Weekly Parsha- Bo 5781

This week’s Parashah, Bo, comes at an auspicious time in our country’s history. I am struck with our story of Exodus from slavery coincides with the story of the new President of the United States, Joseph R. Biden Jr, calling for unity and an end to senseless hatred, racism, destruction and being uncivil. These 4 ingredients are foundational to/for enslaving another(s) human beings. 

One of the points I speak about every year in this Parashah is the opening in Hebrew: Bo el Parro, come to Pharaoh. A seemingly odd choice of verbs yet very telling, God is in every person. We are all created in the Image of God and we all have infinite dignity and worth. At the risk of being redundant, I want to stress here the importance of this opening verse. God is saying, in my opinion: “Come to the Me that is in Pharaoh and speak to the Me that is in Pharaoh so Pharaoh can hear the Me that is in himself.” What a different way to see another human being, not as an enemy that has to vanquished rather as a Divine Image that needs to hear the call of my Divine Image. I am overwhelmed with sorrow and joy as I write this. Sorrow at the times when I saw another as an enemy and went to “get even” and enslave them or kill their spirit in order to win. Hindsight is always 20/20 and I offer my T’Shuvah to the people who have experienced me in this way. Most of the time, I thought I was doing what was necessary to defeat the Pharaoh in you and while this may have been in my heart and soul it wasn’t in my actions all the time. Again, I am truly sorry and my plan is to remember this moment and speak in ways you can hear whenever I can. 

Joy for the times when I saw/see another as a human being in distress and I am able to reach out, speak to you in ways you can hear and we learn together how to be one grain of sand better. I know I experience Joy most of the time and, in reading this verse this year, I have become aware that this is one of the reasons I do! I am also thinking of the words of President Biden yesterday in his Inaugural Address and in the words of his campaign to reach out to another, to reach across the aisle. We have let partisanship, the need to be right and the belief that Trump was sent by Jesus (and before Trump another right-wing conservative) stunt our journey to ‘a more perfect union’. We need to immerse ourselves in God’s words here in the opening of the Parashah and meet the Divine Image in the people we disagree with, speak to and from the Higher Consciousness in each of us, and, to paraphrase what Joe Biden said yesterday to the new employees he swore in, let your gut’s knowledge open your heart so your brain is delivering your gut’s knowledge clearly, kindly and decently. 

What a way to begin a Presidency! And it is found in our Parashah this week. Moses says to Pharaoh, “How long until you humble/submit/surrender yourself to Me. Send My People and they will serve Me.”(Exodus 10:3). Joe Biden swore his oath on a Bible that has been in his family for almost 130 years. He is familiar with this passage from Exodus, I am sure and his Inaugural address was his admission of submitting to God’s Authority and asking all of us to do the same. What a contrast from the Pharaoh that was his predecessor! 3 of the 5 Former Presidents joined to wish Joe well and the country well. Moses’ exhortation to Pharaoh was not just for the Israelites, it was for Pharaoh to save his own country and people. It was a pleading with Pharaoh, “until when” will we surrender to God’s Will, ‘until when’ will we humble ourselves before another(s) Divine Image, another human being? These are important questions to ask ourselves as Congress and people start to dig in and get stuck in their ideology, lies, beliefs, etc and need to win at all costs, even ruin of our nation which is what Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, 6 other senators and over 100 House Republicans did on January 6. Even after they were attacked, they still could not admit truth, they could not humble themselves to the will of the people, they still wanted to serve Pharaoh. How sad and yet, how often do we do the same thing? 

Pharoah’s courtiers ask him the same question a few verses later. In verse 7 they ask Pharaoh, “how long will this one be a snare for us, don’t you know Egypt is lost?” Who’s the person that can call our Congresspeople together and deliver this message? Maybe President Biden, I don’t know, I know that someone has to. How often are you/me/us so sure of ourselves that we cannot admit error? How often do we go deaf when someone is speaking to our Divine Image? I am dealing with this very situation right now. I had to rise above my desire to get even and see the Divine Image in people who don’t even realize that they are acting from their Pharaoh. It is hard, I want to act from my Pharaoh place and, for a while, I did. It just is not me anymore nor do I want to return to that me. What are the areas that we can agree on? What are the principles we share? What is the best way for us to serve God in our own way and together? These are the questions that come up for me this week, this year. Seeing ourselves in Torah allows us to learn and be in truth and take the next right action. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Mark 

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

Daily Prophets

Day 16

Continuing to re-read Amos is chilling to me as well as hopeful. Watching the Inaugural yesterday rekindled a pride, hope and proof that our democracy works and can work better, if we will seek truth, not let perfection getting the way of ‘more perfect’ and see our country and ourselves as works in progress. I feel this way every 4 years whether I voted for the person taking office or not. I was especially uplifted yesterday by the ex-Presidents club that came together to let our entire country know that we can find togetherness in our shared love for our country and our service. I was inspired as I am at the beginning of each Inaugural and this year, I am still inspired and hopeful. 

Amos inspires me also. In Chapter 7 as God is letting Amos know what will happen to Israel because they have broken the Covenant, Amos says “Adonai, pray forgive, how will Jacob survive, he is so small.”(Amos 7:2,5). Each time, God repents and says it will not happen. I am so inspired by Amos because he stands up to Israel and stands up for Israel. He stands up for God and to God. WOW! Talk about speaking truth to power. He is the epitome of Rabbi Heschel’s description of a prophet in his interview with Carl Stern in 1972, “The kind of man who combine a very deep love, a very powerful dissent, a painful rebuke with unwavering hope.” Amos is our model for living, I believe. He is willing to stand up for Israel because he sees Israel’s flaws and cares for Israel. God too cares so God repents because Amos asked and God heard truth from God’s prophet. We get to do this also. We get to pray to God for others and we do this when we get out of ourselves. At an AA meeting I attend, one of the members said: “whenever I get stuck on me…” I loved this description of selfishness and narcissism, stuck on me. Amos goes beyond the me to embrace the we, he goes beyond his hurts and traumas to care for and about others. I am proud of the times I have done this and embarrassed about the times I didn’t. How often are you “stuck on me” and how often are you embracing the we? 

We all are descendants of the Prophets, Jew, Christian, Muslim, all of us have the gift to combine love, dissent, rebuke and hope. Also shows us the way when one of the priest’s of King Jeroboam tells him to get out of here and stop prophesying. Amos, responds by saying: “I am not a prophet… I am a cattle breeder and a tender of sycamore figs. Adonai took me away…and said to me ‘go prophesy to My people Israel’.”(Amos 7:14-15). Amos tells the priest what is to befall him and it isn’t good. What is most important is that Amos recognizes his calling is from God. He is not concerned enough with what the priest thinks or the King thinks to stop him from speaking the words that God gives him. Yesterday, I listened as President Joe Biden told the 1000+ people he was swearing in to listen to their gut and allow what is inside these go up to their heart and then have their brain speak the words in a way that is kind and decent, Harriet and I remarked that the President was counseling us all to live from our souls and not our intellect. I think about the times I combined love, dissent, rebuke and hope in proper measure and the times I didn’t combine these essential ingredients in proper measure. Finding the right combination for the moment takes being present in the moment. It means I have to be maladjusted to conventional notions and cliches as Rabbi Heschel teaches. 

All of us have a word of God in us, as my friend, teacher and guide Rabbi Ed Feinstein teaches, and we have to speak it. We have to shout it sometimes (a trait I am very good at), we have to whisper it sometimes (not so good at this sometimes) and we have to speak it clearly and in ways another person can understand (jury is still out on this one). I know that the word of God that I am compelled to speak is powerful and needed. I know this, because like Amos, I heard God call me, finally some 34+ years ago. I have kept hearing God call me and I know that my word is needed as is yours. I know that we all get to live from our guts and allow the words and experience of God in our gut can open our hearts and help our brains find the best way to speak to another human being, as Joe Biden said yesterday. I pray that you will hear God’s call to you, speak it to us and help to make a ‘more perfect union’ within oneself, within our community and within our country. Stay sage and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

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

Daily Prophets

Day 15

As we prepare for the Inauguration of Joseph Robinette Biden, our 46th President, the words of Amos ring out to me. In Chapter 6 the prophet calls out to the people, exhorting them to see what truly is and how they have been acting. He calls out to the “notables of the leading nation on whom the house of Israel pin their hopes”(Amos 6:1). Amos is so concerned with the ways of the leaders how they are taking the people down a road of ruin and destruction. I am thinking about where we are as a country and a people. We have let our leaders take us down a ruinous path more than once. Our Government is based on checks and balances for justice and mercy, not a power grab for the financial benefit of a few elected people. Yet, these past 4 years have shown us what happens when this behavior is left largely unchecked. Let me be clear, this happens in Democratic and Republican administrations and with Congresspeople of both parties. 

Amos is speaking to all of us when he says: “Yet you ward off a day of woe and convene a session of lawlessness.”(Amos 6:3). I am struck by how prescient his words are to all of us. We keep thinking the Prophets were only for their time yet, as with Torah, they are for all time. I am thinking about the times I have “convened sessions of lawlessness” this was the chaos and destruction of my days of active addiction. I wish I could say all the days of my recovery never had these sessions, yet this would be a lie. I, like many of us, have engaged in false pride as Amos tells the House of Israel: “Adonai swears I loathe the pride of Jacob and I detest his fortresses. I will declare forfeit city and inhabitants alike.”(Amos 6:*8). I am thinking of all the times I was so sure I was right and couldn’t hear others’ opinions, warnings and advice. I think of how I bought my own press at times and became blind to the dangers in front of me. I think of how I thought I had built a cushion, a protection around me it turned out to be forfeit. I blame no one for my destruction, I realize that I missed the signs because of my pride, my hurt and my disbelief. I am sad for those who suffered because of my pride over the 32 years of my leadership of Beit T’Shuvah. None of it was intentional, and it doesn’t matter, the actions were wrong and I am sorry. I ask all of us, on this day of a new administration beginning  to see how our pride has caused lawlessness in our inner world and to those around us that we love and the ones we don’t love as well. 

We are coming out of an administration that: “turned justice into poison weed and the fruit of righteousness to wormwood.”(Amos 6:12). The prophet Amos, in the name of Adonai is exhorting us to turn back to our roots as a people. The people Israel was founded on and with Grace, Justice, Righteousness and Truth. He is telling us that all of these fundamentals have been poisoned and ruined. When I look at the past 4 years, I see the same. 

Justice has been perverted to serve Trump and his cronies, Grace has been granted to the powerful few, Righteousness was thrown to the ground like the family separation, and Truth was replaced with ‘alternative facts’. For 4 years we have been bombarded with lies, perversions, false pride and power grabs. While it is easy to blame Trump and his mobsters, it is more important to see how we all have done this in our own ways. It is imperative, if we are to learn from Amos to, to see how we are not so much better than people we look down upon. We have to see our own inner racism, we have to look at our own bias’ and prejudices that are “cancers of our souls” as Rabbi Heschel teaches. We all need to find our part in each and every interaction and not just blame another(s). 

God is angry that the poor and the needy have been used and perverted. President Biden, Vice-President Harris, Congress, Courts, I pray that you will take your oaths seriously and not serve a political agenda. I pray that you will serve God’s agenda and the People’s agenda. I pray that the rest of us also serve God’s agenda and the People’s agenda-letting go of false pride, lawlessness, and revering justice, righteousness, truth, and Grace. Each of us has a part in this endeavor of democracy, will you step up to your part? Stay safe, God Bless Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, the United States of America and you, Rabbi Mark

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

Daily Prophets

Day 14

Continuing with Chapter 5 of Amos, I am finding a strong connection with both Adonai and Amos. Rabbi Heschel says in his book The Prophets: “It was not only iniquity that had aroused the anger of the Lord, it was also piety, upon which His words fell like a thunderbolts. Sacrifice and ritual were regarded as the way that leads to the Creator. The men and institutions dedicated to sacrificial worship were powerful and revered.” I am going a little nuts here. Like the prophets of Israel, Rabbi Heschel disturbs me greatly. He, as he says in his interview about the prophets, “gives me a bad conscience”. As I think about God’s anger, I do understand how God’s words can be understood as said in anger and they are harsh. Yet, I am reminded that rebuke is a Mitzvah, a part of the Holiness Code and God’s rebuke feels like anger because of our fear of God and our thinking that we can appease Adonai as idol worshipers appease their idols. 

In fact, Adonai doesn’t work that way. Because Adonai is abstract, ‘the Ineffable One’ as Rabbi Heschel refers to God, it is easy to believe that if we do the rituals, it will be good enough. I know many people who think because they go to pray everyday, observe the Sabbath, keep the laws of kashrut (food laws in Judaism) they are pious and can do anything they want. It is okay to cheat on taxes, in business, on my wife, etc. We have built powerful religious institutions, we have built powerful secular institutions and the people in charge think they can “get away” with things because they live out the rituals of their institutions. Many Priests, Ministers, Imams, Rabbis, and other Clergy believe that they can hide their imperfections and get away with acting them out because they follow the “rules and rituals” of their particular religion. In my addiction, I lived a life of ‘if I can take it then it is mine’, I always had a job as a cover for my criminality, I made hanging out at the bars a business selling stolen merchandise so I could drink all day. In my recovery, I realize how I stayed sober and have not always acted from my highest moral place. I think this understanding of what Rabbi Heschel and the Prophet Amos is saying is something intuitive within me and all of us. When we allow ourselves to go past what is expedient, we realize that we know when we are putting on a facade and when something is real to us. Being real means that study, prayer, ritual, Shabbat go through us rather than us checking them off and going on to the next thing. I can’t count how many times people have quoted the Bible, the Big Book, the New Testament, etc to me and when I ask them what it means to them, how it changes them, they can’t answer. 

The secular institutions have become so strong that the words and lies of the Internet rule the Political Parties. Fake news, stop the steal, defund the police, etc. are all battle cries that show the power of the extremes. We have too many people who take up a battle cry in order to get elected, to turn our country from a democracy to either a theocracy or a secular rule that regulates every aspect of life. Our secular institutions have the power to accept or reject people based on religion, color, creed, gender, etc. in the most subtle of ways and, sometimes, not so subtle. We hear about calls for unity from the people who tried to break the backs of the working poor, people of color, Barack Obama, who denied the results of a free and fair election until it was almost too late. We have been ruled by people who don’t see differences, they see hatred and politics is a blood sport. Yet, they say that they are only playing by the rules:)

Amos has a message for all of the people mentioned above and for all of us: “I loathe, I spurn your festivals, I am not appeased by your solemn assemblies. If you offer Me burnt offerings…I will not accept them. …Spare me the sound of your hymns, and let Me not hear the music of your lutes. But let justice well up like water and righteousness as a mighty stream.”(Amos 5:21-24)

I am sitting here trembling. I keep being overwhelmed by righteousness and justice. I am trembling for all the times I have not allowed justice and righteousness to rule me, guide me and be the actions I take. This trembling is not a self-loathing, rather it is my awareness of my imperfections and the trembling brings me to the awe of God’s forgiveness and understanding of our imperfection. This is why I started today’s writing with God being the Rebuker-in-Chief. God is not asking for our perfection here, God is demanding that we walk our talk and stop saying one thing and doing another. Aren’t we all tired of other people doing this? God’s call and question is to us: are you tired of doing the actions that you hate being done to you (to paraphrase Rabbi Hillel)? 

We see this behavior in our leaders, our parents, ourselves and our children. The prophets of Israel saw this thousands of years ago. Rabbi Heschel exhorts us to study the prophets and I know why. STOP THE LIE, is what I hear Amos saying in this passage. Justice and Righteousness have to prevail over our need to look good, look holy. They have to break through our facade and our lies to lead us to an authentic awareness of God, Reality, ourselves and another(s) human beings. What a lot of people miss is this is possible, otherwise God would not be demanding it of us. God cares so much about us that God sent Amos to tell Israel and us that we can change. God is giving us the path through Amos. Rabbi Heschel, Rabbi Silverman, Rabbi Omer-man, Rabbi Shulwies, Rabbi Feinstein, Rabbi Neal Borovitz have been Amos to and for me and I am so grateful to all of them. Heather, my daughter, and Harriet, my wife and Sheri, my sister have been Amos to and for me. I pray that I honor their words and guidance more often than I don’t. How are you practicing justice and righteousness more in your daily living? How are you still lying to yourself and propping up your facade? Who is/are Amos in your life. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

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

Daily Prophets 

Day 13

Today we commemorate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and I want to take a quote from his speech on Vietnam. “Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one’s own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexing as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict, we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty. But we must move on.

Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak.”  Maybe the reason that Rabbi Heschel called Rev. King a prophet is because these words to me describe the life of a prophet. As I am reading Chapter 5 of Amos, I realize how much Rabbi Heschel’s description of the prophet from his interview with Carl Stern in Dec. of 1972: “a man who is able to hold God and man in one thought, at one time, at all times”Amos is a shepherd who is overwhelmed with the Spirit of God and the Call of God to a point that he cannot stay a shepherd and has to follow the demands of his inner truth as Dr. King describes above. Amos not only opposed the government’s policy, he was calling them back to Adonai as a parent calls a child, a lover calls to their partner, a teacher to their student. Apathy was not a choice for Amos or any prophet. “Hear this word which I intone”(Amos 5:1), the I in Hebrew is Anochi, the first word of the 10 Commandments. The identification is complete in this verse. Amos and God have melded. I hear the call of Pirke Avot 2:4, “Nullify my will before Your Will so Your Will becomes my will”. Amos has taken up God’s call, he is shouting it out across the land of Israel and he prays people listen. This is what Rev. King did, this is what Rabbi Heschel did. Now, we get to do it also. Amos was privileged to be a prophet, as were Rev. King and Rabbi Heschel. We are privileged also! We get to use our voice to speak out against racism and hatred, against sedition and power, against unnecessary pain and terror. We have to speak out, loud and proud through our agony and push through our apathy and uncertainty. Amos did all of this as did Rev. King and Rabbi Heschel. No one is 100% certain of anything 100% of the time in my opinion and experience. In fact, if we wait for that certainty, Rome, Washington DC, Jerusalem will all burn. I know the role that fear has in speaking out. I know the role that fear of losing has in taking action that is ‘against the grain’. I know that Amos had to be overwhelmed by God and his will nullified so God’s Will became his. I believe this is true for all of the prophets, especially the ones we have had and do have in our midst. We are descendants of the prophets, we can hear the words of prophets like Father Greg Boyle who teaches us kinship and to erase the margins. We are descendants of the prophets so we can march and write and allow God to overwhelm us into action. 

What action you may ask? “Seek Me and you will live”(Amos 5:4,6). Who is Amos railing against and for? “You enemies of the righteous, you takers of bribes, you who subvert in the gates the cause of the needy”(Amos 5:12). Oh how arrogant are we? We advanced Western Society types, who are so full of ourselves that we can’t see how the prophet Amos was and is speaking to us. I realize how subtle it is to be a taker of bribes. I have taken the bribe that my Yetzer HaRa has offered to feel good and not always had the interests of others in my actions, rather I took the bribe of feeling good for myself. I did what Rev. King was speaking about, giving into uncertainty, apathy and fear. Scarcity ruled me for most of my addiction. There was never enough and I had to get more, consume more and, no matter what, there was never enough. In my recovery, I still get overwhelmed by this experience and I go to seek God so I can live. When I have ‘taken a bribe’, moved someone who was a referral from a donor up on the waiting list, when I have let someone stay in jail longer because someone who was a full-pay wanted/needed that bed, I realize that I made those decisions knowingly and admittedly. I don’t need to defend or be defended, I just need to see the subtle ways I took bribes and I ask that you all see the subtle ways we are guilty of Amos’ charges as well. 

“Seek me and you will live” is reverberating through me. As every person in recovery, as every person of faith will attest to the truth of these words. While some people talk about the hiddenness of God, the prophet Amos is debunking this myth. If I keep believing that God is hiding, doesn’t care, etc. it gives me free reign to make policies that are good for me and a small number of people, these policies just are not God’s Will. Knowing that every time I seek God, I live better, I find God and connect to Adonai gives me the strength to carry on through the uncertainty that Rev. King was speaking about. I know that with all the errors I have made over these part 32+ years, I have constantly and consistently sought and seek God so I can see myself clearly and truthfully, do T’Shuvah, move on and live. How are you see seeking God so that you can truly live and live a full life? I believe this is the secret to the success of Rev. King and Rabbi Heschel. 

“Seek good and not evil that you may live” Amos says in verse 14. He goes on to say in verse 15 “hate evil and love good”. This is the way to God and to establish justice and receive God’s Grace according to Amos and I would agree. We have become so blind and confused that we cannot differentiate between good and evil. We see this in the polls that say 43% of Americans approve of Donald Trump! We see this in the way that people are denying the need for the Covid-19 vaccines. We see this in the way many of us do business, the ways that many of us defend ourselves when we do wrong. These words are ringing in my ears and shaking my body. I have to look again at the ways/times I have confused good and evil. Loving good and seeking good are not intellectual endeavors, they are actions that must be taken daily, hourly by us and for us and everyone else. On this day commemorating Rev. King, I pray we all allow our prophetic voice to overwhelm us as Amos did, hear the call of the prophets past and present, and join with the 46th President of the United States to find a middle path to reviving and recovering the soul of our country. In doing this, we will recover our own souls and paths. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

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

Daily Prophets

Day 12

Our inability to hear and heed the call of Adonai is so prevalent in Chapter 4 of Amos, as it is in all the words of the Prophets. After berating Israel for carousing, taking advantage of the poor and needy, then bringing sacrifices to make everything okay, Amos goes on a rant. One of the things that I missed in studying Amos before is how much I can and must identify with both the people Israel and the prophet Amos and Adonai. All of us have had the experiences of all three and most of us don’t realize it and/or pay the experience no attention. Ask yourself, how often do/did you take actions that were not correct and think ‘everyone does this’, ‘I am entitled’, ‘I will atone on Yom Kippur’, etc. The Rabbis of the Talmud made it very clear that people think that way so they decreed that to say “I will sin and atone on Yom Kippur” doesn’t work! Seeing how I have done this in the past makes me want to vomit at my arrogance, entitlement, and deafness. It takes all three to do this and, while we are not perfect, it is a call to us to continue to do T’Shuvah, take inventory so we stop this behavior quickly. 

I hear Amos’ plea to the people Israel to look at themselves and turn back to God. “Yet you did not turn back to Me” is a phrase that is said 5 times in Chapter 3 of Amos verses 6-11. I am struck by the pain of Adonai and the prophet Amos in these verses. As Rabbi Heschel writes in The Prophets on page 35: “The song of lament concerning the obduracy of the people, with its recurrent refrain, five times repeated, “Yet you did not return to Me,” is an expression of God’s mercy and of His disappointment.” How easy it is for us to get confused and try to confuse/deceive others by reading these verses and making them into harshness and anger rather than mercy and disappointment. I did this for years, I realize. I heard judgement and castigating when the people that loved me were showing me mercy and expressing their disappointment. It is so easy to lie to ourselves out because we got caught, we love to deceive, we don’t want to be responsible and we just want to do what we want to do with no recriminations nor responsibility. Adonai called to me more than 5 times, more than 1 prophet reached out to me. I thought my brother, Rabbi Neal Borovitz, spoke to me in anger and disdain, now, re-immersing myself in Amos, I see how disappointed, afraid and merciful he was being towards me. It is humbling, it makes me joyous to realize this truth about Neal and so many others who have called and I have been unable to hear. I, like many people, have gotten resentful when people have chastised me for my own good as ‘who do they think they are’, ‘yeah, you do the same things’, etc. Rather than seeing in their eyes and faces and hearing in their voices the pain, disappointment and merciful plea to return. God’s words, “Yet you did not return to Me” are words of desire and welcoming. 

How can we hear these words as a call to begin again? How can we hear God’s mercy and take it in and return to our core essence? How can we help our country heal? “You have become a brand plucked from the burning” (Amos 4:11) is a beginning, I believe. Every person in Recovery knows that we have been burnt by our addictions and almost consumed by them and we have been saved by the Grace of God. America was founded by the Grace of God, we have won wars by the Grace of God, our Capital was invaded on Jan. 6 and it survived by the Grace of God, our democracy has been threatened by lies and deceptions from the top and it has survived by the Grace of God. Are we, as Americans, willing to go to any lengths to grow and deepen our democracy, our commitment to truth, our repayment to God for saving us? To do this means we have to be as dedicated to steps 4-9 as anyone who is in recovery. To do this we have to do T’Shuvah each and every day/week so we can return to God and repay God’s Grace. 

God has saved America, we ask God to Bless America all the time. God has saved the Jewish People, we ask for God’s Blessings 100+ times a day. Amos says: “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel”(Amos 4:12), which is commonly seen as a predictor of punishment according to Rabbi Heschel, is God’s last hope to change the hearts and souls of Israel. Maybe a face to face meeting will open their hearts, their minds and their souls. I know it did for me and every recovering person, “Having had a Spiritual Awakening as a result of these steps” is the beginning of the 12th Step of AA. I had a Spiritual experience/meeting with Adonai in a jail cell in Van Nuys, Ca in December of 1986 and it changed my life and the lives of so many others. I ask our Senators and Congresspeople, our Clergy and Laypeople, are we truly willing to meet God and have our hearts and minds changed? This reminds me of a statement by President George W. Bush, when I met him in Los Angeles for a roundtable discussion of faith-based recovery with 6 other people, he said: “I’m an old drunk who God opened my heart and I never have to drink again.” Maybe if we all let God in our hearts, we will argue for the sake of heaven and what is the next right thing to do to carry out God’s Will instead of arguing for the sake of ourselves, our own power and what serves me best! This is the way to honor Dr. King, Rabbi Heschel, RFK, JFK, LBJ and their struggles to make this happen. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark

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