They Live Still Within
High Holy Days Nostalgia
August 18, 2015

Things get weird this time of year. Memories compete with current events in my life. I miss and even long for those significant loved ones with whom I shared this season, speaking about the past, preparing for now, reconsidering our interactions, preparing for the future. It's not that my life is not full; it certainly is. It's filled with people I love, and hope and fulfillment. But somehow particularly now the past intrudes, as though a sliver of myself were pulling those shadows back into day to day reality as I live it now. It's a time of nostalgia for what was and cannot be ever again, but also a time to recall and even to relive, to bring those gone from my life into the present again and appreciate how they made me what I am. It's as though the dialogue between us continues along the vector we started then, but lives still through my thoughts, actions and dreams. If we are the sum of our experiences, then they add to the processes of my life still, in a mysterious way, as though they never quite disappeared entirely, but speak to me daily as I see them reflected in thoughts and actions. I am not acting for them, just with their influence as they lean over my shoulder and whisper in my ear: "Nothing ever quite dies entirely, so live with me and let me touch you still."

Shavuah tov
August 14th, 2014
Parashat Re'eh

Deuteronomy 12:28, "Be careful to heed all these commandments that I enjoin upon you; thus it will go well with you and your descendants after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God."
Why does the Torah say both good and right?
The midrashic commentary Sifrei says, "Good in the eyes of heaven and right in the eyes of humanity."
Rashi to Genesis 1:7 explains this further. "Why doesn't [the Torah] say it was 'good' on the second day? Because the work of creating water was not done until the third day. And behold, He began on the second day and that which is not finished is not complete and good." Rashi goes on to say that the finish of creating the seas on the third day received the word "good" twice: once for the second day and once for the third day, but only when the action was complete.
Torah Temima, after citing Rashi, goes on to comment that that which appears "good" in our eyes, because it is not complete, can only be termed "right," "Because to use the word 'good' you have to know the future and the results [of the action] which is impossible for short sighted humanity to see."
This discussion is so very pertinent to the heated conversations occurring in our communities today, both Jewish and American, over the Iran Agreement. No one knows the end of the matter, and so it cannot be called "good." Our knowledge is imperfect, and all we have is conjecture, both educated and uneducated. So frequently all sorts of discussions today immediately turn to sarcasm, belittling and innuendo, as though the folks on the other side of the debate are not only idiotic but also deceptive in their arguments. Jewish tradition speaks of arguments "for the sake of heaven," in which both sides are sincerely attempting to arrive at the correct conclusion. I believe this to be the case in particular with the Iran discussion. The stakes are high, but no one has complete knowledge and therefore no one's opinion is "good" in the eyes of God. As Torah Temima says, "No human can see to the end of the matter, as God can." Therefore these discussions require respect and the utmost caution, lest the discussions themselves cause serious damage to both sides of a sincere debate.

The Iran Agreement
August 12, 2015
Rabbi Mark H. Levin

Subject: the Iran Agreement
I have been asked periodically about the Iran agreement. I think it's time to respond.
I respect many of those who have chosen to oppose the agreement, and their reasoning, particularly the former president of the URJ, Eric Yoffie. Eric's a very bright guy with lots of reasoning ability and excellent information. He opposes the agreement. 
I am for it, and for one simple reason. I have seen absolutely no reasonable response to what happens after the agreement is rejected. 
As many have said, a decade is an eternity in politics. I have no idea what will happen with Iran in the next decade, although they seem not to have moved very far since 1979. Nonetheless, this agreement will tell the Israelis, the Saudis, the Jordanians and everyone else in the Middle East to get their house in order or suffer the consequences. I think that is part of the bargain.
Because no one has presented any comprehensive arguments regarding the aftermath of rejection I can only conclude one of two things: they are willing to deal with the consequences; or, they're just not saying and everyone else knows something I don't know. Given that this agreement has been so widely debated, I think that's unlikely.
I am convinced that the European nations will go ahead with dropping the sanctions and begin to deal with Iran as a nation among nations. Europe, afterall, cares little for Israel. The U.S. will be isolated and ineffectual in our opposition to Iran. The Obama Administration has done an excellent job, and given too little credit, getting these sanctions together and forcing the Iranians to deal with us. But that pressure will not continue forever. Now's the time to reap the rewards that exist for the financial pressures on Iran. It's now or never.
Having said that, there is a solution that most of the Jewish community will hate, and no one is willing to accept. But here it is:
Israel needs to make peace with Saudi Arabia and Jordan. There's a Saudi Peace Plan on the table that's been there since 2002. To the best of my knowledge, the Israelis never responded. It offered peace and complete recognition for returning to the 1967 borders. It's not the final offer. It's a place to begin sincere negotiations. Why now?
ISIS is the champion of the Sunnis in the Middle East.
Syria is ineffectual, and likely to be split, with part of it going to ISIS. 
Iraq is likely to split, or maintain the current balance of power for the foreseeable future. 
Saudi Arabia, although Sunni, is being opposed and their government endangered by both Shi'a Iran on the east and ISIS in the north. 
Jordan is always in danger, and ISIS will threaten them next. Their most powerful close-by ally will be Israel. Jordan needs an ally.
Saudi Arabia and Jordan need Israel, and Israel needs two things: a peace agreement within recognized borders and protection against Iran. An anti-Iran alliance in the Middle East, including Egypt, will counter Iran's power as Saddam Hussein did before Pres. Bush knocked him out of power and disturbed the balance of power in the Middle East.
Like I said: Israel will not go for this, because of Netanyahu's delusional megalomania. He thought he could interfere in American politics and stick his finger in the eye of the United States, and what has it availed him? Europe opposes Israel and there's a rise in anti-Semitism; the right wing in Israel is becoming increasingly exclusionary and even the military cannot control them; ISIS will be a threat from the east, perhaps even on Israel's Syrian border, and Iran from further east. The Palestinians and Hezbollah will continue as they have in the past. The world Jewish community, particularly the American Jews who are not yet disgusted by Netanyahu's belligerence, oppression of Palestinians and interference in American politics, will not turn against Israel but will walk away partially in confusion and partially in disgust. Netanyahu will find Israel increasingly isolated unless he makes peace. And that is what I see happening: the increasing abandonment of Israel, while the Jewish community sits back and wrings its hands shrying "why does the world always hate us and turn to anti-Semitism?" when we squandered the moral high ground and destroyed our alliance with the most powerful government in the world. 
The agreement with Iran needs to pass Congress. Israel needs to negotiate behind the scenes with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. Iran must be contained. And Israel needs to live off the world's front pages for awhile, without constantly making enemies due to her unwillingness to negotiate. 
I know Jews are afraid. I know we think of a second Holocaust. Let me remind those who can remember that in the fifties the U.S. was afraid we'd be attacked by a newly nuclear-armed Russia. Everyone thought the Soviets were crazy and sought world domination, just as they say about Iran today. Had an agreement like this one come up, most people would have been opposed it out of distrust. See Dr. Strangelove! But as it turned out: vigilance and constant negotiation won out, and the world lived without an additional world war or nuclear explosion. Rationality reigned, and we lived in a relative peace. War is not the answer. A pause of a decade is the answer. Further negotiation is the answer. Seeking peace is the answer. And those people who will now write in response that there is no one to make peace with: now there's a new set of circumstances. Saudi Arabia, too, is existentially afraid, and they have better reason than Israel. Amazingly, now is the time for peace, if our diplomats, Israeli and American, have the ingenuity and energy to make it happen. Ken yehi ratzon.

Parashat Ekev
August 8, 2015

WE have recently seen much debate over a key observation in this week's Torah portion:
Deuteronomy 7:12 declares, "And if you do obey these rules and observe them carefully, the Lord your God will maintain faithfully for you the covenant and the lovingkindess (ha-hesed) that He made on oath with your ancestors..."
To which the Jerusalem Talmud replies on the word "lovingkiness," "Hesed," "The Rabbis teach, 'Three good gifts the Holy One Blessed be God gave to Israel: they are merciful, they are modest, and they show lovingkindness. How do we know they show lovingkindness, from 'the Lord your God will maintain faithfully for you the covenant and the lovingkindess (ha-hesed) that He made on oath with your ancestors.'" (Jerusalem Talmud, Kiddushin, chapt 4 halakhah 1)
All of these qualities are very general, but Maimonides follows up saying that those who show the opposite qualities, "impudence, cruelty and misanthropy," are suspect of not being Jewish and it may not be allowed to marry them! In Maimonides Mishneh Torah, The Book of Holiness (Kiddushin), Treatise One: Forbidden Intercourse, 19:17 Maimonides applies the ruling in great detail and at considerable length:
"All families are presumed to be of valid descent, and it is permitted to intermarry with them in the first instance. Nevertheless, should you see two families continually striving with one another, or a family which is constantly engaged in quarrels and altercations, or an individual who is exceedingly contentious with everyone, or is excessively impudent, apprehension should be felt concerning them, and it is advisable to keep one's distance from them, for these traits are indicative of invalid descent. Similarly, if a man always casts aspersions upon other people's descent -- for instance, if he alleges that certain families and individuals are of blemished descent and refers to them as being bastards -- suspicion is justified that he himself may be a bastard... since whosoever blemishes others projects upon them his own blemish. Similarly, if a person exhibits impudence, cruelty, or misanthropy, and never performs an act of kindness, one should strongly suspect that he is of Gibeonite descent, since the distinctive traits of Israel, the holy nation, are modesty, mercy, and loving-kindness... " ((Yale Judaica Series, Vol XVI, p. 125)

You ask yourself, "How can a nation with an ethic like this contain a person who stabs another human being at a Gay Pride Parade, or who burns down the home of an Arab family, murdering their infant son? And the answer is complex.

When modernity began over 2 centuries ago, just as the nations of Europe extended human rights and values to Jews as human beings, which had not existed prior to the French Revolution, most Jews also extended our ethics to those who are not Jewish. Therefore, every person should be treated with modesty, mercy and lovingkindness. Unfortunately, just as there are those who exclude Jews from equal treatment, there are Jews who are also intolerant and even hateful of foreigners. It is those people who have aroused such soul searching in Israel this week.

There are others who are simply criminals, like this week's stabber, but whose criminal insanity may be spurred by rabbis, or others, who preach hatred and violence against those who do not agree with them. I would place in this category those who exclude from the Jewish people anyone who simply does not agree with their theology, and preach hatred against those they perceive as enemies. Such people, some of them rabbis, should themselves be investigated as to whether they are enemies of the Jewish people, as we witness in Maimonides.

And finally, there are those responding to what they see as anti-Semitism, and who, in their fear and sometimes arrogance, seek to protect themselves through isolation. They fear for their safety and for their way of life. While we can understand their fears, they cannot force others to live as they do just because they believe they are correct and are fearful of outsiders. In the modern world, they too must learn to live with sincere diversity and grant to society the same rights granted by society to them.

May we learn in this diverse world to extend these Jewish qualities of modesty, mercy and lovingkindness to all those created in God's image.

Shabbat shalom.

Parashat Vaethanan
July 31, 2015

This week's Torah portion opens with Moses pleading before God for the one thing he really desires: to enter the Promised Land. God answers curtly, "Enough, don't speak to me of this matter again." God uses the same words with which Moses answered the rebellious Korah, "Rav lach," "You have arrogated too much to yourself." Moses pleads from his heart, and God, with whom Moses enjoys the best of relationships, turns him down so coldly that God appears annoyed at Moses' arrogance.
Moses immediately turns to the task at hand: reviewing the story of the sojourn from Egypt, through Sinai, and to the Israel.
What had Moses done wrong? He had made it about himself. He asked for fulfillment, a very human desire that we expect to have answered humanely if we have done well. What would it cost God, after all, to be kind?
Rashi understands Moses' passion and God's refusal in his comment on Dt. 3:23, "And I pleaded..." The word 'pleading' always refers to a freewill gift. Even though the righteous can and should rely on their good deeds, one does not pray to God for anything other than a freewill gift, as God said to Moses in Exodus 33:19 "I shall give grace to whomever I want." In other words, God chooses according to God's own criteria, which we cannot fathom.
The midrash turns the passage into a question of waiting between prayers: how long between worship services or parts of the service should someone take before starting up again? Here's the answer:
R. Simlai expounded :
A man should always recount the praise of the Holy One, blessed be He, and thereafter pray [for his needs].
Whence have we this? From Moses; for it is written, "And I besought the Lord at that time, saying" (Deut. iii. 23).
Then it is written, "O Lord God, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness, and Thy strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth, that can do according to Thy works, and according to Thy mighty acts ?" (ibid. v. 24). And after that it is written, "Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land" etc. (ibid. v. 25). (from sefaria.org)

In other words: take time first to think of God's merits, and then ask for what we need. The logical conclusion of this discussion we find in the Mishnah, Pirkei Avot 2:4, which opens:
Make His [G-d's] will your will, so that He will make your will His will. Make your will insignificant relative to His will, so that He will make the will of others insignificant relative to your will.

We, all of us, have those desires of our hearts that we truly wish to see fulfilled. Moses gave his life for a cause, and asked for a major favor at the end, with which God took umbrage and declined. Moses immediately returned to his task of leading the people. What, then, is the purpose of prayer, Rashi asks, if not to bend God's will to our own? Rashi answers brilliantly, "Take time before worship to remember God's manifold wonderful qualities, and only then should you pray." Then what do we pray for? The answer comes in Pirkei Avot, "That our will will become God's will and our desires match." That is the purpose of prayer.

Mr. Prime Minister: You Legacy is on the Line
July 7, 2015

To The Prime Minister of the State of Israel, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu

Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

When you were a guest of the United States Congress in March, you insisted that the American Congress listen and respond to the words of Iranian leaders that threaten the State of Israel. You were adamant that we take words seriously.
In part you said on March 3, "For those who believe that Iran threatens the Jewish state, but not the Jewish people, listen to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, Iran’s chief terrorist proxy. He said: If all the Jews gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of chasing them down around the world."
You have said in the past that the nations of the world should have taken the words of Nazi leaders seriously, but failed to react to what was being said.
Mr. Prime Minister, clearly you understand the importance of words and the deeds that follow.
Today your Religious Affairs Minister said that Reform Jews are not part of the Jewish people and cannot be counted as Jews. We heard him very clearly. Now we will listen to your response.
Since the First Zionist Congress 118 years ago Jews of all streams and ideologies have worked together to bring the House of Israel under Israel's tent. Whether living in Israel or creating ties to Israel, we, lovers of Zion, have included ourselves in the destiny of the Jewish State. Now, your Minister, a member of your government, states those days are behind us. We are not members of the Jewish people.
Mr. Prime Minister, your legacy as the Prime Minister hangs in the balance. Will you continue to unite the Jewish people behind Israel, wherever the lovers of Israel live around the world? Or will you, through your actions, declare that your Minister of Religious Affairs is correct: liberal Jews are not members of the Jewish people any longer? Mr. Prime Minister: now is the time to choose your legacy. What will it be?
Your people are listening to take your words seriously. Are we, Mr. Prime Minister, or are we not part of the Jewish people? Shall we continue to support Israel in the American Congress? Shall we, Mr. Prime Minister, continue to support Israel in the Democratic and Republican Parties? Shall we, Mr. Prime Minister, continue to preach to the American Jewish community that the fate of American Jewry depends upon the fate of the household of Israel living in the Land of Israel? Shall continue to organize groups to visit Israel, send our children on Birthright (Taglit) and to camps in Israel, encouraging constant exchanges between the People of Israel wherever they may be found?
Or shall we, Mr. Prime Minister, conclude from your actions that we were mistaken: that Israel is the State of a small minority of the Jewish people that excludes all liberal Jews?
Mr. Prime Minister, the time for petty coalition politics has come to an end. After an entire century of convincing the Jewish people that we are one people, Am Echad im Lev Echad, one people with a single heart, now is the time to decide: Is that or is that not true?
If Mr. Azoulay continues in your cabinet, Mr. Prime Minister, we know that you have taken his words seriously and you have responded.
The choice is yours. We await your words and your actions.
Ahad HaAm -- One of the People of Israel
Rabbi Mark H. Levin

What Do We Really Want?
Parashat Balak
July 4, 2015

Evil confounds us. Why do we engage in evil? In Genesis 8:21 God proclaims, " 'I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." Is that it? Are we naturally evil?

In this week's parashah, God first prohibits Balaam from working on behalf of the wicked Balak, and then allows Balaam to go. Does God change his mind?
In Numbers 22:20 God commands, "Rise and go with them," to which Talmud Makkot 10b responds, "Rava bar Rav Huna said, 'A man is led in the way he wishes to follow.'" In other words, our powers of rationalization to do what we really want, facilitate our sins.

Rashi contends in vs. 18 that Balaam's motive is greed, "'A house full of silver and gold": This shows us that he was greedy and coveted other people’s money. He said, “He ought to give me all his silver and gold, since he has to hire many armies, and even then, it is questionable whether he will be victorious or not, whereas I will certainly succeed.'”- [Mid. Tanchuma Balak; Num. Rabbah 20:10, trans. from Chabad.org]

To which Torah Temima says, "Everything is in the hands of heaven except for the fear of heaven," (Rabbi Hanina, Berachot 33b) "The Holy One, Blessed be God, saw the direction he wanted to go and permitted him to go there." Even though our fates may be determined for us, our moral qualities are our own determination.

It appears then that we sin because of an inner predilection to head in a particular direction, even when we avow something different. But we can choose.
Torah Temimah continues, "... Balak did not offer Balaam that he would enrich him with silver for his actions, he only promised him that he would honor him, as it says, 'for I will give you very great honor, and whatsoever thou say to me I will do; come therefore, curse for me this people.' (vs. 17) So why does Balaam answer him with money? Because it is known that "the desires of a man are frequent on his tongue to recall them." In other words, our words betray our real interests.

What do we learn? To look inside of ourselves before we respond to determine what our true interests and motives are. What do we really want? What is our real goal and predilection, and is that moral? Balaam's problem, the human dilemma? We are too willing to ask again and again to get what we really wanted to begin with, and then we rationalize that the others agreed with us because they went along with our desires. God followed Balaam's inner drive. Balaam didn't want to curse the Jewish people. He wanted the gold and silver he felt he could earn from Balak, and that colored his moral judgment and even made him betray the source of his power. May we not succumb to the same. Torah enables us to compare our internal desires to a morally unambiguous path, and decide for the good from the outset.