From the Cantor - July 18, 2024
As we enter high Summer and prepare for Tisha B'Av, the darkest day ion the Jewish calendar, we read some of the most interesting and challenging Parshiot of the year. This week, is one of the Torah portions, named after a Non-Jew. Noach was the first, and Yitro the father-in-law of Moses the second in which the Ten Commandments are given.
"Balak," as this week’s portion is called, was the Evil King of Moab. The story is really about the even more Evil prophet Billam- who was hired by King Balak to curse the Jewish people in the desert of Sinai, We have chronologically jumped 38 years ahead to the last of the 40 year journey in the "Midbar" or Desert and the Nation of Israel are young and hardened by these 40 years in the desert. Moshe their 120 year old Leader and teacher knows that he will die before the Children of Israel go into The Land of Israel still called Canaan, to conquer the land.
Balak, the King of Moav, the people who are descended from the daughters of Noah, is terrified that The Israelites will try to destroy his Kingdom as they pass his territory which was in modern day Trans-Jordan. Billam, is seen in the Midrash and Kabbalah as almost the “evil twin” of Moses, so spiritually powerful that just his words could be destructive. Several times, Billam went up on to a mountain, offers sacrifices to the Gods of Moab and opened his mouth to curse the Jews. Miraculously, Hashem prevents him from speaking evil and instead only words of praise and beauty come forward. The line we say when we enter a Synagogue "Ma Tovu, Ohalecha Yaacov - How goodly and peaceful are your Tents oh Jacob, your dwelling places oh Israel" come from Billam's, instead of the curse he intended. When the King hears of the blessing instead of the curse he is incensed and slaps Billam in the head. He promises the evil prophet all the riches of the kingdom to deliver the curse but to no avail.
In the end, Billam's last ditch effort is to send the young maidens of Moav into the Jewish camp to tempt the young men of Israel. He is partially successful and only the efforts of the great Pinchas, the grandson of Aaron the first High Priest save the Jewish people from destruction. It never ceases to surprise and enlighten me how amazing and ahead of its time the Torah was and is in its exploration of the human psyche and experience. I believe the Torah was telling us so many years ago, that the Pen is mightier than the Sword. Words can harm even more deeply than physical violence.
It is the "idea" of Hamas that is even more harmful and destructive then the horrible evil perpetrated on October 7th. They seek to destroy the entire Jewish people and all we stand for, not just the 1200 people they killed and the many hostages they took and are still torturing, Thank God we have the physical strength to repel Hamas. Do we have the mental and spiritual resolve for the long haul needed to utterly defeat them and all who hate the Jewish people. We have survived many Holocausts in our long 3800 year history. We should all double our efforts to combat our own evil speech-"Lashon Harah" and our resolve to continue to teach Torah, love, sharing and kindness to the entire world.
Shabbat Shalom,
Cantor Marty
From the Rabbi - July 11, 2024
As some of you may know, I am visiting my parents on the east coast over the next 10 days. I will miss everyone while away, but, please know that everything continues as usual – especially morning and evening minyan. In my absence, I ask you to please consider joining a minyan to enable those saying kaddish to be able to do so.
This Shabbat is Parashat Chukat. As its name indicates, a major focus of the reading is a type of law known as a chok, a law presented by the Torah without any reason or explanation for its observance. We are all familiar with other, un-explained, chok laws, such as tzitzit and kashrut. The amazing thing is, these laws are often seen as the true litmus test of loyalty to the Torah and its program. The lack of a written reason does not make the law unreasonable. An unexplained law is not necessarily unexplainable. Every mitzvah has a reason, even if it’s not apparent.
Here are some thoughts by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, zt”l on this idea of the Chok and its place in Jewish tradition. Click HERE to learn more.
Shabbat shalom!
Rabbi Chaitovsky
From the Rabbi - July 3, 2024
Tomorrow is July 4th, a day to honor the core American values of freedom, democracy and equality that have built and shaped our nation. We as Jews, treasure these values and principles, as well. Sadly, however, these foundational values are under threat from hostile activists on the far-left and far-right, including by some who proudly support terrorist organizations and the nations that sponsor them. Those terror groups and countries that openly threaten and attack America, also wage war on one of its closest allies, Israel.
While these values have been the underpinnings of American society since it became a nation, the rise of intolerance, divisiveness and antisemitism are constantly waging war against these values.
Just last week, anti-Israel activists marched down NYC streets proudly waving flags from terrorist organizations and the American flag was nowhere to be seen. There were at least four Hamas and three Hezbollah flags, as well as several Palestinian flags. Many protesters covered their faces. This is in stark contrast to supporters of Israel who proudly display Israeli and American flags. The anti-Israel protesters called for a “global intifada by any means necessary,” repeating their usual call for violence against Jews and justifying terrorist attacks against Israelis.
Many American Jews felt unsafe participating in June’s gay Pride parades. Calls were made to exclude “Zionists” – often used as a code word to ban Jews. Jewish Pride activists were marginalized by litmus tests to prove their loyalty to anti-Israel causes now woven into the LGBTQ+ doctrine. Many Pride marchers conveniently ignore that gay Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have been killed for simply being gay.
It is not only in our country. In Canada, our democratic neighbor to the north, the Pride of Israel synagogue in Toronto was vandalized in a manner reminiscent of Kristallnacht, where many of its windows were smashed and broken.
Jews are rightfully concerned that the sharp spike in anti-semitic attacks and incidents might give the impression that such behavior is acceptable and just a part of the normal landscape.
Let our marking of July 4th allow us to pass by that conclusion. Let America’s marking of it’s birthday remind all of its citizens of their responsibilities to do their part to reverse this insidious trend that darkens the legacy of a great country.
Happy Fourth of July to all…Shabbat shalom
From the Rabbi - June 27, 2024
Here is a dvar Torah from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, zt”l about Joshua and Calev, two people we encounter in this week’s Torah reading. They had courage and they were “different” than the other scouts sent to survey the land. Click HERE to discover just what it was that made them “different.”
Shabbat shalom…and, of course, I will see you in shul!
From the Rabbi - June 20, 2024
Here is a video d’var that teaches about the seven books of the Torah. I know what you’re thinking – there are only five books of the Torah. Click HERE to discover just how many books there really are in our Torah! You might be surprised.
This shabbat is Consecration Shabbat and some of our youngest learners will be presenting their already impressive Jewish knowledge to the entire congregation. They will participate in our service and then receive a very special siddur from BMH-BJ. It will be a heartwarming morning and I hope you will all come to cheer them on and congratulate them on their milestone achievement.
Shabbat shalom…and as usual, I’ll see you in shul!
From the Rabbi - June 11, 2024 Shavuot
Tonight marks the most significant moment in history when G-d showed up for a meeting with the Children of Israel, who, just seven weeks earlier, had been a people enslaved in Egypt, unsure of whether freedom would ever be theirs.
Mount Sinai was the stage for “matan Torah – the Giving of Torah”, but it was the encampment around the mountain that was the stage for “kabbalat Torah – the Receiving and Acceptance of Torah. Our commentators tell us that there, at the foot of the mountain, the Israelites achieved something amazing and unprecedented. Rashi explains that they were there “k’ish echad b’lev echad – as one person with one heart.”
Rashi seems to be saying that there was an unprecedented unity among the Israelites. From my perspective, that unity allowed not only the giving, but more importantly, the receiving, of Torah.
Unity is something that seems more difficult to achieve that ever. We are woefully divided – and like the Jews in Persia during the Purim saga, more than a little confused. Shavuot, standing once again at Sinai, might afford us some clarity. Imagine what our Jewish world would be like if we could recapture that elusive unity of eons ago at Sinai.
Let’s make that the goal of Shavuot this year. We certainly need it, and we would all benefit in so many ways.
I’ll see you in shul!
Chag sameach and early Shabbat shalom!
Rabbi Chaitovsky
From the Rabbi - June 6, 2024
One of the interesting things about Shavuot is that there are virtually no specific “laws” connected to the festival. In the Shulchan Arukh, a scant three paragraphs are devoted to holiday. It begins by telling us that on Shavuot, the services are just like Pesach, except we say “the Time of the Giving of Torah” instead of the “the Time of our Freedom.” Even when it lists the customs associated with the day, there is no mention of either reading the book of Ruth or, believe it or not, staying up all night to learn Torah!
In our own day, it seems unimaginable that Shavuot would not be marked by the all night Torah study known as Tikkun Leil Shavuot. The word tikkun means a fixing or a correction. In one theory about the origin of the custom, the Israelites actually woke up late on Shavuot morning an almost missed getting the Torah. This led, many years later, to a practice that would symbolically correct and fix that first mistake of oversleeping, the Tikkun Leil Shavuot, which has become ubiquitous in almost every Jewish community.
Our synagogue is offering it’s own version of a Tikkun Leil Shavuot on Tuesday night, June 11 starting with music, prayer, a delicious dairy dinner and Torah study featuring Essie Fleischmann along with Cantor Marty, special guest Caleb Gitlitz, and yours truly. The chance to learn Torah continues the next day at my home, from 4:45 to 6:30, with ice cream, cheese cake, fruit and plenty to drink and special presentation by Sue Parker Gerson based on her experience studying Daf Yomi, which will explore how the Talmud transformed Shavuot into the holiday we now know and love. Your are all invited and I look forward to welcoming you to my home.
See below for the full Shavuot schedule.
Shabbat shalom…chag sameach…and of course, I’ll see you in shul!
From the Rabbi - May 30, 2024
Following her personal reading of this week’s Torah portion, Bechukotai, a congregant emailed me and asked if this week’s Torah portion contains the secret to understanding all that is going wrong in the Jewish world right now – antisemitism, Israel’s low approval rating in the world, college campus encampments, and more. The congregant noticed a word that occurs seven times in this parasha but does not appear anywhere is in Tanach. Her take on the word made her think about the world…and the Jews who live in it.
The Torah reading contains a series of blessings that will be bestowed upon us as the reward for observing the mitzvot and “keeping the Torah.” But it does not stop with the blessings. The portion continues to describe curses, or execrations, that will befall us as punishment for non-compliance and for non-observance. The list of curses is much longer than the list of blessings. They are difficult to read and horrifying to think about. The word that dots the passages of the curses is keri, pronounced kerry. In context the word seems to convey the idea that if you behave towards me with keri, I will be keri with you. But what does keri mean?
The various translations include rebelliousness, obstinacy, indifference,
hard-heartedness and reluctance. Maimonides, however, relates it to the word mikreh, meaning “by chance.” The overall message is: if you behave as if history were mere chance, and not the product of Divine Providence, then, says God, I will leave you to chance. The result will be that Israel – a small nation set in a highly hostile neighborhood, then and now – will eventually be defeated, devastated, and come close to destruction.
In the thinking of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, this points to a distinction that we sometimes forget: between Divine punishment on the one hand, and the withdrawal of Divine Providence on the other – what the Torah calls “the hiding of the face” of God. When God punishes, He punishes the guilty. When God withdraws, the innocent are punished, as well. The Torah says that we will be left blowing in the wind, we will be navigating the waters but totally rudderless.
I like to translate keri as casual. My congregant may have been right. The Torah is telling us that our relationship with God should not be a casual one. There must be commitment and consistency, for without them, God’s relationship with each of us…and all of us…could likewise be casual and occasional. Nobody really wants that. Strengthening our Jewish commitment and consistency will prevent that from happening.
Let’s not wait!
Shabbat shalom…and see you in shul.
From the Rabbi- May 23, 2024
By now you should have received our message regarding weekday Mincha and Maariv services at BMH-BJ. We would like to restart the daily minyan brginning Monday June 3rd, the day after our Annual Event. For your convenience,
Sign Up Genius has been set up and a WhatsApp group is forming. I hope that you will make every effort to help revive and reinstate our evening minyan. Please read the letter carefully and make your commitment today! Thank you.
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A number of things jump out us as we survey this week’s Torah portion, Behar.
First, it is not often read solo; it is usually partnered with the next reading, Bechukotai. The overall theme of the parasha touches on the relationship we are have to the land of Israel. It mentions shmitta – the Shabbat for the land that occurs every seven years. Just like the Shabbat every seven days which rejuvenates us and helps us infuse our lives with more spirituality, the agricultural shabbat also has spiritual as well as economic ramifications. The Jubillee, which occurs after seven cycles of shmitta years, provides that land which might have been sold due to financial hardship was not sold in perpetuity, but would return to the original owner, restoring a certain balance that was thrown off by the need to sell the land in the first place. The reading begins with the seemingly out of place reminder that these mundane agricultural laws were spoken at Mt Sinai. We are to see them as no less significant than any of the other laws with which we might be more familiar. The parasha makes the point that the Torah’s program was comprehensive and touched on all aspects of life, infusing them all with the potential for holiness and meaning.
This week’s sermon will touch on what is sometimes called “friendly fire.” More than a few Israeli soldiers have been injured or killed due to friendly fire, which is frighteningly disturbing. There are many kinds of friendly fire and many kinds of battlefields, and we will consider some of them on Shabbat. I hope you will be there.
Shabbat shalom…and as always, see you in shul!
From the Cantor
What a Hebrew calendar year this has been. It’s funny how every year, we comment on “Wow!, Rosh Hashanah is so early this year,” or as we will say this coming High Holidays, “so late this year.” In fact, Rosh Hashanah begins on October 2nd 2024, only 3 days from the absolute latest it can be in the 365 day Solar year.
The Jewish people have intercalated the Solar and Lunar calendar for thousands of years now by making 7 out of every 19 years, a Hebrew leap year where we add an entire extra month known as Adar II or Sheri. This is to ensure that Pesach-Passover actually occurs in the Springtime, the time of our redemption.
Pesach is known as “Chag Heh-Aviv” the Festival of Spring, a time of renewal and rebirth. There is another time of major renewal in Judaism that is directly connected to the land of Israel. It is called Shmitah-The Sabbatical year. In ancient Israel even until this day, our farmlands were to remain fallow, un-planted or harvested by Jews residing in the land for that entire year. We know from modern agriculture, that this was to preserve the nutrients of the soil and give the land itself a Shabbat to recover. What is so fascinating is that it is decreed that in the 50th year of the 7 year cycle, just as Shavuot occurs on the 50th day after Peach, a Jubilee or “Yuval” was to be proclaimed throughout the land, were all Hebrew indentured servants, basically slaves, were to be released from their servitude.
More amazing, was that all ancestral land that had been sold because of poverty, had to be returned by deed back to the original tribal owners. Can you imagine, 35 years after you’ve been living in your home, that someone would come banging on the door with the original deed of ownership and said, “Sorry dude, it’s the 50th year since my family left here and you must move and give it back to us. What is going on. Believe it or not, this was maybe the earliest example of a welfare system whereby the native population could not be perpetually poor and at the mercy of society. The current owners of the land knew that in the 50th year, they would have to leave.
The point of all this is The Haftahrah for this Shabbat. We rarely read “Behar” by itself. The calendar has to work out just right. In this story from the Book of Jeremiah, The 1st Temple in Jerusalem is about to be destroyed and the people taken into exile in Babylonia. The land will be empty for over 70 years before Cyrus the Emperor of Persia will allow us to go back and yet, Jeremiah fulfills the mitzvah of redeeming his families land right before he himself is either killed or taken away. I believe in light of what is going on in Eretz Yisrael right now, we must fight for our land. The land is just a manifestation of an idea, that the Jewish people have a homeland. We make it holy, the land does not make us special.
Shabbat Shalom.
Sat, July 27 2024
21 Tammuz 5784
SERMONS
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