Omer 5775. Day 1

So here we go... counting from Pesach to Shavuot.

We depart, abandoning Egypt, leaving civilization behind, forging our way into the wilderness, towards the unknown with God at our helm.

We embark with the taste of Matza in our mouths. But for our thought for the inaugural day of the Omer let us consider Matza from the perspective of the 49 days of the Omer. Rav Yoel-bin-Nun writes:

Leaven, hametz … represent the final goal to which the farmer aspires, from the start of his work. … Bread which is hametz … express[es] the end of the successful process, the longed-for end-result… the realization of that which he had visualized at the start, and which he pursued until he achieved it.

Matza, in contrast, represents a station in mid-process, before the end-result is achieved. It represents a deficiency that is waiting for completion.

In fact, Matza represents the beginning of the flat dough, before it has risen to be what it was designed to be - Hametz, leaven; fluffy bread! Matza is a process at its inception. We start walking with Matza. From the day of our Exodus, we begin to count.

Pesach is a celebration of freedom. But we may not imagine that merely because we are free we have realised our national destiny. We eat matza to understand that our independence is merely the start of a long journey. we still need to receive our Torah, to populate and build our land, to build our nation and much more. Matza is a celebration but also a warning:

... Redemption is a prolonged, difficult process requiring patience and a great capacity for discomfort… The essence of the festival of matzot then, is a severe warning against the illusion of a complete redemption that happens in a single moment.

Pesach Thoughts 5775

I have been thinking about Pesach, looking for a new angle, a fresh thought, and this is what is running through my mind at the moment. 

Traditionally, Pesach is זמן חרותינו the Season of our Freedom. We focus on themes such as persecution and survival; slavery and freedom, and the like. This year, I would like to focus our minds elsewhere by sharing two recent encounters.

The first encounter was at a university campus on the East coast of the US, a college with a large Jewish community (and a somewhat smaller Orthodox one.) I sit with a student who studied with me in Israel 3 years ago. I ask him about the vibrancy of the Jewish community on campus and particularly the religious challenges that he faces. He tells me that out of the fifteen Orthodox students who entered college with him, he is the sole student who remains Shabbat observant. And I am astounded that these Orthodox students, after 12 years of Jewish schooling, many of them spending a year in Israel, choose to reject or ignore something as fundamental and central as Shabbat. Is the allure of 3 years in secular college so irresistible? Why did the commitment to traditional observance prove so tough to uphold?

A second story. I recently visited Perth, Australia to teach at an incredible seminar for Akiva school's 11^th and 12 Grade. The school and its students are impressive. Their knowledge of Judaism and its practices are extensive and the Jewish atmosphere is pervasive. 

And yet, when we came to discuss questions of intermarriage, the predominant attitude was: "If I fall in love with someone who shares my values, isn't that more important than whether he/she is a Jew or not?" And in this small Jewish community, intermarriage amongst the non-observant can soar higher than 70%. Apparently if there is little Jewish observance at home between one traditional Friday night dinner and the next, then truly, one can have just as much in common with a fellow non-Jewish student as with a Jewish one. And it is deeply tragic that this incredible school, with talented teachers and an amazing campus and 12 years of Jewish schooling still may not ensure the future of the next Jewish generation.

Where are we going wrong?

PESACH 

And my mind comes back to Pesach. It is not persecution that threatens us at the moment throughout the Jewish world in the West; it is assimilation. If Egypt represents a society that saw us as alien and sought to control the ancient Hebrews, enslaving us as a people, now in the 21^st Century, we are "free" to be part of any Western society. The story of national subjugation is not our story in 2015. We have absolute freedom as Jews; and precisely because we have that freedom, we are worryingly susceptible to assimilation, running the danger of losing our very status as Jews. How absurd!

Back to the Seder.

In the Talmud (Pesachim 116a) Rav and Shmuel famously debate the manner in which the Pesach story be told. The Mishna instructs us to see the story as a process, "start with shame and end with praise – מתחיל בגנות ומסיים בשבח" but the mishna fails to define what the "shame" and "praise" are. 

Shmuel says that we relate the dramatic tale of our slavery and our freedom: "עבדים היינו" -  starting with the "shame" of our national enslavement and persecution, and culminating in our release from Egyptian domination. This is a political story. 

Rav disagrees. He suggests that we talk about a very different process of transition: "מתחילה" – "In the beginning, our ancestors were idolaters, and now God has drawn us to His service." According to Rav, we narrate a religious journey. Pesach symbolizes the manner in which the Jewish nation were discovered by God; the manner in which they repudiated the faith and religious practice of other nations. It celebrates Israel's religious uniqueness. Whereas Shmuel's Seder is celebrating our ability to overthrow foreign control and emerge as a free nation. Rav's Seder is celebrating an inner process of Israel finding its God and its discovery of its unique religious path.

For years, I have always related to Shmuel's story and absolutely ignored Rav's. after all, isn't Pesach the festival that celebrates our physical, political freedom? On Shavuot we celebrate the Torah! 

And yet, I wonder whether we have to be telling our children's Rav's story. Possibly we need not focus upon the universal message of freedom from despotic and cruel oppression, the narrative of national emancipation, but instead to rediscover and artciculate the uniqueness of our Jewish faith, the imperative of Jewish self-definition! Could it be that our students still do not appreciate that they are the recipients of a remarkable, world-changing religion, a heritage that they should cherish and cultivate, that can ennoble their lives and improve society, a birthright that they should desire to pass to the next generation? We are failing in telling our children this story. If we were telling it better, then possibly they would appreciate this special gift, and never let it go.

JEWISHLY DISTINCT

If I have highlighted the importance of Israel's transition to becoming a distinct faith community, a second point should be stated.

ויהי שם לגוי – מלמד שהיו מצויינים שם

"They became a nation; this teaches that there [in Egypt], they retained their distinctiveness." (Haggada shel Pesach)

Were the Jews acculturated in Egypt, or marked by society as a group of Pariah's? What was the social status of Hebrews vis-a-vis Egyptians? We frequently imagine Jews incarcerated in Egyptian work-camps of one sort or another, labelled and branded, but the truth may be quite different. God had to "pass-over" the homes, jumping over the Israelite homes that were interspersed amongst the Egyptian homes. Jews and Egyptians lived together! Exodus talks of the Hebrew's borrowing valuables from their Egyptian neighbours! After centuries in Egypt, it seems that Israelites were well acculturated; to leave Egypt, Israelites were told to differentiate themselves. 

In fact, many see the test of the slaughter of the Paschal Lamb as an attempt to have Israel repudiate an Egyptian value system. Egyptians venerated the lamb, especially under the zodiac sign of Aries. Lambs were not slaughtered at this time of year. To engage in mass-slaughter of lambs and to roast them so their smell pervaded the air was a fundamental rejection of an Egyptian identity.

Furthermore, the Israelites first instruction was to daub their doorways; they were instructed to separate their homes, to mark themselves. Creating an understanding that we are distinct, that from the Exodus on, we represent a distinct people – this is part and parcel of the Exodus story. 

One midrashic tradition suggests that the Israelites were distinct because they preserved their distinctive "names, language and clothing," in other words, because they did not assimilate; they remained distinctive.

So in short, we have a fascinating task and it is difficult because we live in an era of multiculturalism. How we persuade young Jews to remain distinctive? They know the tranditional lessons of Pesach - Freedom from oppresion, but they are not convinced that they want to stay as part of the Jewish people? How do we ensure that they will have Jewish children and grandchildren? Maybe parents need to ask their children at the seder: "How will you ensure that your children will be Jewish?"

And we Rabbis and teachers, shul-goers and affiliated Jews, need to ask oursleves whether we are presenting Judaism as something unattractive, off-putting? Whether we are sending mixed-messages - Do we suggest that one can entirely acculturate, and give up nothing, and still retain a powerful Jewish identity? If we sell this message, is it really honest? Maybe we need to say that one cannot have it all!

"It is this that has stood for our fathers and ourselves." Judaism makes us special; it is a remarkable system of laws, intellect, social responsibility, spirituality, history and tradition. Pesach symbolizes our beginnings as a people. But we are a people distinguished and shaped by our faith. Maybe this story should be at the centre of our Seder this year.

Elections 2015. The Day After

This election has been a wild one. Some thoughts on the day after:

1. Polsters. Oh boy – look how they got it wrong! Even if people changed their minds at the last moment, why were the exit polls so significantly incorrect?
And the questions: Did they mess up because they are unprofessional and only cover certain selective sectors?
Or much worse, was there a wishful thinking, a bias for the Left to win? If that is true, then almost certainly it backfired, and spurred the Right to victory.

2. Newspaper bias – This election has seen terrible newspaper bias. I am used to it from Haaretz, but this time Ynet exceeded Haaretz in their constant battery of Netanyahu. Don't get me wrong – I don’t love the guy – but can a newspaper be so blatantly partisan and still consider itself a newspaper? 

The night before the election, Ynet had a picture of Chief Rabbi Herzog alongside President Herzog and Buji. The tagline" The grandfather – Chief Rabbi; The father – President; the son – Who are you Buji Herzog?" What a cheap ploy! Ynet, throughout this election season have released negative stories about Netanyahu.

Rav Yoel bin Nun reflected and said that this election has seen demonization of Netanyahu as a failed leader who has deeply betrayed and endangered Israel, as reaching the levels of verbal incitement during the period of Yitzchak Rabin. He may be correct.

3. The dirty election – Leading on from this, why was this entire election "Just not Bibi" or "It's us or them?" Why did the Likud not even release a manifesto of its political views? Nothing? Why was the entire campaign about personal slurs and scaremongering? We all have to wake up the day after and be led by these people. It is destructive, irresponsible, dishonest, cheap. Can we find another way? (BTW, from what I saw Yesh Atid were pretty responsible in this zone… saying what they believed without blacklisting and insulting others.)

4. V15 – Why is it legal?

I am sure that most of us saw the ads on FB by V15; TLV was plastered with their ads. They were excellent emotive, effective. (If you don’t know who they are see this article link), But it is total absurdity! Since when can a foreign paid campaign give smooth but vague messaging about a better future saying that "the leadership must be changed" and that Bibi is useless (covering their tracks by not saying who specifically to elect)? Why is that legal? Political parties have a law to control them and limit abuse of the election. (It is an outdated law and certainly needs a huge overhaul.) Can any non-party organization use foreign money (lots of it) to manipulate an election. To me it sounds highly unethical. Why is it legal?

One other thing about the V15 ads and the negative electioneering. They made out as if everything is dark, gloomy and oppressive in an Israel lead by Netanyahu. Well, I too dislike his leadership style, his friends and many of his values and actions. BUT Israel is a free, prosperous, relatively safe society. It is a huge mistake and highly irresponsible, just to win an election, to paint everything black, exaggerate and lie to push your point. I think that now we understand that it is also counterproductive.

5. Bibi – the Election king (who are you Bibi?)

And having said point 2,3,and 4 it is INCREDIBLE that Netanyahu won with such a margin. He is truly an election genius, a political wizard.

And yet, may I add that he has taken a severe knock in this campaign.

He has been lambasted by Mossad chiefs and military heads, by fellow cabinet members, for fearmongering, an inept handling of the Gaza war, an inability to take brave decisions, a lack of forward thinking. Is it true? Is he a responsible leader? How much is real? Who are you Bibi?

He has been exposed as indulgent and portrayed as aloof. How can we feel that he cares about us common people?

How can Bibi – even after his victory – show us that he is a worthy principled leader? I think he really needs to? I hope that very little of what was said (by serious people) is true. It is deeply worrying.

Bibi did not involve any fellow Likud minister in his campaign. (Yisrael Katz ran it, but he was the sole face.) Bibi has successfully pushed out Gidon Saar, Cachlon and every competitor from the Likud. Who will succeed him? Can he foster a new generation of leadership. Will his leadership of Likud be challenged?

5. The Arab List – is the 3^rd largest Knesset party. Who is prepared to take them seriously? How long can Jewish Israel pretend that the Arab Israelis are not there? How long can we sideline them? I was hoping that they could be incorporated into a future government (I dare you Bibi! … it will be the greatest surprise of your political career!) Israeli Arabs feel disenfranchised. For our collective future, we want them to feel more Israeli, less alienated, to feel more equal, to gain full services and excellent education, to be integrated more. For Israel's future, we need this. If this is done, I think they will reciprocate by showing more loyalty with Israel. Am I dreaming? Is this possible?

And besides this, will Bibi , like Ruby Rivlin, make some gestures to bridge-building with the Israeli Arab population, offering his hand to them and stating that he is leader of all Israeli citizens and will take their interests seriously?

6. The county is drifting rightwards. Will there ever be a Left-wing government in the foreseeable future?

7. Buji and Tzippy did the impossible. Look what they did… they created a viable leadership party out of a failure. Their economic plan is really interesting. I hope Buji stays as head of the opposition. I think he could be an excellent leader of the future (voice notwithstanding.) We need a powerful opposition to put up a liberal fight to what might be one of Israel's most right-wing governments. Possibly even Buji can move a step rightwards and win the next election … maybe w/out Tzippy!)

8. Yachad – Eli Yishai's party has (hopefully) not passed the threshold. I say hopefully because I would hate to see the Baruch Marzel in the Knesset. But they actually took 4 seats from HaBayit Hayehudi. Right Wing Zionist rabbis who backed Yishai due to some disfavor with Bennet or Ayelet Shaked should understand that they lost their party 4 seats.

9. What is going to be with Bibi-Obama for the next 2 years? Can they make a "sulcha"?  

10. Electoral Reform Can Cachlon insist on reform of the electoral system? Can we make a law that ensures  elections only every 4 years and not before? How can we prevent the inner wrangling of parties within the government and the cabinet and the political blackmailing? We desperately need that mechanism in places as soon as possible.

Lots of other thoughts… maybe in the comments.

What Holy People! עם ישראל קדושים הם!

Today was the 10th of Tevet. It is a public fast day which is widely observed, although many
otherwise observant Jews do not fast, seeing that it is one of the "minor" fast days. Halakha allows people who feel unwell, the elderly etc. to eat.

So, here's the story. Today I was walking through one of Jerusalem's shopping malls. I saw a man who I know as a "kippa wearer" walking in front of me. He was bare-headed. My thought was: "Interesting! ... Maybe he doesn't cover his head all the time; maybe just in a Torah class, or when eating. OK! No problem."

Then I noticed that he was drinking water: "OK!" I thought to myself. "He is an older man. Possibly he has medical reasons to drink. Maybe he was never raised fasting and he doesn't fast on 10 Tevet."

But 2 minutes later, he put the bottle down, and re-fastened his kippa. Suddenly I understood. He does wear a kippa. But he didn't want to be seen drinking water in public while wearing a kippa, so he took it off to drink on a fast-day.

And I thought how amazing his sensitivity was, to the meaning of wearing a kippa, to the sanctity of the day, and I just thought עם ישראל קדושים הם - We are a holy nation!

In Judaism, we are taught to דן כל אדם לכף זכות - To judge every human in a generous way (Avot 1:6). It is a practice that I try to apply (I'm not always successful), assuming that most people are not ill-intended, or deliberately nasty. This was a great reminder how we should never judge a book by its cover, but instead always assume that people have the best intentions in mind.

Holding Hands in the Face of Terror

Yesterday was by all means a terrible day. We woke innocently enough, but as I finished my morning minyan, the awful news broke. Two terrorists had attacked a shul in Har Nof and, using revolvers and butcher's knives, had shot and hacked and killed 5 Israelis and injured many more. From that moment, the entire day turned dark, black. I genuinely felt that I was in a haze all day, finding it hard not to migrate repeatedly to the news on the radio and internet, and then again turning it off because it was all too horrific, too raw.

But here was yesterday's silver lining. Something else happened yesterday, right by my home in Gush Etzion. It was a wonderful, uplifting moment. It was a human chain. 2, 000 high school kids decided to join hands to celebrate life and to embrace their desire to grow up peacefully and to live in Gush Etzion.

What stimulated this event? Well, the previous week, Gush Etzion was yet again rocked by a dreadful terror attack. A young woman, Dalia Lemkus z"l stood at a bus stop on her way home from work. She was a social worker and had spent the day helping underprivileged youth in Kiryat Gat. As she stood waiting, a car suddenly ploughed into the bus stop running her over. The terrorist proceeded to get out and stab her to death as he went on a frenzied rampage. 

This attack took place at about 4:35pm. Five minutes earlier at 4:30pm, at my daughter's school 300 yards away, the 9th grade had just been released. Many schoolgirls take a bus from that same bus stop. The school went into panic, everyone feared that it was one of their friends. A "lockdown" was declared as soldiers scanned the area to ensure that other terrorists were not lurking in the vicinity. The girls recited Tehillim (psalms) and cried and hugged one another.

In the end, thankfully, all the schoolchildren were fine, but tragically, a fine beautiful young woman was killed. And the schoolgirls asked themselves how they might respond? What could they do? The 11th grade came up with the idea of a human chain. Their motto was :  "בלב אחד נמשיך לפעום We will continue to beat with one heart...". Their website says: "This is not a protest or a demonstration - it is our empowerment." Indeed, it wasn't a protest - it was an attempt to express love, determination, community, life - עם ישראל חי!

Who are these kids? They are my children, teenagers of my friends and neighbours. Fun-loving, ordinary, talented, phone-addicted teenagers. These kids get around by buses and hitchhikes. Their summer began with three of their schoolmates being kidnapped at a bus stop they all use. For 3 weeks we all sat tearing our hair out worrying, and then we discovered their bodies and understood that they had been brutally murdered. Then there was the Gaza war with many fathers and brothers in the line of fire. And in the latest chapter of carnage, a lovely 26 year old woman was killed at a local bus (just across the road from where the boys were abducted.) These teenagers have had to deal with an abnormal amount of emotional trauma lately. Ordinary questions like taking a bus become dilemmas of life and death.

So look at this incredible response. Maybe the girls wanted to cry. They certainly did. Possibly some wanted to give up, to respond to the tension and death by falling out of school. Who knows? (- I am sure school psychologists have a harder time in Israel.) I am sure quite a number were filled with anger, even hate. But they did something different, something impressively positive. Yesterday, the young women of Neve Channa who thought that one of their friends had been killed at that bus stop, decided not to protest, not to call for "Death to Arabs" or "Destroy the terrorist homes." They created a gesture remarkable in its dignity. They turned the pain inwards and upwards and directed it into building and strengthening the community. They invited all the local high schools to make a chain which stretched 2 miles, from the main Gush Etzion junction, past the bus stop, and ending at Kfar Etzion, a kibbutz that housed the school where Gilad Sheer and Naftali Frenkel had studied. The schools supported their initiative, the police and army fell into line, and the municipality offered logistical support. This was their statement, their empowerment.

The stood together with their friends, in unity, hand in hand, to reclaim their road. They said "עם ישראל חי!" We belong here. We will continue to live, grow and flourish in our beloved land, here in Gush Etzion.

I am really proud of them.