My annual Super Bowl prediction, using Jewish sources (Times of Israel)

FEATURED POST

My annual Super Bowl prediction, using Jewish sources

Both eagles and chiefs appear in this week's Torah portion, but which will prevail on Sunday? (I'm not endorsing gambling, but I'm nearly always right)

It should be mentioned up front that I do not endorse excessive gambling, and that past performance is not indicative of future results. That said, my Super Bowl predictions are almost always right.

Here is the case for Philly:

In the Bible, the eagle is referenced over 20 times. In most cases, this majestic bird is seen as a warrior, swooping down on its prey (see Deuteronomy 28:49, Job 9:26 and Jeremiah 48:40, for a few examples). The eagle is also seen as unclean and detestable (Leviticus 11:13), maternal and protective (Deuteronomy 32:11 and, most famously, and in this week’s portion, Exodus 19:4), youthful (Psalms 103:5), bald (Micah 1:16) and mysterious (Proverbs 30:19).

The Talmud emphasizes the eagle’s speed and agility, and its spread wings have come to symbolize arms outstretched in prayer. The Hebrew word for eagle is “Nesher,” which has also been an honorary title for a great person. Maimonides was called “ha-Nesher Hagadol,” the “Great Eagle.”

There are lots of words for “chief” in Jewish sources, all of them more politically correct than the Kansas City team’s name. The most common are “Rosh” (head) and “Sar,” (chief officer).

Amazingly, eagles and chiefs BOTH appear in this week’s Torah portion, Yitro.

Two verses are most revealing:

Ex. 19:4: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me.”

Ex. 18:21, also in this week’s portion, says this: “You shall also seek out from among all the people capable men who fear God, trustworthy men who spurn ill-gotten gain. Set these over them as chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and let them judge the people at all times. Have them bring every major dispute to you, but let them decide every minor dispute themselves. Make it easier for yourself by letting them share the burden with you.”

Both of these verses are central to the narrative. One speaks of Moses’ need to delegate leadership, a recommendation made by his father in law Jethro. The other leads up to the climactic moment when the Ten Commandments were to be given at Mt. Sinai.

What are these verses trying to tell us?

The “chief” passage seems to be indicating that K.C., like Moses, will do better if they share the burden – and the football. If Mahomes hands off to his running backs more often than expected and, when he throws, spreads the ball around to all his receivers, he’ll thrive.

For Philly, the message is clearly, “Fly, Eagles, Fly.” Take to the air, early and often.

For both teams, the strategies being suggested by the Torah are counterintuitive. The Chiefs like to pass first and the Eagles are known to be an excellent running team, who would presumably want to shorten the game with long, plodding drives.

But Chiefs gotta run and Birds gotta fly. I don’t necessarily agree, but that’s what I’m seeing in the text.

Oh, and the clincher might just be this commentary on the eagle verse, from Rashi, a commentary that makes reference to both teams.

There you have it. The courageous eagle, willing to make the supreme sacrifice to protect its young, able to fend off arrows to reach its destination. And God looks on and says, “That’s how I felt when I rescued the Children of Israel from Egypt.” 

The eagle – and God – must have had an impenetrable offensive line to fend off all those blitzing attackers.

The eagle is a role model…but the chieftains in chapter 18 are too – “capable, trustworthy, spurning ill-gotten gains.” Rashi suggests there that “capable” means wealthy, so they can’t be bribed. All well and good, but perhaps the Chiefs embarrassment of riches, especially at quarterback, will not serve them well on this field of battle. It should be said, though, that both teams have won Super Bowls in the last half decade.

It should be mentioned that just as with the chieftains in our portion, arrows mentioned in our sources have, of course, nothing to do with Native American stereotypes. Sometimes an arrow is just an arrow.

And sometimes it is not. Among the many arrowheads archaeologists have unearthed in Israel, the one pictured here might be the most historically and emotionally significant. It was found in a Jerusalem home in the the upper city, just across from the ancient temple. An aristocratic Jewish family lived there at the time of the Roman destruction in the year 70 CE. It’s known as the Burnt House because it was destroyed at the same time the temple was burning. This spear was found just beyond the reach of a skeletal hand – the hand of a woman who might have reaching for a weapon that would allow her to defend herself. But all was lost. The Romans, whose symbol was the eagle, vanquished our people using those weapons of choice, spears and arrows. Without protection under God’s wing, the woman was unable to fend off those arrows – and protect her loved ones.

Eagles can be divine messengers of courage and resilience or symbols of an evil empire. We’ve seen both throughout history. Ben Franklin had no great love for the eagle (he preferred the turkey as our national symbol), calling it “a bird of bad moral character” that “does not get his living honestly” because it steals food from the fishing hawk and is “too lazy to fish for himself.”

Yes, fish gotta swim… but birds gotta fly!

I’ve seen enough. Eagles will fly to victory by a field goal.

And maybe then we’ll exchange that annoying Tomahawk Chop for some good old fashioned Philadelphia razzing.

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Sylvie Rosenberg on Yitro; Plus Photos and Video

Sylvie Rosenberg's Bat Mitzvah

Shabbat Shalom,

My portion is amazing and has a lot to teach us – but I want to get at some of those lessons by way of another book that I read recently, one that has really changed me.

It’s called “Fish in a Tree” by Linda Mullaly Hunt.

It’s about a girl named Ally who had a difficult time reading and writing due to an undiagnosed learning disability called Dyslexia. Other kids misjudged her as not being smart and were mean to her.  She even misjudged herself. But one teacher made all the difference by recognizing that she simply learned differently. He privately tutored her after school, helping her gain some skills and confidence. Her previous teachers had not understood her learning challenges, so they blamed her, saying that she wasn’t trying her hardest.  In the end, they all understood that she had a lot of other strengths.  As the author states, “Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

I’d like to tell you about another person who had a challenge. He stuttered.  And people also were mean to him, and he lacked self-confidence. As a leader he was overwhelmed.  But here too, one person made all the difference.  The man was Moses.

Some commentators say he didn’t stutter at all – that in fact he just had difficulty speaking Egyptian. Or, maybe he had a lisp, or he accidentally scorched his tongue, or even more simply, he didn’t think of himself as a strong public speaker.  Public speaking can be really scary.

But he was smart enough to overcome his challenges: He got help from Aaron. And he used props and multimedia. He turned staffs into snakes. He made it rain frogs from the sky. He made the rivers flow red with blood.

He did not give up. He was relentless. He believed in what he was saying, and he got people to listen.

And he had help. The person who made all the difference was his father-in-law Jethro. He helped Moses to organize his leadership, by creating an organization chart with the leader at the top and lots of people reporting to him.  Sort of like…a pyramid.  

Jethro was so helpful to Moses that he even had an entire Torah portion named after him.  This one, Yitro, which is what we chanted today.  And it’s not just any portion.  It’s one with the Ten Commandments.

Stories like these have sensitized me to the need to be kind, not to judge people and maybe even to be the one who can make a difference in their lives.

Part of being sensitive to others is how we use our words.  Words matter.  My parsha includes the Ten Commandments, which say that we should not bear false witness.  In other words, we should not lie about another person or use words as weapons. 

That happened to Ally in the book.  She needed help with her work, but no one offered to help her.  Instead, the girls in her school told her she wasn’t smart and that set her back.  

How we treat others is very important to me. And another lesson I have learned from my parents is to respect those who may seem different from me and less fortunate.

I’m doing this in my Mitzvah project.  I am collecting socks and soups to donate to organizations like the Foodbank of Lower Fairfield County, Midnight Run and Inspirica.  I also made sandwiches for the New Covenant Center to serve on  Christmas Day.

As I become a bat mitzvah today, I’m inspired by the kindness shown by Jethro and Ally’s teacher, Mr. Daniels, and hope that I will also be able to make a difference in the lives of others.  AND I am inspired by Moses and Ally, who overcame their challenges to make a difference in the world.

Click on photos to enlarge

In this Moment: Super Bowl and Jewish Pirates; Jewish Exceptionalism and the Space Laser

In ThisMomnt  In This Moment Shabbat-O-Gram, February 5, 2021 On Friday night we lifted our TBE Kiddush cups to celebrate the life of Gene Wendell, who engraved them for every Bar/Bat Mitzvah for the past 67 years before his recent death.  Shabbat Shalom And happy World Interfaith Harmony Week.  I hope to see everyone at Temple Rock on Saturday night.  It promises to be a super evening, and it will be nice to welcome back an old friend, musician Assaf Gleizner, who will be providing part of the entertainment.  A special thank you to the entire committee and all our volunteers, as well as to everyone who has participated philanthropically in making this event so successful.  And this year, for the first time, we don't have worry about the risks of scheduling a major event in the dead of winter. (I suppose I shouldn't have just said that). Stuff to watch, hear or read... Join us also for services on Friday evening and Shabbat morning for services.  Shabbat morning will be another Shabbat-in-the-Round, filled with more music meditation and conversation. Our Torah portion this week is Yitro, featuring the Ten Commandments.  Click here to see a comparison of the Ten Commandments to other world religions.  And click here to see a packet on the tenth commandment, the impossible one, the only one that prohibits an emotion, the one about coveting. On Sunday morning at 10, our Men's Club will once again sponsor the World Wide Wrap with our B'nai Mitzvah families and anyone else who is interested in learning about the mitzvot of tallit and tefilin. Also on Sunday, an Escher exhibit is opening this weekend at the Columbia Art Museum in South Carolina and they have asked TBE member and noted Escher scholar Jeffrey Price to do a webcast at 3 PM to celebrate the show.  Access it here. It will only be available for live viewing. Last night, I had the pleasure of moderating an important conversation on climate for the Hartford Seminary and Interfaith Eco-Justice Network, with two excellent panelists.  You can watch it here.  One of the panelists, Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, stressed the importance of speaking out on this topic as much as possible. Here's a list of some of the things religious institutions can do to fight Climate Change (many of which we are already doing). Super Bowl 55 No prediction this year, but since the Buccaneers are so rarely in the Big Game, their appearance gives me the chance to note that there are some famous Jewish pirates (aside from Richie Hebner, who played baseball for Pittsburgh).  Take this guy, Samuel Pallanche, known as the Pirate Rabbi, who avenged the Inquisition on the high seas, attacking Spanish ships.   As an observant Jew, he made sure that his crew donated a tenth of their loot to charity (a Jewish custom known as ma'aser), and even kept kosher aboard his ship. As for theThou Shalt Not Steal part, well, the Spanish had done quite a bit of plundering of Jews as they were kicking them out, so the Pirate Rabbi was just reclaiming what was theirs. There were Jewish pirates of the Caribbean too, from this same era.  One might say that they were pre-avenging the genocide that would take place when the Spanish explorer named Columbus massacred the natives - including, one must add, their Chiefs.   In Hebrew a pirate is a Shoded - which is interestingly also a word for filibuster.  perhaps that implies a slow moving game or that a team needs to score 60 points to win. Both teams can score, but if anyone's hitting 60, it's Kansas City. There are lots of words for "chief" in Jewish sources, all of them more politically correct than the Kansas City team's name.  The most common are "Rosh" (head) and "Sar," (chief officer). Incidentally, both teams have Jewish linemen, but neither will play due to injury.  But who cares about the Super Bowl when there's always the Puppy Bowl!  Casey and Cassidy Hammerman got a head start this past week...

It's a fumble! 

Fear itself...

I don't know about you, but this week I'm in awe of the courage of Aleksei Navalny. Read the text of his courtroom speech and excerpts from his note from jail.  He said: "This is how it works: Imprison one person to frighten millions." And then those millions become prisoners too - prisoners of their own fear.  The Hebrew word "Yireh" means both "fear" and "to see." Once our eyes are opened to the consequences of our fear, we are able to overcome it.  For Russians today, just as for Israel during the Exodus, the consequence of paralysis was, and is, imprisonment.  In America, the consequences of fear are equally perilous.

Looking for an uplifting read? Read this story about a Jew who left his inheritance to a French town that protected him during the Holocaust. (Thank you to Donna Wolff for sharing).  And check out this Holocaust Denial Report Card put out last week by the ADL, measuring how social media platforms respond to the hatred that continues to proliferate online.  I'm happy to say that the streaming platform Twitch is at the head of the class - happy because that's where my son Ethan works, which gives me an opportunity to wish him a happy 30th (yes, 30th!) birthday on Sunday.  

Facebook - you've got some work to do!

Here's the thing.  Hate doesn't just happen; it's allowed to happen. And when it does happen, rapid response is essential.  Twitch is both strategically proactive and effectively reactive.  Facebook is neither.  

Of course, Holocaust denial is not the only crazy conspiracy out there that targets Jews.  Now we've got...

Jewish Exceptionalism and the Space Laser

Jews are good.  One might even say we're exceptional.  How good are we? According to some conspiracy theorists, at least one of whom serves in the U.S. Congress, good enough to build a space laser capable of igniting forest fires in California. 

How good are we? We can act, write and direct movies with the best of them! (Win that Golden Globe, Shira Haas of "UnOrthodox!) 

And we can govern. Last week's Big Kvell was that President Biden's cabinet boasted a "minyan of Jews." 

How good are we?  We can do wonders to fight diseases. Israelis lead the world in Covid vaccinations per capita. 

All that, plus we've got one-fifth of all Nobel laureates (you can see the whole list here).

So we've got a lot to be proud of, Jewishly speaking.

But then I heard Donniel Hartman, a renowned Jewish thinker, say that what makes Jews exceptional has nothing to do with either accomplishments or acumen.

He states:

With Abraham and Sarah, we are not merely encumbered by a family connection. We begin to be encumbered to a particular story, and past. Over the next fifty chapters in the Bible, we are taught and told our story. It is neither a beautiful story, nor one which is morally uplifting. There is no attempt to beautify the troubling stories. By leaving it untouched our tradition is teaching an essential lesson of Jewish encumberedness. The beauty of the story lies simply in the fact that it is ours.   

I discussed this surprising point at this week's class on Jewish peoplehood (see the video), "Together and Apart," and I contrasted it with some of the nice things said about us by some pretty famous people.  Just pick one or two of the quotes below.  No need to get a swelled head.

 

So what is it?  Is the Bible the Greatest Story Ever Told, the Best Book Ever for the Best People Ever, or is it all just hype?  Is the myth of Jewish exceptionalism in fact just more fodder for anti-Semites who fear our diabolical superpowers, when in fact we are just unassuming bunch of ex-slaves trying to do our humble best to make the world a little better?

This is no small matter at a time when the conspiracy theorists are winning the day, seizing every news cycle even as we discredit and mock them.  

My personal favorite parody response to this Q-Anon garbage came from the New Yorker:

And there's this, for Trekkies:

And there's much more...

But we can take little comfort in how absurd these anti-Semitic claims are.  It seems that people will believe just about anything as long as it is repeated enough times. 

To quote Hannah Arendt:

"If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer... And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please."

That's precisely the autocrat's playbook. I don't know if there is a sucker born every minute, but suckers can be mass produced with every tweet.  And that is why anti-Semitism has spread like - um - wildfire, at a time when anyone with a brain should know that Jewish financiers don't aim lasers at California forests.

So maybe we shouldn't be so dependent on Jewish exceptionalism in order to boost our self image.  Maybe it's time to stop patting ourselves on the back and understand that Jewish connection can be fostered in more authentic (and less obnoxious) ways.

When we open the Passover Haggadah, the story always begins in degradation with the darkness of slavery and the bread of affliction, and while the ending is happier, there is no "happily ever after." The Seder never brings us to the Promised Land. Jerusalem is there, on the horizon, but for "next year."  What's more, there is no Odysseus or Hercules to shepherd us over the finish line, all we've got is a little goat that daddy bought, and he stirs up a dystopian cataclysm.  Moses's role is downplayed in the Passover story.  Jewish heroism is consistently modulated in our texts, while human failings and moral complexities are emphasized.  Even stories that downplay God's role, like the Book of Esther, still feature flawed heroes. For all their courage, Esther and Mordechai come off looking like a couple of Bridgertons amidst the palace hijinks.

David, arguably our greatest hero, is also one of history's most tragic figures and callous sinners.  

We have no  super powers; we are in fact models of frailty.  But if we are are superhuman in any respect, it is that we are super at being human, or at least at trying to be. We elevate the experience of human resilience to an art form.

But despite our frailties, or perhaps because of them, our stories are still special to us and they would be even if we didn't find moral sustenance in their content; just as our more personal family tales are special to us not because our parents and grandparents were the most moral people ever, but simply because they are ours.  We are connected to our ancestors and the stories they've left behind.  We are, in Hartman's words, (based on the ideas of Michael Sandel) encumbered by them.

We gain strength from that grounding, the rootedness that gives us the confidence to reach out beyond our boundaries to help others.  That encumberedness is buttressed by the responsibilities of covenant, a covenant that was sealed at Sinai (the subject of this week's Torah portion of Yitro).

So let's not get caught up in all the banter of our supposed greatness.  We can take pride in Shira Haas because she is mishpocha.  Nothing wrong with that. But not because she is an example of some innate acting talent that Jews have cultivated.  That claim is a conspiracy theory waiting to happen: "Those shape-shifting Jews."

If our goal is to be exceptional, it is to be exceptionally human, always striving to become better.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.

Shabbat Shalom!

 

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman

Shabbat-O-Gram: Which Candidate Would Moses Pick? Love, Jewish Style

Shabbat-O-Gram 

Vote in the World Zionist Congress elections!

Hebrew School graduation and old confirmation pics have been moved to the school wing, to make way for our new elevator!

 

Enjoying the creations of our students' Tu B'Shevat Top Chef competition

Click here for the Temple Rock Album - photos by Aviva Maller.

Click here for our winter 2020 album, including photos from Tu B'shevat 

Shabbat Shalom 

OK, so it's my birthday.  I'm only mentioning it because this morning Judy Aronin (whose birthday was yesterday) gave me an all time best birthday present.

A Red Sox Afikoman bag! The best thing to get me through what looks like will be a crummyseason!

As I sit back and relax this holiday weekend, Rabbi Gerry Ginsburg will be co-leading with Cantorial Soloist Katie Kaplan on Friday night and Cantor Debbie Katchko-Gray on Shabbat morning.  Join us (them) for this, and over the coming weeks, for our cantorial candidates' guest appearances.  It means a lot for you to take in interest in this process that is so important to our future.  Also note that morning minyan on Monday's holiday will be at 9 AM.

Some recommended holiday weekend reading...

- "To bigotry no sanction..." George Washington's letter to the Jews of Newport (1780) Here's some background on that famous missive.

- Alexander Vindman's Synagogue is Accepting Letters of Support Following His Ouster (JTA)

This story really made me proud to be a Jew - that a congregation would both 1) take care of one of their own in a time of great need, and 2) stand up for what is right at a time when taking a stand has become increasingly uncomfortable. There should be no controversy here.  Vindman did what is right, for all the right reasons. The smear campaign against him should only cause more people to stand up for him, and as we can see, at least one synagogue, his own, unequivocally has. To which I add another. Lt. Col Vindman, if you are ever in the area, you are welcome here any time as an honored guest. The only issue I have with this article is that the shul is fundraising off of this, which doesn't smell right, even if it is at the family's request.

- The Jewish Nightmare of Bernie vs. Trump (Yossi Klein-Halevi, Times of Israel).  While I don't agree entirely with him, Yossi gets us thinking about this choice from the perspective of a right-of-center American immigrant in Israel.

- Ganz Maintains Lead in Latest Israeli Polls (Ha'aretz)  A consequential Israeli election is just a couple of weeks away, the panel of judges has been selected for the Netanyahu corruption trial (including some notable toughies), and Israelis are, by and large, yawning.

-  Interfaith Group Renames Itself - Bluish, Jew-ish, and Jew-theran (Forward) 

We've had a longstanding relationship with InterfaithFamily, having participated recently in a pilot project called the Interfaith Inclusion Initiative (IILI). This week they re-branded

 themselves and launched a new website: "18 Doors."  See their brief video introduction below, and here's a link to their new site. 

18Doors: Unlocking Jewish

- Is Bernie vs. Bloomberg Good for the Jews? (Jonathan Tilove, Austin Statesman); also, New Hampshire Just ushered in a Bernie vs. Bloomberg Title Fight (The Intelligencer: New York Magazine) and  Is 2020 Really the Year for the First Jewish President? (JTA)  Something must be in the zeitgeist this week.  As Allison Kaplan Sommer wrote Jan. 27 in Haaretz: "For some American Jews, (this match) evokes two uncles feuding across a Friday night dinner table." Bloomberg and Sanders "embody two very different classic modern Jewish archetypes: the rumpled socialist and the buttoned-down capitalist," she wrote. Or, as the trolls will translate it, Trotsky vs. Rothschild.

Could make for interesting seders this year.  Are we ready for this?

Embracing Auschwitz:

Forging a Vibrant, Life-Affirming Judaism

that Takes the Holocaust Seriously 

Now Available on Amazon!

I'm happy to announce that as of this week, my new book is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Here is the link to the Amazon page. The early response has been very positive. You can read the advance praise here, including this:

"Starting with a jarring book title, Joshua Hammerman captures our imagination and re-pivots our approach to dealing with the horrors of the Holocaust. As a gifted journalist and spiritual leader, he makes his case with a clear voice and open heart, showing us that we can fulfill the biblical mandate to 'choose life' by doing so with new forms of joy and sanctity. Hammerman's brave new vision challenges us and demands our attention."

-Gary Rosenblatt, Editor At Large, The Jewish Week

The Moses Primary

כא  וְאַתָּה תֶחֱזֶה מִכָּל-הָעָם אַנְשֵׁי-חַיִל יִרְאֵי אֱלֹהִים, אַנְשֵׁי אֱמֶת--שֹׂנְאֵי בָצַע; וְשַׂמְתָּ עֲלֵהֶם, שָׂרֵי אֲלָפִים שָׂרֵי מֵאוֹת, שָׂרֵי חֲמִשִּׁים, וְשָׂרֵי עֲשָׂרֹת.

Ex.18:21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

With the primary season at last upon us, people naturally are asking who among the Democrats running the Torah would pick to contest Trump for the presidency.  Well, in this week's portion Moses makes his choice.  And it's.... (drumroll, please)...well, everyone.

You see, Moses' father in law Jethro (not the guy from "Beverly Hillbillies") suggests to Moses that he delegate some of his leadership responsibilities, so that he won't continue to be overwhelmed by the many cases being brought to him by the rank and file.  The criteria they establish for choosing these new leaders is illustrative. If you take a look at this page of commentaries from the portion, you will see that one of the qualifiers is that the nominees be "capable people," ("Anshei Hayil," in Hebrew). 

What does that expression mean? 

Well, pick a commentator and you get a current candidate.  Rashi says, "Rich men," who are beholden to no one.  He would clearly be a Bloomberg supporter. Rashbam focuses on the quality of fearlessness, one we can certainly ascribe to Joe Biden, who has never backed down from a fight.  Ibn Ezra looks for physical endurance - think of Klobuchar in that blizzard.  Nachmanides is looking for wisdom and honesty, which frankly, means he is possibly thinking about writing in Larry David, but these qualities could define any number of candidates, including Buttigieg, whose birth chart reveals that he is "wise beyond his years." And then there's the next line in the Torah, the next qualification, "who spurns ill-gotten gain," which Ibn Ezra immediately defines in one word: "money."  So he would be the Sanders or Warren delegate. 

All of which goes to show us that political eligibility is in the eye of the beholder. And Moses will probably wait until at least Super Tuesday before deciding.  

Love, Jewish Style

 

Touching photo of Rabbi Vicki and Harold Axe in the

Stamford Advocate this week. Read the article

A few years ago, I wrote this about love in a High Holiday sermon - words appropriate for Valentine's Day.  Some of these thoughts came back to me this week, as in our "Beyond Dispute" class we studied the famous Ben Azzai - Akiva debate (presented below).

Reb Shlomo Carlebach said, "If we had two hearts like we have two arms and two legs, then one heart could be used for love and the other one for hate. Since I have but one heart, then I don't have the luxury of hating anyone."

For ours is a religion of Love. Ours is a God of Love.

There's an argument in the Talmud between Rabbi Akiva and Shimon Ben Azzai, over which is the most basic principle of the Torah. Akiva says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." He was a big fan of love. He LOVED love. He's the guy who put the Song of Songs into the Bible, and his late-blooming romance with his wife Rachel is maybe the greatest Jewish love story of all time.

But Ben Azzai trumped him by saying, "No, even more important than 'Love your Neighbor' is the verse from Genesis that states, "On the day that God made human beings, they were made in the likeness of God, male and female God created them."

Rabbi Arthur Green, whose book "Radical Judaism" is must reading for any post-modern Jew - and we'll be teaching it here this year - thinks Ben Azzai was on to something important. It's not enough simply to love your neighbor. Anyone can love a neighbor. Azzai says that's not enough! We have to love everyone. Not just the person who lives next door. Not just a fellow Jew. Every human being is in God's image. True, some are harder to love than others. Some are nearly impossible.

And we all know who they are!

Some days you can love them, and some days you can't. Even if you can't love them, you have to treat them with dignity. 

The Sh'ma is our most important prayer and the prayer that commands us to love - V'ahavta - "You shall love the Lord your God." So, one may ask, how can you command love?

Well, it's not really a command, as professor Reuven Kimelman has pointed out. Read properly, "V'ahavta is a response. An instinctive reaction projecting love out into the world. Projecting back what we have received."

In both the morning and evening liturgies, the Sh'ma is immediately preceded by a prayer about love. In the morning, that prayer is Ahava Rabbah - "A Great Love," a transcendent love, an UNCONDITIONAL love. The word for love, "Ahava," appears in various forms no fewer than six times in that single prayer, including the first, middle and last words. Love, love, love, love, love, love. Six times! Like a mantra.

We are loved by an unconditional love - a boundless love, as we say at night, Ahavat Olam. When you've been loved in that way, when the world has loved you in that way, the only way to respond is to give love in return.

V'ahavta - We will love. Not we MUST but we will. We will love because we've been loved. Even at times of enormous suffering, we've been touched by an Ahavah Rabbah. We will love because our God is a God of love, our Torah a Torah of love; every ounce of breath that comes from us is a breath that was given to us in love.

This is the journey we all need to take, the journey from receiving to giving, the journey to unconditional love. Let us make the passage from Ahava Rabba to Ahavat Olam, from a great love, to the greatest love of all, the love of all with whom we share this earth.

It is easy to be cynical. It is easy to be suspicious. It is easy to throw up our arms and disengage.

It is easy to hate. But IF WE HATE - THE HATERS WILL HAVE WON. They will have turned us into them.

No, they don't all hate us. And in the end, it doesn't really matter who hates us and why. All that matters is that we love. Why?

Because we have been loved.

Two Special Interfaith programs this coming week:

1) The first event in the Sharing Sacred Spaces Initiative

THURS., FEBRUARY 20, 2020 6:30-8:30 PM Guru Tegh Bahadur Foundation 633 West Avenue, Norwalk CT 06850 203.857.4460 ● www.gtbf.org  Everyone is welcome! Join us, and find out all about the Sikh faith. Our turn to host will come in June.

2) Religious Voices and the Climate Emergency

  

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman (and reserve now for our 2020 Eastern Europe trip!)