Parsha Eikev Part II
Sometimes,
personal priorities come first as much as I love to teach for the sake of
heaven with quality. Last week, I cut the Drasha short because my grandson came
over to help me do some cleaning of my porch before water-proofing so I cut the
Drasha short. I did some of the work in the hot sun but he was a great help.
Once Yeshiva starts or the rains come, I am out of business.
Thus in the Teva, there were two Luchos HaBris. The new complete ones and the broken ones written by G-D.
… there Aaron died … 8 At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto Him, and to bless in His name, unto this day.
This would be 38 years in the future at the same spot where Aaron would die as the Leviim were separated before the Teva was made by Betzalel as the first born at participated in the Egel and only the Leviim did not participate in the golden calf incident.
9 Wherefore Levi hath no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God spoke unto him.
As mentioned previously only 24 small villages for growing crops and other personal food.
10 Now I stayed in the mount, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened unto me that time also; the LORD would not destroy thee.
This is when he came down from Rosh Chodesh Elul to Yom Kippur and the people were forgiven on Yom Kippur!
11 And the LORD said unto me: 'Arise, go before the people, causing them to set forward, that they may go in and possess the land, which I swore unto their fathers to give unto them.'
Now is the time to conquer the land. Nobody alive in the army outside of Yehoshua and Calev knew what it was to be a slave. You are all free without fear from taskmaster and other bullies. You have grown up with brothers around you willing to fight for you.
12 And
now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD
thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD thy
God with all thy heart and with all thy soul;
Time to
fear the L-RD as that is the beginning of wisdom (Mishlei 1:7). Do not fear
taller soldiers, larger numbers and great weapons for the L-RD your G-D with
fight with you to save you.
… 15
Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and He chose their
seed after them, even you, above all peoples, as it is this day. 16 Circumcise
therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
This was
a way of saying repentance at that time. Basically open up your heart to
the L-RD.
17 For
the LORD your God, He is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the
mighty, and the awful, who regards not persons, nor taketh reward. … 11:8 Therefore shall ye
keep all the commandment which I command thee this day, that ye may be strong,
and go in and possess the land, whither ye go over to possess it; 9 and that ye may prolong your days upon the land, which
the LORD swore unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land
flowing with milk and honey.
Almond milk and
date honey as they grow in the land with little water.
… 13
And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto My commandments
which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve Him with
all your heart and with all your soul,
This is the second
paragraph of the Shema. Like the first paragraph starts off with the love for
G-D.
14
that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the
latter rain, that thou may gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
The former rain is
in the month of Cheshvan and the later rain is usually after the season ends
which can be Nissan and move into Iyar. The possibility of rain is from Sept.
through May on the calendar. The rainiest year on record in modern history
started around Chanukah after a number of years of drought and went to
Nissan.
15
And I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be
satisfied.
If you have water
for grass, you have water for wheat and barley and you will be satisfied from
both grains and meat.
16
Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and
serve other gods, and worship them; 17
and the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and He shut up the heaven, so
that there shall be no rain, and the ground shall not yield her fruit; and ye
perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD gives you.
Fierce anger
coming out of the nostrils of G-D like a bull about to charge.
18
Therefore shall ye lay up these My words in your heart and in your soul; and ye
shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets
between your eyes.
The placing of the
Tephillin on the body will remind you with your head and hand to do the
Mitzvos.
19
And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them, when thou sit in thy
house, and when thou walk by the way, and when thou lie down, and when thou rise
up.
You shall teach
and set an example for your children 24/7.
20
And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates;
The Mezuzah with
your going in and out of the house will remind you of the Mitzvos and that will
help guarantee healthy, happy and long lives for you and your children.
21
that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land
which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens
above the earth.
22
For if ye shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do
it, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave unto Him,
… 25 There shall no man be able to stand
against you: the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you
upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as He hath spoken unto you.
If you observe
with zeal, no man can stand before you!
Parsha Re’eh
This
week in one way is a continuation from the last Parshiyos in that it continues
to give Mussar and review Halacha. In fact, last week ended with 165 more Mitzvos
to learn. This week we will not be disappointed as the Parshiyos with a lot of
Mitzvos start together and we progress quickly to the 613.
11:26 Behold, I set before you this
day a blessing and a curse:
Behold, see, observe or pay attention that there
will be a blessing and a curse set before you today. It is a long Drasha and
with plenty of Mitzvos. Even though you and I are about to learn in the next
few Parshiyos a lot of Mitzvos, in reality, I believe that these Mitzvos are
mentioned in review. They were previously part of the Oral Torah and now they
are about to become part of the written Torah. It is said that on the day that
Moshe passed away tens of thousands of Halachos were lost in the end, only
3,000 Oral Halachos were lost. When the persecutions under Rome increase, it
was Rebbe who decided to write down the Mishnayos eventually as Bavel
deteriorated, Rav Ashi wrote down the Gemara.
27 the blessing, if ye shall hearken
unto the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day;
As with the ordinary army of mankind, the army of
Torah and Mitzvos demands compliance to the orders.
28 and the curse, if ye shall not
hearken unto the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the
way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not
known.
If you disobey an order in the army, it can
involve minor disciplinary steps like carrying a pack or running up and down a
hill. It could involve a disciplinary commander court martial and being
grounded on the base or sent to jail for a short term with that on your record.
It could involve a legal court martial and up to the death penalty. The army of
the L-RD or being a member of Am Yisrael is no different.
29 And it shall come to pass, when
the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou go to possess it,
that thou shalt set the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount
Eval.
Why this area? It is more or less the
geographical center of the country. It is about half way between the sea and
the Jordan River Valley it is about half way between north and south using Beer
Sheva or Kadesh Barnea as the southern border. Har Gerizim has green trees and
Har Eval is pretty barren.
30 Are they not beyond the Jordan,
behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites that
dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the terebinths of Moreh?
Gilgal was to be the place of the circumcision in
the future by the pine tree of Moreh.
31 For ye are to pass over the
Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God gives you, and ye
shall possess it, and dwell therein. 32
And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set
before you this day.
There are special Mitzvos that are only for Eretz
Yisrael and not for the diaspora such as the tithes, Shmita and Yovel.
12:1 These are the statutes and the ordinances, which ye
shall observe to do in the land which the LORD, the God of thy fathers, hath
given thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth. 2 Ye shall surely destroy all the places, wherein the
nations that ye are to dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains,
and upon the hills, and under every leafy tree. 3 And ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars,
and burn their Asherim with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of
their gods; and ye shall destroy their name out of that place.
You shall rid the land of idols.
… 10 But when ye go over the
Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God causes you to inherit,
and He giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in
safety; 11 then it shall come to pass
that the place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell
there, thither shall ye bring all that I command you: your burnt-offerings, and
your sacrifices, your tithes, and the offering of your hand, and all your
choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD.
There will be one place for prayer somewhere in a
centralized place between the great sea the Yarden. Somewhere between north and
south and there shall the people come to meet.
… 13 Take heed to thyself that thou
offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou see; 14 but in the place which the LORD shall choose in one
of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt-offerings, and there thou shalt
do all that I command thee.
The high places (Bamos) that existed in previous
generations before the assignment of the Kahuna and central prayers with the
Ark of the Covenant is outlawed once the place is chosen. (An exception was for
Eliyahu HaNovi and the prophets of Baal - Melechim Aleph 18:14 – 43.)
… 20 When the LORD thy God shall
enlarge thy border, as He hath promised thee, and thou shalt say: 'I will eat
flesh', because thy soul desires to eat flesh; thou may eat flesh, after all
the desire of thy soul. 21 If the place
which the LORD thy God shall choose to put His name there be too far from thee,
then thou shalt ritually slaughter
of thy herd and of thy flock, which
the LORD hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat within
thy gates, after all the desire of thy soul.
Soon comes a reminder of the kosher animals and
birds but right now those that are found near ones house.
22 Howbeit as the gazelle and as
the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat thereof; the unclean and the clean may eat
thereof alike. 23 Only be steadfast in
not eating the blood; for the blood is the life; and thou shalt not eat the
life with the flesh.
The Bnei Yisrael do not eat meat with blood in it
and it is usually soaked, drained and salted as stated in the laws of koshering
or it is roasted that the blood comes out.
24 Thou shalt not eat it; thou
shalt pour it out upon the earth as water. 25 Thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy
children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the eyes of the
LORD. …
This “prophet” uses what we call magic tricks known as the hand is quicker than the eye to work signs and miracles. Today it could be floating clear plastic to “walk on water”. If he tells you to go astray from HASHEM, he is to be put on trial and given a death sentence. Now if the prophet was to say something bad is about to happen such as: “Before Chanukah we will be in a war with Gaza”. If there will be no war in this period, it could be that on Yom Kippur, HASHEM removed the Gezaira about the war. So there is no proof that the man is a false prophet. However, if the ‘prophet’ says something good is about to happen, and it does not come to pass then he is a false prophet. Today prophecy is in the hands of children and perhaps autistics.
7 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, that is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying: 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 8 of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 9 thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him; 10 but thou shalt surely kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
If your close relative goes astray there is nothing to pity but you must act as if they are strangers and turn them over to the authorities.
13 If thou shalt hear tell concerning one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God gives thee to dwell there, saying: 14 'Certain base fellows are gone out from the midst of thee, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying: Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known'; 15 then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in the midst of thee; 16 thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. 17 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the broad place thereof, and shall burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, unto the LORD thy God; and it shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built again.
The city if it were on the border would not be destroyed lest strangers conquer or enter the land. The individuals would be killed though and the city would be reinhabited to keep the border under control.
In the center of the country, such a city would be utterly destroyed including whatever they had even in Jewish religious items as they have used them for idol worship. In tractate Sanhedrin there is a dispute if there ever was such a city and some say it never existed and another said, I saw the ruins of such a city.
14:1 Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
There is a Shiite festival where the Arabs cut themselves and Am Yisrael does not do these abhorrent practices.
2 For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be His own treasure out of all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.
Am Yisrael is not only the chosen people but we are the treasury of HASHEM.
3 Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. 4 These are the beasts which ye may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, 5 the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the antelope, and the mountain-sheep. 6 And every beast that parts the hoof, and hath the hoof wholly cloven in two, and chews the cud, among the beasts, that ye may eat.
This is a partial repeat of the animals mentioned in Sefer Vayikra for one last review before Moshe leaves the nation for good.
7 Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that only chew the cud, or of them that only have the hoof cloven: the camel, and the hare, and the rock-badger, because they chew the cud but part not the hoof, they are unclean unto you; 8 and the swine, because he parts the hoof but chews not the cud, he is unclean unto you; of their flesh ye shall not eat, and their carcasses ye shall not touch.
Of all the species of animals discovered in various places in the world and continents only these three plus one animals are those with half properties. The Tapir should be kosher and horses, donkeys, zebras and mules have neither property.
9 These ye may eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales may ye eat; 10 and whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye shall not eat; it is unclean unto you.
This is one reason why one cannot go to a non-certified kosher fish restaurant. Even vegetarian can have creatures no matter how small that the board of health is not bothered by but the kosher inspectors. Each ‘bug’ could have 5 forbidden things on it requiring atonement.
11 Of all clean birds ye may eat. 12 But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the great vulture, and the bearded vulture, and the osprey; … and the hoopoe, and the bat.
We have a tradition of which birds are kosher and there are different signs suggested in Tractate Chullin. The Hoopoe is the Israeli Nation Bird since a number of years ago. The bat is really a mammal and in German it is called the “flying mouse”.
19 And all winged swarming things are unclean unto you; they shall not be eaten. 20 Of all clean winged things ye may eat.
This is most of the insects except the locusts or grasshopper types that we are uncertain of.
21 Ye shall not eat of anything that dies of itself; thou may give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou may sell it unto a foreigner; for thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.
That which dies of itself or disease is called a Nevaillah and that torn by beasts is called a Trafe. A cow still alive with “mad-cow’s disease” or with such a blemish that it could not last too long is forbidden to eat. A non-life threatening disease or torn ear, blind eye might be a blemish for a Korban but not forbidden for ritual slaughter.
… 28 At
the end of every three years, even in the same year, thou shalt bring forth all
the tithe of thine increase, and shall lay it up within thy gates.
Ma’aser
Ani or poor man’s tithe so that the destitute could get food.
29 And
the Levite, because he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee, and the
stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates, shall
come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in
all the work of thy hand which thou do.
Since
Ruth had been a widow of a Jew she was entitled to this and the gleamings of
the field and the corner portion of the field.
This refers to non-business charitable loans for the poor to purchase food or clothing.
… 5 if only thou diligently hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command thee this day. 6 For the LORD thy God will bless thee, as He promised thee; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee.
7 If there be among you a needy man, one of thy brethren, within any of thy gates, in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy needy brother; 8 but thou shalt surely open thy hand unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wants.
Towards the end of the Mikdash Sheni (Second Temple) Hillel ordained the Prosbul. This was a contract that allowed for a person to loan larger sums of money to many poor people before Shmita and collect the loans over time.
9 Beware that there be not a base thought in thy heart, saying: 'The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand'; and thine eye be evil against thy needy brother, and thou give him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin in thee.
It was exactly because of such thoughts and the large number of poor that Hillel issued the ruling on the Prosbul.
10 Thou shalt surely give him, and thy heart shall not be grieved when thou give unto him; because that for this thing the LORD thy God will bless thee in all thy work, and in all that thou put thy hand unto. 11 For the poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore, I command thee, saying: 'Thou shalt surely open thy hand unto thy poor and needy brother, in thy land.'
Socialism, Capitalism, Communism or any ISM, once we are told by G-D that the poor shall never cease we must open up charity. In modern Israel there are so many poor people that if I were to give 10 Agorot to each, I would need twice my salary and I would have nothing so that is why our Sages told us 10 to 20% of one’s income goes to Charity and that is the income after taxes.
… 19 All the firstling males that are born of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God; thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thine ox, nor shear the firstling of thy flock. 20 Thou shalt eat it before the LORD thy God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, thou and thy household. 21 And if there be any blemish therein, lameness, or blindness, any ill blemish whatsoever, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God. 22 Thou shalt eat it within thy gates; the unclean and the clean may eat it alike, as the gazelle, and as the hart. 23 Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it out upon the ground as water.
This section mentions the Bechor of one’s animals to go to the Cohain or be redeemed. The thing that makes the Bechor forbidden to be a sacrifice is a blemish. Wild kosher animals when slaughtered have to have their blood covered (and this goes for kosher birds).
16:1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto the LORD thy God; for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. 2 And thou shalt sacrifice the Passover-offering unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to cause His name to dwell there. 3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for in haste didst thou come forth out of the land of Egypt; that thou may remember the day when thou came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.
We must never forget that we were slaves in Mitzrayim and that HASHEM brought us to freedom.
… 9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee; from the time the sickle is first put to the standing corn shalt thou begin to number seven weeks. 10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God after the measure of the freewill-offering of thy hand, which thou shalt give, according as the LORD thy God blesses thee. … 13 Thou shalt keep the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in from thy threshing-floor and from thy winepress. 14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. and they shall not appear before the LORD empty;
The three Regelim one should make a pilgrimage to Yerushalayim and bring a Korban Chagigah.
17 every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which He hath given thee.
The amount spent on the Korban is dependent on one’s wealth.
One
Intermarried Couple’s Journey by C.
Sapir https://www.aish.com/print/?contentID=558188771§ion=/sp/so
Larry and I were the classic interfaith couple.
He had been bar mitzvahed and was proud of his Jewish identity, but
had grown up eating pork and shrimp and had no problem marrying a non-Jewish
girl. I had been raised Roman Catholic, attending Mass every Sunday, until, as
a teenager, I found it difficult to accept the story of the Christian savior’s
birth.
Larry and I married in 1981 in a secular ceremony and opted to live
with no religion. We settled in a mostly Italian neighborhood on Long Island’s
South Shore and had three children, whom we raised in a no-faith environment.
This worked just fine – at least in the beginning.
One Saturday in 1997, we drove out from Long Island to New Jersey
to attend the bar mitzvah of a son of one of Larry’s employees. We attended the
Kiddush and luncheon, and then got in the car to drive back home. As we were
pulling away, the mother of the bar mitzvah boy waved us down and asked us if
we had room in the car for another guest, a woman who had traveled from
Manhattan by bus.
“Sure,” we said, as we motioned to the kids to move over to make
room for another passenger.
When the woman got into the car, our oldest daughter, Jessica, then
11, turned to her and asked, “What religion are you?”
“I’m Jewish,” she replied. Then, to be polite, she asked Jessica,
“And what religion are you?”
“I’m nothing,” Jessica declared, a huge pout on her face. Hearing
her say this brought tears to my eyes. If our daughter can say she’s nothing,
we must be doing something very wrong, I thought. We’re failing our kids.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see that Larry noticed that I
was upset. And I knew he felt the same way.
Although neither of us was religiously observant, we had both been
guided and shaped by the respective traditions we had grown up with. My parents
were people of faith, devout Catholics, while Larry’s parents, though
nonobservant, were proudly Jewish. But what identity were we giving our
children?
To be a good Catholic, I had to accept the church’s dogma
unquestioningly, and since I wasn’t willing to do that, Catholicism was not an
option. That left Larry’s religion, Judaism.
As it happened, our kids attended a Jewish summer camp – not because
it was Jewish, but because it was the best camp in the neighborhood and it
happened to be close to our home. Although the camp was not religious, the kids
did pick up Jewish songs and some Jewish observances there.
The next step, I decided, was to enroll them in Hebrew school in
order to give them a religious foundation. When I noticed an ad in a
neighborhood circular announcing a Friday night open house at a local Reform
temple, I told Larry I wanted to go.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes,” I replied.
At the temple, we were greeted enthusiastically, and our kids, who
recognized their friends from camp, had a blast.
Shortly after the open house, we became members of the temple,
after which the temple’s sisterhood delivered a welcome basket to our door containing
two candles, a small bottle of grape juice, two challah rolls, and a printed
card with the Shabbat blessings. When Larry came home from work, I showed him
the basket.
“What should we do with this?” he asked.
“Uh, light the candles, make Kiddush, eat the rolls, and go to
services."
The warm welcome at the temple, combined with the subsequent
membership basket at our doorstep, spurred us to begin attending services
regularly, while introducing basic Shabbat observances: candle lighting,
Kiddush, family meals, and Bircat Hamazon.
Since the Reform movement recognizes patrilineal descent, my
children were embraced as Jews and accepted to the temple’s Hebrew school,
where they learned about the holidays, prayers, and Torah, and became staunch
Zionists.
Many times, I asked the rabbi of the temple about conversion, but
each time he came up with some excuse why now wasn’t a good time.
In April 1999, when we were on the verge of celebrating Jessica’s
bat mitzvah – which was postponed a couple of years because she had a lot of
catching up to do in Hebrew school – I told the rabbi that I could not attend
the ceremony as a non-Jew. After two years of hemming, he finally agreed to
convert me. I stood before a Reform beit din and was declared a full-fledged
Jew.
Several months later, just before Sukkot, a mutual friend
introduced us to the rabbi of a nearby Conservative synagogue, who invited us
to attend services on Simchat Torah – a holiday that Reform Judaism combines
with Shemini Atzeret. We enjoyed the services at the Conservative synagogue and
liked the people we met, so we began attending Shabbat morning services there,
in addition to Friday night services in the Reform temple, which did not offer
much of a Shabbat morning service.
During the Torah reading at the Conservative synagogue, in between
each aliyah, the rabbi would select a verse to discuss. We would examine the
Hebrew and consider the translation, and we were invited to ask questions as he
posed questions to us. I greatly enjoyed this close reading of the Torah,
floating out of the synagogue each week on a high.
In the summer of 2000, close to a year after we began attending
services at the Conservative synagogue, we took our first family trip to
Israel. What struck me most on that trip was how tiny a country Israel actually
was and how dwarfed it was by its Arab neighbors. It was then that I realized
how important a role every Jew in the world plays in perpetuating Jewish
heritage. If we don’t give over this heritage to the next generation, I thought,
it’s going to be lost.
We returned to New York deeply moved, our connection to Judaism
further cemented. Shortly afterward, Larry’s grandmother, whom I loved dearly,
passed away. She had come over to the US from Russia and had kept Shabbat and
kashrut, but by the next generation, all of that had been lost. Mulling this
over after her passing, I was again struck by the fragility of Jewish
tradition, and felt compelled to protect it.
Agreeing that it was time to up our commitment to Judaism, Larry
and I took the plunge and kashered our kitchen, with the help of the
Conservative rabbi. The next day, our children – whom the Conservative movement
did not consider Jewish – underwent conversion.
Originally, Larry’s aunt had planned to hire someone to say Kaddish
for her mother, Larry’s grandmother, just as she had done after her father’s
passing, but this time, Larry volunteered for the task. This was no small
undertaking, as it meant that he had to pray three times a day with a minyan
every day for almost an entire year – and he barely knew the prayers at that
point. He didn’t even own a pair of tefillin yet, and he certainly had no idea
how to put them on; half the time the straps would unwind and fall down his arm
halfway through davening.
Morning and evening, he prayed at the Conservative synagogue, or at
a nearby Orthodox shul. In the afternoon, he joined a Mincha Minyan across the
street from his Manhattan office, in the warehouse behind a wholesale
electronics store. “I pray to big-screen TVs,” he would joke, referring to the
huge TV boxes lining the walls all around the room.
He was in his early forties then, and for him to join minyanim of
observant Jews who knew the prayers practically in their sleep involved an
incredibly steep learning curve. Yet the members of each of the minyanim
befriended and encouraged him. And because the electronics store across the
street held a daily learning session before Mincha, he managed to learn some
Torah each day together with them as well. He would come home and tell me what
he had learned, and slowly, we both found ourselves growing interested in
discovering more about Judaism. After the year of Kaddish was over, he
continued davening three times a day, and we gradually became more and more
observant, attending classes and lectures on Judaism together whenever we
could.
All three of my
children grew into ardent Zionists and made their way to Israel. Jessica
attended college in Herzliya, and my son, Keith, and younger daughter, Alison,
joined the IDF as lone soldiers. Eventually, each of them made aliyah.When Jessica decided she was ready to get married, she realized that she had a problem: her Conservative conversion would not be recognized in Israel. She therefore signed up for a conversion course under the auspices of the Chief Rabbinate and underwent an Orthodox conversion in December 2014, after which she married a French baal teshuvah (returnee to observant Judaism).
Larry and I made plans to join them and make aliyah as well, and we booked tickets through Nefesh B’Nefesh to fly to Israel for good. Two years earlier, however, he had been diagnosed with cancer, and several weeks before our planned departure his condition worsened drastically. Rather than us joining the kids in Israel as planned, I called them all back to New York to say goodbye to him. He passed away in May 2017, just eight days before our scheduled departure. He was 62.
About a week before he died, when he was receiving hospice care at home, the hospice agency sent a social worker to our house to speak to us.
“Are you afraid to die?” she asked Larry.
“No,” he replied. (At that point he was in so much pain that he was ready to die.)
“What about your wife?” she asked. “Are you worried about her?”
“No,” he said again. “She’s going to move to Israel and make a life for herself."
Those words were his parting gift to me, for in saying this he gave me permission to go ahead and build a new life without him. He also imbued me with the confidence that I could actually go through with this move, which was quite a daunting task. I had to singlehandedly negotiate the sale of his business, sell our house, get rid of the stuff we had accumulated over 36 years of marriage, and then fly halfway across the world and begin a new life alone in a new country where I knew almost no one.
In retrospect, however, God had been kind to me by taking Larry before we made Aliyah. Had he passed away in Israel, I would have been alone, with no one other than my children to comfort me. Instead, I sat Shiva on Long Island, where I experienced an outpouring of kindness from family, friends, neighbors, work colleagues, and fellow shul congregants. Surrounded with love and support, I was able to tie up all of the loose ends of our life in America before boarding a plane to Israel in September 2017 and rejoining my kids.
My daughter Alison had enrolled in a conversion program in the course of her army service, and about a year ago she, too, underwent an Orthodox conversion. I was present at the ceremony, and while I was there I overheard the rabbis on the Beit Din ask each other, “Aval mah im ha’Ima -- but what’s with the mother?”
They meant me!
I considered myself a faithful Jew – but I decided to undergo an Orthodox conversion and follow my daughters' footsteps so that I would be fully accepted as a Jew according to Jewish law. (Keith, although living and working in Israel, has not yet taken that step.)
I enrolled in a comprehensive yearlong conversion course in English that covered everything from Jewish law to Jewish history to Tanach, prayer, Shabbat, and holidays. To me, becoming Jewish has been a process similar to a marriage. You get married thinking you know the other person, but really you don’t. It takes a long time, decades even, to really learn your spouse – and even then, you only get to know the other person through paying careful attention to every detail: his every word, his facial expressions, his unspoken thoughts.
Larry and I were able to sit at a table without saying a word and know what the other was thinking because we spent 36 years paying close attention to each other and caring about each other. Similarly, I think, a Jew’s relationship with God is built through caring about the details and investing effort into Torah, mitzvot, and prayer.
Technically, I became Jewish the moment I immersed in the mikveh. But, as I noted at a recent ceremony after my conversion here in Israel, I don’t believe that a person becomes Jewish in one moment. “I’ve been becoming Jewish for nearly 20 years,” I said.
The Dayanim had asked me to address a group of new converts attending the ceremony, and in my speech I told them, “You think that just because you completed a conversion program and you’ve received a certificate stating that you’re Jewish, that means you’re done. But the truth is that you’re just beginning.
“Next week,” I continued, “you’re going to kasher your kitchen for Pesach for the first time. You’re not going to know what you’re doing, and you’re going to have to ask a whole lot of questions. Will it be perfect? No! But next year you’ll do it better, and the year after that better yet. It’s a process, a new challenge each time, and as time goes on, you get better at it and embrace it more deeply.
“Being Jewish is not about holding a piece of paper,” I concluded. “It’s about facing the lifelong challenge of living as a Jew."
Originally featured in Mishpacha Magazine, as told to the author of ‘Lifelines.’ www.mishpacha.com Photo used graphic for illustrative purposes only.
This article can
also be read at: https://www.aish.com/sp/so/One-Intermarried-Couples-Journey.html
Dr.
Harry wrote a poem on self-hating assimilated Jews.
I have given you the Land
and you treat it with hate
return back to your heritage
before it is too late.
Think that by eating forbidden food
in country clubs of the others
will cause them to like
and treat you like brothers
Were commanded to be different
and serve as holy race
but if you worship idols
I will turn away My Face
New book “The Road to Truth” from Scientology to
Judaism. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267456
Shaked
I connect to religious Zionism. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267838
Ganz
our partners must recognize Israel. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267839
Educator
visits Yerushalayim and reflects. http://www.5tjt.com/botwinick-stand-together-to-stamp-out-hatred/
Voting
stations invalid from last election. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267803
Charedi
Politics. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267896
Labor’s
Political Gimmick. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267892
If
you believe a politician before an election a new neighborhood to be named for
Rina. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267950
Netanyahu
makes an offer: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267965
Eugen
Gluck philanthropist passes away. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267979
Leibel
Mochkin 95 anti-Soviet passes. https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/4466650/jewish/Leibel-Mochkin-95-Daring-Chassidic-Activist-in-the-USSR-and-Beyond.htm#utm_medium=email&utm_source=1_chabad.org_magazine_en&utm_campaign=en&utm_content=content
Hi-tech
employees in Israel pass 300,000. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268037
Likud
and Feiglin working out agreement. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268042
Israel
takes Gold Medal in Judo in Japan. https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/sport/1566993910-israeli-judoka-sagi-muki-wins-gold-medal-at-world-judo-championship-final-in-japan
Court
of injustice sides with Missionaries for conference in Haifa. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268049
Freed
Agunos to have songs in Yerushalayim. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268095
“Our
boys” HBO Series uses tragedy to blast Israel. https://www.aish.com/jw/me/Our-Boys-The-HBO-Series-Uses-a-Jewish-Tragedy-to-Condemn-Israeli-Society.html?s=sh1
Netanyahu
promise Cannabis imports. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5577984,00.html
TV 2
has Bibi ahead here Ganz. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268139
Inyanay Diyoma
Rina
died on the spot father as paramedic and Rabbi tried to save her. On Dvir he
used his Tzitzis as a tourniquet. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267816
Medic
on the scene was a relative. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267814
Easy
Jet grounds suicidal pilot. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267811
Iranian
Drone attack on Israel nipped in the bud. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5574994,00.html https://www.debka.com/israeli-jets-drones-destroy-iranian-uavs-in-damascus-to-foil-imminent-attack/ PM
on strike. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267850
Antisemitic
shirt on sale Amazon. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267845
Hezballah
claims that Israeli drones downed. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267851
IDF
reliance on tech not good Ed-Op. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5572884,00.html
IED
makers not caught but 3 arrested. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5574489,00.html
Explosive
Devices a new ball game. https://www.debka.com/back-to-the-2nd-intifada-and-palestinian-remote-control-bombs-no-leads-to-killer-terrorists/
9,000
weekly rioters some Nazi Symbols. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267825
Daniel
Pipes time for Israel to declare victory. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267821
5
dead in the strikes on Iranian Drones. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267867
Iranian
in charge of drones. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267873
Jewish
Brigade part 1 to Mufti. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24259
5000
Arabs for Deutschland 3. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24309
Jews
and the allies from NILI Part 4. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24352
The
Great Arab Revolt that wasn’t 5. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24322
Jewish
Contribution to the Allies 6. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24352
Iranian
Drone war increases. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5575346,00.html
Trump
– Johnson meeting very productive. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267865
Villa
where terrorists hid. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267871
Israel
attacks PFLP in Lebanon. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267900
More
info on thwarted Iranian attack. https://www.debka.com/israels-army-chief-soleimani-masterminded-thwarted-drone-attack-were-ready-for-all-contingencies/
Hezballah
takes credit to hide Iran. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5575526,00.html
Attack
during the Sderot Music festival attended by 4000 people. Some left blankets,
pacifiers, popcorn etc. as they ran. Hamas received a reply. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267898
Yesterday
in broad daylight, a convoy was attacked in Iraq. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5575917,00.html
Mevo
Modiin Families left homeless from fires. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267886
4
Fires lit in Beit Shemesh area. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5575908,00.html
Israel
warns Lebanon of consequences if Hezballah attacks. https://www.debka.com/israel-quietly-warns-beirut-powerful-response-would-greet-an-attack-on-golan-or-galilee/ Disproportionate
response. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267967
Turkey
continues receiving S-400. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267961
Term
of Danny Danon extended. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267961
Diane
Bederman we need more mental health facilities.
https://dianebederman.com/donald-trump-calls-for-more-mental-institutions/
Iran
– no talks until sanctions lifted. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5576361,00.html
US
seeks death penalty for Pittsburgh shooter. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5576326,00.html
Pence
– US supports Israel’s right to defend itself. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5576113,00.html
Fishman
is Iran and Hezballah losing their patience. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5576027,00.html
4
Mortars fired Israeli replies. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5576548,00.html
Scottish
teacher fired for showing Israeli film. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5576442,00.html
IDF
limits traffic near northern border. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267982
Hezballah
wants limited response and we warned that we would hit them massively. IDF
flies 24/7 over Lebanon. https://www.debka.com/israel-to-hizballah-a-crushing-israeli-response-will-come-even-for-a-limited-reprisal/
Jihad
or ISIS hit Hamas bombers blew up. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268038
Wave
of arrests in Gaza. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5576952,00.html
Arabs
abused special needs Charedi. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268034
N.
Korea building a Nuclear Submarine. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268027
With
over 10 rockets in a less than 10-day period PTSD treatments rise. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5577058,00.html
Democratic
Congresswoman loves her workers. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7399825/Ilhan-Omars-married-aide-affair-Democratic-congresswoman-told-wife-LOVED-her.html
Worse
than a lightning storm rockets send kids out of the pool running for shelter. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5577388,00.html
Lebanese
Army fires at Israeli Drones. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5577342,00.html
US
Cyberattack halted Iran’s ability to attack tankers. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268071
Kelly
Anne Conway hits Taylor Swift via her own song and moves on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=FP3eEHEHc0I
Russia
interferes in Israeli election. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268080
Feiglin
drops out in turn for ministerial post and decriminalization of marijuana. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268077
No
peace plan before elections. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5577271,00.html
Ed-Op
no magic bullet in Gaza. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5577265,00.html
Fishman
– Israel slapped Hezballah’s face. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5576544,00.html
Jewish
MD lost challenge to assisted suicide law. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268063
Curfew
for soldiers-farmers near Lebanon. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268121
Iran-Hezballah
precision missile facilities. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268104
Bibi’s
jabs but BB guns are something else. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5578055,00.html
UN
Mandate revised fairer to Israel. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268110
Young
Arabs seeking employment elsewhere. https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/08/01/young-palestinians-are-leaving-gaza-in-droves
Major
Hurricane moves closer to Jewish Areas of FL and Mar Lago. You can click wind
forecast cone. https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
Rockland
Republicans antisemtic ad. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268119
NYC
antisemitic attacks = a plague. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268151
The
Great Arab Revolt that wasn’t 5. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24322
Jewish
Contribution to the Allies 6. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24352
Iranian
Drone war increases. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5575346,00.html
Hamas
works to bring explosive engineers. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/267842
Have
a good Shabbos and a healthy and peaceful one,
Rachamim
Pauli
