March 21, 2024

Rabbi Hearshen

Is it appropriate to celebrate? Can we be happy and rejoice and take part in levity and silliness? On October 7th, I was walking to the synagogue with Carrie and the girls for Simchat Torah. The walk to the synagogue was somber and felt foreboding and akin to a funeral processional. I bumped into Cantor Nati on the way and he was honest and said he wasn’t up to dancing with the Torah Scrolls or to singing and I told him I wasn’t feeling up to it either. At that moment, October 7 th was raw and new and so much was unknown. At that moment, it felt like dancing and rejoicing would be as if we were dancing on the undug graves of our loved ones. That was one approach. The other approach was the opposite in that we must stand up to hatred and terror by living our best lives and refusing to allow the terror to influence our joy. Both of these responses were appropriate, and yet we just couldn’t celebrate that Saturday night. On that Saturday night, we danced with the Torah Scrolls for the kids. We sang for the kids. We did the best we could. When the kids left, we went into the Sanctuary and sat on the ground as we do on Tisha B’Av and read the words of the Tefilot and studied Torah rather than dancing.

During Chanukah this past December, we lit our Chanukiyot and sang the blessings but we were thinking about the need to light on behalf of the captives the entire time. We thought about the spreading anti-Semitism and the fears of some Jews to display their Chanukiyot. This has been our experience. Now we’re arriving at the next celebration since October 7th and we’re left to question what is and is not appropriate. How do we celebrate the overcoming of hate and bigotry and terror when it’s alive and well today and still targeting our people? Purim is the holiday when we celebrate the Book of Esther. It’s the holiday when we celebrate our triumph over a people unable to accept others for who they are. It’s a holiday when we reflect on a kingdom of 127 states in which not a single person could step up and say no to the tyranny and the homicidal intentions. It’s a holiday in which we recognize that even with Queen Esther’s influence, she still only had so much power over her fate. The reality is these facts all remain true today.

Since Simchat Torah, we’ve been living in a state of suspended animation, not fully capable of moving forward. At times, it’s been because of fear and at others it’s been because of sadness. We’ve grieved and we’ve defended and yet we’re still in this state of being unable to move forward. The lessons of the Book of Esther are too numerous to enumerate in regards to Purim in 5784. What was Haman’s problem with us? He hated one Jew and therefore he had to hate all Jews. What was his problem with that one Jew? He refused to conform and refused to massage Haman’s ego. As Jews, we know full well we’re different. We know we’re a minority. We know we’re the eternal “other.” There’s only one place in the world we’re not a minority and “other” and that’s Israel. Unfortunately, others are unable to accept we exist and breathe the same air they do. Hamas’ vision isn’t of Israel and Palestine living side by side. Their vision is of the entirety of the State of Israel being destroyed and the State of Palestine being built in its place. It’s even more genocidal since they have no intention of allowing Jews to live in the State of Palestine because they won’t breathe our air and won’t allow us to exist in their world.

It’s recorded in the Book of Esther that over 75,000 people were killed by Jews who were defending themselves at the time. The number is astounding and painful to digest, and at the same time it’s beyond essential to recognize the text itself explains the reason for this massive loss of life. It was the king declaring he wasn’t able to change the law already been decreed against the Jews. The Jews would instead have an additional decree that they were allowed to defend themselves. What do we have today? Imagine for a moment if on October 7th the world, the entire world, had said no. Imagine if on October 7th the United Nations lined up and said “not on our watch.” Imagine if the world hadn’t found justifications and rationales. Imagine if the world hadn’t created a set of rules for all the nations and people of the world and an entirely different set for the State of Israel and the Jewish People. Imagine if we all stood together and said rape, murder, mutilation and kidnapping are always wrong no matter the culprit and no matter the victim. But the world did none of these things and instead justified the actions of the terrorists. The world refused, and still refuses, to see that the State of Israel and its army, the IDF, have waged this war while trying hard to protect those who live in Gaza.

So, what’s to be done with Purim this year? There are those who claim it’s inappropriate for us to celebrate because of the real pain and suffering of the war and the kidnapped Israelis. They’re not wrong, and at the same time, they’re not 100% right. We cannot forsake our Judaism for their terror and we cannot forsake our joy that exists in spite of the pain all around us. To forego our joy would mean to accept a world that only exists in pain and darkness.

We need to see we live in a broken world that’s filled with joy and pain, love and misery, light and dark, excitement and fear, and so much more. We need to be able to live in a world that encompasses the full range of human emotions and not cast one to the side. This year at Purim, we need to be willing to celebrate, but to dial it back a notch. We need to know we’re celebrating on behalf of captives… on behalf of widows and orphans… and on behalf of all others mentally and physically unable to celebrate. We must hold them with us as we celebrate and spend time reflecting not only on the joy of Purim, but on the story itself, and how it continues to be rewritten in the present tense repeatedly in every generation.

Parshat Pekudei

Rabbi Hearshen

The book of שמות / Exodus has 11 portions in it and the book of בראשית / Genesis has 12 which means between the two of them is 23 פרשיות/portions. This also means we’ve gathered for שבת / Shabbat 23 times since October 7th as of this coming שבת. That’s an insane number and what it means is it’s been 23 weeks since over 1,200 lives were stolen from our world at the hands of bigoted terrorists. It means it’s been 23 weeks since 130 captives have been home for שבת/Shabbat. The latest info we have on the captives as reported by I24 is: Among the 130 October 7 abductees, there are 111 men and 19 women. The number includes two children under the age of 5. In terms of nationalities, there are 119 Israelis and 11 foreigners: eight citizens of Thailand, one of Nepal, one of Tanzania, and one each from France and Mexico. Hamas is believed to have kept bodies of 31 abductees believed dead, including the late Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul. We have read 23 תורה readings since this disaster began, and to be honest, we don’t seem any closer to the end than we did at the beginning.
 
On Sunday night, the great foreign policy experts and the eternally and supremely moral group called Hollywood (please read in the sarcastic way this was intended) celebrated themselves with the annual Oscars Awards Ceremony. Numerous stars chose to ignore the hatred and bigotry of Hamas. Numerous chose to look the other way when women were viciously raped and had their bodies mutilated (not to mention the women still in captivity and still being exposed to such immoral and abusive treatment). These Hollywood stars chose to ignore the real threat that a Western Democracy faces at the hands of a barbaric terrorist group and instead demonized the victim defending itself. That’s what it means to state “Cease Fire Now.” But they were not unique as last week the President of the United States was forced to alter his motorcade route to the US Capitol where he was due to deliver a speech that is sanctioned by the Constitution of the United States… this rerouting was due to people who were demanding said “Cease Fire Now”. And of course, during the speech we saw on full display a minority of elected officials who held up signs calling for that cease fire.
 
Friends, I want a cease fire. I want to see Israelis living in security and in peace. I want to see the soldiers come home to resume their lives. I want to see the world come back to visit all of the incredible sites in Israel. I also want to see security and prosperity for the Palestinians in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and I want them to have safety. We can have an immediate cease fire and all it takes is handing over 130 hostages and Hamas leaving Gaza or turning themselves in. Any demand of a cease fire that calls on Israel to stop pursuing Hamas and accept them is not a cease fire… it’s kicking the can down the road and assuring Israelis continue living in terror. Any cease fire that allows Hamas to hold onto the innocent Israeli captives is not moral. It’s called enabling terror.  
We’ve read 23 פרשיות since this awfulness began. We’ve spent 23 שבתs concerned and in pain. The sad reality is that until Hamas accepts it cannot murder, rape and kidnap its way into legitimacy, we will not be able to read another פרשה without this war. I pray the US and the Israelis are able to help alleviate the suffering of the citizens of Gaza who aren’t linked to Hamas in any way. I pray for this because it’s the humane and moral thing to do. I pray for this because we have an obligation to fight, not at their level, but at a much higher and holier level which is one that calls on us to protect the innocent to the best of our abilities. As the משכן / Tabernacle was being completed in this week’s פרשה: פקודי / Pekudei we learn again about the special headpiece the כהן גדול/High Priest would wear that said קודש לה’ / Holy to God on it. This was worn by the כהן גדול as he was our representative and as such that special headpiece was symbolic of all of us. Every Jew is holy to God and needs to see him/herself as being such. At the same time, there’s an undertone in Jewish tradition that acknowledges all of humanity is sacred because all of humanity contains a piece of God inside from having been made in God’s image. When engaging in war, we’re obliged to see ourselves as Divine creations that each contain a piece of Divinity within. We also need to see the innocents on the other side as being made in the Divine image.

On שבת morning, we’ll celebrate our Sisterhood and will complete the book of שמות / Exodus. As we complete the reading, we’ll stand and recite “חזק חזק ונתחזק” / Be Strong Be Strong and We will be Strengthened… We need strength. We need courage. We need love. We need passion. We need fortitude. We need to keep our eyes on the goal of securing our homeland and our people. We need to listen and recognize we need to do all we can to help with humanitarian aid. We need to stay the course and we need to recognize this was never going to be easy. There’s a great deal of noise out there that’s trying to take away our strength (some even from our people who claim to speak with authority on our behalf, yeah that’s you Hollywood) and we must not let them take our strength. It’s through our strength that we’ll build more and more and become strengthened morally and physically. Our unity is so important and we must not allow for the noise of our detractors to take that from us since we need it now more than ever.

Parshat Vayakhel

Rabbi Hearshen

The portions of the Torah are named based on the first meaningful word that’s found in the section. Sometimes it’s the first word as is the case with בראשית/Bereshit, but more often than not it’s a few or so words into the verse that the Parsha gets its name. This week’s Parsha, ויקהל, gets its name from the very first word which means “and he convened (assembled the congregation)”. This is the same word we use quite often in describing OVS as our Keila or Keilah. It’s the Hebrew word קהילה, which means congregation. There’s another word for congregation you might be familiar with from other synagogues and that word is עדה, or more often than not עדת, which also means congregation. The opening verse of this week’s Parsha thus reads:

וַיַּקְהֵ֣ל מֹשֶׁ֗ה אֶֽת־כׇּל־עֲדַ֛ת בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֑ם אֵ֚לֶּה הַדְּבָרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֥ה יְהֹוָ֖ה לַעֲשֹׂ֥ת אֹתָֽם׃

And Moses assembled the entire congregation of the children of Israel and said to them “these are the things that God commanded (you) to do them”. (Shmot 35:1)

At the core of Judaism and Jewish peoplehood is a deep belief in the importance and the supremacy of community and communal living. It’s common for Jews to travel the world and to visit the Jewish communities at each destination. Carrie and I celebrated our honeymoon in Barbados a few years after our wedding, and while there, we visited the island’s remaining synagogue (Sephardic in origin) and even spent time in the attached cemetery cleaning graves. There’s something that connects us to one another and it’s something special and unique about the Jewish people and our relationship to the world Jewish community.

Our קהילה is over 100 years old. Our founders came from Turkey and Rhodes seeking a better life for themselves and their families. When they arrived here, they established a community that served as their social, cultural, educational and religious center by creating a synagogue. Over the years, our members have demonstrated their commitment to the Jewish people and to their heritage by having a special affinity to OVS and making it the center of their lives. As the years progressed and the generations grew up, more and more American things changed, but the adoration for OVS never diminished. The way Jews have shown their love for their קהילה is by giving from their hearts. In this week’s portion, we learn the term נדיב לב, which means those whose hearts inclined them towards something, and in this case, it was contributions to the community and the building of the משכן/Tabernacle. What’s incredible is eventually the builders and artisans had to tell משה/Moses they had enough and that people had to stop giving. Think about that. People just wanted to give all they could.

This article is not an appeal for funds for our community. Rather it’s an appeal for your hearts and your commitment. We need you. We need your involvement. We need your commitment. We need you. Since COVID ravaged our world in 2020, communities have struggled to restart with varying degrees of success. With the worst behind us, we need to rebuild what COVID broke. We need to rebuild our communities and the only way to do that is for each of us to do our part. We need you to come to services. We need you to come to classes. We need you to come to gatherings. We need you to come to meetings. We need you. If there’s something we’re not doing right, please let us know and we’ll see what we can do to correct it. If there’s something you’d like us to do, please talk to us so we can plan programs you want. We need you. We need your hearts and your commitment. Our community can only be as strong as our members and their commitments. Let’s work together to assemble our community together more and more often and with greater strength.

February 29, 2024

Rabbi Hearshen

One of the easiest misconceptions of Judaism is that it’s “the religion of the Torah”. Unfortunately, this over simplification is not a true definition and inadvertently paints a completely inaccurate picture of our sacred tradition and religion. Judaism is the religion of the covenantal relationship between a people and God through their interpretation of the Torah given to them by God. The interpretation takes shape through the Oral Torah: the משנה/Mishnah, the תלמוד/Talmud (there are two of them by the way) and the מדרשים/Midrashim. It’s further expressed through the commentaries on the תורה/Torah and the other books of the תנ”ך/TaNaKh (Jewish Bible) and the Codes of Jewish Law.
 
It’s important to understand interpretation doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Interpretation follows a deeply rooted tradition and adheres to a system and a set of rules. We’re the recipients of this tremendous gift previous generations have bequeathed to us. Interpretation allows for the Jew of today to continue to be in conversation with our sacred text and our sacred faith.
 
Some examples of interpretative devices include:

  • Defining a word/concept in one ambiguous place through the same word/concept appearing in another place.
  • Applying a general rule to a more specific version of that same idea.
  • Proximity of concepts and stories where two values/stories/commandments are not accidentally next to each other and so they inform each other.

 These are just three of the interpretative tools in our toolbox. We have many more. All interpretation requires a deep reading of the text with a very analytical eye. We cannot accept that anything just happens to be there. All must be there for a reason and we have the ability and responsibility to try to figure out why the text is shaped as it is. This week’s פרשה/portion has one very well-known and important example.

וְאַתָּ֞ה דַּבֵּ֨ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר אַ֥ךְ אֶת־שַׁבְּתֹתַ֖י תִּשְׁמֹ֑רוּ כִּי֩ א֨וֹת הִ֜וא בֵּינִ֤י וּבֵֽינֵיכֶם֙ לְדֹרֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם לָדַ֕עַת כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה מְקַדִּשְׁכֶֽם׃

Speak to the Israelite people and say: Nevertheless, you must keep My sabbaths, for this is a sign between Me and you throughout the ages, that you may know that I יהוה have consecrated you. (Exodus 31:13)
 
The critical and important word here is אך/nevertheless. This word demands we ask what the exception is. Why the word “but”, or in this translation, “nevertheless”? This word clearly expresses something is being laid out as an exception to a rule and we need to find out what that is. In our case, we’ve been knee deep in a very intense list and description of the intricacies of the building of the משכן/Mishkan and thus the future Temple. The text is telling us all about the physical building, the clothing of the priest who will serve in it, and the fabrication of the instruments they’ll use. All of this is being spoken about until the text abruptly says “nevertheless…” or “but…” “you must keep My sabbaths”. This comes to teach us what Shabbat actually is. It’s the act of abstaining from anything that was being done to prepare and build the משכן and all of its tertiary parts. It’s from this verse we begin the work of deriving the 39 acts of labor prohibited on Shabbat.
 
The value of rest was created by Judaism and the idea of the Sabbath. It’s counter-intuitive to promote the idea of resting and refusing to be productive for a period of time. Societies are built by those who work hard and resist the urge to rest. Judaism in a very counter-culture way says rest is sacred and needed as it is commanded and it isn’t just any old rest. It’s something that’s proscribed and commanded by God and is specific in its shape and makeup. We’re prohibited from constructive labor. We are not to make new things. 

Parshat Mishpatim

Rabbi Hearshen

Some of the most iconic and meaningful words in Jewish history and philosophy are found in this week’s portion, משפטים/Mishpatim: נעשה ונשמע/We will do and we will hear/understand. In order to better understand these words, allow me a moment of Hebrew education. As I’ve said in the past, the Hebrew language is based on a system of roots called שרשים and those roots are typically three letters. For our purposes, we need to know the roots ע.ש.ה and ש.מ.ע. The root ע.ש.ה is the stative verb of to be or to do. The root ש.מ.ע is the concept of hearing. But it’s also more in that it’s to fully hear something which would thus imply a sense of understanding. As in other languages, Hebrew has past, present and future conjugations along with command and other forms. (Sidebar: in biblical grammar we use the term perfect for past and imperfect for future.) The letter “נ” is the prefix that’s used to show first person plural in the future tense and thus we have our two words: נעשה “we will do something (in the future)” and נשמע “we will hear/understand it (in the future).” These words are the origin of the explanation of the Jewish philosophy of faith and understanding, which come from action and the fulfillment of mitzvot. It’s one thing to sit around and theorize about the world and about Jewish practice and a whole other thing to actually be engaged in both. One cannot fully understand keeping kosher without keeping kosher, one cannot understand Shabbat without observing Shabbat, and one cannot understand Seder without actually doing Seder.

On Sunday morning, I arrived back in Atlanta from an incredible trip to Israel. I want to thank the Jewish Federation of Atlanta, the JCRC and the donor who made this trip happen. I want to thank all of you for affording me this opportunity to attend and be part of this incredible experience. Many people signed up to receive my updates on WhatsApp while I was away. While each of you were able to learn about Israel and the situation second-hand from me, there’s undoubtedly a level of understanding I was able to attain but wasn’t able to pass along. Likewise, it’s wonderful to be well informed and to stay up to date on all that’s transpiring across the ocean, but it’s not the same as living in Israel and experiencing it all first hand. When I walked in Kfar Azza, I walked the same ground upon which our loved ones fought and fled from terror. When I went into one of the destroyed homes, I was in the presence of the love of the couple who lived there and the evil of those who destroyed their lives. When I was in Sderot, I was able to better appreciate that they don’t run for shelter when they hear the alarm, but when they hear the Iron Dome because they’re too close to wait for an alarm. When I was the Reyim Forest, I witnessed the red flowers that are part of the yearly phenomenon called אדום בדרום, the red in the south, that sees the beautiful red flowers bloom in the late winter and spring. I saw the red flowers blooming in fields that were filled with the blood of over 240 young people who were massacred for being Jewish. When a siren sounded while we were on our bus in Tel Aviv, we experienced the rush and anxiety of fleeing for safety firsthand that none of us can fully appreciate. We watched as the Iron Dome was activated and intercepted some of the seven rockets the terrorists hatefully sent to harm and kill us.

As American Jews, we’ve shown our support for Israel from afar. We’ve been the people who read about and learn about it but don’t live the experience of modern Jewish sovereignty in the shape of the State of Israel. This experience has its pluses and also its limitations. Those limitations are something we each need to find a way to minimize. I’ve visited Israel eight times in my life. It’s a place where my heart lives and where I feel most alive and complete. It’s a place where I stop reading about absolute and complete Jewish living and begin living it first-hand. It’s a place where I’m able to fully understand the Torah and the ways it’s meant to shape our society. As an American Jew, I accept these limitations on my understanding of Judaism and Jewish Life. At the same time, I’m aware that by getting on an airplane, I can go to my home and erase that distance and that lack of awareness and gain a fuller appreciation for all that has happened, is happening and will happen and find my place in all of that.

February 22, 2024

Rabbi Hearshen

We live in a time of unparalleled choice. When we go to the store, we have so many options to choose from in all sorts of realms. When we purchase clothing, we have so many choices. We can choose from so many stores and so many types of clothing. Each of us chooses our clothing based on needs, personalities and tastes. The clothing we choose to wear says a great deal about who we are. The clothing also says a great deal about what we’re doing when we’re wearing it. Bathing suits are clearly appropriate for the pool but aren’t when we go to dinner. Athletic shoes are the go-to for when we work out but not when we go to an important meeting. The list can go on and on… While clothing can seem like such a mundane subject, it’s something of great importance.

פרשת תצוה/Parshat Tetzaveh introduces the concept of specific clothing for a segment of the Jewish people, the Kohenim/priests. These clothes were intended to distinguish the appointed and also to imbue them with a level of holiness. The reality is the Kohenimare/were no holier than the other Israelites (and likewise Jewish people are not “holier” than non-Jewish people). The clothing wasn’t designed so much to make them holy but to help them to see their holiness. The clothing they had to wear amounted to their uniform, and as such, it was there to help them in their work as our messengers, servants and intermediaries. The clothing of the Kohenim would be both functional and meaningful all at one time.

As Jews, we have a “uniform.” Males cover their heads when engaged in Jewish practices and when in synagogues or other sacred spaces. Some of us choose to cover our heads all the time. We wear a Tallit. Our Sephardic practice is to begin wearing it at Bar Mitzvah or even before, while in Ashkenazi tradition wearing a Tallitoften doesn’t begin until marriage. There’s so much more to this, but in general it’s crucial to recognize that clothing in Judaism has a purpose. The purpose of our clothes is quite similar to the clothes of the Kohenim, it’s to help us in our sacredness. The clothing we wear is situational and changes from community to community, but nevertheless it’s designed to help us in connecting with God and with our heritage.

(5) A person should not stand with their money-belt [“taska” in the language of this country] on, or with an uncovered head or uncovered legs, if it is the practice of the people of that place not to stand in front of important people unless their legs are covered.  (6) It is the way of scholars (chachamim) and their students not to pray when they are not wrapped (in a tallit?). [Note — and at a time of anger, there is to clasp one’s hands when one prays like a servant before their master. And at a time of peace, there is to adorn oneself in nice clothes to pray. {Tur}] (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Hayim 91:5 – 6) This is the legal basis for how we expect Jews to dress when praying.

The idea is effectively to dress the way it’s appropriate to dress in the presence of an important person in our society. We’re called upon to have our clothing match our situation and that matters. To stand before an “important person” is the example given for how we should “stand before God.” Therefore, clothing does matter. When we dress, we do so not because the clothing is sacred, but because it elevates our attitude and our approach.

Some of you have noticed I’ve chosen over the years to match my kippot to my clothing. I’ve done this because it’s fun and because I like things to be coordinated. Since October 7, I haven’t felt able to do this because it was fun and I haven’t been in a “fun” mood. When I traveled to Israel in November, I purchased four new kippot and those are the only ones I’ve worn since. I also purchased extras of the same styles and have been selling them to raise more money for Israel. We still have a few available for purchase by calling the office.

Our clothing is also a clear way of expressing ourselves. We wear shirts from our favorite bands. We wear clothing in our favorite colors. We wear styles we find fun and exciting. This is a way to express who we are. Many of us wear jewelry with Jewish imagery on it to help show our Jewish pride. The goal needs to be that we continue to do this, and to do it more and more often. We need to wear our Jewish identity with pride and love. We need to see that our clothing is purposeful and meaningful.

February 15, 2024

Rabbi Hearshen

I’m struggling to write this article. I know this isn’t the greatest introduction you’ve ever read, but please stay with me here. Since October 7th I’ve written every article about the war in Israel. I’ve purposely spoken about Israel on every Friday night and every Saturday morning. I’ve done this because rabbis must be relevant when they write and speak. I cannot think of anything that’s more relevant to our lives right now than what’s happening to the Jewish world. But I’m tired. I’m tired of the pain and sorrow. I’m tired of being stuck. I’m tired of defending. I’m tired of forcing some supportive statements into the themes of the Torah portion. I’m tired. But I’m also quite scared. I’m scared if I don’t write about Israel for one article we’ll begin to accept it as the new normal. I’m scared we’re losing our drive and our determination. I’m scared we’ve reached the stage of grief of acceptance and that acceptance spells doom for us because it makes us complacent. So, I’m torn between the need to speak about the depth of the Jewish experience and the richness of a life committed to Judaism versus the need to continue to keep us at a heightened sense of alertness in our defense and support of the State of Israel. With all of that in mind, I’m dedicating this article to the people of the State of Israel. To the members of the IDF and to the hostages in Gaza. I’m dedicating this article to those who are in hospitals fighting to get better. May our learning together, coupled with our prayers, lift them up and help them find the strength to keep fighting the good fight.

Why do we build synagogues? Why do buildings matter? Or VeShalom is not a building, although we own one and we use it to gather. It’s a community. People do not “belong” to the בית כנסת/Beit Knesset (Hebrew word for the synagogue building) they “belong” to the קהילה/Keilah (Hebrew word for community). When we left our first building for Virginia Highland, it didn’t mean we ended or started anew. It meant we took our community from one gathering place to another. When we moved into our current home in the 70s, we didn’t create a new organization. We continued what had already been established.

We build synagogues because we need to have a place to gather. We decorate those places so they’re conducive to the varieties of gatherings we have. But it’s not about the building. It’s about the people in the building. One of my favorite quotes from the Torah is “ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם/And they shall make Me a holy place and I will dwell in them”. Chances are I wrote about this last year and the year before that. I simply love this quote and the depth that can be found within it. The issue is one of Hebrew grammar. The object being built is written in the singular, but the place where God is asserting that God will dwell is in the plural. The dwelling is in “them” and not “it”. What the text is trying to assert is that through sacred building and sacred acts we bring God into the world.

When I came to OVS in 2020, the world was in chaos. COVID 19 was all we talked about and we were doing everything we could to stay safe and healthy. We were remote, not because of convenience, but because of fear both real and perceived. Over the few years since then, we’ve had some false starts and some real ones, and thankfully came out of the darkness into some light we’re now blessed to appreciate. The problem is we’re not fully back to normal. The problem is our isolation and “solutions” have become a new normal. Being remote was something we did because of illness but it can’t be what it takes to make us healthier and stronger.

Judaism is a religion of gathering and togetherness. It’s a religion God called on us to build together so God could be in us. Judaism isn’t so much about the individual relationship with God as it’s about the communal. It’s time for us to return to our building (I mean that as a noun and a verb). We need to come back to the building and be together. We need to be together. And we also need to return to our acts of building (the verb) and grow as Jews and as spiritual people. We need to learn and reassert our commitment to our Judaism. That’s what it means when we build a Holy Place for God. We need to be building so God can be in us. I love the State of Israel. I support the State of Israel unapologetically. I’ll never change this for a moment. At the same time, we cannot continue to replace our Judaism, Jewish observances, and beliefs, with Zionism. We must take care of our spiritual selves and allow for our deep commitments to Zionism to be a component of our Judaism but not the entirety of it.

Parshat B’Shalach

Rabbi Hearshen

And similarly, Rabbi Yoḥanan said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “And the one came not near the other all the night” (Exodus 14:20)? The ministering angels wanted to sing their song, for the angels would sing songs to each other, as it states: “And they called out to each other and said” (Isaiah 6:3), but the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: The work of My hands, the Egyptians, are drowning at sea, and you wish to say songs? This indicates that God does not rejoice over the downfall of the wicked. (Talmud Bavli Megilah 10b)

This famous midrash from the Talmud is one I’ve used many times over the years. I recall the night former President Obama announced the death of Osama Bin Laden and the jubilation and parties that were seen on the news. I recall feeling a sense of woe that this was what we, Americans, were capable of doing. I recall feeling a sense that it just didn’t feel right to rejoice when someone was killed. This was not in any way to diminish his evilness and his awfulness, but to reassert my, our, sense of humanity and morality. The death of a dangerous enemy is something to accept as the price of our safety, security and freedom but it’s not something to be celebrated.

Another example of this principle from the Talmud is: “There were these hooligans in Rabbi Meir’s neighborhood who caused him a great deal of anguish. Rabbi Meir prayed for God to have mercy on them, that they should die. Rabbi Meir’s wife, Berurya, said to him: What is your thinking? On what basis do you pray for the death of these hooligans? Do you base yourself on the verse, as it is written: “Let sins cease from the land” (Psalms 104:35), which you interpret to mean that the world would be better if the wicked were destroyed? But is it written, let sinners cease?” (Talmud BavliBrachot 10a)

This nuanced take on the subject asserts that it’s not the death of evil people we pray for but rather the death of evil. The colloquial of this is “hate the sin not the sinner”. I’m reminded of these lessons as we read the words of Parshat B’Shalach this week. We had been released from our enslavement after more than 400 years. We had begun the process of dealing with our trauma and moving forward. We had begun all of this and suddenly we faced a real existential threat in the shape of the Egyptians chasing us from behind and the Sea of Reeds threatening us in our path. At this moment, God split the sea and we safely crossed to the other side to freedom, while the waters closed back over the Egyptians and killed all of them. This is the basis of the text from Megilah 10b… that the angels upset God for celebrating the demise of the Egyptians. There’s no doubt the Egyptians wished to do us harm. There’s no doubt they were to some degree evil. And there’s no doubt their deaths prevented us from being taken captive and/or to our deaths. All of this is true and yet one thing is of the utmost importance. Our freedom and safety had to be assured and celebrated, but their demise, while it was a necessary part of our security, was something we weren’t allowed to celebrate.

It’s natural human instinct to rejoice when those who seek to harm us are harmed themselves. It’s natural to want to see those who have inflicted pain and suffering on us be pained and made to suffer, but this isn’t a moral or Jewish way to see the world. Our safety and security are number one. People will suffer as collateral damage in our quest to assure our safety and security. It’s imperative we recognize the great importance of this moral value. We’ve all witnessed celebrations in certain areas of the world when Israelis or Americans have been terrorized and murdered over the years. These celebrations are a desecration of God’s name and truly the embodiment of immorality. To celebrate the pain and suffering of another is wrong in a great number of ways. As we sit here in America, the State of Israel continues to be at war with a group of terrorists like no other we’ve ever seen. Hamas is evil incarnate. Each day this war continues, the IDF takes steps towards assuring a better tomorrow at a great cost. The costs are: more than 200 members of the IDF have fallen in action, more than 3,000 IDF soldiers have been injured and 500,000 Israelis have been displaced since the beginning of hostilities. More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, and while a significant portion are hostile combatants, the majority aren’t. A high number of Palestinians have also been injured… the costs have been great. What’s of the utmost importance is that while we recognize the obligation of this war, and the necessity of it, we must recognize the cost of the war on both sides. We cannot become callous and immoral and celebrate the losses on the other side. We must maintain our morality and see the loss of life as a tragic necessity to our future.

This coming week I’ll be out of the office. I’m honored to be a part of a group of Jewish leaders from Atlanta to be traveling to Israel to learn, to help and to grow. I thank the Jewish Federation for this opportunity. If you’d like to stay in touch and learn what I’m doing while I’m in Israel, please consider joining the WhatsApp group I started at https://chat.whatsapp.com/FZKBo0Zz5zeDJ1sUycGx02. I’ll be posting updates and responding to comments and questions while I’m there.

January 18, 2024

Rabbi Hearshen

Rashi was an 11th century Rabbi who is probably the greatest commentator to ever exist in our people. His commentary to the Torah and the Talmud is so indispensable that when the first Hebrew Bibles were published to the masses, following the invention of the printing press, they created a special font just for him so his comments wouldn’t be mistaken for the printed text of the Bible. That script is now referred to as Rashi Script although he never read it since it came well after his passing.

Rashi’s first comment on the Torah questioned why the Torah began with the creation of the world. He pointed out it should have begun in chapter 12 of this week’s reading: “This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you. Speak to the community leadership of Israel and say that on the tenth of this month each of them shall take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household”. (Shmot 12:2 – 3) This is considered to be the first commandment given to the Israelites. Prior to this command there were others, but they were given to individuals and now they were given to the covenanted people. So Rashi asserted this is where the Torah should have begun but it didn’t because God needed to explain to the world that the Israelites had a special relationship with Him and with the land.  He explained this was to also demonstrate that we didn’t steal the land but that God gave it to us, as God owns all the land in the world.

I’d also like to explain the Torah didn’t commence here because it needed to begin in the universal and work its way to the specific. God is the only God in the world and is thus the God of all, as explained in Bereshit/Genesis. After the Torah demonstrated this universality, it was able to express the specificity of us, as the Torah is a book for us and not for other religious traditions with other relationships with God. Regardless, what’s intriguing about this assertion of Rashi is he recognized then, as we do now, that we would be accused, wrongfully, of taking something that belonged to another people. Rashi saw back in France, in the 11th century, that the Jewish people would be criticized and their connection to the Land of Israel would be usurped. It was as true then as it is now.

The Land of Israel is uniquely positioned and situated at the center of the ancient world. If you look at a map, you’ll notice Europe, Asia and Africa are actually connected and thus one mega continent. At the center of that continent is Israel. It’s impossible to travel from Africa to any place in Europe or Asia without passing through Israel. In pre-modern times there was no knowledge of the Americas, Antarctica or Australia. Thus, the civilizations of that time period placed a greater emphasis on the land at the crossroads of the world. That was the geopolitical reason, but there’s so much more.

Judaism is the mother religion to the three great monotheistic faiths. Without Judaism, there wouldn’t be Christianity or Islam. It was only natural that Christianity, with its supersession or replacement theology/philosophy, would want to have control of the land that was holy to the people it intended to replace. The same would be true later on when Islam arose on the Arabian Peninsula and asserted its own version of supersession theology. It would prove to be awful, as for nearly 1,000 years, Christians and Muslims took turns trying to forcefully control the land we call Israel.

To assert, after all of the back and forth, that we “stole” the land from others ignores the reality that we were always there, and we were the ones who originated the idea of it being elevated and sacred. To accuse us of being the ones who moved there, and that we’re colonizers, is to completely ignore history in all its meanings. This is why when we travel to Israel, we’re not merely visiting some place, but rather we’re returning home. That’s why we have to uphold that we’re not foreigners but natives who’ve come back. Jews were never “home” anywhere else in the world except in Israel.

However, we can’t ignore the reality that there’s another people in Israel holding to a narrative that they’re the inhabitants of the land. There’s much to be said about when Palestinians became a people, and there’s never been a nation called Palestine, but that doesn’t help anything at all. It does us no good to ignore their claims since it’s not enough to be right. The cost of us being right is too great and would simply leave us in an endless war with terrorists who know no limits in terms of depravity and ugliness. When Hamas is defeated, and Gazans are liberated from oppression at their hands… When Israelis are able to return to their homes and not need to worry about another October 7… When leadership is present on the Palestinian side who are ready to take steps to end this war… And, yes, when Israel has leadership with courage and vision… Then it will be time to extricate ourselves from a part of our land so it can be their land. In the long run, that’s the only way there will be a lasting ability for Israelis to live in security and thus in peace.

Parshat Vaera

Rabbi Hearshen

וַיְדַבֵּר מֹשֶׁה כֵּן אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ אֶל־מֹשֶׁה מִקֹּצֶר רוּחַ וּמֵעֲבֹדָה קָשָׁה / But when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to Moses, their spirits crushed by cruel bondage. (Exodus 6:9) These words from near the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, VaEra, discuss a phenomenon many of us can relate to: feeling crushed and beaten down. There have been so many times where each of us have felt winded and unable to get our bearings because of something that’s transpired in our lives or in our world. People can say all sorts of things to us but we aren’t be able to internalize them or believe them because we are beaten or we are just too far gone at that moment. This is not new as it’s clearly seen in this week’s reading and therefore needs to be addressed.

The news around the world is not good. In fact, it hasn’t been good for quite some time. Just as one crisis seems to abate we find ourselves knee deep in another one. I remember in the months following 9/11 I spoke on a Shabbat about a website called happynews.com. It was 2001 and I was exasperated by the awful news and reality of our world. I was looking for something that wasn’t terrible and hence the website happynews.com. Back in 2001, the top story was about a zoo that was exercising its penguins by taking them for walks around the zoo. Today’s number one video is of a sneaky German Shepard that stole a toddler’s pacifier and was caught. While to some this might sound ignorant as it ignores the real pain and adversity in the world today, I would argue nobody is ignoring the storm; we just need reminding there’s a rainbow after it as well.

To have a broken spirit today is natural. As Jews, we’ve spent enough time feeling discriminated against and hated. We’ve put up with enough anti-Semitism. I was overjoyed to see so many people join us this week to learn about anti-Semitism when we joined together with St James United Methodist Church. I am very proud of our members who are taking it upon themselves to travel to Israel and help our homeland. Both of these call to mind the קצר רוח/broken spirits we’re contending with and our collective need to find an antidote. With all this said, to every ying there is often a yang. In this case, it’s wonderful to boast that we show up for conversations about the oldest hatred still in existence (hatred of us) and show up for Israel, but we struggle to show up as Jews to so much more. We struggle to show up for learning opportunities about our faith, our practices and our heritage. We struggle to show up for ritual observances such as Shabbat services and minyan. We struggle to show up to volunteer to help both in our building and outside as well. OVS is not unique in this, but we can only address our struggles and not those of other institutions.

The reality is I will continue to write, advocate and speak about Israel and anti-Semitism because the need is real and urgent. But I cannot continue to do so at the expense of our spiritual well-being. After the shootings in Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life Synagogue in 2017, two books came out about anti-Semitism. One of these books was by Atlanta’s own Dr. Deborah Lipstadt and the other was by Bari Weiss. Both books analyzed the real hatred that’s out there and both asked the profound and relevant question of “what can we Jews do”? The answer in both books and in numerous other places is that we need to redouble our efforts to be committed to ourselves, to our people and to our religion. Our response to their dark hatred is to bring light into the world and that light must be a deepening of our commitment to Judaism. Each of us must find ways to do more and be more. Each of us must take our קצר רוח / broken spirit and rebuild it through our faith and our practices. When Jews are committed to our people we are strong. When Jews are committed to our observances we are stronger. When Jews step up to grow as Jews, we become stronger in spite of the hate and ugliness sent our way.

The greatest tool we have in our toolbox today is to simply show those who hate us they don’t matter even a little. We take who we are seriously and we are committed to our people and our faith. The greatest stand we can make isn’t about arguing with them online. It’s not about counter protests or about proving them wrong. It’s about wearing our Jewish jewelry and our kippot where ever we go. It’s about making sure our Mezuzot are placed on our houses. It’s about becoming more engaged Jews and thus strengthening ourselves while diminishing them. Please consider what you can do to become a more involved and committed Jew, and member of our community, and let us know what we can do to assist you on that journey.