Eco Tu b'Shevat Seder Post

Over at The Jew and the Carrot, Zelig wrote about the amazing and uplifting First Annual Eco Tu b'Shevat seder:

While the Seder followed the traditional trajectory of the four-worlds laid out by the 16th Century Kabbalists, this Seder had a distinctly unique flavor. Everyone brought their own plate and cup. Any disposable dishes were compostable. The Haggadah was printed on Hemp. We meditated on the first fruits. And for each world, we addressed how our environmental choices, particularly our choices around food, square with our tradition to “love your neighbor as you love yourself,” and how we relate to the “Good Land” that was our heritage (Deuteronomy 8:7-10).

Kol ha'Kavod all those who made this great event happen! I'm looking forward to next year's. Read the rest

Parsha: Be-Shallah - the Faith of Moses

By Zelig Golden

In this week’s parsha Be-Shallah, we celebrate Shabbat Shira – the Sabbath of Song – named for the song Moses sang to the children of Israel at the red sea. Moses sings his song of victory and faith in God after their passage through the parted waters of the Red Sea, the seminal birth moment of the Jewish people. (Exodus 15:1-18).

In parsha Be-Shallah (Ex 13:17-17:16), we witness what may be the greatest miracle in our story. God leads the people Israel out of Egypt as a pillar of cloud by day to guide us and a pillar of fire by night so we can see. God parts the waters of the Red Sea so that we may cross out of the land of our slavery and be born into the land of our freedom. Along the way, we witness miracles within miracles. For example, when the sea parted, God turned the sea into dry ground. (Ex. 14:21). One fantastical midrash teaches that upon this dry ground between the vertical sea walls, apple and pomegranate trees bloomed for the hungry children to pick as they walked to freedom. (Exodus Rabbah 21:10).

Yet, as the miracles of our Exodus unfolded, the children of Israel cried and complained. When Pharoah waged his last attack on Israel, camped by the red sea, we blamed Moses– “it is better to serve the Egyptians than to die in the Wilderness.” (Ex. 14:12). After the miracle of the red sea crossing, the people kvetched, “If only we had died in Egypt … for you have brought us out into this wilderness to starve to death.” (Ex. 16:3). And later encamped at Rephidim, we kvetched from fear of thirst, “Why did you bring us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock from thirst.” (Ex. 17:3).

In The Book of Miracles, Lawrence Kushner describes two children, Ruven and Shimon, who can only see the mud on their feet as they cross through the great walls of the parted sea. “Their eyes were closed – they may as well have been asleep.” (quoting Exodus Rabbah 24:1). Kushner teaches, “People see only what they understand, not necessarily what lies in front of them . . . to be a Jew is to wake up and to keep your eyes open to the many beautiful, mysterious, and holy things that happen all round us every day.”

So how do we wake up to see the miracles around us? One answer to this is finding faith – faith in God and faith in our ourselves. In the Exodus story, Moses demonstrates this faith. He shows us too that faith is not something we inherently have, but something we cultivate. Early in the Exodus story, Moses rejects the notion that he is capable of leading us – “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt?” (Ex. 3:11). “What if they do not believe me and do not listen to me…” (Ex. 4:1). Moses even doubts his ability to speak because he is “slow of speech and slow of tongue.” (Ex. 4:10.). By following God’s instructions, becoming a conduit for God’s miracles, and stepping into communal leadership, however, Moses gains faith in himself and God. His transformation is complete when, under attack by Pharoah and pinned by the sea, Moses proclaims without God’s instruction, “Have no fear! Stand by, and witness the deliverance which God will work for you today.” (Ex. 14:13). He then lifts his arms to part the sea and lead his people to freedom.

Moses shows us a universal truth. We doubt ourselves; we doubt God. But even with our doubts, we can learn to sing our own song and we can find faith – and when we do, our eyes are open and there is nothing we cannot accomplish.

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Va-Era – The Plagues of Exodus – A Call To Transformation

By Zelig Golden

In this week’s parsha Va-Era, Moses becomes the emissary of G-d in fomenting the Exodus from Egypt with the first seven natural disasters – blood, frogs, lice, insects, cattle disease, boils, and hail – that Egypt suffers because Pharaoh refuses to free the Jewish slaves. (Exodus 6-9). As each disaster takes its toll on Pharaoh’s people, he decides to free the Jews, but then G-d hardens his heart and Pharaoh changes his mind, eliciting yet more punishment on the people.

If G-d is so powerful and so clearly desires the freedom of Israel’s tribes, why does G-d make Pharaoh so stubborn? On one level, G-d may simply want to demonstrate her power to the faithless Jews so that they will heed the words later transmitted at Sinai. G-d may also be teaching the Egyptian task-masters a lesson for subjugating Israel’s people to slavery. On another level, the drama of the ten plagues speaks to a deeper truth about what it takes for us to grow, transform, and navigate through Mitzrayim (Hebrew for Egypt, also meaning the narrow places in our lives).

It seems to be a universal truth that people often must experience tragedy to catalyze change. Individually, personal growth often follows hard times – depression, loss of a relationship, feeling lost in life – some call this the dark night of the soul. We sometimes have to hit rock bottom before we begin our Tshuvah, or return to ourselves, through therapy, spiritual inquiry and awakening to our true nature. Societally, change may come at an even greater cost – consider global warming. As the polar ice cap is melting, and even though our communities and nations know that severe ecological disasters will result from our greenhouse gas emissions, we continue to drive our cars and burn coal for power because the effects have not yet hit us at home.

Like Pharaoh, we don’t change until we really hit rock bottom. It takes the physical death of Pharaoh’s own son – from the tenth plague, death of the first born – from him to finally release the enslaved. (Exodus 12: 29-32). In a similar manner, our mystical tradition teaches that to evolve as individuals, we may need to undergo spiritual deaths of ego and internal restrictions so that we may emerge from the narrow places of our own lives to more fully connect with ourselves and G-d. As the Ba’al Shem Tov prayed, “I desire to kill (or afflict) myself in order to serve G-d in truth and with a whole heart, in love and awe, that I acknowledge His Unity fully.” (Tzava’at Harivash, 43a).

The show of force that are G-d’s ten plagues teaches us of our own resistance to change, and what that resistance may bring. The violence of the Exodus story shows us one path – the heart and prayer of the Ba’al Shem Tov shows us another. Ultimately, the Exodus story calls on us to be proactive at this critical juncture in human history.

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