Every year the story of Balaam and his talking donkey recalls for me one of my childhood’s favorite TV sit-coms “Mr. Ed” featuring that friendly talking Palomino horse in the barn.

More seriously, the Biblical Balaam fantasy is a profound tale of good and evil, sensitivity and hard-heartedness, faith and cynicism. Though named for Balak, the King of Moab, the Torah portion is more about Balaam, the non-Jewish sorcerer and prophet than Balak and perhaps ought to have been named for him instead.

Balak feared the Israelites as they crossed through his territory, so he sought Balaam’s prophetic assistance by paying him to curse the Israelites thereby softening them before an armed conflict. Balak must have known that the children of Israel had scored already two military victories against the Canaanites of the Negev and the Amorites in Transjordan, so hiring Balaam was an attempt to move the advantage to Balak’s favor. Only the land of Moab separated Israel from their conquest of Canaan. The King must have feared what might befall him and his kingdom.

Instead of cursing Israel Balaam offered a blessing so beautiful and powerful that it became an integral part of our morning liturgy:

“Mah tovu o-ha-le-cha Yaakov – How goodly are your Tents of Jacob, Mish’ken-o-te-cha Yisrael – Your dwelling places O Israel.” (Numbers 24:5)

A number of questions come to mind about this story: What are we to make of Balaam? What is his purpose? What are his origins? Why is this story here? What is the modern relevance?

My friend, Rabbi Misha Zinko, many years ago wrote about this portion and some of his insights are worth sharing.

Balaam comes from Pethor, near the Euphrates River. In Jewish mysticism, the river is a direct link to God. Balaam’s origins suggest that he was immersed from his youth in a spiritual environment that inspired his prophetic capacities.

Balaam’s full name was Balaam ben B’or – b’or can either mean “fool” or “burned.” Balaam is either a brutish fool of a man or a man burning with divine insight…or both.

The rabbis interpret “Balaam” as “b’li am” – meaning, “without a people.” He was as his name – an independent sorcerer, out for himself, unattached by tribal custom, and unconstrained by social convention.

If we evaluate Balaam based upon his blasphemous actions and defiance against God when he made the deal with Balak to curse God’s people, we have to conclude that he was a fool. But if we judge him based upon his origins near the river and his poetic words of praise for the children of Israel, then we might regard him as burning with a desire to offer a blessing to God’s people.

Rabbi Zinko suggests that considering these two aspects of the Balaam character, each of us too has within us the two traits of Balaam. On the one hand we can be blind to the wonders around us just as Balaam was blind to the angel holding a sword and standing in his way as he prepared to curse the people. On the other hand, Balaam’s spiritual antenna were so finely tuned that when it came time to curse Israel, he blessed them with God’s word instead.

How often are we blind to the wonders in front of us? How often are we insensitive to the cruelty in our communities, country and around the world? Like Balaam, however, we’re also capable of perceiving God’s presence and acting in a Godly way. When we’re aware and spiritually tuned, our eyes behold unnoticed grace, we intuit the divine within the human condition, and we act accordingly.

Having fulfilled his mission to bless Israel, Balaam returned “M’komo – to his Place.” Rabbinic tradition understands the Hebrew word Makom to be synonymous to God. The story suggests that Balaam returned to a “Place” where he drank from the river of Godly insight and glimpsed the divine destiny of the children of Israel. It was in that mind-frame that he offered words of blessing instead of cursing.

May we do the same.

Shabbat shalom.

 

I want you to see a moving and inspirational 8-minute documentary project conceived by two of my congregants, Chris Bubser & Sophie Sartain.

Please watch the sizzle reel. You won’t regret it. And if you are inspired by their activism as I am, please consider a charitable contribution. You won’t regret that either!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/birddog-nation-documentary–2

Thank you for your consideration.

Congressman Adam Schiff spoke to 800 people at Temple Israel of Hollywood on Sunday, June 24 in a program hosted by “Jews United for Democracy and Justice” and “Community Advocates, Inc.” with co-hosts the Jewish Center for Justice, Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue, Temple Israel of Hollywood, Stephen S. Wise Temple, and Leo Baeck Temple.

I introduced the program and was followed by Mel Levine, a former Member of Congress from Los Angeles. Adam Schiff was interviewed by KCRW “Press Play” host Madeline Brand.

Congressman Schiff offers insight into the current state of our democracy and the threats to it posed by the Trump Administration attack on America’s democratic institutions and the press, the Russian investigation, immigration to America, and the significance of the upcoming mid-term elections.

Here is the link to the conversation – https://livestream.com/accounts/1443588/events/8259785/videos/176799010

This article (published June 20th in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal) is a must-read for any Jew wanting insight into what is going on within the American Jewish community vis a vis the American government and our democratic institutions, the nature of American society vis a vis the political left and right, America Firsters vs Internationalists, the role of Diaspora Jews towards Israel, and the needs of the Jewish community vis a vis the Jewish State.

Steve Windmueller has done us a service in writing this piece.

He is the Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk Emeritus Professor of Jewish Communal Studies at the Jack H. Skirball Campus of HUC-JIR in LA.

See http://jewishjournal.com/analysis/235393/jeffersonian-vs-jacksonian-jews-revisiting-jewish-political-behavior-21st-century/

 

Pictured: Rabbi Galit Kohen-Kedem and Rabbi John Rosove in Tel Aviv

Rabbi Galit Kohen-Kedem, the Rabbi of Kehilat Kodesh v’Chol, a Reform synagogue in Holon, Israel (15 minutes drive from Tel Aviv) shared with me that Holon’s Deputy Mayor shared horrible homophobic statements on his Facebook page. In reaction, Rabbi Galit’s congregation teamed up with several LGBTQ organizations through the Israel Religious Action Center to participate in Holon’s first pride parade/demonstration demanding that the Deputy Mayor be removed from his position.

Rabbi Galit was a featured speaker at the Holon rally last night, and she translated her message for me as follows:

“I ask you today: what separates humanity from God? Our sages write in the Mishnah [Sanhedrin 4:5]: “People stamp many coins with one seal, and each is like the other.” We humans know how to create structures and molds which are all exactly the same, even identical. How boring. But today I wish to tell of the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be God, that created a magnificently diverse humanity: “The King, King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed be God, stamps every human being with the seal of Adam (the first human being) and not one of them is like his/her fellow. Therefore every person must say: for my sake was the world created.” The Holy one blessed be God is greater than humans, even greater than those who claim to speak in God’s Name and believe that we are born identical and are constrained under the monopoly of identity, religion and thought. So say it with me now: “For my sake was the world created!”   

I am a ‘pride’-female Reform rabbi, proud of the human diversity that constitutes us as a community, as an educational system, as a society. Kodesh V’Chol was the first synagogue community to celebrate Pride Shabbat in Holon seven years ago and we will do so again tomorrow. You are all welcome to join us.

I am proud of all the parents, friends, family members, and of this sacred crowd who choose to defend our right to choose to create our own identity, choose to build diverse families and love our partners. I am a pride-mother. I will do everything to ensure that our children can love and feel loved out of choice freedom and respect. “For my sake was the world created!” 

 

 

Today was a difficult day for those of us who care about food insecurity in America. This afternoon, The House of Representatives passed H.R. 2 (the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, otherwise known as the Farm Bill), which would make deep and structural cuts to how food insecure Americans access SNAP (food stamp) and other critical federal nutrition programs.

MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger is the only organization in American Jewish life devoted solely ending hunger and its causes in the United States and Israel. I have supported their work for decades.

Here are five short pieces from MAZON explaining why this disastrous, partisan and cruel piece of legislation must not become law.

PRESS RELEASE: Los Angeles, CA (June 21, 2018)

In response to the passage of H.R. 2 (the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, otherwise known as the Farm Bill), Abby J. Leibman, President & CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, issued the following statement:

“By the slimmest of margins, the House of Representatives has failed the American people and passed the harmful and highly partisan Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (H.R. 2).

This vote represents a stunning failure of leadership. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (WI-1) manipulated the process with a singular goal in mind: to advance his ideological and dangerous crusade to undermine our nation’s social safety net. His tactics represent politics at its worst; his success today is to the detriment of the American people.

This bill is nothing but a demonstration of a broken process, bad policy, and poor leadership. The American people deserve better.”

ADDITION MATERIALS

1. MAZON’s statement just about today’s vote. https://mazon.org/inside-mazon/mazon-labels-passage-of-h-r-2-a-failure-of-leadership
2. An in-depth analysis about why the Farm Bill is so destructive. https://mazon.org/inside-mazon/so-i-hear-the-farm-bill-is-bad-but-how-bad-is-it
3. A 30,000 ft view of why the Farm Bill in the House will hurt people. https://mazon.org/inside-mazon/2018-farm-bill-will-harm-real-people
4. MAZON’s reaction to the Senate Bill that passed committee https://mazon.org/inside-mazon/mazon-gratified-by-senate-proposal-for-2018-farm-bill
5. MAZON’s press release in which 1,000 rabbis and Jewish clergy signed on. https://mazon.org/inside-mazon/mazon-delivers-jewish-clergy-sign-on-letter-to-members-of-congress

 

 

 

 

I’ve been feeling pretty angry these past weeks as I watch the news and witness the harm that the Trump Administration has caused 2500+ children and their parents that crossed the border illegally.

The moral outrage that a vast majority of Americans feel has had some impact on the President and forced him to cave and sign an executive order halting the separation of families. But the policy says nothing about all those children who were sent to Michigan, New York, and fifteen other places as their parents were sent home to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador where violence had forced these families out of fear for their lives to escape in the first place, grounds to grant political asylum in the United States.

At times I’ve not been able to think straight because I’ve been so righteously enraged.

This issue raises an important question about how we handle anger, not only as we deal with the impact that family separation is having on these children, but what we do about the anger we feel with members of our family, co-workers, and friends when we feel slighted or abused.

Do we act out physically or express ourselves verbally? When we’re calm, do we feel justified in what we said and did? Was there a positive result? Did the relationship with the person with whom we were angry get stronger and better, or did it deteriorate?

I ask these questions not only in the wake of the events of these last few weeks on our southern border, but also because this week’s Torah portion Hukat (Numbers 19:1-22:1) tells of an incident in Moses’ life when his anger had serious consequences for him and the people of Israel.

The incident took place following the death of Miriam when her brothers, Moses and Aaron, were mourning their loss of her. The people complained bitterly about their sudden lack of water. Moses and Aaron appealed to God, and God told Moses to gather the people, speak to a rock, and water would flow thus sating the people’s thirst.

Moses, however, was so overwrought with grief, weariness and rage and he was so aggravated by the people’s incessant complaining that instead of speaking to the rock he struck it twice with his rod. Water did indeed gush out in torrents, as God had promised, but the Almighty was incensed by Moses’ defiance and punished him harshly for hitting the rock instead of speaking to it:

“Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them.” (Numbers 20:12)

To deny Moses the privilege of entering the Promised Land must have been devastating to a man who had dedicated his life to God and the people. We have to ask, what was it about this sin that carried such an extreme consequence.

The rabbis offer a number of ideas. Maimonides said that Moses’ bitter language didn’t become his position as leader. The Talmud says that Moses lacked sufficient faith. Nahmanides thought that Moses showed hubris in accepting credit for providing water instead of acknowledging that God provided it. And Rashi said that Moses simply lost his temper.

There are many contemporary parallels to Moses’ fury. One is “road rage” when a driver becomes so infuriated at another driver that s/he seeks vengeance. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that “road rage” was a major factor in 40,000 total traffic deaths in 2017.

Studies of the 17,250 murders in 2016 in the United States indicate that a vast majority were committed by people who knew personally the victim.

Of course, not all anger results in physical violence. Language is a powerful weapon when used skillfully against our adversaries. The old saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” is wrong. What we say and how we say it can cause serious damage.

There are times when anger is fully justified, such as in the face of ingratitude, lies, slander, theft, mistreatment of the poor and children, cruelty, and false claims in God’s Name. (see A Code of Jewish Ethics, volume 1, by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, pages 258-262).

Besides righteous indignation, a loose and vicious tongue can cause serious damage to marriage, friendship, and relationships. Verbal assault can inspire fear in the home, at work and in school settings, and ultimately destroy trust, the most important cohesive in friendship.

Holding onto our anger, however, also has a terrible effect. Mark Twain said that “anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” We have to have constructive ways of expressing the hurt that gives rise to anger.

If we follow Rashi’s interpretation that Moses’ sin was in his expression of anger with the people, despite his strength as a leader, as prophet, liberator, legislator, judge, and military chieftain, he lost God’s promise because he couldn’t control his rage.

Tradition asks what constitutes real strength: Eizeh hu gibor? Who is strong?” The answer: “Hakovesh et yitzro – [Not the one who has physical strength, public or familial power, but] the one who controls one’s passion.” (Mishnah, Pirkei Avot 4:1) The Vilna Gaon understood the term yitzro as “his anger.”

In this sense, Moses showed a core weakness when he lost his temper with the people. If Moses was so capable of losing control, so much the more so do each of us needs to check our rage when we feel it, be it on the highway, in the home, with our spouses and partners, among friends, at work, and with strangers. If we are able to do so, we and everyone around us will be the better for it.

Shabbat shalom!

 

 

 

I know that I share with most Americans the moral outrage that has been provoked by the deliberate inhumane policy of President Trump, Attorney General Sessions, the members of his administration, and those in Congress who justify the administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the border.

Trump’s characterization of the people from Latin America coming into the United States as an “infestation” of the country, as if these people are vermin, is the language of white ultra-nationalist neo-Nazis who deny the humanity of the immigrant to justify their inhuman policy. This attitude is profoundly un-American and reminds us of the slave-holder’s characterization of peoples of color in this country.

I pray that Congress cancels this policy immediately because Trump is incapable of doing so.

I offer the following thoughts drawn from world literature about the nature of cruelty and evil:

The human being is the cruelest animal. -Friedrich Nietzsche

People speak sometimes about the “bestial” cruelty of human beings, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as humankind, so artfully, so artistically cruel. -Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I think it’s perfectly possible to explain how the universe came about without bringing God into it, but I don’t know everything, and there may well be a God somewhere, hiding away. Actually, if God is keeping out of sight, it’s because God is ashamed of its followers and all the cruelty and ignorance they’re responsible for promoting in God’s name. If I were God, I’d want nothing to do with them. -Philip Pullman

Thus it is that no cruelty whatsoever passes by without impact. Thus it is that we always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap. -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things. -Terry Pratchett

All cruelty springs from weakness. -Seneca

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. -Bertrand Russell

All cruel people describe themselves as paragons of frankness. -Tennessee Williams

I must be cruel only to be kind; Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind. -William Shakespeare

Some things are not forgivable. Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable. It is the most unforgivable thing in my opinion, and the one thing in which I have never, ever been guilty. -Tennessee Williams

It is from the Bible that the human being has learned cruelty, rapine, and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel person. -Thomas Paine

Deliberate cruelty is unforgivable.-Tennessee Williams

Emotion without reason lets people walk all over you; reason without emotion is a mask for cruelty. -Nalini Singh

We can never be gods, after all–but we can become something less than human with frightening ease. -N.K. Jemisin

Cruelty knows that it has no need of histrionics. It can be as calm and quiet as it likes. It can sigh, or lightly shake its head in disbelief, or offer a sympathetic apology for whatever it must do. It can move slowly, methodically, inevitably. -Amor Towles

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. -Elie Wiesel

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. -Edmund Burke

Evil is like a shadow – it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it. -Shakti Gawain

A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury. -John Stuart Mill

One who condones evil is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it. -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Some people are guilty; all are responsible. -Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

He has told you, humankind, what is good and what God requires of you, to do justice, to love goodness, and to walk modestly with your God. -Micah 6:8

 

 

The following message comes from “Bend the Arc” a Jewish justice organization. I have signed this letter expressing my moral outrage that children are being torn away from their parents at the border. I ask you to do the same by signing the letter through the following link:

https://www.bendthearc.us/moral_emergency

“To this country, in whose promise we still believe, to the millions of people who are outraged and horrified, and especially to the thousands of children who have been separated from their families, we declare our nation to be in a state of moral emergency.

This Administration has established border policies unprecedented in their scope and cruelty, that are inflicting physical, mental, and emotional harm on immigrants and punishing those seeking refuge at our borders.

We are anguished by the stories and images of desperate parents torn from their babies and detention facilities packed with children. We shudder with the knowledge that these inhumane policies are committed in our name, and we lift our voices in protest.

The Jewish community, like many others, knows all too well what it looks like for a government to criminalize the most vulnerable, to lie and obfuscate to justify grossly immoral practices under the banner of “the law,” to interpret holy scripture as a cover for human cruelty, to normalize what can never be made normal. We have seen this before.

When crying children are taken from their parents’ arms, the American Jewish community must not remain silent.

To those who are targeted by these cruel policies, know that the Jewish community hears your cries. We will take risks to support you, and we will demand that our nation’s leaders take action. We will not abide the claim that people didn’t know or understand the extent of your suffering; we will not allow your torment to be in vain.

Our government can persist in this inhumane behavior only if good people remain silent.

And so we declare a state of moral emergency, and we rise to meet this moment. Even as our democratic institutions are under duress, we raise our voices and take decisive action. United by the wisdom of our tradition, we stand with immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, with the children, and with their parents. We declare: Not here. Not now. Not in our name.”

Korach is one of Biblical tradition’s greatest villains, and when comparing him to today’s national leadership one wonders if the writers of the Biblical tale didn’t have a crystal ball that projected them into this era.

This week’s Torah portion Korach (Numbers 16:1-18:32) tells the story of a major rebellion led by Korach and 250 Israelite leaders.

Korach was the first cousin of Moses and Aaron (Exodus 6:18-21), a member of the priestly class and part of the ruling elite. The leaders around him are described as “Princes of the congregation, the elect men of the assembly, men of renown.” (Numbers 16:2) The Talmud says of them “that they had a name recognized in the whole world.” (Sanhedrin 110a).

Despite his elevated status Korach wasn’t satisfied. He challenged Aaron’s exclusive right to the priesthood, and his cohorts Dathan and Abiram questioned Moses’ leadership. Korach’s goal was to unseat the divinely chosen leaders. He appealed to the people to overthrow them using religious language and espousing the importance of rotating leaders in office, all of whom were equally worthy.

“And they assembled themselves together against Moses and … Aaron, and said [to them], ‘You take too much upon yourself, seeing that all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them.’”

Though they spoke the language of “democrats,” Korach and his minions weren’t democrats at all; they were demagogues who manipulated and incited the masses for their narrow self-interests.

Rabbi Moshe Weiler, the founder of liberal Judaism in South Africa, wrote that “Theirs [i.e. Korach and his cohorts] was the pursuit of kavod, honor and power, in the guise of sanctity and love of the masses.”

Onkolos (2^nd century C.E.), in his Aramaic translation of the two opening words of the portion, Vayikach Korach (“And Korach took”) wrote It’peleg Korach (“And Korach separated himself”) suggesting that he didn’t consider himself to be one with the people nor was he interested in serving their interests. To use a modern analogue, he saw himself as above the law and wanted to have the power of a king.

Korach sought power for power’s sake and he ignited a controversy based on ignoble motivations and nefarious goals leading to the devastation of the community. In the end, the earth swallowed the rebels alive and sent them to Sheol (the netherworld) in a spectacular inferno. (Numbers 16:31-35)

Korach’s eish ha-mach’loket (“fire of controversy”) became an eish o-che-lah (“a devouring fire”) that augured doom.

“The Sayings of the Sages” (Pirkei Avot 5:21) reflects upon Korach’s rebellion and distinguishes between two very different kinds of controversy. The first is healthy and useful and is pursued for the sake of heaven (l’shem shamayim). This kind of an argument brings about blessing and a stronger community. The second is the opposite. It represents a pernicious fight not based on lasting values. Rather, it brings disunity and destruction. In Judaism, Hillel and Shammai (1^st century BCE) embodied the former, and Korach and his legions the latter.

Korach was a cynic. Moses was the opposite, the humble servant-leader.

Who are we? Do we resonate with the voice of Korach or the spirit of Moses?

Who are our leaders? Are they interested in power or the common good?

Turning inward for a moment, Rabbi Rachel Cowan opines that though all of us may aspire to be like Moses, Korach lives within each of our hearts too.

In thinking about ourselves and our leaders, the words of Maimonides remind us of the importance of pursuing higher virtue:

“The ideal public leader is one who holds seven attributes: wisdom, humility, reverence, loathing of money, love of truth, love of humanity, and a good name.” (Hilchot Sanhedrin 2:7)

In our elections, Judaism teaches that we ought to be voting for servant-leaders and not self-centered aspirers to power for power’s sake.