In This Moment: Lessons from Noah, Babel and Gaza

 

In This Moment Click to hear my sermon from Friday night (and to read a summary): Lessons from Noah, Babel and Gaza. Shavua Tov - We pray for Israeli soldiers and captives, and for all innocent people everwhere. Rabbi Joshua Hammerman Sunday's Israel Headlines If the front page is not available when you click, check again in an hour. The Jerusalem Post Ha'aretz (English) Yediot Achronot The names and faces of Israel's fallen heroes

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Lolly Socaransky on Noah

Camryn Laichtman Bat Mitzvah, Oct. 24 - Zoom Recording, Photos and D'var Torah Text

 Camryn Laichtman Bat Mitzvah

Friday Night Kabbalat Shabbat, Oct. 23

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Will Herckis on Noah

Shabbat Shalom!

This past summer I devoted countless hours to a single goal. No I’m not talking about preparing for my bar mitzvah, even though I did spend a lot of time studying. Right Mom and Dad?

But I also spent a lot of time watching the popular TV show  “Friends,” I watched dozens of episodes, until I realized that I should probably get back to my Bar Mitzvah studies.  What I love about Friends is that they are all so supportive of each other. It made me realize that the type of people you hang out with makes a big difference in the person you become.

 My torah portion of Noah teaches the same lesson. In the portion, Noah builds an ark to save his family and every animal from a flood. The Torah describes how Noah was an average person in evil times. But strangely he was called a righteous person. What does that mean? That means he was a very good person compared to the rest of his generation.

I’m lucky to live in a time where my friends and family are all good people, and no one is leading me in the wrong direction.

Is it better to be an average person where everyone else is evil or to be a great person where everyone else is average. This is like Noah vs. Abraham. Where Noah was average during evil times and Abraham was great during normal times. Personally, I would rather be an average person when everyone else is evil because by being an average person you would be able to stop evil people from doing evil things, and would be able to make them better people. If you are a great person where everyone else is average you can’t help them to do something better when they aren’t doing anything wrong.

This is also like my soccer team. Although we all go to different schools and come from different backgrounds, when we get on the field none of that matters. We all make each other better players and better people.

They are like my other siblings because we’ve all spent so many weekends in hotels together for tournaments, I’ve lost count

This also, reminds me of when Lebron James steps on the court with his team, and when his team starts playing he finds a way to make all of his teammates better than before.

What do you think it means to be a righteous person in this generation today. I think to be a righteous person in this generation you need to be nice to people offline as well as online.

That means on social media, you need to check what you post before you post it because we use social media so much in today’s society and sometimes it can get really out of hand with what you say and do on social media.

For my Mitzvah project I did a bunch of different bake sales for the charity St. Judes. St. Judes is a charity/children's hospital that researches cures for all different cancer types. This is meaningful to me because I’ve learned about St. Judes before and because cancer research can change/save peoples lives. In conclusion, I think that Noah was a more righteous because he lived harder times and it’s a lot harder to changes people’s minds when they’re already evil.

Shabbat-O-Gram for Oct. 20

Shabbat-O-Gram

 

TBE's Jeremy Young at the conclusion of Yom Kippur 

(photo from SHS school newspaper - see link below)

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Shabbat Shalom and happy new month of Marheshvan.

We complete our first full, holiday-free week.  Some of my rabbinic colleagues are debating whether we should feel relieved, exultant or deflated as a time of such frenetic craziness suddenly transitions into something more "normal."  As for me, someone let me know when "normal" begins.  The pace is a little less frenetic, but with all we have coming up this fall, not by much.  So let's begin with a few notes:

 

-          On Friday night at 7:30, with Cantor Fishman away, we welcome Beth Styles as our musical guest.  We look forward to hearing from the cantor when she returns from a memorable concert given this week in her ancestral homeland of Romania.

 

-          On Shabbat morning, we'll have our first "B'nai Mitzvah Club Shabbat" of the year, giving Hebrew School and Day School students in grades 5-7 a chance to get more involved in the adult service.  Hank Silverstein will give the d'var Torah on the portion of Noah.

 

-          Shabbat morning is also a Shabbabimbam morning for our families with young children, which will be preceded by a drum circle at 10:45.

 

-          Reyut has its first program of the year next next Tuesday (see flyer), What can we learn from those who have been through serious illness?

 

-          Check out the newly revised itinerary for next summer's Israel @ 70 Tour - and reserve your place online.

 

-          The Conservative Movement today released a pastoral letter clarifying the movement's stance on intermarriage. Read it here.  While primarily affirming prior stances, it emphasizes the need for outreach.  It will provoke lots of conversation, and I'll be interested in hearing your reactions.

 

-          See last week's Parsha Packet on Creation and Evolution, providing background on the Creation / Evolution debate/.  See also Celia Baer's d'var Torah from that service.

 

-          Budding journalists Jessica Infante and Alisson Meza from Stamford High's school newspaper visited us on Yom Kippur Day and wrote an article summing up their experience.  It was reprinted in part in the Advocate.  Read the original article here

 

Here's a brief excerpt:

 

Our experience was as interesting as we expected. We went into Temple curious and unsure of what we were going to see, and ended up learning a lot and having a good time. We're not saying we were ecstatic to be fasting since it was difficult (especially since it was our first time experiencing this holiday), but the services had some upbeat songs that made us forget about our stomachs.  The community at Temple Beth El was also very welcoming, and seeing that we were outsiders, they made sure we didn't feel too out of place.

 

-          And finally, TBE's Gabi Birkner is co-author of an upcoming book called "Modern Loss."  Publication date is January 23, 2018, but you can pre-order on Amazon now - and pre-ordering can be really helpful. Early buzz has been incredible, with advance praise (a.k.a., blurbs) from Mindy Kaling, Stephen Colbert, Meghan O'Rourke, Anna Sale, Dave Isay and Lisa Ling, among others. Modern Loss - the website, the community, and now the book - came out of the editors' experiences with sudden, profound losses when they were young adults. The book features over 40 contributors, including Lucy Kalanithi (widow of "When Breath Becomes Air" author Paul Kalanithi), stylist Stacy London, rocker Amanda Palmer, "Girls" writer Yassir Lester, CNN's Brian Stelter, WNBA All-Star Chamique Holdsclaw and Kim Goldman (sister of Ron Goldman). The essays, on topics ranging from sex and intimacy after loss to technology to the secrets we harbor and uncover, are accompanied by color illustrations by artist Peter Arkle and cartoons on topics such as navigating your work life while grieving and repurposing your loved one's belongings. There's also a glossary of terms that therapists probably don't use but the rest of us should.  So pre-order the book now.

 

 

The Fall of the Serial Predator

 

The dramatic downfall of Harvey Weinstein is not a specifically Jewish story, and those who have tried to draw broad cultural connections, comparing this moment to, say, the publication of "Portnoy's Complaint," have failed miserably.  Nonetheless, this is a teachable moment, albeit a disturbing one, for we've reached a true cultural watershed.  So it is worth looking at some key messages emerging from those creepy massages.

 

We have reached the point of zero tolerance for SSPs (Serial Sexual Predators) in our society, which is a major evolutionary leap that needs to be recognized and applauded.  This is an enormous social moment, one that would, once upon a time, have been made into a stellar Miramax film.  But when this film is made, despite his starring role, someone other than Harvey will take home the Oscar.

 

The degree of shame has become so absolute and the outcry so universal that this crime now transcends political, social, and economic boundaries.  What's true for the Catholic church is also true for the rabbinate (and regrettably, there is no shortage of rabbinic S.S.Ps who have betrayed the trust of their communities). What's true for a Jewish producer (Weinstein) is also true for an African American icon (Bill Cosby), an Amazon exec (Roy Price) and a media mogul (Roger Ailes), and what's true for Democratic leaders like Bill Clinton is also true for the current Republican SSP inhabiting the oval office.  Israel also has its share of powerful predators, like former president Moshe Katzav, who was imprisoned for five years for rape.  And just as the perpetrators cut across all lines, so do the victims - they are women, men (and everything in between) and, most especially, children.

 

What might have been acceptable a decade ago simply no longer is.  You might escape conviction, and you might even get elected, but the marketplace will decimate you, your accusers, newly emboldened by this cultural shift, will never give you a moment's rest and you will be universally reviled. 

 

Civilization as we know it has been around for about 6,000 years (the Jewish calendar is spot on, this being the year 5778), and my best guess is that SSPs have been around for about, oh, 6,000 years. But the point of zero tolerance was just reached last week.  Equality for women is still a very new concept, and according to a new Pew survey, a majority of Americans feel that we have yet to have fully achieved it. 

 

As Nechama Goldman Barash of the Pardes Institute noted this week, the Bible is not immune to stories of sexual violence and objectification.  She cites examples, including:

 

• Sarah who is forcefully taken without permission into the harems of Pharaoh and Avimelech without protest from Abraham (God is the protestor in both cases)
• Dina who is taken without consent by Shechem
• The beautiful captive woman who is taken into the home of the Israelite
• The concubine of the Givah who is gang-raped as her indifferent husband is nearby, within the safety of a house
• Bathsheba who is sent for by David, taken into his bed and returned by his messengers afterwards
• Tamar who is brutally raped by Amnon
• Vashti who is the first objectified woman to say no
• Esther

 

Using rabbinic source material, Goldman Barash then demonstrates how the (male) scholars of the Talmud struggle to control their own sexual desires. Occasionally they succumb to blaming the victim, but more often they speak of a man's responsibility to control his "male gaze."

 

"Women are not expected to stop their normative behavior," she writes citing a source where doing laundry exposes a woman's arms and legs to capitulate to the male gaze. Rather, she adds, the male gaze is expected to restrict itself. 

 

There are Talmudic stories of rabbis like Elazar ben Dordia, who couldn't pass a single brothel without stopping in.  He learns a hard lesson and is treated somewhat sympathetically in the end, for while he objectifies women and is a sex addict, the transactions are consensual and he is not considered a predator.

 

It is one thing to struggle with sexual desire - most people do.  It is quite another to be an SSP.  I emphasize "serial," because, while every single incident is horrible and it only takes one abuse of a power relationship to ruin a victim's life completely, Judaism does offer the possibility of teshuvah for the person who slips up once and then sincerely makes amends.  We need to take true remorse and corrective action seriously, especially in a world where one single slip up from decades ago can be looped eternally on social media and worn by the perpetrator like a scarlet letter/emoji.

 

And let's not forget the third party to each incident. There's the predator, there's the victim... and there's the enabler.  What is interesting about the Weinstein case is that more attention is now being given to the enablers, those "yes" men who, more than the predator himself, create a climate of acceptance and acquiescence.  Those who did nothing to stop Weinstein's abuses are no better than the host who offers a drink to an alcoholic or the bartender who allows a drunk to drive away from the bar.  Anyone who truly cared about Weinstein had to know that this day of reckoning could come.

 

This week's portion of Noah contains an obscure anecdote in chapter nine of Genesis.  After the family leaves the ark and the earth is dry, Noah plants a vineyard, and wine becomes the balm that soothes his post-flood PTSD.  In this incident, Noah becomes so drunk that he is lying around naked - undoubtedly wearing Weinstein's bathrobe. His sons respond not by encouraging him to drink more or allowing him to become a laughingstock. They "cover the nakedness of their father," and, in the most dignified manner imaginable, they back away from Noah without staring at him in his shame.  No posting selfies with drunk old Dad.

 

If only a few people had cared about Weinstein as much as Noah's sons cared about their father, it might have made a difference in the lives of so many, including Weinstein himself.

We may be witnessing the fall of the serial predator, but as with ISIS, the fall does not mean the end.  Abusive power relationships will metastasize into other, less grotesque but equally malignant forms, subtler than "Mad Men" but every bit as manipulative.

As long as I have something you want - e.g., a career-defining role - and you have something I want - e.g, a body - and I have the power to make or break you, there will be ways to make it all look quite consensual and transactional, even when it isn't.  As David said to Bathsheba - or was it Harvey Weinstein who said it, to, among others, Ambra, Angelina, Ashley, Cara, Emily, Kate, Mira, Rose, Rosanna and Gwyneth - "I'll scratch your back and you scratch mine."

To share, see this article online at the Times of Israel site by clicking here

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Joshua Sherman on Noah

Shabbat Shalom!

As a now-teenager, I have watched this presidential campaign unfold on TV, and I hear people arguing back and forth about how bad things are in America right now. 

And as I thought about my Torah portion….about Noah and the Ark….I realized that things were pretty bad back too for Noah, when he decided to pack up the Ark and hit the road… (or the ocean) in his case.  Noah took off because his society was corrupted by violence, destruction, doom and gloom.  And God told him to leave…..and he did.   

    But here’s the nice thing about our Torah…..it will often focus on the positive….and the story of Noah is not so much about the destruction….it’s about the story of Noah’s recovery.  About his survival…..About him never giving up…..About him persevering.   That in the end, he survives, and life overcomes death.

As soon as Noach gets off the ark, he does an unusual thing.  He plants a vineyard.  It’s probably not the first thing I would have done if I had been on a boat with dozens of smelly animals for a few months—I would have taken a long hot shower, and relaxed a little bit….maybe even gone to Gloss to freshen up with my mom….but not Noah….he went right to work. 

In planting a vineyard, Noach chose to grow grapes and produce wine, which is for Jews a symbol of happiness and life.  When we make a toast, we say, “L’chayim,” “To life.”  That’s the message of Noach.

This coming Wednesday is the anniversary of  Kristallnacht, which marks an attack on the Jews of Germany in 1938.  Many consider this night to be the beginning of the Holocaust.

 My great grandparents, Frieda and Morton Mattel, both survived the Holocaust.  My great grandma Frieda  (who Emily is named for), had been living with her parents and five siblings in a small town in Poland.  Her father was the local rabbi in town. 

One day, when she was 15, it was her turn to go out and pick up food, and when she came back to her house, her whole family was gone……Her whole family—her parents and 5 brothers and sisters were taken from her and killed by the Nazis.

 Then they brought my great grandma to the concentration camp.  And she was brave enough to escape. 

She ran through the woods and a Polish farmer’s family took her in and hid her underneath a floorboard for 18 months.  At 15 years old, my great grandma spent a year literally living under a floorboard.   Not just once or twice.  But every day and sleeping in this cramped space at night for 18 months.  

Meanwhile, Grandma Renee’s father, Morton (for whom I am named), was from Warsaw.  He survived Treblinka and in fact led an uprising there and escaped into the woods.  

My great grandparents got married in Europe, moved to America, opened up a diner and started working and saving their money to put their kids through college and law school. 

My other great grandmother, Edith, lost her husband very young and went to work and raised 3 kids as a single mom.   

As did my great grandma Ma, who lost her husband a little later in life, and with 6 kids, continued running the business that she and her husband started.

 Like Noah, my great grandparents Frieda and Morton overcame horror and tragedy with their stories of survival and perseverance and life.  

Jewish history is filled with examples of people overcoming loss.  As I thought about my Torah portion…about Noach, I realized that for both Noach’s family….and my own great grandparents….perhaps the greatest miracle was not simply their survival, but the fact that they still maintained the kind of hope that it takes to have kids of their own and to move on….to enable life to overcome death…and to leave a legacy of love, religion and hard work despite the tragedy and horror some of them survived. 

To all of my great grandparents who are watching over us today, please know that I will try my hardest to continue that legacy.

Shabbat Shalom.

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Zoë Jaffe-Berkowitz on Noah

As many of you know, I’ve been doing taekwondo for about 4 years. If I’ve stuck to it for that long, there must be a reason that I like it so much. Well there is. About a year and half ago I tested for my black belt. To me, this was not just a test to see if my skill was at a black belt level, but was also a test of willpower. There were many challenging things I had to do at and leading up to the test. The week before I went to the real test, I was required to do a meditation. But this was no ordinary meditation, I had to sit in a room with the lights off for a full hour, without moving or talking. This meditation was supposed to help me prepare my mind for the test. For the beginning of it I felt relaxed and thought the meditation was really working, but after about 20 minutes all I could think was, “Get me out of this room,” or, “Ugh! My foot is falling asleep.” Even though I didn’t want to continue with the meditation I knew I had to or else I would not be able to test the following week.

I realized from this, that taekwondo was not only about what you can do physically, but also mentally. If I had not been able to control myself during the meditation, I would not be at the level I am at today. I had to have the strength to tell myself to sit completely still when, frankly, I had no interest in being there at that moment.

Another major challenge that I had to overcome to earn my black belt was breaking a brick. Now I know what you are all thinking, that’s impossible, which is exactly what I thought. When the test came around I was confident about everything… except for the part where I had to break the brick. When the end of the test came near, we got to the time that I was dreading. I was standing up in front of over 70 people, ready to break the brick, but I kept hearing a little voice in the back of my head saying that it was impossible and that I would never be able to do it. And of course, because I had this attitude, I was not able to break the brick.

Luckily I was able to schedule a retest for the brick breaking. When I arrived at the retest the following week, one of the assistant teachers pulled me aside. He said that I had to believe that I could break the brick and then I would be able to. If I put more confidence into what I was doing I’ll be able to do it. So I took his words of advice and this time when I went up in front of the crowd, I felt better about myself. And on the very first try of that retest I broke the brick.  It felt like I had done the impossible.

This really showed me the power of the human spirit. I broke through barriers that I never thought were possible. And that is why I love taekwondo so much. It teaches me that if I have confidence I can do it. As long as I have the right attitude and I am willing to work hard enough I can achieve anything. It’s really about the power of the mind and spirit in helping you overcome any obstacle.

I have seen this in other areas of my life as well. For my bat mitzvah project I volunteer with the friendship circle. At first I did a training program where we learned about various special needs and different activities we could do with different kinds of people. After I completed this training I was asked if I would like to participate in the friends at home program, which is when you are assigned a “special” friend and go to their house for an hour every week. Of course I accepted the offer.

My buddy’s name is coincidentally Zoe. She can’t talk. But even though she has this major obstacle in her life, it doesn’t prevent her from having fun. Whenever I go over to her house she always has a huge smile on her face.

But Zoe isn’t the only one who has inspired me with the ability to overcome challenges. What I do by breaking a brick and controlling my mind and body to accomplish things, my uncle David did every moment of his life. I was born 10 days before he died and I feel a strong connection with him. I've heard lots of stories about how he had such a great sense of humor and how he was so excited about becoming an uncle when I was born. He also became a bar mitzvah right here on this bimah. All those things took a superhuman effort for him, like my breaking a brick in two. And yet no matter how hard things were for him, he did everything with a smile. Mind over matter, just like Taekwondo.

My portion, Noah, includes the story of the tower of babel, where people tried to build a tower that would reach the heavens. The great sin of these people was that they were materialistic and selfish. They only cared about matter, such as money and the building they were creating, but they did not care about the people working on it. There is a Midrash describing how when a brick fell and broke, they would get extremely upset, but but when a person fell from the tower and died, it didn’t bother them at all, and they just continued building.  The tower of babel story is about human tragedy caused by selfishness and greed whereas my black belt celebrates a triumph of the human spirit.

It is very special to me that I am becoming a bat mitzvah on the same bimah where my family has experienced so many life events.  As I continue to grow it’s nice to know that I have a strong Jewish background that will always be with me and that I will have enduring support from the Jewish community at my synagogue, camp, and school.

Today is kind of like my Jewish black belt test, luckily I didn’t have to break anything. But leading the service and reading from the Torah takes the same kind of discipline, hard work, and the ability to put mind over matter.  And what I’m doing today really does matter.

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Hannah Nekritz on Noah

Shabbat Shalom!

            My Torah portion discusses Noah and the ark. It also discusses other interesting aspects of this story. For instance, in the beginning of my portion, the Torah states that Noah was righteous as well as blameless in his time.  I thought this was really interesting as it doesn’t necessarily mean that Noah was a good man.

            This situation could have gone one of two ways. In the first scenario, Noah is a mensch who cares for others and for the earth. Or, Noah’s goodness might have been relative to other people’s behavior at that time. If they were all cruel, selfish and full of greed and Noah behaved just a little better than them, he could have been considered good in his time.

But to be any kind of good for his generation, Noah had to be able to think out of the box and take a leap of faith.  After all, it’s not easy to feed every species of animal that ever existed.  There is a midrash claiming that Noah did not sleep when he was in the ark.  Instead, he rushed around feeding every animal what it normally ate when it normally ate.  It takes a lot of creativity to keep such a schedule and to keep all the animals happy – and it takes a lot of faith to believe that eventually the rain would stop and there would be dry land.

                Over the last three years, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking out of the box just like Noah.  I’ve been part of “Odyssey of the Mind,” which is an international problem solving and creativity competition.  My Odyssey team has done really well, winning twice in the state competition. 

                Last year, we performed a skit with a great message that reminded me of this Torah portion.  Our characters were selected to save the earth by doing something never done before.  They traveled inside a super creative boy (by ice cube instead of ark) and returned his brain to its normal state, before his power threatened the future of the world.

                Noah also had to save the world from danger, but in this case it had gone much farther.  It wasn’t just one dangerous person, it was everyone. So the answer there was to build an ark, instead of an ice cube.

             If Noah had been in in Odyssey of the Mind, he might have used spontaneous problem solving to do some things a little differently on the ark. For instance, he could have built the world’s first conveyor belt to bring food all around the ark.  That way, he could get some sleep.

             Does anyone else have any ideas?

            He also could have built a play area and spent time every day playing with the animals, just like I do.

 Some of you know that I spend time at the Stamford Nature Center volunteering on the farm with the animals.  I feed them, give them hay, groom and walk them.  I like horses and goats and must admit that I even have a soft spot for seven little piglets – if I’m allowed to say that in temple!   So on the ark; I would care for all of them.

                Judaism cares a lot about animals too.  In fact, there is a whole category of Jewish law directed towards animals, called Tza’ar ba’alay chayyim.  There are lots of important laws about this.  Did you know that Jewish law states that you shouldn’t eat before you feed your pet?

                When I think about Noah, while it’s true that he wasn’t necessarily the most righteous, anyone who was so kind to animals is a good man in my eyes.  It’s no small thing to save every species you can think of.  Had Noah failed in this mission, I would be volunteering at a very empty farm.

                For my mitzvah project, I’m doing something that Noah also did.  He adopted a couple of dogs, and I am collecting toys and food and making donations to “Adopt a Dog,” an organization that takes care of dogs and cats that have been abandoned or given up. Please drop off any donations in my Dog House upstairs. I will be bringing my donations over soon and welcome anyone who would like to come with me and learn more about this organization and how well they fit in the Noah theme.

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Marissa Young on Noah

Shabbat Shalom.

When the Rabbi and I talked about my parsha, Noah, we talked about comparing Noah and Abraham, and how Noah never argued with God about saving the other people.  Noah just listened to God, built his ark, and saved his family and all of the animals, but no one else.  In contrast, when God told Abraham that he was going to kill the people of Sod-um, Abraham stood up to God and he argued, begging God not to kill all of them.

So, if you compare Abraham and Noah, in terms we use in my family, Abraham is like me, who my family refers to as the Golden child, and Noah is more like Andrew, the bronze child. 

But after the Rabbi and I met, I thought, maybe we are being unfair to Noah, and maybe I’m being unfair to Andrew.  Maybe, just like the Torah tells us that Noah was a good man for his time, maybe Andrew was the Golden Child before I was born. Although Abraham may have been more impressive than Noah, Noah was still the Golden Child of his time.

Noah made a huge difference in the lives of his family and in the lives of the animals that he saved.  He might not have done everything he could, but he still did a lot.

There is a story of a boy who was at a beach and when the tide went out, he saw that there were thousands of starfish washed up on the sand, drying out and they were about to die.  So he started picking up starfish, one at a time, and throwing them back into the water.  A man walked up to him and said, what are you doing, there are thousands of starfish, and you’re not going to be able to make a difference.  The boy picked up another starfish, threw it back into the ocean, and he said to the man, “I sure made a difference to that one.”

So, how does this relate to Noah?  He may not have made a difference to all of the other people, but to his family and to the animals he saved, he made a big difference. And that goal of making a difference ties into my mitzvah project of volunteering at JumpStart and raising money for it.  I raised over $2,000 for JumpStart, and I also bought the toys in the baskets on the bima, which I will deliver to JumpStart this week.

If you don’t know about JumpStart, it is a preschool for children with special needs.  This program, and the people who work and volunteer there, impact every child who has attended JumpStart, and impacts their families too.

There is a JumpStart team of committed individuals who have worked and continue to work to change the lives of these special children.  My brother Andrew became part of that team when he did his Mitzvah project three years ago.   And while I usually don’t try to be like him, I am really proud to have followed in his foot steps.  I also hope we’ve set a good example for Jeremy, and that he will follow our lead, either by supporting JumpStart, or by volunteering for another organization that inspires him.  Whatever he chooses, I look forward to being back in this room together with all of you in 4 years to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah, and I know we’ll all be proud of the differences he will be making too.   

Most times, I try to be an individual, to think for myself, and not just go along following the crowd, like the animals did when they followed two by two onto the Ark.  While I know it’s important to act individually, I also know that it’s important to be part of a team.  Like my gymnastics team.  Like my family.  Like the JumpStart team.

Today, I am joining the team of Jewish adults.  I’m following in the footsteps of my parents, and in fact, I read the same Haftorah that my dad read 30 years ago, out of the exact same book that he used.  I read from the Torah, like so many other Bar and Bat Mitzvah students, and I read the same parsha, about Noah, that my Uncle Seth and my cousin Ari read more than 20 years ago.  And I am becoming an adult, accepting the same commandments and traditions that my grandparents have been observing for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years.

I still haven’t figured out all of the things that I’m going to do to try to make a difference in our world.  But I know that I can make a difference if I try.  The Talmud says that we are not obligated to complete the work of Tikun Olam, repairing the world, but we are not permitted to abandon it either.

The differences I make in this world might not be bigger than someone else’s, but as long as they’re just a tiny bit bigger than Andrew’s, I’ll feel successful.

TBE Bar/Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Sam Porto on Noah

Those of you who know me know that I love animals.   I have a cat, Maurry, three fish, Phil, an African blue Zebra, Mike, a Beta, and Abby, a Crowntail Beta…oh yes, and a frog, Hopper, who will literally come up to you, hop and steal the food out of your hands. 

I don’t really have a favorite animal.  I love them all equally.  But there is a special place in my heart for one creature in particular.  That’s right … you guessed it, the Sloth. 

Sloths are misunderstood and unappreciated.  Actually, many people like sloths, including many of my friends. 

How could you not admire a sloth?  They really have the life!  They just sit around all day hanging from trees.  Some may call them lazy, but I call them smart.  They know exactly how high to climb to stay out of the way of predators.  And they’re so cute with those three toes.  Their claws may look dagger sharp, but they are really gentle animals.

OK, so you’re probably wondering, what’s Jewish about sloths?   Well, I did some research.  In the words of one sloth expert, sloths are in “a league of their own.”  They are used to standing out because they evolved in South America a continent that for a long time wasn't connected to any others. They're also very old—their family tree, which also includes anteaters and armadillos, diverged from the rest of the mammals some 75-80 million years ago. They're also pretty strange.

No, Jews aren’t strange, but the Torah does call the Israelites “a People that dwells alone.” Jews have always found a way to stand out from the crowd, to be different.

Sloths are also not particularly aggressive.  They eat leaves and berries and kill almost nothing.  Jews are also historically peace loving. Sloths, like Jews are also very social. And finally, like Jews, sloths have had to overcome prejudice.  Even their name has become synonymous with laziness.  Sloths are not really lazy!

One more interesting thing.  Sloths can hold their grip after they are dead. It’s similar to the fact that when our ancestors pass away, they still hold an influence over us as we remember them. 

In addition to being a sloth expert, I’m a fan the “Big Bang Theory,” and in one episode, Sheldon demonstrated the old “Live long and prosper” hand signal made famous by Mr. Spock in Star Trek.  It turns out that this was derived from the way the ancient priests used to bless the people in Jerusalem.  When I saw this for the first time, of course it reminded of the three toed sloth and how it would bless the other sloths.  If they would talk, they would hold those three fingers proudly and say to the people, “Live long and lazy.”

For my mitzvah project, I raised $400 for the Connecticut Humane Society by swimming 64 laps, a full mile, in the JCC pool.  As we honor our pets today, a special shout out to Maurry, Phil, Mike, Abby, and Hopper. And also I want to take a moment to remember my friend Chris’s dog Lily, who passed away a couple of months ago.

TBE Bar / Bat Mitzvah Commentary: Elias Boyer on Noah

Shabbat Shalom!

Ok, so there are 2 muffins sitting in the oven. One muffin says to the other “Boy its hot in here” and the other muffin goes “WOW, a talking muffin!”

You are probably wondering what connection this has to my portion. The answer is absolutely nothing.

In my portion, God commands Noah to build an ark and take a pair of every animal and 7 pairs of kosher animals into this ark and to stay there while God floods the world. While Noah was on the ark he had to care of all those animals right? For those of you who have pets you know how hard it can be. Now try to imagine yourself taking care of 1 million different kinds of animals, all with their different needs. Noah had it really hard on this ark. Many commentators have said that Noah didn’t have the compassion and love that Abraham had and that Abraham did have these attributes and was a better person. However I think that Noah had a lot of compassion and love because of the fact that God chose him to care for all the animals in the world.

I have my own pets. I have 2 hamsters and 2 chickens. My hamsters are Hamtaro and Bijou and my chickens are named Skipper and McGonagall. I think that chickens really are great pets. They make you laugh and they do all sorts of funny things. However unlike a dog or cat they really depend on you for not only food and water but also for protection. There are many things out there to which a chicken is a tasty snack. I’ve seen that first hand when Skipper was attacked by a hawk and when my other chicken, Hermione, was killed by a fox. It must have been really hard for Noah to keep the chickens away from the hawks, dogs, wolves, foxes, eagles, lions, etc. It was a full time job for him to keep all the animals safe.

Although you might not believe it, chickens are really Jewish animals. There are customs involving chickens such as before Yom Kippor when it is traditional to swing a chicken around over your head in a ceremony called kapporot. It’s supposed to be a way to transfer your sins the chicken. Many people still do this today, others give charity instead. Chickens are kosher, which brings me to my next subject, Jewish food, and how much chickens are involved in it. Matzo Ball soup is a very Jewish food. But how do you make it? You make the matzo balls and put it into a chicken broth. Chicken soup + Matzo Balls= Nice, Friday Night meal. Chicken soup also heals all sickness. When ever I’m sick I eat chicken soup NOT from my chickens and I feel better. At many Jewish tables chicken is the main course of Friday night dinner, along with the soup. Chickens have worked their way into so many Jewish customs and traditions.

However, in the beginning God wanted humans to be vegetarians. In fact humans were not allowed to eat meat until after Noah’s flood where God made an exception and the people could kill animals for food. Before the flood no one ate meat, in Bereishit, or Genesis, where God says to Adam, 'Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed--to you it shall be for food.” Even animals were created to be vegetarian, the following section reads, “and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is a living soul, [I have given] every green herb for food.”

But after Noah and the flood, God does let people eat animals, but with lots of restrictions. In the Torah cruelty to animals is strictly forbidden. You may not cause indiscriminate pain and destruction. People could only kill animals for legitimate reasons. Hunting for fun was banned however hunting for food was not. We are instructed in the Talmud to feed our animals before our selves. Also one of the reasons why Noah had to bring more pairs of kosher animals is so that the people would have food to eat. In the torah it says that if you treat animals well then you will have a long life. That is the same reward as that for respecting your parents.

For my mitzvah project I will be donating a percentage of my Bar mitzvah money to 2 local animal shelters. I spoke with people at the shelters and they game me lists of things they need. Last week I went to the pet store and bought many of the items. They’re right here in these dog beds. I’ll bring them over to the shelters on Monday. If they’ll let me, I’ll help in other ways too, but I may be too young. Even though I’m a man according to Jewish law, Connecticut law doesn’t seem to think so and state regulations require a parent to volunteer with me.

Are Zoos Ethical? Hammerman on Ethics

Are Zoos Ethical?

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, Jewish Week Online Columnist

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Q – Given the recent Ohio tragedy involving a private zoo, in which dozens of exotic animals were killed, I was wondering whether it is ethical to have such zoos in the first place.

A – The images of last week’s massacre of over fifty animals freed by their deranged (and suicidal) owner in Ohio, Terry Thompson, is still fresh in our minds. "It's like Noah's Ark wrecking right here in Zanesville," cried a former director of the Columbus Zoo. As if on cue, this week Jews read the portion of Noah, describing the epic tale about that largest floating private zoo ever.

The midrash goes into great detail to show how difficult it was for Noah to feed the animals in the ark – and to keep them from feeding on one another. He didn’t get a wink of sleep for months. Midrash Tanhuma suggests that Noah is described as righteous specifically because he showed such compassion for animals.

Any pet owner can tell you that caring for animals is a 24/7 job, even when your pets don’t happen to include 18 rare Bengal tigers. This exotic menagerie should never have been permitted to Thompson, but Ohio law foolishly allows ownership of such animals (perhaps thinking that otherwise they would have to ban the Cincinnati Bengals from playing in state). After this incident, the Wall Street Journal ran a state by state chart indicating where you can live if you want to own a tiger. Ohio is one of eight states where not only is it allowed, but you don’t even need a permit.

Last summer I saw thousands of animals in their natural habitat on safari in Africa, where the only “exotic” creatures present were me and my fellow human intruders. The animals we saw were free and content (except for those unfortunate moments when they were being eaten). When you’ve seen these animals in their element, you can never go back to a zoo. But witnessing this glorious spectacle made me wonder whether any zoo can be considered ethical, even ones run by qualified, licensed zookeepers. Do animals have an inherent right to liberty, or at least to live in a climate that is natural and normal for them, and not to be separated from their families?

There are only two justifications for the incarceration of animals, conservation and education, according to zoologist Dr. Michael Hitchen. By learning more about these species, and by exposing the next generation to them, we can help to save them. An additional, secondary benefit of zoos is that they help to bring diverse groups of people together. TheJerusalem Zoo is one of the few places in that city where Arab and Jewish residents mingle freely, exploring their common love of nature. But all these advantages need to be weighed against the moral imperative that animals not be allowed to suffer.

Maimonides felt that animals can feel pain on a level equal to humans. The Shulchan Aruch agrees, adding, “It is forbidden, according to the law of the Torah, to inflict pain upon any living creature. On the contrary, it is our religious duty to relieve the pain of any creature.”

Terry Thompson clearly crossed that line, long before he released his beautiful creatures into the wilds of Zanesville. It is irresponsible for unqualified private individuals to collect wild animals, whether for resale or display. Next time, stick to stamps and baseball cards.