Right vs. Left. It’s hard to boil it down, but I assert here that the divide isn’t right vs. left, Torah holds to no such spectrum, but the divide is humane vs. inhumane, and too often this country is far off into savage territory.

Nick’s Torah Commentary: The Death of Aaron
My commentary on the portion of the book of Numbers dealing with the Death of Aaron.

The Religion Century
The 21st century will be defined by a religious fervor gripping the globe, in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. I tell you why.

Just Gimme Some Truth
I explain why Rick Santorum and our Iraq policy is dishonest and wrong, and lay out Galbraith’s plan for success in Iraq.

Compromise On Torture
I explain why it’s wrong America has discarded the separation of powers to torture, why torture is wrong and how wrong it is we’ve reached the moral abyss where we actually have to explain to people why torture is wrong.

If you’ve not yet read my best work, check it out.

Nick

Filed Under: My Life

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Festival of Ingathering!

It’s Sukkot everybody! HaShem lays it out in Leviticus: “On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Sukkot, seven days for the L-RD.” (Lev. 23:34) and we know what that means! “You will dwell in booths for seven days; all natives of Israel shall dwell in booths.” (Lev. 23:42) Today is the 5th day of the week-long festival.

Jews have built booths (a sukkah) to remind us we once dwelled in temporary desert booths when Hashem brought us out of Egypt, and to remind us not to get caught up in material things and reinforce that this life is transient and dependent on G-d.

Jews go all out building and decorating their sukkot for the festival and at least have their meals in them.

Check out this awesome footage from Malka. Jerusalem is decked out in beautiful, colorful decorations and there are sukkot everywhere, one as big as a house! It’s so wonderful. Malka says “Chag Sameach” (happy holiday!) and points out sukkot, then her friend explains the scene en Espanol.

Here are some great resources to learn about Sukkot.

Wikipedia: Sukkot

Judaism 101: Sukkot
It mentions here that the American Pilgrims based Thanksgiving on Sukkot!

And from Rafi’s Blog, some great news: 80,000 Sukkot-observers showed up to be blessed by the Kohanim at the Western Wall, a new record! It had to be closed off to prevent a stampede. We’re talking about more Jews in one place observing a festival than any time in Jerusalem since the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E.!!!! That’s something very special.

Chag Sameach!!

Nick

Filed Under: Torah Insights and Religion

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What It Is And Why It Is Valid

The Oral Torah is the oral tradition of the Jews spanning from the exodus to the present day. When the Jewish people were traumatically dispersed and the Temple destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70 C.E., interpretations of Jewish law, which had always been stated and debated orally, had to be written down to save them from being lost forever. The Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud became the massive repositories of Jewish law we study today, huge written collections that make concrete the oral traditions that spanned back to Moses. When people refer to Oral Torah, they usually mean the components of the Talmud, the Mishna (retellings of Torah and its elaborate system of law) and Gemara (a compendium of commentaries on the Mishna), but Oral Torah also refers to the influential works of the post-Talmudic sages, like Rashi and his comprehensive commentaries on the Torah and the entire “OT,” Rambam and his code of the 613 Torah mitzvos, Ramchal and his Derech HaShem, Yosef Karo and the Shulkhan Arukh, and on and on and on.

Am Israel has improbably survived as a united people despite being cut off from their land, cut off from each other, under unbelievably difficult circumstances, for roughly two millenia, because of the sincere belief in the authority of the Oral Torah and our sages because of Deut. 17:11, which tells us not to deviate from the rulings of our judges (the Sanhedrin and its predecessors). And think about it, the Torah cannot work as a Constitution for Am Israel, simply cannot function as a daily, working system of law, without a canon of law explaining in detail what the Torah means and what precisely is permitted or not permitted. Someone has to decide how the Sabbath is to be observed, for example, and then, in order to keep a cohesive community, they have to follow that ruling.

Without Talmudic elaboration, we know what happens to Judaism. You get perversions like those of the Sadducees, who, because they denied Talmud, were stupidly strict on some things (no healing of dying people on the Sabbath–WTF?) and were stupidly lenient on other things (they would sacrifice whatever to Hashem, not their best stuff, like He wouldn’t notice, would eat the offerings you aren’t supposed to eat, and were also incredibly corrupt and beholden to the Romans). The Sadducees were who Jesus bashed the hardest, as they also denied the soul is immortal, etc. “The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge all three” (Acts 23:8). The Sadducees went extinct, and the Pharisees (often unjustly bashed by the NT) are the ones whose teachings (Hillel, Akiva, etc., often running parallel to most of Jesus’ teachings) became the Talmud. Against all odds, the Pharisaic heroes of the Oral Torah brought us the Judaism we know and love today. No anti-Talmud Judaism has survived to the present-day (save a few stray Karaites) because without a canon, isolated diaspora communities would’ve simply fractured and dissolved.

I’ve read several people lately bashing Jewish practices (due to the oral Torah), denouncing Judaism as “manmade traditions,” which is what motivated me to write this. If they would study up on Judaism, they’d see that nearly ALL Jewish practices come directly from Biblical mandates. All of the Rambam’s list of 613 commandments are directly cited from Torah. The long beard thing that was later adopted by Islam? The sidelocks? They’re both derived from Lev. 19:27. The Jewish custom of not mixing milk and meat is a fair reading of Exodus 23:19 and Exodus 34:26 and is listed among the 613. It’s not from thin air, and we even have Roman writings pre-Jesus that talk about this “strange dietary habit of the Jews.”

However, not all Jewish practices are direct from the Torah. The yamulkes (skullcaps) AKA “kippot” many Orthodox Jews wear, while referenced in 1 Kings 20:31, are not in the Torah, so its mandate is purely Talmudic. The Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos, which I’m currently studying, enumerates all 613 Torah commandments (mitzvos) and kippot aren’t one of them. And if you study Judaism, in Rambam’s work and throughout the canon of Jewish law, the sages themselves maticulously delineate what is D’Oraisa (direct Torah command) and what is D’Rabban (Rabbinic decree) because, obviously, breaking a rabbinic decree is very different compared to transgressing the Torah.

But my main point is, no religion can survive without an oral tradition to provide continuity and stability in practices and interpretation. With no traditional interpretation of Torah you could say “eye for an eye” means seek revenge (as I’ve heard some rednecks say), or you could even endorse cannibalism (not specifically legislated against in Torah) as kosher as long as you slaughter people properly.

Catholic and Greek Orthodox have 2000 years of unbroken canon law (similar to Judaism), and priests working with people in the Jewish mold to align their daily practices with the yoke of heaven. Protestant churches are much more free form because of Luther’s idea of “the priesthood of all believers,” i.e. you interpret the Bible for yourself, you are your own priest (can be problematic) but they do have an oral tradition, heavily influenced by Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley and the evangelical movements that followed them. Everyone, unavoidably, has certain traditions of practice and interpretation passed down by their priest or reverend or rabbi. The Karaites, who reject the oral Torah, have their own interpretations, which actually fall in line with normative Judaism most of the time.

I hope this gives all my readers some background and insight, and you’ll see oral Torah as a necessity, not dismiss it out of hand. I see oral Torah as a miracle that’s held the tiny branch of Jacob together as a cohesive people against all odds, and I think it’s fantastic we have such a deep wealth of sacred texts to delve into that you could study for a century and barely master them. Non-Jews could also gain a treasury of wisdom from Judaism, as, for example, they could learn what the people who received the Ten Commandments say the Ten Commandments mean before they plaster them everywhere.

Study on!

Shalom,

Nick

Filed Under: Torah Insights and Religion

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Happy New Year!

May you all be inscribed in the Sefer Chaim (Book of Life) and have many wonderful things and opportunities in the new year!!

Nick

Filed Under: Torah Insights and Religion

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More Torah Commentary

Veahavta l’reyacha kamocha, or, in English, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18) is one of the core mitzvos (commandments) of the Torah, and is in nearly every religion.

This is counted in Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos as its own commandment, but he also notes that this mitzvah falls under the umbrella of the mitzvah to emulate HaShem and “walk in His ways” (Deut. 28:9).

How can we possibly walk in the ways of Hashem? He’s an infinite force and we’re just flesh, but we can at least try by identifying what His ways are, then doing that. Read the 13 attributes of Hashem here. Rambam writes in Sefer HaMitzvos: “To emulate Him, may He be exalted, according to our ability . . . that is to say, emulating His benevolent actions and esteemed qualities with which G-d, may He be exalted, is described.” The midrash (Sifrei) teaches: “Just as He is called gracious, so must you be gracious; just as He is called compassionate, so must you be compassionate; just as He is called holy, so must you be holy.” Thus, Torah compels you to continual, G-d based, self-improvement. It’s the ultimate self-help book.

And the core mitzvah of emulating Hashem is “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Indeed, Rabbi Hillel famously taught that this mitzvah is the whole Torah. “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow man: this is the whole Law; the rest is the explanation (commentary), go and learn” (Tractate Shabbas 31a).

How can one mitzvah encapsulate all the Torah and its 613 mitzvos? It’s a wild idea to try to process. The Baal Shem Tov, who made this mitzvah the cornerstone of the Hasidic movement, explained that “love your neighbor as yourself” is an interpretation of and commentary on “Love the L-rd, your G-d” (Deuteronomy 6:5), and he who loves their fellow loves G-d. How is this? Because loving the creation is loving the Creator, or, as the Tanya elaborates, honoring another person’s soul and its divineness is honoring G-d, because by loving someone else you overcome the cold, material world, and by this you love G-d. It is through this transcending of the physical world you achieve the goal of all Torah. Thankfully we have 612 other mitzvos, and must do them, but in loving your neighbor, just like in all those mitzvos, the purpose is elevating the mundane, elevate everything to be above the rest and connect you to holiness. “If I had to describe Judaism in one word,” rabbi Gavriel Sanders said, “it’d be ELEVATOR.”

Martin Buber wrote perhaps the best commentary on the “love G-d by loving each other” concept with his book Ich and Du (I and Thou). Buber wrote that when we have geniune love and regard for someone in an “I and Thou” relationship rather than the all-too-common “I and It” relationship, we reach G-d. When we rise above the consumer, the animal self, and set all notions aside to simply love another unconditionally, we access G-d like nothing else.

Veahavta l’reyacha kamocha.

Love more today.

Nick

Filed Under: Torah Insights and Religion

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It’s time for a post about Torah before Shabbas (Sabbath) starts.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m studying Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos, which lists all of the Torah’s 613 mitzvos (commandments), what they mean, their reasons, how to do them, and why they’re included as one of the 613. In my study of the earlier portions of Sefer HaMitzvos, I ran across this:

Not to test the prophet unduly Deut. 6:16

This is derived from Moshe recalling the dreaded “Waters of Strife” (Massah U’Merivah) incident I blogged about last month, when the Jews tested Moshe’s ability to get water for the tribes and he lost his cool and got banned from the Promised Land.

“Ye shall not try the L-RD your G-d, as ye tried Him in Massah.” (Deut. 6:16)

This commandment on the most basic level, Rambam wrote, is defined as not unduly testing Hashem / His prophet like at the water rock.
But included in this mitzvah, he wrote, is not testing G-d to see if you get a reward for doing mitzvos. We must not be tapping the proverbial water rock over and over expecting a reward. Rambam sees this mitzvah as yet another affirmation of a core principle of Judaism: mitzvos for mitzvos sake. Service because it is right and it is required, not because you’re trying to earn an earthly or eternal reward. “Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of a reward, but be rather like those who serve without thought of receiving a reward.” (Perkei Avos 1:3)

It is because of this core belief in Judaism that Jews almost never emphasize the afterlife. What a contrast to the hellevangelists!
With even a cursory scan of the Torah (the five books of Moses) you see that the existence of the afterlife is not even explicitly stated, because as Jews we have to focus on all we are commanded, and our overarching task to bring holiness down to earth. It was not until the rise of the Pharisees (c. 100 B.C.E.), the forerunners of our sages, that the notion of a spiritual life after death developed in any meaningful way in Jewish thought.

This is an especially important point to remember with Yom Kippur, the day of judgment, coming soon to a synagouge near you. All the rewards and punishments decided on Yom Kippur are coming within the next year, physical, here and in real time, then it starts over next Yom Kippur. It is much more like the Karma shown in that sitcom “My Name Is Earl.” haha.
And ideally, we have control, or at least can minimize, how much bad our year is going to have, by how good we’ve been. We do have total free will. As this week’s parsha puts it: “I have set before you life and goodness, and death and evil… And you shall choose life.” (Deut. 30:15)
Rambam comments: “If G-d were to decree, that a person be righteous or wicked; or if there were to exist something in the very essence of a person’s nature which would compel him toward a specific path, a specific conviction, a specific character trait or a specific deed… how could G-d command us through the prophets ‘do this’ and ‘do not do that’…? What place would the entire Torah have? And by what measure of justice would G-d punish the wicked and reward the righteous…?”
Total free will is essential. We aren’t slaves to forces beyond our control.

Before, I blogged about the Jewish philosophy that it’s this world that matters, and we’re here to do mitzvos and walk with Him without thought of eternal reward in this popular post in March. Check it out.

Deut. 28:9 does command us to “walk in His ways.” How can we possibly walk in the ways of Hashem, an infinite force? Well, it’s a very deep question, that cuts right to the core maxim of the whole Torah as explained by R” Hillel: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow man: this is the whole Law; the rest is the explanation (commentary)” (Tractate Shabbas 31a).

I’ll have to explain what this means in my next blog; it’s very deep.

Until then,

Gut Shabbas!

Nick

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