Vayakhel – Celebrating Shabbat 5758

This week's Torah portion is Vayakhel, (Exodus 35 to 38:20) which begins with the words, "And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said unto them, These are the words which the Lord hath commanded, that ye should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day." Well, here we are this Friday evening, celebrating Shabbat -- our way, the way God taught us at Sinai and Moses repeated time and time again in the desert for forty years. Why do I point this out? Because it is a fact. Why else? Because we are getting to be too accommodating, too gentle and kind, too diplomatic. "Excuse me for living," we say; "Begging your pardon," we proclaim; "By your grace," we entreat. Well, enough already! Enough being the nice guy. Enough with politeness, and enough with being politically correct. Lets be parochial for a change, and lets insist that we don't need to beg for anything, that we don't live by anyone's excuse -- but in spite of their worst fiendish plans and evil machination -- and that we have not had grace from any source in a long long time. Let us stand up for our rights -- and let us proclaim our case.

We have a right to the Land of Israel. It is our land. We were promised that land in the Torah -- and no 'revisionist' reading of the Torah is ever going to be acceptable to us! We don't care if the Arabs claim to be "Abraham's first son's seed." The promise is through Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to his descendants who came back from slavery in Egypt and established the only unified and recognized nation ever to inhabit the land that is today Israel. We have not changed, and the land was taken from us by force by enemies great and mighty in days of antiquity. We suffered persecution and privation at the hands of all the nations in the midst of whom we lived for a period of two thousand years -- knowing some grace and much ill-will from Christian, Moslem, and heathen people. We began to return to the land at the end of the 19th century, and the land we reclaimed (both politically and physically) was mostly uninhabited and unclaimed by any nation or people in the area at that time. True enough, Arabs came and settled and lived side by side with the Jews in the redeveloping land -- but they, like us, were new to the land. Unlike us, they did not seek to live in peace, and from early on determined to collide with the Jews and block them from attaining their goal of national rebirth. Since the days of the first settlements, on land bought at inflated prices from absentee landlords, Arab marauders attacked, robbed, raped and ravaged the Jews. In 1920, 1922, 1925, 1929, 1932, and the so called "great uprising" of 1936 to 39, Arab riots caused great damage to property and a good number of Jewish dead and injured. During the Second World War, the Arabs of Palestine's leaders, as well as many Arab activists in the Middle East, favored the Nazis and cooperated with them in their plans of world conquest and the annihilation of the Jews. The Mufti (religious head) of Jerusalem, Amin Husseini, was one of the chief wanted criminals on the list of the Nuremberg War Crimes court!

The Jews were promised a state (euphemistically called "a national home") in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which was passed and approved by the U.S. Congress and the League of Nations. After the end of WWII, the Jews demanded to have this promise fulfilled, even if it was necessary to share the land with an autonomous Arab state. The U.N. approved the Partition plan on November 29, 1947, and Israel became a state on May 14, 1948. In its Declaration of Independence Israel called on its Arabs neighbors to cooperate in a peaceful manner with Israel in maintaining harmony and peace in the region. The Arab nations answered with war, attacking Israel on the day of its birth and fighting it in six wars before coming grudgingly to negotiate peace. They also created the displaced Palestinians and the "Palestinian" claim to the entire land -- creating a terrorist organization, in fact, several terrorist organizations, under the umbrella of the PLO. The very word "Palestinian" became associated in the minds of many around the world with hijacking, hostage-taking and other acts of terror.

In 1992, the PLO had a face-lift operation. Yasser Arafat was miraculously rehabilitated, and transformed from the internationally wanted leader of a motley gang of violent thugs to an honored guest at the United Nations, the European heads of state -- and finally even at White House. Oh, yes, this past week he was even ushered into the "peanut farm" at Plaines, Georgia.

But today, despite short memories and pro-Arab inclinations, the truth is there for all who would see it: Arafat and his associates remain hijackers. This time, the entire nation of Israel is being held hostage.

In recent weeks, newspaper and television reports have regaled us with information about the Har Khoma situation. Spokesmen for both the PA and the Israeli government have been interviewed at length. Still, those who write and read the news bulletins remain firmly convinced of one thing: the Palestinian version of events is the true one. A headline screamed, "Israel has defied world opinion by deciding to build thousands of homes for Jewish in an Arab suburb of Jerusalem." CNN took this "Arab suburb" concept further, claiming the building was to occur "in a section of Jerusalem home mostly to Arabs" -- even as a camera panned over the barren site, home right now to none, Jew or Arab. And the BBC fell back on that old, favorite slur, and told the world the homes were to be built for "Jewish settlers".

In a radio interview, Abu Ala, speaker of the Palestinian legislative council and legislative representative for Jerusalem, regarding the future of the holy city, Abu Ala warned of "an explosion" if Israel proceeds with plans to build a new Jewish neighborhood in the Jerusalem area of Har Homa. Asked by the interviewer whether he was threatening violence, he said, "No doubt there will be an explosion." He noted that Israel and the Palestinians are set to negotiate over all of Jerusalem: "Not East nor West -- Jerusalem, the whole of Jerusalem." He said the Palestinians are willing to discuss all aspects of life in the city except what he termed "Palestinian sovereignty," which he said is not up for discussion. Keep in mind the fact that Jerusalem is not now and has never been under "Palestinian" sovereignty, and has had a Jewish majority for over a hundred and fifty years.

Furthermore, the Jordanian conquest of the Old City in 1948 saw the destruction of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, the desecration of the dearest Jewish cemetery -- the one on the Mount of Olives, and the use of Jewish tombstones from the centaury as building material for their military camps. This was just one chapter in their ongoing struggle against the Jewish people.

During the period of Jordanian occupation from 1948 to 1967, all

Jews were barred entry into the entire Old City, even though the Armistice agreement promised, nay guaranteed free access.

The Congress of the United States issued a report, which is not secret and I was able to get off the Internet. This report warns about a military pact drawn up between Yasser Arafat and the Syrian government toward the end of last year, threatening hostilities against Israel. One of the key clauses of the Damascus pact says that Arafat's police, as well as his "terrorist armed elements are to be trained" to ignite "the Israel interior in case of an escalation in the north."

The report describes Arafat's rapid construction of a chain of deep "command centers, ammunition and weapons storage areas, well-fortified to even withstand Israeli bombing and shelling. The PA is accumulating large stockpiles of antitank and antiaircraft weapons, including missiles - all forbidden by the Oslo accords."

Security experts in Israel were already aware of Arafat's importing of vast quantities of cement from Israel into Gaza, ostensibly for constructing housing and hospitals. They will now find disturbing confirmation of their suspicion that what the PLO chief was really up to was building a four-story-deep HQ bunker complex under the ground. Arafat and the Syrians opened joint offices in Beirut and Gaza. HQ is in Damascus, already functioning with the blessing of President Assad.

The report says: "Syrian military/intelligence teams will be infiltrated into the PA area, granted Palestinian identity documents, and serve as military attaches for training Palestinian forces." Together with the PA, the Syrians are, as the congressional report phrases it, setting up a fresh team to "employ ruthless means" to eradicate any remnants of Israel's General Security Service's (GSS) networks. This is intended to "further harm Israel's ability to prevent and fight terrorism."

So now we have the Har Homa issue: Arafat is on a public relations tour of the U.S., trying to stop Israel from starting another "settlement." But Har Homa is an uninhabited area in the municipal boundary of Jerusalem, 1850 dunams, 1400 of which are owned by Jews since before the creation of the state! The legal issues were debated and judged in the supreme court of Israel, and the project does not violate the Oslo agreement in any way -- since it is not in the area designated as "the West Bank and Jericho." It is, in fact, Arab leaders who incite the masses against Israel in their Friday sermons broadcast by the Palestinian media from the Temple Mount, that are in gross violation of the Oslo Accords.

The Israeli government, and more importantly, the people, the citizens of Israel, have devised endless programs focusing on peaceful relations, or, where the Arabs are not accommodating, coexistence with our neighbors. This high resolve is not reciprocated by Arab nations or by the Palestinians. Quite the contrary is true. Palestinian children are being indoctrinated by the new Palestinian Authority with hate, revenge, and enmity. Arafat pays tribute and praises arch terrorists such as "the engineer," Yehya Ayash, whose "engineering" was a specialty in wholesale murder and mutilation. Israel has given back cities and villages -- the Palestinians have used guns issued to police their areas to kill and wound Israeli soldiers.

Where is the reciprocity? Shall we blindly press on in a one-sided race toward peace? What peace?

When will the world wake up and say, 'if you claim the fatherhood of Abraham, exercise the brotherly behavior of peace. Stop your threats, shed your armor, tread the path of peace, and watch the flowers of understanding and cooperation enrich the lives of your children even as they do those of the sons of Yitzkhak. Let shalom flow like a river, and its taste shall be sweeter than honey. And let God, the God of Abraham, who alone is God over all of His creation, bless all his children with health, happiness and healing.'

Vayakhel Pikudey 5759

This week’s Torah portion is Vayakhel - Pikudey, a combined portion which is the last reading in the Book of Shemot, Exodus. The reading begins with, "And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said unto them, These are the words which the Lord hath commanded, that ye should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day." Last year when we came to this portion, the "issue of the day" was the Israeli building project at Har Khoma. You see how much life imitates art... Like T.V. soap opera, you can leave it for a year, and when you come back — they are still in the same point in time. So, also, with current events. Just this past week, Britain’s foreign minister, Mr. Cook, saw fit to slap Israel’s face by making a gesture in shaking hands with a Palestinian Authority functionary at Har Khoma... The more things change, the more they are the same. Last year I stated that we are the People of Israel, celebrating the Shabbat of the Lord as we did from the time when we first settled in the Land of the Promise. I stated that we are tired of making excuses for our actions in the Land of Israel, for it is our land. I said that the land was taken from us by force by enemies great and mighty in days of antiquity. We suffered persecution and privation at the hands of all the nations in the midst of whom we lived for a period of two thousand years — knowing some grace and much ill-will from Christians, Moslems, and heathens. I reminded you of the history of our reclaiming of the land, and how we faced Arab enmity in riots in 1920, 1922, 1925, 1929, 1932, and the so called "great uprising" of 1936 to 39. I spoke of land bought at inflated prices from absentee landlords, and of the Mufti (religious head) of Jerusalem, Amin Husseini, who was one of the chief wanted criminals on the list of the Nuremberg War Crimes court!

I also reminded you of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, favoring the creation of a Jewish "national home" — which was made a resolution passed and approved by the U.S. Congress and the League of Nations. British perfidy prevented the state from coming into being in the time when the Jews needed it most — but on November 29, 1947, the U.N. approved the Partition plan, and Israel became a state on May 14, 1948. In its Declaration of Independence Israel called on its Arabs neighbors to cooperate in a peaceful manner with Israel in maintaining harmony and peace in the region. The Arab nations answered with war, attacking Israel on the day of its birth and fighting it in six wars. And while there’s a lot of talk about peace — peace in not at hand, yet, by any means. As long as one nation or one people threaten another with war, with violence, with a possible annihilation — peace is not the real issue on the negotiating table. Why is this so? Why is peace so illusive?

In the second segment of the Torah, Pikudey, we read "These are the records of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant, which were drawn up at the commandment of Moses, the work of the Levites being under the direction of Ithamar son of the priest Aaron." Why should Moshe, the servant of God, give an accounting of the building of the Tabernacle? To show responsibility and accountability! This man, Moses, was surely above reproach. This man, who took the children of Israel out of bondage and brought them to the gates of the Promised land, made sure that every penny of the public trust was accounted for. Why? Precisely because he was Moses — and as such he knew that he had to set an example to his people, to his book, and to posterity.

But look around you today, and see what is happening in our country. Politicians are the most despised profession in the land. No, I’m not talking of Mr. Clinton, for am I talking of Newt Gingrich. I am talking of politicians the world over — from India to Indonesia, from Britain to Bahrein. I am referring to butchers from Bagdad to Belgrade, and criminals from Chechnia to China. How can you have peace when these tyrants and despots sell the wares of deaths to any and all comers? How will there be peace in Gaza with a madman in Benghazi? Who will keep a covenant in Jerusalem when there is no safety in Damascus?

And what is the solution to our problem? The words of the Torah ring in my ears, as they should in the ears of all who seek peace, " Justice, only justice shall you pursue, that you may live, — tzedek tzedek tirdof lema’an tikhye..." [Deu. 16:20] In today’s global village, much more than in the days of Moshe and the Israelites in the desert, only the Universal Law of God, teaching the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man can avail us. On spaceship earth we shall all prosper of perish together. Let us hope and pray, and let us enlist all our efforts to the battle to persevere and prosper.

Amen

Vayak’hel – Shabbat as a Sanctuary 5760

Last week I spoke to you about the great leaders that our people had, as exemplified by the two men about whose labor we read in the torah and the Haftara – Moshe and Eliyahu. I did this in spite of the fact that the reading included two passages of great importance, the "veshamru," which we recite twice every Shabbat, and the "Thirteen Attributes," which we repeat on holidays when we take out the Torah and on the High Holidays when we ask for God’s forgiveness. For the last three weeks the Torah text has been full of information about the building of the sanctuary, "Ohel Mo’ed," the "Tent of Meeting" or Tabernacle, in the desert. This week’s portion continues informing us about the gift-giving for and the building of the sanctuary where God is worshiped.

This brings the text very close to me, and I hope to you, too – since we are all involved in the effort to raise funds and build the Beth El synagogue building, a fine and fitting home for the Jewish community of the beaches. This is not only a worthy project – it is a necessary project to keep Judaism alive in our area for this generation and the generations that will come after us and wish to continue in our path. However, we must take a clue from the text in our Torah, both last week and this week.

Last week we read, "And he gave to Moses, when he finished talking with him upon Mount Sinai, two tablets of Testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God." [Ex.31:18] What happened immediately before God parted from Moshe on Mount Sinai? We read, "Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant. It is a sign between me and the people of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." [Ex. 31:16,17] God exhorts Moshe to insist that the Shabbat must be kept and maintained. And this week, before Moshe gives the fund-raising pitch to the Children of Israel concerning the building of the sanctuary of God, he begins with the words, "And Moses gathered all the congregation of the people of Israel together, and said to them, These are the words which the Lord has commanded, that you should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord; whoever does work in it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day." [Ex. 35:1-3]

What do we learn from all this? Rashi taught us that the primary message was that nothing is so holy or important as to delay the observance of Shabbat. This is a most important lesson, but I would like to suggest to you that it is not necessarily the reason for finding the service of the Sanctuary of God contrasted with the keeping of the Shabbat. I would like to suggest to you that the Shabbat, as contemplated and envisioned by our Creator, was to be a sanctuary in time, one that supercedes any physical structure we may build, and one that is closest, most intimate and dear to the Master of the Universe.

This message is clear: in the days when the Israelites were in the desert they were eager to become an "established people, like the Egyptians, in whose midst they had lived for so long. The Egyptians had their spectacular buildings, their priestly "cast," and their rituals that were conducted with must pomp and fuss. The Israelites were willing to give up much of the gold and silver they had accumulated in Egypt before their departure, to create a similar "cast" of priests, with their "necessary" vestments and sanctuaries.

Moshe had been taught by God, through experience, to recognize holiness in a burning bush and a bare mountain-top where God is available to interface with us. It is this that he is trying to teach the Israelites. Shabbat is the same in the tents of the people who cross the desert as it is in the palaces of Jerusalem and Samaria. Shabbat brings us close to the Lord, in Tiberias, under sea-level, in Tel-Aviv, at sea-level, and high in the hills of Galilee, in the mystical majesty of the city of Safed. God hears our Shabbat prayers and rejoices at our sanctification of His days no matter where we are and no matter how knowing or ignorant we are of His Mitzvot. Shabbat is a portal, a gate through which we enter His "Sukat Shalom" – Tabernacle of Peace.

"Kedushat Shabbat" – the Holiness of the Shabbat has a numerical mystical message for us. Each of the two words has a numeric value of 9 (kdushat 100+4+6+300+400=810; 8+1=9 shabat 300+2+400=702; 7+2+9. The two words together 9+9=18. This number is represented by the letters "kha’y" – which means life!) Thus, the Shabbat has the same numeric value as truth, (emet in Hebrew, 1+40+400=441; 4+4+1=9) and is truth, and originated from the God of truth, whose name is Ehe’yeh (1+5+10+5=21; 2+1=3) and 3 is the root of 9!

Our sages have said, quite wisely and quite justly, "Yoter misheshamru Yisra’el al hashabbat, shamra hashabbat al Yisrael." Much more than Israel kept and observed the Shabbat – it was the Shabbat that kept Israel throughout time. May we be privileged to build the kind of building that the community needs at the Beaches – but may we first and always realize and recognize that we need to fulfill the mitzvot, keep the Shabbat and worship the Maker of All to be worthy of entering His Sanctuary to be sustained and sanctified therein, even as we are sanctified by His Holy Torah and his Eternal Mitzvot.

Amen

Vayakhel Pikudey 5761

This Shabbat is quite unique and different from other Shabbatot. First, it in the last day of the month of Adar. Sunday is Rosh Khodesh Nisan. What significance does this have? Well, today in the last day of the first half of the year in our calendar. On Sunday we begin the Month of Spring, the time of our national birth, the time of the Leaving of Egypt. That is an important event. Add to this the fact that the double portion we read this Shabbat, Vayakhel Pikudey, is the last portion in the book of Exodus... Now, this is becoming ever more interesting.

Our text begins with an affirmation of the basic teaching of God to the people who went out of Egypt: "And Moses gathered all the congregation of the people of Israel together, and said to them, These are the words which the Lord has commanded, that you should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord; whoever does work in it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day." [Ex. 35:1-3] The portion ends with a strange report, "So Moses finished the work. Then a cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud abode on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys; But if the cloud was not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys." [Ex.40:33-38]

The opening words in Hebrew are "Vayak’hel Moshe et kol adat bney-Yisra’el vażomer aleyhem ele hadvarim asher tzivah adonaż la’asot otam." This verse can translate quite differently from the English text I gave you above. You can use the word ‘"Vayak’hel’ to mean ‘made into a congregation.’ Thus Moshe formed B’ney Yisrael into a congregation, and told them "ele hadvarim" even as it said at Sinai, in reverse order "And God Spoke "hadvarim ha’ele " - these words. Moshe founded the congregation of the people of Yisra’el even as we have founded the Congregation of the House of God - "Beyt El" - here at the beach. How did we do it? By means of the celebration of Shabbat and the message of "hadvarim ha’ele" - the Torah.

At the end of the fifth book of the Torah we read, "Torah Tzivah lanu moshe morasha kehilat yaįkov - Moses instructed us by means of Torah - it is the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob." [Deu. 33:4] We must celebrate, instruct, participate in and live a life of Torah through the "kahal" - the congregation, even as Moshe did not us at the time of the completion of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle in the desert. There is a direct connection between the worship of God and the creation of a congregation and the covenant that God made with Israel. The portion says in all when it mentions in this week’s text "kol adat bney-Yisra’el" which is the ‘entire congregation of the children of Israel.’ The choice of words that the text uses is most instructive - ‘gather - va’yakhel’ from the root ‘kahal’ which is the people who gather for services; ‘congregation - adat’ from the root ‘ed’ which is witness, the purpose of coming together, in a congregation, to declare the sovereignty of God and promote His reign upon this world that he created. This is the time of preparing for redemption and liberation. It is a time of renewal of hope, the time of spring - renewal in nature and in the nature of man.

Amen

Vayakhel Pikudey 5762

This week's Torah portion is Vayakhel - Pikudey, a combined portion which is the last reading in the Book of Sh'mot, Exodus. This means that at the end of the reading of the Torah this Shabbat we shall stand and proclaim, "Khazak, khazak venitkhazek" - strong, strong, we shall get strong! We refer, of course, to the strength we draw from learning the teachings of our God. This shabbat is called "Shabbat Hakhodesh," since next Thursday begins the month of spring, the Time of our Freedom. And since we left Egypt to be a people who serve God, it is only fitting that we shall begin next week the reading of "Torah of the Kohanim" - Leviticus.
The reading of the Torah this week begins with, "And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said unto them, These are the words which the Lord hath commanded, that ye should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day."
We are the Shabbat people, the ones who gave the world our holy books, the knowledge of the One True God, and the concept of a relationship of love between humanity and God and God and humanity. Our crown achievement is the Shabbat, and the Mitzvot that come from Torah. "Mitzvot" that can be explained, but the word itself cannot be translated. There is no such word in other tongues. And because the world does not know the word and does not understand the concept - they continue to misunderstand us.
Take the situation in the Middle East as an example. The Saudis bleed us white with the costs of buying the oil which God put in their ground and American oilmen discovered. The Saudis have no use for all that oil, and they have made a very nice profit on it ever since the Arab American Oil Company, Aramco, first started pumping it out of the ground. Some of the people who got nice and rich on it have been the Saudi royal family, and the Bin Laden family. In 1991 we went to war to save the skin of those people when Saadam Hussein threatened to take over their oil fields and their fiefdom. What did we get in return? Higher oil prices, cutbacks in production, Saudi financing of radical Islamic schools that preach hatred and violence against our nation, and, oh yes (!) - we must not forget, Osama bin Laden. We also got the Pan-Am Lockerbie bombing, the U.S. embassies bombing in Africa, and of course, 9/11! A couple of weeks ago we were also invited by the Saudis to remove our "infidel" soldiers from U.S. bases in Arabia.
How have we reacted? We have glossed over all insults, tried to explain away threats to American citizens and loss of life when it occured as mere ‘misunderstanding.' No one sees anything wrong with Arab interference in American politics and American government. We continue with "business as usual."
Then there is "America's little embarrassment" in the Middle East - the State of Israel. Never mind that some of the greatest American patriots, from the founding fathers to our own days have seen the wisdom of having a Jewish state in its ancient homeland. Never mind that there is a spiritual affinity between The American experience and the Israeli rebirth. Never mind what Israel has done for the United States! How dare we ever suggest that little insignificant Israel can do anything for our giant, world class superpower. And yet... Was it not Hayim Salomon, a Jew from Philadelphia, who, almost single handedly kept the torch of freedom burning during the war of independence by supplying the monied needed to keep Washington's armies fed and armed? Was it not Aaron Aaronson, a botanist from Israel, who introduced a strain of wheat that was resistant to rust, a form of mold that used to destroy more than fifty percent of American wheat before. What is not Israel who gave the world some of the greatest advances in science and agriculture in the last one hundred years?
And was it not the Jews who came back to their ancient homeland, which lay dormant and abandoned for hundreds of years, and began to reclaim its wastes - for Jews and others to enjoy in harmony and peace. Did not the Jews offer their neighbors the hand to live in peace and mutual respect. Is not the word of greeting and parting of the Jews "Shalom"- Peace?
Israel came into being because the Jews had determined that they had had enough of exile and persecution, and they made up their minds to return "home" and reclaim their old right to hegemony. We did not displace anyone, we did not rob anyone of land or culture or the right to make a living. Above all, we did not take the land by force, with military might, killing innocent men, women, and children. We came in peace, and we worked long and hard in difficult conditions. We drained swamps, terraced rocky mountains, turned back the sands of the sea, and made the land a palace worth fighting for.
Time and time again we were willing to "split the loaf" with our neighbors. In 1922 the British came and dictated that the land be split, four to one, between the Arabs under Abdullah and the Jews. We accepted, and even evacuated some villages east of the Jordan. In 1936 there was a plan to "partition" the land - and we accepted - but the Arabs did not, and so we missed the chance to have sovereignty and save our brothers from the Holocaust. In 1947 we accepted the U.N. partition plan, and this time the Arabs went to war, in which they announced their aim was to annihilate us.
We persevered, and continued to defend our existence in six wars and more than fifty years of economic boycott. We offered the hand of peace time and again, and in 1993, in the most generous agreement between combatants in the history of warfare we agreed to give our sworn enemies a pied-de-terre - an area of land in which to establish their rule, as a "down payment" on a resolution of our age old dispute. For eight years we did everything in our power to plan peace - while they continue unabated to plan war. The "brew" of war began to simmer eighteen months ago - and the more we protested, the more we called for an end to violence, they continued to raise the stakes!
Five years ago, this Shabbat, I said in part, "we are getting to be too accommodating, too gentle and kind, too diplomatic. "Excuse me for living," we say; "Begging your pardon," we proclaim; "By your grace," we entreat. Well, enough already! Enough being the nice guy. Enough with politeness, and enough with being politically correct. Lets be parochial for a change, and lets insist that we don't need to beg for anything, that we don't live by anyone's excuse -- but in spite of their worst fiendish plans and evil machination -- and that we have not had grace from any source in a long long time. Let us stand up for our rights -- and let us proclaim our case.
We have a right to the Land of Israel. It is our land. We were promised that land in the Torah -- and no 'revisionist' reading of the Torah is ever going to be acceptable to us! We don't care if the Arabs claim to be "Abraham's first son's seed." The promise is through Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to his descendants who came back from slavery in Egypt and established the only unified and recognized nation ever to inhabit the land that is today Israel. We have not changed, and the land was taken from us by force by enemies great and mighty in days of antiquity. We suffered persecution and privation at the hands of all the nations in the midst of whom we lived for a period of two thousand years -- knowing some grace and much ill-will from Christian, Moslem, and heathen people. We began to return to the land at the end of the 19th century, and the land we reclaimed (both politically and physically) was mostly uninhabited and unclaimed by any nation or people in the area at that time. True enough, Arabs came and settled and lived side by side with the Jews in the redeveloping land -- but they, like us, were new to the land. Unlike us, they did not seek to live in peace, and from early on determined to collide with the Jews and block them from attaining their goal of national rebirth. Since the days of the first settlements, on land bought at inflated prices from absentee landlords, Arab marauders attacked, robbed, raped and ravaged the Jews. In 1920, 1922, 1925, 1929, 1932, and the so called "great uprising" of 1936 to 39, Arab riots caused great damage to property and a good number of Jewish dead and injured. During the Second World War, the Arabs of Palestine's leaders, as well as many Arab activists in the Middle East, favored the Nazis and cooperated with them in their plans of world conquest and the annihilation of the Jews. The Mufti (religious head) of Jerusalem, Amin Husseini, was one of the chief wanted criminals on the list of the Nuremberg War Crimes court!"
A year later I said, "Just this past week, Britain's foreign minister, Mr. Cook, saw fit to slap Israel's face by making a gesture in shaking hands with a Palestinian Authority functionary at Har Khoma... The more things change, the more they are the same... But look around you today, and see what is happening in our country. Politicians are the most despised profession in the land. No, I'm not talking of Mr. Clinton, for am I talking of Newt Gingrich. I am talking of politicians the world over — from India to Indonesia, from Britain to Bahrein. I am referring to butchers from Bagdad to Belgrade, and criminals from Chechnia to China. How can you have peace when these tyrants and despots sell the wares of deaths to any and all comers? How will there be peace in Gaza with a madman in Benghazi? Who will keep a covenant in Jerusalem when there is no safety in Damascus? And what is the solution to our problem? The words of the Torah ring in my ears, as they should in the ears of all who seek peace, " Justice, only justice shall you pursue, that you may live, — tzedek tzedek tirdof lema'an tikhye..." [Deu. 16:20] In today's global village, much more than in the days of Moshe and the Israelites in the desert, only the Universal Law of God, teaching the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man can avail us."
Two years ago, and last year, I continued to explore the concept of the Universal Law of God, speaking of Shabbat as a "sanctuary in time," - and the responsibility we have as the congregation that gathers in this sanctuary. I continue to feel that this is important, and I continue to feel rage against those who judge Israel by one scale and their interlocutors by another. Israel, the people, in the land and all over the world, seek peace. When they are pushed, they give in. But a time comes when they can no longer give in a remain true to their need to survive. Our own politicians should know the difference between a blood thirsty Palestinian who wished to die killing children at play, women and men coming out of synagogues after prayers, or celebrating a bat-mitzvah in a public hall - and an army of citizen-soldiers who must take their lives in their hands to prevent more death and destruction within their circle of life. No Israeli leader declares war on innocent people. Any Israeli chosen to lead his nation has an obligation to keep the nation safe. Any measure taken toward this end are legitimate and must be recognized as acceptable. If the Arabs want peace - all they need do is cease their acts of war. Let "Shabbat" - which means cessation - come to be in the land, and let it be "Shabbat Shalom!" "Khazak, khazak venitkhazek" - strong, strong, we shall get strong!

Amen

Shabbat Vayakhel – Shekalim 5763
This week's reading in the Torah is from Sh'mot, Exodus 35:1 - 38:20, and is called "Va'yak'hel." However, the Shabbat is called "Shabbat Shekalim," because next week we shall celebrate the beginning of the second month of Adar, when Purim is celebrated, and for that reason we shall have a special additional reading from the Torah and a different reading from the prophets than the one read for "Va'yak'hel" when it does not fall before or on Rosh Khodesh. The maftir reading is in a second Torah scroll, in Exodus 30:11 to 16. This text describes a census requiring every Israelite man to contribute a half shekel to support communal sacrifices in the portable sanctuary in the tent of meeting, which was later done also at the Temple.
The egalitarian nature of this contribution is emphasized—"the rich shall not pay more, and the poor shall not pay less than half a shekel." The requirement that all individuals contribute equally to the community helped develop a sense of unity crucial to the new nation created by the Exodus. The Haftarah, which is the reading from the prophets, is found in Second Kings, 12:1 - 17. It tells the story of the first "pushke" – a container into which money was shoved "for charity." Actually, that is not quite right – the money was donated for the repair of the Temple, and anyhow, we don't have "charity" in Judaism, we have "tzedaka" – which means "doing the right thing" rather than "doing what your heart dictates."
Shabbat Shekalim--which takes place just prior to – or on – Rosh Khodesh Adar is unique and different because it ushers the month when our very existence was placed in jeopardy, with Haman's plan to destroy the Jews. Again, as on the High Holidays, our tradition wishes to remind us what the Un'tane Tokef prayer states in the Makhzor: "Utefi'lah, uteshu'va utzedakah ma'avirin et ro'a hagzera – prayer, repentance and free giving of oneself averts the evil decree." And once more we must recall the lesson from the Mishnah that teaches us that there are a number of great acts of devotion to God and loving kindness – honoring parents, praying with meaning and understanding, helping the poor and the orphan – but the study of Torah is equal or superior to them all. Why? Because through learning we become the kind of human beings who will endeavor throughout life to perform all the other mitzvot.
Learning Torah is the backbone of Jewish education, which, in turn, is the backbone of our communities. We assure the continuing vitality and endurance of the community through the Hebrew studies of our children, the outreach programs for those considering conversion, and the continuing education programs for other seeking adults. And those programs need our support. Consider the added reading in today's Torah portion for Shabbat Shekalim. God instructs Moshe to take a census of the Jewish People, each Jew must pay a half-shekel tax to maintain the central communal institution of Jewish learning in Moshe's time, the Mishkan – the dwelling place of God's glory. God's glory cannot exist in ignorance , so the Mishkan was where the entire Jewish community gathered to learn the word of God – it was the first Jewish school. And that first school was supported by all. The Torah records: "Every one who passes among those who are counted, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering to the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls." [Ex. 30:14,15]
It is so vital and necessary for everybody to contribute to tzedakah that the Talmud states that Tzedaka is as important as all the other commandments put together. And precisely because of the centrality of giving – as it is only through supporting the community that we achieve a collective immortality – this Torah verse imposes an unexpected obligation on the poor. Sam Levinson, the teacher, raconteur and sage used to say that in his youth his family was very poor, and still they had a number of "pushkes." Before lighting the Shabbat candles, his mother used to put a few coins in each box. When Sam asked her where the money goes to, she would answer, "to the poor." Sam would finish the story by saying, "but we were poor ourselves. So for years I was convinced that at a given time, we would give our boxes to some poor family, and they would give us theirs..." The Torah verse insists that the poor cannot give less than a half-shekel. According to Maimonides, even a poor person who lives entirely on tzedakah must also give tzedakah."
The term "charity" comes from the root word for "heart," and informs us that we should part with whatever our heart prompts us to give to others. Giving to tzedakah, which involves the very heart of Jewish responsibility and humanity, is not something that comes from the heart - at least not alone. It is tempered by training and understanding that we must always look out for our fellow Jews, for our fellow human beings. To be a responsible Jew implies, among other characteristics, support of the Jewish community at home and abroad. All of us, no matter how rich or how poor, no matter how connected or disinterested, are members of a community which must provide a rainbow of services to its members. And at the center of those services is the need to train Jews to support, build and maintain a community. Without knowledgeable and passionate Jews, both young and old, there will be no Jewish services to provide since there will be no Jews to provide them. Supporting and participating in Jewish education is an act of Jewish responsibility, a shrewd investment in the future, and an insurance policy for the continuity of our heritage.
All of us, even the poor, have a right and an obligation to be responsible, to feel that we contribute to the maintenance of the Jewish community. Giving to Tzedakah, as Sam Levinson so wisely taught, gives the donor a sense of self-worth, self-respect and dignity. Giving the half-shekel also created a great leveling of the playing field since the rich could not "buy" more respect by giving disposable wealth, while the poor kept their dignity by giving an amout that even they could afford to part with. To be sure, the rich gave free offerings, great gifts to God and their fellow-Jews based on God's largess – but the "basic shekel" of "citizenship" was within the means of all, equally.
Pirkey avot, "the Ethics of the Fathers" – a collection of wise teachings found in the Mishnah, gives us the following lesson: "The day is short and the labor is great... It is not your task to finish the job – but neither are at liberty to quit." God is the task-master, and we are the laborers. He has challenged us to earn our daily bread, "by the sweat of our brow" – and He has taught us that "man does not live by bread alone." We cannot make a better investment for that "rainy day" than by building and maintaining our synagogue, our religious school, our adult education program, our community outreach, and our involvement in the faith community. We need to plant trees in Israel to honor Ilan Ramon, his fellow astronauts, and the Land God promised us – which was rendered a wilderness by the ravages of war. We need to support the Federation, and the United Jewish Appeal, and the Jewish family services. We must help train and educate tomorrow's Jewish educators, as well as rabbis, cantors, social workers, counselors and public servants. Without our institutions, without these professionals we cannot survive. Our shekels, given lovingly and freely, will provide a sense of Jewish identity, piety, and involvement that will assure Jewish survival. It is not a matter of "charity" – it is more a case of "cardiac care," insuring the survival of Judaism.

Amen

Vayakhel Pikudey 5764

This week's Torah portion is Vayakhel - Pikudey, a combined portion which begins in the thirty fifth chapter of the book of Shmot, Exodus, and goes to the end of the book. Thus it is the last reading in the second Book. The reading begins with, "And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said unto them, These are the words which the Lord hath commanded, that ye should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day." The second "half" of the portion announces three times the completion of the work of building the tabernacle, ohel mo'ed, the first Sanctuary to God the Most High, Master of Heaven and Earth.
We read, "Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting finished; and the people of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did they." [Ex. 39:32]; "According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the people of Israel made all the work." [ibid. 39:42] and "And Moses looked upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded, so had they done it; and Moses blessed them." [ibid. 39:42] The sages teach us that there is a great significance to the triple announcement of the completion of construction. It parallels the threefold benediction which the Cohanim, God's anointed priests who were commanded to speak the three verses to bless Israel.
Last year at this time of year - the time of reading the last portion, I mentioned that we read Pikudey by itself, which usually happens during a leap year, and I found a great significance in reading about the completion of building the tabernacle at the time when our own building was just starting. There were quite a few who doubted that we would carry on our "project" to its conclusion – as I am sure there were many who doubted that Moshe could "pull off" the removal of the slaves from Egypt and their metamorphosis into the messangers of God Almighty upon this earth, going all the way to conquer the Land of Promise and establish a Torah based kingdom that brought the message of His sovereignty and His grace and love to the majority of humankind.
Here we are, a year later – and not a leap year – so that we read at one and the same time Vayakhel and Pikudey. Again, I see a great symbolism in the sequence of the reading of the Torah. We are at the concluding days of building our Beth-El, the House of God – and we need must know, and comprehend quite well, that a sanctuary that does not serve for worshiping God in the celebration of Shabbat and khagim, the prescribed holidays of our God is merely an empty edifice, devoid of meaning or significance. This Shabbat we read an additional portion from Shmot, chapter 12. It is the beginning of the story of the departure from Egypt, when Moshe is informed by God, "This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you." [Exodus 12:2] And while Rosh Hashanah comes in the fall these days, to us here in our congregation, this is a new beginning. Any Shabbat now, you may be surprised in arriving to park your car to see this temporary sanctuary dark – until you comprehend that we are now in our new home, celebrating the seasons of our God, without fanfare or pomp, but with all due reverence and joy. As is inscribed in the Torah.
Two more Shabatot, and we shall sit together to celebrate the time of redemption – and how very glorious it shall be, to sit together and celebrate the great miracles wrought by our God – the plagues in Egypt, the breaking of the sea, and the establishment of God's sanctuary by the seashore in Ponte Vedra Beach Florida. We can all sing "Da'yeynu!" Amen