torah

The Entire Commandment

Rabbi Ben Herman , , ,

         I want to begin by saying thank you to Cantorial Soloist Caitlyn Shannon for an incredible job this summer. I am sad to miss your final Shabbat before your return to Cantorial School, but I look forward to hearing you on the High Holy Days.

            In mindfulness language, we often talk about “being in the moment or “being fully present.” That’s a very hard thing to do. Our lives are busy and if an appointment is cancelled we quickly think about what we can fill that hour up with rather than taking time for self-care. In rushing from place to place we forget that the blank space in our lives, just like the blank spaces in the Torah, is essential. If the Torah was only letters without space, no one could read it. Similarly, if our lives are all doing without being, we lose sense of who we are and of what is truly most important to us.

        There’s an interesting line towards the beginning of this week’s Torah portion. It reads

כׇּל־הַמִּצְוָ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר אָנֹכִ֧י מְצַוְּךָ֛ הַיּ֖וֹם תִּשְׁמְר֣וּן לַעֲשׂ֑וֹת לְמַ֨עַן תִּֽחְי֜וּן וּרְבִיתֶ֗ם וּבָאתֶם֙ וִֽירִשְׁתֶּ֣ם אֶת־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־נִשְׁבַּ֥ע יְהֹוָ֖ה לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶֽם׃

You shall faithfully observe the entire commandment that I enjoin upon you today, that you may thrive and increase and be able to possess the land that God promised on oath to your fathers.[1]

          What is the entire commandment and why only one commandment? The commentator Ovadiah Sforno points out the juxtaposition between this verse, beginning Chapter 8 of Deuteronomy, and what came before about not bringing idols into your house. He says just as one must be sure to follow that commandment, so must one be certain to follow all of them.[2]  Commentator Ephraim of Luntschitz has the opposite view in his work Kli Yakar, asserting that “the Torah uses the singular mitzvah to indicate that the observance of even one mitzvah as it should be will result in “so you may live”…because “one mitzvah leads to another mitzvah.”[3] The interpretation I prefer is in Midrash Tanhuma, which teaches that “once you have begun a commandment, finish it, for it is the person who finishes it that will be identified as having done it.[4] In other words, whatever commandment you are doing, give your full, undivided attention to it until it is carried out. Don’t be distracted by other thoughts, feelings or things to do, being pulled in a million different directions.

          Too often in life we start something but do not finish it. At other times, we take on a task which is too great for us-like doing all 613 commandments that one can-and we burn out, throw up our hands and give it all up. I believe it is purposeful that the singular word מצוה is used here, indicating that we should only focus on one thing at a time.

          This Shabbat we have the pleasure of welcoming in our new members to Mosaic Law Congregation. Each of you came here through a different route. Some of you chose Judaism-others are new to the area and found our community warm and welcoming. We are blessed to have each and every one of you as part of our congregational family. I have one question for each of you: what skills and passions would you like to contribute to Mosaic Law Congregation in the year 5786? We want to be sure that MLC is a spiritual home for you in the fullest sense-not that it will meet all of your needs, as no congregation can do that, but rather that it will provide comfort, warmth and a sense of belonging. To those of you who checked off every box on the membership application, I advise you to choose 1 or 2 areas in which to get involved. Focusing on the entire commandment requires that we don’t stretch ourselves in too many directions and burn out. As we approach 5786, let us focus on the one thing in life that is truly most important to us at any given moment. In so, may our lives have a sense of calm, clarity and purpose.

          I would like all of our new members to come up to the Bimah, say your names and, if you want, one sentence introducing yourself to the congregation. After that I’ll ask for you to join me in a prayer for our new members.

[1] Deuteronomy 8:1

[2] Sforno on Deuteronomy 8:1 ד”ה כל המצוה

[3] Kli Yakar on Deuteronomy 8:1 ד”ה כל המצוה אשר אנכי מצוך

[4] Midrash Tanhuma 6. In Rashi on Deut. 8:1 ד”ה כל המצוה

Celebrating Our Past and Celebrating Our Future

Rabbi Ben Herman , , , ,

          So wonderful to see so many of you this morning as we celebrate our congregation as well as volunteer extraordinaire Melanie Cohen’s 80th Hebrew birthday, for which our Kiddush lunch is dedicated. As Rabbi Taff’s return from Israel was delayed, I will start out according to his example. Hopefully he will be back in time to join us for tomorrow night’s Gala.

We are blessed to have reached our 125th anniversary. 125 is no insignificant number. In gematria 125 is represented by the word חזקי, or “my strength.” This is the root that we will say next Shabbat when we complete the Book of Leviticus-be strong, be strong and we will be strengthened. In other words, our collective strength as a congregation comes from each and every one of you.

Parshat Emor reflects this strength. God tells Moses “Instruct Aaron and his sons to be scrupulous about the sacred donations that the Israelite people consecrate to Me…”[1] Each gift or donation, whether monetary, in kind, of time or of resources, is not to be taken lightly. After all, this is God’s home-each synagogue being a מקדש מעט, or miniature sanctuary, resembling the Temple in Jerusalem. There is much to celebrate and much to give this year to reaffirm our commitment to Mosaic Law Congregation.

          What does the term “Mosaic Law” mean? No it is not the law of Rabbi Moses, who we are blessed to have with us today. Our synagogue’s unique name is not to be taken lightly. In fact, one of the reasons given for our being saved from the 1999 firebombing is that the brothers who committed the egregious acts thought that we were a law firm.[2] What is a strange term today was par for the course in the late 19th century. When I teach comparative Judaism in my Intro to Judaism class, I bring the Reform Movement’s Pittsburgh Platform from 1885, which uses phrases such as “Mosaic legislation” and “Mosaic and rabbinical laws.”

          125 years is a long time, and I want to highlight 3 of the leaders of our congregation over those years. I hope these individuals will become household names. The first is Moses Warhaftig z”l. The Warhaftig family was one of 7 who founded Hevrat Torah Moshe-the Mosaic Law Fellowship, incorporated on February 27, 1900. Moses Warhaftig was the driving force behind our congregation. The centennial video even says that during the early years there were times when he was the only member!-though this seems a bit farfetched. Nevertheless, Moses was literally the glue that kept our synagogue together in its early years. As secretary, he signed many synagogue documents MS Warhaftig, NOT “miss” but Moses Solomon.[3] Moses’ dedication, and of course his wife Irma’s, is part of the reason that we are still here today as a congregation.

          Another person I want to highlight is AJ Markowitz z”l. Randy Pollack is one of the few presidents we have had who took on a 3rd year. A select couple have even done multiple stints as president-and one will begin his 2nd stint as president in July. However, AJ Markowitz takes the cake. AJ served as president of our congregation from 1915 to 1940-from World War I through the beginning of World War II. As Executive Director and Past President Caren Rubin said, “he must have had a death wish.” Being President of a congregation is a thankless job. When things go wrong you get blamed; when things go right you rarely get credit. That is why we honor AJ’s dedication to our congregation today.

          The third congregant I want to highlight is Arlene Pearl z”l, the first female president at any conservative synagogue. What a challenge to be the first! In a movement which was not egalitarian (though starting to become so) which did not allow female members of the clergy, we had a female president-and boy she was strong! While I was not privileged to meet Arlene during her lifetime, as she passed away the week following my interview at MLC, I did learn about her from her daughters Sheri and Robin and officiated at her unveiling. She had a dynamic personality and was a trailblazer for all the women following her and all those to come.

          I will not highlight the MLC clergy in the same fashion. With that being said, as your 18th, or “Chai” rabbi (have to keep the gematria going), I am most blessed to preside over our congregation during this auspicious anniversary. I want to do so by not only celebrating our past but by also celebrating our future. This Shabbat we are blessed to celebrate the students in our Mercaz Religious School, for all they have learned and for all they will continue to learn-after all, learning never ends. Today our students led Barchu, Shema/V’Ahavta, Avot and Gevurot, the Torah Service, blessings before and after Haftarah and Ashrei. They will also lead concluding prayers. The past two weeks combined we have been blessed to welcome 7 Torah readers trained by Cantor Rachels-another example of celebrating where we are at and what is to come. Thank you Cantor for having trained so many new readers over your 2 years here. We are blessed to have you and we are all going to miss you.

          As our celebration continues this weekend with Musaf, Kiddush, a special Torah Study on what it means to be holy and the Gala, I want each of us to think about 1 or 2 new things that we can contribute to Mosaic Law Congregation. For some it might be offering to host a first meeting for one of the Dor Hadash Havurot I continue to set up; for others it could be to volunteer to make Kiddush lunch a few times during the year; for others perhaps joining the leadership of our Men’s Club or Sisterhood; others might find joy volunteering in our Mercaz Religious School or Sisterhood Gift Shop; others could be inclined to help greenify our campus or join with Kayamut to have a more sustainable campus. We are as vibrant as the sum of our parts, and each of you is an integral part of what makes Mosaic Law Congregation great. Thank you for your dedication-חזקי-may each and every one of us be strong.

[1] Leviticus 22:2

[2] Other reasons I have heard are that they had the wrong phone number and that they didn’t get down to M alphabetically in their list of synagogues. For more information on the firebombings, see https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AZz5UPZ-wYWhHe3PJoIPeA9JtrRqvOWG/view?usp=drive_link

[3] Thank you to Judy Persin, Chief Archivist of MLC, for her help with this.

Being Present Rather than Constantly Doing

Rabbi Ben Herman , , , ,

          It is such a pleasure to be here for the Shabbat aroosi (“Shabbat wedding”) for David and Danielle. I have done my share of aufrufs during my rabbinic career, but this is the first Shabbat aroosi -celebration of the couple the Shabbat after their wedding. It was an honor to have yours be the first wedding I have officiated at Mosaic Law Congregation, alongside Cantor Noah Rachels and Rabbi Emeritus Reuven Taff.

I will never forget a conversation I had while doing a rabbinic internship at the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs in Chicago. Two days a week I went into South Chicago to intern at the Inner-City Muslim Action Network: a Jew working with Muslims to do criminal justice reform mostly for inner city African American Christians. I am by nature a person who likes excitement and adventure, wanting to change the world, and I was frustrated that some days were very slow at the office. I spoke with my mentor, Kyle Ismail, who said to me, “Ben you care about doing, but just your being present here means a great deal.”

I was flummoxed by Kyle’s statement: being present? Aren’t we supposed to be doing things to make a difference? After all, we do a lot in Judaism, whether it is preparing for Shabbat, coming together for daily minyan, or designing and participating in programming like our 125th Anniversary Gala on May 18th. Yet I think there is an inherent truth in knowing our personal limits and when we must undertake some tzimtzum, changing our focus from constantly doing things to being present with whatever we are encountering. After all, we are human beings, not human doings. Moses is often thought of as impatient, one who wants to lead through action, yet even he is required to wait 40 days and 40 nights for the stone tablets to be written by the finger of G-d at the end of Parshat Mishpatim.[1]

Also, towards the end of Parshat Mishpatim, our ancestors demonstrated that they were all for doing. They said כל אשר דבר ה נעשה ונשמע-all that G-d has spoken we will do and we will hear.[2] At times they were impatient and overeager to do, such as when we read the making of the golden calf.[3] At times one needs to be present rather than rushing to do-a lesson I’m reminded of all too often.

With Thursday’s horrific events in Israel, I wanted to rush and do something. We had a moving service where we read 2 psalms and did a communal Kaddish during our Mincha/Maariv minyan on Thursday evening. However, I recognized that being present with our congregation was meaningful in and of itself. Never lose sight of the impact of your presence. Also please join us at Beth Shalom on Tuesday for a memorial service and vigil of solidarity.

The question of doing versus being reminds me of a Talmudic debate. Rabbi Tarfon and the Elders were reclining in the loft of the house of Nit’za in Lod, when this question was asked of them: Is study greater or is action greater? Rabbi Tarfon jumped up and says “Action.” How many of us would agree? After all, we are a people who values deeds, subscribing to the maxim that “actions speak louder than words.” Rabbi Akiva, however, disagreed, asserting that study is greater. The other Sages agreed with Rabbi Akiva, albeit with a caveat: study is greater because it leads to action.[4] Studying Torah and Jewish texts and traditions have the potential to shape our mindset in making the best decisions that we can.

David and Danielle have demonstrated that thoroughly to me. I had the privilege of learning with Danielle for the last number of months. Before that, she took numerous Melton courses, and she has always applied her learning to her work and her community. David has grown not only through his Jewish education here in Sacramento but also taking on new roles in our Selichot play. Both David and Danielle will be in our Purim Shpiel next month-a script written by David’s mother Mehrnaz that is sure to delight 😊. This is certainly an active couple: between your demanding jobs, your numerous friends and your shared interests, you are always on the move. We are so happy to have you here today and to celebrate your love for each other.

          David and Danielle, at your wedding I gave you the advice to remain one another’s best friends, always putting your love above any frustration or disagreement at hand. Today I have different advice-always be present for one another when the other needs you. This is easier said than done with your demanding work schedules: Danielle being the manager of social responsibility for the Sacramento Kings and David being a tax lawyer focusing on commercial real estate. It will get even harder when (G-d willing) you have the children you desire.           I often share at weddings that whether you know each other for 9 months (as Karina and I did when we got married), 8.5 years (as you two did) or somewhere in between, something changes when you walk out from under that Huppah.  I can’t put words to it but know it to be true not only from my experience and from seeing the gleam in your eyes at the reception but also from watching the previous 21 couples at whose weddings I’ve officiated. This is a consecrated, holy moment that I want you to revel in and let it linger for a while. We are so happy to have reached this day, and I am going to ask us to recite together the Sheheheyanu for its arrival.

[1] Exodus 24:12 God said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and wait there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the teachings and commandments which I have inscribed to instruct them.”

[2] Exodus 24:7

[3] Exodus 32

[4] Babylonian Talmud Kiddushin 40b