Emor ~ אמר
21 May 2016 / 13 Iyar 5776
This past week it has been our honour and privilege to have hosted a platoon of former combat soldiers of the Israel Defence Forces, צה״ל. Through the Peace of Mind program, these veterans have had the opportunity to engage in serious and deep psychotherapeutic discussions about their experiences in military service, to enjoy the Toronto region, and to develop friendships with the families that have hosted them. We thank the four women who took on this project: Marnie Burke Damiani, Risa Levine, Rhonda Charlat and Vered Feldman; the director of Peace of Mind, Felicia Gopin; and Hannah Damiani, the bat mitzvah who raised over $10,000 for this project.
This was only one major project that our Congregation undertook this year when we marked our 60th anniversary. We sent high school students to North Bay to learn from First Nation tribes and to experience small town Jewish life. As usual, a group of our teens went on the March of the Living. We supported young adults who participated in the Ve’Ahavta and Hillel sponsored Impact Ethiopia. We have arranged to sponsor and support a refugee family from Syria. We have hosted remarkable speakers and held amazing dinners. All this while undergoing the renovation of our mezzanine level and carrying on all the usual activities of our busy and active community. We have undertaken much and should be proud of what we have accomplished.
This past week, the Torah portion coincided with contemporary life in three places: Montreal, Ottawa and Jerusalem. I’ll discuss all three along with some Torah study.
Montreal. I was one of the participants in the bi-annual Catholic-Jewish consultation between the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. I looked at the Catholic priests and thought that this Torah portion begins with rule and regulations affecting kohanim, priests of ancient Israel.
At our meeting, the Most Rev. Paul-Andre Durocher, Bishop of Gatineau and former Chair of the Catholic Bishops of Canada, initiated our discussion by exploring why we engage in this dialogue. He stated that for Catholics, dialogue with Judaism is different from Catholic relationship with other religions, because Judaism is intrinsic to Catholic religious identity. He spoke with great humility, acknowledging past actions by Christians that made Jews fearful of contact with the Church, but said that our contemporary encounter has the capacity to be a pathway to holiness, the subject of our Torah reading. Our joint engagement bears witness of loving care of God and contributes to the improvement of the world through efforts seeking greater justice, world peace, ecological conservation, peace in Holy Land and overcoming anti-semitism. I’ll come back to this dialogue later.
Torah. The holy days described in Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy differ in small ways from the Festivals mentioned here, in Leviticus. Our reading stresses the importance of formally proclaiming the holidays and mentions two differing elements of the Festivals.
דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֲלֵהֶ֔ם מֹועֲדֵ֣י ה׳ אֲשֶׁר־תִּקְרְא֥וּ אֹתָ֖ם מִקְרָאֵ֣י קֹ֑דֶשׁ אֵ֥לֶּה הֵ֖ם מֹועֲדָֽי׃
Speak to the Israelites and say to them: "These are my appointed times, the appointed festivals of the Eternal, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies."
On the one hand, these sacred days are identified by God (“my appointed times”), but they must be determined by human beings (“which you are to proclaim”).
According to the Talmud, the Sanhedrin would formally proclaim the holy day based on the testimony of witnesses who saw the new moon of the specific month. Bonfires were then lit to ensure that Jews who lived far from Jerusalem would know when the holy day was to be observed.
The Mishnah (Rosh Hashanah 2:8–9) tells of a conflict between Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabban Gamaliel, in which Yehoshua challenged Gamaliel's authority. As head of the rabbinic court, Gamaliel accepted the testimony of two witnesses who claimed to have seen the new moon. On the basis of their testimony Gamaliel, fixed the date for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Yehoshua disputed their testimony and rejected Gamaliel's ruling. Gamaliel, the Patriarch of Palestine, asserted his authority and directed Yehoshua to appear before him with his "staff and money on the Day of Atonement according to your reckoning".
Yehoshua refused. Rabbi Akiva came to persuade Yehoshua to accept Gamaliel's ruling. Unsuccessful. Rabbi Dosa ben Hurkinos told Yehoshua: "If we question the rulings of Rabban Gamaliel's court, we would have to question the rulings of every court, all the way back to the time of Moshe." The authority of the Nasi was paramount and took precedence over all questions—even legitimate ones.
Eventually, Yehoshua appeared before Gamaliel. The Talmud tells us that Gamaliel stood and kissed Yehoshua on his head, saying: “Come in peace, my master and my disciple—my master in wisdom, and my disciple, because you accepted my decision.”
This vignette can be read as being about the polarity between duly constituted communal authority and the autonomy of each rabbi. On another level it describes a human drama involving arrogance and condescension, pride and submission.
Back to Montreal. The Bishops, Rabbis, theologians and thinkers discussed the deep concern that religious Catholics and Jews have about the prospect of physician-assisted dying. While we are committed to caring for those who are dying and want to respect the personal autonomy of their decisions, we are also concerned about defending the sanctity of life, protecting the mentally and physically vulnerable, ensuring that health care workers do not have to transgress their moral red line, as well as funding and improving hospice and palliative care. I shared with the group the recent program that we sponsored on the December Project, which asks what it means to die and how might we prepare to spiritually release ourselves from our life attachments.
Ottawa. At the same time we were approaching these subjects with great “fear and trembling,” Parliament was debating the legislation related to this subject. There, we witness two competing desires: the value and importance of a full debate over this legislation and the goal of passing a law by the deadline imposed by the Supreme Court.
In the rush to move the debate forward, the Prime Minister used inappropriate language, shoved some opposing members of Parliament aside, and elbowed another parliamentarian in her breast, causing her enough pain that she left the floor of the House of Commons. The anger and arrogance of the Prime Minister was inappropriate. He has since offered a number of apologies, but the incident raises questions about his maturity and leadership.
Jerusalem. A recent debate about military leadership has led to much discussion about the future of Israel. The controversy began with a speech that Israel’s second-highest military official, Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, gave on the eve of Yom Hashoah. According to The Jerusalem Post, Golan said, “It’s scary to see horrifying developments that took place in Europe begin to unfold here… The Holocaust should bring us to ponder our public lives and, furthermore, it must lead anyone who is capable of taking public responsibility to do so… Because if there is one thing that is scary in remembering the Holocaust, it is noticing horrific processes which developed in Europe—particularly in Germany—70, 80 and 90 years ago, and finding remnants of that here among us in the year 2016.”
The general said the obligation for introspection extended to the military and called on the country to use Yom Hashoah as an opportunity to “uproot the first signs of intolerance” of foreigners. The comments immediately drew criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several cabinet ministers for likening Israeli society to Nazi Germany in any way.
Golan clarified his comments the following day: “It is an absurd and baseless comparison and I had no intention whatsoever to draw any sort of parallel or to criticize the national leadership.” I think that Golan should have been more careful with his words. The Holocaust should not be invoked to compare the past to the present. The Shoah is beyond all comparisons.
However, General Golan has a duty to comment on issues that affect the army and the citizens who bear arms. The general was defended by the Minister of Defence, Moshe Yaalon, who said that it is important for senior leadership of the military to speak without fear of reprisal. This week, the Prime Minister acted, removing Defence Minister Yaalon from his office and replacing him with the leader of another political party. This seems like a type of Rabban Gamaliel action, an arrogant assertion of authority.
Yesterday, Yaalon commented:
I worked with the prime minister harmoniously and respectfully, seriously and substantively, for a long time, and certainly during Operation Protective Edge, and for that I want to thank him. But to my great regret, I have found myself lately in deep disagreement over professional and ethical issues with the prime minister, a number of ministers and a few members of Knesset. I have fought with all my strength against radicalization, violence and racism in Israeli society, which threatens its resilience...
In general, Israeli society is a healthy society, and the majority here is sane and seeks a Jewish, democratic and liberal state, a state that accepts each person as a person, without distinction of religion, race, gender, ethnic origin or sexual orientation, a tolerant and accepting country for the weakest and the minorities, who we have a duty to embrace and not to incite against, a country that fights unequivocally against the marginalization of women, sexual harassment toward them, or turning the [woman who comes forward] into the accused.
His concern is one that others should share. I worry about arrogance in Ottawa, in Jerusalem and in our own lives.
Humility is one of the qualities most esteemed by the Rabbis and arrogance is one of the human traits that Pirkey Avot warns against.
והתורה נקנית בארבעים ושמונה דברים, ואלו הן
בתלמוד, בשמיעת האזן, בעריכת שפתים, בבינת הלב, באימה, ביראה, בענוה, בשמחה…
ולא מגיס לבו בתלמודו… והאומר דבר בשם אומרו.
Torah is acquired with 48 qualities. [Among them] are: study, listening, articulating what you study, comprehension of the heart, awe, fear, humility, and joy … lack of arrogance in learning, …and saying something in the name of its original speaker. (Avot 6.5)
A story. After Israel liberated Jerusalem in the aftermath of the Six Day War, it found itself with additional territory. One particular parcel, a military position that overlooked the capital, had been used to shell the civilian population. The land was purchased by a real estate magnate and he allowed an educational institution to use the large parcel until he decided what he would do.
At the dedication ceremony, everyone was delighted that the very place that was once a source of conflict would now be used for education. The Israel army general who commanded the battle for Jerusalem, Uzi Narkiss, was the guest speaker. After mentioning the virtues of the philanthropist and the institution, Narkiss ended his remarks with these words: “Imagine, only a few weeks ago all of this land was theirs. And now, it is ours!”
All of a sudden, a voice interrupted. It was the philanthropist. “General Narkissi! It is not ours. It is mine!”
Even though the leaders of our people had the responsibility to declare the holy times, they should remember that these haggim are determined by God. Even though political leaders may legislate about life and death, they should remember that the sanctity of life is a bedrock of civilization. Even though one may be the Prime Minister, there are appropriate ways to speak and behave. Even though a political leader may be uncomfortable with the comments of military leadership, it is important to recognize a shared commitment to the ethical and spiritual ideals of Israeli society. We must all guard ourselves against arrogance and act with greater humility.
