January 22, 2010

Bo Ex. 10:1-13:16  

Dear Friends:

One of the first movies ever made in Israel was a black and white movie starring Topol (Tevye in the movie version of Fiddler on the Roof). He worked in a Jewish National Fund forest, spending his days changing signs at the entrance to each grove in the forest so that each synagogue tour that came in believed that it was their forest.

How many of us didn’t believe, at one time or another, that there were trees with our names inscribed on plaques at the base of each tree identifying either the donor or the honoree? Long after I learned the truth, I still love the idea of trees planted in Israel. They benefit so many aspects of Israeli life and give us a tangible sense that we are helping Israel grow. Despite paying to plant many trees, despite being honored by some planted in my name, and despite a combined total of 8 trips to Israel, including living there for a year, it wasn’t until the first day of our trip 3 weeks ago that I actually planted a tree with my own hands. It was a profound moment for me and many others traveling with us.

Of course, I’m writing this now because we observe Tu B’Shevat, our tree planting holiday, in just a week. We have attached a form for you to use to have a tree planted in Israel. I would like to offer 2 suggestions as to meaningful ways to give to Israel through the JNF this year. The first is somewhat selfish. Ari will be returning to Israel in March on an alternative spring break trip. To be eligible to participate, he pledged to raise $975 for the JNF. Checks made out to JNF can be sent to Ari at our home, 102 White Oak Drive, Lancaster, 17601. Your money will be put to work in the Negev Desert. It’s remarkable how Israel has made the desert come to life. Donations of this sort will likely not go for trees, but will help the JNF in its work to develop water resources for the region, something of vital importance, not only for Israel, but for the entire region.

Here’s a second way to give. Last week, Miep Gies passed away. She was one of the group of Righteous Gentiles who helped hide, feed, and protect the family of Ann Frank. Up until the time of her death, she exemplified the best of dignity and humanity. Let’s let our trees join with the one already planted in her honor at Yad Va-Shem, Israel’s Holocaust museum and memorial in Jerusalem. There you will find individual trees planted in honor or in memory of each of the Righteous Gentiles, and there, you will find individual plaques with the names of these individuals at the base of each tree. Let’s be sure that this brave woman who risked her life to protect others from certain death is remembered with a living memorial.

We are told: It is a Tree of Life to those who hold on tightly to it. Its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace. The “it,” of course, is Torah. From the creation story forward, trees represent a great deal in Jewish life. Let’s continue to plant for the future.

Shabbat Shalom u’m’vorach. Have a Shabbat of peace and of blessing.

Sincerely,

Jack P. Paskoff,

Rabbi

January 15, 2010

Vaera Ex. 6:2-9:35  

Dear Friends:

Clichés become clichés because they express a certain truth, and are said in a way that has a particular impact. Here’s the cliché for today. In Pirkei Avot, we learn a lot about the teachings of Hillel, one of our sages of 2000 years ago. He was known to have said: Im ayn ani li, mi li? U’ch’she-ani l’atzmi, mah ani? V’im lo achshav, eimatai? If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?

I was so proud of myself this week. I had written my Friday message early in the week. It was definitely an “If I am not for myself, who will be for me” message, that you will now have the chance to read next week. Circumstances in the world forced me, and many of us, to change or perspective. Since the Haitian earthquake, we must now shift to parts 2 and 3 of Hillel’s statement. Failing to respond to the horror of the death and destruction would force us to question our humanity. Not who, but what am I, what are we, if we don’t do what is in our capacity to do? With the possibility that there are still people living under the rubble, with the desperate need for food, water, and medical supplies, if not now, when?

We must be the counter weight to the Pat Robertsons and Rush Limbaughs who can look at this suffering and not respond, and in doing so, encourage others not to respond. We must read this week’s Torah portion, which begins our annual discussion of the 10 plagues on Egypt and recognize that sometimes plagues are NOT punishment for cruelty, as they were in ancient Egypt. Think about 10 plagues that Haitians are experiencing right now—death, destruction, fear, homelessness, hunger, thirst, insufficient access to medical care, illness is likely to follow, uncertainty, abandonment.

The Torah leaves us wondering how the Pharaoh could have watched the suffering of his people during the plagues and not responded to ease their pain. We conclude that his heart was hardened. Let the accusation of hard heartedness never be leveled against us. I know some of you are dealing with economic hardship and unemployment. Far be it from me to dictate how much anyone should give. Please give what is within your ability to give. Here is an excerpt of an e-mail you received yesterday listing a number of Jewish organizations that are providing relief: Please consider a generous contribution to American Jewish World Service’s Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, to enable communities in Haiti to respond, recover and rebuild in the wake of this enormous disaster.  Other Jewish organizations that have set up relief funds include URJ Disaster Relief Fund (on-line is the direct link to their secure donations page or log on to http://www.urj.org and follow the links) and MAZON   A Jewish Response to Hunger (http://mazon.org/go/helphaiti). The websites will also give you addresses to send checks, if you are not comfortable with online contributions.   

This weekend, as we remember our own enslavement, as we remember the spirit of Martin Luther King, as we stare at the photos and video footage from Haiti, we must answer, “If not now, when?”

Shabbat Shalom u’m’vorach. Have a Shabbat of peace and of blessing.

Sincerely,

Jack P. Paskoff,

Rabbi

January 08, 2010

Shemot Ex. 1:1-6:1  

Dear Friends:

When I was in 9th grade, I went on my first youth group retreat. We were at our movement’s Kutz Camp in Warwick, NY. I remember that some of the activities were held in rooms named “Rashi” and “Rambam.” I thought they were pretty odd names for classrooms at a Jewish camp, and Rambam, in particular, struck me as a funny, childlike sound. It took a couple of years before I learned that Rashi and Rambam were 2 of our great Jewish thinkers and commentators from the Middle Ages, and that the names were acronyms for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki and Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon. I was in college before I learned that there was something called Rashi script to set his commentaries apart from others on the page, that in addition to being a great rabbi, Rashi was a vintner, and that Rambam, or Maimonides, was a physician as well as a sage.

Why are these people relevant in our lives? As Reform Jews, we are tempted to dismiss these names from our past. We want to know what Torah means in our lives today. What can people who lived 1000 years ago teach me? Our tradition teaches that we read Torah on 4 levels, identified by the acronym, PaRDeS. First we need to understand the P’shat. What does the text mean on the most fundamental level? Then we get to Remez. What is the deeper meaning? We move next to the Drash, the application of this material in our lives. Finally, we hope to reach the Sod, to really “get it” on a deeper, perhaps mystical level. People like Rashi and Rambam are our tour guides on this journey.

Let me put it another way. A presenter at a CAJE conference once compared Torah study to sitting down at a table that includes everyone from as far back as Abraham and Sarah, and extends right up until today. We learn from the ones who came before us. Perhaps we sit silently at the first few sessions before we venture a thought. Ultimately, we are as entitled to our place at the table as any of the others, but we still owe them our respect as we add our voices to a 4000 year old discussion about God, our people, and the most profound questions of existence.

In this spirit, I would like to invite you to an Adult Jewish Growth series that beings at my home on Monday night. We will meet from 7:30 until 9:00. Bring your friends. Let’s learn with and about the truly great ones. Let’s explore their thinking and their lives. Let’s allow them into our thought and practice as Reform Jews, not for the final word, but for some meaningful input. After that, I hope many of you will feel comfortable joining one of our 2 Torah Study groups on Shabbat morning.

If there’s a downside to this series, it’s the absence of women’s voices from the discussion right up until the past 20-30 years. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to hear these voices in our congregation as they add a dimension to Jewish life and thought that was missing for too many years. Despite the cold and the snow, I hope to see many of you tonight as we learn and pray with the members of Sisterhood who will be leading our service.

Shabbat Shalom u’m’vorach. Have a Shabbat of peace and of blessing.

Sincerely,

Jack P. Paskoff,

Rabbi

January 01, 2010

Vayachi Gen. 47-28-50:26  
Dear Friends:

In the interest of full disclosure, this was written before we left for Israel. Not knowing what internet access would be like, I wanted to make sure that I was able to send you a message this Shabbat, so I wrote this in advance. It is, however, related to Israel, even if it isn’t from Israel right now.

On my last trip in November, I had the chance to stroll the grounds at Yad Va-Shem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem. Among other things, I saw a temporary exhibit that intrigued me. It was a photo exhibit, but unlike most of what can be seen at Yad Va-Shem, captions were in Hebrew and Arabic, not Hebrew and English. I was intrigued by these photos, and between my Hebrew, and an English write-up that I eventually found, I discovered that this exhibit was in honor of the people of Albania, primarily Muslims. It seems that many of these folks were involved in saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust. (It is interesting that some of the smaller countries allied with the Nazis or conquered by the Nazis put up the greatest resistance to sending Jews to the concentration camps. Included among these were Denmark, Holland, Italy, Bulgaria, and Albania.)

In February, we will have the opportunity to discuss a book called People of the Book. I am told (I will have read it by the time we discuss it!) that it is a fictional account based on the true story of the Sarajevo Haggadah, a rare and precious book twice saved by Muslims from almost certain destruction. One of those two occasions was during the Holocaust.

Of course, the record of Islam is not all good during the time of the Holocaust. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was a supporter and ally of Hitler’s. If, though, we judge the history by the cases of a number of individuals, we see a wonderful opportunity for hope, and at least two occasions for expressing gratitude. Considering our history, when we look at other peoples of the world, we often turn to despair. At Yad Va-Shem, and throughout Israel, for that matter, the message is constantly one of affirming life and hope. When the glass isn’t even ½ full, it takes a unique psyche to be able to always seek out the good. The sweeping hilltop campus of Yad Va-Shem, the valleys and hills that sit all around it, the tributes to the Chasidei U’mot Ha-olam, the righteous gentiles, all plead with us to find the good, to uncover the sparks of divinity that exist even in places where we are least likely to look. Perhaps this is a message we can all cling to as we welcome 2010.

I look forward to sharing Israel with many more of you in the future. In the meantime, in the holy city of Jerusalem, I will be praying this Shabbat for a New Year of peace, justice, abundance, happiness, and good health for all.

Shabbat Shalom u’m’vorach. Have a Shabbat of peace and of blessing.
Sincerely,
Jack P. Paskoff,
Rabbi