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TEMPLE EMANUEL CHERRY HILL, NEW JERSEY SHABBAT SHALOM FROM TEMPLE EMANUEL WE HOPE THAT THIS WILL ADD TO YOUR FAMILY'S ENJOYMENT OF SHABBAT. Shabbat April 15, 2006 / 17 Nissan 5766 Chol HaMo-eid Pesach Exodus 33:12-34:26 The Counting of the Omer starts on the second night of Passover. It continues for seven weeks, or forty-nine days. The fiftieth day is Shavuot.
Parashah Overview · Moses asks to see God. (33:12-18) · God says that although Moses will be allowed to understand something of Adonai's nature, Moses cannot see God's face. (33:19-23) · God reveals Adonai's divine attributes to Moses on Mount Sinai. (34:1-9) · God renews the covenant and warns Moses against forming alliances with the inhabitants of the lands against which the Israelites will advance. (34:10-17) · God commands the Israelites concerning the Pilgrimage Festivals-Shavuot, Sukkot, and Pesach. (34:18-26)
Moses pleads with the Almighty not to send an angel in His place, but to accompany the Jewish people Himself through the trek in the wilderness even though they had sinned with the Golden Calf. Moses asks the Almighty to reveal how He interacts with the universe (it is a mystical interchange). Then the Almighty commands Moses to carve two stone tablets and to ascend Mt. Sinai so that He can engrave the replacement tablets for the set that Moses broke at the transgression with the Golden Calf. The Almighty reveals his Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (Exodus 34:5) which we repeat on Yom Kippur and other times of seeking the Almighty's mercy. Moses asks the Almighty to forgive the Jewish people. The Almighty renews the Covenant with the Jewish people commanding us not to enter into a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, not make molten gods, to observe the Festival of Matzos, laws of first born issue, to keep the Shabbat, celebrate Shavuot and Sukkot and ends with assorted laws of offerings.
D'var Torah Moses' journey is similar to that of our own lives in both existential and mundane ways. The Torah teaches us that Moses went up the mountain and met there with God: He journeyed upward to a place that was wholly pure and divine, a place where God dwelled. Meanwhile, the Israelites were left down on the ground, growing more and more agitated with each passing day. Finally, they lost their faith and returned to familiar territory-their instinctual desire to see in front of them something they valued, namely, a Golden Calf. In that moment, there was no God for the Israelites; there may not even have been a Moses for them, with him out of sight and his authority absent from their consciousness. This led them to idolatry. When we are aware of the Presence of God, we become holy, and our choices are clear. We don't oppress other people, and we spend our money carefully. We are not covetous; we are grateful for what we have every day of our lives; and we strive for inner peace and contentment. When we doubt, we become lost and our values become unclear; eventually we are led to idolatry and to worship what we can see, namely, our diplomas, cars, houses, clothes, etc. But if each of us strives to meet with God every day, I believe that our priorities would become clear: We would journey up and down that mountain of Sinai, striving to leave the faithless, chaotic, lost bottom and to journey up and up, around and around to the top. We may never get there, but, as we know, life itself is the journey. We are all headed to the same place in the end, and it's how we get there that matters.
TO HAVE OR TO BE? Although it was not long ago that the Children of Israel offered their precious stones and metals for the building of the Tabernacle, now they melt down their earrings for a god of gold. Although it was not long ago that they danced on the shores of the sea and sang songs of praise to their Creator, now they dance around a material god of their own creation. The building of the golden calf is the Jewish "original sin." In this week's Torah portion, Ki Tisa, we have two contrasting scenes. First, there is what the psychologist and social philosopher Erich Fromm would describe as a nonreligious experience because it is driven by ego, greed, and fear. Tired and hungry from their wanderings in the desert and leaderless and afraid because Moses is up on the mountain, the Children of Israel fashion an idol. When God seems distant and abstract, they seek comfort in the tangible, the own-able. However, later in the parashah, there is a second scene. Moses leaves the camp. He leaves behind the noise and possessions, the hierarchies and demands of his people in order to enter the Tent of Meeting. Having suspended his ego, greed, and fear, Moses is motivated by a pure desire to be in the Presence of God. And the result is a religious moment so intense that Moses has to wear a veil over his face to shield himself from the radiance. Today we may have traded in the calf of gold for the Visa gold card, but how much has really changed? We live in a society that teaches us to seek comfort in what we can own. Fromm shows how much language affects our behavior: Not only do we have a house or a bank account, but we also say we have a wife, a friend, or a child. We have knowledge. We have feelings. We even claim to own our actions, for example, I have to work or I have to go to temple. In many other languages, including Hebrew, the verb "be" is used instead of the verb "have." For example, Yesh li, "There is to me," is used instead of "I have," as in There is to me a family and There is to me a headache. Verbs of being like I am in love and I am a Jew make a stronger impact. But statements of being, make us vulnerable because they expose who we are and who we are not. As a result, we prefer to employ expressions of ownership. However, the Psalmist warns us: "Their idols are...the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak; eyes, but cannot see; ears, but cannot hear. Those who fashion them, all who trust in them, shall become like them." (Psalms 115: 5-8) When in the Tent of Meeting Moses pleads with God: "Oh, let me behold Your Presence!" (Exodus 33:18), God reveals God's self to Moses by the name Y-H-V-H, from the verb "be." Our God is a God of being, not having: "Adonai! Adonai! I am compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." (Exodus 34:6-7) "I am,…I am,…I am,..." says the God of being. Parashat Ki Tisa challenges us with the following question: To have or to be? Two choices are laid out before us: to build idols or to enter the Tent of Meeting; to live in the realm of ego, greed, and fear or to come out from our hiding places behind the calves of gold, to enter into the Tent of Meeting, and to emulate the God of being. Questions for Discussion Can you cite some instances when we use "having" although we wish to express "being"? What are today's incarnations of the golden calf? How can we, like Moses, suspend ego, greed, and fear? Following God's example of articulating the divine thirteen attributes, try using "I am" statements to express the essence of who you are. For Further Reading Erich Fromm, You Shall Be As Gods: A Radical Interpretation of the Old Testament and Its Tradition (New York: Henry Holt Publishing, 1991). Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be? (New York: Continuum Publishing Group, 1996).
Yael Splansky is the associate rabbi at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, ON, Canada. She is a fourth-generation Reform rabbi.
HOW OUR BEHAVIOR TOWARD OTHERS REFLECTS OUR FAITH IN GOD Some say that we live in a faithless age. People struggle to believe in God and wonder what, if any, involvement God has in their lives. But from looking back at the scene in this week's Torah portion, it would appear that even our biblical ancestors lacked faith. Rabbi Soffin points out that in the dramatic scene with the golden calf, the disbelieving Israelites demand a visible sign of God's presence in their midst. Recall previous incidents in which the Israelites have lost faith. (Exod. 13:11, 16:2, 17:3) In this week's parashah, the people lose faith because they grow impatient, waiting for Moses to return from the mount. In each of the other cases, what triggered our people's loss of faith? Why is it so difficult for the Israelites to remain faithful? In his thirteenth-century text Sefer Ma'alot Hamidot, a book of spiritual values, Yechiel ben Yekutiel writes: Know, my students, that the virtue of faith [emunah] is honored and very great in the eyes of God. For everyone who deals with others honestly merits and sits in the section of the Holy One. Yechiel connects faith in God with behaving faithfully and honestly toward others. In this chapter on emunah, the two values are inextricable. It is only when people behave faithfully toward one another that they can succeed in showing faith to the Divine. Review the incidents where the Israelites repeatedly lost faith in God. How were they behaving toward the people in their midst? In each case, can Yechiel's notion of faith be supported? It is difficult to speak of our own faith in relationship to the Divine. Spend some time thinking about your personal convictions regarding your relationship with others. In what ways might these convictions reflect your faith in God? It is clear that we, like our biblical ancestors, may experience a periodic loss of faith. But when we strengthen our resolve to live in accordance with our highest ideals toward one another, it will put us on the path to regaining our faith in God.
For further reading: Judaism and Spiritual Ethics, Niles E. Goldstein and Steven S. Mason (UAHC Press, 1996). Rabbi Ellen Nemhauser is the interim director of the UAHC Department of Education.
Family Parsha for Parents and Kids by Nesanel Safran
The Jewish people were slaves of the cruel Egyptians for over 200 years. Pharaoh, the King of the Egyptians, made the Jewish slaves so tired and confused that they didn't know what to do. Finally they realized that all they had to do was cry out to God and He would save them. He heard their cry, and sent ten awesome plagues to convince the Egyptians to let the Jews go. God even made a sea split in two so we could escape down the middle! We've been celebrating the great miracles that God did for us for over 3000 years! On Passover we remind ourselves of those great miracles and celebrate our freedom. Why can we never forget what happened so long ago? For one reason, because we never want to give up our freedom. Even though nowadays physical slavery hardly exists, there are different forms of slavery. We have to fight to keep our minds and thoughts free from the slavery of doing foolish things, even when other people think it's a great thing to do.
In our story a girl helps free her friend from a different kind of slavery.
"THE FREEDOM TRAIL" "Oww, ooh, don't walk so fast," pleaded Karen. "What's wrong?" asked her friend Leslie, "You usually love to take nice brisk walks." "I do," said Karen, but my feet don't. My shoes are killing me." Leslie looked down at Karen's feet. She was wearing really tight looking shoes with very high heels. "No wonder!" she cried. "Those shoes look like they came from a torture chamber. What are you wearing those for?" "But they're the latest fashion," groaned Karen, trying her best to smile. "Everybody's wearing them." "Well it must be that 'everybody' is standing in one place," said Leslie, "because it looks impossible to walk in those things." "It sure is," admitted Karen. Leslie laughed. "C'mon Karen, I have an extra pair of sneakers in my bag. We're the same size. Put 'em on and give your feet a break." Karen looked at her aching feet and thought about it. "But what'll all the girls say when they see I'm wearing sneakers instead of these 'in' shoes?" Leslie smiled. "If they're smart, they'll say 'There goes a girl who freed her feet from the slavery of fashion.'" The two friends laughed. Karen changed her shoes and felt great. UESTIONS
Q. How did Karen feel when Leslie first told her to change her shoes? Q. Did she feel better when she took them off? Ages 6-9 Q. Why did Karen ever want to wear such uncomfortable shoes in the first place? A. She thought she had to because they were in style and that other girls wouldn't value her if she didn't follow fashion. This is a type of slavery since Karen felt forced to listen to others instead of doing what makes sense to her. Q. What other ways can we become "slaves" to
people's opinions? Q. One of the ways Pharaoh enslaved the Jews was to keep them so
busy all of the time that they couldn't even think. Why did he do
this? Ages 10 and Up Q. One of the ways Pharaoh enslaved the Jews was to keep them so
busy all of the time that they couldn't even think. Why did he do
this? Q. What is free choice? Is choosing chocolate or vanilla an example
of free choice?
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Passover, Mayda Clarke
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