Parshat Toldot

When we look at traditional jewish sources, including the statements of the rabbis,
we see the high importance and value placed on truth. Not only does the Torah command, ‘Stay far away from falsehood’ (Exodus 23:7), but also, emet is one of the names of god
Emet is also the word written on the forhead of the golem to bring it to life.

Given all of this emphasis on truth, the following passage from this week's Torah portion therefore, seems quite unusual:

(Genesis)

Chapter 27
¹ When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, "My son." He answered, "Here I am." ² And he said, "I am old now, and I do not know how soon I may die. ³ Take your gear, your quiver and bow, and go out into the open and hunt me some game. ⁴ Then prepare a dish for me such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my innermost blessing before I die."

⁵ Rebekah had been listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau had gone out into the open to hunt game to bring home, ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I overheard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying, ⁷ 'Bring me some game and prepare a dish for me to eat, that I may bless you, with the Lord's approval, before I die.' ⁸ Now, my son, listen carefully as I instruct you. ⁹ Go to the flock and fetch me two choice kids, and I will make of them a dish for your father, such as he likes. ¹⁰ Then take it to your father to eat, in order that he may bless you before he dies." ¹¹ Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am smooth-skinned. ¹² If my father touches me, I shall appear to him as a trickster and bring upon myself a curse, not a blessing." ¹³ But his mother said to him, "Your curse, my son, be upon me! Just do as I say and go fetch them for me."

¹⁴ He got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared a dish such as his father liked. ¹⁵ Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were there in the house, and had her younger son Jacob put them on; ¹⁶ and she covered his hands and the hairless part of his neck with the skins of the kids. ¹⁷ Then she put in the hands of her son Jacob the dish and the bread that she had prepared.

¹⁸ He went to his father and said, "Father." And he said, "Yes, which of my sons are you?" ¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your first-born; I have done as you told me. Pray sit up and eat of my game, that you may give me your innermost blessing." ²⁰ Isaac said to his son, "How did you succeed so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because the Lord your God granted me good fortune." ²¹ Isaac said to Jacob, "Come closer that I may feel you, my son-whether you are really my son Esau or not." ²² So Jacob drew close to his father Isaac, who felt him and wondered. "The voice is the voice of Jacob, yet the hands are the hands of Esau." ²³ He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; and so he blessed him.

²⁴ He asked, "Are you really my son Esau?" And when he said, "I am," ²⁵ he said, "Serve me and let me eat of my son's game that I may give you my innermost blessing." So he served him and he ate, and he brought him wine and he drank. ²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come close and kiss me, my son"; ²⁷ and he went up and kissed him. And he smelled his clothes and he blessed him, saying, "Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of the fields that the Lord has blessed.

In this passage, Jacob and his mother Rebecca enagage in a concerted effort to lie to his father and take his brother's blessing. This passage seems to show that Jacob, later renamed Israel, who is arguably the forefather in the Torah most important to the development of the Jewish people, was a liar. Not only that, he is a sort of con-artist or thief, stealing his brother's birth right through nefarious means. What do we make of this?

First of all, this brings us to an important question

is it ever okay to lie?

according to several jewish sources, it is

The Talmud records an usual debate between the houses of Hillel and Shammai concerning the words celebrants should sing when dancing in front of a newly married woman [as part of the wedding festivities]. According to the House of Hillel, the dancers should chant the same words in front of all brides: “What a beautiful and graceful bride!” Their opponents, the House of Shammai, disagree. “If she is lame or blind, are you going to say of her, ‘What a beautiful and graceful bride?’ Does not the Torah command, ‘Stay far away from falsehood’ (Exodus 23:7)?” They thus oppose reciting a standard formula; rather, each bride should be described “as she is” (see Babylonian Talmud, Ketubot 17a).

Hillel’s position is accepted as Jewish law. One praises the beauty of all brides and, in any case, the bride is likely to appear beautiful in the eyes of her groom.

When it comes to trying to reconcile feuding parties, Jewish law is remarkably tolerant of “white lies.” Of Aaron, Moses’ brother and Israel’s first high priest, the Rabbis [of ancient Judaism] relate that he would utilize untruthful means to make peace between people who had fought. He would go to one, telling him how sad his adversary was about the dispute, and how ashamed and disheartened he felt. Then he would go to the other and tell him the same thing. As the Midrash concluded, “Later, when the two met, they would embrace and kiss each other” (Avot de-Rabbi Natan 12:3).

The fact that Jewish tradition endorses Aaron’s behavior means that in instances of personal feuding, when truth and peace conflict, peace usually should take precedence.

Before you tell a truth that can cause only pain and inflict gratuitous hurt, ask yourself why you should tell it. There are indeed times when a pretty lie is preferable to an ugly truth.

So there are actually cases within judaism where lying is permitted, and perhaps even preferable.

In order to help others, end personal feuding, and create peace, lying is permitted.

But it does not seem like the case of Jacob is such a case.

So why, then, does our tradition recount such a detestable episode from the father of the Israelite nation?

Wouldn't it be better if such an incident was swept under the rug?

Many people (including the rabbis of the Midrash) do this. They paint Ishmael as a boorish violent person, and Jacob as an innocent young student.

Ishmael is the founder of the great empire of Rome, while Jacob is the founder of the small country of Israel.

But when we read the story of the Torah literally without any re-interpretation, it would seem here that Jacob is completely in the wrong.

So the question remains-- why?

There is one main reason that I can think of-- you can think of your own:

The Torah, the foundational Jewish text, is less interested in white washing its protagonists, and more interested in telling a compelling and transformative story.

Abraham, Jacob, and even God are not portrayed as perfect beings who can do no wrong, but rather, they are used as characters in a greater narrative who change and improve themselves and learn in order to teach us to do the same. They are not perfect because we are not perfect. How could they teach us anything about how to change our lives if they were perfect, angelic beings?

Jacob's lies and deceit toward his brother only serve to highlight his personal transformation.

he struggles with an unknown "man"--maybe a manifestation of himself, maybe his brother esau, maybe his fear of esau, maybe his guilt over what he did, and then comes out transformed, his name changed from Jacob to Israel, because he has "struggled with god and man"

this is all a set up for the happy ending that occurs with the reunion of jacob and esau.


to teach us that only through facing our demons, the darker parts of ourselves will we ever truly be free and truly develop and connect to god

My Kol Nidre sermon--email me for footnotes

Have you noticed the sign outside of Bikram Yoga on Mountain Avenue? “Never too old, never too sick, never too late to start from scratch.”

Today we are starting from scratch. We are suspended in a state of not living and not dying, pathless with fates uncertain.

We are old, we are sick, we are late—but we are here.


But what exactly are we here for?

We are here to forgive and be forgiven.

We are here to be with our loved ones, and our community.

We are also here to restore awe and wonder, to clarify our life’s purpose, and to connect with God or the godly in our lives.


How can we clarify the direction in which we are to walk our life’s path?

Teshuva – “the process of returning to the truest expression of ourselves.”

Tefillah -- “reaching towards God -truth -ultimate reality”

tzedakah -- “distributing our possessions with righteousness.”


Teshuva tefillah and tzedakah restore our relationships with self, God and other, and in so doing, soften the harshness of the inevitable decree -- who will live and who will die.

it is written in Tractate Taanit of the Mishna (2nd century) that was never a more joyous time in Israel than [Tu b’Av] and Yom Kippur.

If this is the day when we are asked to rehearse our own death, how can it be joyful?

What greater joy than ridding oneself of habits of thought, speech or behavior that no longer serve us?

What greater joy than releasing old grudges that prevent us from loving?

What greater joy than discovering that our inherent nature –that which we are at our core-- is joyous and brilliant, compassionate and creative, adventurous and enthusiastic and that we can be all this in our lives and express all this in our relationships?

But what if our negative habits have become so entrenched that they shape the very core of our identity? How can we open ourselves to entirely new ways of being in the world?

Mchadesh bkol yom btuvo maaseh bereshit (Morning Liturgy)

Every day the world (including each one of us) is created anew with goodness, allowing for the opportunity to start from scratch every day.

Yet on Yom Kippur our beings are the most malleable the most “morphable” the most conducive to shaping and being shaped like a Potter shapes clay.

“The rabbis [who developed Yom Kippur] wanted to bring us to the point of existential crisis. They wanted to bring us to the point of asking the crucial question, “what is my life about?” [before it is too late.]

Today is the day of our purification. What does this really mean?

A Cherokee medicine woman grandmother Selena once told me:

Let go of what no longer grows corn for you.

In order to fully take advantage of the power of this day we must let go a little bit.

Allow yourself to be vulnerable and approach every moment with “beginner’s mind” a concept we borrow from Zen Buddhism. “Beginner’s mind” refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when approaching a subject in this case Yom Kippur.

What are some moments in your life when you were truly able to let go, and operate with “beginner’s mind?” I want to share with you a time in my own life when I was able to do that. As I do so, think about your own experience.

In the spring of 1995 I drove down to Leslie County, Kentucky to volunteer with the Frontier Nursing Service, a rural medical center staffed mostly by midwives. It had been a difficult year and I was feeling lost and unsure. I had been working in New York City as an administrative assistant – without any connection to community, I was totally alone.

I remember driving and singing on the top of my lungs:

“How long ‘til my soul gets it right? Can any human being ever reach that kind of light?” -- Indigo Girls.

When the Dogwoods burst out with fresh green leaves, I felt the joy of being alive as if for the first time. Just regular old spring!? Where have I been all my life!? God was in the birthing of the leaves, the birthing of the babies and the birthing of myself.

When we experience a Force of Healing and Transformation (Rabbi Michael Lerner) we begin to understand that the universe is hard-wired towards love. This is what some of us call God.

Whether of not we choose to call it God, there is a Force for Healing and Transformation that flows through this universe.

Rabbi Michael Lerner presents the idea of “a new bottom line.” “Beyond efficiency and productivity, how can we shape a society in which there is time not only to Do and to Make but also to Be and to Love?”

Perhaps you have had an experience of being brought out of a personal Mitzrayim or in which you have stood at Sinai and discovered an eternal truth about life. Perhaps you have had an experience in which of a part of yourself dies to allow space for something else to take root.

The natural response to each of these is to utter words of thanks and praise whether or not you know the Hebrew.

Yet once these moments pass, we must harvest the “aha!” just like seeds. (Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)

Spiritual practice helps us to transcend the day to day buzz of our lives, become more aware of the moments of liberation and remind us of our experiences of revelation. This helps us integrate the lessons that each of these moments provides.

“How long ‘til our souls get it right? Can any human being every reach that kind of light?”

The work is never done yet we are blessed with this one life time, this one chance to sing what Rav Abraham Isaac Kook called “the song of the self, the song of our people, the song of humanity and the song of the world.”

Now and in the next 24 hours is your opportunity to do the work. We are sustained by each other, doing this work together in this place as a community.

May the Source of Healing and Transformation guide us to the place where our work must begin today, this Yom Kippur 5770—the day of our At-One-Ment.

Cheshvan Message

Shalom Friends,

During the months of Elul and Tishrei we experienced holiday after holiday and engaged in a process of return to our true selves and rediscovering our true purpose. This was followed by the celebratory joy of Sukkot and Simchat Torah.

Now we have entered the Jewish month of Cheshvan (in Hebrew: חֶשְׁוַן), or as it is also known, Mar-Cheshvan, a season of ordinary routine days. It is the only month which contains no holidays or special mitzvot. Following such a great spiritual ascent, there is a danger of a fall. We must find a way of sustaining the elevated level of the past two months during the days of Cheshvan which are relatively mundane.

If we look closely, there is a hint of how to maintain our heightened spiritual state hidden in the title we give to Cheshvan, the word "mar." There are two different interpretations as to why we give Cheshvan this title. One is that the month is bitter ("mar" in Hebrew) because it contains no holidays. The other is that since Cheshvan contains no holidays, we are giving it an honorific title by adding the word "mar" which also means "mister."

These two different interpretations give us two different approaches toward the season. The first approach is pessimistic implying that a fall from the heights we reached during Elul and Tishrei is inevitable.

The second approach is more proactive and optimistic. Since there are no holidays in Cheshvan, it is up to us to make this month into a time of spiritual transformation on our own, independent of set holidays, through actively seeking out new opportunities for learning and growth.

To this end, there will be a variety of new programs, learning opportunities and classes at Har Shalom. Some of these include; Mitzvah Day, Musicians' Havurah, a new Israel group, and the Eco-Chanukah planning committee. There will be two new adult education classes starting up in addition to our weekly Torah study group. They are An Introduction to Judaism and The Mystics Journey: Kabbalah in Theory and Practice. Details about all of these are included later in the Kadimah and will also be posted on-line.

May we merit to call Cheshvan an honored friend rather than a time of bitterness.

Rabbi Ben and Rabbi Shoshana
--
Rabbi Shoshana Leis
Rabbi Ben Newman
Congregation Har Shalom
The Center for Jewish Living
725 W. Drake Rd.
Fort Collins, CO 80526
rabbi@congregationharshalom.org
(970) 223-5191

Text Study for Parshat Bereishit-10/17/09 Congregation Har Shalom

Kedushat Levi on Genesis 1:1

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ

Kedushat Levi (R' Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev) on Genesis 1:1:

בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ. הכלל שהבורא ברוך הוא ברא הכל והוא הכל והשפעתו אינו נפסק מעולם כי בכל רגע משפיע שפע לברואיו ולכל העולמות ולכל ההיכלות ולכל המלאכים ולכל חיות הקודש. ולכן אנו אומרים יוצר אור ובורא חושך. ולא יצר אור וברא חושך רק יוצר בלשון הוה, כי בכל רגע הוא יוצר שבכל רגע הוא משפיע חיות לכל חי והכל מאתו יתברך והוא שלם. והוא כלול מהכל ולכן כשאדם בא לאין ויודע שהוא אינו כלום רק הבורא ברוך הוא נותן בו כח אז מכנה להשם יתברך בשם בחינת יוצר דהיינו לשון הוה שגם עתה הוא יוצר. אכן כשאדם מסתכל בעצמו ואינו מסתכל באין אז הוא במדריגות יש אז מכנה להבורא ברוך הוא רק בחינת יצר, דהיינו שברא אותו כבר ולכן אנו אומרים אשר יצר את האדם בחכמה דחכמה הוא מדריגת יש. ולכן שפיר שייך יצר ולא יוצר. ולכן נאמר בכתבי האר"י ז"ל שה' מלך הוא בחינת אין, כי ה' מלך שהוא עכשיו נותן בנו חיות. והוא בחינת אין שאין אנו כלום רק שהשם יתברך נותן בנו כח. והנה האין הוא מתנהג הכל למעלה מהטבע והיש מתנהג בטבע. אמנם ההתחברות שאנו מחברים היש באין הוא על ידי המצוה ותורה שנקראת והחיות רצוא ושוב (יחזקאל א, יד) וזה שכתב הזוהר כי המצות והתורה הוא סתום ואתגליא כי סתום הוא מרומז לאין ואתגליא מרומז ליש שהוא התחברות יש באין ואין ביש ולכן נקראת מצוה כי מ"צ הוא בא"ת ב"ש י"ה דהיא בחינת האין ואותיות ו"ה של מצוה הוא בחינת יש ולכן אותיות י"ה הוא סתום כי אין הוא סתום. ונבאר זה מהו הנסתר והנגלה שבמצוה. דזה שאנו פועלין במצוה שאנו עושין נחת רוח להשם יתברך זה הוא בסתר שאינו נראה לנו ומה שאנו פועלין טובות לעצמנו זה הוא נראה לנו. וזה פירוש הכתוב (דברים כט, כח) הנסתרות לה' אלהינו, פירוש הנסתרות בחינת הסתר שבמצות שאנו פועלין הוא לה' אלהינו שמה שאנו פועלין בו הוא נסתר לנו. והנגלות הבחינת התגלות הוא לנו ולבנינו, הוא מה שאנו מביאים שפע הוא נגלה לנו. וזהו בראשית ברא אלהים, פירוש שהשם יתברך ברא יש שהוא ראשית ועל ידי זה נתהוה בריאת שמים וארץ, כי קודם הכל נתהוה באין


"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth..." The main thing here is that the Creator, blessed be He, created everything and is everything, and His influence never parts from the world, for in every moment He sends down shefa (divine energy) to His creations and to all the worlds, and to all the Heichalot (Palaces/Astral Realms), and to all the angels, and to all the divine beings. Therefore, we say [in our prayer service] "[blessed are you who] forms light and creates darkness," and not "formed light and created darkness". It is only "forms" in the present tense [that we say]. For in every moment He forms because in every moment He sends out life-force to all life, and everything is from him, may He be blessed, and He is perfect, and He is made up of everything.

Therefore, when a person comes to the realization of nothingness [i.e.-"no-self" or as the Buddhists say "anatman"], and he knows that he is nothing , and that only the Creator, Blessed be He, gives him energy, then He/She calls God by the nickname "the One that is forming," which is in the present tense--for even now He is forming.

Consequently, when a person looks at his/her self, and doesn't look at nothingness, then he/she is at the level of being/existence [literally- 'there is'-as opposed to "there is not"- nothingness]. Then, one calls the Creator, blessed be He, only by the nickname "the One that formed," which means that God already created him/her. This is why we say in our daily prayers, "...the One who formed humanity with wisdom..." For Wisdom [in the pantheon of the sefirot] is on the level of being/existence...Therefore it says in the writings of Isaac Luria that the word 'melekh' or 'king' when referring to God is associated with the aspect of nothingness, for we say that God is King, for He is at the present moment giving us life-force, and this is the meaning of the aspect of nothingness, for we are nothing except for the fact that God puts in us [energy and] power [to exist.]

Nothingness operates entirely above nature, and being operates in nature. However, we are able to connect being with nothingness by means of the mitzvot and the Torah which are called the angels that are running and returning [from Ezekiel]. This is why the Zohar wrote that 'the mitzvot and the Torah are hidden and revealed,' for 'hidden' hints at nothingness and 'revealed' hints at being, and this is what connects nothingness with being and being with nothingness. Therefore it is spelled MiTzVaH (M-Tz-V-H). For the letters mem tzadi in the atbash cypher become Yod and Hei [the first two letters in the name of God], which correspond with the aspect of nothingness, and the letters vav and hei of the word Mitzvah correspond with the aspect of being. Consequently, the letters yod and hei are hidden.......

7 spiritual questions for sukkot by Rabbi Brad Hirschfield

Here are seven questions, one for each day of the holiday, which will help in that process.

1. What do you do that truly brings you joy and how can you make more space for that in your life?

2. When do you feel most spiritually connected and how can you strengthen that connection?

3. What big questions do you need to ask about the faith you follow?

4. What new ideas do you most want to learn in the coming year?

5. Who would you like to bring into your life and how will you invite them in?

6. What's the most important part of your own spiritual journey? Why?

7. What people, ideas, or practices that seem at odds with each other could be brought together so that EACH would learn something new?

http://blog.beliefnet.com/windowsanddoors/2008/10/sukkot-celebrates-seven-steps.html

Above is the link to the full article on beliefnet

Sukkot Message

Shalom Friends.

Thank you for the most wonderful Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur! Har Shalom is a hidden treasure in world of Jewish peoplehood. Thank you to the shleppers and the cooks, the greeters and the organizers, the chanters and the readers, the Torah carriers and the ark openers, the babysitters and the teachers. Thank you to all of the participants and each of you who made it possible for us to be together for the holiest of days.

Given that we have only known you all of six weeks, it is extraordinary what we accomplished together. We feel that the Yamim Noraim brought us to a strong foundation of trust, creative energy and potential growth, and we are eager to take the next steps of building on our strengths as a community and charting the course for our future together.

And now, as the leaves change, the air grows cold, and the wind picks up we experience the familiar whiff of impermanence that is felt back east in October and the Jewish month of Tishrei.

The Har Shalom Sukkah was decorated today-- our first communal action after the spiritual heights of Yom Kippur. Sukkot (temporary dwellings) remind us of the passing state that is each of our lives, the tentative condition of the earth's well-being and the fragility of our faith itself.

In our backyard we are blessed with a unique Sukkah decorated by the Har Shalom 7th grade. Also in our backyard, we will also have more kale and mint than we will know what to do with (and without having done any work!) so we will have plenty to share-- another theme of the Jewish harvest holiday of Sukkot aka "Chag Ha-Asif" (the Festival of Ingathering).

If the paradox of Yom Kippur is that we each travel through life with both broken tablets and whole tablets in our personal Mishkan, the paradox of Sukkot is that while we may be as fragile as a passing breath, we are strong enough to give away that which sustains us -- our home, our food, and our love.

For this reason, the rabbis called Sukkot "zman simchateinu" - the time of our rejoicing.

"Enjoy my bounty while you still have it and share it with one other"--the earth cries. Because the real bounty is the realization that we are each connected to each other in a complex web of interdependence, and that we are all fellow travelers on the earth's wonderful and mysterious surface. Sukkot is a time of outward pruning and inward growing. It is a time for quiet reflection on the fragility of life -including our livelihoods- but it is also a time for celebration of its fruits.

On Sukkot we read the book of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) where it says, "hevel havalim ha kol havel" emptiness of emptiness. All is emptiness. Everything on the earth dies and is reborn. Everything is impermanent. Kohelet has a realism (some may call pessimism) and pragmatic mentality that is unique in the Jewish tradition.

Here are some of our favorite quotes from Kohelet:

"Tov shem mi shemen tov--a good name is better than good oil."

"And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God, Who gave it."

If you would like to take part in the joy of Sukkot and celebrate the new season with the Har Shalom community, join us for any of the scheduled events or just come for the mitzvah of "lesheyv ba-Sukkah" - sitting in the Sukkah. We look forward to joining you!

Rabbi Ben and Rabbi Shoshana

--
Rabbi Shoshana Leis
Rabbi Ben Newman
Congregation Har Shalom
The Center for Jewish Living
725 W. Drake Rd.
Fort Collins, CO 80526