The holiday of Passover has four names in Hebrew: Hag ha Pesach (the holiday of the Passover sacrifice), Hag ha Herut (the holiday of freedom), Hag ha matzot (the holiday of matzos), and Hag ha Aviv (the holiday of spring). The Shabbat during the intermediate days of Pesach (hol ha’moed) emphasizes the theme of spring with its liturgical readings on the theme of rebirth. The Song of Songs with its themes of love and spring is read before the Torah service. Song of Songs with its erotic love poetry and erotic description of the natural world was an extremely controversial book in rabbinic times and the last to be included in the Hebrew Bible. Tradition has it that only after Rabbi Akiva showed that it was an allegory of Israel’s love affair with God was it canonized. I think the jury is still out on that one, and Song of Songs remains a beautiful example of the redemptive power of romantic love and connection to nature. The Haftorah reading is Ezekial’s vision of the valley of dry bones, where God resurrects the bones of the exiled Jewish people. In response to their cry, “Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone; we are doomed.” (Ezekiel 37:11) God responds, “I will put my breath into you and you shall live again, and I will set you upon your own soil.” (Ezekiel 37:14). The Shabbat of Pesach reminds us that in every moment, liberation, change, and renewal is possible, as long as we can sustain our hope, faith, and love.
~Rabbi Dean

Ki Tavo – Deuteronomy 26:1 –– 29:8 The Torah Portion (Parashat HaShavuah) for Shabbat, September 5, 2009

Judaism values gratitude and generosity as character traits essential for sustaining a wholesome and thriving society. There is a more modern point of view, expressed by Adam Smith for example, that argues societies do best when each person pursues their own individual interest. Judaism, as a spiritual system, is far more skeptical of human nature and suggests that concern for others and a healthy perspective on our own place in the world do not come naturally and must be cultivated through mitzvoth or religious legislation.

In this week’s Torah portion we read that a farmer must set aside ten percent of their yield to support the Levites who sustained Israel ‘s spiritual life and to sustain the poor, “so that they may eat their fill in your settlements.” (Deuteronomy 26:12-15).

Our sages understood the strength of the ego, the temptation of self-interest, and the seduction of power. In Pirkei Avot they write, “Who is rich? The one who is satisfied with what they have.” “Who is strong? The one who controls their desires.” Just as in a healthy marriage, in a healthy society we think of others more and ourselves less.

~Rabbi Dean

This week’s parasha has two verses that illustrate the flexibility of Jewish law. The first, Deuteronomy 21:18 – 21 says that if parents have “a wayward and defiant son” who will not obey them he will be brought before the elders of the town and stoned to death.

Our sages were deeply troubled with the idea of parents killing their child. In Sanhedrin 71a they wrote that there never was and never will be such a case and it is only in the Torah for the sake of study, in other words, a theoretical case. Later in Deuteronomy 23:4 we read, “No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted into the congregation of the LORD,” because of their treatment of the Israelites during their wanderings.

But again, the rabbis overturn this prohibition. In the Talmud in Berachot 28a we have the case of an Amonite convert who wishes to marry a Jew. Rabban Gamliel says no, citing the verse in Deuteronomy. But Joshua contradicts him saying that the Assyrians destroyed Amon and Moab and the prohibition no longer applies. In other words, history trumps divine command, our sacred texts must adapt to change.

These two verses remind us that if Torah is to be a true tree of life, it must be open to interpretation and change while still remaining true to divine intent.

~ Rabbi Dean

“Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

It is easy at times to see the Torah – and Judaism as a whole – as a collection of strange and outdated rules that have little to do with our needs as modern people. But this verse, Deuteronomy 16:20, describes the fundamental goal of Judaism and Jewish law.

The ultimate purpose of every mitzvah is to promote a fair and just society, one in which the wealthy and powerful are not favored over the poor and the weak, but where all are treated well and fairly.

The most radical contribution of Judaism to western civilization may be the principle that God cares most deeply about the weakest among us. Survival of the fittest is not the mark of a civilized community, but rather that the least fortunate can thrive. As this verse concludes, such a society will thrive and endure. May we live up to this challenge in the years to come.

~Rabbi Dean

“See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn away from the path that I enjoin upon you this day and follow other gods, whom you have not experienced.” (Deuteronomy 11:26-29)

This week’s parasha begins by asking and answering the fundamental question, what gives our lives meaning? Pirkei Avot, a collection of Rabbinic wisdom from the second century says in Chapter 1, Verse that God’s commandments can be understood as, “The world is sustained by three things: Torah (study), Avodah (worship/service) and Gemilut Hasadim (acts of loving-kindness).

Connection to the holy, to the source of all existence, and acting on that connection by serving others creates a life of meaning and fulfillment – that is the blessing. A life spent worshiping false gods like the ego or self, money (for its own sake), celebrity or material possessions is a life empty of meaning – that is the curse.

~Rabbi Dean

In this week’s portion, Ekev , Moses continues his exhortation of the Israelites to follow God’s laws and God’s ways. Moses has seen Israel fail every challenge presented by God, never once acting on faith, but always reverting to fear and doubt. Still thinking like slaves, even if they are free men and women.

So fearing that their children will do no better, he implores them to listen carefully and do what God asks. He provides them with a concise theology. In Chapter 10 he says, “And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God demand of you? Only this: to revere the Lord your God, to walk only in His paths, to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, 13 keeping the Lord’s commandments and laws,” (Deuteronomy 10:12 – 13).

What does it mean to “walk in God’s paths” and to serve God? Moses answers a few verses later, saying that God, “shows no favor and takes no bribe, but upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing him with food and clothing. — You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt .”

According to Moses a just society, a Godly society, is one that protects the weakest – the widow, the orphan, and the stranger – those with no one to defend them. According to Moses’ standard, the standard of our people, we in America still have a long way to go to fulfill this challenge. Let us all willing to continue to work for it and the redemption such a society will bring to all.

~Rabbi Dean

This week’s portion begins with Moses pleading to God to let him enter the land of Cana’an and God refuses saying, “Enough! Never speak to Me of this matter again!” (Deuteronomy 3:26).

For almost all of us, no matter how long we have lived or how much we accomplished we can never have enough of life in all its richness and beauty, pain and suffering, joy and satisfaction. Existence is the ocean in which we swim and we cannot imagine anything beyond it. This consciousness of our mortality haunts us most of our lives, like a shadow.

Judaism suggests on way to address this in Psalm 90, “Teach us to number our days, that we may attain a heart of wisdom.” The most we can do is to live our lives well, being just, performing acts of compassion and loving kindness, being good people, citizens and members of our family. We will never cheat death but we can live on in the memories of those whose lives we have touched.

~Rabbi Dean