Archive for June 21st, 2009

The Swine Flu – A Torah Perspective

Sunday, June 21st, 2009 | Author:

More to think about.  Skip

The following is from Rabbi Moshe Meir Weiss

On June 11th, 2009 the World Health Organization declared the Swine Flu, otherwise known as H1-N1 influenza, to be a Phase Six pandemic.  At the time of the writing of this article, it has spread to seventy countries.  It is estimated that over three-quarters of a million people have this flu in New York alone.  I would like to share with my dear readers some Torah reflections on these scary developments.  
There is a famous quote by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam) in Laws of Repentance  [Chapter 3, Halachah 4] which is cited often during the month of Elul, the Hebrew month  before Rosh Hashana.  The Rambam says that one should view himself as if he is fifty percent meritorious and fifty percent sinful.  And, furthermore, he should consider the possibility that the entire world is fifty percent meritorious and fifty percent guilty.  Thus, if he commits one sin, he can tilt the entire world towards the side of guilt (on G-d’s scale of justice) and cause the destruction of the world.  I confess that every time I studied this Rambam, I would view it as a dramatic theoretical concept to teach us how careful we must be with our every action.  But, now I see it differently.  One person in Mexico contracts the flu and a short while later it is in seventy countries and is seriously impacting millions of lives. Thus, the Rambam’s words, that one person’s actions can affect the entire world, are not exaggerated but are very real.  

To further this concept, we are taught that the millions of people who were divinely eradicated in Sodom and Gommorah could have been saved by just ten righteous people.  And, at the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon, the wisest of all men, teaches us that the whole world was worthy of creation for just one G-d-fearing person.  

Now, let’s get a little bit more practical.  We have a positive commandment in the Torah to protect our health, as it says, “That we should zealously guard our lives.” Thus, we should follow the CDC’s recommendations to wash our hands often, get ample sleep, and keep ourselves properly hydrated.  The Talmud advises us in [Berachos 60b], “If there is a plague in the city, draw inward your feet.”  In other words, avoid crowds where you are likely to come into contact with other infected people.  The Talmud also advises us to be careful with money for it is a great carrier of infection because it is handled by so many people. We must be especially careful that our children not put money in their mouths.  We also should wash our hands after coming into contact with money, before touching food, or any of our orifices.

Now, let’s talk about another important Torah consideration.  If you are experiencing flu-like symptoms, do not go out amongst people.  One Torah town sent out a community-wide email saying that if one suspects that they have the flu, they should not come to shul on Shabbos.  I would like to add that this is not optional.  Hillel teaches us, “What you wouldn’t like, don’t do to your friend.”  We certainly wouldn’t like someone who is infected to sit next to us in shul.  Be careful not to do so to someone else.  

In the month of June, these precautions pose unique challenges.  If your child has a fever and has final exams, and he or she has studied hard for this the entire year, what should the child do?  An eighteen-year-old has confirmed swine flu but is graduating the next day.  What a dilemma!  On the other hand, what an opportunity to teach what Rabbi Akiva tells us, “Love your fellow like yourself; this is a great principle of the Torah.”  Let’s remember that if your son or daughter infects a classmate, it doesn’t end there.  This is a very virulent flu.  They might go home to an elderly grandparent in the house or a pregnant or nursing mother, or a baby.  What an opportunity to teach our children responsible Torah behaviors, and to be a, “A wise person who considers the long range consequences of his actions.”  

Now let’s consider possible causes of this pandemic.  The Mishna teaches us [Fifth chapter of Pirkei Avos, The Ethics of Our Fathers] that there are four times when plagues are likely to strike.  The first, during the fourth year of the Sabbatical (the shmitah, or the seven year agricultural cycle); Second, the shmitah year itself; Third, the year following the shmitah, and Fourth, after the Jewish festivals.  The reason that we are vulnerable at these times is because during the third and sixth year of the shmitah cycle we are commanded to give maaser oni, a tithe to the poor.  Thus, on the following year, if G-d saw that we did not live up to our commitment to the needy, and we did not help them live, then G-d, measure for measure, interferes with our lives.  Similarly, the year following the shmitah, G-d does an analysis of how we kept the Sabbatical year and if we assisted the shovsei shmitah, those farmers who courageously shut down their agricultural livelihood to keep the mitzvah of shmitah.  If we were lacking in these obligations, then we are vulnerable to a plague.  How powerful it is that this global pandemic is striking the year after shmitah!  We should all take to heart the Mishnaic link between helping the poor and the diseased.  Coupled with the fact that we know “tzedakah tatzil m’maves”, charity saves from death; this should give us a strong incentive to be charitable at this time. 

The Zohar teaches us a fundamental lesson.  ”G-d looked into the Torah and created the world.”  This means that any function of the world was designed to further the dictates of the Torah.  Thus, for example, G-d created genetics in order that we are better able to fulfill the Torah command of v’shinantom l’vonecha, to teach children, since because of genetics we are able to understand our children better.  One therefore has to wonder why G-d made diseases that are infectious, spreading from one person to another.  I believe it is an indication of a failing of interpersonal relationships.  A case in point is the terrible epidemic of diphtheria that ripped through the disciples of Rabbi Akiva, killing all 24,000 of them.  The Talmud [Yevamos] teaches us that they died, “because they didn’t honor one another.”  Thus it was a failing of interpersonal coexistence.  With a pandemic raging, we should all take stock of our bein adom l’chaveiro, our relationship with our fellows, and work on areas such as not holding a grudge, judging people favorably, avoiding lashon hara, (gossip and tale bearing or slander) and learning how to be more sensitive and caring to all.  

The Talmud has several terms for an epidemic.  It refers to it as rischa, a time of Divine anger.  The Scriptures call it zam.  But, the most popular name is dever.  I don’t think that it is coincidental that it is the same Hebrew letters as dibur, speech, for “Death and life are in the hands of the tongue.”  At such times we need to be especially vigilant of avoiding all sins of the mouth such as lashon hara and rechilus, gossip and slander, lying and revealing secrets, and especially the sin of nivul peh, vulgar speech, for the Talmud [Berachos] teaches us that the sin of nivul peh can lead to death.  

In the year 1978, there was a disease in Yerushalayim which killed four married men and one yeshiva student. At that time the Steipler Gaon, Zt”l, Zy”a, said that the Talmud says the response to a plague is tzeakah, to cry out to Hashem. Elsewhere, it is recorded that the Steipler Gaon said that the learning of the Mishana is equivalent to saying Tehillim, Psalms for the benefit of the sick.  

During these challenging days, during every one of our prayers, we should include a fervent request that those who were infected should quickly heal, and that the rest of us should not take ill.  Remember the Talmudic dictum, “Whoever prays for his fellow man and needs the petition for himself as well, will be answered first.”  We should also make sure to passionately thank G-d that we are healthy.  In the merit of our Torah approach to this pandemic, may G-d grant all that are ill a speedy recovery, and bless all of us with long life, good health, and everything wonderful.

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Abraham Lincoln on Humility

Sunday, June 21st, 2009 | Author:

One of our community submitted this article to me.  I thought we all needed to read it.

A Message from Abraham Lincoln 
Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen 

In an article on religious trends in America during the 1980′s, Newsweek wrote: 

“A group affirmation of self is at the top of the agenda, which is why some of the least demanding churches are now in greatest demand…In their efforts to accommodate, many clergy have simply airbrushed sin out of their language. Like politicians, they can only recognize mistakes that congregations are urged to ‘put behind them.’ Having substituted therapy for spiritual discernment, they appeal to a nurturing God who helps His (or Her) people cope. Heaven, by this creed, is never having to say no to yourself, and God is never having to say you’re sorry.” (Religion: Shopping for a Church, Newsweek, December 17th, 1990) 

Around the mid-nineteenth century, there was a different spirit among religions in America – one which stressed individual and communal responsibility. An example of this spirit can be found in President Abraham Lincoln’s “Proclamation of a Day of Prayer and Fasting” which was issued at the beginning of the Civil War: 

Abraham Lincoln Aug. 12, 1861 (This is written in an older style of English.) 

Whereas a joint Committee of both Houses of Congress has waited on the President of the United States, and requested him to “recommend a day of public humiliation, prayer and fasting, to be observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnities, and the offering of fervent supplications to Almighty God for the safety and welfare of these States, His blessings on their arms, and a speedy restoration of peace:” – 

And whereas it is fit and becoming in all people, at all times, to acknowledge and revere the Supreme Government of God; to bow in humble submission to his chastisements; to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions in the full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and to pray, with all fervency and contrition, for the pardon of their past offences, and for a blessing upon their present and prospective action: 

And whereas, when our own beloved Country, once, by the blessing of God, united, prosperous and happy, is now afflicted with faction and civil war, it is peculiarly fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this terrible visitation, and in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals, to humble ourselves before Him, and to pray for His mercy, — to pray that we may be spared further punishment, though most justly deserved; that our arms may be blessed and made effectual for the re-establishment of law, order and peace, throughout the wide extent of our country; and that the inestimable boon of civil and religious liberty, earned under His guidance and blessing, by the labors and sufferings of our fathers, may be restored in all its original excellence: – 

Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do appoint the last Thursday in September next, as a day of humiliation, prayer and fasting for all the people of the nation. And I do earnestly recommend to all the People, and especially to all ministers and teachers of religion of all denominations, and to all heads of families, to observe and keep that day according to their several creeds and modes of worship, in all humility and with all religious solemnity, to the end that the united prayer of the nation may ascend to the Throne of Grace and bring down plentiful blessings upon our Country. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed, this 12th, day of August A.D. 1861, and of the Independence of the United States of America the 86th. 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
By the President: 
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. 

This was reprinted from NewsMax.com 

President Abraham Lincoln, in the above proclamation, expresses certain spiritual ideas which are rooted in Jewish tradition, such as the need for universal recognition of the “Supreme Government of God,” the need to recognize the “hand of God” in national calamities, and the need for confession, repentance, and prayer for “our own faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals.” 

There is a phrase within the ancient Aleinu prayer – a prayer which is chanted at the conclusion of the morning, afternoon, and evening services – that expresses the need for universal recognition of The Divine sovereignty: “To perfect the world through the Almighty’s Sovereignty.” And we add: “Then all humanity will call upon Your Name, to turn all the earth’s wicked toward You.” The prayer concludes with the following verse from our Scriptures: “Hashem will be Sovereign over all the earth; on that day Hashem will be One and His Name One” (Zechariah 14:9). 

Abraham Lincoln’s recognition of the “hand of God” in national calamities is expressed in the following proclamation of the Prophet Amos: 

“Is the shofar ever sounded in a city, and the people not tremble? Can there be misfortune in a city, if Hashem had not brought it?” (Amos 3:6) 

From the perspective of Jewish tradition, the arrival of misfortune in the land is a “wake-up call.” Our tradition therefore teaches that during a period of crisis and danger, we are to engage in a process of “teshuvah” – returning to the path of Hashem – the Compassionate One. For example, there is a mitzva to blow trumpets during a period of war or any other calamity (Numbers 10:9), and Maimonides offers the following explanation of this mitzva: 

“Such conduct is of the essence of teshuva, for when calamity befalls the people, and they offer up supplications concerning it – sounding also the trumpets – all are bound to realize that it is owing to their bad ways that misfortune has befallen them…If, however, they neither offer up such supplications nor sound the trumpets, declaring that what has befallen them is but a natural event, or that this misfortune is the result of chance and accident, then their course is one of wickedness, and causes them to persist in their bad ways; thus, their misfortune is bound to be followed by many others.” (The Laws of the Fast Days 1: 1-3) 

The following Divine call goes out to all peoples and all individuals: “Do I desire at all the death of the wicked person?… Is it not rather his return from his ways, that he might live? ” (Ezekiel 18:23) 

There is a comforting prophecy that in the messianic age, humanity will finally heed this call: “All the ends of the earth will remember and return to Hashem; all the families of nations will bow before You.” (Psalm 22:28 – This Psalm is also said on Purim.) 

In his commentary on the above verse, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch writes: “Defection from Hashem was never an inborn trait with individuals or with humankind as a whole. The unspoiled hearts of children are close to Hashem, and the same was true of humankind in its pristine state. Alienation from Him came much later. Therefore, through the stimulus emanating from Israel, they will all ‘remember’. Their ‘original’ consciousness of Hashem will come alive again, and they will ‘return’ to Him.” 

In this spirit, we, the Jewish people, pray: “Bring us back to You, Hashem, and we shall return, renew our days as of old.” (Lamentations 5:21)

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Sunday Morning Colors

Sunday, June 21st, 2009 | Author:

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Altar Call

Sunday, June 21st, 2009 | Author:

“Without such utterness for God, nothing can be achieved, for without it we make even God powerless against his enemy”.  Watchman Nee, Love Not The World, p. 109.

It’s all about Leviticus 27:28-29.

Oswald Chambers calls it “abandonment to God”.  It’s the hallmark of  Moses and David, in spite of their failures.  Peter and Paul both sold out completely.  And Jesus is the paradigm example.

But Watchman Nee makes a point that I never realized before.  He cites Leviticus 27.  The thing dedicated to God is given over to destruction. 

Here’s the principle:  anything set apart for the Lord must be set apart for the sacrifice.  That sacrifice meant total destruction.  Nothing acceptable to God could avoid the passage through death.

Of course, this regulation foreshadows that great sacrificial death of Jesus.  His passage redeemed all that is set apart for God.  But Jesus’ sacrifice does not invalidate the claim of death on all that is holy.  Anything can be set apart for God but when it is, it must die to this world.  It must be destroyed in its natural state so that no taint of the world’s system follows it into God’s holy presence.  Literally or symbolically, death is the only solution for purification.

This thought has incredible consequences for us.  We have lessened the impact by teaching that it applies only to the salvation of souls.  But this is clearly not the case.  Paul’s baptism unto death, the discussion in Hebrews of the transition to new life, Jesus’ demand for purity and holiness and the constant theme of the transition from the old man to the new man all speak of the same movement from the natural state to destruction.  New life does not come as a result of religious empowerment or spiritual enlightenment of the old.  New life comes only from resurrection life and all language about resurrection implies prior death.  So Watchman Nee can say, “Without such utterness for God, nothing can be achieved.”  Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies. 

Has my natural life really died?  Have I taken what God gave me in His gift of my creation and deliberately placed all of it on the altar of death?

Has my body, its passions and desire, its appetites and addictions been placed on the altar of death?  Have I really died to all that my body wants?

Has my mind, its thought and plans, its forecasts and fears, its attempts at control been sacrificed to death?  Have I died to my need to set my own agenda?

Have I died to ownership?  Have I died to security?  Have I sacrificed my personal goals, my career ladder, my retirement plans, my need for recognition?  Is my ego burned up in an act of destruction?

Have I destroyed my self-sufficiency?  Have I put to death my reliance on money?  Have I witnessed the charred remains of my grasp on possessions and my need for accumulation?

Have I killed my image-consciousness, my ego of pride, my pre-occupation with my own well-being?  Have I died to anything that grips my natural emotional life?  My fears?  My anxieties?  My anger?  My obsessions?  My hope?

Have I placed my family, my spouse, my children, my friends, my compatriots – each and every one – on the altar, offering their grip on my natural inclinations to love as a sacrifice unto God?  Have I witnessed the funeral of my natural affections?

There may be other parts of this world that grip my soul, refusing to voluntarily lie down in preparation for the fire.  Sex, power, fame, peace, freedom, independence, indulgence, time, self-fulfillment, protection.  Whatever attaches me to the system of this world prevents God from using me as He intends.  He can do nothing with me for His glory as long as I resist the passage of death into life.  That’s the scary thought.  I want God to use me.  I long to be His faithful servant.  But now I am confronted with something far more demanding that I originally understood.  Yes, it was comfortable to discover a God who would forgive my guilt and wash away my shame.  But that was simply the introduction.  God is not recruiting citizens for His heavenly kingdom to be established and populated at the end of time.  He is redeeming his creation out of the hands of the enemy and the only soldiers who can fight that battle with Him are those who have cast away all the snares and trappings of the enemy’s weapons.  The old man must be put off!

Today I reassess my commitment to death.  Only I can decide to die.  That is all that I can do.  The resurrection is not within my sphere of control.  That is God’s work – and He promises to perform His work without fail – after I have made the trip to the altar of destruction.  My job is to die.  There is no other way. 

Is today the day of your fiery funeral?

 

 

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Doubtful Vision-Casting

Sunday, June 21st, 2009 | Author:

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, but happy is he who keeps the law.  Proverbs 29:18

Vision – I recently came across the very interesting comment (it’s worth quoting in full): “You have no doubt heard the biblical axiom, “Without a vision the people perish…” It is used often in an effort to establish a raison d’etre for a congregation.  It attempts to use Scripture to support the ‘build it and they will come’ model to promote building projects; or the ‘praise = entertainment; worship = solemnity’ model to promote programs. Try finding a congregational building program that does not contain the word ‘vision’ in it and you are doing well. One problem with this axiom is that it is only half of the verse from Proverbs 29:18: “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but happy is he who keeps [guards and cherishes] the Torah.”  Notice, the word ‘revelation’ is used. This better explains what the King James Version is saying when it uses the word ‘vision.’ In typical Hebrew parallelism, the phrases are meant to offset one another: “no revelation” versus “cherishes the Torah”  “cast off restraint” versus “happy [blessed]“.

The fact that the American Evangelical church has lost the culture war by forfeit is proof that she has not adhered to ‘revelation’ – which is Torah (i.e. G-d’s revealed Word).  She has “cast off restraint” because she thinks G-d’s instructions are merely suggestions, and all that matters is ‘faith’”. 

The author is right.  Our penchant for casting a “vision” is thoroughly Greek in its operation.  God doesn’t need you to have a vision, a goal or a five-year plan.  He wants and needs you to observe the plan He already put in place 3500 years ago.  God has established His Kingdom here on earth, the vanguard of a coming worldwide domination of His righteousness.  He has already given the constitution of the Kingdom and the marching orders for its expansion.  We ignore them at our peril.  Solomon noted that whenever men and women disregard the revelation (hazon), terrible things happen.  Conversely, whenever men and women cherish God’s instructions, a state of well-being ensues. 

Notice the parallel of Proverbs 29:18 with Proverbs 11:14.  “Where there is no guidance, a people falls,” and  here, “where there is no understanding of the revelation from God, the society deteriorates into chaos.”  We find the same observation in Judges 17:6, “In those days there was no king in Israel, every man did what was right in his own eyes.”

Can the word hazon be translated as “vision”?  Yes, but it is related to the “seeing” of a prophet, not to the planning commission at the church.  The church is called to obedience, not to programming.  Once again, we are back at the Garden.  When Eve ate from the Tree, she cast off restraint.  She had to “vision”.  She did what was right in her own eyes.  She determined what was good for her!  And the rest is history.  What is true for one, is true for all.  Society follows that same collective path of Eve with the same result – ‘atsav – sorrow.

Will you step away from the “vision” casting catastrophe of our Greek planning preoccupation?  Will you trade what is right in your own eyes for the revelation of God’s instructions?  And will you help your brothers and sisters in the Lord, so confused by the addition of pagan thinking to the church, see a different kind of “vision”?

Topical Index:  vision, planning, church, hazon, revelation, Eve, Tree, Proverbs 29:18

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Visión Doble

Sunday, June 21st, 2009 | Author:

21 de junio Donde no hay visión, el pueblo se desenfrena, pero bienaventurado es el que guarda la ley. Proverbios 29:18

Visión – Recientemente encontré un comentario muy interesante (la cita completa vale la pena): “sin duda han escuchado el axioma bíblico, “si visión perece el pueblo…” Con frecuencia se usa en un esfuerzo para establecer una raison d´etre para la congregación. Intenta utilizar Escritura para ayora el modelo de ´constrúyelo y vendrán´ en la promoción de proyectos de edificios; o en el modelos de promoción de programas de ´adoración=entretenimiento; adoración =solemnidad.´  Intenta encontrar un programa de construcción congregacional que no contenga la palabra ´visión´ en ella y considérate exitoso. Un problema con este axioma es que solo es la mitad del versículo de Proverbios 29:18: “Donde no hay revelación, el pueblo se desenfrena, Pero bienaventurado es el que guarda [mantiene y ama] la Tora.” Nota la palabra ´revelación´ Esto explica mucho mejor lo que la versión de Reina Valera quiere decir cuando utiliza la palabra “visión.” En paralelismo hebreo típico, las frases se escriben para balancearse una con otra: no hay “revelación” versus “guardar la Tora.”

El hecho que la iglesia evangélica ha sido derrotada por la guerra cultural por inasistencia es la prueba que ella no se ha adherido a la “revelación” – la cual es Tora (por ejemplo, la palabra revelada de D-s)- Ella se ha “desenfrenado” porque cree que las instrucciones de D-s son meras sugerencias, y que lo único que importa es la “fe.”

El autor está en lo cierto. Nuestra afición por enunciar una “visión” es plenamente griega en su operatividad. Dios no necesita que tengas visión, o metas o plan quinquenal. El desea y necesita que observes el plan q eu El ya estableció hace mas de 3500 años. Dios ha establecido Su reino en la tierra, la vanguardia de una dominación mundial de su justicia. El ya ha dado la constitución del Reino y las ordenes de pie para su expansión. Las ignoramos a nuestro propio riesgo. Salomón noto que cada vez que hombres y mujeres desestiman la revelación (hazon) suceden cosas terribles. A la inversa, cada vez que los hombres y mujeres aman las instrucciones de Dios, viene un estado de bienestar.

Nota el paralelo de Proverbios 29:18 con Proverbios 11:14. “Donde no hay guía, falla el pueblo,” Y aquí, “donde no existe comprensión de la revelación de Dios, la sociedad se deteriora hacia el caos. Encontramos la misma observación en Jueces 17:6, “En esos días no había rey en Israel, y todo hombre hacia lo que parecía correcto a sus propios ojos.”

¿Puede traducirse la palabra hazon en “visión”? Sí, pero está relacionada al “ver” de un profeta, no a la comisión planificadora de la iglesia. La iglesia es llamada a la obediencia, no a la programación. Una vez más, regresamos al Jardín. Cuando Eva comió de ese árbol, abrazó el desenfreno. Ella tenía “visión” Hizo lo correcto a sus propios ojos. ¡Determinó lo que parecía correcto a ella! Y el resto es historia. Lo cierto para uno, es cierto para todos. La sociedad siguió el mismo camino colectivo que Eva con los mismos resultados – ´atsav – tristeza.

¿Darás paso atrás de la visión catastrófica de nuestra preocupación griega de planificación? ¿Intercambiarás lo correcto ante tus ojos por la revelación de la instrucción de Dios? ¿Y ayudaras a tus hermanos y hermanas en el Señor, tan confundidos por la añadidura de pensamiento pagano dentro de la iglesia, a ver una clase diferente de “visión”?

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