P’sukim you can use
Rosh Hashana 5774
Temple Beth Jacob of Newburgh
Rabbi Larry Freedman
People like to email me
jokes. Sometimes they are actually
funny. Fair warning, if you send me an
internet joke that has been forwarded more than twice, I don’t read it. If you send me an internet shaggy dog story
with REALLY big font size and quadruple spacing between each line, I don’t read
it. If it involves rabbis, priests and
walking into a bar, I don’t read it. If
you send me some urgent email decrying some horrific anti-semitic assault or
proclaiming the end of civilization as we know it, I usually scan it, go to
Snopes.com, confirm your email has been floating around the cybersphere for a
few years and is completely bogus and then in as gentle a manner as possible,
point out that things that are outrageous are usually untrue and ask that you
forward a correction to all those people with whom you shared outrageous but
altogether false gossip and slander.
But let’s get back to the
jokes. There is one joke in particular
that people love to make and this one is not by email. It’s in the real world. It’s not a joke so much as a witticism. Here’s the scenario. You’re in a room. There are windows. Everything is fine. You’re meeting, you’re talking. Then, say, maybe an hour passes and the sun
starts to set and you don’t notice but the room is getting dark. Finally, someone notices and gets up and
flips on the light switch. And then someone,
upon realizing how dim the room had become and how grateful they are for the
light, will exclaim, “Let there be light!”
And everyone laughs. I can’t
BELIEVE everyone laughs because honestly it’s an old gag. You’ve heard it before. But laugh you do.
And to be sure, it’s good
that you do because at the risk of analyzing this too much I would like to
suggest that tossing a good old Biblical reference, this one is יְהִי אוֹר Y’hi Or and it’s from Genesis 1:3, is a smart way
to bring in your Jewish textual literacy to an otherwise common experience.
Indeed, to really push the point, I dare say you
have made a mundane moment holy. You
have brought in the spiritual side via our holy text and elevated that moment
of light switch flipping. So, good for
you light switch flipping Torah dropping quipsters. You have forged a connection between your
Jewish heritage and your secular life.
You have taken Torah out of holy ark lock-down and made it real in the
world.
But, and here I don’t mean to quibble, but that’s
like, the ONLY pasuk you quote. Like
that’s it. Let there be light. And we chuckle. You’re bringing your 4000 year old heritage
to modern experiences. That’s great but…
don’t you have another one? 4000 years,
an entire Torah and all we’ve got is one gag?
Well, today, I’m here to help you out. New year, new experiences, new p’sukim to
drop in cocktail party chatter. I’m
going to offer you a few more that you can toss. They won’t always get a laugh, but they will
add a little holiness to your day.
Where to begin?
Where to begin? How about we stay
close to home. After “let there be
light” the very next pasuk, Genesis 1:4, is אֶת־הָאֹ֖ור כִּי־טֹ֑וב וַיַּ֧רְא
אֱלֹהִ֛ים Vayar Elohim et ha-or ki tov. “And God saw the light and
it was good.” Ki Tov is the phrase we
are interested in. Ki Tov. Say it with me. Ki Tov.
“It is good.” God creates light
and then sits back to admire and pronounces, It is good, ki tov. Why would God need to sit back and take in
such Divine handiwork? Surely, if God
made something it must be good. Surely,
it must be awesome. Surely, we are
wrong. God is not quite the omnipotent
being we think God should be. The Torah
clearly has God being more powerful than us but not always more confident. God will often rethink, be convinced and even
sometimes be wrong. Here, God tosses out
the magnificent light and then stops to look over such handiwork. And you know what? Ki Tov.
It’s good. It is. God stepped back and after some consideration
declared, “it’s good.”
Sometimes you may find
yourself in a spot where you try something new, where you put yourself out
there, where you write something or create something or cook something or vote
on something or decide something or buy something and you’re still not
completely sure about it. You have a
slight concern. You’re pretty sure it’s good but still…
And then, hey, what do you
know? It worked. Ki Tov.
Ki Tov! It’s good, it’s
successful. I did it. We did it.
Ki tov. Well done, ki tov.
Staying in Genesis, here’s
another one. Not funny at all, if you
must know. It’s more profound.
This is from Genesis 4:9.
Cain just murdered his brother for complicated reasons we’ll save for another
day. God is looking for Abel. Again, I ask, God doesn’t know already? Maybe not.
Here’s the pasuk: And God said
unto Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I know not. Am I my
brother’s keeper?”
The key phrase for our
purposes here is, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” הֲשֹׁמֵ֥ר אָחִ֖י אָנֹֽכִי Try saying that one. הֲשֹׁמֵ֥ר אָחִ֖י אָנֹֽכִי Hashomer achi anochi. We may need to stick with the English.
You might already imagine a
use. Say you’re at work getting it done
when the boss asks you where Joe is. You
could mumble, “How should I know?” Or you could say, “Am I my brother’s
keeper?” You could drop this one in all
sorts of useful spots. It is the
Biblical equivalent to, “not my job, man.”
Unfortunately, while that is
really useful for getting people off your back, it is completely out of
context. The actual meaning of this pasuk
is that, yes, actually, yes, you ARE your brother’s keeper. You are responsible for other people. That is the joy and glory of community and
that is the implied message of the quote from Genesis. Yes, you are.
You are called upon to look out for your brother, your sister, your
fellow. You are supposed to keep an eye
out. Sure, you can’t be expected to
worry about everyone but when God spoke with Cain there wasn’t a lot of
everyone. There was Adam. There was Eve. There was Able. That was it.
So yes, in that small circle, yes you are responsible, we are all
responsible for the people in our lives.
We are responsible to help them out, to worry about their welfare, to
help them be the best they can be. So,
dropping, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” is a very deft, Biblical move but be
aware, it comes with sarcasm and an uncomfortable truth.
One more from Genesis. It’s 1:27.
וַיִּבְרָ֨א
אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמֹ֔ו בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹהִ֖ים בָּרָ֣א אֹתֹ֑ו זָכָ֥ר
וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם׃.
Va yivra Elohim et ha-adam
b’tzalmo, b’tzelem elohim bara oto, zachar u’nekavah, bara otam.
That is a lot so I’ll
shorten it down. The whole thing means,
“And God created the man in His image.
In the image of God, He created him, male and female He created them.” For our purposes, the key line is “bara oto,
zachar u’nekavah, bara otam.” He created
him, male and female, He created them.
This is the fundamental line that justifies the egalitarian nature of
Reform Judaism and I would argue the egalitarian nature of Judaism. Some Jews want to say that men and women have
different roles to play. It’s hard to
argue with them on that point. I will
argue with anyone who begins to diminish women’s voices or women’s presence in
the community. There is a not so subtle
move between valuing different roles and raising one over the other. This line, “He created him, male and female,
He created them” speaks to the very foundational notion of the equality between
men and women. When it says that God
created Adam, it’s reasonable to translate Adam as mankind. So we get the instruction that God created
man as in mankind, all of it. But just
to make sure you get the point, it adds, “male and female, He created
them.” It’s almost as if God says, yes,
I created man and by man I mean men and women.
Both are in my image. Both
fundamentally have the same worth.
And if men and women have
equal worth, we do need to remember to treat them well. We jump ahead to Leviticus 19:18 where we
read, וְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥ לְרֵעֲךָ֖ כָּמֹ֑וךָ
“love your neighbor as yourself.” This
one is for you when you face difficult circumstances and tiresome people. This is when you are frustrated with your
neighbor or your boss or your friend even.
We all get frustrated sometimes.
Instead of lashing out, instead of returning anger with anger or
attitude with attitude, just remember, “love your neighbor as yourself.” Try to put yourself in the other person’s
shoes, take a deep breath and say, “love your neighbor as yourself.” You have to find that inner strength to be
kind instead of hostile, to be generous instead of stingy. “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Here’s another one for
work. Say you are at work and there’s a
shift at the top. There’s a new boss and
you start getting different requests and your work, which was fine, is now
being questioned. You could drop
in, וַיָּ֥קָם מֶֽלֶךְ־חָדָ֖שׁ עַל־מִצְרָ֑יִם אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־יָדַ֖ע אֶת־יֹוסֵֽף׃
Vayakom melech chadash al Mitzraim asher lo yada et Yosef. From Exodus 1:8, a new king arose over Egypt
who did not know Joseph. Joseph as we
know, did right by the pharaoh of his day and saved Egypt. He even enriched Egypt and the Hebrews. Joseph’s people were held in esteem. For a couple hundred years life in Egypt was
good. But then, one day, there was a new
boss, a new king, a new pharaoh. And he
didn’t know about Joseph and didn’t care.
There was a new boss in town and all that good work done in the past was
past. So when you are feeling like
somebody new comes into the picture and they don’t get what’s going on or worse
they just skip over it and ignore the good that’s been done, you can drop in,
“a new king arose who knew not Joseph.”
One more. On beautiful days, when the temperature is
perfect and the sky is beautiful and the humidity is right and the light is
shimmering and you just are taking it all in, you have a moment to look up from
your work, to look out from your home, to take in the world and see anew how
wonderous everything is. We can elevate
that moment to holiness with a quick quote from Psalm 118: 24: זֶה־הַ֭יֹּום
עָשָׂ֣ה יְהוָ֑ה נָגִ֖ילָה וְנִשְׂמְחָ֣ה בֹֽו׃ Zeh yahom asah Adonai, nagilah v’nismecha vo.
“This is the day God has
made, we will rejoice and find happiness in it.” It’s a moment to tap our spiritual sides, to
connect with something larger than ourselves.
Want to make it shorter? “This is
the day God has made.” Sure, every day
is a day that God has made but most of the time we grumble the weather isn’t
exactly to our exacting standards. Too
hot, too cold, too dry, too wet. Too
something. But every now and then, it
all comes together and we are shaken from our whining and we remember to
appreciate what is all around us.
That’s a good place to stop,
on a nice uplift.
Tossing in a few Bible
quotes connects us to each other. It
connects us to our heritage. And it
inspires a deeper spirituality as ancient words are used for modern day issues and
it reminds us that the things we feel were as important thousands of years ago
as they are today and the words still resonate.
How wonderful we all can be here together to relearn that message. How amazing we can share this day
together. How uplifting that we can
begin the year together with a shared purpose.
זֶה־הַ֭יֹּום עָשָׂ֣ה יְהוָ֑ה נָגִ֖ילָה וְנִשְׂמְחָ֣ה בֹֽו׃ “This is the day
God has made, we will rejoice and find happiness in it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment