ahavas-achim

TODAY...IF ONLY

As we read in Shul over the next few weeks the epic story of the People of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt over 3500 years ago we are reminded of the importance that Judaism places on the notion of Redemption. Redemption is a central feature of our prayers, holidays, and customs. There is a deep-seated understanding amongst Jews that yearning, hoping, and striving for Redemption is a defining trait of the Jewish Religious Consciousness. What do we mean when we say Redemption or geulah in Hebrew? Like most things in our tradition there are many different answers to this question. The simplest approach would be to turn to the great Prophets of the Torah like Isaiah and Amos. It is clear from their writings that, for them at least, geulah refers to a world that is both united by political peace between countries and the shared worship of One God.  We believe that such a world is possible. In fact, this was Solomon’s original intention when he built the Temple in Jerusalem. He had hoped that it would be a House of Prayer for all of humanity. Yet, at the same time, we realize that there is still so much work to be done to achieve this kind of world. That is the paradox of the Jewish yearning for Redemption. It is so close yet so far. We feel that a Fixed World is within arm’s reach but yet understand how long that road really is. In the words of Psalmist, “Today, if only.” It could happen today if we could just get our act together. And more important than anything else-it is in our hands. It is up to us.  

 

Sons of Rachel and Sons of Leah

In this week’s Torah Portion, Parshat VaYigash, we have the culmination of the long narrative which finds Joseph finally revealing himself to his brothers. If you remember, the 10 oldest sons of Jacob-Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehudah, Yissachar, Zevulun, Dan, Naftali, Gad, and Asher-had twenty years earlier sold Joseph into slavery. They had told their father Jacob that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. The brothers’ animosity towards Joseph was due to Joseph’s immature character and the fact that Joseph would often bring nasty reports to his father concerning his brothers’ activities. In addition, Joseph was the one of only two children that Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel had. The other brothers were mostly a product of Leah, Jacob’s other wife. The Torah presents this rivalry between the sons of Rachel and the Sons of Leah as being one of epic proportions. Rachel only other child was Benjamin. Twenty years after selling Joseph into slavery the brothers come to Egypt to ask for food as the Land of Israel was undergoing a sever famine. Joseph had risen to second in command in Egypt. The brothers were unaware of this. When Joseph sees his brothers, he recognizes them but they do not recognize him. Joseph then puts into motion a long chain of events which leads to Benjamin being placed into jail. In a last ditch effort, to secure Benjamin’s freedom, Judah begs Joseph to let him go. Judah then offers to take the place of Benjamin. It is at that moment that Joseph puts an end to the charade and reveals himself to the brothers. It would seem that Joseph was waiting for that moment, the moment where a son of Leah would be willing to sacrifice their life for the life of their half-brother, a son of Rachel; where the “stranger” if you will, takes ethical priority. In the words of the 20^th century Jewish-French Philosopher, Emanuel Levinas: The infinite responsibility that one has to the Other is the only metaphysical truth there is. This is many respects is the final lesson of the Book of Genesis, the moment God was waiting for, where in contrast to the story of the Garden of Eden-where Adam, Eve, and the snake all blame each other-here the opposite happens. Judah is willing to risk his own neck for someone else, for a Son of Rachel. 

 

Shofar-The Original Double Espresso

Like so many things in Judaism, there are many reasons as to why we sound the Shofar on the Jewish New Year-Rosh Hashanah. Some say it recalls the day, thousands of years ago, when we stood as One People on the foothills of Mount Sinai receiving the Torah and the Shofar was sounded to mark the moment. Others point to the unstructured, amorphous and perhaps even infinite nature of the Shofar blast. This calls our attention to the still unfixed world in which we live and the great infinite task that lies before us to make this world a better place. The vision of what a more perfect world would look like is unknown, like the sound of the Shofar. Likewise, our responsibility to get humanity closer to that kind of world is infinite and endless, also like the sound of the Shofar. The reason though most liked by the greatest of our philosophers, Maimonides (1135-1204), as to why we blow the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah is also the simplest; the Shofar is supposed to wake us up. The Shofar is calling to us: Wake up!

This though only begs the question-what exactly are we waking ourselves up to? The answer of course is that we should be waking ourselves up to just about everything. All those things that we know in the back of our minds are so important, yet we so often neglect. The neighbor who needs help, or one of our kids who would just love to have a few more minutes a day of quality time with mom or dad, or the community member who is going through a tough time. The Shofar is begging us to be hyper-cognizant of all those people who in some way are part of our lives. We are starting to ask ourselves as a community, what it means to be a community? First and foremost, it means to be aware and awake to what the other person sitting next to us in synagogue is going through and what we can do to help them.

In addition to the ethical message, the Shofar is also calling us to wake up as individuals who are part of an incredible religious tradition. So many parts of the Jewish Tradition are just so breathtakingly beautiful and many of us are, simply put, in love with it. Yet, there is so much more for us to learn and discover within the Torah. The Shofar is calling on us to stand up, rise up, and remind ourselves how wonderful our Torah is and that we should be celebrating our Jewishness by exploring our holy texts.