This Moment: When Does Joseph First Cry? Hello, Margaret, It's Me, God; Bringing Jewish Values into the Synagogue Kitchen

 

In This Moment  The annual Yom Ha'atzmaut Bible Quiz was held yesterday in Jerusalem. Here are the two finalists grappling over the final question: When does Joseph cry for the first time? (Answer below) The Golden Rule is found in many faith traditions, and more than once in Judaism. But it all began with Leviticus 19, which we read this Shabbat. Join us for our Praying the Margins on Shabbat morning and on Friday night, we can put the mitzvah of loving our neighbor into practice as Building One Community's Jennifer WIlliams will teach us how we can save innocent people from deportation. Both services are available in person and virtually. Recommended Reading & Listening "Are you there, Margaret? It’s me, God." (Joshua Hammerman - Substack) - It was said that when one of Brennan’s predecessors as CBS anchor, the legendary Walter Cronkite, came back from Vietnam and gave a scathing report of his findings in Feb. of 1968, President Johnson famously commented, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the country." Last Sunday morning on CBS, Netanyahu lost Margaret Brennan, and he lost America. It’s not that she was that tough on him - so was Chuck Todd the week before on Meet the Press. She simply persisted and asked follow up questions, the kind of questions not allowed in an illiberal democracy. When it comes to religion, ‘Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret’ was decades ahead of its time (RNS) Intro to Judaism - This Thurs. night's class will focus on Shabbat. Here are three info packets that we'll be using: Shabbat Info Packet 1 Shabbat Info Packet 2 A focus on the rituals of Friday night Is Holocaust Education making Antisemitism Worse? Atlantic - Dara Horn Israeli teen girls win first, second place in annual Bible quiz (TOI) - Result is first of its kind in 17 years; Emunah Cohen and Neta Lax beat out 41 contestants from 20 countries who qualified for advanced stages. See the video here. The final question? When does Joseph first cry? Answer: Joseph cries a lot! At least seven times: Genesis 42:24; 43:30; 45:2; 45:14-15; 46:29; 50:1; 50:17. The first time is when Reuben leads the brothers in pleading with Joseph not to hold Benjamin captive. Once the floodgates are opened, he basically doesn't stop crying when seeing his family. Not that there's anything wrong with that. When did you know you were Israeli? (Joel Chasnoff and Benji Lovitt) Here are some examples: I visited New York City, and everyone seemed so polite. I texted people a question without first saying, “Hi, good morning.” I let my shopping cart hold my place in line at the supermarket while I did my shopping. I started saying “Ehhhh” instead of “Uhhhh.” Harry Belafonte, singer and civil rights activist who popularized ‘Hava Nagila’ in the US, dies at 96 (Jewish Week). See Belafonte and Danny Kaye singing Hava Nagila below. Today's Israeli Front Pages click for pdf of the full page Yediot Achronot (Hebrew) Ha'aretz (English) Jerusalem Post (English) Above: Yediot Achronot front page for Yom Hazikaron. A girl speaks of "the Father I Never Knew." She was just ten months old when her father was killed in the Second Lebanon War. Parsha Packets for Ahare Mot / Kedoshim Jews and Tattoos Don't Stand Idly By Civility and Discourse on Israel in the Jewish Community The Holiness Code and Gay Sex: New Interpretations: The author explores the complicated verses in Leviticus traditionally interpreted as forbidding gay sex, surveying several interpretations that stray from the traditional approach to these verses How to Tell People Off and When to Hold Your Peace: The Art of Moral Criticism "And Live By Them..." Jewish Law and the Infinite Value of Human Life Taking Kosher to the Next Eco-Level Although I've been a vegetarian for most of my life, I've never been an evangelist for the cause, though I do believe that humanity's natural state was vegetarian, before things got screwed up in the early chapters of Genesis. With Earth Day just behind us and with it becoming clearer that dramatic grass roots action is needed to head off disaster, an interesting alternative has sprouted: DefaultVeg. In L.A., the Jewish Initiative for Animals (JIFA) has been appearing on billboards promoting the idea that we see "fleshed out" below. It's simple and inclusive - not an imposition. Aligning food choices with Jewish values makes lots of sense, no? This is is no PETA extremism. You won't have to give up that schmear or even that chicken dinner. No need for blame and recrimination. It's not about fault, it's just about defaults. And really, if you think about it, why should the vegetarian option always be the one at the end of the table? Why are we always made out to be the fussy weirdos? And if you are a Kosher Vegetarian, you are doubly weird - bring out the cellophane airline dinner for that one! Maybe it's time to rearrange the tables as proposed by DefaultVeg. Otherwise we'll soon be rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. 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Temple Beth El | 350 Roxbury Road, Stamford, CT 06902

In This Moment: Porky's Revenge, In-Between Times, Vaccine Passports

In This Moment April 9, 2021 Click to watch this week's Town Hall event with Senator Blumenthal Shabbat Shalom! A busy week, highlighted by our Town Meeting with Senator Blumenthal (was that an official 2022 kickoff that I heard, on his home Zoom?) as well as Yom Hashoah. In Israel, Bibi received the mandate to form a government, but the numbers do not currently favor him. Read Marc Shulman's excellent analysis of what's going on there, and this piece about the racist party that would become part of a prospective right-wing government. Tonight will mark our last scheduled Friday night that is totally virtual, although it should be noted that beginning next week, each week we will decide on Thursday whether to revert to a Zoom-only service because of weather concerns. So check your local listings. In any event, all services will still be available at home, so no one should feel pressured to attend in person. Shabbat morning I'll be discussing the portion of Shemini, which features the Torah's most comprehensive discussion of the laws and concepts of Kashrut.  Here is the discussion packet and fact sheet on Kashrut, and some links to additional "How tos" and "Whats."  With its roots in the Bible, the system of defining which foods are Kosher was developed by the rabbis of late antiquity. Its application to changing realities has been the work of subsequent generations, including our own. Tomorrow I'll focus on that most quintessential of Kashrut's foils, the pig - and did you see in today's NYT how wild boars are taking over Haifa? Sweet revenge for the porcine family! And yet, at the same time, on the front page of Ha'aretz today, archeological proof that the taboo against pork was strong even in medieval Oxford (where there is no shortage of bacon and lard, so I hear). So lots of piggledy wiggledy to discuss tomorrow. The Place In Between We've reached a strange "in-between" place, a moment of liminality, between one stage of our lives, and the next. Religion lives in these spaces; as we stand at a threshold, where we can shed one identity and begin to assume a new role. For many of us, as we exit from the year of Covid, we will be leaving behind loved ones who never quite got here. Our good friend Rabbi Vicki Axe is commemorating the first yahrzeit of her beloved Harold, and she has pulled together her thoughts into a podcast and lovely essay, "Love and Loss in the Time of Covid." You can link to the essay and podcast here. Speaking of love and loss, I was enraptured by the new season of Shtisel and would love to participate in a discussion about it. Let me know if you are interested . Meanwhile, to get us started, see this perceptive essay from the Forward. Whatever our situation, the next few months are going to be transitional, and then some. Over the past several days, I've been dealing with people planning all those postponed weddings and namings - and for those who are getting married after having spend Covid under the same roof as their future spouse, it will be as if they've already been married for a decade even before the glass is broken. The consensus is that the timespan of Covid living can be measured in dog years. So we are about to enter the most religiously charged few months of this generation. Really, we entered it a year ago. But it will not end when the doors open. It will be raised to a new level. Let's make the most of this time of growth and change. What do Jewish sources have to say about this return to "normalcy" following extraordinary events? See David Golinkin's "Jewish quotes on a return to normalcy," from the JPost. Vaccine Passports As we prepare to cross that threshold, there has been much discussion of so-called vaccine passports, and whether vaccination should be required for admission to schools, businesses, sporting events and, oh yes, places of worship. This should not be a politically-tinged conversation (just like masks shouldn't be). Last week, the libertarian party of Kentucky was called out for what Forbes described as "an extremely poor comparison of vaccination passport programs to the yellow Star of David that was forced to be worn by Jews during the Holocaust." (See for yourself: "Vaccine Passport Comparison To Holocaust Symbols Stirs Debate.") Israel has been implementing a Vaccine Passport system for about a month. And it has worked. I believe it makes sense to generally require vaccination or accurate texting when people are going to be in close quarters, once vaccines are available to all who want them. There will be exceptions, such as with children. This midrash explains why: A group of people were sitting in a boat. One person pulled out a hand-drill and proceeded to drill a hole beneath their seat. The fellow passengers screamed at the incredulous sight and asked, “What do you think you’re doing?!” The hole-driller dismissed the question and responded, “What do you care? Am I not drilling under my seat?” They replied: “Because you are sinking the boat with us in it!’” (Vayikra Rabbah 4:6). That is precisely why we will need to reenter society with our vaccine passports in hand. Below is the full quote of the midrash, for you to clip and save - and place it in your wallet, right next to your vaccination card. Rabbi Joshua Hammerman ‌ Temple Beth El 350 Roxbury Road Stamford, Connecticut 06902 203-322-6901 | www.tbe.org    A Conservative, Inclusive, Spiritual Community

From the Rabbi's Bunker, April 30-May1: The Cruelest Month (ever); When Do We Open Up the Economy? Kosher Pork; The People Who Dwells Apart...Together; The Darkness of Egypt

From the Rabbi's Bunker

Shabbat-O-Gram

    Koby Hayon leading our Zoom celebration for Israel's Independence Day.

 

K students showing their colors!

Our 7th graders were asked for their favorite Israeli innovation:

Sydney: Waze

Camryn: Gaga

Sophie: gas masks and helicopters

Brandon: USB flash drive

What's yours?

_______________

April is the cruellest month, breeding 

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

Shabbat Shalom

When TS Eliot called April "the cruellest month," he had no idea what this April would be like.  Now May begins, and with it, the hope that brighter days may lie ahead. Another poet, Lucille Clifton, in her poem "Blessing the Boats," expressed the wish that we all share as the cruelest month gives way to May:

may the tide

that is entering even now

the lip of our understanding

carry you out

beyond the face of fear

Join us at 6 on Friday as out K,1 and 2 students will be sure to brighten our day as they, along with Cantor Katie Kaplan, will co-lead the service with me.  This will be our main Kabbalat Shabbat service. Rabbi G will lead the Torah study at 11 on Shabbat morning.

We've gotten used to this new normal as we see the curve beginning to flatten. With all the sadness we're experiencing, with our adaptation to a life of masks and fear and endless grieving, this April has indeed been the cruelest of months.

Those legendary April showers have been transformed, in 2020, into windswept deluges; but if we simply add some kindness, those May flowers can - and will - still grow.

When Can the Economy Reopen?

This is the question of the hour, and Jewish sources have much to teach us.

You can read the full statement put out by the Rabbinical Assembly this week.  Below are some highlights:

 

Kosher Pork

Much of the conversation this week has revolved around infection being widespread in meat production factories. Several years ago, Conservative rabbis created the Magen Tzedek seal.  It imposed a higher level of Kashrut supervision that evaluated not only regarding standards of ritual slaughter and meat preparation (with involves painless slaughter, draining the blood, salting, etc.), but also three other areas of ethical importance: humane treatment of animals, concern for the welfare of the workers and environmental impact.  The Magen Tzedek project has waned, but there is no question that the knowing and forced exposure of workers to unsafe conditions flies against all the principles behind Kashrut as we know it.  Kosher laws might seem irrelevant to consumers of pork and non-kosher meat products produced by companies like Tyson, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't speak up about it.

In fact, we should be outraged whenever workers anywhere are forced to expose themselves and their families - and by extension, the rest of us - to unsafe working conditions.   And on top of it, if the goal of the current executive order is to prevent workers from being able to sue companies that force them to take such risk, that is shameful.

So look at these study materials.

And as you do, remember that we create a holy society by caring for the most vulnerable among us.  The disease, like some kind of microbial Amalek, had made a beeline right for them: the elderly, particularly in nursing homes, workers (and the unemployed), those with underlying medical conditions, minorities, immigrants (who are being targeted more by the government than the disease itself) and the incarcerated.  As Martin Luther King wrote:

  

Photo: Reuters

A People Who Dwells Apart...Together

It's not often that I'll recommend that people open up an ultra-Orthodox newspaper, but these are not normal times, so please click here and flip through the pages of this week's Flatbush Jewish Journal. You will find there a small hint of the grief that that community has been enduring because of Covid-19.  You'll see it in the ads, in the articles, and most of all, in the many pages of tributes.  Jews have long believed that no one dies alone - or marries alone, or, in fact does just about anything alone.  So the mess regarding recent funerals and weddings among Haredi Jews, from Brooklyn to Bnai Brak, has been a source of both concern and consternation.

Jews just can't seem to stay away from other Jews.  Just ask Mayor de Blasio, who chewed out the Jewish community for the inordinately large gathering at a recent funeral in Brooklyn.  Now while the mayor should not get a pass for painting the Jewish community with such a broad brush, neither should other Jews ignore what happened. We are our brother's keeper, and this week's portion implores us not to stand idly by.  So we should be calling out all those who endanger us by not keeping social distance rules.  I know that I feel horribly when I have to inform families that no more than ten can attend a funeral, and there have been so many funerals. Those rules of social distancing need to apply to everyone.

Israelis were in total lockdown yesterday, unable to celebrate Independence Day in the normal ways. Isolation does not come naturally for the "people that dwells apart." That's why the government couldn't relax the lockdown even a little yesterday.  They knew that, given an inch, Israelis would soon be all over the beaches and parks and bopping total strangers on the street with those squeaky hammers and spraying that silly snow, as they do every other Yom Ha'atzmaut.  And the day before, on Memorial Day, they all would have flocked to the cemeteries.  The cemeteries were closed on Memorial Day.

So this week, Israel helped to teach us how to do both grief and celebration safely, on a national level.  It may have been more subdued than normal, but it did not lack for togetherness, even as everyone was apart.

See the three video examples below:

1) The annual military awards ceremony at the president's house was handled quite differently.  The musical numbers were wonderfully inclusive, bringing in a wide spectrum of voices was in the musical montages about 24 and 51 minutes in.  

2) And then below that, see the opening ceremony from Mount Herzl, which also demonstrated that it is possible to celebrate separately and to remain united in the Corona Era. 

3) And the final video of the three is the annual International Bible Quiz, which this year was held online, but was still as thrilling and as unifying as ever.  Playing along in my armchair, I even got a few of the answers right this year (it is NOT easy).

-------------------

And while we are at it, see this fascinating award-winning video about Israel, made available for general viewing this week

Sustainable Nation - Full Length Documentary [OFFICIAL]

And click here to stream a classic Israeli film for free between now and tomorrow at midnight

or go to https://israelfilmcenterstream.org/ and use the promo code ISRAEL2020

The Darkness of Egypt

I always love how our ancient sources live and breathe in Israeli culture.  You don't have to go to rabbinical school to know that this week's portion contains the central verse, "Love your neighbor as yourself."  And there it was, on the screen, introducing the Mount Herzl ceremony, whose theme emphasized the unity and mutual responsibility of all Israelis.

 

It reminded me of an episode of Fauda Season 3 that I was watching this past week, where Israelis were about to cut the power to Gaza.  The term for "blackout" used was "Hoshech Mitzrayim," evoking the biblical plague of darkness inflicted upon Egypt. The text of Exodus 10 and accompanying commentary talk of this being darker than the ordinary night, a supernaturally thick and tangible darkness.

The subtitles just said "total blackout" or some such, failing to convey the 3,500 year cultural flavor of the Hebrew.  The Bible truly comes alive in the Jewish state, where even Doron from Fauda is a midrash scholar, without even knowing it.

More on this week's Torah portions, Ahare-Mot and Kedoshim 

Achare Mot - Kedoshim in Humash Etz Chayyim

Love Your Neighbor: How It Became the Golden Rule

The Scapegoat Ritual and Its Ancient Near Eastern Parallels

Bestiality in Biblical and Hittite Law (it's been a long quarantine...)

The Exodus, the Alien, and the Neighbor

If You are Really Missing Sports and You Love the Omer...check out

OMERTIME 

Over the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot, count the Omer with us as we meditate on how the (divine qualities) sefirot show up in the games we love most. Whether you're a fan of basketball, baseball, or hockey , we hope that our playful reflections on the spiritual side of sports bring meaning and joy to your practice of counting the Omer this year.

And finally, we hear from last week's cancelled guest:

Lisa Grove-Raider  passes along the youtube link to the video of her Great-Uncle Kurt Kleinman as he receiving the Medal of Valor from the Simon Wiesenthal Center.  He had planned to show this video as part of his presentation at TBE on April 19th. His story has been told in the bestselling book, The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy May!

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman