Fall was just beginning to turn the Moscow air crispy when the lot of us — 10 high school seniors and three faculty members of YULA Girls\’ School — trudged down the stairs of our Intourist Hotel in the late \’80s, and began our walk of several miles, not to the better-known Chabad Lubavitch Synagogue or to the Moscow Choral Synagogue, but to another shul in the city\’s nort
God gave Noah many instructions on how to build the ark. It took Noah 120 days to build it. The rabbis ask: \”Why did it take him so long?\” And the answer: \”God was giving Noah a chance to talk to his neighbors.\” The neighbors would come up to Noah and say: \”Why are you building this ark?\” And Noah was supposed to say: \”Because God is sending a flood to destroy all you wicked people.\” Chances are, many of the wicked people would have repented and been saved. But Noah was too shy to talk to his neighbors. And so, he built his ark, got into it and sailed away, while everyone else drowned.
So many people seem to be concerned with the question, \”Who wrote the Bible?\”
There once was a man who could provide only potatoes for his family\’s subsistence. As the monotony and the poverty wore on, he prayed, and his prayers were answered. There fell into his hands a mysterious map to a magical Island of Diamonds.
\”Judges and officers shall you appoint in all of your cities.\”
This divine commandment to establish a judicial system serves as the basis of all Western law; a fair system affording protection to each of its citizens and guests.
Though this is a communal responsibility, it is stated in the singular, lecha. Why? Why is God talking to each of us as individuals? What message lies in this portion dealing with judges for us, the non-judge community?
Society needs to feel there is an operative judicial system. Community, as we know it, can only run when there is a feeling of justice.
The proverbial apple may not fall far from the tree. Often, though, the question is: which tree?
I recently visited a hospital patient, an elderly gentleman with a name, a gaze and a life story from the old country. His deterioration had advanced to the stage of inhibiting verbal communication, so he spoke to me instead through gestures, nods and stares. But slowly, we drew closer. We shared sorrow, distress and worry. Eventually, exhausted, he told me he wanted to get some rest. I recited the \”Shema\” for him, and he closed his eyes in fatigue.
I suppose it would be nearly impossible to go through an entire week of Passover for Reconstructionist and Reform Jews, not to mention eight days for the rest of you, without the profound experience in practically every pore of your body that Jewish identity is inextricably bound up with food.
Unworthiness is not a quality that carries positive connotations. It\’s usually thought of as a state to be overcome, or a situation to be avoided. Perhaps, though, it has a redeeming feature. Perhaps feelings of unworthiness should actually be reveled in and appreciated — at least sometimes.
Children often are pestered by well-meaning adults. I remember as a child having my cheeks pinched, or, even worse, my ear lobe pulled by some sweet elderly lady. Recounting this experience at one of my evening classes, one student seriously asked me, \”Rabbi, did she pull down or pull up?\”
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