Brotherly Love

September 2-3, 2016 / 30 Av 5776

Shabbat Re’eh v’Rosh Hodesh Elul

Torah: Deuteronomy 11:26 - 16:17

Maftir: Numbers 28:9 - 28:15 | Shabbat Rosh Hodesh

Haftarah: Isaiah 66:1 - 66:24 | Shabbat Rosh Hodesh

“Brotherly Love”

Dear Friends,

A popular legend about two brothers tells how a small mountaintop in Jerusalem was selected as the location for the Temple. According to the legend, two brothers lived and farmed grain on that mountain. One was married with a large family, and the other was single. When harvest time arrived, the brothers divided the grain into two equal piles. That night the unmarried brother felt that he had more than he needed, whereas his brother and his large family could surely use more. So, he secretly took some of his grain and put it in his brother’s pile. The married brother considered himself so fortunate to have so many children who would care for him in his old age. So, he quietly brought grain from his pile to his single brother’s. Each morning the piles remained unchanged. So the brothers repeated their secret act of giving for several nights, until one night the brothers met. Recognizing what they were doing, they embraced and wept. According to the legend, God selected that site for the building of the Temple, a place of brotherly love.

This Shabbat, we will celebrate the beginning of the month of Elul, the month that precedes the High Holidays.  The great rabbis suggest that the letters that spell the name of the month form a code representing a verse from the Song of Songs – “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.”

As we prepare for the High Holidays, let us focus on repairing and fostering relationships amongst colleagues, friends, and family.  Like the brothers, let us be there to help and support each other.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

Giving Thanks

August 26-27, 2016 / 23 Av 5776

Shabbat Ekev

Torah: Deuteronomy 7:12 - 11:25 / Haftarah: Isaiah 49:14 - 51:3

“Giving Thanks”

Dear Friends,

Watching the Olympics over the past two weeks has reminded me how very impressed I am by top-level athletes. Their raw talent and years of dedicated training have produced is nothing short of amazing.  Yet, not once have I heard an athlete say that their success was due solely to personal effort and lonely perseverance.  Not once have I heard an athlete say, “Well, I did it all myself.”  Never.  Rather, what I hear time and time again is how athletes thank everyone and everything who helped them along the way - parents, coaches, teammates and training facilities and sponsors.  Thank you to competitors, sports officials, sport supervision bodies, and the fans.  Finally, thank you to God for giving them the power and ability to pursue and accomplish such lofty athletic success.  Athletes understand best of all that the road to glory is not walked alone.  Individuals, community and God are always there to lend support and focus.

In this week’s Torah portion, Moses is recounting the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land.  He is careful to caution the people from thinking that their success is due to their own hard work.  “Man does not live by bread alone” is his way of reminding the Israelites that life is not sustained solely by putting food in the stomach.  God’s spirit and guiding presence has even more to say about life and living.  When the Israelites have eaten a meal, they should give thanks to God for providing food in abundance.  This is the foundation for Birkat Hamazon, the grace after meals.  One must never take food and sustenance for granted.

We can learn a lot from great athletes and from this week’s Torah portion. No one accomplishes great success in a vacuum.  The only way to accomplishment is with the help of individuals, community and God.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

Rise in Honor

August 19-20, 2016 / 16 Av 5776

Shabbat Va’etchanan

Shabbat Nachamu (Shabbat of Consolation) –The Shabbat after Tish'a B'Av

Torah: Deuteronomy 3:23 - 7:11 / Haftarah: Isaiah 40:1 - 40:26

“Rise in Honor”

Dear Friends,

In this week’s Torah portion Moses recalls the wandering of the Jews through the wilderness.  He recites the Ten Commandments and reminds us of the central role in Jewish life.  The fifth commandment: “You will honor your father and your mother” speaks to me this week.  Notice how the text does not say to ‘love’ but rather ‘honor’ them - an important distinction. The parents who raised us and guided us to maturity must be accorded honor and respect.

I believe that we can measure the character of a society by studying how it honors and cares for its elders. If that’s true, then our American society is clearly failing in a big way.  For many Americans, parents are old, yet their children love only what’s ‘new & improved.’  Parents can be slow, but their children want fast, faster, fastest.  Parents can be a responsibility and an obligation, but their children just want freedom.   Parents can represent our past, but their children want to reinvent themselves and leave the past behind.  Parents live over there, while their children live anywhere but there.  Unfortunately, so many people leave parents behind in an almost adolescent quest for fun, stimulation, self-expression and the open road.  It just isn’t right.

The Torah says in Leviticus, “Lifnei seivah takum - You shall rise before your elders.”  That’s what it says, that in the presence of those older and wiser, we must stand in respect.  Unfortunately, instead of rising, too many let parents sit in utter abandonment.

Our Torah portion is telling us that as committed and knowledgeable Jews, we know better and can do better for our own parents and for elders all around us.  Take some time this Shabbat to respect and honor those upon whose shoulders we stand - our parents.  If you have no parents, then borrow some.  I am sure there are elders in your life somewhere who have shared with you something of great value at some point in your life.  Visit them; call them.  Tell them what they mean to you.

You shall surely rise in their presence.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

Tisha B’av – Redemption Through Justice

August 13-14, 2016 / 9 Av 5775

Shabbat Devarim

Shabbat Chazon – Preceding Tisha B’Av

Torah: Deuteronomy 1:1 - 3:22 / Haftarah: Isaiah 1:1 - 1:27

“Tisha B’av – Redemption Through Justice”

Dear Friends,                                                                                                      

Earlier this year, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was convicted of bribery.  While no cause for celebration, we must also acknowledge that in its willingness to convict a former prime minister for a significant crime, Israel sent a strong message not only to its own citizens, but to the rest of the world. The Jewish state is a country of law and justice for all. The morning he entered prison, Olmert declared his innocence, but also acknowledged that his sentence, “is an unusual, serious event that shows the strength of Israeli democracy.”

The critical importance of justice and fairness is an underlying theme of Tisha B’av. This Shabbat morning we will read “The vision of Isaiah”—in which the prophet foretells in great detail the destruction of the First Temple and Jerusalem. Isaiah describes a nation that was governed by corruption and graft. Yet, Isaiah concludes on a positive note. God will one day return to Zion, “And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning; afterward you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with justice...” (1:26-27).

While Israel is far from perfect, we can say with pride that the modern state of Israel indeed represents a nation of justice. Recently, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer noted, “The idea that all are created equal in the image of God, that no one is above the law, that compassion for the most vulnerable is a sacred obligation—ideas which have been a moral compass for generations of Americans—were ideas first championed thousands of years ago by the prophets of the Jewish people and which today are fused into the national identity of the Jewish state.” Isaiah was of course correct: “Zion shall be redeemed with justice…”

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow