Adas Israel - Mason City, IA

Torah Thoughts 24 April 2020

Welcome to Torah Thoughts the weekly study lesson on the Torah Parsha of the week. It's all from Adas Israel the Jewish Congregation of Northern Iowa, based in Mason City. Let's get started. What might this week's lesson tell us about the current COVID-19 pandemic?

This week we read TWO portions from the Torah. Tazria (Lev. 12:1 - 14:9) and Metzora (Lev. 14:1 - 15:33). Each one discusses details of laws regarding the consequences that, according to our tradition, comes as a result of speaking loshon hora (gossip). Interestingly enough, one of the more severe requirements, if the disease continues unabated, is a quarantine and isolation outside of the encampment. Sounds familiar...right?

The punishment called tzora'as – this has been commonly mistranslated as leprosy. Leprosy mentioned in the Torah is not Hansen’s disease caused by a germ. Rather, it was a physical symptom caused by a spiritual defect. This affliction only came to individuals on an elevated spiritual level, those whose body functions were subject to their spiritual state. Thus, tzora'as isn't merely a disease caused by a bacterial infection (which is what leprosy is); it is a very specific punishment sent from heaven for the sin of loshon hora.

Strangely enough, loshon hora is considered one of the worst sins a person can commit, as heinous as murder, adultery, and idol worship (Talmud Arachin 15b). Yet the punishment, tzora'as, seems to be a minor one. After all, the size of the tzora'as discoloration of the skin can be relatively small, around the size of a nickel.

So, what's the deal?  The "deal" if you will is...intent.

And the most perplexing aspect is that gossip only qualify as loshon hora if what is being said about the victim is true. As an example: If I know someone failed the bar exam three times and I start telling people simply to hurt him I have transgressed the sin of loshon hora. Similarly, if I know someone who in his youth was a fall down drunk with a gambling addiction and I share that information to hurt him I have transgressed the sin of loshon hora.

The intent is then "to hurt".

There is the old saying, "Watch your tongue!"  Because once you say something...you can't get it back. For those of us who are on social media platforms we have seen the damage caused when people fail to think before engaging their keyboard.  It's the same thing with speech.

Finally there are three types of speech transgressions: 1) Loshon hora (literally "evil tongue") — making a derogatory or damaging statement about someone even though you are speaking the truth. 2) Motzie shem ra — slander — where what is spoken is negative and false. 3) Rechilus (literally "tale bearing") — telling someone the negative things another person said about him or did against him. 

The bottom line is....yes, "Watch your tongue!"

Shabbat Shalom and please stay well.

 

Torah Thoughts 17 April 2020

This is Torah Thoughts from the Jewish Congregation of Northern Iowa and based in Mason City. Welcome to our weekly learning session regarding the Torah Portion of the week and a bit of commentary.  This week we're reading Parsha Shmini (Lev. 9-11). Shemini is Hebrew for "eight", "It was on the eighth day, Moses summoned Aaron and his sons..."

So, what is going on? In this parsha we learn about the first Priestly Service. It was at this point where Aaron and his sons became the Kohanim the priests of the Jewish People. It was on this day...the eighth day...when the special service of the priests began. It was a very big deal.

But, just when the joy of the inauguration ritual was at it's peak...tragedy strikes. The sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu were so overwhelmed by the event and by G-d sending fire to consume the offering that they decided, on their own, to attempt to honor G-d and took to the alter incense. As tragic as this event was we learn from this that being over zellious can bring destruction.

As we turn the page we come to the commandments about intoxication. This time G-d speaks directly to Aaron and tells him he must not drink wine when performing the service. Some consider this commandment to be a blanket commandment to abstain from strong drink. However the reason this commandment is here is to underscore that we should find gladness in service to G-d but it is not a condemnation in total.

Then in Chapter 11 we begin the Laws of Kashrus...what is and what is not kosher. Many consider these laws to be hygienic in nature. "They were enacted because the people lacked ______." (You can fill in the blank.) However, that is not the case.  The Jew has a duty to become more and more like G-d and to do that He gives us rules.  The kosher laws are basic to survival. We must all eat. However, WHAT we eat (or don't eat) is a call to control ourselves.  Man has the ability to choose. We are not like, say, a dog who just eats. We have been given parameters to our lives. And these laws do just that.

Here we learn about kosher animals, fish, birds, insects...the list is short but powerful.  The parsha ends by reminding us that G-d is holy so we too must be holy. From Lev. 11:46 - "This is the law of the animal, the bird, every living creature that swarms in the water andfor every creature that teems on the ground, to distinguish between the contaminated and the pure..." 

Passover

It was a Passover like none other. Gone was the crowded table with guests. Some used digital methods to connect with family and friends for the seder. Others quietly celebrated. We spent the time reading the Haggadah and reflecting on those that could not be with us.  I hope your Pesach was meaningful.

Here is an interesting Passover story for you.  Did you know there is a "Second Pesach"?

The Torah (Num. 9: 9-14) makes provision for those who were unable to offer the Paschal lamb on the 14th of Nissan by allowing them to do so one month later on the 14th of Iyyar. It is called Pesach Sheni or the "second Passover".   

Most of the restrictions of the first Passover do not apply to Pesach Sheni. According to the Mishna a person observing Pesach Sheni is required to eat matzah but is not obligated to rid the house of all chametz. Today some Jews still commemorate Pesach Sheni by eating matzah as a reminder of the Exodus.  And...this is interesting...because more than one Passover is mentioned in the Torah, the tractate of the Talmud that deals with Passover laws is called Pesachim (plural) and not Pesach which is singular.

Pesach Sheni begins on after nightfall on 7 May and ends at nightfall on 8 May.

See what you learn here?

Have a wonderful Shabbat and please...stay safe and well. 

 

 

The Passover Edition

Greetings friends and welcome to our regular blog about Jewish Life in Iowa and Adas Israel the Jewish Congregation of Northern Iowa, based in Mason City. This is a special Passover Edition as the holiday gets underway this evening at sundown.

Clearly this is a Pesach (Passover) unlike any of us have experienced in our lifetime. It is celebrated, in some way, by 99% of all Jews worldwide yet this year we will miss gathering around the seder table with throngs of friends and family. It is sad but it is necessary.

Yet, within that sadness is a measure of hope that this Pesach we might come together in a deeper recognition of what it means to be delivered. There is an opportunity to really read and understand the words we will read tonight, "Why is this night different than all other nights?". 

Why?

An age old question that has a clear answer: "We were  slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt but Adonai our G-d brought us forth with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm.  And if the Holy One, praised be He, had not taken our ancestors out of Egypt then we and our children and our children's children would still be enslaved to Pharaoh..."  

Now, to be clear, on that awful night that marked the 10th plague there were many Jews who did not believe and failed to paint the doorposts of their homes.  The first-born in those homes died along with the first-born of the Egyptians. But, those that got the message were spared. 

Yet, while free, they were not finished with their spiritual journey...it had just begun. And, often, the people rebelled and challenged Moses and the Word of G-d. Yet, step, by step, we learned and we made the effort to live with and for the Mitzvot (Commandments) we were given.

This Pesach let us reclaim the meaning of the event that shaped the world forever. As we read the words in the Haggadah tonight let us come to understand that now, as in the past, we are being challenged to do what is right for us and for our neighbors.

We can do no less.

Our hope and prayer is that you and your family stay safe and well.  We will get through this together.

Chag Pesach samech! - Next year in Jerusalem. 

 

 

Torah Thoughts 3 April 2020

Welcome back to Torah Thoughts from the Jewish Congregation of Northern Iowa and based in Mason City. This is our weekly look at the Torah Portion...let's get started and learn together.

This week we read Parsha Tzav (Leviticus 6 - 8). It is called Tzav Hebrew for "Command" which is the fifth Hebrew word: "Hashem ("the name") spoke to Moses saying, Command Aaron and his sons, saying: This is the law of the elevation offering:"

This is also "Shabbat HaGadol" or The Great Sabbath and it is celebrated on the Shabbat before Passover (Pesach). It's unclear exactly why this Shabbat is "Shabbat HaGadol" but one might consider the special Haftorah that is read each year at this time.  It is from the Book of Malachi 3:23 which says, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of the L-rd."

And, as we know, it is Elijah whom we await and invite to join us during the Pesach Seder.

Here is an interesting story from Rabbi Steven Baars:

When Rose Blumkin left Belarus to came to America in the 1920's, she did not speak a word of English and had no formal education. But with the $500 she borrowed from her brother, she started a very modest furniture store in Omaha Nebraska. Very modest.

However, by the time Mrs. B (as she was affectionately named) sold the Nebraska Furniture Mart to Warren Buffet, it was the largest furniture store in America.

Buffet said about Mrs. B., "Put her up against the top graduates of the top business schools or chief executives of the Fortune 500 and, assuming an even start with the same resources, she'd run rings around them."

How do you get to be so successful?

In this week's parsha G-d commands the Kohanim (priests) to remove the ashes every morning from the Temple. At first glance, that doesn't sound like the kind of task one would give to such a holy and important person. In fact, it doesn't sound like the kind of thing that needs mentioning at all.

Interestingly, the Talmud reports that the Kohanim were so eager to take out the ashes, that they instituted a lottery system to stop them arguing about who would get the job!

When you view your job like that, you will be a Mrs. B.

Find a career or job for which you are willing to take out the garbage, and you have found your passion.

This is not as difficult as it might seem. I remember growing up while NASA was trying to put a man on the moon. There was not a single kid I knew that wouldn't give everything to take out the garbage in mission control.

Now we can understand the removing of the ashes. This was quite simply, taking out G-d's garbage.

So, our lesson?

Passion comes from the goal NOT the role. Don't worry about the title, worry about the results.

If in what you choose, you are willing to do whatever needs to be done, then you can have passion.

If you aren't doing something that you would feel honored taking out the garbage, then being the CEO is no honor either.

By the way, what do we call people who are willing to do whatever needs to be done, where the title is as irrelevant as the compensation?

We call them parents.

What a neat story...and something in which we can all relate.

Passover

This is going to be a very different Pesach. Usually we are in the midst of gathering food for Passover. Busy cleaning our homes that will serve as the center of family and friends for the Seder. Much of that will be absent this year.  As difficult as it was to cancel our Community Seder in Mason City it was necessary.

But, perhaps, this Pesach will offer a time of reflection rather than being busy in our usual roles.  Gatherings will be smaller and more intimate and perhaps we'll focus on each other and also hoping for a swift end of this latest plague that has invaded our planet. 

Our prayer for you and your family is that we should all stay safe and well and "Next Year in Jerusalem!"

Shabbat Shalom.