The Torah portions for this week - tazria-metzorah - often have a bad image. Oh - those are the ones that speak about sickness and sores and mildew. And how the kohen, the priest, would diagnose a person's condition and help the person to reenter the community. If you have to give a talk about these portions, people may sometimes offer you their compassion.
But the portions are actually essential. In fact, without them, the Torah doesn’t really work, its underlying message is largely untested. These portions test whether or not the Torah works.
I’ll come back to that.
Last week we commemorated Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. Vera Eden, longtime member of the congregation, Jewish educator for decades, spoke with passion and strength about her experiences as a teenager in Auschwitz. She described how she was taken there, separated from most of her family, what she heard and saw on typical days and atypical days, how she felt at each moment, how the Nazis tried to deceive the Jews at each point. She conveyed the horror, the terror, and the very rare moments of hope.
I looked around at the congregation while she was speaking - she spoke for over half an hour - and people were transfixed. Children and adults were paying close attention throughout her talk.
The next morning I saw Vera and her cousin Eva, who was with her in Auschwitz and with whom she has shared so much of her life’s journey. They had come to the synagogue to attend a weekly class.
I thanked Vera as I had done the night before and she said, people need to hear these stories. And I told her again how intensely people were drawn to her delivery and message. She said that she was very glad that people wanted to listen to her story and that they were so attentive and so responsive.
A few days later I attended a program sponsored by UJA called Witness Theater. Holocaust Survivors met with a group of teenagers, shared their stories, and the teens, with guidance from a professional, presented the survivor’s stories in a dramatic format.
The survivors were onstage as the students were present and after each survivor’s story was presented, that survivor said a few words - first about how he or she continued to live and grow and establish families after the war - and second, words of gratitude that these teens took the time to get to know them, and to hear their stories.
Are you with me? Are you with me as I share my pain? Are you with me as I share the darkest moments in my life?
This is what many survivors wonder. Can I share my story? Do I have the strength? Do people care enough? Are they - are YOU - with me?
So back to the Torah. The quintessential defining moment in the book of Genesis which sets the vision and the tone is the creation of humanity in God’s image. God created human beings in God’s image, male and female.
In the book of Exodus the quintessential defining moment is leaving Egypt - an entire nation makes the thrilling but perilous journey from slavery to freedom.
היום אתם יוצאים Hayom hatem yotz’im - today you are leaving, they are told.
So I imagine the children of Israel, walking through the wilderness, pitching their tents at night and trying to avoid the scorpions and dealing with the stuff of life - I imagine they are wondering, if something happens to me - if I am suffering, if I’m having a really bad day, if I am brought low - are you with me?
I mean - it’s nice to know that we are created in God’s image. And it’s nice to know that we are part of a people that have left the bonds of slavery.
But if something happens to me - to me personally - does my spark of God rate high enough to merit your attention?
Hello Mr. Kohen, Mr. Priest, I know you’re really busy. But you see, I’m suffering. I have a bad rash or some kind of illness that is uncomfortable and painful and scary and I’m wondering if you could just take a minute or two out of your day to come take a look.
The Torah portions that we read this morning describe how the Kohen would respond to a person with a particular ailment. The Kohen would examine the person, determine if quarantine was appropriate. If it was, then the person would remain outside the camp for a period of time after which the Kohen would leave the camp - ויצא הכהן אל מחוץ למחנה v’yatza hakohen el mihutz lamahaneh - to examine the person and determine if he or she was medically ready to rejoin the community.
The whole dynamic - whereby a Kohen, a leader in the community, leaves what he’s doing, leaves the camp if necessary, to tend to someone who is in physical and most likely emotionally distress - that whole dynamic tests the individual and communal premises of the entire Torah. A human being is created in God’s image. And the entire people get to leave Egypt.
But the individual says: I am uncomfortable. I am suffering. I am ashamed. Are you with me?
The actions of the Kohen, representing the people say, “Yes I am with you. Yes WE are with you.”
The NY Times featured an article recently about what friends want when they share their problems with us. So a friend trusts us enough to say, “I’m going through something, or suffering with something, or there’s a part of me I don’t like.”
This won’t surprise you, but friends generally don’t want us to solve their problems. What they want from us is to take the time to listen to them. Are you with me, they wonder. With me enough to pick up the phone or grab a cup of coffee or pause by my locker in between class so I can tell you what just happened to me.
One final thought.
The State of Israel is celebrating 70 years since it was created. Israel is a miracle. It is a place of ingathering for Jews and not just for Jews. It has provided sanctuary and sanctity. It is a source of many blessings. Thursday night we had an outstanding, joyful, soulful concert - organized and led by Cantor Frieder. We will be posting videos from the event - it was incredible.
I said at the concert that when someone celebrates a birthday, that’s not the time to criticize. As in: "Happy Birthday. You’ve put on weight. You drive me a little crazy." A birthday is a time to thank someone for lighting up your life.
And the same is true when a nation celebrates a birthday. We say Happy Birthday to Israel - יום הולדת שמח Yom Huledet Sameah - thank you for lighting up the world.
Now of course no nation is perfect and there are times when it’s appropriate to share criticism.
Countless articles have been written about whether and in what ways people living outside of Israel should voice concerns, regrets, critiques.
In light of what I shared this morning, I want to say the following. Like everyone else in the world, Israelis want to know, are you with us?
Not, do you think we’re perfect. Not, do we do everything right. But are you with us? Do you try to understand us? Not just our accomplishments, but also our challenges, our angst, our pain?
Criticism that comes from a place of “I’m not with you, I’m just hanging out over here and talking” is heard very differently than similar concepts that are expressed in a way, in a context, that conveys, “I’m with you. We’re with you.”
Sometimes we need to go outside of our camp - our right-wing or lift-wing camp, our social media echo chamber camp - to listen, to visit, to hold, to embrace, to say and to show - we are with you.
Human beings created in God’s image? Just words, unless we are with one another.
Leaving Egypt? Just a dramatic exercise. Unless we pay careful attention to the people who are walking alongside us, or the people we’re going to find when we get to where we’re going.
Are we with one other? No matter what the other is facing, are we with one other? We have many, many opportunities to demonstrate that the answer is yes.
Originally delivered at Temple Israel of Great Neck on April 21, 2018
But the portions are actually essential. In fact, without them, the Torah doesn’t really work, its underlying message is largely untested. These portions test whether or not the Torah works.
I’ll come back to that.
Vera Eden and Dr. Eva Ebin, cousins and Shoah survivors
Last week we commemorated Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. Vera Eden, longtime member of the congregation, Jewish educator for decades, spoke with passion and strength about her experiences as a teenager in Auschwitz. She described how she was taken there, separated from most of her family, what she heard and saw on typical days and atypical days, how she felt at each moment, how the Nazis tried to deceive the Jews at each point. She conveyed the horror, the terror, and the very rare moments of hope.
I looked around at the congregation while she was speaking - she spoke for over half an hour - and people were transfixed. Children and adults were paying close attention throughout her talk.
The next morning I saw Vera and her cousin Eva, who was with her in Auschwitz and with whom she has shared so much of her life’s journey. They had come to the synagogue to attend a weekly class.
I thanked Vera as I had done the night before and she said, people need to hear these stories. And I told her again how intensely people were drawn to her delivery and message. She said that she was very glad that people wanted to listen to her story and that they were so attentive and so responsive.
A few days later I attended a program sponsored by UJA called Witness Theater. Holocaust Survivors met with a group of teenagers, shared their stories, and the teens, with guidance from a professional, presented the survivor’s stories in a dramatic format.
The survivors were onstage as the students were present and after each survivor’s story was presented, that survivor said a few words - first about how he or she continued to live and grow and establish families after the war - and second, words of gratitude that these teens took the time to get to know them, and to hear their stories.
Are you with me? Are you with me as I share my pain? Are you with me as I share the darkest moments in my life?
This is what many survivors wonder. Can I share my story? Do I have the strength? Do people care enough? Are they - are YOU - with me?
So back to the Torah. The quintessential defining moment in the book of Genesis which sets the vision and the tone is the creation of humanity in God’s image. God created human beings in God’s image, male and female.
In the book of Exodus the quintessential defining moment is leaving Egypt - an entire nation makes the thrilling but perilous journey from slavery to freedom.
היום אתם יוצאים Hayom hatem yotz’im - today you are leaving, they are told.
So I imagine the children of Israel, walking through the wilderness, pitching their tents at night and trying to avoid the scorpions and dealing with the stuff of life - I imagine they are wondering, if something happens to me - if I am suffering, if I’m having a really bad day, if I am brought low - are you with me?
I mean - it’s nice to know that we are created in God’s image. And it’s nice to know that we are part of a people that have left the bonds of slavery.
But if something happens to me - to me personally - does my spark of God rate high enough to merit your attention?
Hello Mr. Kohen, Mr. Priest, I know you’re really busy. But you see, I’m suffering. I have a bad rash or some kind of illness that is uncomfortable and painful and scary and I’m wondering if you could just take a minute or two out of your day to come take a look.
The Torah portions that we read this morning describe how the Kohen would respond to a person with a particular ailment. The Kohen would examine the person, determine if quarantine was appropriate. If it was, then the person would remain outside the camp for a period of time after which the Kohen would leave the camp - ויצא הכהן אל מחוץ למחנה v’yatza hakohen el mihutz lamahaneh - to examine the person and determine if he or she was medically ready to rejoin the community.
The whole dynamic - whereby a Kohen, a leader in the community, leaves what he’s doing, leaves the camp if necessary, to tend to someone who is in physical and most likely emotionally distress - that whole dynamic tests the individual and communal premises of the entire Torah. A human being is created in God’s image. And the entire people get to leave Egypt.
But the individual says: I am uncomfortable. I am suffering. I am ashamed. Are you with me?
The actions of the Kohen, representing the people say, “Yes I am with you. Yes WE are with you.”
The NY Times featured an article recently about what friends want when they share their problems with us. So a friend trusts us enough to say, “I’m going through something, or suffering with something, or there’s a part of me I don’t like.”
This won’t surprise you, but friends generally don’t want us to solve their problems. What they want from us is to take the time to listen to them. Are you with me, they wonder. With me enough to pick up the phone or grab a cup of coffee or pause by my locker in between class so I can tell you what just happened to me.
One final thought.
The State of Israel is celebrating 70 years since it was created. Israel is a miracle. It is a place of ingathering for Jews and not just for Jews. It has provided sanctuary and sanctity. It is a source of many blessings. Thursday night we had an outstanding, joyful, soulful concert - organized and led by Cantor Frieder. We will be posting videos from the event - it was incredible.
I said at the concert that when someone celebrates a birthday, that’s not the time to criticize. As in: "Happy Birthday. You’ve put on weight. You drive me a little crazy." A birthday is a time to thank someone for lighting up your life.
And the same is true when a nation celebrates a birthday. We say Happy Birthday to Israel - יום הולדת שמח Yom Huledet Sameah - thank you for lighting up the world.
Now of course no nation is perfect and there are times when it’s appropriate to share criticism.
Countless articles have been written about whether and in what ways people living outside of Israel should voice concerns, regrets, critiques.
In light of what I shared this morning, I want to say the following. Like everyone else in the world, Israelis want to know, are you with us?
Not, do you think we’re perfect. Not, do we do everything right. But are you with us? Do you try to understand us? Not just our accomplishments, but also our challenges, our angst, our pain?
Criticism that comes from a place of “I’m not with you, I’m just hanging out over here and talking” is heard very differently than similar concepts that are expressed in a way, in a context, that conveys, “I’m with you. We’re with you.”
Sometimes we need to go outside of our camp - our right-wing or lift-wing camp, our social media echo chamber camp - to listen, to visit, to hold, to embrace, to say and to show - we are with you.
Human beings created in God’s image? Just words, unless we are with one another.
Leaving Egypt? Just a dramatic exercise. Unless we pay careful attention to the people who are walking alongside us, or the people we’re going to find when we get to where we’re going.
Are we with one other? No matter what the other is facing, are we with one other? We have many, many opportunities to demonstrate that the answer is yes.
Originally delivered at Temple Israel of Great Neck on April 21, 2018
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