Daily Prophets- a daily take on the Prophets to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 11

Amos is a prophet who is deeply connected to God, as are all prophets. Yet, to me, Amos is so upset and worried about the people and God that he sounds angry when he is being compassionate. He sounds vengeful when he is scared that the People Israel are destroying themselves. Amos is asking the people to hear these words of God, he is calling to them to hear and listen and change and this is the compassion Amos and God have for the people. It is also the words and tone of a man who has, as Rabbi Heschel teaches in his book, The Prophets, “the inner compulsion to convey what the voice proclaims; not escape for shelter, but identification with the voice.” Amos is identifying with the voice of compassion from and for God and the people Israel. 

The opening of Chapter 3 of Amos is so interesting and beautiful and sad: “Hear this word, that Adonai speaks upon you Children of Israel…You Alone have I singled out of all the families of the earth-that is why I will call you to account for all your iniquities.” This is Amos’ and God’s statement about chosenness, you are chosen to carry out God’s mission, don’t mistake chosen ness as divine favoritism or immunity, as Rabbi Heschel teaches us in The Prophets. 

OY! I am sitting here at my computer at 2:30am on the Friday before MLK Day and I am embarrassed about myself, my people and people in general. I am embarrassed about all the times I felt like I “had something coming” because I was part of the chosen people. I look back at the days prior to my recovery and I am experiencing the words of Amos viscerally. In my years of recovery, I look at the ways I have been living in the world of “white male privilege” and the world of being hated for being a Jew. It truly has been a both/and. I have been chosen to carry God’s Word and Ways to my corner of the world and I have taken for granted that people will understand me and indulge me in my ways, not always considering the best way to connect to them. I am embarrassed about the missed opportunities because of my own entitlement thinking. My current state of being is to appreciate the chastisements as well as the accolades, the hurts as well as the joys and use the hurts and chastisements as ways to ‘fail forward’ grow from and not be resentful towards the humans who deliver these (valid or not) and hear the voices of Amos and God in the truthful chastisements and hurts. 

I think about our current state of affairs and I say OY again. We are living in a world of entitlement with little to no embarrassment. What has/is happening with our government is a snapshot of this. Listening to Rep. McCarthy call for unity when all he has done is sow seeds of discord and lies is almost laughable if it wasn’t so serious. He believes “his people” have been chosen to do as they wish and they are immune from any responsibility and consequences. He must not be reading the same Bible/Old Testament that I am! Trump and his minions will “get away” with their crimes because of Trump’s pardon power-yet, to accept a pardon one has to admit that they are guilty of crimes, so their own admissions will stay with them. Kushner, Ivanka, MBS, et.al. all believe in their entitlement and privilege and forget the responsibility that comes with it. We can see this play out with many people of privilege, white and people of color, and I believe this latest attack by the white supremacists, haters, Q-Anoners, all people who believed they had the right to upend our democracy because they were sold lies by Fox News, Breitbart, Parlor, OAN, etc. has woken most people up. I don’t know if the changes we are seeing right now will stick, yet Jan. 6 did more to get people to hear the word of God than any other event in recent history. We all see privilege come into focus with the Vaccines for Covid-19, people trying to jump the line, rich donors trying to buy their way in, calling hospitals and other healthcare sites to get theirs because they donated money. These are the people Amos is talking to.

And, Amos is talking to all people. All of us have to look inside of ourselves and see how we have come to believe that there should be no consequences for our behaviors. The men and women who opposed the Electoral Count on Jan.6, 2021 believe they should not be held accountable-the people who are against healthcare reform, social security, etc because of personal responsibility don’t take any! Yet it is not just pointing the finger at ‘them’. We have to remember that when we point our finger at another human being, three more are pointed toward ourselves. It is time for us to once again return to looking inside and seeing how we have bastardized our privilege, our chosenness, using it for gain instead of service. 

“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan… who defraud the poor, who rob the needy”(Amos 4:1) As I read these words on this day, I am trembling with fear and awe. These words, written 2000+ years ago, are wringing in my ears. Rabbi Heschel says this is referring to the women who were addicted to wine and I think of how I defrauded the poor and robbed the needy in my own addiction. I am thinking about how all of us have done this in overt and subtle ways. I am in awe of our ability to do T’Shuvah and to change also. This is the compassionate message of Amos, as we will see later, you can change, I can change, we can change. 

On this MLK weekend, I am asking all of us to look inside ourselves and see how we can hear the words of Amos, see that we are all God’s children, all equal in dignity and value and all unique. Look inside of ourselves and make a commitment to live our uniqueness, carry out God’s mission for us and be one grain of sand better each day. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Weekly Parsha- Va'Era

Weekly Parashah - Va’Era

This week’s Parashah continues the story of our Exodus from Egypt and the struggle between Moses and Pharaoh, the struggle between Moses and the Israelites and the struggle of the Israelites within themselves. It is a struggle between slavery and freedom. God ‘appeared’ to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, the Parashah begins. This name is about God’s power, according to the Rabbis, and to Moses, God proclaims the name God has reserved for the Israelites, Adonai, representing God’s mercy and connection. It is interesting that this name is introduced in this Parashah when the plagues begin. Yet, it is also fitting because each time God relents on a plague, it is from mercy, I believe. As I am immerse myself in the opening verses, I realize how much I wanted God’s mercy shown to me and not my enemies/opponents. I realize how much I did not want “all-powerful” to render my justice, rather I wanted “mercy” to-for me and not always for you.:) This opening verse and God’s taking back the plagues time after time, teaches me to ask for mercy for others and show the same mercy I desire towards others. This is what I believe Dr. Susannah Heschel means when she speaks of seeing people who practice their Pharaoh-like instincts in the world as pathetic, meaning I have to show them Divine Pathos, Divine Concern and realize how sad it is that someone else is so stuck in this negativity and disrespect for God’s creation. I also realize when I acted from an “all-powerful” place without regard for the mercy others needed nor their opinions. To all of you, I sincerely apologize and know that I have learned a lot of lessons this past year and over the years that I will not repeat in the coming years. 

There are two more verses that I am struck by this year. In Shmot 6:9, “But when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to Moses, their spirits crushed by cruel bondage.” When told earlier in last week’s Parashah, the Israelites were joyous and now they can’t even hear. How is this possible? According to the Rashbam, it is because they had expected to get some rest and now it was worse than ever. Pharaoh’s idea of increasing the pressure to break their spirits seemed to be working. It is an interesting parallel to how slaves in America were treated-harsh labor, poor food, separation of families, beatings, etc. is it any wonder why their spirits were crushed? I see this in addicts, their families and, to be truthful, in every human being. During this pandemic it has become apparent how many people are suffering from a crushed spirit, from lack of connection, from fear of financial insecurity, from job loss, from food insecurity, from education being worse than it was, from the incitement to insurrection by the President and his minions, by the moral depravity of our government through treating poor people as criminals, etc. For addicts, ‘why bother’ has become even more pronounced. Johann Hari says that the opposite of addiction is connection and these have become frayed and, not being able to have in-person meetings has impacted so many people struggling with this fatal disease. I am reminded of Rabbi Heschel’s teaching in God in Search of Man about being loyal to the first experience of a Spiritual experience and staying loyal to our responses to that experience. It is the only way to hear through our crushed spirits. It is the only way to remember we have a reason to be here and remind ourselves to live life on God’s Terms, not according to the terms of our enslaver. 

In verse 7:3 of Shmot, God says that God will harden Pharaoh’s heart. This seems like a set up for Pharaoh to fail and very unfair of God, similar to our the gods of Greek and Roman Mythology behaved. What does the verse really mean? First, the word ‘Akasheh’ in Hebrew can mean harden and fierce. When I read that God made Pharaoh’s heart fierce, I understand this to be that God did not want Pharaoh to merely surrender by giving up, God wanted Pharaoh to surrender by allowing himself to be confronted and defeated by a Higher and Truer Being. It is so important for all of us to remember that surrender to God is joining the winning side and being able to live according to our soul’s call and knowledge, not by our intellect and emotions alone. God wants Pharaoh to be a worthy adversary, God wants Pharaoh to experience the same afflictions as the Israelites, I am sure. More importantly, for me, is that I have to have a heart that is strong enough and hard enough to withstand the many disappointments that I will experience and stay rooted and grounded in God’s Will and not give in to my whims and fantasies. God has hardened my heart to strengthen me for the battles to come, God hardened Moses’ heart to withstand the onslaught from both Pharaoh and the Israelites and stay true to God. We are ruled by a Pharaoh right now, Trump, McConnell, McCarthy, et al. and we have to be the Moses’ for them and for all people whether they agree or not. This battle for the soul of this country mirrors the battle for the soul of the Jewish People that we have been engaged in since Egypt and the battle for our own soul which is a daily battle and struggle. I pray your soul is winning your battle so we can join together to win the larger battles in the name of Adonai. God Bless, Shabbat Shalom and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Daily Prophets- a daily take on the Prophets to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 10

Continuing with Amos’ exhortations to Israel we see the sadness of God when Israel and Judah break the Covenant and forget their Redeemer. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel in his book The Prophets writes: “Yet the nations were not, like Israel, condemned for internal transgressions”. I understand this to mean that while the “ignoring of the covenant of brotherhood” is a terrible crime, it is even more devastating when we break a deal made a long time ago, while Israel was in Egypt and then at Sinai, and made directly with God. This internal hurt is so much more devastating and personal. Israel and Judah have a personal relationship with God and they have been unfaithful to the Covenant. While it is common to see anger in Amos’ words, I see his being the bringer of God’s sadness that the people God redeemed, the people that God took to be God’s own, the people that God saved from Egypt have “Spurned the Torah of Adonai…beguiled by the delusions after which their fathers walked”(Amos2:4). I am struck power of these words. I want to hide in embarrassment for all the times I have spurned the Torah of Adonai and the delusions I have given into. When we confuse role for entitlement, when my actions are based on my role and not my soul, I am giving in to the delusions of grandeur that I have from time to time. I call it buying my own press/BS. I realize the subtle ways I have both spurned the teachings of Torah and given into the delusions of my mind. I am aware of the devastating pain when an internal relationship ( a close relationship that has a bond/covenant to it written or unwritten) is broken, especially with no recognition of the harm, rather blame the one who is harmed. I have done this and I have had this done to me. These are truly the greatest hurts and pains. This, I believe is what Amos is speaking of, as Rabbi Heschel teaches us. Yet, the pain we feel does not mean we lash out and do the same, we don’t get even. I have to own my part and have Divine Pathos for those that can’t own their part, as Dr. Susannah Heschel taught me. I am not speaking of the Halacha as the Rabbis have codified, I am speaking of the Torah’s path to living well and decently. Again, I am speaking of the internal relationships, the close covenantal ones. None of us are perfect and that doesn’t mean we don’t have to be responsible and growing. Are you aware of your path away from the Torah of decency and kindness? Are you aware of the delusions you still follow? Are you willing to do T’Shuvah for the 

I am thinking about our current experience in the United States and how members of Congress were not willing to hold Donald Trump accountable for his transgressions and instead went along with his lies and tried to end our democracy. These people have spurned the Torah(teaching and words) of the Constitution! Not only Donald Trump is Amos speaking to, he is calling out to all of us and especially the enablers among us. “Because they have sold for silver those whose cause was just, and the needy for a pair of sandals. You who crush the heads of the poor into the dust and push off the road the humble of the land”(Amos 2:6-7) Amos is railing against the rich and powerful, the kings and the priests who have sold not only others, not only crushed people, but have sold their own souls as well. God is calling out Israel for being unjust. God is calling our Israel for mistreating the poor and the powerless. God is calling Israel out for “thereby profane My holy name”(Amos2:7). These words describe our country now and we need to make the changes so as to not destroy ourselves. Our internal transgressions have never been fully healed and acknowledged, which is why the reckoning with our Racial Inequality and our hatred of “the other” is being addressed now and needs to be! The Congress has sold its soul for silver, it has crushed the poor, the needy, the just and the humble in order to curry favor with their party and get reelected. It is time for all good people to stand up for their country. Not some political agenda, the agenda of the USA, the agenda of the Bill of Rights, the agenda of those who fought and died for our freedom, the agenda of every immigrant, from the Mayflower to today, the agenda of decency, justice, kindness and truth. This is true whether one is a Republican or a Democrat, conservative or progressive or, like most of us-in the center, a little right, a little left just not at the extremes. When getting elected is more important than fighting for truth and right, we are living the way that Amos rails about. 

“You made the nazirites drink wine and the prophets not to prophecy”(Amos 2:12) As a recovering Alcoholic who has not ‘drunk wine’ in over 32 years, I understand this to mean going against sacred vows we make. I am thinking of how I have made myself go against the different vows I have made. I am thinking of why we have the Kol Nidre Prayer each year, we will go against vows and we will fall short, that is not the issue for Amos, I believe. The issue is how we break our vows and then defend ourselves and/or deny that we have. I know that I have been indecent at times and wrapped myself in some righteous garment. I know that I have that person and I am sorry for the times I have and be more vigilant in the now and forward. Reading these words of Amos reminds me of Rabbi Heschel’s introduction of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Rabbinical Assembly Convention in 1968, 10 days before he was killed from the book Abraham Joshua Heschel Essential Writings selected by Susannah Heschel. “Where in America today do we hear a voice like the voice of the prophets of Israel> Martin Luther King is a sign that God has not forsaken the United States of America. God has sent him to us.” As I ponder this introduction, I think of all the people who have spoken out and been cut down and/or silenced and marginalized, I am frightened. We can no longer be a cookie cutter nation with everyone in lock step with each other and/or one’s side. We have to listen to the prophecy of others, we have to learn/relearn how to hear each other and not believe we are the only ones who know truth and everyone else is fake news. We cannot have the Capital attacked anymore. It is up to our leaders to compromise and do what is best and right according to a higher good: caring for the widow, the stranger, the poor and the orphan. Leaving our racist past in the rearview mirror and looking forward with everyone in the car and on the bus. Judging people based on the “content of their character and not the color of their skin” as Rev King taught and I would include not the religion they practice is not only a goal, it is our destiny, as Jews and as Americans. How have you “ordered the prophets not to prophesy and made the nazirites drink the wine”? How have you stifled your own inner voice, the voice of God to make your actions okay? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

Daily Prophets- A daily take on the Prophets to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 9

Elijah’s departure from earth in a “fiery chariot” has led to many stories about him not dying. In fact, some say that Elijah’s return will herald the Messiah coming. Elijah is also used in Rabbinic literature as one who sits among the poor, strangers, etc waiting for someone to do a kindness. I think about Elijah from the Bible and the way that the Rabbis have recreated him to be and wonder why. 

As I said in the beginning of this endeavor, the Prophets were the first spiritual counselors in our tradition. The Rabbis wanted to lessen the impact of the prophets in order to put more order into the world and not rely on inspiration, as my friend and teacher Rabbi Igael Gurin-Malous taught me yesterday when we were talking. The Rabbis were creative, for sure, in the ways they made the Talmud so central to our way of being for so long. The Rabbis were correct to distinguish that we would need a road map to live well. They were also afraid of Jews being wiped out because if the Prophets were central, the Jews would have tried another revolt against Rome and been annihilated. 

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote about the Prophets and the Prophetic Voice filled all of his writings, in my opinion. His book on the Prophets got him out of his study and into the streets, according to his interview with Carl Stern in 1972, just prior to his death. All of his social justice work, his work with Vatican II, Rev. Martin Luther King, and the movement against the war in Vietnam, stemmed from his reading of the Prophets and Torah. He was vilified by some as mixing in where he didn’t belong and to him, these demonstrations, talks, writings were exactly where he belonged.

Rabbi Heschel serves as a model for all Rabbis. Let go of the need to worship the Halacha, let go of the desire to stay in the Beit Midrash, get out into the streets, stand up for those who need help and lead your congregations and organizations to do the work that God calls us to. These are more acceptable today than in earlier times, yet we are still not there. Too many Jews accept and agree with what happened at the Capital last Wednesday. In fact, there were Jews who participated with White Supremacists, people who think that “6 million wasn’t enough” who were proud of “Camp Aushwitz”!! I am aghast at this and I am angry. I am not afraid to say that Donald Trump is a clear and present danger. That is easy to do, as many Republicans are now saying. What is more difficult is to call out the people who helped foment this insurrection.

Elijah and the other Prophets would be screaming from the mountains and the valleys to throw out Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and the rest of the Republican Senators who objected after the insurrection and knew that they were playing a political game. Our Rabbis have to do the same, not just the liberal and/or progressive Rabbis (whatever that label means) but all Rabbis. 

We have let politics intervene in our relationship with God. I hear the words of Amos ringing in my ears. “Adonai roars from Zion, shouts aloud from Jerusalem…For three transgressions of Tyre…they handed over an entire population to Edom ignoring the covenant of brotherhood.”(Amos 1:1,9). Can we hear God roaring or are we too devoted to worshiping the false idol of Halacha, the false idol of power, the false idol of lies? Amos is a shepherd and he is overwhelmed with and by God. He is calling to the rich, the mighty, the powerful. Today, we are too caught up in kissing the rings of these people to call to them to change their ways. What is wrong with our leaders that they cannot hear God roar? They are too fat with their power and they have wrapped themselves in the cloak of zealotry for god, an idol they have created. The Jesus they worship is the Jesus they have created who loves the rich and the powerful, not the poor and downtrodden. This is not the Jesus that I have learned about from my Christian/Catholic friends. 

Just as the Jews who suck up to the Trumps, Cruz’, Hawley’s, McCarthy’s of the world are not worshiping Adonai. They are worshipping the Halacha, maybe, but really they too are cloaking themselves in righteousness and I am disgusted by it. 

Amos is telling us that when we break the Covenant of brotherhood, we are playing with fire as the next verse says: “I will send down fire upon the wall of Tyre and it shall devour its fortresses.”(Amos1:10) We have broken the Covenant of brotherhood in this country for a long time. In the song “America the Beautiful” we sing “God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood”. Where is that brotherhood? It left the building when we stopped living by the good and following God’s call. It is time for us to listen to the Shepherd from Tekoa, use their spiritual guidance and throw out the bums who are trying to make our country into an authoritarian state with them being in charge.

We need to hear and heed the call of the Prophets and let them direct us. I understand the need for certainty which Halacha brings, I understand and agree that having a roadmap is important in order to navigate the world. I also understand and know that the Prophets’ voice is unstable and volatile. I have that voice and I have used it well most of the time and not so good at others. When I use it not so good, it is harmful and scary. When it is appropriate, I have saved lives. I am no prophet! I, like you, have a prophetic voice that has been handed down to all of us from our ancestors and I believe it is time to use it so America does not burn down. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

Daily Prophets- a daily take on the Prophets of Israel to enhance our lives

Daily Prophets

Day 8

In 1Kings 20:16, God instructs Elijah to anoint his successor, Elisha. Elijah does this and, apparently, teaches Elisha how to be a prophet. In 2Kings Chapter 2, we see the deep love and commitment that they had for each other. Elisha does not want to leave Elijah, he doesn’t want him to die/depart from the earth. It is touching and reminiscent of how all of us feel when a loved one, a teacher, a friend are nearing their death. We don’t want them to leave and we cling to them. Elisha keeps wanting one last moment, one last conversation with Elijah, as I read this chapter. 

How prophetic this is, I want one last conversation with my father, my mother, my uncles and aunts, my cousins, my brother, my friends who have died. I want one last conversation with my grandparents to be imbued with their strength to begin again in a country that was so foreign to them. I want to ask my father so many questions. I want to laugh and hear stories from my late relatives. I want to again thank my mother for all she did and was in my life. I want to let my friends and teachers know how much they have shaped me and to my brother Stuart, how much his goodness shined on me and everyone else. As I write this, I realize that I have these conversations often. In fact, there is not just one last conversation. 

“A fiery chariot with fiery horses suddenly appeared and separated one from the other; and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.”(2KIngs 2:11) Just as Elijah did not die and the Talmud has many stories of Elijah appearing in the world, so too do our loved ones don’t die. In writing this, and as many of you know I usually have no idea where my writing will take me, I realize that Eternal Life is continuing the conversation between the living and the dead. I still hear the voices of all the people I loved and loved me. I still talk about and to my father daily. I think about my mother and hear her voice (usually telling me what is wrong with me:)) and I continue to converse with friends and teachers. An example, for me, is to engage with Rabbi Heschel both through reading, teaching, praying, studying, walking, etc. I do the same with my father, and other relatives and friends. In fact, there are times when they are the only ones I can talk to and hear. Not because of a lack of people near me, just because I have been having a conversation about being a better human being with some of them for over 50 years, longer than most friendships/relationships I have. 

How fitting that Elijah is taken to heaven in a chariot of fire. He was a firebrand and, as Ahab says earlier, an enemy to the Kings who worshiped false idols, including themselves. How appropriate for a prophet to be both a firebrand and an enemy of those in power who don’t worship Adonai. Given the events of last Wednesday, we are witnessing many firebrands and people taking oppositional stands against President Trump. While many say it is too little too late, I am heartened that they have finally heard Adonai calling them to stand up for justice, truth and democracy. I am heartened that people are able to repent. I am disheartened that Moscow Mitch is still being an obstructionist. I am disheartened that Cruz, Hawley, McCarthy, et al, are still allowed to serve in a democracy that they tried to tear down and turn into an authoritarian state. I hear the voice of Elijah in many people who are calling for a change in ‘politics as usual’ and I am heartened. 

What does Elisha ask for from Elijah before God calls him? “Let a double-portion of your spirit pass on to me.”(2Kings 2:9). How fitting and proper a request from student to teacher! I am aware of how many students ask for that from their teachers and are blessed to receive it. I think of my friend and teacher, Rabbi Ed Feinstein and how he received a double-portion of the spirit of Rabbi Harold Shulweis, who’s life will be celebrated at the time of his 6th Yahrtzeit later this month. I think of the many students of Rabbi Heschel who have continued his teachings and spread his message. I think of all the Spiritual leaders who receive a double-portion of spirit from both teachers and God and I understand Elisha’s request. It is not for himself he wants it, it is to ensure that he carries on the work of his teacher and his work for Adonai. Don’t we all want that? How are you using the double-portion of spirit you received from parents, teachers, family, God, etc? 

Lastly, Elijah leaves his mantle for Elisha. He uses it to part the waters, he uses it as a cloak for himself, he uses it to remember that he is teaching in the name of his teacher, I believe. What an awesome responsibility, so many people want to be THE ONE who comes up with the newest thing and forget to give gratitude and proper credit to the people who helped and/or gave them the idea in the first place. Elisha is teaching us all to rejoice in our teacher’s wisdom, use the wisdom in our own way and honor the spirit of the teaching. It is not magic, it is not false humility, it is respect and gratitude to do this. To not do this, to many people, is theft of ideas and words. In this time of turbulence, let us remember and live the teachings of Elijah and Elisha, let us remember and live the teachings of Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln, etc. Let us all make a decision to live in the spirit of our prophets and in the spirit of Adonai. God Bless, Stay Safe, Rabbi Mark

Daily Prophets - a daily take on the Prophets of Israel to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 7

In 1Kings chapter 21, we see the power of Elijah’s prophecy and the forgiveness of God. After Jezebel has Naboth killed under false charges, Ahab takes over the vineyard he had coveted. This story is similar to David and Bathsheba and Uriah and it is a lot worse because Ahab was depressed that no matter how much he had, he had to have what he wanted. 

This is a constant problem that we all face, appreciating and wanting what we have rather than having to have what we want. Pirke Avot teaches:”Who is Rich? One who is happy with his portion”. In Deuteronomy we learn to eat, be satisfied and bless. Yet, so many people, especially those in power and with money follow the John D. Rockefeller school of thought. When asked how much was enough money, he answered: “a little more than I have”. Ahab’s greed is alive and well today. I think about the times I have felt like I didn’t have enough… recognition, money, respect, you name it and how terrible I acted. I was not appreciative or grateful for what I did have and that is like giving God the finger! My recovery, for the most part, has been one of gratitude and at times, ungrateful. As I am reading this and writing this, I am guilty and my living amends is to be happy with what I have at all times while still fighting for what is right according to God. 

The leaders of our country, our Temples, our Mosques, our Churches have to be living and preaching this message of wanting what we have and making sure to care for everyone. Not everyone will have the same amounts of money, prestige, etc and everyone can have their proper measure. We have to stop our collective greed as a country. We have to stop seeing another human being as a means to our ends. We have to stop putting ourselves on pedestals of righteousness and looking down at another(s) human being. Ahab and Jezebel thought they had everything coming and killed Naboth for no other reason than they could and face no consequences. Until Elijah found Ahab, that is. 

Elijah finds Ahab and Ahab immediately refers to him as his enemy. This says it all. When someone tells you the truth, gives you a path to change your selfish, self-serving ways, they are your enemy?! Ahab is so spiritually and morally stunted that he cannot see Elijah as a resource for him to live in accordance with God’s Will. Ahab is so spiritually bankrupt that he thinks worshiping idols is a better path for him. Ahab is so morally deficient that he thinks nothing of taking someone else’s land, money, etc, just because he can. 

We suffer from this attitude today greatly. Trump and his mobsters think they can do anything. Kushner supports his friend MBS’s killing of Jamal Koshoggi. Guiliani tries to bend a foreign power, Ukraine, to lie about a decent man. Wood and Powell spread conspiracy theories and lies in the press to rile up Trump’s base and all of this leads to Trump inciting people to sedition and insurrection. When you believe as Ahab and Jezebel believe that anything goes because I am in power, this is what happens.

If we take it more personal, most of us can acknowledge when we have done things just because we could or thought we could. I have gone off on people, because I thought I could/should, I know people who have cheated on their taxes because they believed they could/should. I know of people who have harmed others because they were the “boss”. I know children of privilege who think they have the world at their feet when they have never accomplished anything on their own. As a society, we suffer from this same delusion as Ahab and Jezebel. There are prophets today, Rev. Barber, Father Greg, John Pavlovitz, Paster Njuma, Pastor Mark Whitlock, etc who recall the prophets like Rev. Martin Luther King and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. 

Elijah delivers God’s message to Ahab that he will die in the place where Naboth’s blood was shed and Ahab repents, God sees his repentance as sincere and tells Elijah that he will spare Ahab his disaster and the disaster will come in the reign of his son. God knows who the son is already and he accepts Ahab’s TShuvah. 

Are you willing to see how you need to repent for your greed? Are you willing to repent for the “because I can” attitude? God gave us the Mitzvot so we don’t have to give in to the desire and pull of these attitudes. Yet, most of us, even those who practice the mitzvoth, still do. I have watched people be Mitzvah counters. They have a checklist and count off all the mitzvoth they do and act superior. I have watched lay leaders of organizations want more and more control and honor for their work. I have watched professionals try and squeeze every dime from the organization they work for without regard to the people underneath them getting less. I have listened to people argue over paying someone $0.50/hr because the percentage of increase was too great! The $1040 total was less than they pay for their country club membership a month, yet it was too much to give to someone who was saving lives. 

It is time for us to see how we are like Elijah and delivering God’s word to others and it is time for us to see how we are like Ahab and Jezebel in our greed and entitlement. It is time for us to see how we are like Ahab and repent for our errors and it is time for us to see how we are like God in being able to forgive. God Bless and stay safe, Rabbi Mark

Daily Prophets - a daily take on the Prophets of Israel to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 6

I forgot to announce that each week, I am taking Shabbat off from writing about the Prophets. I write each morning when I arise as both a meditation and gratitude to God for returning my soul to me this day. Continuing with Elijah, I am struck by his loyalty to God and his lack of martyrdom. Elijah is hunted by Jezebel and Ahab, threatened by them both and he doesn’t need to die the death of a martyr, rather he flees/disappears so he can come back another day. He never wavers in his loyalty to God and his following God’s Will. As I am writing these words, I am asking myself how often I have been a martyr and how ridiculous it usually was. I made a martyr of myself whenever I had to have it my way or the highway and there have been those times. I made a martyr of myself whenever I have held a pity party for myself. These negative ways of being a martyr are important to recognize. I think of my mother, z”l, when I called her from prison one time, she told me she could not show her face in the community. I said, “Mom, I am not that big of a criminal, I did not make the Cleveland Jewish News. How would anyone know?” She replied, “I told them.” We laughed about that for years, my mother and I and I see how I have told I have been a martyr when I have been willing to act the same way. Then there are the positive acts of martyrdom. I have been willing to walk away from people and positions when the people and/or organization is doing or thinking of doing something that is antithetical to my core values and beliefs. I ask you to look at and recognize your times of martyrdom.

Fear of losing his life did now sway Elijah from relating his prophecy and from fighting for God and for the people of the Kingdom of Israel. I understand this loyalty very well. Rabbi Heschel taught me this in his book God in Search of Man. He says on page 132: “In this sense, faith is faithfulness, loyalty to an event and loyalty to our response.” Elijah stayed loyal to God and God’s path no matter what. God lived his life on God’s Terms, not his own and certainly not at the whim of the King and Queen. His unwillingness to bend to the will of the rich and powerful made him a hunted man, a dangerous man, and a man who could destroy all that Ahab and Jezebel had built. He was an extreme threat. How many times have we stayed loyal to an experience with God? This is what a Spiritual Awakening connotes in the 12th Step of the Anonymous programs. This is what all of Torah and Judaism is paving the way for us. Yet so many of us fall short and/or don’t even try to stay loyal and faithful to God, only to our own needs and desires. Elijah and the other prophets stand as examples of loyalty and faithfulness. What are the examples of your loyalty and disloyalty to God, to yourself and to others? 

Our current leaders in the United States need to reread (or truly read for the first time) Elijah. They have been serving Jezebel and Ahab and rejoicing in it. They have been lying to themselves that they have been loyal to God and serving God. What they have been serving is a god, a false idol that is interested in their power and an idol that gives them a good conscience rather than God who is constantly nagging at us and feeding us and calling to us to care for others and do justly. I am outraged at Pence and Pompeo who have not condemned Trump for his part in Wednesday’s insurrection. I am outraged at the people who do not condemn the evil in themselves and their cities/states. I am outraged at the people who continue to believe “the one with the gold rules”. I am outraged at the people who wrap themselves in the cloth of righteousness and cannot acknowledge their own imperfections/errors. I have been a victim of these people and been one of them also. It is time for all of us to stop acting in these ways. We are all part of God’s world, we are all created in the Image of God and we all are needed to make our corner of the world a little better. 

In 1Kings Chapter 19 is the famous experience that Elijah has with the still small voice. Prior to that, however, Elijah is again fleeing for his life and he is tired. He goes off to the wilderness  and asks God to take his life because he has failed in his task to get Ahab, Jezebel and the people of the Kingdom of Israel to change their ways. He lays down and sleeps and is awakened by the touch of an angel who tells him to eat, he looks around and sees bake and water. He eats and goes back to sleep until an angel of Adonai touches him again and tells him get up, eat and go on a journey. He does and goes to Mount Horeb and went into a cave. God calls out to him, asks him why he is there and then he experiences Adonai in the still small voice. Adonai tells him to go back and anoint two kings and anoint Elisha to succeed him. 

Why does Elijah set himself up for such heartache and disappointment? Because he has a personal relationship with Adonai. This is the hallmark of all of the Prophets and of every person in Recovery. Today, as I experience loss of community, loss of position, loss of connection to people I have known for years, I am without resentment (finally) and have compassion for everyone because of my personal relationship with Adonai. The 23rd Psalm opens with “Adonai is my shepherd and I lack nothing”. I forget this from time to time and search for things, power, prestige that I don’t need. I remembering  and rejoicing in my portion and what I have each day, now. How much better life is when I am in this space. What is your personal relationship with God and how do you remember you lack nothing, and rejoice in your portion? God Bless, Rabbi Mark

Daily Prophets- a daily take on the Prophets of Israel to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 5

After reviving the widow’s son, Elijah is called by God to return to Ahab and tell him about the rain. He had been gone for 3 years and all the rest of the prophets had been killed. There is a little bit of doubt about this as Obadiah claims he had saved 100 of them and Elijah then proclaims to the people that he is the only prophet left. Ahab had been looking for Elijah, presumably to kill him, and Elijah kept disappearing. This, of course, was God caring for Elijah. 

Why does God have Elijah return to talk about rain? Is it because of Elijah’s earlier prophecy that the rain and dew will stop so we have a complete mission by Elijah? Is it because there is no prophet left and Israel needs to hear Elijah so they can repent? I believe both reasons are valid and I want to focus on the second one. It is so hard, sometimes, to turn back to God on one’s own. It is so hard because most of us are unaware of how we have turned away from God, our values and our principles. These turns are done so incrementally that unless we are hyper-vigilant, we will not even notice. This is true in the descent into addiction of any kind, it is true in crossing the line from moral to immoral, it is true in going from legal to illegal for most people. As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel says: “self deception is a major disease” (Carl Stern Interview, Dec. 1972). It is precisely this self deception that allows most of us to defend ourselves against criticism and proclaim our rightness! This is why we need sponsors in 12-step programs, to help us discern our part in any resentments, etc. It is why we need Spiritual Counselors to help us see the whole picture and the small drifts we make away from our proper path. We can’t always see how we drift from our path, prayer is meant to help us make daily corrections, Tshuvah is an aid to help us see these small drifts. 

What happened Tuesday was the outcome of the inability of some of our leaders to see how far they have drifted off the path. They proclaimed their fidelity to God, yet it is evident they were only loyal to their own power and agenda. This is the type of behavior that the Prophets came to inform Israel of and to grind against them to return to the path of God. This is a condemnation of both extremes, as the Rambam teaches, the middle path is usually the best. We have strayed to the extremes where the people at the extremes have wrapped themselves in righteousness so tightly, they don’t see the ways they have drifted and the crimes they commit while bastardizing God’s name and word. 

Elijah’s return is as God’s messenger. He says to the people Israel: “How long will you keep hopping between two opinions? If Adonai is God, follow Adonai and if Baal, follow him.” He is calling the people to make a choice and he then has a contest with the 450 prophets of Baal that Ahab and Jezebel have supported. It is similar to the Korah, fire pan contest, only with a sacrifice instead. The people needed to see physical proof of Adonai, they have the physical proof of Baal in all of the statues/Idols that are created, yet Adonai is abstract. This is the same situation we face today. The spirit of democracy is abstract. The constitution and rule of law is open to interpretation, so our vigilance has to be heightened. Our use of the ballot box is always superior to use of bullets. The travesty on Tuesday that was supported and incited by some Republican leaders tried to kill the spirit of democracy and prove that bullets mean more than ballots. The people that Elijah was speaking to, in my opinion, were all the people who stood idly by the blood of democracy. The people who have enabled the inciters of the Tuesday’s insurrection attempt. We have to hear Elijah’s call and we have to check ourselves and each other, not for power but for peace. 

Adonai is the “winner” in this contest and then killed all of the prophets of Baal. The people realized their errors and said: “Adonai is God, Adonai is God”. What will it take for us to accept and keep this truth? It is time for all of us to worship God, not power. It is time to follow the soul of our democracy, not the lies of the grifters. It is time for us to make sure that “government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.” We do this by checking the ways that we drift from these principles, from the truth of our soul, from our unique purpose each day. 

Yes, Elijah was crazy, he was a wild man and the people needed this type of person in order to hear the word of God and the truth of their behavior. Who do you use to hear truth about you? What are the words that will help you acknowledge the truth of your drift? How will you do T’Shuvah for the harm your drift has produced? God Bless, Rabbi Mark

Weekly Parsha- Shemot

Weekly Parashah-Shemot

This week we begin the 2nd Book of Torah, Shemot (Exodus). The English name denotes what happens in this book to the People Israel. The Hebrew name denotes the spiritual nature of this Book. In light of yesterday’s insurrection and seditious actions, I believe this opening Parashah has much to teach us. 

The Israelites were “too numerous and mighty” according to the new Pharaoh. Decent, hardworking people of all colors were too numerous for many right-wing outlets that only want ratings and money. “Let us deal slyly with them” says the Pharaoh and the next thing we know is that the Israelites are building pyramids, cities, etc. “I can shoot someone on 5th Ave in broad daylight and still be elected/get away with it” says Donald Trump. Both the Pharaoh and Trump were correct. Trump has debased our country and for which we stand. He has dealt slyly with a public willing to hold onto resentments of Racism, Anti-Semitism, Religious Bigotry, fear, etc. He has made this the “art of the deal” for himself and the people around him. 

We have allowed Trump, McConnell, Pence, Ron Johnson, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, et.al become our taskmasters. We have allowed them to force us to build ‘cities’ for them and their business cronies. The people who have been the courtiers to Trump and Pence have made anyone who disagrees with them the enemy and subject to harsh treatment while extolling the criminals in their circle. We have allowed Pharaoh Trump and his minions to place harsh burdens upon our country which yesterday was one of the results of. It is time for us to remember that we are descendants/adherents to Madisonian Democracy, as imperfect as it is. It is up to us to stand up and “make a more perfect union”. 

God has sent messengers to us along the way and we have not followed them. Many former Republicans have been sounding the alarms and we did not answer them because we, like the Israelites in this Parashah, have been so assaulted and inundated with lies that we are exhausted. While it is understandable, it is also not acceptable. 

The speakers yesterday at the rally before they stormed our Capital, like Trump, Guiliani, Don Jr. etc should be prosecuted for inciting people to riot. This is not free speech, this is yelling fire in a crowded theater. 

We, the People, have to not succumb to the lies of the Republicans and the fantasy of the Progressives. We, the People, have to find ways to meet each other as human beings away from the extremes and demand truthful paths to ‘make a more perfect union’. We can do this, we must do this. Just as our ancestors went to war to keep us safe and secure, we have to go to war against the lies and harshness of these elected officials. 

We have a new President being inaugurated in 12 days. Joe Biden can be like Moses and lead us out of the wilderness of hatred, racism, deception and authoritarianism. He is qualified to do this because he is a man of compassion, truth-seeking, caring for the widow, the orphan, the poor and the stranger. He has lived this way his entire adult life. He did not want to seek the Presidency this time, he was called to after Charlottesville. After Trump spoke glowingly of the good people who promoted racist and anti-semitic hatred. Yet, the Republican party stood by and supported him, just like Pharaoh’s courtiers supported Pharaoh. Joe Biden is someone who listens to advisors and asks for help. He is not a know-it-all, he is a learner. He wants VP Harris as the last person in the room and he listens to his wife. He will heed the call of Reverend Barber, et.al to lead us with justice and compassion.

How will you add to making the US a more perfect union in the days, weeks, years to come? How will you not allow yourself to become slaves to lies and deception? Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark

Daily Prophets- a daily take on the Prophets of Israel to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 4

In light of yesterday’s events, hearing the words of the Prophets seems all the more important. We are engaged in a Spiritual and Moral war with charlatans who say that God is on their side, yet their vision of God is that God is the Lion. King David was great because he took what he wanted. They are certainly missing the words of the Prophets and the fact that truth is a principle that God is totally invested in. We say Adonai Emet, God is Truth, not man, just God. To those who encouraged this violence, to President Trump, the Senators who joined him in spreading the lie of a “stolen election”, to the Republicans who have gone along with his lies and grifting because of their own needs being met, I say in the name of the Prophet Elijah: “The  Lord alone is God, The Lord alone is God”. 

Elijah is sent away by God for his own protection. God sends him to a widow’s house who will care for him. The widow thought she did not have enough to feed him and her kindness was rewarded with her flour jar never being empty and her jug of oil never running out. This story is one that stands out to and for me. I think about how often it is that the poorest people among us are the most generous. Poor people, people who have suffered hardships they are generous because they know what it is like to be in need. Growing up, we were poor and my father made sure that we always gave charity when we went to Hebrew school. I asked him once why he was so insistent on this and he said that Tzedakah was God’s money that we get to return to God. I have never forgotten this. My grandparents on both sides kept a Pushke and put change in it every Shabbos Reading this 17th Chapter of 1Kings brought me back to these memories.

We get to give back to God what God has given us. Every act of kindness is not something that we do out of benevolence it is a return to and/or a repayment back to God for all the kindness we have been shown. It is never a burden to return to God a kindness by helping another human being. Yet, today as in the days of the Prophets, people in power see kindness as weakness. Mitch McConnell is proud to be the Grim Reaper, Ted Cruz is overjoyed to be Trump’s lackey, Mike Pence is the Trump Bobblehead always praising and agreeing with “Mr. President” under whose watch Covid-19 has raged without any coordination from the Federal Government. Business people who are proud of ‘making a killing’ and crushing their competitors. 

As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel says in his book The Prophets, “To the prophets even a minor injustice assumes cosmic proportions.” When I have railed against the injustice and cruelty of this administration I was told how great Trump was/is for Israel. How he helped the rich and the corporations with his tax cut and how his policies have helped people add to their wealth, etc. I was told to stay out of politics by Board Members and Congregants alike. I explained that I was not being political, I was being moral. When people “agreed with my views” I was extolled, when I screamed about the assault on our dignity, I was expelled. Rabbi Heschel took on the mantle of the Prophet by speaking truth to power and by following his conscience and God’s call no matter what. 

The Widow who helped Elijah needed more help as her son fell ill and she accused him of “recalling/remembering her sin and causing the death of her son” (1Kings 17:18). Elijah then took the boy, gave him some type of CPR all the while calling on God to “let this child’s life return to his body” (1Kings 17:21). Elijah was willing to call God to task so the boy did not die. God heard Elijah’s plea and the boy was saved. Elijah was not willing to do nothing and say it was up to God. I have no part in this problem. Elijah was even so dedicated to repay the kindness the widow had shown him that he was willing to call God to task.

I call all of us to task today and everyday. As Harriet Rossetto says: “You don’t have to be an addict to be in recovery!” We have become addicted to hate and injustice. We have all become addicted to power and prestige, either having it or wanting it. We have all stood by while people have been abused, shunned and their dignity assaulted. It has to STOP NOW. I was sick to my stomach that the Capital Police and the Federal Law Enforcement apparatus allowed these criminals to invade our House. Then, they were just nicely asked to leave. Yet, if it was a BLM march, a march for true justice, the riot gear would have met the people before any of yesterday’s tragedy could have happened. 

We the people must stop this here and now. Write to Congress, recall the senators and representitives that gave aid and comfort our enemies and failed to fulfill their basic oath to protect us from all enemies, foreign and domestic. 

We may not be prophets, we are descendants of the prophets, as Rabbi Heschel teaches, and it is time for us to live up to our heritage. God Bless, Rabbi Mark

Daily Prophets- a daily take on the Prophets of Israel to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day 3

Today, I am beginning to look at Elijah. Elijah is introduced to me during the reign of Ahab. Ahab marries Jezebel and brings the worship of Baal to the Palace and to the land. Elijah was incensed. He let Ahab know that for his actions, “As God lives, the Lord of Israel who I stand with/who stands with me, there will be no dew or rain unless I my lips say so.” Elijah’s pronouncement is so bold. He, like Natan is so moved by God that he risks his life to deliver the words that God has put in his mouth.

Elijah is referring to himself as standing with God/who God stands with. What Chutzpah! I love it. The images that this bring up for me is loyalty, love and fidelity. Elijah is telling us whom to stand with, not mortals who corrupt and pollute the world through Idolatry, stand with God who stands with and for decency, love, faithfulness, truth, kindness and justice. My reading of the verse is that there is a reciprocity between us and God. We stand with God as a response to God standing with us.

While most of us have not brought Baal into our homes we are idolators in so many other ways. I think of how I made an idol of myself by trying to be perfect. Perfection is God’s realm, not mine as a human. Yet we worship perfection all the time, perfect looks, job, home, bank account, spouse, kids, etc. The College Entrance Scandal is about perfection and idolatry. We worship power instead of using our power to worship and fulfill God’s Will. Like Ahab and Jezebel, we do injustice in God’s name making it right because “the one with the Gold Rules” according to many. 

I am writing this and becoming agitated with myself for all the times I was too blind to see how I was not standing with God and only standing with and for me. It is a sad realization and one that elates me. A real both/and because I can repair some of the damage, I can change and I don’t have to continue to see life through my lens, rather I can see and live life through God’s lens as I stand with God each day. Also, I see how God has stood with me throughout the good and bad, when I hit the mark and when I missed the mark. These past 9 months have been difficult as I transition from Senior Rabbi of Beit T’Shuvah to consultant. I am realizing how God stood for and with me throughout this time, even when I did not realize it. While I could have enacted this transition with a little more grace and Beit T’Shuvah could have shown me a little more respect, I am aware right now of how God stood with me and how God is standing with me now. I also realize how I stood with God, speaking Truth to power because I had to in order to honor my relationship with God and the people in power. I know I am standing with God because I have no resentments and/or anger toward this chapter of life. Here are some questions to ponder: How have you stood with God? How has God stood with you?  How are you standing with God? How is God standing with you? 

More on Elijah tomorrow, he is a trip of a guy:) 

Daily Prophets- a daily take on the Prophets of Israel to enhance our daily living

Again from the Prophet Nathan, probably the best known story about him, is when he was so enraged with David over the injustice of David killing Uriah the Hittite. The Bible says: “ this thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of God. God sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said, “there were two men in the same city, one rich and one poor. The rich man had very large flocks and herds, but the poor man had only one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He tended it and it grew up together with him and his children: it used to share his morsel fo bread, drink from his cup and nestle in his bosom; it was like a daughter to him. One day, a traveler came to the rich man, but he was loath to take anything from his own flocks or herds to prepare a meal for the guest who had come to him; so he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him (2Sam. 11:27-12:4). We know that David flew into a rage against such injustice until Nathan said, “That man is you!” (2Sam. 12:7). 

What is so amazing is the courage of Nathan to be more concerned about the injustice of David than his own personal well-being. I am in awe and stand guilty of not always following this example. Nathan is sent by God and adds his outrage into the mix. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel describes a prophet as a man with a “deep love, painful rebuke, powerful dissent and unwavering hope.” Nathan is delivering the most painful rebuke to David on behalf of God, of course, and he is also the voice of Uriah the Hittite and all of the Uriah’s in the land. He also is adding his own disgust in the mix. I understand Nathan’s rage, I have been and continue to be both Nathan and David. At times, I want what I want when I want it, this is my greed and my Davidic heritage speaking. Most often, I am relieved to say, I am in the Nathan role, railing against injustice, standing for the poor, the widow, the stranger and the orphan. 

How sad and angry Nathan must be, he has been advising David, giving him the word of God often and helping him to do the next right thing and David acts on his own impulse and urge to have what is not his. God and Nathan are bewildered that David had to take more and more by force, by dishonesty, by murder. I think about al of the dishonesty we see today and know that we have not learned from the Prophet Nathan nor from David. Immersing ourselves into the text and the life of the Prophets allows us to take their words and teachings to heart. How many of us are willing to stand against injustice with our lives? 

Nathan is showing us that living life on God’s Terms is more important than his own safety. He leads us by his example to realize that every time we give into Power, to Injustice by others and/or ourselves we are killing ourselves anyway. We think we are dodging a bullet when we ‘go along to get along’ and actually we are shooting ourselves. I know this first hand. Every time I have done this in my life, I have been wounded and assaulted beyond description. It is a wound to my core caused by my refusing to stand up against the bullying and greediness of people who I erroneously believe have power over me. It is painful when the bullets wound us to our core and yet it is only this pain that begins healing. Life, the Prophet Nathan is telling us here, is precious and we have to respect it and not cause unnecessary harm to another in order to satisfy a momentary urge/impulse! 

The message of the Prophets, that Rabbi Heschel was worried about  being lost over 48 years ago, has to be front and center to all of us. Many Rabbis are uncomfortable with the Hyperbole of the Prophets and we need this passion and Truth in all of our affairs because it is the Passion and Truth of God. Nathan is teaching us to put God’s Will before ours. 

How are you standing up to the abuse of Power? How do you give in to the power of your desires and/or someone else’s? Where in your life do stand against injustice and where do you participate in doing injustice either actively or passively? God Bless, Rabbi Mark

Daily Prophets- a daily take on the Prophets of Israel to enhance our daily living

Daily Prophets

Day One

Prophets were the first Spiritual Counselors in the Bible. They were employed by God to speak to the Kings and the People Israel in ways that they could hear. God knows that God’s voice would be too strong, powerful and fearful for most people to hear. God also knows that people in power (for that matter all of us) think we know better and get blinded by our power/thoughts so God sends Prophets/Spiritual Counselors to help them/us see and hear Truth. The Prophets spoke in strong and sweet voices depending on the way the King and/or the People Israel could hear. It is a fantastic model for Spiritual Counselors and for people who want to grow spiritually each and every day. They speak in God’s name for the betterment of Israel, not themselves. They did not profit from their work and they truly were servants of God and advocates for the souls of the Kings and the People Israel. Each day I am going to take a section from one of the Prophets and speak to how it impacts me and, hopefully, you. 

When David wanted to build a House for God and the Ark of the Covenant, God came to the Prophet Nathan and said to him: 

“Go and say to My servant David: Thus said the Lord: Are you the one to build a house for me to dwell in. From the day that I brought the people of Israel out of Egypt to this day I have not dwelt in house, but have moved about in Tent and Tabernacle. As I moved about wherever the Israelites went, did I ever reproach any of tribal leaders whom I appointed to care for my people Israel: why have you not built Me a house of cedar?” (II Samuel 7:5-7)

I am struck by God’s words to Nathan. God is instructing Nathan to remind King David that not all is in his hands to decide. God is telling David, through Nathan, not to take too much on. It is a reminder to and for all of us to ‘stay in our lane’ and do not take on too much. I think God is telling all of us to stop being greedy. God is also saying that the people who came before David did God’s biding. God goes on to remind David that God took David from the pasture “to be ruler of My people Israel”. David’s job is to establish a home for God’s people so they can be secure and “shall tremble no more”. (Ibid.8-10).

I could say that Nathan has great courage to tell King David that he is doing the wrong thing. He stands up to King David for the sake of God and the People Israel. I do not think it is courage that motivates him, however. Yes, it is a courageous act to stand up to power! Yes, it is a courageous act to say No to the King. Yet, it wasn’t courage that motivated Nathan, I believe. As we will see with all of the Prophets, it is the deepest sense of loyalty to God, loyalty to morality, loyalty to following the call in and of their own soul that motivates Nathan and the other Prophets. No one asks for this job, to be a Prophet. Rabbi Heschel says, in his book The Prophets (pg xiv) “He is endowed with a mission, with the power of a word not his own that account for his greatness-but also with temperament , concern, character and individuality… He speaks from the perspective of God as perceived from the perspective of his own situation.” 

What the Prophet teaches us is to stand up for God no matter what. Do it in our own particular manner of being and do it. Nathan does this in these verses. As we begin this year of 2021, I hear the call of the Prophet Nathan to all of us: Stay in your lane. Stop trying to be someone else, stop trying to do too much, seek too much and not be greedy. We can help establish a home, a city, a state and a country where all people can be secure and “tremble no more”. You have your unique way as I have mine. Lets make a Covenant with God and those around us to  live in a grain of sand more each day of 2021. God Bless, Rabbi Mark

Weekly Parsha - VaY'Chi

Weekly Parashah- VaY’Chi VaY’Chi is the last portion of the book of Genesis. It translates to ‘and he lived’ giving us a hint that the Parashah will be about death. Here, we learn that Jacob is about to die and by the end of the Parashah, the generation of the sons will also have died. It is a Parashah of reconciliation in many ways and is one of many questions for me.

Rashi, who I almost never quote, gives an interesting explanation of why this Parashah begins in the middle of a paragraph. He says that once Jacob died, “the eyes and hearts of Israel were blocked up by the distress of the enslavement they began to undergo.” WOW, I saw this earlier in my study of the Parashah this week and in past years and at this moment, I finally understand the brothers’ concern at the end of the Parashah. They were aware that Israel was and/or was going to be enslaved in Egypt by the Egyptians and maybe Joseph was too blind, arrogant to see what was coming. I understand both the brothers’ concerns/fears and Joseph’s blindness. Joseph was sure that the Pharaoh would protect him and he would be grateful to Joseph for saving Egypt and making him richer. He thought he had enough Spiritual Capital and Emotional Capital in the bank to protect him and his brothers. Many of us who do good things, create/build companies and organizations that are innovative and helpful believe we build up enough Spiritual and Emotional Capital to overcome the blips of our own errors and the jealousies and pettiness of others. WRONG! All we have to do is look at Steve Jobs being fired from Apple to know this. I have seen it happen in the Rabbinate many times. I am also guilty of this type of thinking myself. I became enslaved to a way of being that made me both blind and arrogant. I believed the good will I had built up from good works would protect me from my own errors. I believed that since everyone knew me for me, I would not become a relic in my own place. I was blind to the changes in the organization, I was blind to the enemies I had created, I was blind to the stress I was under, I was blind to the assault on my dignity. I was blind to my own emotional and spiritual volcano that was about to erupt. I was blind to my needing to move to the next chapter and the organization needing/wanting me to move on also. I was already enslaved and did not fully recognize it, the Board of the organization did and didn’t know how to talk to me about it and I put bullets in everyone else’s guns, believing those that knew me would “have my back” and they probably believe they have. I was blind and arrogant to believe this and I see this now, through the eyes of Rashi, Jacob and Torah. Another example of how Torah is a living document, dynamic, wise and gives great guidance!

Jacob reconciles with Joseph at the beginning of this Parashah through a request and an oath. I have always believed, and still do, that the oath was because Jacob did not fully trust that Joseph did not harbor anger towards Jacob for sending him to check on his brothers which led to where they all were now. I also see how Jacob was reconciling with Joseph by saying your word is trustworthy to me. Your word to me is your bond and I am entrusting my end of life decisions to you. In some ways, this is the first Advance Directive we hear about in Torah. It also is a time for Joseph to give his father some peace of mind and spirit which he does. This is how Joseph reconciles with Jacob also.

The brothers’ tell Joseph a story, which may or may not be true, about their father’s concern regarding retribution. Here, Joseph reassures them that God caused this whole experience and they were just agents of God. He also asks them to take an oath to bring his bones up to Israel when they leave Egypt. He believes them when they give him their pledge. This is how each of them reconcile with each other. This is an important aspect of reconciliation. In recovery part of the 9th step amends is to lay out a plan not to repeat the harm we are making amends for. In T’Shuvah, we also have a plan not to go back down the path that leads us to harm another person. In both cases, there is an aspect of a pledge. As a newly released convict and person in recovery, I remember making these T’Shuvot and oaths to Heather, my daughter; my brothers and sister, Stuart, Neal and Sheri; my mother Millie and to the other people I had harmed. My sincerity and their openness allowed for the reconciliation that helped me leave the slavery of my addictions and the slavery of blindness and arrogance to this day. Of course my wife Harriet helps me with blindness and arrogance each and every day as well. What are you still blind to and arrogant about? Whom do you still need to reconcile with and how are you honoring your past reconciliations? As we head into 2021, what oaths do you need to rescind, what oaths do you need to renew and what oaths do you need to make? Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark

Weekly Parsha- VaYigash

Weekly Parashah-VaYigash

VaYigash translates to ‘draw near, and/or ‘approached’. Sir Walter Scott called this opening of our Parashah the most beautiful prose he had ever read. Judah approaches and draws near to Joseph to let him know, in my opinion, that he, Judah, realizes the set up that Joseph did. He begins by speaking into Joseph’s ears so the words can reach his soul, not his brain. He recounts their meetings and says that he cannot abide by Joseph’s trickery and he will not break his word to his father. I believe Judah was ready to kill Joseph if necessary to save Benjamin. This is the outcome of Judah’s transformation from his T’Shuvah with Tamar. I am always in awe of his courage and his leadership. He made a pledge and he does not want to go back on this pledge. He is honoring his father, knowing that his father is more connected to Rachel’s children than he is to the rest of his brothers. How painful for him and, yet, he is able to leave any and all resentments so he can still honor his father and take the next right action. I am in awe of Judah and his transformation. I know how hard it is to transform and then grow from the “new” person one becomes after T’Shuvah. I realize how far I have come and so many people I know have come and accept my imperfections as well as theirs. I see how society is ready to pounce on the imperfections and flaws of me and other people in recovery (and out of recovery) if it suits their purpose. I have erred in areas that I erred previously, not as bad usually and the same is true for most of us. I believe we have to cease and desist from allowing others to use our foibles against us, Dr. M. Scott Peck calls this evil. Judah was not going to let Joseph use the vulnerabilities of he and his brothers against them and against their father. He stood up and approached Joseph with such passion, power and truth that Joseph could not keep the ruse up. This is the power of approaching and speaking to the soul of another. And, as we all know it doesn’t work all the time. We are living in a moment where the people in power want to keep their power, wield their power and enslave others. This is not just in the political realm, this is in business, for profit and non-profit, in families, at country clubs and even in medicine. I have heard stories about people with wealth trying to buy their way into the top tier to get the Covid-19 vaccine! We all need to be Judah, we need to say NO, in a forceful, spiritual, and truthful manner. We need to say YES to freedom, obligation, and kindness. Judah is leading the way this week. Will people of faith follow? I pray we will. I am recommitting to this way of being and staying grounded in it. 

After Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and they get over the shock, and he sets it up for them to get their father and bring the families to live in Egypt for the duration of the famine, he says to them: “Don’t quarrel on the way” (Gen.45:24). What a direction! I read this over 3 or 4 times this year, I don’t remember being taken by this phrase before. The verb used means: be agitated, quiver, quake, perturbed, be excited. So what is Torah teaching us? When we get good news and/or bad news don’t respond from a place of agitation, etc. I know this is hard and I have not mastered this by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, when we are present for a miracle, like finding a long lost brother, being immersed in it is excitement enough, we don’t have to cause more because of our agitation, fear, etc. When we ‘ragez’ appropriately, we are in awe and appreciation. When we are not appropriate in our ‘ragez’, we are in anger, fear and blame. I think of the miracles I have witnessed and the awe and appreciation I have experienced. I also know that bad news has made me agitated more often than not. I see that I have become less agitated in certain areas, yet I know that my agitation comes from my own being unsettled in myself, my own need for perfection. I also know that the agitation comes from righteous indignation that is prophetic in nature. I hear the agitation in the words and teachings of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel as a call to our souls and to our prophetic natures. I also know that, like many, I sometimes mix up the agitation I am experiencing as one or the other. I am agitated now, I can’t stop quarreling with others when life is on the line. I can’t stop quarreling with others when democracy is on the line. I can’t stop quarreling with others when our humanity is on the line. I can’t stop quarreling with others when my family is on the line (like Judah). I can and commit to stop quarreling with others when it is about my ego. I can and commit to stop quarreling with others when it is about my need to be right. What principles are you going to quarrel for? What quarrels are you going to let go of? Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark

Weekly Parsha-Miketz

Weekly Parashah- Miketz

This week I celebrate 32 years of Recovery and I am so grateful to all of you for participating in and supporting my recovery. 

The story of Joseph continues in this story as does the story of his brothers and father. Joseph rises to the top of the hierarchy in Egypt, becoming Pharaoh’s number 2 person. Having had a Spiritual Awakening in last week’s Parashah and continuing it at the beginning of this week’s Parashah-knowing that God is the interpreter of dreams and Joseph just speaks God’s words he is humble enough to advise Pharaoh and speak to him in a way that Pharaoh can understand. This is a very important principle/value/concept in our tradition. Proverbs teaches: “train each child according to their understanding”. Living this value forces me to be connected to you and pay attention to ensure that you are understanding me. If not, I have to find a different way to speak to you. Over the years, I have found this to be a useful tool in order to make and keep connections with people. My brother said to me, when I was newly sober, let's have a dialogue with each other rather than a monologue or talking at each other. I loved the idea then and have practiced this in my recovery and in my Rabbinate. Some days more than others:) Doing this means I don’t have to be right and I am not in competition to show how smart I am. It does not diminish my worth, my position and/or my path/way of seeing life. On the contrary, it helps me grow in every area of my living because I am in a state of being a learner. 

To paraphrase Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, from his interview with Carl Stern in 1972, a day without learning is not worth living. We all learn something new each day and, in our Parashah, Pharaoh takes note of the learning and puts it into practice. I am realizing how I have done this and when/how I haven’t. In fact, as I reflect back, every time I have gotten myself ‘into trouble’ is because of my arrogance to take what I have learned and put it into practice. While I am not interested in perfection, I do realize in this reflection, most of my troubles in my life come from not putting the learning I have done into practice. Pharaoh was able to discern the earnestness and wisdom of Joseph as well as his ability to be loyal to Pharaoh. I think back and see how often I  learned whom to trust and not trust and, again, in my arrogance, thought “they won’t do that to me”. How foolish and tragic on my part, I hurt me, those around me and the person that I foolishly trusted. As a person I have helped says, “when someone tells you who they are, believe them.” Pharaoh had the ability to get a message from God and hear the truthful interpretation and then discern the character of the person in front of him. Torah is telling us, I believe, that we all have this ability and our challenge is to use it wisely and in service of a greater good not just our own good. The power of T’Shuvah is to see how to learn from our past, fail forward and not repeat the same exact behavior. Yes, I will always be a little louder than the next person, I get upset over what I see as evil behaviors and I will still erupt at times, this is my nature and my refusal to give into the evil that I gave into and participated in prior to my recovery. I know this as do others. Yet, the strengths of this behavior have become outweighed by the weakness and, I didn’t use the learning that people will use your vulnerabilities against you when it suits them because winning is all that matters. This being in direct conflict to what my brother said to me in my early recovery. We see this same behaviors in our Political discourse today. Who do you want to be, the Pharaoh of Joseph or the Pharaoh of Exodus? Do you want to be Jacob who makes deals with God or Joseph who surrenders to God? Both have their plusses and minus’. I testify and am a witness that being the Pharaoh of Joseph and being the Joseph who surrenders is much better for your soul and the people around you. 

This is both an improbable story and a story of spiritual uplift. How badly did Pharaoh want his dream interpreted is powerful. We have people today who help another interpret their dreams,, hopefully for the sake of the person and not for their own financial gain. I am a person who rarely remembers his dreams and when I do, I search for meaning and God’s direction from the dream. In our Parashah, the likelihood of a lowly Hebrew prisoner becoming Pharaoh’s 2nd in command is very improbable and could have happened. We tend to dismiss things because we think they are improbable or impossible and in doing so, we miss so many beautiful experiences. IVF was improbable and impossible years ago and today, there are many beautiful souls making the world better because science believed in the worth of the idea and kept learning how to make the idea a reality. Donald Trump and Joe Biden being elected President in 2016 and 2020 respectively, was both improbable and impossible to many, yet it has happened because a lot of people believed it could and worked to make it happen. The Jewish people surviving Antiquity ( the only group to survive intact) was improbable and impossible, enemies have been trying to kill us off forever, and here we are, adding to the knowledge of the world, helping move life forward in service of God. Recovery from addictions and people changing was/is considered impossible and improbable, yet it happens each and every day. Recovery has lifted many of us from the pits of despair to the heights of ecstasy. It has given short shrift to “leopards don’t change their spots” and proven that the only constant is change. Recovery has given individuals and families new leases on life and created community, empathy, compassion and forgiveness. These are all proofs that show improbable leads to great spiritual uplift. I have had this experience many times in my recovery and I pray that you recognize the times you have and take notice of the ones to come. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark

Weekly Parsha - VaYeishev

This week’s Parashah is VaYeshev, which means to sit, settle, dwell. It is always a surprise to me that this word is used to describe Jacob. Nothing in Jacob’s life is settling, he really doesn’t dwell in one place and he is never at peace. I wondered why for a long time and this year I see the ways that his history shaped him and how he was unable to leave the past in the past and see himself differently. Like his parents, he had a favorite child and made it known to everyone that Joseph was his favorite. He sets up a sibling rivalry between his sons and never teaches Joseph about humility and brotherly love. Granted, he saw Joseph’s talents and abilities, he just does not teach him how to use them to serve others, he lets Joseph use his gifts for himself. I believe that because he could not bring himself to reconcile with Esau when Esau stretched out to him, he was unable to teach Joseph and his other sons how to be a family together, rather he promoted the rivalry between them.

How sad and yet, I see how difficult it has always been to rise above the family systems we are raised in. In my personal and professional life I have been a witness and a participant in both being stuck in the past system and being a partner in a new system. I was also like Joseph in that I used my ability to belittle my brothers and outdo them with my parents. I wanted to be “the favorite” and it hurt me, my brothers and my parents. My father, z”l, tried hard to show me differently and I learned many of his lessons, I just didn’t apply them to living until later in my life. My mother, z”l, always wanted us to get along and be a family and she had favorites among my brothers and my sister. My sister, Sheri, being the youngest and the only girl, had it made. In fact, all of us brothers took pride in her and promoted her well-being. There was no rivalry between us regarding Sheri, everything else was up for grabs. At dinner, when my father would give us Math problems to solve, I always tried to be first and when giving a talk, I would show my brother Neal how to deliver his words. I helped my brother Stuart sell more and all of these things, which I did to help them also, were feathers in my cap, so to speak. Like Jacob, I was never settled because I could not live in my own skin. I was too hung up on what others thought about me and to busy showing you what I wanted you to see rather than the scared kid I was. I see myself in Jacob in this way, he could not rise above his past errors and change his way.

This is where I diverted from Jacob’s path. I read this Parashah seriously for the first time in 1987 and saw why we are call Jews and Judaism. In this Parashah, Judah ‘turns away’ from his family, begins one of his own and becomes his own person. We learn that he is in need of cheering up after the death of his wife so he goes to the Sheep Shearing festival which is an occasion of merriment and sex, drugs and rock and roll:) He finds a prostitute, has sex, gives her a pledge to pay her later. He sends his friend to find her and pay her. His friend, Hirah, asked where the Kdasha is. He calls her a Holy Woman, while the translation calls her a harlot. Judah learns that the woman he thought a prostitute was actually his daughter-in-law who was waiting for Judah to give her his 3rd son in marriage. Upon realizing his error, he says that she, Tamar, “is more righteous than I”. Had Judah been trapped by his family of origin system, he would have blamed her, had her put to death and ignored his own error. He did, however, rise above his history to make a new way of being for his future descendants.

We are his descendants! I knew then that I was not trapped by my past. What a relief! This made me hopeful for a new beginning.

This is so important for all of us in this moment. We are not trapped by our past, family system, past actions, etc. We have the power and the spirit to change if we are willing to do the work of change. The new beginning is continuing. I nor you have arrived anywhere yet, we are still works in progress and still able to change our past and enhance our future. To my brother, Rabbi Neal Borovitz, I am sorry for the ways I treated you when we were kids. I am grateful for our relationship as adults and Mom did like you best:) To my sister, Sheri Borovitz-Linda, you still are everyone’s favorite and I am grateful for the ways we interact with love and humor. My siblings and I are a family that fights together (and with each other) and sees each other as allies, never enemies. I pray this is the same for you. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark

Weekly Parsha - VaYishlach

Parashah VaYishlach changed my life in 1987. I realized the power of change and the possibility of change. I realized that forgiveness was possible and asking for it is necessary for re-connection to happen. 

One of the first teachings is in the beginning of the Parashah, “Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother…” Jacob knows that he harmed his brother and he doesn’t want to just show up and say “I’m here brother” so he sends messengers, which in the text is the same word for angels. This teaches me that when I am going to send a message, I have to see the messenger as an Angel, which means that I have to be in my higher place and I am seeing the person I am sending the messenger to as a Divine Spirit. In other words, my God-Image is speaking to your (another) Divine Image. Torah is teaching us to think about the message we want to send, the words we use have to be in the language of the recipient, and accept that the person has a right to refuse to see you. I think that Jacob’s message did not really address Esau’s wound. Rather, he was telling him that he was wealthy in his own right. Maybe he was trying to tell Esau that he didn’t want anything from him, yet, he did not address his own errors. He did not ask for a meeting or anything, just a by the by message. When I sent a message to my brothers, I told them that I wanted to see them and talk to them. They both accepted my invitation and they were able to forgive me and we reconnected stronger than before. My oldest brother, Stuart,z”l,  was just happy to see me again and told me what he was angry with me about and we worked it out. My middle brother, Neal, had begun a discussion while I was in prison and when we met, we were able to talk, reconcile, reconnect and study together. We found our common bonds again, besides just being brothers, and we have stayed connected and grown our relationship to where he is my confidant and advisor and friend. While I did not send messengers, I sent a message that spoke to both of them in ways they could hear and did not shirk my responsibility for our rift. All of us are able to be the angel/messenger for ourselves and for others, we just have to make that decision and be in acceptance of the response without trying to control the results. Whatever the circumstances that make sending a message are, we always have the opportunity to come from our highest place and reach the highest place of another. 

Jacob’s response to the message from the messengers is fear. They do not tell him what Esau said, only that he was coming with 400 men to meet him. Jacob goes to fear rather than joy. The Hebrew word is Yirah- which means awe and fear. I believe that Jacob goes to fear because he is still holding on to what happened when he left his home because Esau wanted to kill him. For Jacob, there is no thought that Esau could be coming to greet him and escort him home with joy and dignity because he is still guilty and not able to believe that Esau is leaving the past in the past. I am sure that many of us can relate to this. When we have wronged someone or been wronged by someone, we hold onto that wound and believe the other person does also. I did not believe that I was accepted nor could be accepted when I was doing the wrong thing and living an addicted life. When I got into recovery, I believed forgiveness was possible and achievable. I realize that Jacob was living in the past and that was coloring everything he saw and did. This teaching was/is a cornerstone of my recovery and growth. Living in today takes a lot of work, it means that I have to see today as different than yesterday. I can’t say ‘same shit, different day’, I can’t say ‘if I do today what I did yesterday, I will be okay’. I have to be in wonder each and every day. I need to realize that holding on to the past keeps me stuck and keeps me stale. Rabbi Heschel says “there is nothing stale under the sun except human beings that become stale.” Being fresh is wearing a “new pair of glasses” as Chuck C writes in his book of the same name. When I am afraid because of past experiences, I have to wake myself up and realize that this moment is different and if I treat it as past moments, I can never have a different experience. 

I believe that Esau was coming to welcome Jacob with honor and dignity and safety. Esau had moved past the old hurts, Jacob could not. I know that living as Jacob does in the beginning of this Parashah is sad and lonely. Esau embraces, kisses and weeps when he sees Jacob because he is in the moment, Jacob is still scared. How sad! 

I believe we all have the opportunity to let go of past hurts and still protect ourselves. We don’t have to be doormats and we can be open to new experiences. Reaching out our hand to those we have harmed by asking for forgiveness and forgiving others when they ask is central to our faith. Letting go of resentments even when another person does not ask for forgiveness allows us to see their humanity and have Divine Pathos and compassion towards them so we don’t “hate our kinsman in our hearts” as Leviticus teaches us. I am committed to letting go and being more present and open to change this week and this year and I hope you are also. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark

Parashah VaYishlach changed my life in 1987. I realized the power of change and the possibility of change. I realized that forgiveness was possible and asking for it is necessary for re-connection to happen. 

One of the first teachings is in the beginning of the Parashah, “Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother…” Jacob knows that he harmed his brother and he doesn’t want to just show up and say “I’m here brother” so he sends messengers, which in the text is the same word for angels. This teaches me that when I am going to send a message, I have to see the messenger as an Angel, which means that I have to be in my higher place and I am seeing the person I am sending the messenger to as a Divine Spirit. In other words, my God-Image is speaking to your (another) Divine Image. Torah is teaching us to think about the message we want to send, the words we use have to be in the language of the recipient, and accept that the person has a right to refuse to see you. I think that Jacob’s message did not really address Esau’s wound. Rather, he was telling him that he was wealthy in his own right. Maybe he was trying to tell Esau that he didn’t want anything from him, yet, he did not address his own errors. He did not ask for a meeting or anything, just a by the by message. When I sent a message to my brothers, I told them that I wanted to see them and talk to them. They both accepted my invitation and they were able to forgive me and we reconnected stronger than before. My oldest brother, Stuart,z”l,  was just happy to see me again and told me what he was angry with me about and we worked it out. My middle brother, Neal, had begun a discussion while I was in prison and when we met, we were able to talk, reconcile, reconnect and study together. We found our common bonds again, besides just being brothers, and we have stayed connected and grown our relationship to where he is my confidant and advisor and friend. While I did not send messengers, I sent a message that spoke to both of them in ways they could hear and did not shirk my responsibility for our rift. All of us are able to be the angel/messenger for ourselves and for others, we just have to make that decision and be in acceptance of the response without trying to control the results. Whatever the circumstances that make sending a message are, we always have the opportunity to come from our highest place and reach the highest place of another. 

Jacob’s response to the message from the messengers is fear. They do not tell him what Esau said, only that he was coming with 400 men to meet him. Jacob goes to fear rather than joy. The Hebrew word is Yirah- which means awe and fear. I believe that Jacob goes to fear because he is still holding on to what happened when he left his home because Esau wanted to kill him. For Jacob, there is no thought that Esau could be coming to greet him and escort him home with joy and dignity because he is still guilty and not able to believe that Esau is leaving the past in the past. I am sure that many of us can relate to this. When we have wronged someone or been wronged by someone, we hold onto that wound and believe the other person does also. I did not believe that I was accepted nor could be accepted when I was doing the wrong thing and living an addicted life. When I got into recovery, I believed forgiveness was possible and achievable. I realize that Jacob was living in the past and that was coloring everything he saw and did. This teaching was/is a cornerstone of my recovery and growth. Living in today takes a lot of work, it means that I have to see today as different than yesterday. I can’t say ‘same shit, different day’, I can’t say ‘if I do today what I did yesterday, I will be okay’. I have to be in wonder each and every day. I need to realize that holding on to the past keeps me stuck and keeps me stale. Rabbi Heschel says “there is nothing stale under the sun except human beings that become stale.” Being fresh is wearing a “new pair of glasses” as Chuck C writes in his book of the same name. When I am afraid because of past experiences, I have to wake myself up and realize that this moment is different and if I treat it as past moments, I can never have a different experience. 

I believe that Esau was coming to welcome Jacob with honor and dignity and safety. Esau had moved past the old hurts, Jacob could not. I know that living as Jacob does in the beginning of this Parashah is sad and lonely. Esau embraces, kisses and weeps when he sees Jacob because he is in the moment, Jacob is still scared. How sad! 

I believe we all have the opportunity to let go of past hurts and still protect ourselves. We don’t have to be doormats and we can be open to new experiences. Reaching out our hand to those we have harmed by asking for forgiveness and forgiving others when they ask is central to our faith. Letting go of resentments even when another person does not ask for forgiveness allows us to see their humanity and have Divine Pathos and compassion towards them so we don’t “hate our kinsman in our hearts” as Leviticus teaches us. I am committed to letting go and being more present and open to change this week and this year and I hope you are also. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark

Parashah VaYishlach changed my life in 1987. I realized the power of change and the possibility of change. I realized that forgiveness was possible and asking for it is necessary for re-connection to happen.


One of the first teachings is in the beginning of the Parashah, “Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother…” Jacob knows that he harmed his brother and he doesn’t want to just show up and say “I’m here brother” so he sends messengers, which in the text is the same word for angels. This teaches me that when I am going to send a message, I have to see the messenger as an Angel, which means that I have to be in my higher place and I am seeing the person I am sending the messenger to as a Divine Spirit. In other words, my God-Image is speaking to your (another) Divine Image. Torah is teaching us to think about the message we want to send, the words we use have to be in the language of the recipient, and accept that the person has a right to refuse to see you. I think that Jacob’s message did not really address Esau’s wound. Rather, he was telling him that he was wealthy in his own right. Maybe he was trying to tell Esau that he didn’t want anything from him, yet, he did not address his own errors. He did not ask for a meeting or anything, just a by the by message. When I sent a message to my brothers, I told them that I wanted to see them and talk to them. They both accepted my invitation and they were able to forgive me and we reconnected stronger than before. My oldest brother, Stuart,z”l, was just happy to see me again and told me what he was angry with me about and we worked it out. My middle brother, Neal, had begun a discussion while I was in prison and when we met, we were able to talk, reconcile, reconnect and study together. We found our common bonds again, besides just being brothers, and we have stayed connected and grown our relationship to where he is my confidant and advisor and friend. While I did not send messengers, I sent a message that spoke to both of them in ways they could hear and did not shirk my responsibility for our rift. All of us are able to be the angel/messenger for ourselves and for others, we just have to make that decision and be in acceptance of the response without trying to control the results. Whatever the circumstances that make sending a message are, we always have the opportunity to come from our highest place and reach the highest place of another.

Jacob’s response to the message from the messengers is fear. They do not tell him what Esau said, only that he was coming with 400 men to meet him. Jacob goes to fear rather than joy. The Hebrew word is Yirah- which means awe and fear. I believe that Jacob goes to fear because he is still holding on to what happened when he left his home because Esau wanted to kill him. For Jacob, there is no thought that Esau could be coming to greet him and escort him home with joy and dignity because he is still guilty and not able to believe that Esau is leaving the past in the past. I am sure that many of us can relate to this. When we have wronged someone or been wronged by someone, we hold onto that wound and believe the other person does also. I did not believe that I was accepted nor could be accepted when I was doing the wrong thing and living an addicted life. When I got into recovery, I believed forgiveness was possible and achievable. I realize that Jacob was living in the past and that was coloring everything he saw and did. This teaching was/is a cornerstone of my recovery and growth. Living in today takes a lot of work, it means that I have to see today as different than yesterday. I can’t say ‘same shit, different day’, I can’t say ‘if I do today what I did yesterday, I will be okay’. I have to be in wonder each and every day. I need to realize that holding on to the past keeps me stuck and keeps me stale. Rabbi Heschel says “there is nothing stale under the sun except human beings that become stale.” Being fresh is wearing a “new pair of glasses” as Chuck C writes in his book of the same name. When I am afraid because of past experiences, I have to wake myself up and realize that this moment is different and if I treat it as past moments, I can never have a different experience.

I believe that Esau was coming to welcome Jacob with honor and dignity and safety. Esau had moved past the old hurts, Jacob could not. I know that living as Jacob does in the beginning of this Parashah is sad and lonely. Esau embraces, kisses and weeps when he sees Jacob because he is in the moment, Jacob is still scared. How sad!

I believe we all have the opportunity to let go of past hurts and still protect ourselves. We don’t have to be doormats and we can be open to new experiences. Reaching out our hand to those we have harmed by asking for forgiveness and forgiving others when they ask is central to our faith. Letting go of resentments even when another person does not ask for forgiveness allows us to see their humanity and have Divine Pathos and compassion towards them so we don’t “hate our kinsman in our hearts” as Leviticus teaches us. I am committed to letting go and being more present and open to change this week and this year and I hope you are also. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark

Weekly Parsha - Va-Yetzei

Weekly Parsha-Va-Yetzei

This week’s Parsha “Paga’s” me. I write this because it is the word used in the beginning of Va-Yetzei. There are many translations for it and the one I understand it to be this year is “strike”. In the verse Gen.28:11, the text reads “he came upon a certain place”. It could also read “he encountered a certain place.” I prefer this year to read it as “God struck him in a certain place”. I am reading it this way because many years ago, when I was studying this Parsha with Avi Reichental, he translated it as wounded. I have played with this way of understanding this verse ever since. Thank you Avi.

The Hebrew is “Va-Yifgah B’Makom”. “Makom” is another name for God as well as place. I was studying this verse with Rabbi Brandon Bernstein this week and we discussed this verse in relation to a Spiritual Awakening. Even as I am writing this, I am bombarded by different ways to understand the text.

Jacob is stuck in a certain place by God. The certain place could be a foreshadowing to next week’s Parsha. It could be another physical wound that is not permanent, causing the need for a permanent wound in next week’s Parsha. It also could be understood as “God struck him (Jacob) in God’s Place, ie the soul. After all, a spiritual awakening begins in the soul and comes up to the mind. God tried to get Jacob to begin to think and act from his soul and create “soul to soul” relationships, as my wife, Harriet Rossetto, teaches us to do. Jacob was so far out of control: lying to his father, stealing from his brother, colluding with his mother only worrying about punishment-not that what he was doing was wrong; that he needed to be struck in his soul to remind him that he had one! As a recovering Alcoholic, I know that I needed to be soul struck by God in order to change. Most people in recovery know the moment of that spiritual awakening and can recite it from memory with precision. I had many other spiritual awakenings prior to December of 1986, yet none of them stuck. In reading this week’s Parsha, I realize why they didn’t. I did not allow my soul to be struck by the words of God, family, friends, etc. Much like Jacob in this opening chapter, my soul was struck and, in the words of Rabbi Heschel, they were “like shooting stars, passing and unremembered.” Jacob has his dream and when he wakes up, he says “There is God in this place and I, I did not know.” Rabbi Lawrence Kushner wrote a book based on this verse that everyone should read. I understand the reason for two forms of I to remind us we have an earthly I (self-centered and protective) and a divine I (joined with God to live life on God’s terms).

A spiritual awakening is when the divine I (soul/spirit) is awakened and we are reminded of our partnership with God and that we are not God. This is what Jacob realizes in verses 16-19 of Chapter 28. By verse 20, he is making a deal with God wanting God to give him things and then he will believe and donate 10% of what he has. Still a trickster and we can all understand him. How many times I would agree to something in order to get the heat off. How many times have I and you had an insight that we did not follow through with because we forgot and/or we thought we could get away without acting on the insight. The most important part of a spiritual awakening is what we do with it. Jacob did not follow through on being struck by God in God’s place, his soul. Instead, he met Rachel, found Laban, and went on a journey of being conned and deceived and betrayed by everyone in his life in Haran. Jacob gets mad at Laban for deceiving him, yet he doesn’t blame Rachel at all. For the deception to have worked, she had to be a part of it, as was Leah. Yet, Jacob cannot bring himself to see this about Rachel, he certainly took out his anger on Leah by withholding his love from her. And, Jacob cannot see how he did the same betrayal to his father, Isaac and his brother, Esau! Talk about denial! How often have any of us wanted to make someone we love, care about, need, etc. out to be good even though they have participated in a betrayal of us? How often have we made it okay and try to convince ourselves and others that it wasn’t “personal, just business”. How often have we denied our own betrayals of others, ourselves and God so that we can continue to wrap ourselves in self-righteousness?

Leah also has a spiritual awakening in this Parsha and doesn’t follow through with it. When she names her fourth son, Yehudah, she is grateful and gives thanks to God for bearing children realizing “Praise the Lord” is more important than trying to get her husband to love her like he loves her sister, Rachel. Leah is struck in her soul and knows it-for a minute. Soon afterward, Leah gets back into competition with Rachel over giving birth and giving maid-servants to Jacob, etc. Her “Praise the Lord” moment was fleeting and her internal pain and suffering come back with a vengeance. Here is another lesson I am learning this year from this Parsha. When God has struck our soul and we stay “loyal to the event and loyal to our response” as Rabbi Heschel teaches, the hurts and betrayals by others don’t change us in our core. They serve as reminders of how blessed we are to say “Praise the Lord”. In fact, I realize the custom of saying this, in Hebrew and in English is to remind us that with God, with a spiritual awakening that we follow through with/on and keep growing we can and will weather all storms and grow from each encounter. As I look back over the past 34 years, I know that my resolve to not revert to old ways of being and to not need to ‘get even’ has diminished so greatly and I now ‘go to war with a heart of peace’ as I learned in a book, Anatomy of Peace by the Arbinger Institute.

As we leave this Parsha this year, I hope all of us will look back on the ways God has struck you in your soul and consider how you have followed through with the insight you were given. I also want to do T’Shuvah to my family, living and deceased, friends and others who, over the years reached out to me and were Divine Instruments to strike my soul and whom I ignored for all those years. I am so sorry and my commitment is to continue to grow the spiritual awakening I had 34 years ago. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark

Weekly Parsha- Toldot

This week’s Parashah is Toldot. We learn the lineage of Isaac in this week’s Torah Portion. I love this Parashah because when I read it in Prison, in 1986, I found hope that I was not the only con, liar, thief and cheat in Jewish History:) Of course I knew this, yet reading about Jacob’s trickery gave me hope that I could change and I saw a good life as possible and doable. This revelation has sustained me throughout these 34 years of changing.

As I was studying this Parashah with my friend and teacher, Rabbi Brandon Bernstein, he pointed out to me the 2nd Chapter of this Parashah and we studied it together. As with Abraham, there is a famine in the land and Isaac leaves Canaan to go to Gerar. “Appeared to him, Adonai, and Adonai saying Do not go down to Egypt, dwell in the land which I tell you. Reside in this land and I will bless you… Isaac dwelt in Gerar”. (Gen. 26:2-3, 6) We spoke about the use of the word, appear, this is the same word used in the Parashah VaYera from 2 weeks ago. Isaac had a different relationship with Adonai than Abraham as Isaac prayed for his wife to conceive and she did. Here, Adonai is, I believe, fearful for Isaac to be subjected to the evil of Egypt and wants him to stay in a safe place. I am realizing that God appears to all of us in different ways and counsels us as to where our place is and where we should dwell/visit. Yet, we often don’t hear the call and/or understand the message. I think of all the places and times Adonai warned me, through the call of my soul, through the call of others and I disregarded it. I was unable to hear and follow. It is still a challenge for me. Isaac shows us, in these verses what surrender is. He listens! Then he doesn’t. After Adonai appears to him, he then ‘sees’ that he has to lie about who Rebecca is- just like his father did! I understand his fear and don’t understand his fear overriding the connection, promises and words from Adonai.

OH, maybe I do. How often have any of us heard the call, surrendered only to allow our fears and/or desires override the connection, promise and words from Adonai, a trusted advisor, friend, etc.? I have done this and most likely will do this again. What I am learning here is that I don’t have to give in to the fear, I can choose to keep the connection, faith and believe the promise instead of choosing to follow the fear. Abimelech also ‘sees’ and he does heed the call of Adonai. He is angry with Isaac because he and his people could have had guilt on them if they had taken Rebecca to be their wife. What a statement! While one could see this as blaming, I see this as a plea-why do something wrong and entice us to do something wrong because of your lack of faith in us. Isaac, again, did not ‘see’ who the men of Gerar and their King really were. He did not ‘see’ the goodness of the people of Gerar nor did he ‘see’ the wisdom and protection of God. I am writing this in the middle of a new surge of Covid-19 and wonder why so many people choose not to ‘see’ the wisdom of the scientists that comes from Adonai and engage in reckless behaviors. I understand the choice, I am just bewildered by the amount of people making this choice. We are more likely to believe the lie than the truth, as Rabbi Heschel teaches, self-deception is a major disease. I am doing my own inventory of how I have and continue to deceive myself. I ask you to do the same.

Sight plays a major role in the story of Jacob stealing the birthright. Isaac is old and his eyesight is dimming the text teaches us. Is he really unable to see and discern the difference between Jacob and Esau? He knows something is up and he allows himself to be blind to the subtrefuge of Rebecca and Jacob. Isaac’s blindness, real or faked, is the cause of much distress. Isaac not seeing causes Esau such pain. I know that Hazal makes Jacob out to be good and Esau out to be bad and I disagree. “When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried a great and bitter cry” (Gen. 27:34). I am trembling again at the sound of Esau’s cry. He was the son who went out each day and hunted and gathered for the family. He cared for his father deeply and without reserve. He was a man of passion and kindness and he got screwed over by his brother, his mother and his father. It reverberates through me as the cry of a wounded animal who is wounded by his/her owner after years of service. It is the cry of Bilaam’s ass later in the Torah. It is the cry of all of us when we realize we have been betrayed and stolen from by one we trust. It is a cry from deep in Esau’s soul which I can relate to. I have cried that cry and been the one who has caused that cry in another. My brother, Rabbi Neal Borovitz, cried that cry when I betrayed him over and over. My sister cried that cry when I left her in Cleveland and moved to Los Angeles. My daughter cried that cry when I kept going to jail and prison. I have cried that cry when people I trust betray me and the principles I thought we had in common. I am heartbroken for Esau and all the rest of us that have cried that cry.

Esau wants to be blessed by his father. “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” (Gen. 27:36). How sad that we can’t bless everyone. How sad that we make good guys and bad girls. How sad that we have to be reminded, cajoled, forced into blessing those we have harmed. While Isaac puts it off on Jacob, he is also responsible. As Rabbi Heschel teaches: “In a free society, some are guilty all are responsible.” I understand this as another piece of self-deception. Isaac deceived himself and this led to the deception of Esau. I see how my self-deception led to my betrayal of others. I see how my self-deception led to allowing myself to be betrayed by others.

This week, this year lets all try and ‘see’ better. Let’s leave the life of self-deception and bask in Adonai’s truth. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark