Portion AchreiMos and Kedoshim - Loving the People
- פרטים
- קטגוריה: Parashat Hashavua
- פורסם בשישי, 23 אפריל 2021 00:00
- נכתב על ידי Super User
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Portion Tazria Metzora Israel Independence
In this double Portion we are told
If a woman has a child - and she cant go to the temple for a month or two;
If someone has leprosy - and can't stay in an Israelite town but right outside -
they too cannot enter the Temple
Before we go further afield - or become bothered -
remember the story in the Talmud
One young rabbi asks the Master Teacher "where is the Messia"
and is told "Go to just outside Rome - he is with the lepers..."
You may want to write your own continuation of that story - but there's a lot of MEANING here...
So what to focus on for this week and this Portion?
Last night I prayed in a Sephardic Minyan;
At home I listened to the Memorial Day speech of President Rivlin
And Benny Gantz the lame duck Defense Minister
And the Chief of Staff Kochavi - pledging
to use every modern defice to protect our soldiers as they defend us!
This morning I prayed with the local Ashkenazim,
Was blessed by one of our Kohanim (Priests)
And we sand praises that 73 years ago the Almighty blessed us with a state of our own after 2000 years!
Now for Israel Independence Day -
Walking here to prayers -
I watched an Ethiopian mother kiss her baby
Then
Said Kaddish in the National Religious Minyan -
And waited to sing Hatikva
And blow a big Yemenite shofar
Okay - after childbirth Women were not allowed in the Great Temple -
for a WHILE
And we - now 2000 years later
What have we given birth to?
Just 200 nobel Laureates?
Or PRAYERS AND CRYING to have
a chance for peace for after 70 years of Attacks ...
AND
What's that to lepers and sufferers of gonohrea in the portion?
For 2000 years we were treated like lepers!
The Moslems were not as bad as the Christians, but ...
Our homes were violated ...like the laws of plagues (which require homes be dismantled)
For Israelites ... Passover was a redmption - with
Redemption defined by Rabbi Shlomo.as
Something you gotta cry over for hundreds of years until the longing is a deep part of you -
And the Almighty knows that
Then it's time for us to Escape egypt!
Then we are redeemed
We cry from happiness when a baby is born
From sadness when someone is sick
AND ACTIONS?
Israel sends help in times of any disaster any where in the world!
So lets understand the portion in light of 2000 years crying and praying for deliverance
And peace in the world
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
Portion Vayikra : Second Story – and When Forgiveness MeansNothing
So – are we all getting ready for Passover / Paisach? Organizing things so you can "sell the Chometz" stuff in one corner and not all over?
Have some "break" time for a story? As we wrote last week – there are 3 stories which are suggested to be told over as preparation for Passover (and I hope t tell over another one at my ZOOm "ModelSeder" next week). We get to that soon…
But this week's portion Vayikra talks about animal sacrifices – which the world all did – during the first and second temple periods! How relevant is that to US?
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (of blessed memory) said (excerpted ideas here are from various teachings) " the problems of the world all stem from lack of respecting one another. In short (this is my abridged paraphrase), we let negativity and denigration degrade others – and then ourselves. He said about the Sin of the Golden Calf,
Imagine if you ask someone to show you a picture of their spouse, and they show you a picture of a calf and say "this looks like my spouse".
RESPECT – do you think this is respectful? The people in the desert made a Golden Calf and said "This is G-d". Was that a great honor to the Almighty?"
(And sadly, for a few hundred years, the evil kings (not the good ones) of the Israelites of the first temple period, had idols like calves set up for people to "worship". WHAT KIND OF WORSHIP AND RESPECT IS THAT?
So the portion teaches – sacrifice in Judaism is about atonement (like fasting on Yom Kippur). Rich people would bring a kosher animal, middleclass a bird, and poor people a flour offering – to the Temple.
The priests who were on shift to work there had some food – and the people who wanted to atone for some sin didn't eat – sort of like Yom Kippur. And it cost what it cost – AND IT WAS TO SERVE AS A LESSON to RESPECT and to FOLLOW A RIGHTEOUS PATH – and the Almighty.
In short – Why does Judaism not taut sacrifice today as a means f teaching respect?
Is it partly because of the SUPER NEGATIVITY AND LACK OF RESPECT
In this age of millions of murdered and missiles and mass shootings, of Russians maybe poisoning for politics, and Myanmar and China crackdowns (just lately) and and and…
Yes – the Torah is still valid – BUT EVERYONE IN THE WORLD NEEDS TO LEARN THE LESSONS
And so the second story is about a king who loved his Jewish citizens, but as always, there were plotting politicians who used the Jews to sew hatred. Every day there bad guys would make up lies to tell the King and make him turn against the Jews.
The favorite RING of the KING went missing – and he ordered EVERYONE in the LA ND to LOOK for it! FIND THE RING AND SATISFY THE KING was the order posted on every wall and tree in the capital city.
"Not found not found not found" reported all the precinct captains.
AND IT WAS PASSOVER TIME.
The vizier who hated the Jews more than anyone told the king –
And who KNEW they were searching for CHOMETZ the night before – and so he said
let's go out tonight and you will see that the Jews are NOT even searching for the RING but are CelebraTING –
And that is not a respectful THING!
So the two went out in disguise that evening (of course followed by some FBI agents to protect them?) – with Magnifying Glasses poking here and there as if they were searching for the ring … and got to the Jewish Quarter – where everyone was singing.
The wicked vizier said "See, I told you they don't care about your orders."
The Jews were all over singing DAYENU DAYENU and more DAYENU very loud – and the incensed King knocked on a door – turns out it was the Rabbi's house - and asked very LOUDly!
"What's that you are all singing? What does that mean?"
The local wise Rabbi just said "It means ENOUGH ENOUGH ENOUGH", and looked at the hated vizier, who always tormented the Jews.
The King turned and looked at the vizier and said – enough? Enough of what?
Tell me the truth - YOU stole ring to get me angry at my faithful-est citizens! Right? And shouted
"Police- FBI – grab him!" And sure enough, they found the ring in the vizier's home and – well – you know about sacrifices now from the portion …
So please Bless Me that I don't forget the third story before next Shabbat
And I bless you all to say over some RESPECTFUL stories on Passover, and have
Even a little seder –(which means organization) – a little one being at least better than none
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz
The portion is about building the Tabernacle in the Sinai Desert
What's that go to do with pouring rain – and some snow in Jerusalem Wednesday night?
And why is the Almighty showing how to train a philanthropic soul the way to fix the world?
According to the Kabala view, each of us is on this planet to contribute something special.
The portion starts out with EVERYONE of the Israelites contributing something in the desert.
EVERYONE! Some gave gold some gave silver, some wove threads for the curtains.
So – knowing human nature – we need to ask - but were there some character just giving advice ?
Actually - almost yes! The Almighty? Wasn't he the planner and just telling Moshe what had to be done?
But the Medrash tells us, that when Moses did not know how to make something – the Almighty did it forUS-FORhim-FORtheWORLD.
Yes when it came to creating a lamp of pure gold, the great teacher Moshe couldn't figure out how to make it of "ONE BEATEN PIECE OF GOLD" so
G-d speaking "Throw it into the fire and it will come out as I told you," –
And the Almighty Himself created that beautiful Temple Menorah –
The symbol of light and wisdom and holiness FOR THE WORLD –
Which over a thousand years later, the Roman Legions carved onto the
Arch of Titus (the wicked destroyer) as if to say "we have defeated
light and wisdom and holiness FOR THE WORLD" – BUT HAVE THEY? COULD THEY?
NO! And every time our "giving nurturing volunteering" soul does ITS PART –
We fulfill the message of that menorah –
Bringing light and wisdom and holiness FOR THE WORLD.
Whether it is bringing soul to the desert, Torah to the corrupt Canaanites, creating
"The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave" (drop the revisionist detracting please)
Bringing water and healing to Africa, or volunteering for people with disabilities …
Neither snow nor rain nor … nuclear threats can stop the Israelite Vision of
The Menorah of the Almighty – from shining into the world.
Read the Portion to see how much work goes into that!
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Andy Eichenholz - from snow and slush covered Jerusalem!