Real Strength & Power

November 1-2, 2013 / 29 Heshvan 5774

Torah - Genesis 25:19 - 28:9

Haftarah: I Samuel 20:18 - 20:42 | Shabbat Machar Chodesh

“Real Strength & Power”

Dear Friends,

Isaac understood the difference between his two sons, Esau and Jacob.  Esau was the bold hunter and man of the field – who quickly and eagerly sold his birthright for Jacob’s lentil soup – because he was hungry.  Jacob was the ordinary shepherd and dweller in camp that saw a way of rising in leadership and status – and was willing to skip a meal if that’s what it took.  In the Torah, Esau symbolizes physical strength and impulsiveness and Jacob, intellectual knowledge and planning.  Esau symbolizes simplicity, while Jacob represents the complex.

Our society prefers the strong man to the smart man.  We are drawn to his muscles, his courage, and his confidence.  We idolize a man who acts spontaneously on passion and impulse.  American culture portrays the cowboy, the biker, and the outlaw as symbols of raw masculinity and real manliness.  We put our sports heroes on trading cards and celebrate their statistics.  Yet, our intellectuals, scholars, artists, and scientists go barely noticed – and at times teased and derided for their intellectual pursuit and seeming weakness and timidity.

However, Isaac’s blessing of his sons sends the message that for Judaism, the opposite is true.  We value knowledge and planning over physical strength and impulsivity.  Isaac blessed Jacob for his preparation, planning, and vision of the future. He awarded Jacob, the second born, with the leadership and riches becoming the first born.  Isaac blessed Esau, the first born, with a life of following his younger brother.

For Jews, Jacob is the model of a real man who finds his strength in knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and study.  The Talmudic book, Ethics of the Sages, asks the question, “Who is strong?”  The answer is, “The one who can conquer his own evil impulses.”  Jacob is such a person.  He can rein in his desires and cravings in order to pursue and dream for the future.  He is one who can plan, prepare, and act effectively in order to create a better tomorrow.

That’s real strength and real power.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

To Do Instead of Merely to Pray

October 25-26, 2013 / 22 Heshvan 5774

Shabbat Chayei Sarah

Torah Portion: Genesis 23:1-25:18 / Haftarah Portion: I Kings 1:1-31

“To Do Instead of Merely to Pray”

Dear Friends,

I am always so impressed by Rebecca, the second matriarch of our Jewish tradition.  She wasn’t one to wait around for someone else to initiate.  She was a self-starter and one who could take matters into her own hands.

This week’s Torah portion opens with the death of Sarah, Isaac’s mother.  For whatever reason, Isaac was incapable of going out to seek a wife with whom to spend the rest of his life.  So, Abraham his father sent a servant to bring a wife from the ancestral home in Mesopotamia.  When the servant, Eliezer, reached his destination and approached a well to water his animals, it was Rebecca who showed up and took care of things.  In Rebecca Eliezer found a woman who had tenacity, assertiveness, and daring.  He also found a woman of great caring, sensitivity, and love.  When he told her of his mission to bring a wife for Isaac, she readily agreed to travel to Canaan to marry. The portion ends with Isaac’s marriage to Rebecca.

Rebecca thus becomes a model of action and courage.  She is not one to wait around for something to happen.  Rather, she gets involved and makes things happen.  A reading found in our Shabbat prayer book expresses this concept through contemporary Reconstructionist eyes.

Social Action

-by Rabbi Jack Riemer (Adapted)

We cannot merely pray to God to end war;

For the world was made in such a way

That we must find our own path of peace

Within ourselves and with our neighbor.

We cannot merely pray to God to root out prejudice;

For we already have eyes

With which to see the good in all people

If we would only use them rightly.

We cannot merely pray to God to end starvation;

For we already have the resources

With which to feed the entire world

If we would only use them wisely.

We cannot merely pray to God to end despair;

For we already have the power

To clear away slums and to give hope

If we would only use our power justly.

We cannot merely pray to God to end disease;

For we already have great minds

With which to search out cures and healings

If we would only use them constructively.

Therefore we pray instead

For strength, determination, and will power.

To do instead of merely to pray

To become instead of merely to wish;

That our world may be safe,

And that our lives may be blessed.

I am sure that Rebecca would agree.

Shabbat shalom.

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

The Stories We Tell

October 18-19, 2013 / 15 Heshvan 5774

Shabbat Vayera

Torah Portion: Genesis 18:1-22:24 / Haftarah Portion: II Kings 4:1-37

“The Stories We Tell”

Dear Friends,

Helping to bring peace and healing to our troubled world often seems an insurmountable task.  Yet, our Jewish tradition teaches us to do what we can, even if we feel that we cannot complete the task.  We must still do our best to make some progress.

This week’s Torah portion offers us a unique way to help make a small difference that may turn out to be a huge one in someone’s life.  It revolves around how we tell stories about others.  In this week’s Torah portion, Vayera, God tells Sarah that in her old age, she will finally bear a son.  Sarah laughs and questions God, saying “Now that I am old, and my husband is aged, how am I to give birth?”  Who knows what was going through Sarah’s mind.  Perhaps she thought that God was joking.  Perhaps she was reacting in frustration and bitterness after all the years of dashed hope and disappointment.  What is fascinating is how God reported to Abraham that Sarah said, “Will I really give birth to a child, old as I am?”  God nicely left out the part about Abraham being so old.

Here’s the point.  God could have told Abraham what Sarah really said about him.  But what good would that have done?  It would have only created resentment and disappointment for the couple.  So, God left that phrase out.

The Jewish lesson here is that each of us can be more sensitive and caring when we report a story to others.  Why stir up bitterness and hatred when it is not necessary?  Why engage in gossip when it will only lead to hurt and upset?  It is better to follow God’s lead and take the higher path.  Judge others based on kindness and merit.  Sometimes it’s good to leave some of the bad parts out of a story if it will avoid hurting feelings.   Zay a mentsch.  Be a good person.  Help bring peace and healing to the world in a small way.  The effect will be huge.

Shabbat shalom.

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

Renewing the Connection

October 11-12, 2013 / 8 Heshvan 5774

Shabbat Lech Lecha

Torah Portion: Genesis 12:1-17:27 / Haftarah Portion: Isaiah 40:27-41:16

“Renewing the Connection”

Dear Friends,

Can you hear God’s call to Abram?  Four thousand years ago, the Torah tells us, God called to Abram and told him to leave his Mesopotamian home and family behind and go to a new land, the land of Canaan.  There Abram’s name would change to Abraham, he would raise his family, and become a great tribal chieftain.  Within only three generations, the region would be known as the Land of Israel.

It was in this land that our people’s identity would emerge.  David’s capital city of Jerusalem would be the very place where his son Solomon would build the First Temple.  The Land of Israel would be the place where the Torah stories were told in the marketplaces and synagogues of the villages and cities.  It would be the place where the prophets spoke their words of moral truth and ethical conduct.  Israel would be the place where the great Temple of Jerusalem, built by Herod, stood - considered to be the most magnificent building in the whole world at that time.  Israel was where the great rabbis argued and taught the lessons of the Mishah and Gemarah – The Talmud.  Israel would be the place of intense Jewish pride and independence witnessing the revolt of the Maccabees and two revolts against Rome.  Thought cast out into exile, our ancestors never lost connection to the land as they daily prayed to one-day return to the holy Land of Israel.  They knew that if they were not to merit the opportunity to return themselves, then soon some descendant of their family would return to the Land of Israel and walk the streets of Jerusalem, again.

Perhaps that person is you.

Each time I read of God’s call to Abram to go to the Land of Israel, I feel those words deep in my soul telling me to go, too.  So, I urge you to renew your connection to the Land of Israel.   As Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson says, “By renewing our connection to Israel, by traveling there, studying there, living there, we establish our claim to the land, and allow the land to exercise its claim on us.”

Shabbat shalom.

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

Righteousness

October 4-5, 2013 / 1 Heshvan 5774

Shabbat Noah

Torah Portion: Genesis 6:9-11:32 / Haftarah Portion: Isaiah Isaiah 66:1-24

"Righteousness" 

 

Dear Friends,

Are we really good and righteous individuals?  Certainly each one of us hopes to be thought of as a mentsch - as a good, kind, and thoughtful person.  Such was the case with Noah.  The Bible tells us that he was indeed a good person and that he was “righteous in his generation.”  This phrase has puzzled commentators for centuries.  On one hand, it could mean that Noah was a true pillar of righteousness for all time.  On the other hand, the Torah could be telling us that compared to all the dreadful people in the world at that time, Noah was better than the rest.  In other words, he was righteous, especially when you compared him to everyone else around him (whom God was ready to destroy because of their incredible wickedness). This is not most glowing of references.

The 18th century rabbinic master Rabbi Elimelech of Lizensk once taught that there are two schools of ‘righteous’ people.  One of them is a true tzadik – a righteous person of impeccable credentials and a model for the ages.  The other is only dressing the part.  Each one of them will find warmth on the coldest of days in different ways.  The truly righteous person will go out into the forest to collect firewood.  He will light a warming fire and invite all who are cold to come and join him.  The other will wrap only himself in a thick fur coat.  The one who lights the fire warms himself and others.  The one in the fur coat, indeed brings warmth, but only for himself while everyone else freezes.

So which kind of righteous person was Noah?  He knew of the upcoming flood, but did not tell anyone.  He did not spread the warning nor sound the alarm. Instead, he built the ark for himself and the animals. With the onset of the rain, he entered the ark and left everyone else to fend for themselves.  He is like the man with the fur coat.  He saved himself, but did not extend the favor to the rest of humanity and other living creatures.

Yes, Noah was righteous for his generation.  However, the Torah is teaching that he was not a model for the ages.  Thus, we learn not to be like Noah.  Rather, each one of us must strive to be the mentsch that shines amongst the generations.  To do that, we must think about more than ourselves. Each one of us can rely on our Jewish tradition of wisdom, kindness, fairness, justice, and love to live our lives in the service of family, friends, and community. That’s righteousness.

Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow