Shabbat Thoughts- Parshat Pinches

 Each of us needs to be appreciated, respected and most of all, remembered. Perhaps that is why we developed the tradition of emphasizing names many centuries ago. Yet, our names are not limited to us. Jewish names automatically label us as children of someone else and frequently honor loved ones of prior generations. Out of deep respect for one another and strong connections to the generations which have gone before, we announce these names at our most important events. Births and Bris, Namings and B’nai Mitzvah, weddings and funerals-all of these major life events include the names of the most important loved ones in our lives. Whether it is a celebration of a birth or the death of a loved one, all of us are included. Our names proclaim our own importance as well as the importance of others in our lives.

      Tomorrow evening, immediately after our service we will share an Oneg Shabbat with a family which has been part of our Shul for 6 generations. Sharon and Robert Livitz, grandchildren of Annie and Harris Lubel who are some of our founding members, are dedicating two Yahrzeit plaques. Their loving gesture is to weave their relatives ever deeper into the tapestry of our congregation.

      By eating and drinking together we will dedicate these Yahrzeit plaques and strengthen the bonds between individual members and the Shul itself. All are invited to our Friday evening service (6:00-7:00 p.m.) and are requested to remain for a bit of schmooze and nosh. After all, food and time shared are the best ways of marking time.

      Speaking of families and names, this week’s  Parshah named Pinchas, is filled with family significance. One of the most compelling episodes in the ENTIRE BIBLE occurs when 5 sisters challenge Moses for the right to inherit land. Against the backdrop of Moshe’s allocating land parcels to the clans which are headed by men, we learn that five sisters have recently lost their father. They seek economic independence as well as being accorded human dignity and respect. Standing before Moses they assert their right to inherit land just like men. Moses does not know how to respond. Famously, God calls out ‘the daughters of Tzelophechad are right’. Jewish inheritance law is explosively changed in one fell swoop because of 5 gutsy women who refused to accept the status quo.

     Ever after Noa, Machla, Chogla, Milka and Tirtzah have been among my heroes! 

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Steve Silberman

In response to an attack in Germany

         As I sit at my desk, I answer the phone. Routinely, many times per day I lift the receiver to my ear. “There is a shooting in Germany! People are shooting children in the face!”

An ordinary day- answering the phone and I learn of the ever-more- routine announcements of mass shootings.  Excruciating!  For us to become ever more accustomed to hearing of a vicious attack is a great sin. We should never become desensitized to attacks, to injuries, to loss of life.

     Last week, Baton Rouge and Dallas- Nice and Germany-today Munich. When shall our prayers for safety and peace be heeded? How much longer until the shooting stops? Who will become wise enough to realize that murdering human beings does not eliminate problems?

     God of creation- create humanity with greater understanding for the essential nature of all life.

     God of life- fashion men and women of all ages and backgrounds with an unbreakable appreciation of life and dignity.

    God of awareness- instill within us all an awareness of the beauty and complexity of every person.

    God of love- place the power to control hate within all of your children and let hate gradually diminish, one person, one community and one nation at a time.

     Heed this prayer as Shabbat arrives. Let there be peace to all creation- from my heart to all – Rabbi Steve Silberman 

Shabbat Thoughs-Parshat Balak- July 21, 2016

My grandfather, Ed Leyton, used to say ”sweets only go in the mouth when sweets come out of the mouth.” As a child not always interested in being courteous to my younger sister but motivated by sweets, I did my best to speak politely. Obviously, I was interested in having sweets and desserts more than speaking respectfully for its own sake.

     Poppa’s goal of encouraging kind speech may have been limited to his two arguing grandchildren or it may have been broader in scope. Could he have anticipated that 35 years after he began to share this message with his grandson those very words would be transmitted to future great-grandchildren as well as members of a Shul in Mobile, AL? I wonder if Poppa, z”l, had any inkling that his simple and true message would extend beyond his grandchildren to many other people.

      Every one of us has a choice to make. Every moment of our lives, as we open our mouths, we can choose to insult and ridicule, to comfort and love, to offer emotional support or hateful insult. The choice is ours. It may be that during a business meeting or telephone call we not receive instant encouragement to speak politely in the form of a candy bar. Maybe while schmoozing with friends the conversation takes a turn and we don't have a piece of cake prompting us to speak courteously about so-and -so. It’s tempting to mock someone and to feel superior for a few moments. But, part of being grown up is knowing when and how to speak.

      In this week’s Torah reading, a man named Bilam is not offered sweets to speak politely. Instead he is offered great wealth, prestige and a seat at a king’s table in exchange for cursing people. As Bilam steps forward enjoying a beautiful mountaintop view, the choice is upon him. Shall he be carried away by the beauty of a view overlooking the tribes of Israel and wax poetic or will he succumb to the draw of wealth and fame?

     According to the Torah it appears that he is about to make the wrong choice and to sell his soul at the expense of cursing defenseless strangers. At the very last moment words of beauty and poetry emerge instead of insult and criticism.

     From the point of view of the Israelites who were not cursed it is a happy ending. They were saved from insult by God’ s prompting Bilam to speak differently.  However, the text indicates that Bilam did not alter his own behavior. If indeed he had opened his own mouth and cursed the Children of Israel for the sake of gold and a star on Hollywood Boulevard, what would have been gained and what would have been sold?

     These are difficult days for us all. Our national leaders hurl insults and allegations against one another; tweets and posts on social media ridicule children and adults alike and Person X’s brand of self-righteousness is better than Person Y so X feels he is allowed to shoot Y.

Shall we not learn to be more careful with the words that come forth from our mouths?

Shabbat shalom.

Rabbi Steve Silberman

Tonight Guitar Shabbat

For our friends in Nice, France

A new week is upon us. Excruciatingly, grave assaults on humanity are becoming more common. The norm should not be terror rooted in and driven by hatred and extremism. Our norms should be caring for each other and living as humans. This night as Shabbat slowly descends let us keep the nation of France and the city of Nice in our hearts. Our hearts are open to those whom we may never meet.
Some day, and may it be soon, let the spirit of Shabbat peace be sensed by all.
With love and hope to all,
Rabbi Steve Silberman

http://www.ahavaschesedsynagogue.org/

Shabbat Thoughts-Chukat- July 14, 2016

“Because I said so”.  As children this phrase was never satisfying and always off-putting. As adults it was nearly as painful to offer as it was for it to be heard. We pledged, upon hearing these words, to never bring them out of our mouths. However, on some occasions we deem it necessary to proffer this phrase. Life experience of elders is vastly different than that of juniors just as our perspectives of value, community, shared responsibility, fairness and long view are different as well.  Sometimes juniors need to trust that elders and their perspectives have merit. Trust is at the heart of this phrase.

     This week’s parsha (Chukat) offers one of the most bizarre elements in our entire tradition. A red cow, never having been yoked to a plow, is to be used in a particularly strange purification ritual in which the officiant becomes impure even as the common person becomes pure and is welcomed back into the Tabernacle. Called CHOKE (“Ch” like Chanukah) this law is handed down without any easily explained or offered reason. It is “Because God said so” from the Torah’s perspective.

     Centuries of rabbis have attempted to discern reasons and rationales; few are compelling. Perhaps it has something to do with the fragility of life and our need for interpersonal connectedness during frightening experiences; a behavior pattern we definitely still employ. I join my rabbinic colleagues of the past two millennia and offer no satisfactory explanation. I wish I had the perspective of God. I don’t.  While it is easy to write off this ritual because there is no longer a Temple, it still leaves me hanging.

      Perhaps someday one of us or future learners will glean an answer to this, a great puzzle. Until then we shall continue to study, to learn, to discuss and to admit “we don’t know”.

Shabbat shalom.

Rabbi Steve Silberman

Shabbat Thoughts- Parsha Korah

  Too often we reel from the savage assaults of terrorists. We encounter these cruel, animalistic brutes in familiar places where ordinary life happens and we are forced to see the ordinary aspects of life twisted out of shape. We wonder who terrorists are and what drives them.

     

Terrorists are selfish. Their passion is born out of close-minded paranoid zeal, fed on a need to control others and nourished by the refusal to recognize others as bearing legitimate opinions. Terrorists take – and this is why they are heartless and cruel- for they have chosen to only take and never to give.

     In this week’s Parsha, we are introduced to Moses’s cousin. Korach is a descendant of Jacob’s son Levi and therefore on the same footing as Moses. Korach wants to replace Moses as leader. However instead of addressing Moses directly, as any mensch would, Korach takes 3 other people along with him. Korach organizes a band of malcontents and accuses Moses as having done them all wrong by setting himself as leader above them all. Korach’s sin is “taking” others and directing them along a path of selfishness. He leads 3 main assistants and 250 subordinates in a revolt against Moshe. Lest anyone suggest that Moses wishes to hold power exclusively in his own hands, remember that on multiple occasions Moses encourages power-sharing with 70 leaders and other prophets (Eldad and Medad to name but 2).

     In no way can Korach be called a terrorist. However, he was a mutineer, instigating the only rebellion against Moses (and therefore God), over the course of 40 years. His sin was that he TOOK without consideration of the consequences of his actions. The lessons for us today as we read of Korach’s exploits 3,300 year later, are many. One may be to attend to how we take and how we give in our daily lives.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Steve Silberman

Shabbat Thoughts--Happy July 4Th!

“That which is hateful to you, do not do to others” may appear to be more cumbersome than the later version of the expression  (Do unto others) but indications are that this teaching, verbalized by Hillel in the Talmud*, was very popular in ancient Judea. We are more familiar with the ‘positive’ version which is based upon a teaching in Christian scripture than Hillel’s ‘negative’ version.  Ask yourself which teaching is clearer, more direct, more approachable, and more concrete? Is it easier to prohibit negative behavior or to encourage positive behavior?

     This week we read Parshat Shelach which describes the reconnaissance mission of 12 scouts who were gathering intelligence for the rest of the tribes.   Each of the scouts was selected from his own tribe for the sake of a national mission. 

     We learn that each scout had a specific task to perform. In my mind’s eye, I see 12 men walking together until each had to go in his own direction, returning to a meeting point, sharing observations and then rejoining the Nation of Israel.  Each of these scouts had an opportunity to coexist with his neighbor, refraining from negative interactions and potentially assuring the community of a simpler entry into the Land. As it turned out the scouts failed to follow the wisdom of Hillel’s teaching (Hillel lived 1,200 years later and thus was unable to guide these adult men) and 10 scouts filed a pessimistic report while two scouts filed an optimistic report. The nation split into factions and we all know what results from factions; conflict, discord and refusal to collaborate. Guess what happened? The entire nation wandered for 40 years.

     Needless to say, it was not a happy ending. If only Hillel had lived 1,200 years earlier. Too bad he didn’t. But for that matter, Hillel died 2,000 years ago and we have an opportunity to learn from him, an opportunity unavailable to the scouts.

Will we?

Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Steve Silberman

*Hillel’s teaching is found in Talmud Shabbat  page  31 a