Distance Torah Learning

I'm happy to feature this guest blog post by Laurie Rappeport on the new world of Jewish distance learning:

As a teacher who received her teaching certification in the '80s, the challenge of moving to an online venue was daunting, to say the least. I taught in the States before my aliyah and taught English in Israeli classrooms in the '90s. However,  when I first saw the advertisement for JETS Israel, an educational concern which facilitates teaching North American kids about Judaism and Israel through distance learning, I almost didn't apply.

Sure, I knew how to Google, email and even find friends on Facebook but who was I to run an interactive lesson on iPads?

Turns out that techie-phobics like myself were exactly what JETS was looking for. JETS educators are committed to Judaism, committed to Zionism and committed to bringing these elements of Jewish identity to kids in North American day schools and congregational schools. The technological details are secondary.

After completing an 8-week online JETS PD course called "No Teacher Left Behind," in which I was challenged to do what I would be expected to do with my classes, I was ready to roll. My assignment was an afternoon school in the Midwest, meaning that, in order to teach them at 6:30p.m. their time, I had to wake up at 2:30a.m. my time. Well, if the kids didn't mind seeing me in my jammies, I didn't care.

Our subject for the year was "Tikkun Olam" and we proceeded through the year by connecting various elements of tikkun olam to the seasons and holidays of the year. I began teaching right before Tu B'Shevat so we used videos and online work sheets to examine the Talmudic saying "Man is like the tree of a field." As the students collected their answers about the Jewish view of environmental responsibility they stuck virtual sticky notes on our online blackboard, created google drawings and documents, watched inspirational videos and shared their thoughts about their personal relationship to various textual materials that brought the connection between ancient Judaism and modern environmentalism alive.

Tu B'shevat got us talking about tithing the kids were surprised to hear that many Jews continue to tithe in modern times. We spent a lot of time on that subject. The online framework enabled a much more active discussion than would have been possible otherwise as the kids traded questions, thoughts and impressions using Earthtools, Wikis, social posters and other engaging multimedia.

My favorite Tu B'shevat lesson occurred when I threw  out the question "Why does man, like a tree, need soil? How does a person's deeds root him into the ground?" The kids came up with some great topics for exploration such as "What do we do in our lives that roots us?" and they then shared their thoughts on our online bulletin board.  

I don't think that anyone will ever mistake me for a technology maven but after my first year of distance teaching I became a believer. There are many different options within the world of online education that are simply not available elsewhere. These tools create a learning environment of engaging and interactive excitement. Distance learning isn't an answer to all Jewish educational needs but it definitely has a place in the Jewish classroom of the 21^st century.   

Irena Sendler: Righteous Amongst the Nations

I am delighted to feature this guest post about a remarkable woman who through her thousands of people were rescued from the nightmare of the Nazi plans for Jewish extermination:

Over the years many different accounts have surfaced regarding the actions of gentiles who, at great risk to their own lives, saved Jews in Nazi occupied Europe. One of the most amazing tales to emerge from the era involved Irena Sendler, a Polish woman who is believed to have saved over 3000 Jewish lives. She was honored by Yad Vashem in 1965 but her story was subsequently ignored until a group of amateur historians -- high school girls from rural Kansas -- uncovered the events and publicized the story.

Irena Sendler was a 29-year-old social worker in 1939 when the Germans invaded Poland. Sendler was employed by the Warsaw municipality's Welfare Department and she took care of the dispossessed Jews in the city after the Germans occupied Warsaw. Historians estimate that Sendler assisted over 500 Jews who went into hiding during those early years of the war.

When the Nazis established the Warsaw ghetto in 1941 Sendler secured documents that identified her as a nurse who specialized in infectious diseases, enabling her to enter the ghetto to bring in food and medicines.

Sendler quickly realized that although the supplies that she brought into the ghetto might ease the circumstances of a few people she could better impact more lives if she were to smuggle people out of the ghetto. Sendler felt that the children had the best chance of surviving outside the ghetto walls and she began to smuggle children out, first  street orphans and then, over time, approaching families in the ghetto to ask them to allow her to take their children out of the ghetto and put them into hiding.

In an interview that Sendler conducted over 50 years after the war Sendler described the heartbreak of those events. "I talked the mothers out of their children" Sendler said as she described the events of the war years. "Those scenes over whether to give a child away were heart-rending. Sometimes, they wouldn't give me the child. Their first question was, 'What guarantee is there that the child will live?' I said, 'None. I don't even know if I will get out of the ghetto alive today."

Sendler and her underground compatriots employed a number of schemes which  enabled her to smuggle the children to safety. Young children were sedated and hidden under tram seats, in toolboxes and luggage and even under piles of garbage in garbage carts or under barking dogs which distracted the German guards. Older children could be guided out of the ghetto through the sewer system that criss-crossed beneath Warsaw.

Once Sendler had removed a child from the ghetto she was obligated to immediately find him a secure hiding place. Sendler and her Zagota comrades forged documents for the children and brought them to safety including to homes of sympathetic Polish families who were prepared to accept the risk of hiding a Jewish child. In addition, as a social worker, Sendler had a network of contacts with many institutions and she was able to secure hiding places for the children in convents and orphanages including at the Rodzina Marii (Family of Mary) Orphanage in Warsaw and in convents in Lublin, Chomotow and Turkowice.  

Sendler listed the name and coded address of each child on tissue paper and placed these pieces of paper into glass jars which were buried in her neighbor's yard hoping to reunite them with their community once the war ended.

After the ghetto was deployed Zagota appointed Irena Sendler, whose underground name was Jolanta, the director of the Care of Jewish Children. Historians estimate that Sendler, together with Zagota members, saved over 2500 Jewish children.

On October 20 1943 the Nazis arrested Sendler and tortured her to force her to reveal information about the hidden children but Sendler did not reveal any information about the children's whereabouts or about her Zagota compatriots. The Germans sentenced Sendler to death but Zagota members managed secure her release and she lived out the remainder of the war in hiding.

In 1999 a group of Uniontown Kansas high school students heard a rumor about Sendler's wartime activities and began their own research project. Their research culminated in a wide-ranging series about Sendler's activities. This project attracted the attention of a Jewish businessman whose funding help them create Life in a Jar, which has now developed into a website, a book and a staged performance.

Magnifying Life

For the past several months I have been regularly blogging for MyJewishLearning.com on a variety of subjects. Most of the articles are reflections from my work on the Harvard campus. I invite you to visit my author page at the website to explore some of the articles I have posted there.

In particular, my most recent blog post entitled Magnifying Life reflects upon the one year anniversary of the passing of one of our dear students, Ilya Chalik z"l. His loss was a tragedy for the entire university community. Ilya was both an active member of the Harvard Hillel and at our home for Shabbat. I had the solemn responsibility of traveling to Chicago on behalf of the university to attend his funeral and the memory of his family and friends grieving for him will never leave me. I share one small piece here from my article on the one year anniversary of his passing:

Ilya, through his friendships, his life and his deeds, wove threads linking people and magnified life for all who knew him. Students, reflecting on how Ilya impacted their life,commented that because of him they now have come to appreciate how beautiful a tree in fall is or how serene an afternoon in Harvard Yard could be. They have come to see life can mean more than performing well, it can be just as much about living well.

May his memory be forever a blessing for all who had the privilege to know him.

Parshat Chayei Sarah and the Importance of Clarity

Abbott: I say, Who’s on first, What’s on second, I Don’t Know’s on third and then you… 

Costello: You the manager?Abbott: Yes. 

Costello: You know the guys’ names? 

Abbott: I’m telling you their names! 

Costello: Well who’s on first? 

Abbott: Yeah. 

Costello: Go ahead and tell me. 

Abbott: Who. 

Costello: The guy on first. 

Abbott: Who. 

Costello: The guy playin’ first base. 

Abbott: Who. 

Costello: The guy on first. 

Abbott: Who is on first! 

The dialogue I just referenced is of course not my own but rather that of Abbott and Costello from the classic 1930s skit “Who’s On First?” Besides being a hilarious episode between two particularly humorous comedians, it is also a classic tale of miscommunication. Another moment that comes to mind is the scene from Fiddler on the Roof where Tevye goes to talk with the butcher about his milk cow and the butcher thinks he is talking about the prospect of marrying his daughter. In both instances what would have tremendously helped was an infusion of clarity. The difference between a moment of understanding and a moment of conflict can rest many times on the precise discourse of those involved.


In this week’s parsha we confront the death of the patriarch and matriarch of our people. The great risk-taking, iconoclasts who began forging a new approach to human conduct and our relationship to the Divine pass away and in so doing leave open the potential for a real void in leadership, succession and continuity. History is full of stories of failed movements after the death of the charismatic founder or founders. Perhaps the most difficult task a leader has before their retirement or passing away is to successfully pass the mantle on to the next generation of leadership. 


It is at the very end of our parsha that we find the moment where Avraham ensured a successful transfer of the covenantal destiny to Yitzchak. In Genesis 25:5 the Torah states: “And Avraham gave all that he possessed to Yitzchak.” The next verse records Avraham giving gifts to his other children and then immediately after we encounter the death of Avraham. That is to say that this bequeathing of his possessions to Yitzchak was his last living act; the future vitality of this ethical monotheistic endeavor hinged on the success of this action. I also believe that if we examine this moment a bit closer we can learn some important lessons for our own lives as well. 


Rashi commenting on this verse quotes the Midrash in Bereshit Rabbah to say that Avraham bestowed an everlasting blessing on Yitzchak. Earlier in the Divine selection process of Avraham, God declares that “and you shall be a blessing,” and the Midrash here understands that to mean that Avraham had the ability to bless whomever he chose and he chose to offer his final and full blessing to his son Yitzchak. Perhaps the most effective way in appointing a successor is by taking them under your wing, mentoring them and guiding them and a bracha from one person to the next is the deepest expression of relationship and connection. 


However, when we turn to the Torah Temimah, the insightful commentary authored by the great early 20th century Lithuanian rabbi, Rav Baruch Epstein zt"l, we find a tremendous teaching with great relevance for our own lives. The Torah Temimah conceives of Avraham’s last act as essentially a way of resolving all doubt before his passing: “For the children of Yishmael come into adjudication with Yisrael and they said, the Land of Israel is ours and theirs as it says, ‘These are the generations of Yishmael the son of Avraham’ and ‘These are the generations of Yitzchak the son of Avraham.'” In other words, we are both the heirs to Avraham – the legacy must be split down the middle; one father, one leader becomes two sons and two competing legacies. 


This scenario though is both anticipated and rejected by Avraham. The act of bequeathing all that he possessed to Yitzchak right before his death was a clear and unequivocal method of eliminating confusion that would subsequently arise after he passed away. The last thing Avraham does with his few remaining breaths of life than is nothing less than guaranteeing and establishing clarity; clarity of vision and clarity of succession. 


The goal the parsha challenges us to work towards is not to live an Abbott and Costello life but rather to strive towards achieving a holistic precision in what we want to do or what we say and what we actually accomplish. We do not need to wait for our last breath to achieve this but rather every transitional period in our lives, from college graduation to retirement, offers us the opportunity to achieve a bit more clarity in our actions with others and in our own inner life.

Light a Candle for Gilad and Remember Our Shared Humanity

This Friday night, the Hebrew date of the 29th of Sivan, will mark five years since the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was abducted by the terrorist organization Hamas. It has been five years since anyone besides Hamas, not his family, government or even international aid organizations such as the Red Cross have seen him. It is a travesty of justice that Hamas has not allowed their prisoner to be examined by, at the very least, competent medical professionals, to assess his health and well being.

To mark the five year anniversary of his capture, Rabbi Avi Weiss has called upon all Jews to light an extra candle for Gilad on Friday afternoon prior to sunset. The hope is that all these candles as Rabbi Weiss describes will help "dispel the darkness of Hamas' terrorism."

My family will be lighting a candle for Gilad this Friday afternoon but before we do it is important to reflect further on what we are doing. In a world where casualties from wars across the globe reach staggering numbers and where close to 4,000 crimes were committed for every 100,000 people in the United States in 2009, what does it mean to raise world consciousness about the fate of a lone individual? The heartbreaking stories of suffering and despair cry out from every corner of our planet, why focus in on the misfortune of one person?

The Shulchan Aruch (Y"D 251:3) lays out an order of prioritization for the giving of charity. The vast majority of us have limited funds to distribute to the needy and therefore it becomes essential to understand where to begin. First one begins with their own needs, if you are not properly taken care of you will not be able to help anyone else then the Shulchan Aruch expands to one's family, moving next to one's neighborhood then one's city and ending with the rest of the world. While this intuitively makes sense, the idea that underlies this halacha is critical in understanding what we will be doing when we light a candle for Gilad this coming Friday.

True love and care for others is possible when I truly love and care for myself. When I have a positive self-image then I can incorporate other people into my orbit of concern and love. Thus a healthy respect for one's self is essential. The people that one is most intimately connected to is one's family. A person is born into their immediate family and later in life many will make the choice to commit themselves to a single person and by doing create an entirely new branch of that family. These are people that you know better than any other people on the planet. Their faces, voices and personalities are etched into your mind in a way that no one else is.

The combination of a healthy self-respect and self-care with a genuine love and concern for one's family creates the foundation for which sustainable and long-lasting giving can be accomplished. The roots need to be firmly grounded before a tall and confident tree can emerge. It is after these roots of self and family are solidly established and continue to be nurtured that one's network of care reaches out beyond to one's community and on from there.

In other words, I can most care for the world when I care for myself and my family. My love and concern needs to be directed and focused so that when the cries of people throughout the globe reach my ears, I can hear it and respond accordingly. When my family lights a candle for Gilad Shalit this Friday we will be reaching out our hearts and souls to a single individual who is suffering and in tremendous pain. We will zoom in on his face, his name and his story out of the thousands and thousands of other stories of misfortune that cry out from all over the world. All of the numbers and the statistics of casualties of war and casualties of crime have names and identities, they have stories and personalities, they are unique lives, people created in the image of God. By lighting a small flame for one of these numbers, transforming him from a statistic to a person, we can begin to feel the humanity of all the others. Lighting a candle for Gilad this Friday is to affirm our shared humanity, which begins at home and reaches out from there.

I hope you will join us in lighting a candle for Gilad.

Marital Commitment and Social Media

By now all the syndicated news outlets are talking about a certain New York Congressman and his online behavior. They are debating his political future, his marriage and all other sorts of sundry details. In my opinion, the most interesting element of this story is the medium by which his actions were committed. As Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker pointed out this scandal is "the first to have been conducted entirely via e-mail, and online social media." 

Is an affair an affair when it is conducted entirely online? Is it cheating when a spouse engages in intimate communications with another person but never meets them in person? If this situation transpired with a Congressman then it is most likely occurring in the lives of other people as well, although their stories do not make the evening news.


It seems to me that while this is one area where traditional Judaism gets criticized, it is also the specific teachings from this aspect of Judaism that can contribute much to the conversation. The Talmudic sages understood that acts of marital indiscretion do not, for the most part, manifest spontaneously but rather are the product of emotional attachment and lustful yearning. The power of these hirhurei aveirah - passing thoughts of indiscretion, to build and gather until a person finds themselves in a scenario they would later regret is tremendous.

In fact, the rabbis argued that these thoughts can be even worse than the act itself (Yoma 29a). The reason being that these thoughts of fantasy and lust can be so utterly overpowering that they end up consuming the life of a person thereby disrupting their marital harmony and could even extend into other areas of their personal and professional life.

It is because of these concerns that Jewish tradition has taken a very cautious stance towards casual relationships between people. One should be thoughtful about the sort of friend one chooses as inevitably friends come to influence and shape each other. This caution is even more strongly adhered to when it comes to relationships between people who have the potential to be attracted to each other. While some in contemporary society may find this caution to be overdoing it, like whether one can shake the hand of a person of the opposite gender (see for example Igrot Moshe Orach Chayim 1:113 and Even HaEzer 1:56) the values that form the foundation for these practices are values that ought to be well heeded in our modern era.

The wisdom from Jewish tradition tells us that a relationship is a relationship regardless of whether or not a physical encounter occurred. Indeed, by the time one meets in person, the relationship is most likely well established and the damage to one's moral life is well under way. It behooves us to inject an element of caution, perhaps even some formality, into our societal norms, even in the arena of Twitter and Facebook.

Life Lessons From My Newborn Son

My newborn son will be two months old soon and on reflecting on the past two months I would like to share some of the things I have learned from him:

• Remember to take a nap: Most things worth doing will be done better when you are well rested so don't be afraid to take a mid-afternoon nap.
• Express yourself: Upset about something? Don't feel the need to hide it and keep it in. Let those who care about you know and together you can find a solution.
• Light fixtures are amazing: Pay attention to the small things in life. Let the ordinary amaze you and feel the wonder of our magnificent world. Even a door knob can be captivating.
• Go outside: Nothing can be as refreshing as a crisp breeze or as beautiful as the rustling of the leaves. Listen to the birds chirp and watch the ants on their march.
• Live fully in the world: Grab something. Immerse yourself in the tactile world. Feel the contours of the world around you. Don't live only in the visual and auditory to the exclusion of the tactile. 

Shopping as Relationship Building

An older gentleman sat down next to me in the courtyard of a mall this afternoon, and as he sat he let out a long sigh. A moment passed and he turned to me and exclaimed, "there should be a law against going to the mall with your wife!" I smiled back at him but in reality it is shopping excursions with your spouse that can be one of the best things for strengthening your relationship that you can do.

It does not have to be shopping outings necessarily but taking an active interest in what your spouse is interested in is a fundamental key for a successful marriage. Nothing could be easier than saying, "have a nice time and see you when you get home," but by doing so a person misses out on a significant opportunity to show, not just in words but with deeds, how much they care about their partner in life.

When someone asks their spouse to join them on an outing they are going on, it is not just because they want someone to hold their bags or find the parking space, it is because they value their time with you and want to journey with you as they do some of their enjoyable activities. If there was a contemporary Shulchan Aruch on maintaining a strong marriage, going shopping with your spouse would be considered an obligation expressed in the strongest language.

So the next time your wife or husband says "want to join me at the mall?" the answer should be an exuberant (or at least not kvetched) yes!

Parshat Zakhor: Remembering to Remember

This week in synagogue we will read a selection of the Torah that the Torah itself commands us to recall: Parshat Zakhor. It is within the narrative of Zakhor that we replay the story of Amalek attacking the Jewish people on their way out of slavery in Egypt towards the Land of Israel. The Torah tells us in Parshat Zakhor, as we might expect, to zakhor, to remember what injustice Amalek performed against us while we were weak in the desert: zachor... v'lo tishkah! Remember and do not forget! 

The global community has experienced tremendous tragedy this past week. We were witness to a horrific earthquake, tsunami and now the continuing saga of the nuclear reactors in Japan. Untold numbers of people have been lost and it may take decades for the people of Japan to fully recover. This tragedy betrays any possibility of explanation and all we can and must do in the face of it is to galvanize whatever support we can offer to the Japanese people. I encourage everyone reading this to donate to a trusted relief agency whatever they are able to. 

In addition to the catastrophic events that are still unfolding in Japan, the Jewish community suffered a great loss as members of the Fogel family in Israel, including the parents and three of their children (Yoav, 11, Elad 4 and Hadas, 3 months), were savagely and ruthlessly butchered in their home late Friday night last week. It is beyond all grasp or possibility of reason to comprehend how anyone could stand over the crib of a 3 month old baby and murder her. Our hearts scream with agony and pain and there exists no words that could possibly offer any nehama, comfort, to the remaining family or all of Klal Yisrael. 

What are we to do in response to this horrific event? It is a tragic coincidence that we read Parshat Zakhor this week as the Torah itself provides us with a way to begin to cope with the enormity of the tragedy that lays in front of us.

In recounting the savagery of Amalek and its desperate, unending desire to rid the world of Am Yisrael, the  first act the Torah enjoins upon us to do is zakhor, remember. Sit in the pain and the suffering with the mourners, listen to their cries, be there to hold them in their agony. In the immediate aftermath of such a savage act, speeches must be restrained and responses must be silenced. First, zakhor, remember and mourn. Do not look past the human suffering of those most impacted as plans of response are drawn up and debated. 

Eventually some action must be taken, those who commit acts of savagery must face justice, but as the Torah states, first mourn, grieve and remember until one can begin to experience some solace and comfort, "be'haniah Hashem Elokecha lekha mi'kol oyvekha," then we can be sure our response comes from a place of justice and not a lashing out in pain and revenge. 

Sephardic Tradition and Modern Life

The Jerusalem Post reports today that MK Haim Amsalem has created a new "social movement" in Israel called Am Shalem that will promote the "moderate Sephardi halachic approach in public life" and strive to restore "the crown of moderate religious and Sephardi social activism to its former glory." This news follows the recent approval by both former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and current Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar of conversions to Judaism performed through the IDF. I believe both of these events tell us a tremendous amount about the spirit of the Sephardic approach to halakhah and tradition and how it represents a powerful paradigm for observant Jews in the modern world.

The approval of the military conversions by the two Sephardic Chief Rabbis caused an uproar amongst the Ashkenazi Israeli Haredi rabbinic establishment because they claimed many of the converts did not remain as observant Jews post their conversion. Rav Amar responded to their critique by outlining the essential halakhot of conversion; what the halakha requires and what it does not. Rav Amar by insisting on the actual halakhah (Rambam, Hilkhot Issurei Biah 13:4, 14, 17; Shulhan Arukh, Yorah Deah 268:3, 12) and not taking on unnecessary stringencies tells us that in matters of personal status and in matters that impact the very nature of the State of Israel, we have an obligation to act in accordance with the authentic tradition. Furthermore, it demonstrates true sensitivity to the plight of the individual and by so doing continues the Sephardic tradition on this topic (see for example She'alot U'Teshuvot Piskei Uziel, She'alot HaZman 64).

The report in the Jerusalem Post about MK Amsalem's new social movement makes it clear that he alone is not starting this movement but rather "it was the outcome of a grassroots movement that saw in the MK a leader who represented their beliefs." There is a real need in our world for religious leadership, and in Israel also political leadership, that has a clear grasp of both the details and of the beauty of the Jewish tradition with an appreciation for what it means to be a Torah Jew who does not reject the modern world but embraces it within the context of the mesorah. The Sephardic tradition has both the intellectual weight and the historical precedent to truly lead this renaissance in modern Jewish life.

The Limits of Technology

It would not be an overstatement to say that we live in an age of unprecedented access to information. This access to information meanwhile is not only a uni-directional process. People, through the medium of blogs, Twitter feeds, Facebook and other services are not only consumers of content but we can be creators as well. The line between journalist and amateur is getting thinner and thinner as the tools to create content become more available and more affordable to masses of people.

From my own personal experience, I recall first hearing about the "Miracle on the Hudson" not by traditional media outlets but by the Facebook status updates of my friends who were witness firsthand to the different moments of the crash of US Airways Flight 1549. This episode and the multitude of stories like it are having profound implications on the way groups form and act, and on the very structures of society itself.

The truth of this statement extends beyond the domain of news media and enters into every facet of human life; from religions to political movements and everything in between. Isolated stories of wrongdoing in disparate locales throughout the globe no longer remain simply on the minds of residents of that area but rather we, as beneficiaries of the globalization of information, can connect the dots between a wrongdoing in Albany, another one in Brooklyn and another one in Los Angeles and uncover trends and respond in ways that would have been much harder a decade ago. In other words, the transaction costs of organizing for positive social change nationally has dramatically dropped thus making it significantly more accessible for a larger group of people to work towards that goal.

It also means that the temptation to find our outlet for human connection via electronic means will only grow greater as the technology to facilitate that becomes cheaper and easier to use. Robert Putnam in his now generation-defining book, Bowling Alone, argues that social groups, whether they be bowling leagues or rotary clubs, increases "social capital" that allows for healthy and functioning society. The loss of social groups has the predictably opposite effect by reducing social capital and thus negatively impacting the functioning of society. I do not believe that a community where the majority of social interactions are done by distance electronic methods produces the same qualitative results of either the need for human connection people crave nor the increase in necessary social capital that society requires.

I do not want to be mistakenly understood to say that online interaction is utterly unhelpful. On the contrary, online communication allows for the maintenance of long-distance relationships, provides an immeasurably valuable resource for the disabled and home-bound and a whole host of other benefits. However, no matter what benefits may arise from online communications, the need that people have for face-to-face human interaction, with real human touch, will in my opinion never disappear. Just because we may be able to Skype with home-bound senior citizens in Manhattan does not mean that organizations that provide volunteer visitors should fold and close shop. Just because we may be able to connect to a Daf Yomi shiur online does not mean we should altogether stop attending one in person at our local synagogue.

As the march of technological progress continues at its current fast clip, we must not forget to be always cognizant of the limits of any tool. Personal coffee makers and newspaper opinion columns did not replace the coffee shop nor did the telephone replace a regular visit to the grandparents and Skype, Facebook, Twitter and online webinars and whatever else may come will not replace a simple hug and a pat on the back.

Parshat Vayishlach: It's a Matter of Perspective

"I have become small from all the kindnesses..." (Bereishit 32:11)

Yaakov is on the verge of reuniting with his brother for the first time in years. By all accounts this is not to be a joyous occasion. Immediately after securing the firstborn blessing from their dying father, Yaakov flees into exile from his home and from his elder brother. It is only now as he seeks to return to his family and to his land that he must reckon with his brother, Esav. Will there be warfare? Will they both be able to put their past grievances behind them and turn a new page? These are the questions that must have been flashing through Yaakov's mind as he prepared for their imminent meeting.

It is in the midst of all the preparations for their reunion that Yaakov stops and prays. He turns to God and asks for help in overcoming this last challenge between him and his home. It is within that prayer that we uncover remarkable language that can play a truly transforming role in our lives. "I have become small from all the kindnesses and from all the truth that You have rendered Your servant..." Rav Saadia Gaon (b. 892- d. 942), the prominent Babylonian Geonic figure, offers an interpretation that many others after him have adopted: I am small and insignificant, Yaakov cries out, and thus how am I fit to be deserving of all the kindnesses that You have performed for me?"

The plea that Yaakov utters profoundly shifts the paradigm away from an ego-centric to a God-centric perspective. It is all too easy to see ourselves as the center of our own universes. The reality being that for the vast majority of our lives we are totally consumed with our own needs and objectives. The world operates for us and we do not operate for the world. All too often it is natural to see a goodness that occurs for us to be part of the natural order of things, while any negative action, even an unwanted red traffic light, to be entirely alien and foreign to our perceived way of the order of the world.

When we stop and examine Yaakov's plea, we are confronted with a real challenge. Yes, it is true that we must take care of our own needs. There is a Jewish value to making sure one does not abandon themselves. However, it is beneficial to have times where we step outside ourselves and move our position in our ordered universe from the center to a more peripheral position. Doing so allows us to take a broader, more balcony driven perspective on the world and is a healthy action to do regularly.

Yaakov in what to him was perhaps one of the most frightening and difficult periods in his life, stops and considers how small he truly is within the grand scheme of God's universe and from that place of smallness seeks God's help and indeed receives it. 

Building Inclusive Jewish Community

I have a short article up today in the On the Square feature section of the religion journal First Things on the topic of building inclusive Jewish community. In the article I propose a different paradigm for the foundation of inclusive Jewish community. A short excerpt:

Perhaps we require a different paradigm for Jewish inclusiveness. For a generation we have relied on shared ritual. But ritual runs directly into contentious issues such as gender separation, and leads to the stark contrast of the highest or lowest common denominator. The result is to uproot ritual—the articulation of faith as expressed differently by each denomination—from its foundations, and force a compromise with which no one is comfortable.

The rest of the article can be found here.

Parshat Toldot: Discovering the Positive

There are some things in our lives which we struggle to find the positive element of. Situations present themselves which cause us to wonder what is there to be thankful for in regards to this?

 

In this week's Parsha we are witness to the birth of two nations, the entrance unto the world's stage of two major actors that would shape the face of human civilization: Yaakov and Esav. Yaakov, who would father the twelve tribes of Israel, brings forth into the world the Jewish people. While our rabbis, through the Midrash, understand Esav as the spiritual father of the Roman Empire and later the Western World.

Esav, a hunter with little time for transmission of covenantal destiny, blessings or pondering the nature of God must have presented a challenge for Yitzhak. Yet, our parsha clearly states "ve'ye'ehav Yitzhak et Esav ki tziyad be-fiv - and Yitzhak loved Esav because the game of the hunt was in his mouth."

 

Rav Dovid Kimchi (b. 1160 d. 1235), states that of course Yitzhak loved Yaakov but the difficulty was to find a reason to love Esav. How does one come to appreciate, to be thankful for someone who represents practically the opposite of all one holds dear? Yet, despite all the difficulties, all the challenges in coming to grips with Esav, Yitzhak found a reason, found a way to connect with him. Rav Kimchi concludes that Yitzhak was able to appreciate Esav because "ki tziyad be-fiv," because he was able to provide for himself and his family, to provide food for those who needed.

 

The challenge presented to us through this week's parsha is to find ways to appreciate and to be thankful for people, situations and things in our lives that may not be the easiest to do so with. "Ve'ye'ehav Yitzhak et Esav ki tziyad be-fiv - And Yitzhak loved Esav because the game of the hunt was in his mouth".

Parshat Chayei Sarah: To be of...?

What does it mean to be 'of the world' and not at the same time? In many ways this is the task the Jewish people are charged with by God. Avraham, the father of the Jewish people, is called an ivri - Hebrew, the word essentially meaning "the other."

Indeed Avraham was vastly different than any other person residing in his time period. He believed in a unique single God that created humanity and deeply cares about the world and all of its inhabitants. He believed in a world of objective morality and had the courage to voice his sentiments even to God ("Will the Judge of the whole earth not judge justly?"). Yet, he was also very much of this world. He owned property, was married and had children and interacted with his neighbors and the cultures they were steeped in.

An incident in this week's parsha exemplifies Avraham's tension between otherness and non-otherness. In his negotiations to acquire a burial plot for his wife he states: "ger v'toshav anochi imachem - A stranger and a resident I am with you (23:4)." Within one sentence contains the core of the seemingly paradoxical existence that Avraham championed and the existence that was transmitted to us through the generations of Jewish faith.

To be of the world and not of it simultaneously means to live a life that fully appreciates the positives of the surrounding cultures. It means cultivating a discourse of respect and appreciation for people who are not Jewish and it means striving to be a model citizen in whatever country we live in. It also means staying true to our traditions, values and heritage and being above the fray of what is not so positive about the society we live in. 

The life we are called to lead, the life modeled on Avraham, is not a necessarily easy life nor is it meant to be. However, to be in the creative tension of "ger v'toshav" can help shape us into spectacularly vibrant, thinking, God-centered people who while rooted in our majestic mesorah are also civil and respectful central actors in the public square.

Esther Petrack and the Complexity of Modern Orthodoxy

I have to admit I do not watch the popular TV show, America's Next Top Model (ANTM). It is not that I am opposed to television - I am not, but reality television has never been my thing, especially when the show is all about modeling. However, even those of us in the Modern Orthodox community who do not watch ANTM heard about the Modern Orthodox model from Brookline, Esther Petrack. The video clip was circulated wide and far of the host of the show, Tyra Banks, asking Esther if she would be able to give up Shabbat to be on the show and Esther apparently replied with the famous words "I will do it."

Many pundits, both in the Jewish online and print media and in the blogosphere, took this as an example of the unrealistic life of Modern Orthodoxy. Many of them declared that Esther's words were testament to the fact that it was impossible to raise a child simultaneously in both the Torah and secular communities and that one would be sacrificed in pursuit of the other.

The newest report according to Esther's mother Marina is that Esther actually never said what she was made out to say. Rabbi Eliyahu Fink of the Pacific Jewish Center in California blogged about the incident and received an email from her mother in response. I encourage you to visit Rabbi Fink's blog to read the excerpts from her email but in essence what transpired was that the production team behind ANTM edited a much more lengthy response from Esther to Tyra Bank's question. In her more detailed actual response Esther outlined, according to her understanding of halakha, what she could do and what she would be unable to do. The editing team of the show for whatever reason chose to edit her response to appear as if she would wholesale forsake Shabbat for the television program.

Now that we have been given a more complete understanding of what occurred on the television program I believe we are left with an example of not the unsustainable nature of Modern Orthodoxy but rather the complexities of the lives Modern Orthodox committed Jews lead. I do not have to agree with every choice all committed Modern Orthodox Jews make in their negotiations between the world they live in and the world of Torah but I will never discount or not appreciate the thought and care that goes into making those decisions. To be a Modern Orthodox Jew is to fully embrace the messiness of life with all of its manifold and complicated interests.

It is not an easy life but most human endeavors worth doing have never been easy.

Parshat Lech Lecha: The Open Road

What a difference one parsha makes. We had ended last week's parsha with a discussion of the Tower of Babel. The Tower of Babel in the mind of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (the Netziv) was world's first attempt at totalitarianism. Those intrepid citizens of the world decided to build one tower and one city as the catalyst towards the cultivation of one people and one world. Indeed, the Torah remarks that the language of all the inhabitants was the same and so were their thoughts.

The story of Babel is a warning about the dangers of too much uniformity and conformity. It is a story that cautions us about the difficulties in urban and settled life; how the rush to build a single city can very soon lead to the crushing of difference and diversity.

It is then all the more revealing that the parsha that follows last week's telling of Babel begins with the pre-political story of the Jewish nation with the narrative of Abraham. And it is even more revealing that the narrative begins with the command to "go forth from your land, your birthplace and your father's house." Abraham is told to pack his belongings, gather his family and begin sojourning to an unknown destination. He is thrust into the life of a wanderer. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdechiv, the great Chasidic teacher, is quick to mention that Abraham was not a nuisance or a vagabond but was a man intentionally journeying to a place he did not know, a mission drive life.

This is in stark contrast to the consolidation and fortification represented by the Tower of Babel. While there have been people throughout Jewish history who have led the life of spiritual wanderer, it is certainly not a normative nor prescribed lifestyle. However, perhaps the Torah by juxtaposing these two narratives together is teaching us to strike a balance between the rigidity of urbanization and the fluidity and potential of the open road. These two modes of life when existing as poles in tension and conflict with each other create for us the potential of spiritual discovery while providing the safety of rootedness. The challenge is not letting Babel and the call to "go forth" operate in isolation from each other but allowing them both to inform and deepen our lives.

Tragedy and our duty

During Yom Kippur a Jewish resident of nearby Somerville, Mitchell Heisman, committed suicide in Harvard Yard on the steps leading up to where the Reform services were taking place. I wrote a response to this tragic event for Boston's Jewish Advocate. The full text of the article follows:


The liturgy of Yom Kippur felt much more pronounced and real this year than perhaps in years past. As we stood and chanted “mi yihiyeh,” who shall live and “mi yamut,” who shall die, our minds could not help but turn to the tragedy that happened in our own back yard. Mitchell Heisman, a 35-year old Jewish Somerville resident, took his own life on the steps leading up to Harvard’s Memorial Church, the site of Harvard Hillel’s Reform Minyan Yom Kippur services. On a beautiful Saturday morning, as we proceeded through the rituals of Judaism’s most holy day, we were shaken from the beauty of the world around us, and a glimpse of human tragedy and suffering was revealed.

It is unclear from news reports how affiliated Mitchell was with the Jewish community. A quick glance through his 1900 page suicide note does reveal that he did view himself as a Jew and that this element of his identity played a seminal role in his formation. The question though of whether Mitchell was affiliated or not is a red herring.

The Torah in Deuteronomy 21 commands a peculiar ritual upon the discovery of an unidentified corpse near one’s city. The leaders of that city are meant to both declare their innocence in the person’s death and to ask forgiveness from G-d for the murder that occurred. How are both possible? If the community is innocent, why ask for forgiveness; and if the community is not innocent, why declare its innocence? The Torah teaches us that as a community we are collectively responsible for the welfare of those amongst us. We may be factually innocent from the death of that particular person, but that does not exonerate us from the collective responsibility; and we, as a Jewish community, must seize this moment and take stock of our preparedness.

Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski in his 1997 book “Getting Up When You’re Down” asks a fundamental question in his introduction: “What need is there for a book on depression in the Jewish family? Are there books on arthritis amongst Jews, or pneumonia among Jews?” The unfortunate reality is that mental illness, as Dr. Twerski explains, is “shrouded in a cloud of suspicion, secrecy and even shanda (shame).” This cloud obscures our ability to effectively reach out to those most in need. Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that the cloud is all too often only lifted once the suicide has happened.

The magazine of the Orthodox Union, Jewish Action, carried a groundbreaking article by Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot in 2001, “Dimensions – A Young Man’s Story of Torment: Surviving Depression.” Rabbi Helfgot is a world renowned educator, author of several books and a public intellectual in the Modern Orthodox Jewish community. He went through a period of major depression in the ’90s and shared his story to help further open the Jewish community. He poignantly writes the following:

“Every few years, one reads in the newspaper of the frum boy who jumps off the George Washington Bridge or of the successful frum lawyer who shoots himself in the head, or the young adolescent yeshivah girl who runs away from home, never to be heard from again. And I sit and wonder, could these people have been helped before they reached the point of no return? Would they have felt less shame turning to someone if the community had created a culture where mental illness was not ‘someone’s fault’ or reflective of a personal flaw, but a disease to be treated and discussed in the same way and with the same empathy that one speaks of kidney disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure?”

We need to work tirelessly toward cultivating a greater atmosphere of loving concern and care amongst our community members. There is a fine line between gentle concern and “being nosy,” but simply being on the lookout for those who exist on the fringes of our community is a big step forward. Dr. Rosalynn Carter in her work “Helping Someone with Mental Illness” highlights several of the warning signs for mental illness, such as marked personality change; confused thinking; apathy; withdrawal from community; thinking or talking about suicide; or anger and hostility that is out of proportion to a situation. People exhibiting any or all of these symptoms need to be reached out to and proactively included in the community. Most importantly, they should not be kept a secret. Let a rabbi know what you have observed and hopefully a rabbi will be able to assist the person in finding a competent mental health practitioner.

The disorientation and shock we experienced on the tragic suicide of Mitchell Heisman should be the catalyst for a transformation in our communal perception of mental illness. The clouds that obscure our view of those most in need should be lifted, and those who exist on the fringes of our communities should be embraced with an open heart and open arms.

Covenantal Promise and Destiny: Wisdom for Life

I recently self-published a new book, Covenantal Promise and Destiny: Wisdom for Life. The book is the product of much reflection and study with students at Harvard Hillel on the books of Genesis and Deuteronomy.

I chose to focus in on those two books not only because they serve as the bookends for the Chumash but also because they form critical moments in the narrative arch of the Hebrew Bible. Within Genesis we uncover the greatest stories in human history; from God creating the world through the epic trials and tribulations of humanity and with it the process of narrowing unto one person and eventually unto one family to be the vehicle of holiness in this world. Deuteronomy is the greatest re-telling of the greatest storyline of the Jewish people by Moses, the greatest human leader. In every re-telling there is an act of interpretation and in that interpretation one can uncover great insights. When Genesis and Deuteronomy are studied together they reveal great wisdom that is directly applicable to our circumstances and to our time.

For those who decide to purchase my new book I hope it proves meaningful and worthwhile in aiding in your own development and in your study of Tanach and I look forward to hearing your comments. A book is not the end of a journey but rather one step along the way and I always appreciate feedback and reflections.

Shanah Tovah!

To all those who visit this blog wishing you a sweet new year filled with lots of Torah learning and deep engagement with Judaism! 

Shanah Tovah!