Shabbat Shalom
With wintry weather in the
forecast for Shabbat morning, a reminder of our policies. Shabbat (adult) services are never officially
cancelled. Obviously, we want people to
stay safe and use discretion in deciding whether to come.
On the other hand, when we
have children’s programming, such as tomorrow, when our Hebrew School is
scheduled to meet on Shabbat, that could be cancelled. In that case, parents will be informed and an
announcement will be sent out. Because
we do not send out email announcements on the Shabbat, we will make that call
by mid afternoon on Friday. Because of
having to decide the day before, we will typically lean on the side of safety.
Regardless, Tot Shabbat
(5:30) and Friday evening services (7 PM) are definitely ON for tonight. Last week we had over 100 people for our
service and the Oneg at my home. It was
wonderful. Tonight our special musical
guest will be David Bravo, long time accompanist for the immortal songstress
Debbie Friedman. Let’s keep things
rolling! And let’s pray for good weather
next weekend, with our service downtown on Friday night, followed the next
night by Temple Rock.
Mitzvah Opportunity: Used
Car Needed
Jewish Family Service
seeks a car donation for a client, one who happens to be part of the TBE
family. Cars in any condition will be accepted and donations are
tax-deductible. If you have a car
to donate, or know someone who does, please contact Rebekah at JFS:
(203)921-4161 or rkanefsky@ctjfs.org
The Bread of Deflation
As a lifelong New England
Patriots fan, this has been a painful week.
I won’t go into all the details of the so called “Deflate-gate,” some of
which are widely known and many of which are as yet unknown. The public has not yet heard from the NFL
or Patriot’s owner Bob Kraft. I’ll be
listening especially for Kraft, because the guiding light of his life is his
late father Harry, a man who was a tremendous role model for me as well. He was a true “mensch,” a man of the utmost
integrity and moral stature. And
humility. All the kids at Kehillath
Israel looked up to him. My father, whom
Harry helped to hire as cantor, loved and respected him. Harry Kraft used to work with Bar Mitzvah
students and he wrote my Bar Mitzvah speech with me… actually for me –
in those days, that’s what they did.
So I know one thing, that when
Bob Kraft weighs in on this, Harry will be looking over his shoulder. If anyone is responsible for compromising
the integrity of the game and the reputation of his team – his family – he
won’t let that slide. But he also knows his
quarterback and coach better than just about anyone. If he is defending them, that will mean a lot
too. In the meantime, my inclination is
always “innocent until proven guilty,” but we’ll see how it plays out.
This week’s portion of Bo
includes the Torah’s most detailed description of the night of Passover,
introducing us to that most deflated of foods, matza. I’ve written
much about matza’s symbolism, but the most important aspect of matza is
that it is not allowed to inflate – to ferment – beyond a certain amount. The stipulations for making matza are even
more precise
and strict than those for inflating a football.
So why that precision and
strictness? The Chatam Sofer explains that hametz
(leaven) is symbolic of the inflation of the ego, and also a metaphor for
negativity. Perhaps this whole
“Deflate-gate” controversy also revolves around inflated egos and cynicism,
whether on the part of the Patriots, their legion of haters, the league, the
media – whose feeding frenzy on this reminds me of some old family seders when
the matza balls come out (and I must say, I prefer my matza balls inflated and
fluffy rather than dense and pebbly).
All around, this is a story about ego.
One modern commentator delinates
Hametz from Matza in this manner: Chametz is
nothing but puffed up matza. But what chametz is actually made out of
is nothing less than matza itself! So too there is an idea that the ego is
nothing but a corrupt twisted desire that actually has its basis in a
drive coming from the soul. For example:
·
The soul wants only to give, to help humanity and fix the world.
The ego's perverted version of this noble drive is the desire for
power and control, the urge to conquer the world.
·
The soul wants to connect with the Divine. The ego wants to
use spirituality to serve its needs (this is the basis for idol worship).
·
The soul wants to connect with other people meaningfully. The
ego corrupts this desire into a drive to manipulate and take from
people.
By seeing that the ego is
often nothing but a corruption of a noble desire we can easily move
past it and bring even the ego to serve God.
Some interesting lessons
about the need to deflate our egos, to be “Matza Mensches” in all we do.
Which brings me right back
to Harry Kraft.
Shabbat Shalom
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