June 2021

Gustav_Jaeger_Balaam and angel

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Balak – Num. 22:2-25:9 (Jun. 25/26)

As the Torah Turns

Rabbi Lader’s Weekly D’var Torah

Balak – Num. 22:2-25:9 (Jun. 25/26)

I spent this past Tuesday in Washington. D.C. on Capitol Hill.  Well, I should say I was part of an Ohio/Michigan delegation and zoomed in for meetings with Ohio and Michigan Senators and Representatives to advocate for passing legislation on behalf of the Rohingya and Burmese people, as well as permanently repealing the Global Gag Rule.  Five meetings in five and a half hours; thanking our congress men and women for their past support and hoping for their continuing support of these important pieces of legislation.*  I am not politically savvy; truthfully, I’m rather an idealist, as many of you know.  I see the news, I find out the details; I attend leadership seminars where I learn from people who are working “on the ground” trying to make due with little financial support, minimal health resources, and maximal political persecution… and I wonder how long it will take for people to understand that human rights are for all people, not just people with power.  If we remain blind to realities, does it mean they do not exist?  When the unknown becomes known, can we have the courage to confront what we’d rather keep invisible?  In his d’var Torah this week, Rabbi Jesse Paikin asks: What makes the unseen seen? What makes the unknown known? And what do we do once we know and see?

 These are questions that Parshat Balak throws quite literally in our face. In one of the most vivid scenes in the Torah, the magician Bilaam – dispatched by an enemy king on a nefarious mission to curse the Children of Israel – comes face-to-face with a messenger of God. Famously, Bilaam – due to ignorance or wilful blindness – could not see the messenger with his own eyes; only his donkey could. It ultimately takes an act of God to open Bilaam’s eyes: 

Then the ETERNAL opened Bilaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the ETERNAL standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown. (Numbers 22:31)

 Much rabbinic commentary focuses on Bilaam’s ignorance and the symbolism of the donkey as the one who could sense God’s presence. But for a moment, I want to extend Bilaam some empathy. We can understand that it’s hard to see the things we’d rather not. We can even have compassion for the depths of strength it takes to confront our moral responsibility for those things we’d rather remain buried – it literally takes the power of God to open Bilaam’s eyes. But then there’s a shift. Once Bilaam’s eyes are open, he accepts responsibility. He confronts the truth and moves for reconciliation: “I erred because I did not know that you were standing in my way,” (Numbers 22:34) he confesses to God. He moves from a program of cursing to one of blessing. Rashi’s commentary makes the upshot of this shift to responsibility abundantly clear: In observing that Bilaam – a non-Israelite foreigner – benefits from God’s direct intervention, he asks a frankly astonishing question: “Why does the Shechinah (God’s Presence) rest upon so wicked a person?” (Rashi on Numbers 22:5)  

His answer: so that nobody anywhere might ever use the excuse: “If only I had known, I would have changed for the better.” When the unknown becomes known, can we have the courage to confront what we’d rather keep invisible? This moment in Torah provides an unambiguous example of how, once our eyes are open to the truth, it cannot be ignored. All the more so, it must be acted upon.

I went to Washington, DC this week because the importance of human rights is key to my Jewish values.  I think this is underscored in one of our important rabbinic teachings: If I am not for myself, who will be for me?If I am only for myself, what am I?And… if not now, when?(Pirke Avot 1:14) Rabbi Hillel, the author of this text, knew how we must take care of ourselves; this goes for each of us personally, and our community, and our country.  Certainly, we have to make sure that our needs are met so that we can be the best that we can be.  But, what do we become when we think only about ourselves?  By using the word “what” – Rabbi Hillel teaches us that we become less than human.  When we turn our backs on the human rights of others, we lose part of our own humanity. And if not now?  The urgency of now cannot be put off for tomorrow.  We simply cannot turn our backs on the persecution of the Rohingya and other peoples of Burma; nor can we turn our backs on the importance of supporting proper health care, empowerment, and human rights around the world. I went to Washington, DC this week because the urgency of now impels me to help make this world the best that it can be.  When the unknown becomes known, we must find the courage to confront what we’d rather keep invisible. * We were part of a larger contingent of clergy and staff and leadership of the American Jewish World Service.  37 advocates visited 51 congressional offices representing 20 different states, 29 senators, 22 representatives, 47 Democrats, and 4 Republicans.  

From Previous Weeks

Jewish Cleveland

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Be kind to Mother Earth

Drink Local. Drink Tap.  A summertime volunteer opportunity in partnership with Be kind to Mother Earth! Learn about water sustainability as you walk Perkins Beach (rain or shine) collecting trash, litter, and other debris. Items picked up will be tallied and used to create policy changes that help protect our Great Lakes. Date and time: Sun, July 25, 2021 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT Location: Perkins Beach7600 Cleveland Memorial ShorewayCleveland, OH 44102 REGISTER HERE Looking for more volunteer opportunities?Follow this link… for places to volunteer in Cleveland

abstract Chukat (colorful)

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Chukkat – Numbers 19:1-22:1 (Jun. 18/19)

As the Torah Turns

Rabbi Lader’s Weekly D’var Torah

Chukkat – Numbers 19:1-22:1 (Jun. 18/19)

Can You Spot the Difference??? Our Torah portion this week is Chukkat – Numbers 19:1-22:1 and includes God’s admonition of Moses after the people cry out, yet again, from thirst.  This has happened before, where the Israelites cry out to Moses — how is this time different from all other times? Example #1 — The Israelites have just left Egypt and are standing at the shores of the Reed Sea — with Pharaoh’s army close at their heels.  The people cry out to God and grumble to Moses, and what does Moses do? 

As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites caught sight of the Egyptians advancing upon them. Greatly frightened, the Israelites cried out to the Eternal. And they said to Moses, “Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us be, and we will serve the Egyptians, for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness’?” But Moses said to the people, “Have no fear! Stand by, and witness the deliverance which the Eternal will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again. (Ex. 14:10-13) 

Example #2 — Right on the heels of leaving the Reed Sea, the Israelites travel… and find no water.  They cry out to Moses, and Moses cries out to God, and what does Moses do?

 

Then Moses caused Israel to set out from the Sea of Reeds. They went on into the wilderness of Shur; they traveled three days in the wilderness and found no water. They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; that is why it was named Marah.  And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”  So he cried out to the Eternal, and the Eternal showed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water and the water became sweet. There God made for them a fixed rule, and there God put them to the test. God said, “If you will heed the Eternal your God diligently, doing what is upright in God’s sight, giving ear to God’s commandments and keeping all God’s laws, then I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians, for I the Eternal am your healer.”  And they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they encamped there beside the water. (Ex. 15:22-27) 

Example #3 — Traveling again, the Israelites cry out for water… and Moses receives instructions from God:

 

From the wilderness of Seen the whole Israelite community continued by stages as the Eternal would command. They encamped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses. “Give us water to drink,” they said; and Moses replied to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you try the Eternal?”  But the people thirsted there for water; and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?”  Moses cried out to the Eternal, saying, “What shall I do with this people? Before long they will be stoning me!”  Then the Eternal said to Moses, “Pass before the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel, and take along the rod with which you struck the Nile, and set out.  I will be standing there before you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock and water will issue from it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

 Example #4 — Fast-forward close to 40 years, and this week’s Torah portion; the people grumble for water and Moses receives instructions from God.  What was Moses’ mistake?

  

  

The Israelites arrived in a body at the wilderness of Zin on the first new moon, and the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there.  The community was without water, and they joined against Moses and Aaron.  The people quarreled with Moses, saying, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished at the instance of the Eternal! Why have you brought the Eternal’s congregation into this wilderness for us and our beasts to die there?  Why did you make us leave Egypt to bring us to this wretched place, a place with no grain or figs or vines or pomegranates? There is not even water to drink!”   Moses and Aaron came away from the congregation to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces. The Presence of the Eternal appeared to them, and the Eternal spoke to Moses, saying, “You and your brother Aaron take the rod and assemble the community, and before their very eyes order the rock to yield its water. Thus you shall produce water for them from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their beasts.”   Moses took the rod from before the Eternal, as God had commanded him.  Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation in front of the rock; and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, shall we get water for you out of this rock?”  And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Out came copious water, and the community and their beasts drank.   But the Eternal said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them.”  (Num. 20:1-12)

Can you spot the difference?  What does God mean when God says to Moses: “Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people”?  Is God that upset because Moses struck the rock and didn’t speak to the rock?  Would Moses’ speaking to the rock have affirmed God’s sanctity in the sight of the people? 

 Perhaps it wasn’t what Moses did — but what Moses said?  In front of the people, standing next to Aaron, Moses holds his staff and says, “… shall we get water for you out of this rock?”  Moses says “we” — not the “Royal We” – but the Aaron and I “we”… as if it is Aaron and Moses who are bringing the water out of the rock… and in saying this, Moses diminishes God’s holiness before the people.   Moses has been leading this people for forty years… Well, actually, this people is now the next generation.  What God has realized is that this next generation is ready for a new and more patient leadership… and Moses will come to realize that as well.   What a difference a word makes!

From Previous Weeks

Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt

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Combating Antisemitism

Combating Antisemitism

A conversation with Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt 

Come together online with the Jewish and general Cleveland community for a virtual event with acclaimed author and historian Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt. She joins us to discuss the rise in antisemitism and Jew hatred and how we can work together to combat it.

Thursday, June 24

4:30 – 5:45 pm

REGISTER NOW

DR. DEBORAH E. LIPSTADT is the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University. She has written several books including Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory; History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier; The Eichmann Trial; Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust; and most recently, Antisemitism: Here and Now. Dr. Lipstadt has spent her professional career tackling the question of antisemitism and how we as Jews need to respond.

For more information, please contact Jackie Reed at jreed@jcfcleve.org or 216-593-2858.

Rosh Chodesh

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Circle of Friends – Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

NEXT WEEK Rosh Chodesh Tammuz will be our final get together for the year.  We will be celebrating NEXT Wednesday, June 9th at 6:00 PM.  We are hoping that we can meet in the Metroparks at the Rocky River Reservation.  If the weather cooperates, we can enjoy a wonderful evening outdoors.  If the weather is fickle, we have our trusty Zoom to fall back on. Rabbi will do a short service for Rosh Chodesh. We will review our programs from this past year, and we would like you to bring ideas for the coming year.  If you can’t join us, you can send your ideas to Barbara Schwartz’s email:  baschwartz@cox.net 

Bring your own box lunch or dinner.  

We will bring cupcakes and drinks for everyone.  

We hope to claim the covered shelter near the parking lot by the Ricky River — Look for a balloon or two to mark where we are.

Bring a folding chair, as we may wish to form a circle.  

There are restrooms nearby.

There’s parking and a scenic trail along the river.  

While we many not need our masks, please bring one to wear, as we do not know who has immunity.  

 To get to the picnic area of the Emerald Necklace Marina, it may be best to enter the park from Detroit Rd at the western end of Lakewood, across from Sloane Avenue.  There is a traffic light at the intersection and you drive down Valley Parkway into the park.  The entrance is the first entrance on the right; make a right and drive straight ahead towards the Rocky River and picnic area.  If you get lost or can’t find us, please call Barbara Schwartz:  216-973-2489. [FYI — Sections of Valley Parkway have been closed to cars to allow people to walk or bike and be socially distanced.]  Please check your email that afternoon.  Rabbi will send out an email update, especially if the weather is not cooperating, with a Zoom link.   RSVP — We would also appreciate if you would let us know if you are coming so we can plan for the desserts and drinks:  baschwartz@cox.net It will be wonderful to see you in person or on Zoom – bringing joy and celebration to one another!                Wishes for a Chodesh Tov – a good month!  Barbara Schwartzbaschwartz@cox.net

Who was Korach?

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Korach – Numbers 16:1-18:32 (Jun. 11/12)

As the Torah Turns

Rabbi Lader’s Weekly D’var Torah

Korach – Numbers 16:1-18:32 (Jun. 11/12)


Our Torah scroll turns to Korach this week – Numbers 16:1-18:32, and features a serious assault on Moses’ leadership of the Israelites. In the midst of the Israelites’ desert wanderings, a Levite named Korach rallies a group of two hundred and fifty fellow Levites, who accuse Moses and his brother Aaron of assuming too much power for themselves: “All the community are holy. Why then do you raise yourself above the Eternal’s congregation?” (16:3). Korach’s explicit demand is that leadership be distributed more equally, but Moses suspects that Korach and his followers have an ulterior motive. They have two very different leadership styles and desires.  Ilana Kurshan, award-winning author of “If All the Seas Were Ink“, points out that “…one devalues the common good for selfish ends, thereby pandering to our basic instincts; the other elevates the common good to a central place in society, thereby upholding our aspirations.”   Kurshan continues: “Although Korach presents himself as a populist, Moshe understands that Korach and his followers are really intent on their own self-aggrandizement. Moses realizes that the rebels were resentful that Aaron and his sons—a different branch of the Levite family—were chosen as priests instead of them. Moses then tells the men who rose up against him and Aaron, “Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the community of Israel and given you access to Him, to perform the duties of the Lord’s Tabernacle…Do you seek the priesthood too?” (16:9-10). [The priesthood – its roles and its riches… and its prestige…]  Two of Korach’s fellow rebels, Datan and Aviram, have particular difficulty understanding Moses’ attitude toward leadership. The Talmud (Nedarim 64b) identifies these two men as the two Israelite slaves whom Moses saw fighting when he went out among his kinsmen in Egypt. “Why do you strike your fellow” (Exodus 2:13) Moses asked one of them, and he replied, “Who made you chief and ruler over us?” (Ex. 2:14). As the rejoinder suggests, Datan and Aviram, like Korach, assume that Moses is just trying to take power for himself. They do not realize that Moses is motivated not by power but by justice; not by might but by right. They assume that his leadership is about his own authority and glory, but that is only because this is their own model of leadership, and they cannot imagine any other. Korach seeks honor and authority. He is a reminder that those very leaders who masquerade as populists are often so focused on themselves that they have no space to consider the good of the people they purport to want to lead. Only a truly humble leader can dedicate his or her energies to doing what is best for others. Perhaps it is fitting that Moses dies high up on the summit of Pisgah, whereas Korach’s band is swallowed into the earth. As our parashah reminds us, great leaders like Moses do not direct attention to themselves but focus our gaze upwards — on values and ideals that lie far above the petty concerns of Korach and his followers.” Link to Kurshan’s full text.

From Previous Weeks

Notorious RBG

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Learn ‘n Lunch with RBG

Learn ‘n Lunch with RBG

Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage sets 'Notorious RBG: The ...
Learn ‘n Lunch In-Person with Rabbi Lader & FriendsWednesday, June 16th10:30 a.m.at the Maltz Museum$12/adult – $10/over 60We have a limited number of tickets.Contact Linda Kramer to RSVP no later than June 9th – lindagkramer@yahoo.com or call 216-533-9496 We plan to meet up for lunch after — around 12:30 p.m. at Taza Lebanese Grill:28601 Chagrin Blvd. Woodmere, OH 44122
(at Eton Square) Learn more about the exhibit: https://www.maltzmuseum.org/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/

Joshua and Caleb with spies

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Shelach Lecha – Numbers 13:1-15:41 (Jun. 4/5)

As the Torah Turns

Rabbi Lader’s Weekly D’var Torah

Shelach Lecha – Numbers 13:1-15:41 (Jun. 4/5)

Our Torah portion this week is Shelach Lecha – Numbers 13:1-15:41.   Moses sent twelve men, leaders of their tribes, to reconnoiter the land. Ten of them came back with a negative report. The land is good, but unconquerable. The people are strong, the cities impregnable, the inhabitants are giants and we are grasshoppers. Only two of the men, Joshua and Caleb, took a different view. We can win. The land is good. God is on our side. With God’s help, we cannot fail. The usual understanding of what has happened is that Joshua and Caleb had faith, courage and confidence, while the other ten did not. But, truly, this is hard to understand. The ten – not just Joshua and Caleb – knew that God was with them. God had crushed Egypt. The Israelites had just defeated the Amalekites. How could these ten – leaders of their tribes – not know that they could defeat the inhabitants of the land? In his commentary on this portion, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks asks: What if the story were not this at all? What if it was not about faith, confidence, or courage? What if it was about understanding the situation and what happens when you don’t? Biblical Hebrew has two verbs that mean “to spy”: lachpor and le’ragel (from which we get the word me’raglim, “spies”). BUT — Neither of these words appear in our Torah portion. That is the point. Instead, no less than twelve times, we encounter the rare verb, la-tur. It was revived in modern Hebrew and means (and sounds like) “to tour.” Tayar is a tourist. There is all the difference in the world between a tourist and a spy. Malbim (19th century Bible commentator) explains the difference simply. Latur means to seek out the good. That is what tourists do. They go to the beautiful, the majestic, the inspiring. They don’t spend their time trying to find out what is bad. Lachpor and ler’agel are the opposite. They are about searching out a place’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities. That is what spying is about. The exclusive use of the verb latur in our portion – repeated twelve times – is there to tell us that the twelve men were not sent to spy. But only two of them understood this. The reason ten of the twelve men came back with a negative report is not because they lacked courage or confidence or faith. It was because they completely misunderstood their mission. They thought they had been sent to be spies. But the Torah never uses the word “spy” in our chapter. The ten simply did not understand what was going on. They believed it was their role to find out where the land was vulnerable, where its defenses could be overcome. They looked and could not find. The people were strong, and the cities impregnable. The bad news about the land was that there was not enough bad news to make it weak and thus conquerable. They thought their task was to be spies and they did their job. They were honest and open. They reported what they had seen. Based on the intelligence they had gathered, they advised the people not to attack – not now, and not from here.

Their mistake was that they were not meant to be spies. They were told latur, not lachpor or le’ragel. Their job was to tour, explore, travel, see what the land was like and report back. They were to see what was good about the land, not what was bad. So, if they were not meant to be spies, what was the purpose of this mission? The twelve were sent latur: to explore and report on the good things of the land so that the people would know it was worth fighting for. Their task was to tour and explore, not spy and decry. But only two of them, Joshua and Caleb, listened carefully and understood what their mission was: to be the eyes of the congregation, letting them know the beauty and goodness of what lay ahead, the land that had been their destiny since the days of their ancestor Abraham. Ten of the twelve men thought they were part of a story of espionage. The result was that they looked for the wrong things, came to the wrong conclusion, demoralized the people, destroyed the hope of an entire generation, and will eternally be remembered as responsible for one of the worst failures in Jewish history. It will take time – and a new generation – for the Israelites to be truly ready to enter the Promised Land. They will appreciate its beauty and its goodness and be ready to settle in their land.  [The story continues in the book of Joshua, from which our Haftarah portion is taken.]

From Previous Weeks

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