Parshat Bamidbar; Numbers 1:1 -4:20 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

As a new book of the Torah begins, Moses is busy organizing the Israelites. First at God’s behest, he counts and enumerates the men of Israel. By taking a census they will be able to know exactly how many able-bodied men will be transformed into a new fighting force as they approach the Holy Land. Moses and the leadership will also know exactly how many will be able to participate in carrying, building and dismantling the portable Tabernacle that is now at the center of their lives. The Holy Divine Dwelling place is literally at the central core of the way the Israelites gather. They encamp around the Tabernacle and surround the Holy Place of Meeting providing protection and providing care for it. In Parshat Bamidbar which begins the book of Numbers, an accurate accounting of the tribes and clans is necessary for this.

The Torah also records the leaders of the tribes and their participation in this census. How marvelous that we still know the names of these leaders! Think about it. Our Torah records the names of the main leadership. But not only Moses and Aaron and their sister, Miriam as leaders of the Israelites but we still have for all time these chieftains and their ancestral houses recorded.
This speaks to us still today. Genealogical records are important. They help us know our families and help us reflect upon our own place in the world. As Jews our Hebrew names are often a strong clue to our family history. We have a tradition of naming children after other family members—so Hebrew names tend to repeat throughout many generations. For those from Sephardic family traditions children are sometimes given Hebrew names of those still alive. While in Ashkenazi family traditions Hebrew names are often given to maintain the memory of those who have died recently in a family circle.
Do you know your family history? Do you know who you were named for and what that person story was or is? If you do know your Hebrew name or who you were named for make sure that you record this information. Have you made sure we at temple know your Hebrew name? By preserving this information you help your family’s history stretch back for generations. If you do not know for whom you were named—is there someone in your family that you can ask?
These kinds of links and these kinds of traditions are often just oral traditions in our families. And yet they contain important information about our place in our family’s life and ultimately our own place in the world. If we can never connect our own spirit and our own souls with the hundreds and thousands of others who make up our extended families then we lose not just a piece of history but we lose a precious link in the life of the Jewish people. In an era when we are often so disconnected from others, when we often live far away from our families for extended periods like college or early work years or even later in life, knowing where we have come from and our roots help ground us in a positive way.
For many of us there are missing pieces in our stories. Perhaps when our families immigrated to the U.S. we lost precious information. For others of us the Holocaust wiped out huge swaths of our family line or for some of the survivors it was too painful a memory and so they did not share family information. But this is exactly why we must record that which we have! We build our people when we know the names. We build our families when we know our history. We create a strong rooted place for our traditions, new and old, and our spiritual lives when we can reach out to the past and know our family map.
There are many data bases and places to begin. If your family came through Ellis Island in New York, you can search the records there at www.ellisisland.org. Or you might try the Diaspora Museum database in Tel Aviv at www.bh.org.il . They have a great data base of family names and genealogy. Or try www.jewishgen.org which has databases and other amazing material on European Jewish families.
There are many books on tracing your family genealogy and whole conferences dedicated to this. So be inspired by our Torah portion, Bamidbar this week and do a little digging into your own family tree and record the names and stories in your own family!

Parshat Behukotai; Leviticus 26:3-27:34 By Rabbi Denise L. Eger

This week we come to a special moment during this period of counting the Omer. Each day from the second day of Pesach until Shavuot we mark off the days by reciting a blessing and counting the omer. The omer is a measure of grain. In ancient days when the Temple in Jerusalem stood beginning at Passover a measure of barley was offered as a sacrifice. We are told in the book of Leviticus to mark the 49 day period leading up to Shavuot and the celebration of receiving Torah at Mt. Sinai. Thus we recite a special blessing each day. This is a wonderful spiritual practice that can help us focus our thoughts and energies during the spring! But this Friday is the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer known as Lag B’omer. Lag is a Hebrew abbreviation that stands for the number 33—the Hebrew letter Lamed is 30 and the Hebrew letter gimel is 3.

On the 33rd day there are special festivities and unique attributes to the day. The period of counting the omer is a time of restraint. Many of the spiritual disciplines of this period remind us of the restrictions upon mourners. Men traditionally do not shave. The hair is not cut. Parties and weddings are not held. But from a mystical view point these restrictions are really to help us get in touch with our middot or inner traits. Each day is dedicated to helping us sharpen another characteristic within ourselves. Then we will be prepared to more fully meet God at Mt. Sinai and receive the gift of Torah.

These characteristics can also be found in the kabbalistic understanding of God. Seven traits are emphasized during this time. Each one assigned to a day of the week. And each week dedicated to one trait. Thus there are many combinations and permutations of the traits and each day by reciting the blessing and studying and focusing on those kabbalistic Divine traits we can improve our own moral character. The seven traits of the Omer period are Chesed (kindness), Gevurah (Strength), Tiferet (Adornment-but this attribute is really about harmonies kindness and strength), Netzach (fortitude), Hod (majesty or splendor), Yesod (foundation-but harmonies Netzach and Hod), and finally Malchut (kingdom or Shekinah). Each of these aspects of the Divine play a role in helping us as individuals see ourselves in the world in a different way. They are filters by which we can take our actions, words, and thoughts and direct them to a higher plane of existence. Thus during the period of counting the Omer we can learn the beauty of Hod and all the while grounding it in the strong foundation of Netzach. Or we can focus on Chesed kindness buttressed by Gevurah-Strength or strength grounded by fortitude. This is the way we can improve and bolster our moral character.

Tradition teaches that on the 33rd day (Lag B’Omer) the restrictions placed upon us during this time are lifted. It is a day of rejoicing and celebrating—many weddings and parties take place. The true origins are unclear and conflicting information and legends abound. One says that during the time of Rabbi Akiva and the Roman occupation there had been a terrible plaque and that on the 33rd day of this period, the plague ended. Thus we understand the feeling of dread and mourning during the omer and the way in which it is suspended for Lag B’omer. Others teach that this day is the day the Bar Kochba revolt was able to overcome the Roman army. Thus the bonfires and bows and arrows used to celebrate the 33rd day of this period make sense. The bonfires were great signals during a time of war and the soldier scholars fought with bows and arrows. Rabbi Akiba’s students helped to fight back the Romans (even if it was only for a very brief moment).

Yet others cite the visits to Meron—the cave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the traditional author of the Zohar the major book of kabbalah as proof that Lag B’omer celebrates the yarzeit of this great Rabbi. To this day, mystics and students of kabbalah visit the cave of Meron to try to bask in his light. Traditionally it is said that on the day of Shimon bar Yochai death, his house and being was so filled with light because he was revealing the secrets and depth of Torah. Thus the bonfires traditionally lit on Lag B’omer is to remind us of the light of Yohai’s mystical teaching and the Divine and Holy light that filled the world on that day!

There are many other customs associated with Lag B’omer including the Upsherin, which is when a young boy of three first has his hair cut. While others include picnics and campfires and a connection to the outdoors.

So as Lag B’omer approaches this Friday (Sundown on Thursday night) and we know Shavuot—the Festival of the giving of Torah will soon be with us. Let us prepare ourselves for standing at Sinai once again and hearing the Divine voice call to us. Counting the Omer daily helps us to prepare for that day. So count away!

Parashat Behar-Behukotai; Leviticus 25:1-27:34

With this double portion, Behar-Behukotai, the book of Leviticus comes to a close. We have a collection of laws that address the shmitta or sabbatical year (this year is one of those!), the jubilee year and a variety of other issues, including a strong reminder of the promises that are fulfilled if the Israelites fulfill the commandments and the ways in which the Israelites will suffer if the covenant is ignored or idolatry comes to rule their way of life.

If one observes the covenant and the mitzvot according to this portion, a time of peace and bounty will come to the people and the land. Harvests will be plentiful, security and safety and protection from enemies will be the order of the day. God’s face will be turned toward the people and God’s house will be in the midst of the people. God will dwell there. But if the covenant is ignored or abrogated by the people the harshness of God’s anger will be directed at the Israelites. The land will become hostile and the bounty will shrivel to nothing. God’s absence will be felt and the safety and security once imagined will be gone.

It is a rather harsh vision indeed. And one that to most of us is difficult to fathom. Such a harsh punishing God is not the God that we choose to believe in. Especially in the post Holocaust era this kind of theology hurts our very souls and beings. How can we possibly look to the punishments of some heavenly Divine being as being ever justified? It is just too cruel to imagine that God wreaks havoc upon this people when they sin. This seems to be a quid pro quo. Observe the commandments and be blessed. Stray from the commandments and experience misery.

This is the ancient view of things.

So how can we possibly come to understand what is happening here? Is it merely metaphor? Perhaps these punishments do not really come from God but by our own failures of spirit and commitment these are ultimately self-inflicted wounds. The further we drift away from God—the further God drifts from us. We lose that sacred connection to the life of the spirit that our tradition tries to help us nurture. The hostile land that is described when we stray makes our way harder in the world. What are the consequences of straying from the path of Jewish life? Are there any?

Certainly the more Jews that leave the fold—the weaker and more threatened our people become. With each outflow of each Jew our covenant is weakened and indeed the landscape of Jewish life contracts. Our way is harder in the world as a people and as individuals. The harvest of Jewish culture, Jewish spirit, Jewish religious life diminishes. There is an absence of Divine spirit and Divine energy when we Jews turn away from our people, our mitzvot and our system of commitments. No individual person likes to feel as if he or she is responsible to such a large system. After all we are individuals with personal freedoms and autonomy. But in truth, our individual decisions do affect the whole. If we choose to distance ourselves from the Jewish community, we lose leadership, we lose institutions and we lose the opportunities to have the Jewish community influence the individual. We lose our values. And perhaps we lose a connection point to the Divine Holy One.

I believe that our ability to perform mitzvot, heal the world and engage in tikkun olam helps to build our Divine connection points. These points bring holiness and healing into our lives and into the world. We are the conductors of this energy of Holiness when we pray, study, and perform these acts of lovingkindness. Yet when we purposefully dismiss our role and engage in idolatry—then we are destroying the potential of the world for healing.

The Torah understood the idea of the collective, the clan, tribe and people. This portion speaks a lot about the collective responsibility of the people. In our day and time the focus is often removed from the collective to the individual.

But even in the harshness of this passage of Torah-it concludes in hope. Because we recognize that even when we stray there is still the possibility of renewal and reconciliation of individuals and the Divine Holy One. We may be angry at each other for awhile—God and the Jewish People but ultimately we need one another!

And so this portion reminds us that the covenant with our ancestors will ultimately be remembered. That the love God had for the patriarchs and matriarchs will extend to each one of us and the harshness of the decree will be tempered. This is similar to the message at Yom Kippur—we can influence any and have God remember us for God and for the merits of our ancestors, even if we are weakened in will.

It is up to us, each one of us to help bring about the time of tikkun, a time of healing for our people and our world. The way we treat one another, the way we act in the world with justice, fairness and kindness will bring the Divine Holy Energy more into our lives and into our reality. It begins with the individual and moves to the collective. This indeed will temper and transform any environment to the one that is promised—a land flowing with milk and honey, nourishing and sweet.

Parshat Emor; Leviticus 21:1-24:23 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

This week our parsha begins by addressing the Priesthood. The priests have an extraordinary duty to guard their holiness and purity and this week’s portion, Emor, begins by addressing this very idea. The priesthood who come into the sacred boundaries of the Sanctuary and offer the sacrifices, must according to this week’s portion be scrupulous in their attention to spiritual purity. And the High Priest himself, may not even come into contact with death through the death of his own parents. This is extraordinary in the boundaries that are used to protect the priest from any ritual impurity, the High Priest and ultimately the altar and sacrifices.

Also this parasha reinforces the idea that the priests who actually offer the sacrifices must be ‘defect’ free. No priest who is blind, lame or a limb too short or too long may offer the sacrifices. A priest who has any kind of physical impairment is disqualified not from the priesthood but from the specific duties regarding the sacrifices. These may be birth defects or the result of some kind of accident or disease but they do disqualify the priest from performing this part of the priestly function.

The torah equates priestly physical wholeness with priestly holiness and fitness to perform the most sacred functions at the altar—the sacrifices.

These ideals affect so much of our thinking today. Even though we no longer have a Temple, nor the priesthood to offer sacrifices this idea that those with disabilities are not able or capable of holiness, or leadership still infuses the thoughts of too many people. We look for photogenic leaders and the image of the perfect man or woman is reinforced in movies, television and print media. The perfect look seems to matter to too many people.

But this is truly ancient thinking.

As a rabbinic student more than 25 years ago, I had the privilege of working with developmentally disabled and physically disabled adults through the Chaverim program. For a year I worked to create Jewish holiday programs and opportunities for learning Jewish culture, traditions and Torah for these amazing and wonderful people. Four members of Chaverim- Daniella, Shainah, Elaine, Molly and Jordan all studied that year for their adult b’nai mitzvah. They savored each letter of the aleph – bet. They explored Shabbat observances that they had never done on their own before. It was such a moving experience to work and learn from them and see their real challenges and struggles and to experience the wonder and joy and true holiness in their lives. And when they led the Shabbat Service and sang and read from Torah—a true sense of kedusha—of holiness descended upon the room. There was a sense of wholeness and holiness that completely filled our prayer room and completely filled the hearts of all who attended. “God was surely in this place.”

For those families with someone who has some kind of special need—whether physical, emotional, or mental—they know that being a part of our Jewish community is important and precious. We in the rest of the Jewish community must come to know this as well and heed the words of the prophet, “My house shall be a house of prayer for all people.” Our Jewish community ought to be guided not by this passage in Leviticus that excludes from the ability to offer the sacrifices—but ought to be guided instead from the words of Genesis—that all were created B’tzelem Elohim. We must be an inclusive community—inclusive of those who see the world a little differently than others- whether because of autism, or bi-polar disease, whether because of physical limitation from birth or injury.
I learned from this experience that sometimes the best teachers are those who indeed have some kind of ‘defect’, physical challenge or spiritual challenge. Perhaps we ought to learn with them and from them and bring our Jewish community closer in holiness to that which is Eternal.

If you would like more information about Jewish Family Services, Chaverim program for developmentally disabled adults cal: (818) 464.3360. Or if you need assistance for your children with special needs including autism, learning disabilities and developmental disabilities Jewish Family Services also has HaMercaz which can provide support, resources and networking (323) 761-8800.