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A Victory for Freedom of Religion in Israel

5/30/2012

 
The big news in the Jewish world this week is the decision by Israel's Attorney General, Yehuda Weinstein, to grant government funding to non-Orthodox rabbis. The ruling came in a case brought by Kibbutz Gezer, affiliated with the Reform Movement, and its spiritual leader, Rabbi Miri Gold. Rabbi Gold will become the first non-Orthodox rabbi to receive the state funding that is a mainstay for religious leaders in Israel's Orthodox communities.
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Rabbi Miri Gold of Kibbutz Gezer
The victory is tempered by several points not widely covered in the American press. Rabbi Gold and other non-Orthodox rabbis will not be recognized as rabbis under this ruling. Her official designation will be as a "community leader." Unlike Orthodox rabbis, her authority in Jewish law will remain unrecognized by the government and she will not have authority over personal status issues such as marriage and divorce. Also, the funding for her position will not come from the same source as the funding for Orthodox rabbis. They are supported by the Religious Services Ministry. Non-Orthodox rabbis (I know this sounds like a joke) will be funded by the Ministry of Culture and Sport. (Tennis, anyone?)

The significance of the victory should not be overstated. This is a first step. For the time being, the victory is largely symbolic. Yet, it does show that Israel may be getting ready, slowly, to break the monopoly on Jewish religious legitimacy that the Orthodox have held—and ferociously defended—since the founding of the state.

That monopoly has resulted in a bizarre fact: Israel is the only western-style democracy that discriminates against the religious freedoms of Jews. Reform and Conservative rabbis in Israel are not permitted to officiate at weddings. Their authority to authorize conversions to Judaism is extremely limited. Non-Orthodox Jews in Israel routinely travel out of their own country to get married, because the only Jewish marriages recognized by the Israeli government are those that are sanctioned by Orthodox rabbis.

What would we say if such discrimination against Jews existed in any other country?

Those who defend this system state that only a small fraction of Israeli Jews identify with the non-Orthodox movements. That point conveniently ignores the fact that the biggest impediments to the growth of non-Orthodox Judaism in Israel are the legal restrictions that non-Orthodox Jews face in practicing their religion. How fast would Reform and Conservative Judaism grow in Israel if liberal rabbis were given the same authority and legitimacy they enjoy in every other democratic country? No wonder the Orthodox rabbinate has worked so hard against the recognition of non-Orthodox rabbis and no wonder they speak so viciously against non-Orthodox Judaism.

Members of the Israeli Knesset from the Ultra-Orthodox parties have not minced words in denouncing the Attorney General's decision. Knesset Member Moshe Gafni of United Torah Judaism was quoted as saying that Reform and Conservative rabbis are "clowns." Another MK, Nissim Zeev of the Shas Party called non-Orthodox rabbis, "People who falsify the Torah." He said, "This is the beginning of the destruction of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel." 

You heard it here, folks. Forget the Iranian nuclear threat. Instead, watch out for those Reform rabbis.

Sarcasm aside, there is definitely a joyful side to this news. It offers us a glimmer that change is coming. Judaism is a tradition of liberation, not constriction, and the true character of the Jewish faith is bound to emerge eventually. The overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews already reject the tyranny of the Orthodox rabbinical establishment. Given the opportunity to rediscover Judaism in a non-coercive setting—one that treats men and women equally and encourages each person to make his or her own choices in observing Jewish tradition—it is inevitable that many Israeli Jews will find spiritual succor in the non-Orthodox movements. 

Rabbi Gold has stepped through a door. Many will follow her.


Other Posts on This Topic:
The Problem with Certainty

Naso: The Piety of Pleasure

5/29/2012

 
Almost every major religion has some tradition of asceticism—some practice in which a person can strive for higher levels of piety by renouncing pleasures. Christian monks and nuns give up marriage and sexuality. Some Buddhist monks sleep outdoors or wear only rags. Hinduism has Sadhus who may fast for days on end or remain silent for years. Judaism, in contrast, rejects the ascetic lifestyle.
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Detail from a full color illustration of the Biblical story of Samson and Delilah; Paris, France ca. 1415–20. From the workshop of the Boucicaut Master. Pierpont Morgan Library.
This week's Torah portion (Naso) contains the rules for a "nazir," an Israelite man or woman who chooses to deny various pleasures and accept some strict restrictions. However, the rabbis of the Talmud criticize the ways of the nazir and effectively eliminate the practice. Instead, the rabbis emphasize the piety inherent in appreciatively enjoying the world's pleasures.

The nazir is described as a person, man or woman, who makes a vow for a specific period of time to abstain from wine or other alcohol, and also from eating anything at all made from grapes. In addition, the nazir is forbidden to have any contact with the dead, a prohibition that prevents attending funerals even for close relatives. The nazir also is  forbidden to cut his or her hair for the entire period of the vow. The hair upon the nazir's head is regarded as sacred.

The Hebrew Bible's most famous nazir is Samson, the hero from the book of Judges whose sacred hair gave him superhuman strength—but not, apparently, much judgment about girlfriends. Samson's story is this week's haftarah portion. More on him later.

At the end of the nazir's term of service, the Torah instructs that he or she must come to the Tent of Meeting with a sacrificial offering: "A yearling ram without blemish as a burnt offering and a yearling ewe without blemish as a sin offering" (Numbers 6:13-14). If the nazir is a person who achieves piety through ascetic practice, why is it, the rabbis ask, that the nazir must atone for a sin upon completing his or her vow? What sin? 

The Talmud responds to this question by saying, "What could it be other than that the nazir has sinned by afflicting his or her own soul by abstaining from wine?… If a person is called a sinner just because he or she afflicts his or herself by abstaining from wine, how much more so does such a person sin by afflicting his or herself by abstaining from all food!’” (B. Ta'anit 11a). The rabbis disdain the ascetic choices of the nazir, and all but eliminate the practice.

In criticizing the choice to serve God through self-denial, the rabbis also wonder whether we have a positive obligation to enjoy the gifts of material world, such as wine and food. Is it permitted to abstain from what God has given us for pleasure?

A statement in the Jerusalem Talmud addresses this directly: "Rabbi Hezekiah the Priest said in the name of Rav, 'In the future, a person will be required to give testimony and accounting for all the good things he saw with his eye but did not eat'" (Y. Kidushin 4:12, daf 48b). God gave us the world so that we would enjoy it, not to withdraw ourselves from it.

The rabbis also seem to wonder about the motivations of would-be ascetics. Do they act to aggrandize God or to aggrandize themselves? Is theirs an expression of piety or of ego?

By calling the nazir a sinner, the rabbis make us wonder if many nazirim are like Samson in more ways than one. After all, they recognize that Samson was not just a zealous fighter for Israel, he also was egotistical and self-obsessed. Samson defied his parents when they warned him against marrying a Philistine woman (Judges 14:3). He became a self-righteous vigilante when the wife he spurned married another (15:4-5). He succumbed to his sexual cravings to betray the sacred hair on his head (16:16–17). Is the Bible telling us something about a "nazir personality"—a person whose determination to serve God is motivated by self-seeking arrogance?

The rabbis seek a balance between joyfully accepting the pleasures of the world, and doing so with humility. It is an act of true piety to take part in the good foods that are permitted to us and to find joy in drinking alcohol in moderation. It is a spiritual act to enjoy the beauty of the world and its resources, if we use them with respect and appreciation for the earth and its Creator. It is an act of religious devotion to enjoy sensuality and sexual fulfillment when it occurs between sanctified loving partners and within ethical boundaries. There is piety in pleasure.

There is also a warning here. People who take religion seriously are challenged to ask themselves difficult questions about their own motivations. What are your deeper motivations when you believe that you are acting for the sake of God? Is it really to serve God or your own ego? What can you do to make sure that the practices you take upon yourself remain for the sake of something beyond yourself, and not just to feed your sense of self-importance?

Judaism asks us to walk a thin line. We are to enjoy the world with exhuberant joy and ecstasy.  We also are to acknowledge with gratitude and humility the One who gave us the world. Walking the path described by that thin line leads us toward a life of fulfillment and appreciation. 


Other Posts on This Topic:
Naso: Two Ways of Seeking God's Face
Kedoshim: Being Holy

Shavuot Haiku

5/26/2012

 
Shavuot symbols:
Tablets, Torah and Sinai.
Harvest, Ruth, Lactaid®.
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My wife's extraordinary cheese blintzes.

Shavuot: Sinai and Symbolism

5/25/2012

 
What have been your personal "peak moments," the times when you felt your whole life change? What have been the experiences that have made you feel touched by something beyond the ordinary? On Saturday night, Jews will celebrate Shavuot, the the Festival of the Giving of the Torah. In many ways, Shavuot is the Jewish people's collective "peak moment."

Traditionally, this holiday is understood to be the anniversary of the day when God pronounced the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites from atop Mount Sinai. The Ten Commandments are a prominent symbol in our tradition. 
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Interestingly, though, the actual text of the Ten Commandments is not prominent in Jewish tradition. The Ten Commandments are not included in the extensive liturgy of Jewish daily worship. It is very rare that an artistic representation of the two tablets includes the complete text. In fact, the words of the Ten Commandments are generally only heard in the synagogue on Shavuot and when they are read as part of the weekly Torah portion. We do not recite them daily, as we do with other biblical passages

There are historical reasons for this. Early in the rabbinic era, the Ten Commandments were read as part of the morning service, in the place where we now recite the blessing Ahavah Rabbah, which speaks of God’s love in giving us the entire Torah. The rabbis appear to have dropped the Ten Commandments from this place because their inclusion gave the impression that these ten laws were the most important. But, Judaism is a tradition of 613 commandments, not ten. The Ten Commandments say nothing about dietary laws or observing holidays other than Shabbat. They do not command us to provide for the needs of the poor or to actively pursue peace and justice in the world.

Dropping the Ten Commandments from the liturgy may have been a response by the rabbis to early Christianity, which sought to de-emphasize the laws of the Torah and to create a “pared down list” of the most important mitzvot. The rabbis rejected this idea and sought to dispel the notion that the Ten Commandments were superior to the other 603.

The Ten Commandments do have great meaning and significance in Jewish tradition.  It is just that the importance of the Ten Commandments is more about the moment of their revelation than about the specific laws that are included in the actual text.

The chasidic rabbi, Menachem Mendel of Rimonov, actually taught that the words of the Ten Commandment are incidental to the essential experience of God communicating to us. He wrote that, at Mount Sinai, God spoke only the first letter of the first word of the Ten Commandments—the silent letter Aleph. The contemporary Jewish thinker, Rabbi Arthur Green, says of this claim, “God speaks only the great silence; the Divine is a silent womb that contains all of language within it.” 

Is there a contradiction here?  Was the moment of God’s revelation to Israel a moment of a profound ethical teaching, surrounded by shofar blasts and cosmic upheaval, or was it one of preternatural silence?  Perhaps it was both. 

Mount Sinai is the moment that symbolizes the Jewish people's link to God. Like a personal moment of deep meaning and life-changing intensity, Sinai may be described as the cosmic event in which  we feel an internal avalanche that shakes the foundations of our being and our view of the world. It also may be a moment of stunning calm and equanimity in which we feel that we see the world with new clarity. Perhaps this is why Jewish tradition describes the moment of Sinai in such contradictory terms—it is both the storm and the calm at its center.

Many people who have experienced a moment of personal spiritual intensity say that they continue to carry it with them for many years after. The afterglow of that moment comes back at the times when it is needed most, when we feel that life has left us tattered or disconnected from the world.

We can think of the Ten Commandments as the Jewish people’s collective afterglow from our Sinai moment. We felt God within us at that mythical moment at Sinai and ever after we have wanted to carry some reminder of it with us in our soul. We are just like the person who says during a spiritually intense moment, “God, I promise that, from now on, I’m going to live my life differently.”  At Sinai, we vowed that we would abide by a fundamental code for living lives that are ethical, virtuous and meaningful, and the feeling has stayed with us.

Stepping Up

5/24/2012

 
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Pre-K students in our Early Childhood Learning Center celebrated their "Stepping Up" ceremony at the Temple today. These beautiful, wonderful children are saying goodbye to the ECLC as they prepare for Kindergarten next fall. Here is the talk I gave on the occasion.


There is nothing like the pride that parents feel when they see their children take another step toward becoming the remarkable people they are going to be. Your parents have already seen you smile for the first time. They heard you say your first word, watched your first steps, and they were amazed when you first started really playing with other children. 

You cannot imagine yet how difficult it was for them the first time they had to say goodbye to you when they dropped you off for the day. Even though they knew that you would have an awesome time at the Early Childhood Learning Center (and you did), they fought back their tears when they said, “Bye-bye, Sweetie. Have a great day.” That is because letting go is hard, even when it’s something that you have to do.

Today is another day like that. Your teachers, Miss Amy, Miss Bridgette, Cantor Beth and I are all so proud of you today. We have seen you take so many steps here at Temple Beit HaYam. We saw you learn to play imaginary games by yourself and with others. We saw you get along with other kids, even kids who were new to you. We saw you learn how to share with others. We saw you develop respect for your classmates and confidence in yourself. We saw you make beautiful artwork, sing songs with joy, and learn some letters, too. You amaze us. We are so proud of you for who you are.

And it is hard for us to let go. Even though we know that you will have an awesome time in Kindergarten (and you will), we are sad to say goodbye to each one of you. We want to say to you, “Bye-bye, Sweetie. So long, Sport. Take care, Dear One. We love you and we will miss you. Have a fantabulous time in Kindergarten.” Letting go is hard, even when it’s something that we have to do. 

You have been a part of our Temple’s family and you always will be. We want you always to feel free to come back and visit us any time you want. We’ll share our toys with you and remember all the great times we have had during your time at Temple Beit HaYam. At Friday Tot Shabbat, I will sing Bim Bom and think of you. You can think about us, too.


With a love for all that is sacred about first words, first steps, making friends and learning how to be caring and giving person, we offer our gratitude to the God of Everyone and Everything for this special moment of saying goodbye and wishing you well. Amen.

Bamidbar: A Song of Humility

5/23/2012

 
Singing in a group is an inherently spiritual experience. It is no coincidence, I think, that every religious tradition has some practice of group singing. There is something about blending ones voice with the voices of others that has the ability to transport us out of ourselves and into a larger reality.
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The choir of Bevis Marks Synagogue in London, the oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom.
This week's Torah portion, I think, says something about that experience.

Parashat Bamidbar describes how the Israelites were encamped around the Tabernacle whenever they stopped their march through the wilderness. Each tribe had its own special place close to the portable Temple that was understood to be the dwelling place of God. As one would imagine, everyone wanted to get as close to they could to the God who saved them and sustained them through the desert.

Yet, there was a special place for the tribe of Levi, the tribe that included the priests and the men who were designated to care for and carry the Tabernacle. They were given the place closest to the Tabernacle and, according to a classical midrash, the other tribes made room for them there. They withdrew to allow the Levites to have the place closest to God (Midrash Numbers Rabbah 1:12). 

Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger, the author of the Sefat Emet, wonders whether the camping arrangement would have caused resentments. He says, "Surely, there must have been some Israelites of great deeds who were of greater merit than the least of the Levites." Why would they have to yield their place close to the Tabernacle in order to make way for some guy who had the job of carrying the tent poles?

To the Gerer Rebbe, the midrash teaches a lesson in humility. He says that, "Even someone great in deeds must know and believe that none of his deeds could overturn the choice of the Blessed One." Your own estimation of yourself should never be a substitute for the reality that God has delivered to you. You think that your smarts and accomplishments make you more deserving of honor than someone else? Back off, my friend. You think your piety is deeper and makes you more worthy of praise than some poser? It is all a dangerous illusion. Real piety knows the bounds of humility. 

The commentary goes further. The true ideal is that we nullify ourselves (להתבטל). We should stand amongst the Jewish people and lose any sense of separation from them. It is like that experience singing in the congregation. We lose awareness of our own voice and enter into the experience of being part of something larger than ourselves. 

The Gerer Rebbe says, "You should submit yourself to serve God with dedication only because it is the Blessed One’s will, and you should not think that your deeds are a means to draw closer to the Blessed One. Knowing this, how is it possible for you to hold yourself higher than even the least of Israel."

When have you had that experience? What transports you into moments when you lose yourself and feel yourself to be a part of God? In those moments, do you, too, forget the desire to get closer to God and discover yourself simply tumbling down the rabbit's hole that, paradoxically, brings us the closest we can be to God?


Other Posts on This Topic:
Vayikra: The Joy of Contrition
The Blind and the Light
"Not One of Them Was Left"

Actual Fortune My Daughter Found Tonight in a Fortune Cookie

5/20/2012

 
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Stop me if you've heard this one:

Man says to God, "Is it true what the psalm says, 'A thousand years in Your sight are as a moment that has passed'? (Psalms 90:4)"

God says, "Yes."

"Then is it also true that a million dollars to You are as but a penny?"

"Yes, that is also true."

"God, may I please have a penny."

"Sure. Wait just a moment."

Treasured and Chosen

5/20/2012

 
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This is the address I will present today at the baccalaureate services for the students of Jensen Beach High School and South Fork High School.


"For you are a people consecrated to the Lord your God: of all the peoples on earth the Lord your God chose you to be God's treasured people. It is not because you are the most numerous of peoples that the Lord set heart on you and chose you—indeed, you are the smallest of peoples; but it was because the Lord favored you and kept the oath God made to your ancestors that the Lord freed you with a mighty hand and rescued you from the house of bondage, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” 

—Deuteronomy 7:6-8.



I want to congratulate this year’s graduating class, and I want to remind you of something you already may be thinking about today. I want to remind you—as you prepare for the journey of the rest of your lives—that you already have travelled a long way to get to this day. As you look forward to what is to come, it is worthwhile, also, to look back and appreciate the journey so far.

You all have benefited from parents and other caregivers who have given you a start in life. You may not be aware of it all the time, but the people who raised you have poured a tremendous amount of hope and expectation into your future. Their wishes for your happiness and fulfillment are a big part of what makes each of you the person you are, and the person you are to become. 

They may not tell you all the time, but, in you, they see their own legacy. To them, you are the fulfillment of their wish to have lived a meaningful life. Maybe that explains the times when they have been too insistent, or, perhaps held you to an impossibly high standard. To your parents, you are more than you. You represent, at times, a part of their desire to correct the pain of their own past and to do something good in this world.

As you continue through life, live for yourselves. Know that your hopes and your achievements are your own. But also know that the spark that powers who you are today, and who you will be in the future, owes a little bit to the people who love you the most. The people who are shedding a few tears today to see you all grown up and ready to take on the world—they are a part of you forever. Don’t forget that.

You also have benefited from teachers, here in High School, but also dating back to that day when you first entered a classroom and called someone “teacher.” You all have had teachers you have loved, people who inspired you and challenged you to learn more than you thought you could. Perhaps, you also have had teachers who bored you, teachers who you thought expected too much from you—or too little—but they, too, have taught you lessons that will help you through life. 

I know that people don’t usually think of teachers this way when they are in High School—I know that I didn’t—but this is a truth that you should know about your teachers: Everything they have done, they have done for you. 

You are the reason your teachers have worked so hard to get you to learn, even when you sometimes have given up on yourselves. You are the reason they have stayed up late grading mind-numbing quantities of papers. You are the reason they put up with public school bureaucracies. They teach because they are addicted to the satisfaction they experience in seeing young people learn, grow and become the people they are meant to be. Today is a day for appreciating all that your teachers have done for you.

To your parents, your caretakers and your teachers, you are treasured people. They have set their hearts on you. They have chosen to dedicate a piece of their lives to you. You carry with you the tremendous gift of being worried over, cared for, prized and doted upon. Believe me, I remember that carrying that gift can sometimes feel like an unwanted burden when you are 17 or 18 years old. You may be thinking, “If they do all this to me because they chose me to be their treasure, I wouldn’t mind if they would choose someone else for a change.” I have felt that way in my life, too.

In the Bible’s book of Deuteronomy, Moses makes a speech to the Israelites to prepare them for the final journey they will take into the Land of Israel. Moses has led them for forty years, ever since the day that God delivered them from being slaves in Egypt. Moses knows that he will not be able to enter the Land of Israel with them, but he has this one last chance to teach them the things he believes they need to hear before they go. 

Now, I’m not Moses, and you all are not the ancient Israelites, freed from Egypt. But we do have some things in common.  I am not going where you are going, and—in the long-run—neither are your parents, caregivers and teachers. You, too, have reached a juncture in life in which you will enjoy some new freedoms, but also some new responsibilities. Everything you do, good and bad, will truly be your own now. Like the ancient Israelites, you carry with you some baggage of your past. You have known times that have constricted your souls and you have integrated those difficult experiences into who you are today. Like the ancient Israelites, you have an opportunity to turn the hardships of your past into the possibilities of your future.

Moses told the Israelites, “God has chosen you to be God’s treasured people.” That’s a message that you should hear today as if it were whispered to you personally, in your ear. You are treasured, not because you are the best football player, the fastest sprinter, the best writer, the sharpest science student, or even for being Miss Congeniality. You have been chosen as a treasure—as we all are—because you are you. 

This idea of being “chosen,” as you may know, is part of my faith tradition. For thousands of years, the Jewish people have been known as the “Chosen People.” And, believe me, there have been plenty of times in Jewish history when my people have felt like saying to God, “We wouldn’t mind if You would choose somebody else for a change.” But the big idea of being the “Chosen People” is not just about being favored, and it is not about past victimization. It is about living up to some pretty serious expectations that each person should have for him or herself. It is not enough to know that you are chosen; you must also ask, what mission have I been chosen for?

Being chosen means living, always, with the intention of being the best person you can be. It means doing what you know in your heart is right, even when it is inconvenient. It means remembering your past and the path you have traveled. It means making yourself worthy of the privilege of being treasured. 

You are a treasure—all of you. There may be times you doubt yourself and times that you think the odds are stacked against you, but you have been given a chance to fulfill the hopes and expectations that your very life and existence represent. You have been given a chance to make your successes your own, to aspire as no one has ever aspired before you, to make your own difference in the world. 

You are loved. You are treasured.

Moses did not tell the Israelites to go off to college, get a career, get a comfortable house to live in, and get a good looking car to drive. That is not why you are here, and it’s not the mission for which you were made. Moses, instead, told the Israelites just this, “Remember that God freed you with a mighty hand and rescued you from the house of bondage from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

My challenge to you today, my friends, is to remember. Remember the people who have placed their hopes in you. Remember to keep looking back to your core values and to what you most deeply believe in. That is how you will stay true to your mission. Remember that you have received a gift beyond value. Remember that you carry within you the possibility of redemption from whatever Egypt in your past might enslave you. Remember to make your life matter. Remember that you are a treasure. 

May you be strong and of good courage as you continue on life’s journey.

A Prison for the Not Guilty

5/17/2012

 
Not long after I arrived in Florida, a congregant told me about the Treatment Center where he works as an administrator, a place for people whom the criminal justice system has deemed to be mentally ill or mentally incompetent. He asked me if I would be willing to visit the Center to talk with its few Jewish residents. I told my new congregant that I would be honored to help his residents.
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There was a long process before I could be approved to volunteer at the Center. I made my first trip to visit its residents during Passover last month. I visited again today, meeting with three adult Jewish men who have been found "not guilty by reason of insanity" (NGRI) by a Florida State Court.

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the insanity defense and what happens to people who are determined to be not responsible for their actions due to mental illness. Many people believe  that  defendants who are found NGRI are allowed to walk out of the courtroom and reenter normal society. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The three men I met with today all have been charged with violent crimes. After being found NGRI, they were sent to the Treatment Center, or other similar facilities. Technically, the Center is not a prison, but it might as well be one. It is a maximum security facility with lots of guards, lots of tall fences with razor wire, and lots of heavy metal doors that can only be opened by a security guard watching over a video monitor. Trying to escape is a bad idea. The facility is surrounded by nothing but miles of flat land with little cover, and plenty of alligators and poisonous snakes. 

The biggest difference between this facility and a prison is that the residents (that's what they call them) receive psychotherapy and medications to treat their illnesses. They also receive training on how the legal system works. This is especially important for residents who have been determined to be "not competent to proceed to trial" (NCP). The goal of the Treatment Center is to make them competent, so the Center teaches them about the charges they face in court, what those charges mean, and how the court system will deal with them. 

It is understandable that the three Jewish men with whom I met today are not very happy about being in the Treatment Center. They are glad not to be in a state prison, where there is more violence and where their mental health problems would go mostly untreated. Their fondest hope is to be transferred to a lower security facility, or, even better, to a halfway house where they could begin a transition to freedom. That day could come in a few years for some of them, maybe sooner, or maybe never. Not knowing how long they will have to wait for freedom is very difficult for them.

I spent about an hour with the men today. We talked about this week's Torah portion (Behar-Bechukotai), especially the part about how all Hebrew slaves in ancient Israel were released during the jubilee, which came every fifty years. The idea of having a definite date of liberation, even one many years in the future, would be appealing to these men.

I also answered their questions about Judaism. For the most part, they asked the same types of questions I hear all the time from people who want to know more about Judaism. One resident asked me if the tattoo on his shoulder would prevent his body from being buried in a Jewish cemetery. (No, that's a myth.) Another resident asked, "When did Israel last have a Jewish king?" (First century c.e.). "Could there ever be another king of Israel?" (Depends on whom you ask).

The conversation got to be the most interesting when we talked about divine reward and punishment. It is not surprising that these men wanted to know what Judaism teaches about God's punishment for sin. Does Judaism teach that sinners are punished with hellfire? Why do good people suffer in this lifetime? Do we live in a just universe? Does God not care about the suffering of the innocent?

If you are sitting in a prison after the state has told you that you are not guilty and that you are not responsible for your actions, these questions become rather poignant, wouldn't you say? People with mental health problems often feel like they live in a metaphoric prison—held captive by a mind that inhibits normal interaction with other people, distrusted and scorned by people who fear them. In addition to that, these men live in a  real live realty of razor wire and locked doors. Well, it's enough to make anyone crazy. 

Clearly, the Treatment Center is the right place for these men, even if it is depressing for them to be confined without much freedom. They are receiving treatment for their illnesses. They are safe. They are being cared for by a professional staff that treats them with courtesy and all the dignity possible under the circumstances. They even get visits from local clergy, if that helps. 

Still, no one would volunteer or choose to live in the Treatment Center. According to the state of Florida, these men did not willfully choose to do the things that got them here. Yet, here they are. And, I have to add, it's a good thing, too.

Do we live in a just universe? I'm not sure anyone can answer that question for these men. I'm just grateful for the opportunity to help people who could really use some. 


Other Posts on This Topic:
Ekev: Deuteronomy vs. Job
Behar-Bechukotai: Cycles of Time
Tazria: Newborn Spirituality

Behar-Bechukotai: Cycles of Time

5/13/2012

 
Jewish time turns in cycles and cycles within cycles. The most basic of these is the cycle of a single day which is made up of nighttime and daytime. Seven days make a week, with its pattern of six days of work and one day of Shabbat rest. 

We usually think of the weekend as a time for ourselves after a week of working for others, but the Torah says just the opposite. "The seventh day is a Shabbat for Adonai your God" (Exodus 20:10). The six days of work are for us. Shabbat belongs to God.
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"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof." -Leviticus 25:10
In last week's Torah portion, Emor, we learned about a larger cycle, also built on the number seven, that we are experiencing right now. The Counting of the Omer is a "a week of weeks" (seven times seven days) that connects the festivals of Passover and Shavuot. In this week's Torah portion, Behar-Bechukotai, the number seven radiates into an even larger cycle, the cycle of seven years that culminates in the Sabbatical Year. 

For six years you plant your field and six years you prune your vineyard and harvest their produce. But in the seventh year there will be a complete rest for the land, a Shabbat for Adonai. You shall not plant your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untrimmed vines. It shall be a year of complete rest for the land. (Leviticus 25:3-5)

Seven years is a long time. In our society, which seems to have a short attention span, we do not really have any major institutions that run on that long of a cycle. Our presidential elections and the Olympic Games run on four-year cycles, which seems to be about as long as we can focus on anything. We do have a national census on a ten-year cycle, but that does not command the attention of an entire society the way that elections do…and certainly not the way that a society would be focused on a national commitment to refrain from planting and harvesting food for a full year.

There is a scholarly debate about whether the cycle of the Sabbatical Year was ever observed in ancient Israel the way it is described in Leviticus. It does seem dangerous. The Torah promises that a year of extra abundance would proceed the Sabbatical year to provide enough food. But what of the surrounding nations that could take advantage of the Sabbatical Year to attack the nation while it is vulnerable? There are those who say that the Torah presents the practice more for its ideals than for practical implementation. What is that ideal? The point of the Sabbatical year is stated plainly in the text. God says, "The land is Mine, and you are foreigners residing with Me" (Leviticus 25:23). 

This idea is stretched even further in another cycle, seven times as long, also presented in this week's Torah portion. In the year that followed the end of seven Sabbatical Years (a total of 49 years) there was an extra year added to the cycle (a fiftieth year) that was called the Yovel (usually translated as "Jubilee Year"). In that year, not only were the fields left fallow for a second year in a row, all the fields that had been sold in the previous fifty years were returned to the original owner. All Hebrew slaves were freed in the Yovel.

As a side note, one cannot help notice the common theme in the Torah of cycles of time in the pattern of "seven plus one." The seven-day festival of Sukkot is followed by the one-day festival of Sh'mini Atzeret on the eighth day. The Counting of the Omer is seven weeks followed by an extra day to reach the festival of Shavuot on the fiftieth day. The Yovel is the largest "seven plus one" pattern, with an extra, fiftieth year to cap off the cycle of seven seven-year cycles. There must be a reason…

The words from this week's Torah portion that introduce the Yovel also are of interest for their connection to American history. "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof" (Leviticus 25:10), is the biblical quotation engraved upon the Liberty Bell that announced American independence from the British Monarchy in 1776. 

Ironically, though, we think of the Liberty Bell as a symbol of autonomy—the right to live as we choose to live. In the Torah, it is clear that the message of the Yovel year is, again, just the opposite. All of the earth is God's and God makes the rules; we cannot permanently own anything.

There is something quite beautiful about these large cycles in time, whether or not they were ever observed exactly as they are described in the Torah. They acknowledge that the earth has its own integrity and its own need for rest. "Owning" a piece of land does not entitle any human being to use it however he or she wishes. At best, we may have a piece of land temporarily assigned to us, but even that cannot undermine our obligation to treat the land with respect and give it the year of rest that is sacred to God. 

The same, of course, is true of human lives. We cannot be owned. We do not even own our own lives. In a cycle that takes up most of a typical human lifespan, we are reminded that our existence is temporary and beyond our control. Our highest aspiration in life, therefore, should not be to amass wealth or power, but rather to do joyfully all that we can to serve the higher purpose for which we were made. 

Our lives do not belong to us. We belong to God. Perhaps that is the lesson that we rehearse in small and large cycles throughout our lives. Yet, it requires a lifetime to learn it completely.


Other Posts on This Topic:
Behar: Do Not Wrong One Another
Bechukotai: Being Commanded, Choosing Joy
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