Day 18: Everlasting Compassion: Shabbat a sign of that everlasting covenant

Today, the 18th day of the Omer, was also Shabbat. Shabbat is a foretaste of the world to come. Abraham Joshua Heschel taught in his book, “The Sabbath” that “The hours of the seventh day are significant in themselves; their significance and beauty do not depend on any work, profit, or progress we may achieve. They have the beauty of grandeur.Beauty of grandeur, a crown of victory, “a day of rest and holiness, a rest in love and generosity, a true and genuine rest, a rest that yields peace and serenity, tranquility and security, a perfect rest with which Thou art pleased” (quoted from the Sabbath afternoon prayer).”
Beauty of grandeur, that is exactly what tiferet means in its rare meaning. So Shabbat, a sign of the world to come, is in fact a sign of G-d’s everlasting compassion, netzach b’tiferet.

Today when I was davening I was caught by two phrases. “Baruch Chai l’ad v’kayam lanetzach. Blessed is the One who lives forever who endures eternally. There’s the use of the word netzach again. And from El Adon we sing “Tiferest ug’dulah” Glory and greatness.

After services I experienced more of that beauty, splendor, grandeur and compassion. I went for a walk with the puppy, During that walk we saw a snowy egret in flight and it landed right before us. We also saw a goose nesting and sitting on her egg. She was tucked next to a building looking very content and maternal. Then I took a nap. Taking a nap is definitely a sign of G-d’s everlasting compassion. May we always have the freedom and the opportunity to be able to experience the grandeur of Shabbat and be able to take a nap, then we will know that Shabbat is truly a palace in time and not just a series of thou shall nots.

Day 17: Compassion of Compassion, Humility in Humility or what I learned from a personal banker

Today is the 17th day of the omer, a double dose of compassion, compassion squared. Compassion is yet another difficult word to define–in the original Hebrew or in Latin but looking at its etymology helps. Compassion comes from the Latin com, with, and passion suffering. So its meaning is about suffering together, with another. It is a higher form of empathy and cornerstone of love. It gives us the active desire to alleviate someone’s pain or suffering. When Hillel said, “Do not do onto others as you would not have them do unto you, and then Jesus coined the “Golden Rule”, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” it was about compassion. So was “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

So what does this have to do with me? Maybe because I need a double dose of compassion. Maybe because my job requires me to be compassionate, which is not hard for me. I enjoy helping other people. I enjoy helping them find the beauty in life, the joy in Judaism. I enjoy helping families who need a boost, who lost a loved one, a job, were diagnosed with cancer. I realize I can’t help everyone. Sometimes it is hard to be compassionate towards those who probably need it most. Sometime I lose my patience. That’s when I need a double dose of compassion. I need one now.

There is even a syndrome called compassion fatigue. I work very hard to prevent this secondary stress in myself. It involves good self care, taking time out, having a network of professionals and other friends to talk to about the stressors, having a mentor, getting exercise, watching what I eat, taking bubble baths and getting a massage. It involves davenning and meditating. Oh yes, and chocolate, in moderation.

I was surprised to discover that most books translate this sephira tiferet as compassion. There is another word in Hebrew for compassion, rachum. Part of the 13 Attributes of G-d, Chanun v’rachum. Gracious and compassionate. Full of lovingkindness. Rachum is an interesting word, it comes from the same root as womb. So at some levels it is a feminine aspect of the Divine. That protective space that allows a fetus to form is compassionate. We all need womb-like spaces. Recently I was asked to do something that would push me beyond my comfort zone. I imagined I was a tulip, trying to burst forth from the earth and bloom but I wasn’t quite ready yet, I needed to go back in for a while. Compassion is like that, like a beautiful tulip safely ensconced and waiting to bloom.

Another way to translate tiferet is humility. So this is humility in humility. I went to a branch of bank yesterday and I watched the personal banker, Joanna, and then the branch manager exercise humility. She listened to what I needed. Patiently found the right answer and then patiently explained it to me. I commented on a crystal star on her desk. She said she had won an award for customer service, only one of 12 in the Chicago-Wisconsin region. She said she was humbled by the award because she doesn’t set out to win awards or to sell every product in her vast book. She sets out to establish relationships, long term relationships. Then she sells them what they need because it is right for them. She came across as very humble, very compassionate. She even said, modestly, that she tries to be humble–with her eyes downcast. “It is not about me and what I need. It’s always about the customer and what is right for the customer.” I left thinking I want to bank there–and how nice to find a smart banker in Chicago. I actually left calmer than when I got there.

For me then, that’s what Day 17 is about, finding the patience to help even those who are the hardest to help, who may be their own worst enemies and about doing it with humility, and compassion, like my new friend from Poland, the personal banker. Then I will have incorporated Tiferet in Tiferet in my every day life. Then I will be emulating G-d’s attributes, compassion, lovingkindness, mercy, humility, patience. I am not there yet. Be patient with me.

Day 16: Rosh Hodesh Iyyar, A Victory from Discipline in Compassion

Today is Day 16 of the counting of the omer. 16 Days from the second night of Passover on our journey to freedom, on our journey to Sinai. The Israelites left Egypt so that they could worship G-d in freedom. However, women in Jerusalem have not always been free in recent times. They have even been arrested. Sometimes the pictures are shocking, seeing Israeli police officers arresting Jewish women at the Kotel for praying. It looks like a scene out of Germany.

Today, there was good news at the Kotel and in Jerusalem. A very disciplined group has been meeting at the Kotel to daven, to pray since 1988 on Rosh Hodesh.  Every single month. That takes commitment. That takes dedication. That takes discipline, the theme for today. I have been a supporter of Women of the Wall since its inception. I have my own stories of how I was told I couldn’t be a rabbi because I was a woman. The voice of a woman can be problematic according to some citations of Jewish law. A tallit might not be an obligation according to Jewish law but it is not forbidden. I could write all the citation on these issues.

Today, after five women were again arrested for the “crime” of wearing a tallit, a judge in Israel, ruled, “that there was no cause for arresting the women. In a groundbreaking decision, the judge declared that Women of the Wall are not disturbing the public order with their prayers. She said that the disturbance is created by those publicly opposing the women’s prayer, and Women of the Wall should not be blamed for others’ behavior. The women were released immediately, with no conditions.” http://womenofthewall.org.il/media-3/press-room-2/

It took discipline and compassion to get to this point. There is much compassion in Natan Sharansky’s proposal released this week for three sections of the Wall. (http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/sharansky-my-plan-for-western-wall-is-based-on-access-equality-and-unity.premium-1.514) There is much beauty in all of this. A voice will go out from Jerusalem. Kol hakavod Women of the Wall. This Rosh Hodesh there is much to celebrate.

A Prayer for Women of the Wall by Rahel Sharon Jaskow

 May it be Your will, our God and God of our mothers and fathers, to bless this prayer group and all who pray within it: them, their families and all that is theirs, together with all the women and girls of your people Israel. Strengthen us and direct our hearts to serve You in truth, reverence and love. May our prayer be desirable and acceptable to You like the prayers of our holy mothers, Sarah, Rivka, Rahel and Leah. May our song ascend to Your Glorious Throne in holiness and purity, like the songs of Miriam the Prophet, Devorah the Judge, and Hannah in Shilo, and may it be pleasing to you as a sweet savor and fine incense.

And for our sisters, all the women and girls of your people Israel: let us merit to see their joy and hear their voices raised before You in song and praise. May no woman or girl be silenced ever again among Your people Israel or in all the world. God of justice, let us merit to see justice and salvation soon, for the sanctification of Your name and the repair of Your world, as it is written: Zion will hear and be glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice, over Your judgments, O God. And it is written: For Zion’s sake I will not be still and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be silent, until her righteousness shines forth like a great light and her salvation like a flaming torch.

For Torah shall go forth from Zion and the word of God from Jerusalem. Amen, selah.

Day 15: April Showers Bring May Flowers, Chesed B’Tiferet

Today is Day 15 of the counting of the omer. Love in compassion. It was a very rainy morning with strong, gusty thunderstorms. Can rain be a sign of lovingkindness and compassion? I think so. Now I admit. I didn’t want to get out of bed. I was pleased the puppy was not awakened by the storm nor scared by it. I sure was. But later in the day, I found two fields of flowers where there had been none yesterday. One was a field of purple blossoms taking up an entire front lawn.

IMAG0729

The other were golden daffodils planted along a fairly ugly stretch of rail track. I remember an early poem of Sarah’s about daffodils and how they raise their heads and kiss the sun.

Tiferet’s other meaning is beauty. It was clear in both cases that the someone had taken the time to plant these beautiful things to make the world a better place. To show love in compassion. To brighten up our day on a cloudy overcast day. To bring us a little burst of joy when we see them. It also takes a balance between sun and rain to make them  flower. So yes, rain can be a sign of G-d’s love and compassion. It is raining again. Pouring really. Our area in the Fox River Valley is under a flood watch. Again it is about achieving balance. My theology does not extend to believing that G-d is punishing us for some sin and that is why the river could flood. My believe is that we are partners with G-d in this beautiful creation and somehow we humans have the balance out of whack. With great compassion and great love we can turn this earth back around but it will take great work. It will also take restraint as we learned about last week. The effort will be worth it for our children and grandchildren.

I am reminded of Honi the Circle Drawer, he was asked why he was planting a carob tree when it would take so long to bear fruit. He answered, “As my ancestors have planted for me, so I plant for my children and grandchildren.” Honi also prayed for rain.

Some of the books about counting the omer have very different things to say about today. One talks about it in terms of tiferet bringing in a third dimenstion, that of truth, the integration between love and discipline. It requires selflessness, rising above your ego. It asks,  “Is your compassion tender and loving or does it come across as pity? Is your sympathy condescending and patronizing? Does your compassion overflow with love and warmth; is it expressed with enthusiasm, or is it static and lifeless?”

Another one talks about the balance as being able to find the balance between rigidity and flexibility. It is about finding the nuance. The world is not black and white, it is full of color as today’s flowers prove.

It is easier to see the world in black and white, to put people into boxes, to judge them based on first appearances. But the world has a full spectrum of color and G-d has a glorious paintbrush. Once I went horseback riding near sunset in the Grand Tetons. The forest floor was a carpet of wildflowers in colors I could barely name let alone imagine. I tried to write a poem about it but the words did not do it justice. Neither did the photos I took. Sometimes colors can be felt even more than seen.

Sometimes in our frazzled world it is like looking through a kaleidoscope. But we need to put the pieces of our broken lives back together in order to see the full range of color, the full beauty.

May we learn to see the people around us in all of their complexity, with as many facets as a diamond reflecting light through a prism. May we slow down enough to see the beauty, to feel the colors. May we all be able to turn our faces to the sun and be kissed by G-d, then we will know G-d’s love in compassion.

Gates of Prayer has this prayer as part of the Amidah:
“We pray for winds to disperse the choking air of sadness, for cleansing rains to make parched hopes flower, and to give all of us the strength to rise up towards the sun….We pray for love to encompass us for no other reason save that we are human—that we may all blossom into persons who have gained power over our lives….Praise to the God whose gift is life, whose cleansing rains let parched men and women flower toward the sun.”

May tonight’s rain be gentle and bring those May flowers. Then we can truly smile and know that we are loved.

Day 14: Malchut of Gevurah or what Ben and Jerry’s Taught Me

Today is day 14, two weeks of the omer. I went to Ben and Jerry’s for a free ice cream cone this afternoon.

482858_10151378942782828_1354117518_n

“What,” you say, “weren’t you just talking about Weight Watchers?” Yes. Gevurah as we have learned this week means restraint or discipline. WeightWatchers also argues for discipline but it allows you 49 extra points to spend how you want to spend them. So all four of us drove to Palentine and delighted in having our ice cream cup. It was smaller than a kiddie cup at Sully’s in Chelmsford. Everyone felt satisfied. And happy. Almost giddy. There must be a bracha for this. Then we talked about restraint. It was just enough to make us feel good, but too much to make us feel bad. We didn’t even feel the need to go back for seconds. None of us ruined our diets. We showed restraint.

Now remember that Bostonians consume more ice cream per capita than anywhere else in the country. I have stood in line in sub-freezing weather just to get ice cream. I have been at Sully’s on March 1 when they reopen after the winter, just because they are reopening and it is a sign of spring. One of the first after a long dreary weather. I had a friend in college who believed that if you ate ice cream from Steve’s (the original Coldstone with mix-ins) three Shabbatot in a row the Messiah would come. That is what today was like. Perhaps if we get this balance right between discipline and having fun, between restraint and laughing and joking, then it will surely, like Shabbat be a foretaste of the world to come.

Some times we need to exercise restraint with our words. It is not always good to correct a child. It is not good for his or her self-esteem. It is not always good to correct our spouse, a co-worker or a even, dare I say it, a board member. Sometimes we need to exercise restraint. Sure, if I were queen of the world I would get the whole thing right, all the time. I am sure of it. But sometimes I need to exercise restraint.

So for me, this is what today is about.  The kingdom of discipline is about just enough but not too much. It is OK to have fun. It is OK to feel good. It is OK to laugh, to joke, to play. And then go back to work.

 

Day 13: Yesod of Gevrurah: The Foundation of Life

I seem to be falling behind. Yesterday was actually day 13 and I spent much of the day musing about this blog and various omer projects I am working on. Time is moving fast. So fast I got an email from a soon-to-be congregant who said “4 Weeks”. In four weeks he will be a Jew.  It is hard to keep up.

I think there have been some big insights for me coming out of writing this blog. I hope they have been helpful for you as well. Things I have liked–thinking deeply about love, chesed and the role that it plays in our lives. Thinking about kashrut as a form of discipline and restraint. Thinking about how one survives the unspeakable tragedy of the Holocaust and how that really is an intersection between Chesed and Gevurah. I have also really liked Rabbi Katy Allen’s brief meditations and photos linking the earth with the counting of the omer. It has been fun to look for signs of spring, and to watch so closely. Yesterday we saw in the Costco parking lot by their wetlands, a Canada goose sitting on her egg just at sunset.

Mamma Goose

Mamma Goose

She was flanked by two red wing blackbirds. Swimming in the water was an otter or a muskrat. You wouldn’t necessarily think that so much wildlife would be in the Costco parking lot. Yesterday I also spent at my new physicians. As part of that we talked about genetics. Always at a doctor’s but especially poignant if your father was a geneticist. DNA is the building blocks of life, the foundation. If you have the discipline, the gevurah, to look, you will see the foundation, the yesod of life. It was beautiful.

Day 12: Hod B’Gevurah

Today is day 12 of the counting of the omer. Tonight is also Yom Ha’shoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. It has taken me a long time to write this. How do you write of the unspeakable? What can I possibly add?

A single flame, six million memories

A single flame, six million memories

Today we had a speaker, Renee Haberer-Krauss who survived the Holocaust. She was elegant, calm, quiet, humble. She was unassuming and powerful. She embodies the words hod b’gevurah. Her story is compelling. She talked about how she had to separate from her parents who by this point were working for the French resistance. It was scary. But her mother prepared her well. Held her all night before the departure. Assured her of her love. Told her that even if she had to go to church, it was OK because there was only one G-d, even if there were different ways to pray to that one G-d. Every in the morning they left. They had to cross the border from France, under German occupation, to Switzerland. It seemed hopeless. She got caught on the barbed wire. However, a German soldier and a Swiss soldier against the odds and at their own risk rescued her and her sister. A nun and a parish priest treated her so kindly she wanted to convert to Catholicism but the priest said that it wasn’t the right time–her parents would not approve and neither would G-d. She survived because the of the courage of others. The strength and the discipline of others.

Holocaust Survivor Renee Haberer-Krauss speaking at Congregation Kneseth Israel

Holocaust Survivor Renee Haberer-Krauss speaking at Congregation Kneseth Israel

The lovingkindness of others.

Another one who survived was Alice Herz-Sommer who is known as the oldest Holocaust survivor. There was a recent documentary made of her. As best as I can figure it from online sources she is now 108. Again what enabled her to survive was her love of music–her religion–and the love of her parents which she shared with her own son in the camps. She still plays piano!

http://www.arttherapyblog.com/videos/alice-herz-sommer-dancing-under-the-gallows/#trailer

She says, “I was born with a very very good optimism. And this helps you…when you are optimistic, when you are not complaining, when you look at the good side of our life…everybody loves you.” I would add, hHaving that strong sense of security and love really helps. People who are deprived the basic feeling of love, even without the trauma of the Holocaust do less well.

Hod is also about splendor. I am always touched by the poetry of the Holocaust.

The Last Butterfly captures that splendor of every day life, even in the camps.
The last, the very last
So richly brightly dazzingly yellow
Perhaps if the sun tears could sing against a white stone

Notice the sky tonight. The colors and the light. The splendor and the strength. Think of Renee and Alice, their courage to survive and their courage to tell their stories. Think of the two soldiers who had the courage to do the right thing. Think of the priest and the nun. Think of Anne Frank who wrote “It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

Think how you can be an upstander and not a bystander when you see someone being mean to someone else. Think how you can be strong and of good courage. How you could prevent the next Holocaust. Think of the pretty pink in the sky as the sun as about to set.

Day 11: Shabbat: Netzach B’Gevurah or why I need strength to keep kosher

You are what you eat. Yesterday at Weight Watchers we discussed a scenario where Joe wolfed down two donuts at the morning staff meeting. We talk about people pigging out You may remember the oft quoted poem:
I never saw a Purple Cow

I never hope to see one;

But I can tell you, anyhow,

I’d rather see than be one.[1

I once walked out of a restaurant when Sarah was an infant because I thought my mother had implied I was a purple cow.

I can tell you this. According to the laws we are about to read, I could have eaten a purple cow. Eating cow is OK. Yes, this morning we are about to read the laws of kashrut, about keeping kosher. What does kosher mean? The group answered clean, fit, a way that Jews eat.

Although lots of people say that it means clean, it really does not. It’s real meaning is fit, proper or appropriate.

Why do we keep kosher? The group answered, to keep us distinct, because G-d said so, because the animals are cleaner, because that is the way it has always been done.

When I was in seventh grade religious school we were a class from hell (apparently). The parents stepped in and started teaching instead of whoever couldn’t control the class. My mother’s assignment was to teach a mini-course about kashrut. Pretty funny for the classical Reform Jew. She brought in the rabbi to do the first lesson. He started by saying that kashrut is an outmoded form of Judasim and that no body kept it any more. Then we went to the old kosher deli in town and learned about red soap and blue soap. I didn’t know any body who kept kosher until I went to college.

In college I wanted to cook. Hillel had a kosher kitchen. I learned the rules. After that first batch of horrible brownies, I threw out the flavor packet thinking it wasn’t kosher, I went on to manage the Hillel kitchen and I won the Kosher Gourmet Cooking Contest. I became kosher. I bought new dishes. I marked them with nail polish on the back so that I had two meat dishes and two milk dishes. We still have them. My reason was so that any one of my friends would be comfortable eating in my house—my dorm room. For me that was reason enough. It was about community. I still do that. I am stringent about what we can and cannot do in the synagogue kitchen so that anyone will feel comfortable eating here.

In rabbinical school I took a class called ta’amei hamitzvot, the reasons behind the commandments. The rabbis argue about whether one should try to find a reason behind the commandments or not. If G-d said it, you do it. Period. You don’t need a reason. But of course they continue…

Some rabbis believe that it is about keeping Jews separate from the main society. If you have all these rules it is difficult to be social with your neighbors. In fact they say this about many of the most observed commandments, Shabbat, mezuzah, circumcision, kashrut, all designed to keep us apart, separate, unique. It is an interesting anthropological theory. But I am not sure that is what we want in 21st century America, to be kept separate.

Some people believe that eating bottom feeders or pork was dangerous. It wasn’t healthy. The animals might be carrying some very deadly disease like trichinosis. Some thought that it was a polemic against the surrounding cultures who may have worshipped a pig, for example. But those ideas seem less of issues today. So was the rabbi in Grand Rapids right? It is an outmoded form of Judaism.

I don’t think so. The answer for me lies in the last few verses of the parsha, Verse 44 says, “For I the Lord am your G-d. You shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not make yourselves impure…”

We are taught we are to be like G-d, not like the animals. So when my Weight Watchers meeting talked about wolfing down a donut, that is probably not kosher. When we pig out, that is not kosher. We are to eat like human beings. We are to sanctify our food and give thanks to G-d. We are told when we have eaten and are satisfied we should praise G-d. So for me, kashrut is a reminder of G-d. It slows me down just enough to be intentional about my eating. Oops, can’t eat that bacon cheeseburger, even if the picture looks good and smell coming from the kitchen seems divine and makes me salivate.

This week in the counting of the omer is about gevurah, discipline. Today is netzach b’gevurah, everlasting discipline. Gevurah comes from the same root as giibor, to be strong, like we read in the Amidah, “Ata Gibor”. For me observing kashrut is a discipline and one I always need to work on. It requires strength and will power. But its reward is bringing me closer to G-d. As a spiritual discipline, It is no longer an outmoded form of Judaism.

It surprised me when looking at this week’s reading how little commentary there is in Eitz Chayyim. One part actually made me chuckle. Although we are only told that we should not eat pork in the Torah twice, every Jew knows this. Eitz Chayyim contrasted that with the fact that 36 times it tells us to take care of the widow, the orphan and the stranger. True, but does every Jew know we don’t eat pork?

We Jews have made kashrut much more complex than the Torah portion itself. How do you separate meat from milk? How long do you wait? 6 hours, 3 hours or 1 hour like the Dutch. Why is chicken which never gives milk considered meat? You can never boil a chicken in its mother’s milk. Why do we need two sets of dishes and then some? The Conservative Movement has ruled that bone china cannot absorb the meat juices in the ways that earthen ware can. Why do we need a hecksher on cheese or wine? Is asparagus really not kosher? All of these issues are about putting a fence around the Torah, so that there is no chance we will break a Toraitic law. There are some groups within Judaism that are getting stricter and stricter without going back to the original intention of being holy, for fear of making a mistake outweighs being holy. We might displease G-d.

When my daughter was eight, she got very frustrated with one of our rabbis. She said that the problem with him was he just put people into little boxes. Are you kosher or are you not? If you are kosher, how kosher are you? He made keeping kosher difficult, a real challenge. It wasn’t fun. We changed synagogues. I want her to grow up with a love of Judaism, a love of G-d and a love of keeping kosher. Now she can be stringent in her own right—just ask me about Passover ketchup. She will tell you it is because that is the way I raised her and even though there is no good halachic explanation, we better not skip the Passover ketchup. Period.

If keeping kosher is about being fit or proper and remembering to be holy because G-d is holy, then there are some modern issues worth considering about kashrut.

Rabbi Dahlia Marx asks these questions:

• Can fast food that’s saturated with cholesterol be kosher?
• Is food that’s manufactured by children in Third World countries kosher?
• Is the flesh of animals raised in unimaginably bad conditions and cruelly slaughtered considered to be kosher? We don’t eat any veal in our house for example.
• Are TV dinners that are heated and served without care to children who stare impassively at screens kosher?
Can food eaten with anger and shame to compensate for all that is missing in life be kosher?

I would add some additional questions:
• Should we be using fair trade coffee and chocolate, even though it can be more expensive? I particularly like a coffee called Delicious Peace. It is kosher, fair trade and organic certified and made by a collaborative of Jews, Christians and Muslims in Uganda.
• Is organic food really better or should we be using locally sourced food—I am a big fan of the Elgin Farmer’s Market but what do we do in the winter?
• If some organic food companies keep their workers in a state of modern slavery should we be buying organic food at all? Some people including Truah, formerly Rabbis for Human Rights are boycotting some tomatos from Florida. Is this a modern kashrut issue?
• What about kosher meat? Is kosher slaughter really kinder to the animal? What about kosher meat plant workers? Are they treated ethically? There have been numerous issues lately.
• Should we take a share in a CSA to support local farmers? What about the new local food co-op I heard about last night. Should we consider a share in that?
• Using disposable dishes may make it easier to keep halachic kashrut, but it is bad for the environment. Styrofoam is the worst. But hiring someone to wash dishes may not be halachic either. Do we have the energy and wherewithal to wash our own.

When people ask me how to start keeping kosher, I explain, there are plenty of ways to keep kosher. It is not like pregnancy where you can’t be a little bit pregnant. It is more like a spectrum, or differing levels. You can keep Biblical Kashrut. Follow the rules that we will read this morning. You can observe rabbinic Kashrut. You can be a vegetarian and avoid the whole question of separation of meat and milk. You can practice eco-Kashrut and avoid the things that are a danger to the earth. You can use locally sourced food. People have been known to be kosher at home at what ever level and not out.

Ultimately, for me I think kashrut is about drawing closer to G-d and remembering to live intentionally. I don’t want to be a wolf, a pig or a purple cow. I want to be like G-d, holy. Join me.

Day 10: A departure from counting. What is the purpose of life?

Every now and then, it is necessary to break with what we are doing. We are a fifth of the way through with counting. Yesterday I got an email from a community college student. He is taking a world religion class. He is asking five religions one simple question. What is the purpose of life on earth. Simple? Hah! But maybe that is why we are counting our days, to figure out the answer to this question. To make our days count. To give purpose to our lives. Or maybe Douglas Adams had it right after all. The meaning of life is 42. If you look at gematria, 42 equals the word Elohai, one of the names of G-d. It also equals Ima, mother. So 42, G-d, is the meaning of life. Makes sense, no?

Here is what I wrote to him:
That is a very important and deep question. Did you ask many rabbis in the hope that at least one would answer? I have done a lot of work on interfaith dialogue so I would love to see what you come up with if you can share your final paper with me that would be excellent.

Your question sparked some immediate responses in my head–and I gave it to my seventh grade Bar and Bat Mitzvah students to see what they would come up with. Judaism is a 5000 year tradition with many opinions and even arguments. This is one of the things we have argued about for centuries so there is no one correct answer. In fact there is an old joke about two Jews and three opinions.

Here is mine–with some help from my seventh graders.
Our purpose on earth is to be a good person. Hillel taught “In a place where there are no men strive to be a man.” He also taught “Do not do onto others as you would not have them do onto you.” and also when someone asked him to teach all of Judaism while standing on one foot, much like you have just done, he said, “Love your neighbor as yourself, the rest is commentary, go and study.”

Micah said it this way, “It has been told to you what is required of you, to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your G-d.”

So what is this part about G-d? Abraham was the first monotheist, the one to believe in only one G-d and G-d told the Israelites we are to be a “light to the nations.” We do this in many ways, by making the world a better place (tikkun olam, repairing the world), by teaching about that One G-d and witnessing that there is only One G-d particularly when we recite the Sh’ma, Hear O Israel, the Lord our G-d, the Lord is One.” Some would say, particularly in the mystical streams of Judaism, that our purpose on earth is to unite with that One G-d, either here in this world on earth or in the world to come.

Now having said that, Jews believe that the reward is in this life, not in the world to come so the focus is on living a moral and ethical life today. We are taught to praise G-d and to thank G-d for what we have. In fact the rabbis of the Talmud taught we should say a 100 blessings every day. That leads to living a very intentional life. I think it is like Thoreau who said in his introduction to Walden Pond, “I went to the woods to live deliberately.”

Perhaps our purpose is to imitate G-d or to be like G-d. Sifre Ekev teaches “To walk in God’s ways” (Deuteronomy 11:22). These are the ways of the Holy One: “gracious and compassionate, patient, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, assuring love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and granting pardon” (Exodus 34:6). This means that just as God is gracious, compassionate, and forgiving, you too must be gracious, compassionate, and forgiving.” The text continues that as G-d clothed the naked, we should clothe the naked. As G-d visited the sick, you should visit the sick. As G-d fed the hungry, you should feed the hungry. As G-d buried the dead, you should bury the dead.

Now for the opinions of our youth, because they captured some important points…

The purpose of life according to Judaism is to serve G-d with all our heart, soul and might and to give our prayers to G0d. ANother purpose is to give peace to our enemies. And finally to make sure we spend time with our families.
The purpose of life is to fulfill G-d’s great name. I believe G-d made us praise His Great Name.
I think the purpose of life is to teach the next generation about Judaism to carry it on. Also some might believe it is to do whatever G-d wants us to do.
The purpose of life is different for everyone. According to Judaism it is to follow G-d and pray to Him and to teach everyone the stories of Judaism so we never forget about them.
The purpose of life is to teach about Judaism which is a new religion create by G-d. Some religions were made up by people but Judaism was made by G-d. He/She gave us rule and we have to do them. That is the purpose.

There you have it. Six Jews. Lots of opinions. See if it helps. If you have more questions, feel free to write or call and again, thank you for giving me something to think about and a built in lesson plan for yesterday!

Day Nine: Gevurah B’Gevurah, Be disciplined. Be strong. Not easy

Today was the ninth day of the counting of the omer. It is getting harder to do these blogs each day. Gevurah means strength. It also means disciplined. We should be disciplined in our discipline.

NOT EASY to do.

Anita Diamant, author of the Red Tent and countless books on Jewish lifecycle events as well as the founder of Mayyim Hayyim once told me to be a good writer you need to sit down and write every single day. That’s discipline.

NOT EASY to do.

Later this week we will read about keeping kosher.

NOT EASY to do.

For me, kashrut provides a discipline, a structure, a framework. It helps me remember G-d and become closer to G-d. It reminds me that the world is a bigger place than just my immediate home, block, community. There is an old Girl Scout grace, “Back of the bread is the flour and back of the flour is the mill and back of the mill is the wind and the rain and the Father’s will.” It seems somehow appropriate just having spoken about water yesterday and now talking about kashrut. Kashrut is a daily reminder and a discipline calling us to be holy because the Lord our G-d is holy. However, it takes being strong and not giving into our own will. How we show strength in strength or discipline in discipline? It is not just about kashrut but that can be my own personal weakness. It is also about treating our bodies in healthy ways: getting enough sleep, getting enough exercise, being disciplined enough to take care of ourselves, take our medications, visit the physicians, nourish our bodies, our spirits, our souls. All of that takes discipline–which I don’t always have. But I have a source of that strength if I can tap into it. The Amidah says, “Ata Gibor L’olam Adonai, You are Strong forever, Adonai. Sometimes when we talk about G-d as Tzur Yisrael, the Rock of Israel, G-d seems especially strong, a solid, everlasting Rock.

In the meantime, in similar but different language, Chazak, chazak v’nitchazek. Be strong, be strong and be strengthened. It is not so hard to do, if we remember that G-d is strong enough for the both of us.