Special needs adoption from a Jewish perspective.

Special needs adoption from a Jewish perspective.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Haftorah Beam - Bamidbar

The first Torah reading in the book of Numbers is connected to the divine Covenant with the People of Israel, and the Haftorah reading relates to its restoration in the time of the prophet Hosea.  Having strayed from G*d, the people are returning to their traditions and observances, and will be rewarded with a renewed closeness with G*d:

א  וְהָיָה מִסְפַּר בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, כְּחוֹל הַיָּם, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יִמַּד, וְלֹא יִסָּפֵר; וְהָיָה בִּמְקוֹם אֲשֶׁר-יֵאָמֵר לָהֶם, לֹא-עַמִּי אַתֶּם, יֵאָמֵר לָהֶם, בְּנֵי אֵל-חָי.1 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that, instead of that which was said unto them: 'Ye are not My people', it shall be said unto them: 'Ye are the children of the living God.'
The rest of the Haftorah deals with this in greater detail, comparing the People of Israel with an unfaithful wife, rejected and forlorn. It concludes with the restoration of intimacy, which is initiated not by repentance but by G*d:
טז  לָכֵן, הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי מְפַתֶּיהָ, וְהֹלַכְתִּיהָ, הַמִּדְבָּר; וְדִבַּרְתִּי, עַל-לִבָּהּ.16 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly unto her.
יז  וְנָתַתִּי לָהּ אֶת-כְּרָמֶיהָ מִשָּׁם, וְאֶת-עֵמֶק עָכוֹר לְפֶתַח תִּקְוָה; וְעָנְתָה שָּׁמָּה כִּימֵי נְעוּרֶיהָ, וּכְיוֹם עֲלוֹתָהּ מֵאֶרֶץ-מִצְרָיִם.17 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall respond there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
יח  וְהָיָה בַיּוֹם-הַהוּא נְאֻם-יְהוָה, תִּקְרְאִי אִישִׁי; וְלֹא-תִקְרְאִי-לִי עוֹד, בַּעְלִי.18 And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call Me Ishi, and shalt call Me no more Baali.

The reconciliation begins with G*d leading us, as he has done with His people since Abraham, into the wilderness.  In the empty, barren wilderness, we can hear His "small still voice" as it "speaks tenderly" unto us.  In that place we can see the love that has always been there, and can respond with our own prayers.

In similar vein, we should see our fellow man not as "not my people", but as "children of a living G*d".




Sunday, May 18, 2014

Proverbs 31

A fellow blogger mommy posted this on Facebook the other day.  She is a Christian woman, relating what she learned about Proverbs 31 from a Jewish friend.  This passage apparently has a very different context in the two traditions.  In Judaism, this is the source of the song Eshet Chayil ("Woman of Valor"), which men traditionally sing to their wives for Shabbat, celebrating them and their accomplishments. In Christianity, many apparently take it as a to-do list for women..... Very different!

Well, as I often do when people reference the Bible, I went to look it up in context.  I found it interesting that the famous acrostic poem does NOT start at the beginning of the chapter, but only on the tenth verse.  The skipped verses are:

א  דִּבְרֵי, לְמוּאֵל מֶלֶךְ--    מַשָּׂא, אֲשֶׁר-יִסְּרַתּוּ אִמּוֹ.1 The words of king Lemuel; the burden wherewith his mother corrected him.
ב  מַה-בְּרִי, וּמַה-בַּר-בִּטְנִי;    וּמֶה, בַּר-נְדָרָי.2 What, my son? and what, O son of my womb? and what, O son of my vows?
ג  אַל-תִּתֵּן לַנָּשִׁים חֵילֶךָ;    וּדְרָכֶיךָ, לַמְחוֹת מְלָכִין.3 Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings.
ד  אַל לַמְלָכִים, לְמוֹאֵל--אַל לַמְלָכִים שְׁתוֹ-יָיִן;    וּלְרוֹזְנִים, או (אֵי) שֵׁכָר.4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine: nor for princes to say: 'Where is strong drink?'
ה  פֶּן-יִשְׁתֶּה, וְיִשְׁכַּח מְחֻקָּק;    וִישַׁנֶּה, דִּין כָּל-בְּנֵי-עֹנִי.5 Lest they drink, and forget that which is decreed, and pervert the justice due to any that is afflicted.
ו  תְּנוּ-שֵׁכָר לְאוֹבֵד;    וְיַיִן, לְמָרֵי נָפֶשׁ.6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto the bitter in soul;
ז  יִשְׁתֶּה, וְיִשְׁכַּח רִישׁוֹ;    וַעֲמָלוֹ, לֹא יִזְכָּר-עוֹד.7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. 
ח  פְּתַח-פִּיךָ לְאִלֵּם;    אֶל-דִּין, כָּל-בְּנֵי חֲלוֹף.8 Open thy mouth for the dumb, in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
ט  פְּתַח-פִּיךָ שְׁפָט-צֶדֶק;    וְדִין, עָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן.9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. 

The first verse announces that this entire section is the King's mother instructing him in being a good king.  It is, start to finish, a woman's voice speaking to a powerful man, lovingly guiding him in reaching his full potential as a powerful, spiritual being.  And what is it that she tells him?

1. Don't be a womanizer!
2. Learn from the examples of others to avoid ruin.
3. Don't get drunk.  You are a powerful man, and alcohol will undermine your ability to fulfill your duties honorably.

So far, pretty straightforward advice. but she pushes on:

4. Rather than drinking yourself, give drink to the poor and suffering, to help them forget their misery.
5. Speak up for those who have no voice, who have been written off by society.
6. Speak up for justice, for all those who are poor and needy.

While the first three can be seen as selfishly good advice for living a happy, wholesome life, this set of instructions admonish the King to go beyond living honorably.  As one who is in a position of power, he must be proactive in using that awesome power for good.  He must seek out those who are suffering and have no voice, alleviate their suffering, speak up for them, and act on their behalf.

And how is he to do all this? The King's mother knows full well both the temptations of the world (1-3) and the daunting magnitude of standing up for the downtrodden (4-6).  Don't try to do it alone, she tells him:

י  אֵשֶׁת-חַיִל, מִי יִמְצָא;    וְרָחֹק מִפְּנִינִים מִכְרָהּ.10 A woman of valour who can find? for her price is far above rubies.
יא  בָּטַח בָּהּ, לֵב בַּעְלָהּ;    וְשָׁלָל, לֹא יֶחְסָר.11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, and he hath no lack of gain.
יב  גְּמָלַתְהוּ טוֹב וְלֹא-רָע--    כֹּל, יְמֵי חַיֶּיהָ.12 She doeth him good and not evil all the days of her life.

And THAT is the context for Eshet Chayil.




Thursday, May 15, 2014

Haftorah Beam - Bechukotai

This week's haftorah reading doesn't seem very closely connected with the Torah reading.  The theme is trust in G*d to meet our needs.  Relying on others, or even our own efforts, is seen as worthless without an underlying faith in G*d's supremacy.  This is very hard for people to internalize.  Relying on a deity feels (and often looks) like making no effort and expecting rewards to land in one's lap for the asking.  However, Jeremiah makes this sermon in the context of the commandment of Shmitta.

We fully expect to farm the land "by the sweat of our brow", and we do so for six consecutive years.  On the seventh, however, we are instructed to leave the land fallow, to give it a "Sabbath".  Today, modern agricultural science confirms that this practice allows the earth to restore nutrients for future growth, but in Biblical times this took an enormous leap of faith.  However, we are NOT instructed to make no effort.  The six years are to be front-ended, and that work is very concrete.  Furthermore, the sabbatical year is not one of passive "flopping", but of focused, directed faith in G*d.
7 Blessed is he who trusts in the Lord,Whose trust is the Lord alone.8 He shall be like a tree planted by waters,Sending forth its roots by a stream:It does not sense the coming of heat,Its leaves are ever fresh;It has no care in a year of drought,It does not cease to yield fruit.
"Work as though it all depends on you; Pray as though it all depends on G*d."

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Haftorah Beam - BeHar

Once again, this week's Torah was part of a doubled parsha last year, and I kinda focused on the other parsha in my commentary.  The Haftorah reading is from Jeremiah, and mostly discusses a real estate deal between the prophet and another member of the community.  It concludes:
24 Here are the siegemounds, raised against the city to storm it; and the city, because of sword and famine and pestilence, is at the mercy of the Chaldeans who are attacking it. What You threatened has come to pass — as You see. 25 Yet You, Lord God, said to me: Buy the land for money and call in witnesses — when the city is at the mercy of the Chaldeans!"
26 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:
27 "Behold I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too wondrous for Me?

When the problems of the world seem insurmountable, this is reassuring...


Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Privilege

This article by a Princeton freshman has gone viral on social media lately.  Some people love it, some hate it, but it does get people to talk about what we actually mean by "privilege".

The boy in question, as I said, is a freshman.  He has just arrived on campus from a relatively homogeneous, suburban upbringing, and he feels as though he is called upon to apologize for having it good.  He feels defensive, quite naturally, and makes a good case that everybody has baggage, and that using the meme "check your privilege" as a weapon is not a good way to further dialog.

I just spent all morning looking for a post I saw a few months ago, which explained "privilege checking" in a proper context.  I can't find it, but it explained that we all have areas of privilege and areas of non-privilege.  In any given conversation, "checking privilege" means (approximately) checking our cultural assumptions which devalue someone else's oppression.  In those areas where we have privilege, we should be more circumspect about interjecting our opinions vs. listening to those who lack it.

For example, if Tal Fortgang was attending a symposium for grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, he would probably resent being approached by a Holocaust denier.  Or a Palestinian activist who draws a moral equivalence between Nazi genocide and Israeli occupation.  Or even a Rwandan refugee who tries to redirect the conversation to his own national tragedy.  Because all of these, while they may or may not be appropriate conversations in other contexts, devalue the Jewish experience of the Holocaust.

I was thinking about this this morning while praying the Shacharit.  Part of the morning blessings is:

.יְהִי רָצון מִלְּפָנֶיךָ ה' אֱלהַי וֵאלהֵי אֲבותַי שֶׁתַּצִּילֵנִי הַיּום וּבְכָל יום מֵעַזֵּי פָנִים וּמֵעַזּוּת פָּנִים

My translation (Google translate did a lousy job with it): "May it be Your will, YHVH my G*d and the G*d of my ancestors, that You will save me today and every day from oppressors and from oppressiveness."

This seemed to me to connect with the debate about privilege.  Today and every day, we do not wish to be oppressed, but we must be introspective about ways in which we benefit from a system which oppresses others, as well.  At the same time, we must remember that this is a process of introspection: using "check your privilege" as a bludgeon against others, to silence rather than promote dialog, is counterproductive.










Monday, May 5, 2014

Haftorah Beam - Emor

The haftorah reading for this parsha is not as problematic as the Torah reading which I discussed last year, and echoes the theme of priestly obligations.  They are subject to more rules than the general population in matters of dress, diet, marriage and so on.  Rather than being more privileged, as you would expect of the priestly class they are more restricted.  This is summed up thus:

כח  וְהָיְתָה לָהֶם לְנַחֲלָה, אֲנִי נַחֲלָתָם; וַאֲחֻזָּה, לֹא-תִתְּנוּ לָהֶם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל--אֲנִי, אֲחֻזָּתָם.28 And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession.

The additional restrictions and obligations are seen as a prized value, representing G*d's will through them. The verse goes further to remind the reader that the Levites had no portion in the Land of Israel, but instead lived among the other tribes.  This, too, is a reminder that their portion of divinity trumps worldly possessions.  This is parallel to Jewish "Chosenness".  We are Chosen, yes -- for additional restrictions, for prolonged exile among the nations, and for bearing the brunt of persecution throughout the ages. But we bear these difficulties as a badge of honor, a symbol of our special relationship with our Creator.

This contrast is echoed again in this week's observances:  Just a week after the Festival of Freedom (Passover), we commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day;  a week after that (yesterday), we remembered the fallen soldiers in Israel's wars for its national survival; and today we return to the spirit of joy with Israeli Independence Day.  Our joy and our freedom are inextricably linked to our struggles, both in the past and in the current generation.

This is how Memorial Day is observed in Israel.

Photo


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