T he Fonz was the ultimate of cool on "Happy Days," but in real life Henry Winkler struggled through school. Winkler and his parents — who called him stupid and lazy — didn\’t know that he was dyslexic until he was diagnosed at age 30.
To what extent do we (and would we) internalize the essence of the Torah?
To understand how Rabbi Morley Feinstein has re-energized University Synagogue, just peek in on his Friday night services, which have been attracting upwards of 125 people every week.
Did you ever notice how we tend to make up our minds so quickly that we become closed to ideas that might change our opinion?
Recently, I came across the following sign prominently displayed on an executive\’s desk that succinctly summarized it: \”Don\’t confuse me with facts — my mind is already made up.\”
If that is true about life in general, it is even truer about the way we judge people. We rarely give people much time before we decide what we think of them. It is this very point that Judaism teaches in a fascinating fashion in this week\’s Torah portion.
What makes a good parent? Once, while waiting on line at Passport Control in Israel, I overheard two American couples talking.
Each was describing how much luggage they had brought. Finally, one said to the other, \”We brought nothing for ourselves. The truth is we could have done just fine with a carry-on case. All our oversized bags are filled with items for our children and grandchildren. We took orders for whatever they wanted and shlepped it here.\” Then she added the ultimate Jewish thing. \”Isn\’t that what parents are supposed to do?\”
The other couple, nodding in agreement, replied, \”Yes, and may you do so for 120 years.\”
Suddenly from all over the hall came, \”Amen!\”
The art of public speaking is a special gift. In the anthology \”Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History\” (Norton & Co., 1997), New York Times columnist William Safire collects 200 of history\’s outstanding instances of oratorical eloquence.
He divides this compendium of great speeches by categories, including Memorials and Patriotic Speeches; War and Revolution Speeches; Tributes and Eulogies; Sermons; Inspirational Speeches; and Speeches of Social Responsibility. Among the outstanding public addresses are Abraham Lincoln\’s \”Gettysburg Address,\” Martin Luther King\’s \”I Have A Dream\” speech and John F. Kennedy\’s inaugural address.
For many of us, this season is marked by being with families and sharing our family stories. In the Torah cycle it is the time of the year that we read the powerful story of a family of brothers, a story about forgiveness and reconciliation. Buried in this story about brothers is a one-line mystery about a sister.
After Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers, he sends wagons to bring his father, Jacob, to Egypt so Joseph can take care of him. The text tells us: \”Then Jacob and all his offspring came to Egypt. He brought with him his sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters — all his offspring. And these are the names of the children of Israel, Jacob and his descendants, who came to Egypt\” (Genesis 46:6-7). What follows is a very long list of men mostly, except for Jacob\’s daughter, Dinah, and one granddaughter: \”And the sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah, and their sister Serah\” (Genesis 46:17).
Most of my congregation knows from references I\’ve made over the years that I am a devoted sports fan. Ever since I was a youngster,
sitting with my dad watching football on TV, I\’ve had \”my teams\” — the Rams, the Dodgers and the Bruins. On rare occasions I have even gone to the games, and there, like everyone around me, I\’ve participated in cheering on the players. That has always seemed to me perfectly reasonable behavior — it is, after all, recreation — and, in the last analysis, it\’s just a game. There are limits, of course, to acceptable behavior in the stands — I never could get into booing and screaming epithets at the other side, or at the referees and umpires. Starry-eyed idealist that I may be, I have always believed in good sportsmanship.
Even if the reader is a person who does not regularly attend Shabbat worship services when the Torah is read, the text of Nitzavim will be somewhat familiar, inasmuch as it is offered not only as a reading during the Sabbath we are about to observe, but it is also presented as the Torah text in the midst of the morning of Yom Kippur. So, even the least observant among us, when wending their way to a synagogue to observe the High Holidays, ought to find this material from Deuteronomy to be not at all strange.
All of us have heard, or experienced a variation of the following story, told of a father and his daughter. She, a busy professional; he, a retired widower. In one of their virtually nonexistent exchanges, he asks: \”With your booked schedule, will you be able to attend my funeral?\” Her response: \”Of course, how could you say such a thing?\” His retort: \”I need you in my life now, before I die.\”
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