RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:ECO-JUDAISM:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:CHANUKAH FAST;TURAYANUS DAY

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:ECO-JUDAISM:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:CHANUKAH FAST;TURAYANUS DAY

 

CHANUKAH AND TALMUD YERUSHALMI: FASTING ON CHANUKAH? NO LATKES? TURAYANUS DAY 

By Rabbi Arthur Segal: www.JewishSpiritualrenewal.org , www.JewishRenewal.info

 

  

Greetings and Shalom:

 

From the evening of December 11th, to sundown December 19th, are the 8 days and nights of Chanukah.

 

Chanukah means "rededication" in Hebrew. In 165 BCE when the Hebrews defeated the Syrian-Greeks, they reclaimed and cleansed their Temple, which had been turned into a pagan place of idolatry. The story is told of the miracle of the Hebrews finding just enough oil to last one day to relight the Menorah candelabra , but it lasted for eight days. We celebrate this event and miracle at Chanukah.

However, the rabbis in Yavneh, Judea, after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE., decided not to include the four books of the Maccabees (the leaders of the revolt) into the Jewish Biblical canon, and even debated whether Chanukah should be celebrated at all. Their rationale for the exclusion was that the texts speak of military and political victories, but do not mention the miracles of God. The rabbis did not want Chanukah to be remembered as a military battle, but as a spiritual one. Chanukah is not a holiday about: "They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat." The Sages were also quite upset with the descendents of the Maccabees, known as the Hasmoneans, who tried to quash Talmudic Rabbinic Judaism, killed many Rabbis, and invited the Romans into Judea to help them rule in 63 BCE.

If the holiday was to be celebrated, the Talmud teaches, a portion of the Book of Zechariah was to be read on Chanukah's Sabbath – "not by might, nor by armies, but by my spirit" – as a reminder that it was God who truly redeemed the Hebrews. A prayer was added to the daily Amidah liturgy called Al Ha Nisim, which means, "For the Miracles."

Many of us erroneously think that Rabbinic written  literature  begins with the Mishnah of circa 200 CE, one of two parts of the Talmud. But Rabbis did write things before then that was not part of the Oral Tradition.  During the time of Ezra's Hebraic Temple, the Rabbis wrote a text concerning what days on the Jewish Calendar we celebrate as opposed to fasting. This 'book' is called the Megillah Ta'anit,  the Scroll of Fasting.

In the Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Nedarim 8:1,  Rabbi Yochanan said: ''The Fasting Scroll has been nullified.  Last night I was sitting and repeating the following. An incident happened that the Rabbis decreed a fast in Lod during Chanukah. [Lod is where the Tel Aviv, Israel, Ben Gurion Airport is today.] Rabbi Eliezer went and told Rabbi Joshua about it.  Rabbi Joshua washed himself, which one does not do for a fast day,  and said to the rabbis who declared a Chanukah fast:  'Go and observe a fast as a penalty for having fasted on Chanukah. [While there are Talmudic edicts of when and how to fast, there are even stronger edicts to keep us from over doing it, e.g. fasting for two days on Yom Kippur. So Joshua is now telling the rabbis to go and fast because they fasted on a non-fast day, i.e Chanukah].   

 

So the Rabbis of the Gemora ask: "Now how can you (R.  Yochanan],  say, then, that the rules of the Fasting-Scroll have been nullified since the Scroll says that one may not fast on Chanukah and we see that Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua maintain that, in fact, one may not fast on Chanukah?''

Rabbi Abba answered in the Yerushalmi's Gemorah: ''Even though you maintain that the rules of the Fasting-Scroll have been nullified, as to the celebration of Chanukah and Purim they have not been nullified.''

''Rabbi Yonatan fasted on the entire eve of the New Year. Rabbi Avin fasted on the entire eve of the festival of Sukkot. Rabbi Zeira fasted 300 fasts, and some say, 900 fasts, and he paid no attention at all to the days listed by the Fasting Scroll on which one is not supposed to fast. 

 

Rabbi Eliezer , Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Yochanan all seem to be in favor of observing Chanukah without a fast . Joshua even decrees that one who fasts on Chanukah needs to fast to repent for the fasting. But we see that Rabbi Abba says that we should fast not only on Chanukah but Purim. Perhaps for Purim he is referring to the fast of Esther. But as the Talmud become codified, the above fasts of Rabbis Abba, Yonaton, Zeira, and Avin all became non-fast days.

 

At the same time the Rabbis did away with many holidays having to do with war victories, and made sure Purim and Chanukah, as well as Passover, were spiritual holidays and not one focused on the neck of Haman and his sons, dead Greeks or drowned Egyptians.

One of these Holidays is of course Nicanor Day, celebrated as the pre cursor to Chanukah, around what would be Purim's Fast of Esther.
Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: TALMUDIC DISCOURSE: JEWISH HOLIDAYS OF NICANOR AND PURIM .

Another holiday done away with is the 12th of Adar, also near Purim, called Turyanus Day. Jewish martyrs were Rabbis Papus and Lulianus. They studied TaNaK against Roman decree during the time of Rabbi Akiva and the Roman General Turyanus killed them. As the story goes, while the bloody blade was still in his hands, The Emperor  of Rome's soldiers found Turyanus, found guilty of some crime against Rome, and these soldiers immediately killed Turyanus.

Chanukah is a time for Jews to rededicate themselves to God. The rabbis wanted us to remember that as the Maccabees rededicated the Syrian-Greek desecrated Temple back to God, we are to rededicate our lives to God. They teach there is a reason we light the Chanukeah (Chanukah menorah) one candle the first night, two on the second and so forth up to eight. We do not light the eight candles in the opposite, descending order, to remind us that our spirituality should always be increasing and never decreasing. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b). As Jews light the candles, adding one each night, rededicating ourselves to God's path, Jews will see their spirituality increase as a fully illuminated Chanukeah.

 

Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

Rabbi Arthur Segal is an academic rabbi who lives, teaches, writes and celebrates Chanukah on Hilton Head Island. His web site is www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org .His email is RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net .

Jewish Spiritual Renewal

Jewish Renewal

Eco-Judaism

Jewish Spirituality

Hilton Head Island, SC

Bluffton, SC

Savannah, GA

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUALITY:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:CHANUKAH FAST;TURAYANUS

 

CHANUKAH AND TALMUD YERUSHALMI: FASTING ON CHANUKAH? NO LATKES? TURAYANUS DAY 

By Rabbi Arthur Segal: www.JewishSpiritualrenewal.org , www.JewishRenewal.info

 

  

Greetings and Shalom:

 

From the evening of December 11th, to sundown December 19th, are the 8 days and nights of Chanukah.

 

Chanukah means "rededication" in Hebrew. In 165 BCE when the Hebrews defeated the Syrian-Greeks, they reclaimed and cleansed their Temple, which had been turned into a pagan place of idolatry. The story is told of the miracle of the Hebrews finding just enough oil to last one day to relight the Menorah candelabra , but it lasted for eight days. We celebrate this event and miracle at Chanukah.

However, the rabbis in Yavneh, Judea, after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE., decided not to include the four books of the Maccabees (the leaders of the revolt) into the Jewish Biblical canon, and even debated whether Chanukah should be celebrated at all. Their rationale for the exclusion was that the texts speak of military and political victories, but do not mention the miracles of God. The rabbis did not want Chanukah to be remembered as a military battle, but as a spiritual one. Chanukah is not a holiday about: "They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat." The Sages were also quite upset with the descendents of the Maccabees, known as the Hasmoneans, who tried to quash Talmudic Rabbinic Judaism, killed many Rabbis, and invited the Romans into Judea to help them rule in 63 BCE.

If the holiday was to be celebrated, the Talmud teaches, a portion of the Book of Zechariah was to be read on Chanukah's Sabbath – "not by might, nor by armies, but by my spirit" – as a reminder that it was God who truly redeemed the Hebrews. A prayer was added to the daily Amidah liturgy called Al Ha Nisim, which means, "For the Miracles."

Many of us erroneously think that Rabbinic written  literature  begins with the Mishnah of circa 200 CE, one of two parts of the Talmud. But Rabbis did write things before then that was not part of the Oral Tradition.  During the time of Ezra's Hebraic Temple, the Rabbis wrote a text concerning what days on the Jewish Calendar we celebrate as opposed to fasting. This 'book' is called the Megillah Ta'anit,  the Scroll of Fasting.

In the Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Nedarim 8:1,  Rabbi Yochanan said: ''The Fasting Scroll has been nullified.  Last night I was sitting and repeating the following. An incident happened that the Rabbis decreed a fast in Lod during Chanukah. [Lod is where the Tel Aviv, Israel, Ben Gurion Airport is today.] Rabbi Eliezer went and told Rabbi Joshua about it.  Rabbi Joshua washed himself, which one does not do for a fast day,  and said to the rabbis who declared a Chanukah fast:  'Go and observe a fast as a penalty for having fasted on Chanukah. [While there are Talmudic edicts of when and how to fast, there are even stronger edicts to keep us from over doing it, e.g. fasting for two days on Yom Kippur. So Joshua is now telling the rabbis to go and fast because they fasted on a non-fast day, i.e Chanukah].   

 

So the Rabbis of the Gemora ask: "Now how can you (R.  Yochanan],  say, then, that the rules of the Fasting-Scroll have been nullified since the Scroll says that one may not fast on Chanukah and we see that Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua maintain that, in fact, one may not fast on Chanukah?''

Rabbi Abba answered in the Yerushalmi's Gemorah: ''Even though you maintain that the rules of the Fasting-Scroll have been nullified, as to the celebration of Chanukah and Purim they have not been nullified.''

''Rabbi Yonatan fasted on the entire eve of the New Year. Rabbi Avin fasted on the entire eve of the festival of Sukkot. Rabbi Zeira fasted 300 fasts, and some say, 900 fasts, and he paid no attention at all to the days listed by the Fasting Scroll on which one is not supposed to fast. 

 

Rabbi Eliezer , Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Yochanan all seem to be in favor of observing Chanukah without a fast . Joshua even decrees that one who fasts on Chanukah needs to fast to repent for the fasting. But we see that Rabbi Abba says that we should fast not only on Chanukah but Purim. Perhaps for Purim he is referring to the fast of Esther. But as the Talmud become codified, the above fasts of Rabbis Abba, Yonaton, Zeira, and Avin all became non-fast days.

 

At the same time the Rabbis did away with many holidays having to do with war victories, and made sure Purim and Chanukah, as well as Passover, were spiritual holidays and not one focused on the neck of Haman and his sons, dead Greeks or drowned Egyptians.

One of these Holidays is of course Nicanor Day, celebrated as the pre cursor to Chanukah, around what would be Purim's Fast of Esther.
Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: TALMUDIC DISCOURSE: JEWISH HOLIDAYS OF NICANOR AND PURIM .

Another holiday done away with is the 12th of Adar, also near Purim, called Turyanus Day. Jewish martyrs were Rabbis Papus and Lulianus. They studied TaNaK against Roman decree during the time of Rabbi Akiva and the Roman General Turyanus killed them. As the story goes, while the bloody blade was still in his hands, The Emperor  of Rome's soldiers found Turyanus, found guilty of some crime against Rome, and these soldiers immediately killed Turyanus.

Chanukah is a time for Jews to rededicate themselves to God. The rabbis wanted us to remember that as the Maccabees rededicated the Syrian-Greek desecrated Temple back to God, we are to rededicate our lives to God. They teach there is a reason we light the Chanukeah (Chanukah menorah) one candle the first night, two on the second and so forth up to eight. We do not light the eight candles in the opposite, descending order, to remind us that our spirituality should always be increasing and never decreasing. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b). As Jews light the candles, adding one each night, rededicating ourselves to God's path, Jews will see their spirituality increase as a fully illuminated Chanukeah.

 

Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

Rabbi Arthur Segal is an academic rabbi who lives, teaches, writes and celebrates Chanukah on Hilton Head Island. His web site is www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org .His email is RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net .

Jewish Spiritual Renewal

Jewish Renewal

Eco-Judaism

Jewish Spirituality

Hilton Head Island, SC

Bluffton, SC

Savannah, GA

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:CHANUKAH FAST

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:CHANUKAH FAST 

 

CHANUKAH AND TALMUD YERUSHALMI: FASTING ON CHANUKAH? NO LATKES? TURAYANUS DAY 

By Rabbi Arthur Segal: www.JewishSpiritualrenewal.org , www.JewishRenewal.info

 

  

Greetings and Shalom:

 

From the evening of December 11th, to sundown December 19th, are the 8 days and nights of Chanukah.

 

Chanukah means "rededication" in Hebrew. In 165 BCE when the Hebrews defeated the Syrian-Greeks, they reclaimed and cleansed their Temple, which had been turned into a pagan place of idolatry. The story is told of the miracle of the Hebrews finding just enough oil to last one day to relight the Menorah candelabra , but it lasted for eight days. We celebrate this event and miracle at Chanukah.

However, the rabbis in Yavneh, Judea, after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE., decided not to include the four books of the Maccabees (the leaders of the revolt) into the Jewish Biblical canon, and even debated whether Chanukah should be celebrated at all. Their rationale for the exclusion was that the texts speak of military and political victories, but do not mention the miracles of God. The rabbis did not want Chanukah to be remembered as a military battle, but as a spiritual one. Chanukah is not a holiday about: "They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat." The Sages were also quite upset with the descendents of the Maccabees, known as the Hasmoneans, who tried to quash Talmudic Rabbinic Judaism, killed many Rabbis, and invited the Romans into Judea to help them rule in 63 BCE.

If the holiday was to be celebrated, the Talmud teaches, a portion of the Book of Zechariah was to be read on Chanukah's Sabbath – "not by might, nor by armies, but by my spirit" – as a reminder that it was God who truly redeemed the Hebrews. A prayer was added to the daily Amidah liturgy called Al Ha Nisim, which means, "For the Miracles."

Many of us erroneously think that Rabbinic written  literature  begins with the Mishnah of circa 200 CE, one of two parts of the Talmud. But Rabbis did write things before then that was not part of the Oral Tradition.  During the time of Ezra's Hebraic Temple, the Rabbis wrote a text concerning what days on the Jewish Calendar we celebrate as opposed to fasting. This 'book' is called the Megillah Ta'anit,  the Scroll of Fasting.

In the Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Nedarim 8:1,  Rabbi Yochanan said: ''The Fasting Scroll has been nullified.  Last night I was sitting and repeating the following. An incident happened that the Rabbis decreed a fast in Lod during Chanukah. [Lod is where the Tel Aviv, Israel, Ben Gurion Airport is today.] Rabbi Eliezer went and told Rabbi Joshua about it.  Rabbi Joshua washed himself, which one does not do for a fast day,  and said to the rabbis who declared a Chanukah fast:  'Go and observe a fast as a penalty for having fasted on Chanukah. [While there are Talmudic edicts of when and how to fast, there are even stronger edicts to keep us from over doing it, e.g. fasting for two days on Yom Kippur. So Joshua is now telling the rabbis to go and fast because they fasted on a non-fast day, i.e Chanukah].   

 

So the Rabbis of the Gemora ask: "Now how can you (R.  Yochanan],  say, then, that the rules of the Fasting-Scroll have been nullified since the Scroll says that one may not fast on Chanukah and we see that Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua maintain that, in fact, one may not fast on Chanukah?''

Rabbi Abba answered in the Yerushalmi's Gemorah: ''Even though you maintain that the rules of the Fasting-Scroll have been nullified, as to the celebration of Chanukah and Purim they have not been nullified.''

''Rabbi Yonatan fasted on the entire eve of the New Year. Rabbi Avin fasted on the entire eve of the festival of Sukkot. Rabbi Zeira fasted 300 fasts, and some say, 900 fasts, and he paid no attention at all to the days listed by the Fasting Scroll on which one is not supposed to fast. 

 

Rabbi Eliezer , Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Yochanan all seem to be in favor of observing Chanukah without a fast . Joshua even decrees that one who fasts on Chanukah needs to fast to repent for the fasting. But we see that Rabbi Abba says that we should fast not only on Chanukah but Purim. Perhaps for Purim he is referring to the fast of Esther. But as the Talmud become codified, the above fasts of Rabbis Abba, Yonaton, Zeira, and Avin all became non-fast days.

 

At the same time the Rabbis did away with many holidays having to do with war victories, and made sure Purim and Chanukah, as well as Passover, were spiritual holidays and not one focused on the neck of Haman and his sons, dead Greeks or drowned Egyptians.

One of these Holidays is of course Nicanor Day, celebrated as the pre cursor to Chanukah, around what would be Purim's Fast of Esther.
Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: TALMUDIC DISCOURSE: JEWISH HOLIDAYS OF NICANOR AND PURIM .

Another holiday done away with is the 12th of Adar, also near Purim, called Turyanus Day. Jewish martyrs were Rabbis Papus and Lulianus. They studied TaNaK against Roman decree during the time of Rabbi Akiva and the Roman General Turyanus killed them. As the story goes, while the bloody blade was still in his hands, The Emperor  of Rome's soldiers found Turyanus, found guilty of some crime against Rome, and these soldiers immediately killed Turyanus.

Chanukah is a time for Jews to rededicate themselves to God. The rabbis wanted us to remember that as the Maccabees rededicated the Syrian-Greek desecrated Temple back to God, we are to rededicate our lives to God. They teach there is a reason we light the Chanukeah (Chanukah menorah) one candle the first night, two on the second and so forth up to eight. We do not light the eight candles in the opposite, descending order, to remind us that our spirituality should always be increasing and never decreasing. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b). As Jews light the candles, adding one each night, rededicating ourselves to God's path, Jews will see their spirituality increase as a fully illuminated Chanukeah.

 

Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

Rabbi Arthur Segal is an academic rabbi who lives, teaches, writes and celebrates Chanukah on Hilton Head Island. His web site is www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org .His email is RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net .

Jewish Spiritual Renewal

Jewish Renewal

Eco-Judaism

Jewish Spirituality

Hilton Head Island, SC

Bluffton, SC

Savannah, GA

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:CHANUKAH FAST

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:CHANUKAH FAST

 

CHANUKAH AND TALMUD YERUSHALMI: FASTING ON CHANUKAH? NO LATKES? TURAYANUS DAY 

By Rabbi Arthur Segal: www.JewishSpiritualrenewal.org , www.JewishRenewal.info

 

  

Greetings and Shalom:

 

From the evening of December 11th, to sundown December 19th, are the 8 days and nights of Chanukah.

 

Chanukah means "rededication" in Hebrew. In 165 BCE when the Hebrews defeated the Syrian-Greeks, they reclaimed and cleansed their Temple, which had been turned into a pagan place of idolatry. The story is told of the miracle of the Hebrews finding just enough oil to last one day to relight the Menorah candelabra , but it lasted for eight days. We celebrate this event and miracle at Chanukah.

However, the rabbis in Yavneh, Judea, after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE., decided not to include the four books of the Maccabees (the leaders of the revolt) into the Jewish Biblical canon, and even debated whether Chanukah should be celebrated at all. Their rationale for the exclusion was that the texts speak of military and political victories, but do not mention the miracles of God. The rabbis did not want Chanukah to be remembered as a military battle, but as a spiritual one. Chanukah is not a holiday about: "They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat." The Sages were also quite upset with the descendents of the Maccabees, known as the Hasmoneans, who tried to quash Talmudic Rabbinic Judaism, killed many Rabbis, and invited the Romans into Judea to help them rule in 63 BCE.

If the holiday was to be celebrated, the Talmud teaches, a portion of the Book of Zechariah was to be read on Chanukah's Sabbath – "not by might, nor by armies, but by my spirit" – as a reminder that it was God who truly redeemed the Hebrews. A prayer was added to the daily Amidah liturgy called Al Ha Nisim, which means, "For the Miracles."

Many of us erroneously think that Rabbinic written  literature  begins with the Mishnah of circa 200 CE, one of two parts of the Talmud. But Rabbis did write things before then that was not part of the Oral Tradition.  During the time of Ezra's Hebraic Temple, the Rabbis wrote a text concerning what days on the Jewish Calendar we celebrate as opposed to fasting. This 'book' is called the Megillah Ta'anit,  the Scroll of Fasting.

In the Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Nedarim 8:1,  Rabbi Yochanan said: ''The Fasting Scroll has been nullified.  Last night I was sitting and repeating the following. An incident happened that the Rabbis decreed a fast in Lod during Chanukah. [Lod is where the Tel Aviv, Israel, Ben Gurion Airport is today.] Rabbi Eliezer went and told Rabbi Joshua about it.  Rabbi Joshua washed himself, which one does not do for a fast day,  and said to the rabbis who declared a Chanukah fast:  'Go and observe a fast as a penalty for having fasted on Chanukah. [While there are Talmudic edicts of when and how to fast, there are even stronger edicts to keep us from over doing it, e.g. fasting for two days on Yom Kippur. So Joshua is now telling the rabbis to go and fast because they fasted on a non-fast day, i.e Chanukah].   

 

So the Rabbis of the Gemora ask: "Now how can you (R.  Yochanan],  say, then, that the rules of the Fasting-Scroll have been nullified since the Scroll says that one may not fast on Chanukah and we see that Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua maintain that, in fact, one may not fast on Chanukah?''

Rabbi Abba answered in the Yerushalmi's Gemorah: ''Even though you maintain that the rules of the Fasting-Scroll have been nullified, as to the celebration of Chanukah and Purim they have not been nullified.''

''Rabbi Yonatan fasted on the entire eve of the New Year. Rabbi Avin fasted on the entire eve of the festival of Sukkot. Rabbi Zeira fasted 300 fasts, and some say, 900 fasts, and he paid no attention at all to the days listed by the Fasting Scroll on which one is not supposed to fast. 

 

Rabbi Eliezer , Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Yochanan all seem to be in favor of observing Chanukah without a fast . Joshua even decrees that one who fasts on Chanukah needs to fast to repent for the fasting. But we see that Rabbi Abba says that we should fast not only on Chanukah but Purim. Perhaps for Purim he is referring to the fast of Esther. But as the Talmud become codified, the above fasts of Rabbis Abba, Yonaton, Zeira, and Avin all became non-fast days.

 

At the same time the Rabbis did away with many holidays having to do with war victories, and made sure Purim and Chanukah, as well as Passover, were spiritual holidays and not one focused on the neck of Haman and his sons, dead Greeks or drowned Egyptians.

One of these Holidays is of course Nicanor Day, celebrated as the pre cursor to Chanukah, around what would be Purim's Fast of Esther.
Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: TALMUDIC DISCOURSE: JEWISH HOLIDAYS OF NICANOR AND PURIM .

Another holiday done away with is the 12th of Adar, also near Purim, called Turyanus Day. Jewish martyrs were Rabbis Papus and Lulianus. They studied TaNaK against Roman decree during the time of Rabbi Akiva and the Roman General Turyanus killed them. As the story goes, while the bloody blade was still in his hands, The Emperor  of Rome's soldiers found Turyanus, found guilty of some crime against Rome, and these soldiers immediately killed Turyanus.

Chanukah is a time for Jews to rededicate themselves to God. The rabbis wanted us to remember that as the Maccabees rededicated the Syrian-Greek desecrated Temple back to God, we are to rededicate our lives to God. They teach there is a reason we light the Chanukeah (Chanukah menorah) one candle the first night, two on the second and so forth up to eight. We do not light the eight candles in the opposite, descending order, to remind us that our spirituality should always be increasing and never decreasing. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b). As Jews light the candles, adding one each night, rededicating ourselves to God's path, Jews will see their spirituality increase as a fully illuminated Chanukeah.

 

Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

Rabbi Arthur Segal is an academic rabbi who lives, teaches, writes and celebrates Chanukah on Hilton Head Island. His web site is www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org .His email is RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net .

Jewish Spiritual Renewal

Jewish Renewal

Eco-Judaism

Jewish Spirituality

Hilton Head Island, SC

Bluffton, SC

Savannah, GA

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:CHANUKAH FAST:TURAYANUS DAY

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:CHANUKAH FAST:TURAYANUS DAY

 

CHANUKAH AND TALMUD YERUSHALMI: FASTING ON CHANUKAH? NO LATKES? TURAYANUS DAY 

By Rabbi Arthur Segal: www.JewishSpiritualrenewal.org , www.JewishRenewal.info

 

  

Greetings and Shalom:

 

From the evening of December 11th, to sundown December 19th, are the 8 days and nights of Chanukah.

 

Chanukah means "rededication" in Hebrew. In 165 BCE when the Hebrews defeated the Syrian-Greeks, they reclaimed and cleansed their Temple, which had been turned into a pagan place of idolatry. The story is told of the miracle of the Hebrews finding just enough oil to last one day to relight the Menorah candelabra , but it lasted for eight days. We celebrate this event and miracle at Chanukah.

However, the rabbis in Yavneh, Judea, after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE., decided not to include the four books of the Maccabees (the leaders of the revolt) into the Jewish Biblical canon, and even debated whether Chanukah should be celebrated at all. Their rationale for the exclusion was that the texts speak of military and political victories, but do not mention the miracles of God. The rabbis did not want Chanukah to be remembered as a military battle, but as a spiritual one. Chanukah is not a holiday about: "They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat." The Sages were also quite upset with the descendents of the Maccabees, known as the Hasmoneans, who tried to quash Talmudic Rabbinic Judaism, killed many Rabbis, and invited the Romans into Judea to help them rule in 63 BCE.

If the holiday was to be celebrated, the Talmud teaches, a portion of the Book of Zechariah was to be read on Chanukah's Sabbath – "not by might, nor by armies, but by my spirit" – as a reminder that it was God who truly redeemed the Hebrews. A prayer was added to the daily Amidah liturgy called Al Ha Nisim, which means, "For the Miracles."

Many of us erroneously think that Rabbinic written  literature  begins with the Mishnah of circa 200 CE, one of two parts of the Talmud. But Rabbis did write things before then that was not part of the Oral Tradition.  During the time of Ezra's Hebraic Temple, the Rabbis wrote a text concerning what days on the Jewish Calendar we celebrate as opposed to fasting. This 'book' is called the Megillah Ta'anit,  the Scroll of Fasting.

In the Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Nedarim 8:1,  Rabbi Yochanan said: ''The Fasting Scroll has been nullified.  Last night I was sitting and repeating the following. An incident happened that the Rabbis decreed a fast in Lod during Chanukah. [Lod is where the Tel Aviv, Israel, Ben Gurion Airport is today.] Rabbi Eliezer went and told Rabbi Joshua about it.  Rabbi Joshua washed himself, which one does not do for a fast day,  and said to the rabbis who declared a Chanukah fast:  'Go and observe a fast as a penalty for having fasted on Chanukah. [While there are Talmudic edicts of when and how to fast, there are even stronger edicts to keep us from over doing it, e.g. fasting for two days on Yom Kippur. So Joshua is now telling the rabbis to go and fast because they fasted on a non-fast day, i.e Chanukah].   

 

So the Rabbis of the Gemora ask: "Now how can you (R.  Yochanan],  say, then, that the rules of the Fasting-Scroll have been nullified since the Scroll says that one may not fast on Chanukah and we see that Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua maintain that, in fact, one may not fast on Chanukah?''

Rabbi Abba answered in the Yerushalmi's Gemorah: ''Even though you maintain that the rules of the Fasting-Scroll have been nullified, as to the celebration of Chanukah and Purim they have not been nullified.''

''Rabbi Yonatan fasted on the entire eve of the New Year. Rabbi Avin fasted on the entire eve of the festival of Sukkot. Rabbi Zeira fasted 300 fasts, and some say, 900 fasts, and he paid no attention at all to the days listed by the Fasting Scroll on which one is not supposed to fast. 

 

Rabbi Eliezer , Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Yochanan all seem to be in favor of observing Chanukah without a fast . Joshua even decrees that one who fasts on Chanukah needs to fast to repent for the fasting. But we see that Rabbi Abba says that we should fast not only on Chanukah but Purim. Perhaps for Purim he is referring to the fast of Esther. But as the Talmud become codified, the above fasts of Rabbis Abba, Yonaton, Zeira, and Avin all became non-fast days.

 

At the same time the Rabbis did away with many holidays having to do with war victories, and made sure Purim and Chanukah, as well as Passover, were spiritual holidays and not one focused on the neck of Haman and his sons, dead Greeks or drowned Egyptians.

One of these Holidays is of course Nicanor Day, celebrated as the pre cursor to Chanukah, around what would be Purim's Fast of Esther.
Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: TALMUDIC DISCOURSE: JEWISH HOLIDAYS OF NICANOR AND PURIM .

Another holiday done away with is the 12th of Adar, also near Purim, called Turyanus Day. Jewish martyrs were Rabbis Papus and Lulianus. They studied TaNaK against Roman decree during the time of Rabbi Akiva and the Roman General Turyanus killed them. As the story goes, while the bloody blade was still in his hands, The Emperor  of Rome's soldiers found Turyanus, found guilty of some crime against Rome, and these soldiers immediately killed Turyanus.

Chanukah is a time for Jews to rededicate themselves to God. The rabbis wanted us to remember that as the Maccabees rededicated the Syrian-Greek desecrated Temple back to God, we are to rededicate our lives to God. They teach there is a reason we light the Chanukeah (Chanukah menorah) one candle the first night, two on the second and so forth up to eight. We do not light the eight candles in the opposite, descending order, to remind us that our spirituality should always be increasing and never decreasing. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b). As Jews light the candles, adding one each night, rededicating ourselves to God's path, Jews will see their spirituality increase as a fully illuminated Chanukeah.

 

Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

Rabbi Arthur Segal is an academic rabbi who lives, teaches, writes and celebrates Chanukah on Hilton Head Island. His web site is www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org .His email is RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net .

Jewish Spiritual Renewal

Jewish Renewal

Eco-Judaism

Jewish Spirituality

Hilton Head Island, SC

Bluffton, SC

Savannah, GA

CHANUKAH AND TALMUD YERUSHALMI: FASTING ON CHANUKAH? NO LATKES? TURAYANUS DAY

CHANUKAH AND TALMUD YERUSHALMI: FASTING ON CHANUKAH? NO LATKES? TURAYANUS DAY 

By Rabbi Arthur Segal: www.JewishSpiritualrenewal.org , www.JewishRenewal.info

 

  

Greetings and Shalom:

 

From the evening of December 11th, to sundown December 19th, are the 8 days and nights of Chanukah.

 

Chanukah means "rededication" in Hebrew. In 165 BCE when the Hebrews defeated the Syrian-Greeks, they reclaimed and cleansed their Temple, which had been turned into a pagan place of idolatry. The story is told of the miracle of the Hebrews finding just enough oil to last one day to relight the Menorah candelabra , but it lasted for eight days. We celebrate this event and miracle at Chanukah.

However, the rabbis in Yavneh, Judea, after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE., decided not to include the four books of the Maccabees (the leaders of the revolt) into the Jewish Biblical canon, and even debated whether Chanukah should be celebrated at all. Their rationale for the exclusion was that the texts speak of military and political victories, but do not mention the miracles of God. The rabbis did not want Chanukah to be remembered as a military battle, but as a spiritual one. Chanukah is not a holiday about: "They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat." The Sages were also quite upset with the descendents of the Maccabees, known as the Hasmoneans, who tried to quash Talmudic Rabbinic Judaism, killed many Rabbis, and invited the Romans into Judea to help them rule in 63 BCE.

If the holiday was to be celebrated, the Talmud teaches, a portion of the Book of Zechariah was to be read on Chanukah's Sabbath – "not by might, nor by armies, but by my spirit" – as a reminder that it was God who truly redeemed the Hebrews. A prayer was added to the daily Amidah liturgy called Al Ha Nisim, which means, "For the Miracles."

Many of us erroneously think that Rabbinic written  literature  begins with the Mishnah of circa 200 CE, one of two parts of the Talmud. But Rabbis did write things before then that was not part of the Oral Tradition.  During the time of Ezra's Hebraic Temple, the Rabbis wrote a text concerning what days on the Jewish Calendar we celebrate as opposed to fasting. This 'book' is called the Megillah Ta'anit,  the Scroll of Fasting.

In the Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Nedarim 8:1,  Rabbi Yochanan said: ''The Fasting Scroll has been nullified.  Last night I was sitting and repeating the following. An incident happened that the Rabbis decreed a fast in Lod during Chanukah. [Lod is where the Tel Aviv, Israel, Ben Gurion Airport is today.] Rabbi Eliezer went and told Rabbi Joshua about it.  Rabbi Joshua washed himself, which one does not do for a fast day,  and said to the rabbis who declared a Chanukah fast:  'Go and observe a fast as a penalty for having fasted on Chanukah. [While there are Talmudic edicts of when and how to fast, there are even stronger edicts to keep us from over doing it, e.g. fasting for two days on Yom Kippur. So Joshua is now telling the rabbis to go and fast because they fasted on a non-fast day, i.e Chanukah].   

 

So the Rabbis of the Gemora ask: "Now how can you (R.  Yochanan],  say, then, that the rules of the Fasting-Scroll have been nullified since the Scroll says that one may not fast on Chanukah and we see that Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua maintain that, in fact, one may not fast on Chanukah?''

Rabbi Abba answered in the Yerushalmi's Gemorah: ''Even though you maintain that the rules of the Fasting-Scroll have been nullified, as to the celebration of Chanukah and Purim they have not been nullified.''

''Rabbi Yonatan fasted on the entire eve of the New Year. Rabbi Avin fasted on the entire eve of the festival of Sukkot. Rabbi Zeira fasted 300 fasts, and some say, 900 fasts, and he paid no attention at all to the days listed by the Fasting Scroll on which one is not supposed to fast. 

 

Rabbi Eliezer , Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Yochanan all seem to be in favor of observing Chanukah without a fast . Joshua even decrees that one who fasts on Chanukah needs to fast to repent for the fasting. But we see that Rabbi Abba says that we should fast not only on Chanukah but Purim. Perhaps for Purim he is referring to the fast of Esther. But as the Talmud become codified, the above fasts of Rabbis Abba, Yonaton, Zeira, and Avin all became non-fast days.

 

At the same time the Rabbis did away with many holidays having to do with war victories, and made sure Purim and Chanukah, as well as Passover, were spiritual holidays and not one focused on the neck of Haman and his sons, dead Greeks or drowned Egyptians.

One of these Holidays is of course Nicanor Day, celebrated as the pre cursor to Chanukah, around what would be Purim's Fast of Esther.
Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: TALMUDIC DISCOURSE: JEWISH HOLIDAYS OF NICANOR AND PURIM .

Another holiday done away with is the 12th of Adar, also near Purim, called Turyanus Day. Jewish martyrs were Rabbis Papus and Lulianus. They studied TaNaK against Roman decree during the time of Rabbi Akiva and the Roman General Turyanus killed them. As the story goes, while the bloody blade was still in his hands, The Emperor  of Rome's soldiers found Turyanus, found guilty of some crime against Rome, and these soldiers immediately killed Turyanus.

Chanukah is a time for Jews to rededicate themselves to God. The rabbis wanted us to remember that as the Maccabees rededicated the Syrian-Greek desecrated Temple back to God, we are to rededicate our lives to God. They teach there is a reason we light the Chanukeah (Chanukah menorah) one candle the first night, two on the second and so forth up to eight. We do not light the eight candles in the opposite, descending order, to remind us that our spirituality should always be increasing and never decreasing. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b). As Jews light the candles, adding one each night, rededicating ourselves to God's path, Jews will see their spirituality increase as a fully illuminated Chanukeah.

 

Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

Rabbi Arthur Segal is an academic rabbi who lives, teaches, writes and celebrates Chanukah on Hilton Head Island. His web site is www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org .His email is RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net .

Jewish Spiritual Renewal

Jewish Renewal

Eco-Judaism

Jewish Spirituality

Hilton Head Island, SC

Bluffton, SC

Savannah, GA

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: JEWISH SPIRITUALITY:God’s will for modern Jews

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: JEWISH SPIRITUALITY:God's will for modern Jews

 

Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 12/12/09:A Path of Transformation

 

Shalom to my dear Talmidim, Chaverim v' Rabbanim:

 

For those new to the class,  baruch ha ba, welcome!! You may access the most recent class at

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2009/11/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-renewalthanks.html.

Each class has a link taking one back to the prior class, and also where to get course materials, online.

 

This class is for the Shabbat beginning at sundown December 11, 2009. This is also the time that the 8 nights of Chanukah begin. While I could give you much spiritual information about this holiday, and I have published such in many monographs, and there is a bit in Chapter 13 of  (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1  which is the course book for this class, I would like to invite you to shema, to listen, to learn, a few spiritual points.

 

The students of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai debated in the Talmud about which way one should light the Chanukeah, the Chanukah Menorah. Shammai's followers declared that it should have 8 (plus the shamash) candles on the first night, and then 7 on the second and so forth, down to one. The students of Hillel said the opposite. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b).

 

Now this is not just another case of we Jews finding ourselves arguing over anything and everything. :-)

Beit Hillel's point is that Chanukah is about rededicating ourselves to doing God's will and increasing in spirituality. Hence the Chanukeah increases in light, in spirituality, as so should we. We should never decrease in our spirituality.

 

In fact Hillel himself taught in Talmud Tractate Pirkei Avot 1:13 " One who does not increase in spirituality, diminishes.'' In other words, when we Jews do not study, and work on our own personal Jewish Spiritual Renewal, a process which never ends, we do not just stay at the level at which we stopped. We go backwards. We do not just stagnate, we regress.

 

And hence this is the major spiritual teaching of Chanukah.

 

There is another, a bit more subtle. All of our other holidays celebrate events that happened in 'the open,' with witnesses. As we work thru the calendar, with Nissan, our first month, Passover was witnessed by Hebrews and Egyptians, and the word spread through out the area, so that even Jericho's Rehab, the prostitute with a good heart, related knowing about it, 40 years after the event.

 

Shavuot, the time of the giving of Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Hebrews as well as the world, was witnessed by not only the Hebrews but the ''erev rav'' that came with them from Egypt, [mixed multitude].

 

Lag B'Omer was witnessed by the 24,000 rabbis who pointed fingers at each other, declaring that their semicha (ordination) was better than someone else's, and that one was a rabbi while others were not. God struck them all dead with a plague.

 

Tisha B'Av was witnessed not only by Hebrews but by the Babylonians who destroyed Solomon's Temple and by the Romans who destroyed Ezra's Temple.

 

Rosh ha Shana, the creation of humankind, has it evidence for anyone reading this. And Yom Kippur was done in the presence of all of the Hebrews, with the scapegoat  being sent off into the wilderness.

 

And Sukkoth which celebrates not only a harvest, but also liberation from Egypt, also had its many witnesses, as did Purim, with actually letters being sent to all points of the Persian Empire telling Jews and Persian citizens alike, of the events that unfolded.

 

But Chanukah's miracle happened only in front of a handful of Hebrew soldiers, bloodied, and ritually impure, who could not press ritually pure olive oil. They found one unit that should have lasted for one day, but lasted for 8, giving them time to become ritually pure from their battles, and press more oil.

 

So because Chanukah happened in private we announce to all peoples the miracle of God, by placing the Chanukeah in our door ways, or windows.

 

One last spiritual lesson about Chanukah. The rabbis argue whether the miracle was 8 days or seven. Why? Well, the first day was not a miracle. The menorah burned because it had oil. That is basic chemistry and physics. The last seven days were the miracle because the oil was not supposed to last those seven days. So the miracle of oil was only seven days!

 

So why do we say  Chanukah is 8 nights for 8 days of miracles? The answer is that the Hebrew Macabees had faith, trust, belief and experience with God, to light the Menorah, and rededicate the Temple of Ezra, even though they knew that they only had enough oil for one day. That spirituality of humans straight from the battlefield, is the miracle of Chanukah.

 

When we are soon done with Chapter Three from (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  we will immediately begin with our Chesbon ha Nefesh, a moral inventory of our souls. In order to grow, we must take honest stock of ourselves. We don't let this intimidate us, as God knows our defects, and believe me, our friends and family do as well.  "Can a man hide in concealments that I cannot see him? — the word of God (Jer. 23:24).

 

There are times when moving forward is not enough. There are times when we can't just change what we do, how we speak and how we think about things. Sometimes, we have to change who we are. We need to leap from our comfort zone.  As Rabbi Hillel said above , we have to keep moving forward. As long as we are holding on to where we were yesterday, we are not only standing still but moving backwards. 

 

But there is a bit of Kabbalistic wisdom to this growth. Regarding our souls yearning to grow spiritually, as our soul stands above, before its descent, the soul steps higher each day. And that is a prison, because the soul is Godly and Godly means infinite. So for a  Godly entity, stepping higher each day is still standing still.

 

Now keep in mind that our souls always remain pure, no matter how much yuck we have done in our lives. Jewish Spiritual Renewal (www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org, www.JewishRenewal.info ) is a giant power washing of our souls.

But our souls, so pure , yet covered over with schmutz, are blind to its own prison. So Kabbalistically speaking, the soul must descend below into our bodies and minds. There the soul will experience the ultimate confines of our bodies. And our souls, our yetzer tov, will come face to face with our yetzer ha ra. And with the steps outlined in this Path of Transformation, our souls, our yetzer ha tov,  will transform our yetzer ha ra, to yearn to be connected with the Godhead.

Then we will learn to leap, to break out of all boundaries, to escape the prison of the bondage of self, and of ego.

 

Allow me to end with a Midrash from Midrash Rabbah - Genesis 77:24. The rabbis teach from this very Shabbat's parasha that while Jacob was wrestling with ''the man,'' he was also going back and forth over a river. Millennia later, two rabbis (Hiyya and Simeon) were in the silk trade in Tyre (now Lebanon). After they left Tyre, one said to the other "Let us emulate Jacob, and cross back over and see if we left anything behind." And they found a bale of forgotten silk. So they tell of how Jacob made a deal with this wrestling angel for each to help the other cross the river. The angel carried Jacob's 'stuff', and Jacob carried the angel's belongings. And every time Jacob went back, he found 'more camels and flocks.'

 

What is the point and why am I boring you with a  Midrash of traveling salesman?

Jacob's luggage, what really is our sacks of 'the stuff of our lives,' are light as feathers when we get Divine aid in carrying them. The Talmud tells us when we pick up the yoke of God and Torah, all other human and societal yokes fall from our shoulders. (Pirkei Avot 3:5).

 

So what kind of 'stuff' does an angel carry? Angels carry a never ending inventory of blessings for us.

 

Our job is to simply act in concert with God, and keeping on returning to His side of the river. Continual returning, renewal, teshuvah, guarantees us spiritual growth. With Jewish Spiritual Renewal life no longer is schlepping baggage full of worries, angst, guilt, grudges, expectations, disconnecting us from our fellows and God. Instead we live a life of being happy, joyous and free.

 

May this week and Chanukah season bring you all closer to God and your neighbors, and into Jewish Spiritual Renewal.

 

  We will now continue with Chapter Three from:

(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal

http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 

from Chapter Three: A Life with God

The next question that you have to ask is: "What is God's will for modern Jews?" Does He require us go out and buy four complete sets of Lenox, one for everyday dairy, one for everyday meat, and one each for Passover dairy and meat? No. The Mishna in a section called "Ethics of the Father" sums up God's will nicely: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah."

Micah the Prophet says it well also: "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

These ideas of Hillel in 100 B.C.E. and Micah in 700 B.C.E. are not totally original. The Torah in Deut. 10:12-13 reads: "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."

Note that we are asked to do God's will for our own good. If you are to believe in a Creator, it is reasonable to assume that you would believe in one who has set some guidelines within which He wishes you to conduct yourself and to live your life. It would be cruel for a Creator to expect you to figure out what He wishes you to do. The Judaic God is not cruel. He is a loving, forgiving Parent Who wants the best for us. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever," says Psalm 136:1. There is a cute, but exceedingly wise, statement in the Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 100b: "If the Torah had not been given, we would have learned tzni'ut (modesty) from a cat."

In the same Ethics (2:4) Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince, used to say, "Do His will as if it was your will, that He may do your will as if it was His will. Make your will of no effect before His will, that He may make the will of others of no effect before your will."

In other words, God designed us with freedom of choice, with a yetzer ha ra and a yetzer ha tov (good inclination). We can put our will in alignment with God's.

Let's look at this idea with a real-world example. If it is your will to earn a large income and climb to the top of the corporate ladder, you might go about it with honesty, integrity and ethics guiding you through your career. Following this path, you will look at your role from a standpoint of how to best lead your company in providing goods or services to people who need or want it. You see your mission, and that of your company, as being of service to your fellow man. Your true rewards are the joy and peace that come with living by God's will rather than your own. Corporate profits and career growth are merely by-products, and you are free to enjoy these things because you know that they are well-deserved.

On the other hand, you might choose a different path, an easier path and one that you may think is expected of you. That is, you could adhere to the ruthlessly ambitious stereotype of the corporate executive, taking advantage of and destroying others' careers on your way up. You might cut corners with product quality or safety to increase profits so you can get that big bonus and the corner office.

In the first way, your will is secondary to God's will of doing justice, loving kindness, being humble, and being peaceful. Those who are not of God's will, but still doing their will, will have no effect on you.

Listening to your yetzer ha tov and ignoring your yetzer ha ra requires constant attention and perpetually feeding your head with Godly statements. The rabbis tell of one elder describing his own inner struggle. He said, "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

A d'var Torah for Parasha Vayeishev :Shabbat 12/12/09, follows.

Shalom uvracha:

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

 

Parasha Vayeishev: Genesis 37:01-40:23

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

In this fascinating portion, filled with so many events, we read of Joseph's brothers' jealousy and their willingness to kill him (Gen. 37:20). We also read of Reuben's compromise with his brothers' plan to just throw Joseph into the empty pit, as he wished to return later to save his younger brother (Gen. 37:22). We also read of Judah's further compromise with his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him (Gen. 37:27). Judah tried to convince their father Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts by bringing Jacob his son's wonderful woolen tunic covered in goat blood (Gen. 37:31).

Traditionally, Reuben and Judah are spoken of as heroes for orchestrating this compromise. And traditionally the brothers are considered to be acting as God's agents to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt to set into motion the events that would eventually send Jacob and his family into Egypt, causing the Hebrews to become slaves to Pharaoh. This would lead to our Exodus spearheaded by Moses and our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and our eventual conquering of the Promised Land.

Jews need to ask, as we are in the beginning of the third millennium, is compromise when life is at stake a good heroic attribute?

We are taught that the Torah was already known to our patriarchs, and that Jacob and his sons were already in Eretz Israel. Why did we need to leave our land, be made into slaves, be given the Torah which we already had, to return to a land in which we were already living?

We have seen all too clearly in our recent history that compromise, when lives are at stake, leads to eventual disaster. We do not need to be reminded of Chamberlain's well- received compromise of this century, or of the Missouri compromise of the last century. We do not read of Reuben or Judah arguing for Joseph's freedom. Reuben was the eldest of the brothers. He had the most to lose by Joseph being his father's favorite. If he argued for Joseph's release, could he not have lowered the tension and jealousy? If Judah jumped into the discussion, with two out of the ten brothers (Benjamin was not there) pleading for Joseph's mercy, would not have more bothers leaned toward acquittal? If only three more brothers were convinced, there would be no majority to convict.

As modern Jews who take pride in having the freedom of choice vis a`vis ritual mitzvoth, we have so much more time than our traditional co-religionists. What do we do with the time each day that we are not in shul dovening (praying), or reading labels looking for U's and Ks, or making sure we don't mix up the cutlery in our kitchens? Are we still resigned to walk like Jacob with a limp, as a bird with a broken wing flies, in never- ending circles? Or will we stand upright, uncompromised, like the recovered stronger Israel, who wrestled with the angel when he was Jacob. Will we perform the social action mitzvoth and live the ethics from which our modern Judaic creed did NOT release us?

Each month at Rosh Kodesh we look at the moon's phases and remember David's reign as our people's zenith, symbolized by the full moon. We traditionally pray for the scion of David to come and restore our people's glory. Each of us needs to be uncompromising in performing the mitzvoth of chesed (doing deeds of loving kindness to help others and make a difference in their lives) and continuing to do zaddakah (justice, sometimes translated as charity). We need to be uncompromising in making a stronger effort in our own country and around the globe to do tikun olam (repair of the world) as junior partners with God. We would then find that each of us is a part of that traditionally awaited savior from the Davidic line. And all of these parts of ours, acting as a whole, could really help make a difference in this world and would bring much joy and spirituality to our own lives.

Amos, in this Haftarah, says that God will forgive the Jews of the three cardinal sins of adultery, idolatry, and murder, but He will not forgive them for their greed and perversions of justice, which resulted in their ignoring the poor, the sick and the helpless.

Let us dedicate ourselves to helping keep the moon always full and help rescue the Josephs of this world who are ill, hungry, grieving, and homeless from their empty pit of despair. Let us help give hope to our matriarch Rachel who still "weeps for her children." Amen!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:Gods will for modern Jews

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:Gods will for modern Jews  

 

Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 12/12/09:A Path of Transformation

 

Shalom to my dear Talmidim, Chaverim v' Rabbanim:

 

For those new to the class,  baruch ha ba, welcome!! You may access the most recent class at

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2009/11/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-renewalthanks.html.

Each class has a link taking one back to the prior class, and also where to get course materials, online.

 

This class is for the Shabbat beginning at sundown December 11, 2009. This is also the time that the 8 nights of Chanukah begin. While I could give you much spiritual information about this holiday, and I have published such in many monographs, and there is a bit in Chapter 13 of  (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1  which is the course book for this class, I would like to invite you to shema, to listen, to learn, a few spiritual points.

 

The students of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai debated in the Talmud about which way one should light the Chanukeah, the Chanukah Menorah. Shammai's followers declared that it should have 8 (plus the shamash) candles on the first night, and then 7 on the second and so forth, down to one. The students of Hillel said the opposite. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b).

 

Now this is not just another case of we Jews finding ourselves arguing over anything and everything. :-)

Beit Hillel's point is that Chanukah is about rededicating ourselves to doing God's will and increasing in spirituality. Hence the Chanukeah increases in light, in spirituality, as so should we. We should never decrease in our spirituality.

 

In fact Hillel himself taught in Talmud Tractate Pirkei Avot 1:13 " One who does not increase in spirituality, diminishes.'' In other words, when we Jews do not study, and work on our own personal Jewish Spiritual Renewal, a process which never ends, we do not just stay at the level at which we stopped. We go backwards. We do not just stagnate, we regress.

 

And hence this is the major spiritual teaching of Chanukah.

 

There is another, a bit more subtle. All of our other holidays celebrate events that happened in 'the open,' with witnesses. As we work thru the calendar, with Nissan, our first month, Passover was witnessed by Hebrews and Egyptians, and the word spread through out the area, so that even Jericho's Rehab, the prostitute with a good heart, related knowing about it, 40 years after the event.

 

Shavuot, the time of the giving of Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Hebrews as well as the world, was witnessed by not only the Hebrews but the ''erev rav'' that came with them from Egypt, [mixed multitude].

 

Lag B'Omer was witnessed by the 24,000 rabbis who pointed fingers at each other, declaring that their semicha (ordination) was better than someone else's, and that one was a rabbi while others were not. God struck them all dead with a plague.

 

Tisha B'Av was witnessed not only by Hebrews but by the Babylonians who destroyed Solomon's Temple and by the Romans who destroyed Ezra's Temple.

 

Rosh ha Shana, the creation of humankind, has it evidence for anyone reading this. And Yom Kippur was done in the presence of all of the Hebrews, with the scapegoat  being sent off into the wilderness.

 

And Sukkoth which celebrates not only a harvest, but also liberation from Egypt, also had its many witnesses, as did Purim, with actually letters being sent to all points of the Persian Empire telling Jews and Persian citizens alike, of the events that unfolded.

 

But Chanukah's miracle happened only in front of a handful of Hebrew soldiers, bloodied, and ritually impure, who could not press ritually pure olive oil. They found one unit that should have lasted for one day, but lasted for 8, giving them time to become ritually pure from their battles, and press more oil.

 

So because Chanukah happened in private we announce to all peoples the miracle of God, by placing the Chanukeah in our door ways, or windows.

 

One last spiritual lesson about Chanukah. The rabbis argue whether the miracle was 8 days or seven. Why? Well, the first day was not a miracle. The menorah burned because it had oil. That is basic chemistry and physics. The last seven days were the miracle because the oil was not supposed to last those seven days. So the miracle of oil was only seven days!

 

So why do we say  Chanukah is 8 nights for 8 days of miracles? The answer is that the Hebrew Macabees had faith, trust, belief and experience with God, to light the Menorah, and rededicate the Temple of Ezra, even though they knew that they only had enough oil for one day. That spirituality of humans straight from the battlefield, is the miracle of Chanukah.

 

When we are soon done with Chapter Three from (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  we will immediately begin with our Chesbon ha Nefesh, a moral inventory of our souls. In order to grow, we must take honest stock of ourselves. We don't let this intimidate us, as God knows our defects, and believe me, our friends and family do as well.  "Can a man hide in concealments that I cannot see him? — the word of God (Jer. 23:24).

 

There are times when moving forward is not enough. There are times when we can't just change what we do, how we speak and how we think about things. Sometimes, we have to change who we are. We need to leap from our comfort zone.  As Rabbi Hillel said above , we have to keep moving forward. As long as we are holding on to where we were yesterday, we are not only standing still but moving backwards. 

 

But there is a bit of Kabbalistic wisdom to this growth. Regarding our souls yearning to grow spiritually, as our soul stands above, before its descent, the soul steps higher each day. And that is a prison, because the soul is Godly and Godly means infinite. So for a  Godly entity, stepping higher each day is still standing still.

 

Now keep in mind that our souls always remain pure, no matter how much yuck we have done in our lives. Jewish Spiritual Renewal (www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org, www.JewishRenewal.info ) is a giant power washing of our souls.

But our souls, so pure , yet covered over with schmutz, are blind to its own prison. So Kabbalistically speaking, the soul must descend below into our bodies and minds. There the soul will experience the ultimate confines of our bodies. And our souls, our yetzer tov, will come face to face with our yetzer ha ra. And with the steps outlined in this Path of Transformation, our souls, our yetzer ha tov,  will transform our yetzer ha ra, to yearn to be connected with the Godhead.

Then we will learn to leap, to break out of all boundaries, to escape the prison of the bondage of self, and of ego.

 

Allow me to end with a Midrash from Midrash Rabbah - Genesis 77:24. The rabbis teach from this very Shabbat's parasha that while Jacob was wrestling with ''the man,'' he was also going back and forth over a river. Millennia later, two rabbis (Hiyya and Simeon) were in the silk trade in Tyre (now Lebanon). After they left Tyre, one said to the other "Let us emulate Jacob, and cross back over and see if we left anything behind." And they found a bale of forgotten silk. So they tell of how Jacob made a deal with this wrestling angel for each to help the other cross the river. The angel carried Jacob's 'stuff', and Jacob carried the angel's belongings. And every time Jacob went back, he found 'more camels and flocks.'

 

What is the point and why am I boring you with a  Midrash of traveling salesman?

Jacob's luggage, what really is our sacks of 'the stuff of our lives,' are light as feathers when we get Divine aid in carrying them. The Talmud tells us when we pick up the yoke of God and Torah, all other human and societal yokes fall from our shoulders. (Pirkei Avot 3:5).

 

So what kind of 'stuff' does an angel carry? Angels carry a never ending inventory of blessings for us.

 

Our job is to simply act in concert with God, and keeping on returning to His side of the river. Continual returning, renewal, teshuvah, guarantees us spiritual growth. With Jewish Spiritual Renewal life no longer is schlepping baggage full of worries, angst, guilt, grudges, expectations, disconnecting us from our fellows and God. Instead we live a life of being happy, joyous and free.

 

May this week and Chanukah season bring you all closer to God and your neighbors, and into Jewish Spiritual Renewal.

 

  We will now continue with Chapter Three from:

(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal

http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 

from Chapter Three: A Life with God

The next question that you have to ask is: "What is God's will for modern Jews?" Does He require us go out and buy four complete sets of Lenox, one for everyday dairy, one for everyday meat, and one each for Passover dairy and meat? No. The Mishna in a section called "Ethics of the Father" sums up God's will nicely: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah."

Micah the Prophet says it well also: "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

These ideas of Hillel in 100 B.C.E. and Micah in 700 B.C.E. are not totally original. The Torah in Deut. 10:12-13 reads: "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."

Note that we are asked to do God's will for our own good. If you are to believe in a Creator, it is reasonable to assume that you would believe in one who has set some guidelines within which He wishes you to conduct yourself and to live your life. It would be cruel for a Creator to expect you to figure out what He wishes you to do. The Judaic God is not cruel. He is a loving, forgiving Parent Who wants the best for us. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever," says Psalm 136:1. There is a cute, but exceedingly wise, statement in the Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 100b: "If the Torah had not been given, we would have learned tzni'ut (modesty) from a cat."

In the same Ethics (2:4) Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince, used to say, "Do His will as if it was your will, that He may do your will as if it was His will. Make your will of no effect before His will, that He may make the will of others of no effect before your will."

In other words, God designed us with freedom of choice, with a yetzer ha ra and a yetzer ha tov (good inclination). We can put our will in alignment with God's.

Let's look at this idea with a real-world example. If it is your will to earn a large income and climb to the top of the corporate ladder, you might go about it with honesty, integrity and ethics guiding you through your career. Following this path, you will look at your role from a standpoint of how to best lead your company in providing goods or services to people who need or want it. You see your mission, and that of your company, as being of service to your fellow man. Your true rewards are the joy and peace that come with living by God's will rather than your own. Corporate profits and career growth are merely by-products, and you are free to enjoy these things because you know that they are well-deserved.

On the other hand, you might choose a different path, an easier path and one that you may think is expected of you. That is, you could adhere to the ruthlessly ambitious stereotype of the corporate executive, taking advantage of and destroying others' careers on your way up. You might cut corners with product quality or safety to increase profits so you can get that big bonus and the corner office.

In the first way, your will is secondary to God's will of doing justice, loving kindness, being humble, and being peaceful. Those who are not of God's will, but still doing their will, will have no effect on you.

Listening to your yetzer ha tov and ignoring your yetzer ha ra requires constant attention and perpetually feeding your head with Godly statements. The rabbis tell of one elder describing his own inner struggle. He said, "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

A d'var Torah for Parasha Vayeishev :Shabbat 12/12/09, follows.

Shalom uvracha:

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

 

Parasha Vayeishev: Genesis 37:01-40:23

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

In this fascinating portion, filled with so many events, we read of Joseph's brothers' jealousy and their willingness to kill him (Gen. 37:20). We also read of Reuben's compromise with his brothers' plan to just throw Joseph into the empty pit, as he wished to return later to save his younger brother (Gen. 37:22). We also read of Judah's further compromise with his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him (Gen. 37:27). Judah tried to convince their father Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts by bringing Jacob his son's wonderful woolen tunic covered in goat blood (Gen. 37:31).

Traditionally, Reuben and Judah are spoken of as heroes for orchestrating this compromise. And traditionally the brothers are considered to be acting as God's agents to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt to set into motion the events that would eventually send Jacob and his family into Egypt, causing the Hebrews to become slaves to Pharaoh. This would lead to our Exodus spearheaded by Moses and our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and our eventual conquering of the Promised Land.

Jews need to ask, as we are in the beginning of the third millennium, is compromise when life is at stake a good heroic attribute?

We are taught that the Torah was already known to our patriarchs, and that Jacob and his sons were already in Eretz Israel. Why did we need to leave our land, be made into slaves, be given the Torah which we already had, to return to a land in which we were already living?

We have seen all too clearly in our recent history that compromise, when lives are at stake, leads to eventual disaster. We do not need to be reminded of Chamberlain's well- received compromise of this century, or of the Missouri compromise of the last century. We do not read of Reuben or Judah arguing for Joseph's freedom. Reuben was the eldest of the brothers. He had the most to lose by Joseph being his father's favorite. If he argued for Joseph's release, could he not have lowered the tension and jealousy? If Judah jumped into the discussion, with two out of the ten brothers (Benjamin was not there) pleading for Joseph's mercy, would not have more bothers leaned toward acquittal? If only three more brothers were convinced, there would be no majority to convict.

As modern Jews who take pride in having the freedom of choice vis a`vis ritual mitzvoth, we have so much more time than our traditional co-religionists. What do we do with the time each day that we are not in shul dovening (praying), or reading labels looking for U's and Ks, or making sure we don't mix up the cutlery in our kitchens? Are we still resigned to walk like Jacob with a limp, as a bird with a broken wing flies, in never- ending circles? Or will we stand upright, uncompromised, like the recovered stronger Israel, who wrestled with the angel when he was Jacob. Will we perform the social action mitzvoth and live the ethics from which our modern Judaic creed did NOT release us?

Each month at Rosh Kodesh we look at the moon's phases and remember David's reign as our people's zenith, symbolized by the full moon. We traditionally pray for the scion of David to come and restore our people's glory. Each of us needs to be uncompromising in performing the mitzvoth of chesed (doing deeds of loving kindness to help others and make a difference in their lives) and continuing to do zaddakah (justice, sometimes translated as charity). We need to be uncompromising in making a stronger effort in our own country and around the globe to do tikun olam (repair of the world) as junior partners with God. We would then find that each of us is a part of that traditionally awaited savior from the Davidic line. And all of these parts of ours, acting as a whole, could really help make a difference in this world and would bring much joy and spirituality to our own lives.

Amos, in this Haftarah, says that God will forgive the Jews of the three cardinal sins of adultery, idolatry, and murder, but He will not forgive them for their greed and perversions of justice, which resulted in their ignoring the poor, the sick and the helpless.

Let us dedicate ourselves to helping keep the moon always full and help rescue the Josephs of this world who are ill, hungry, grieving, and homeless from their empty pit of despair. Let us help give hope to our matriarch Rachel who still "weeps for her children." Amen!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: JEWISH RENEWAL:God’s will for modern Jews

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: JEWISH RENEWAL:God's will for modern Jews

 

Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 12/12/09:A Path of Transformation

 

Shalom to my dear Talmidim, Chaverim v' Rabbanim:

 

For those new to the class,  baruch ha ba, welcome!! You may access the most recent class at

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2009/11/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-renewalthanks.html.

Each class has a link taking one back to the prior class, and also where to get course materials, online.

 

This class is for the Shabbat beginning at sundown December 11, 2009. This is also the time that the 8 nights of Chanukah begin. While I could give you much spiritual information about this holiday, and I have published such in many monographs, and there is a bit in Chapter 13 of  (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1  which is the course book for this class, I would like to invite you to shema, to listen, to learn, a few spiritual points.

 

The students of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai debated in the Talmud about which way one should light the Chanukeah, the Chanukah Menorah. Shammai's followers declared that it should have 8 (plus the shamash) candles on the first night, and then 7 on the second and so forth, down to one. The students of Hillel said the opposite. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b).

 

Now this is not just another case of we Jews finding ourselves arguing over anything and everything. :-)

Beit Hillel's point is that Chanukah is about rededicating ourselves to doing God's will and increasing in spirituality. Hence the Chanukeah increases in light, in spirituality, as so should we. We should never decrease in our spirituality.

 

In fact Hillel himself taught in Talmud Tractate Pirkei Avot 1:13 " One who does not increase in spirituality, diminishes.'' In other words, when we Jews do not study, and work on our own personal Jewish Spiritual Renewal, a process which never ends, we do not just stay at the level at which we stopped. We go backwards. We do not just stagnate, we regress.

 

And hence this is the major spiritual teaching of Chanukah.

 

There is another, a bit more subtle. All of our other holidays celebrate events that happened in 'the open,' with witnesses. As we work thru the calendar, with Nissan, our first month, Passover was witnessed by Hebrews and Egyptians, and the word spread through out the area, so that even Jericho's Rehab, the prostitute with a good heart, related knowing about it, 40 years after the event.

 

Shavuot, the time of the giving of Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Hebrews as well as the world, was witnessed by not only the Hebrews but the ''erev rav'' that came with them from Egypt, [mixed multitude].

 

Lag B'Omer was witnessed by the 24,000 rabbis who pointed fingers at each other, declaring that their semicha (ordination) was better than someone else's, and that one was a rabbi while others were not. God struck them all dead with a plague.

 

Tisha B'Av was witnessed not only by Hebrews but by the Babylonians who destroyed Solomon's Temple and by the Romans who destroyed Ezra's Temple.

 

Rosh ha Shana, the creation of humankind, has it evidence for anyone reading this. And Yom Kippur was done in the presence of all of the Hebrews, with the scapegoat  being sent off into the wilderness.

 

And Sukkoth which celebrates not only a harvest, but also liberation from Egypt, also had its many witnesses, as did Purim, with actually letters being sent to all points of the Persian Empire telling Jews and Persian citizens alike, of the events that unfolded.

 

But Chanukah's miracle happened only in front of a handful of Hebrew soldiers, bloodied, and ritually impure, who could not press ritually pure olive oil. They found one unit that should have lasted for one day, but lasted for 8, giving them time to become ritually pure from their battles, and press more oil.

 

So because Chanukah happened in private we announce to all peoples the miracle of God, by placing the Chanukeah in our door ways, or windows.

 

One last spiritual lesson about Chanukah. The rabbis argue whether the miracle was 8 days or seven. Why? Well, the first day was not a miracle. The menorah burned because it had oil. That is basic chemistry and physics. The last seven days were the miracle because the oil was not supposed to last those seven days. So the miracle of oil was only seven days!

 

So why do we say  Chanukah is 8 nights for 8 days of miracles? The answer is that the Hebrew Macabees had faith, trust, belief and experience with God, to light the Menorah, and rededicate the Temple of Ezra, even though they knew that they only had enough oil for one day. That spirituality of humans straight from the battlefield, is the miracle of Chanukah.

 

When we are soon done with Chapter Three from (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  we will immediately begin with our Chesbon ha Nefesh, a moral inventory of our souls. In order to grow, we must take honest stock of ourselves. We don't let this intimidate us, as God knows our defects, and believe me, our friends and family do as well.  "Can a man hide in concealments that I cannot see him? — the word of God (Jer. 23:24).

 

There are times when moving forward is not enough. There are times when we can't just change what we do, how we speak and how we think about things. Sometimes, we have to change who we are. We need to leap from our comfort zone.  As Rabbi Hillel said above , we have to keep moving forward. As long as we are holding on to where we were yesterday, we are not only standing still but moving backwards. 

 

But there is a bit of Kabbalistic wisdom to this growth. Regarding our souls yearning to grow spiritually, as our soul stands above, before its descent, the soul steps higher each day. And that is a prison, because the soul is Godly and Godly means infinite. So for a  Godly entity, stepping higher each day is still standing still.

 

Now keep in mind that our souls always remain pure, no matter how much yuck we have done in our lives. Jewish Spiritual Renewal (www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org, www.JewishRenewal.info ) is a giant power washing of our souls.

But our souls, so pure , yet covered over with schmutz, are blind to its own prison. So Kabbalistically speaking, the soul must descend below into our bodies and minds. There the soul will experience the ultimate confines of our bodies. And our souls, our yetzer tov, will come face to face with our yetzer ha ra. And with the steps outlined in this Path of Transformation, our souls, our yetzer ha tov,  will transform our yetzer ha ra, to yearn to be connected with the Godhead.

Then we will learn to leap, to break out of all boundaries, to escape the prison of the bondage of self, and of ego.

 

Allow me to end with a Midrash from Midrash Rabbah - Genesis 77:24. The rabbis teach from this very Shabbat's parasha that while Jacob was wrestling with ''the man,'' he was also going back and forth over a river. Millennia later, two rabbis (Hiyya and Simeon) were in the silk trade in Tyre (now Lebanon). After they left Tyre, one said to the other "Let us emulate Jacob, and cross back over and see if we left anything behind." And they found a bale of forgotten silk. So they tell of how Jacob made a deal with this wrestling angel for each to help the other cross the river. The angel carried Jacob's 'stuff', and Jacob carried the angel's belongings. And every time Jacob went back, he found 'more camels and flocks.'

 

What is the point and why am I boring you with a  Midrash of traveling salesman?

Jacob's luggage, what really is our sacks of 'the stuff of our lives,' are light as feathers when we get Divine aid in carrying them. The Talmud tells us when we pick up the yoke of God and Torah, all other human and societal yokes fall from our shoulders. (Pirkei Avot 3:5).

 

So what kind of 'stuff' does an angel carry? Angels carry a never ending inventory of blessings for us.

 

Our job is to simply act in concert with God, and keeping on returning to His side of the river. Continual returning, renewal, teshuvah, guarantees us spiritual growth. With Jewish Spiritual Renewal life no longer is schlepping baggage full of worries, angst, guilt, grudges, expectations, disconnecting us from our fellows and God. Instead we live a life of being happy, joyous and free.

 

May this week and Chanukah season bring you all closer to God and your neighbors, and into Jewish Spiritual Renewal.

 

  We will now continue with Chapter Three from:

(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal

http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 

from Chapter Three: A Life with God

The next question that you have to ask is: "What is God's will for modern Jews?" Does He require us go out and buy four complete sets of Lenox, one for everyday dairy, one for everyday meat, and one each for Passover dairy and meat? No. The Mishna in a section called "Ethics of the Father" sums up God's will nicely: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah."

Micah the Prophet says it well also: "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

These ideas of Hillel in 100 B.C.E. and Micah in 700 B.C.E. are not totally original. The Torah in Deut. 10:12-13 reads: "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."

Note that we are asked to do God's will for our own good. If you are to believe in a Creator, it is reasonable to assume that you would believe in one who has set some guidelines within which He wishes you to conduct yourself and to live your life. It would be cruel for a Creator to expect you to figure out what He wishes you to do. The Judaic God is not cruel. He is a loving, forgiving Parent Who wants the best for us. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever," says Psalm 136:1. There is a cute, but exceedingly wise, statement in the Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 100b: "If the Torah had not been given, we would have learned tzni'ut (modesty) from a cat."

In the same Ethics (2:4) Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince, used to say, "Do His will as if it was your will, that He may do your will as if it was His will. Make your will of no effect before His will, that He may make the will of others of no effect before your will."

In other words, God designed us with freedom of choice, with a yetzer ha ra and a yetzer ha tov (good inclination). We can put our will in alignment with God's.

Let's look at this idea with a real-world example. If it is your will to earn a large income and climb to the top of the corporate ladder, you might go about it with honesty, integrity and ethics guiding you through your career. Following this path, you will look at your role from a standpoint of how to best lead your company in providing goods or services to people who need or want it. You see your mission, and that of your company, as being of service to your fellow man. Your true rewards are the joy and peace that come with living by God's will rather than your own. Corporate profits and career growth are merely by-products, and you are free to enjoy these things because you know that they are well-deserved.

On the other hand, you might choose a different path, an easier path and one that you may think is expected of you. That is, you could adhere to the ruthlessly ambitious stereotype of the corporate executive, taking advantage of and destroying others' careers on your way up. You might cut corners with product quality or safety to increase profits so you can get that big bonus and the corner office.

In the first way, your will is secondary to God's will of doing justice, loving kindness, being humble, and being peaceful. Those who are not of God's will, but still doing their will, will have no effect on you.

Listening to your yetzer ha tov and ignoring your yetzer ha ra requires constant attention and perpetually feeding your head with Godly statements. The rabbis tell of one elder describing his own inner struggle. He said, "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

A d'var Torah for Parasha Vayeishev :Shabbat 12/12/09, follows.

Shalom uvracha:

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

 

Parasha Vayeishev: Genesis 37:01-40:23

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

In this fascinating portion, filled with so many events, we read of Joseph's brothers' jealousy and their willingness to kill him (Gen. 37:20). We also read of Reuben's compromise with his brothers' plan to just throw Joseph into the empty pit, as he wished to return later to save his younger brother (Gen. 37:22). We also read of Judah's further compromise with his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him (Gen. 37:27). Judah tried to convince their father Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts by bringing Jacob his son's wonderful woolen tunic covered in goat blood (Gen. 37:31).

Traditionally, Reuben and Judah are spoken of as heroes for orchestrating this compromise. And traditionally the brothers are considered to be acting as God's agents to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt to set into motion the events that would eventually send Jacob and his family into Egypt, causing the Hebrews to become slaves to Pharaoh. This would lead to our Exodus spearheaded by Moses and our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and our eventual conquering of the Promised Land.

Jews need to ask, as we are in the beginning of the third millennium, is compromise when life is at stake a good heroic attribute?

We are taught that the Torah was already known to our patriarchs, and that Jacob and his sons were already in Eretz Israel. Why did we need to leave our land, be made into slaves, be given the Torah which we already had, to return to a land in which we were already living?

We have seen all too clearly in our recent history that compromise, when lives are at stake, leads to eventual disaster. We do not need to be reminded of Chamberlain's well- received compromise of this century, or of the Missouri compromise of the last century. We do not read of Reuben or Judah arguing for Joseph's freedom. Reuben was the eldest of the brothers. He had the most to lose by Joseph being his father's favorite. If he argued for Joseph's release, could he not have lowered the tension and jealousy? If Judah jumped into the discussion, with two out of the ten brothers (Benjamin was not there) pleading for Joseph's mercy, would not have more bothers leaned toward acquittal? If only three more brothers were convinced, there would be no majority to convict.

As modern Jews who take pride in having the freedom of choice vis a`vis ritual mitzvoth, we have so much more time than our traditional co-religionists. What do we do with the time each day that we are not in shul dovening (praying), or reading labels looking for U's and Ks, or making sure we don't mix up the cutlery in our kitchens? Are we still resigned to walk like Jacob with a limp, as a bird with a broken wing flies, in never- ending circles? Or will we stand upright, uncompromised, like the recovered stronger Israel, who wrestled with the angel when he was Jacob. Will we perform the social action mitzvoth and live the ethics from which our modern Judaic creed did NOT release us?

Each month at Rosh Kodesh we look at the moon's phases and remember David's reign as our people's zenith, symbolized by the full moon. We traditionally pray for the scion of David to come and restore our people's glory. Each of us needs to be uncompromising in performing the mitzvoth of chesed (doing deeds of loving kindness to help others and make a difference in their lives) and continuing to do zaddakah (justice, sometimes translated as charity). We need to be uncompromising in making a stronger effort in our own country and around the globe to do tikun olam (repair of the world) as junior partners with God. We would then find that each of us is a part of that traditionally awaited savior from the Davidic line. And all of these parts of ours, acting as a whole, could really help make a difference in this world and would bring much joy and spirituality to our own lives.

Amos, in this Haftarah, says that God will forgive the Jews of the three cardinal sins of adultery, idolatry, and murder, but He will not forgive them for their greed and perversions of justice, which resulted in their ignoring the poor, the sick and the helpless.

Let us dedicate ourselves to helping keep the moon always full and help rescue the Josephs of this world who are ill, hungry, grieving, and homeless from their empty pit of despair. Let us help give hope to our matriarch Rachel who still "weeps for her children." Amen!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

---

The SPIRITUALRENEWAL mailing list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network a service of Hebrew College.
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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: JEWISH SPIRITUALITY:CHANUKAH:INCREASE SPIRITUALITY

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: JEWISH SPIRITUALITY:CHANUKAH:INCREASE SPIRITUALITY

 

Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 12/12/09:A Path of Transformation

 

Shalom to my dear Talmidim, Chaverim v' Rabbanim:

 

For those new to the class,  baruch ha ba, welcome!! You may access the most recent class at

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2009/11/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-renewalthanks.html.

Each class has a link taking one back to the prior class, and also where to get course materials, online.

 

This class is for the Shabbat beginning at sundown December 11, 2009. This is also the time that the 8 nights of Chanukah begin. While I could give you much spiritual information about this holiday, and I have published such in many monographs, and there is a bit in Chapter 13 of  (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1  which is the course book for this class, I would like to invite you to shema, to listen, to learn, a few spiritual points.

 

The students of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai debated in the Talmud about which way one should light the Chanukeah, the Chanukah Menorah. Shammai's followers declared that it should have 8 (plus the shamash) candles on the first night, and then 7 on the second and so forth, down to one. The students of Hillel said the opposite. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b).

 

Now this is not just another case of we Jews finding ourselves arguing over anything and everything. :-)

Beit Hillel's point is that Chanukah is about rededicating ourselves to doing God's will and increasing in spirituality. Hence the Chanukeah increases in light, in spirituality, as so should we. We should never decrease in our spirituality.

 

In fact Hillel himself taught in Talmud Tractate Pirkei Avot 1:13 " One who does not increase in spirituality, diminishes.'' In other words, when we Jews do not study, and work on our own personal Jewish Spiritual Renewal, a process which never ends, we do not just stay at the level at which we stopped. We go backwards. We do not just stagnate, we regress.

 

And hence this is the major spiritual teaching of Chanukah.

 

There is another, a bit more subtle. All of our other holidays celebrate events that happened in 'the open,' with witnesses. As we work thru the calendar, with Nissan, our first month, Passover was witnessed by Hebrews and Egyptians, and the word spread through out the area, so that even Jericho's Rehab, the prostitute with a good heart, related knowing about it, 40 years after the event.

 

Shavuot, the time of the giving of Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Hebrews as well as the world, was witnessed by not only the Hebrews but the ''erev rav'' that came with them from Egypt, [mixed multitude].

 

Lag B'Omer was witnessed by the 24,000 rabbis who pointed fingers at each other, declaring that their semicha (ordination) was better than someone else's, and that one was a rabbi while others were not. God struck them all dead with a plague.

 

Tisha B'Av was witnessed not only by Hebrews but by the Babylonians who destroyed Solomon's Temple and by the Romans who destroyed Ezra's Temple.

 

Rosh ha Shana, the creation of humankind, has it evidence for anyone reading this. And Yom Kippur was done in the presence of all of the Hebrews, with the scapegoat  being sent off into the wilderness.

 

And Sukkoth which celebrates not only a harvest, but also liberation from Egypt, also had its many witnesses, as did Purim, with actually letters being sent to all points of the Persian Empire telling Jews and Persian citizens alike, of the events that unfolded.

 

But Chanukah's miracle happened only in front of a handful of Hebrew soldiers, bloodied, and ritually impure, who could not press ritually pure olive oil. They found one unit that should have lasted for one day, but lasted for 8, giving them time to become ritually pure from their battles, and press more oil.

 

So because Chanukah happened in private we announce to all peoples the miracle of God, by placing the Chanukeah in our door ways, or windows.

 

One last spiritual lesson about Chanukah. The rabbis argue whether the miracle was 8 days or seven. Why? Well, the first day was not a miracle. The menorah burned because it had oil. That is basic chemistry and physics. The last seven days were the miracle because the oil was not supposed to last those seven days. So the miracle of oil was only seven days!

 

So why do we say  Chanukah is 8 nights for 8 days of miracles? The answer is that the Hebrew Macabees had faith, trust, belief and experience with God, to light the Menorah, and rededicate the Temple of Ezra, even though they knew that they only had enough oil for one day. That spirituality of humans straight from the battlefield, is the miracle of Chanukah.

 

When we are soon done with Chapter Three from (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  we will immediately begin with our Chesbon ha Nefesh, a moral inventory of our souls. In order to grow, we must take honest stock of ourselves. We don't let this intimidate us, as God knows our defects, and believe me, our friends and family do as well.  "Can a man hide in concealments that I cannot see him? — the word of God (Jer. 23:24).

 

There are times when moving forward is not enough. There are times when we can't just change what we do, how we speak and how we think about things. Sometimes, we have to change who we are. We need to leap from our comfort zone.  As Rabbi Hillel said above , we have to keep moving forward. As long as we are holding on to where we were yesterday, we are not only standing still but moving backwards. 

 

But there is a bit of Kabbalistic wisdom to this growth. Regarding our souls yearning to grow spiritually, as our soul stands above, before its descent, the soul steps higher each day. And that is a prison, because the soul is Godly and Godly means infinite. So for a  Godly entity, stepping higher each day is still standing still.

 

Now keep in mind that our souls always remain pure, no matter how much yuck we have done in our lives. Jewish Spiritual Renewal (www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org, www.JewishRenewal.info ) is a giant power washing of our souls.

But our souls, so pure , yet covered over with schmutz, are blind to its own prison. So Kabbalistically speaking, the soul must descend below into our bodies and minds. There the soul will experience the ultimate confines of our bodies. And our souls, our yetzer tov, will come face to face with our yetzer ha ra. And with the steps outlined in this Path of Transformation, our souls, our yetzer ha tov,  will transform our yetzer ha ra, to yearn to be connected with the Godhead.

Then we will learn to leap, to break out of all boundaries, to escape the prison of the bondage of self, and of ego.

 

Allow me to end with a Midrash from Midrash Rabbah - Genesis 77:24. The rabbis teach from this very Shabbat's parasha that while Jacob was wrestling with ''the man,'' he was also going back and forth over a river. Millennia later, two rabbis (Hiyya and Simeon) were in the silk trade in Tyre (now Lebanon). After they left Tyre, one said to the other "Let us emulate Jacob, and cross back over and see if we left anything behind." And they found a bale of forgotten silk. So they tell of how Jacob made a deal with this wrestling angel for each to help the other cross the river. The angel carried Jacob's 'stuff', and Jacob carried the angel's belongings. And every time Jacob went back, he found 'more camels and flocks.'

 

What is the point and why am I boring you with a  Midrash of traveling salesman?

Jacob's luggage, what really is our sacks of 'the stuff of our lives,' are light as feathers when we get Divine aid in carrying them. The Talmud tells us when we pick up the yoke of God and Torah, all other human and societal yokes fall from our shoulders. (Pirkei Avot 3:5).

 

So what kind of 'stuff' does an angel carry? Angels carry a never ending inventory of blessings for us.

 

Our job is to simply act in concert with God, and keeping on returning to His side of the river. Continual returning, renewal, teshuvah, guarantees us spiritual growth. With Jewish Spiritual Renewal life no longer is schlepping baggage full of worries, angst, guilt, grudges, expectations, disconnecting us from our fellows and God. Instead we live a life of being happy, joyous and free.

 

May this week and Chanukah season bring you all closer to God and your neighbors, and into Jewish Spiritual Renewal.

 

  We will now continue with Chapter Three from:

(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal

http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 

from Chapter Three: A Life with God

The next question that you have to ask is: "What is God's will for modern Jews?" Does He require us go out and buy four complete sets of Lenox, one for everyday dairy, one for everyday meat, and one each for Passover dairy and meat? No. The Mishna in a section called "Ethics of the Father" sums up God's will nicely: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah."

Micah the Prophet says it well also: "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

These ideas of Hillel in 100 B.C.E. and Micah in 700 B.C.E. are not totally original. The Torah in Deut. 10:12-13 reads: "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."

Note that we are asked to do God's will for our own good. If you are to believe in a Creator, it is reasonable to assume that you would believe in one who has set some guidelines within which He wishes you to conduct yourself and to live your life. It would be cruel for a Creator to expect you to figure out what He wishes you to do. The Judaic God is not cruel. He is a loving, forgiving Parent Who wants the best for us. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever," says Psalm 136:1. There is a cute, but exceedingly wise, statement in the Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 100b: "If the Torah had not been given, we would have learned tzni'ut (modesty) from a cat."

In the same Ethics (2:4) Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince, used to say, "Do His will as if it was your will, that He may do your will as if it was His will. Make your will of no effect before His will, that He may make the will of others of no effect before your will."

In other words, God designed us with freedom of choice, with a yetzer ha ra and a yetzer ha tov (good inclination). We can put our will in alignment with God's.

Let's look at this idea with a real-world example. If it is your will to earn a large income and climb to the top of the corporate ladder, you might go about it with honesty, integrity and ethics guiding you through your career. Following this path, you will look at your role from a standpoint of how to best lead your company in providing goods or services to people who need or want it. You see your mission, and that of your company, as being of service to your fellow man. Your true rewards are the joy and peace that come with living by God's will rather than your own. Corporate profits and career growth are merely by-products, and you are free to enjoy these things because you know that they are well-deserved.

On the other hand, you might choose a different path, an easier path and one that you may think is expected of you. That is, you could adhere to the ruthlessly ambitious stereotype of the corporate executive, taking advantage of and destroying others' careers on your way up. You might cut corners with product quality or safety to increase profits so you can get that big bonus and the corner office.

In the first way, your will is secondary to God's will of doing justice, loving kindness, being humble, and being peaceful. Those who are not of God's will, but still doing their will, will have no effect on you.

Listening to your yetzer ha tov and ignoring your yetzer ha ra requires constant attention and perpetually feeding your head with Godly statements. The rabbis tell of one elder describing his own inner struggle. He said, "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

A d'var Torah for Parasha Vayeishev :Shabbat 12/12/09, follows.

Shalom uvracha:

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

 

Parasha Vayeishev: Genesis 37:01-40:23

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

In this fascinating portion, filled with so many events, we read of Joseph's brothers' jealousy and their willingness to kill him (Gen. 37:20). We also read of Reuben's compromise with his brothers' plan to just throw Joseph into the empty pit, as he wished to return later to save his younger brother (Gen. 37:22). We also read of Judah's further compromise with his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him (Gen. 37:27). Judah tried to convince their father Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts by bringing Jacob his son's wonderful woolen tunic covered in goat blood (Gen. 37:31).

Traditionally, Reuben and Judah are spoken of as heroes for orchestrating this compromise. And traditionally the brothers are considered to be acting as God's agents to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt to set into motion the events that would eventually send Jacob and his family into Egypt, causing the Hebrews to become slaves to Pharaoh. This would lead to our Exodus spearheaded by Moses and our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and our eventual conquering of the Promised Land.

Jews need to ask, as we are in the beginning of the third millennium, is compromise when life is at stake a good heroic attribute?

We are taught that the Torah was already known to our patriarchs, and that Jacob and his sons were already in Eretz Israel. Why did we need to leave our land, be made into slaves, be given the Torah which we already had, to return to a land in which we were already living?

We have seen all too clearly in our recent history that compromise, when lives are at stake, leads to eventual disaster. We do not need to be reminded of Chamberlain's well- received compromise of this century, or of the Missouri compromise of the last century. We do not read of Reuben or Judah arguing for Joseph's freedom. Reuben was the eldest of the brothers. He had the most to lose by Joseph being his father's favorite. If he argued for Joseph's release, could he not have lowered the tension and jealousy? If Judah jumped into the discussion, with two out of the ten brothers (Benjamin was not there) pleading for Joseph's mercy, would not have more bothers leaned toward acquittal? If only three more brothers were convinced, there would be no majority to convict.

As modern Jews who take pride in having the freedom of choice vis a`vis ritual mitzvoth, we have so much more time than our traditional co-religionists. What do we do with the time each day that we are not in shul dovening (praying), or reading labels looking for U's and Ks, or making sure we don't mix up the cutlery in our kitchens? Are we still resigned to walk like Jacob with a limp, as a bird with a broken wing flies, in never- ending circles? Or will we stand upright, uncompromised, like the recovered stronger Israel, who wrestled with the angel when he was Jacob. Will we perform the social action mitzvoth and live the ethics from which our modern Judaic creed did NOT release us?

Each month at Rosh Kodesh we look at the moon's phases and remember David's reign as our people's zenith, symbolized by the full moon. We traditionally pray for the scion of David to come and restore our people's glory. Each of us needs to be uncompromising in performing the mitzvoth of chesed (doing deeds of loving kindness to help others and make a difference in their lives) and continuing to do zaddakah (justice, sometimes translated as charity). We need to be uncompromising in making a stronger effort in our own country and around the globe to do tikun olam (repair of the world) as junior partners with God. We would then find that each of us is a part of that traditionally awaited savior from the Davidic line. And all of these parts of ours, acting as a whole, could really help make a difference in this world and would bring much joy and spirituality to our own lives.

Amos, in this Haftarah, says that God will forgive the Jews of the three cardinal sins of adultery, idolatry, and murder, but He will not forgive them for their greed and perversions of justice, which resulted in their ignoring the poor, the sick and the helpless.

Let us dedicate ourselves to helping keep the moon always full and help rescue the Josephs of this world who are ill, hungry, grieving, and homeless from their empty pit of despair. Let us help give hope to our matriarch Rachel who still "weeps for her children." Amen!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

---

The SPIRITUALRENEWAL mailing list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network a service of Hebrew College.
Join Shamash's Groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Get your Weekly Torah Lessons from MJL. Sign up today!

To unsubscribe email SPIRITUALRENEWAL-unsubscribe-request@SHAMASH.ORG
For other options go to: http://listserv.SHAMASH.ORG/

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:CHANUKAH:INCREASE SPIRIT

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:CHANUKAH:INCREASE SPIRIT

 

Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 12/12/09:A Path of Transformation

 

Shalom to my dear Talmidim, Chaverim v' Rabbanim:

 

For those new to the class,  baruch ha ba, welcome!! You may access the most recent class at

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2009/11/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-renewalthanks.html.

Each class has a link taking one back to the prior class, and also where to get course materials, online.

 

This class is for the Shabbat beginning at sundown December 11, 2009. This is also the time that the 8 nights of Chanukah begin. While I could give you much spiritual information about this holiday, and I have published such in many monographs, and there is a bit in Chapter 13 of  (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1  which is the course book for this class, I would like to invite you to shema, to listen, to learn, a few spiritual points.

 

The students of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai debated in the Talmud about which way one should light the Chanukeah, the Chanukah Menorah. Shammai's followers declared that it should have 8 (plus the shamash) candles on the first night, and then 7 on the second and so forth, down to one. The students of Hillel said the opposite. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b).

 

Now this is not just another case of we Jews finding ourselves arguing over anything and everything. :-)

Beit Hillel's point is that Chanukah is about rededicating ourselves to doing God's will and increasing in spirituality. Hence the Chanukeah increases in light, in spirituality, as so should we. We should never decrease in our spirituality.

 

In fact Hillel himself taught in Talmud Tractate Pirkei Avot 1:13 " One who does not increase in spirituality, diminishes.'' In other words, when we Jews do not study, and work on our own personal Jewish Spiritual Renewal, a process which never ends, we do not just stay at the level at which we stopped. We go backwards. We do not just stagnate, we regress.

 

And hence this is the major spiritual teaching of Chanukah.

 

There is another, a bit more subtle. All of our other holidays celebrate events that happened in 'the open,' with witnesses. As we work thru the calendar, with Nissan, our first month, Passover was witnessed by Hebrews and Egyptians, and the word spread through out the area, so that even Jericho's Rehab, the prostitute with a good heart, related knowing about it, 40 years after the event.

 

Shavuot, the time of the giving of Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Hebrews as well as the world, was witnessed by not only the Hebrews but the ''erev rav'' that came with them from Egypt, [mixed multitude].

 

Lag B'Omer was witnessed by the 24,000 rabbis who pointed fingers at each other, declaring that their semicha (ordination) was better than someone else's, and that one was a rabbi while others were not. God struck them all dead with a plague.

 

Tisha B'Av was witnessed not only by Hebrews but by the Babylonians who destroyed Solomon's Temple and by the Romans who destroyed Ezra's Temple.

 

Rosh ha Shana, the creation of humankind, has it evidence for anyone reading this. And Yom Kippur was done in the presence of all of the Hebrews, with the scapegoat  being sent off into the wilderness.

 

And Sukkoth which celebrates not only a harvest, but also liberation from Egypt, also had its many witnesses, as did Purim, with actually letters being sent to all points of the Persian Empire telling Jews and Persian citizens alike, of the events that unfolded.

 

But Chanukah's miracle happened only in front of a handful of Hebrew soldiers, bloodied, and ritually impure, who could not press ritually pure olive oil. They found one unit that should have lasted for one day, but lasted for 8, giving them time to become ritually pure from their battles, and press more oil.

 

So because Chanukah happened in private we announce to all peoples the miracle of God, by placing the Chanukeah in our door ways, or windows.

 

One last spiritual lesson about Chanukah. The rabbis argue whether the miracle was 8 days or seven. Why? Well, the first day was not a miracle. The menorah burned because it had oil. That is basic chemistry and physics. The last seven days were the miracle because the oil was not supposed to last those seven days. So the miracle of oil was only seven days!

 

So why do we say  Chanukah is 8 nights for 8 days of miracles? The answer is that the Hebrew Macabees had faith, trust, belief and experience with God, to light the Menorah, and rededicate the Temple of Ezra, even though they knew that they only had enough oil for one day. That spirituality of humans straight from the battlefield, is the miracle of Chanukah.

 

When we are soon done with Chapter Three from (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  we will immediately begin with our Chesbon ha Nefesh, a moral inventory of our souls. In order to grow, we must take honest stock of ourselves. We don't let this intimidate us, as God knows our defects, and believe me, our friends and family do as well.  "Can a man hide in concealments that I cannot see him? — the word of God (Jer. 23:24).

 

There are times when moving forward is not enough. There are times when we can't just change what we do, how we speak and how we think about things. Sometimes, we have to change who we are. We need to leap from our comfort zone.  As Rabbi Hillel said above , we have to keep moving forward. As long as we are holding on to where we were yesterday, we are not only standing still but moving backwards. 

 

But there is a bit of Kabbalistic wisdom to this growth. Regarding our souls yearning to grow spiritually, as our soul stands above, before its descent, the soul steps higher each day. And that is a prison, because the soul is Godly and Godly means infinite. So for a  Godly entity, stepping higher each day is still standing still.

 

Now keep in mind that our souls always remain pure, no matter how much yuck we have done in our lives. Jewish Spiritual Renewal (www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org, www.JewishRenewal.info ) is a giant power washing of our souls.

But our souls, so pure , yet covered over with schmutz, are blind to its own prison. So Kabbalistically speaking, the soul must descend below into our bodies and minds. There the soul will experience the ultimate confines of our bodies. And our souls, our yetzer tov, will come face to face with our yetzer ha ra. And with the steps outlined in this Path of Transformation, our souls, our yetzer ha tov,  will transform our yetzer ha ra, to yearn to be connected with the Godhead.

Then we will learn to leap, to break out of all boundaries, to escape the prison of the bondage of self, and of ego.

 

Allow me to end with a Midrash from Midrash Rabbah - Genesis 77:24. The rabbis teach from this very Shabbat's parasha that while Jacob was wrestling with ''the man,'' he was also going back and forth over a river. Millennia later, two rabbis (Hiyya and Simeon) were in the silk trade in Tyre (now Lebanon). After they left Tyre, one said to the other "Let us emulate Jacob, and cross back over and see if we left anything behind." And they found a bale of forgotten silk. So they tell of how Jacob made a deal with this wrestling angel for each to help the other cross the river. The angel carried Jacob's 'stuff', and Jacob carried the angel's belongings. And every time Jacob went back, he found 'more camels and flocks.'

 

What is the point and why am I boring you with a  Midrash of traveling salesman?

Jacob's luggage, what really is our sacks of 'the stuff of our lives,' are light as feathers when we get Divine aid in carrying them. The Talmud tells us when we pick up the yoke of God and Torah, all other human and societal yokes fall from our shoulders. (Pirkei Avot 3:5).

 

So what kind of 'stuff' does an angel carry? Angels carry a never ending inventory of blessings for us.

 

Our job is to simply act in concert with God, and keeping on returning to His side of the river. Continual returning, renewal, teshuvah, guarantees us spiritual growth. With Jewish Spiritual Renewal life no longer is schlepping baggage full of worries, angst, guilt, grudges, expectations, disconnecting us from our fellows and God. Instead we live a life of being happy, joyous and free.

 

May this week and Chanukah season bring you all closer to God and your neighbors, and into Jewish Spiritual Renewal.

 

  We will now continue with Chapter Three from:

(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal

http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 

from Chapter Three: A Life with God

The next question that you have to ask is: "What is God's will for modern Jews?" Does He require us go out and buy four complete sets of Lenox, one for everyday dairy, one for everyday meat, and one each for Passover dairy and meat? No. The Mishna in a section called "Ethics of the Father" sums up God's will nicely: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah."

Micah the Prophet says it well also: "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

These ideas of Hillel in 100 B.C.E. and Micah in 700 B.C.E. are not totally original. The Torah in Deut. 10:12-13 reads: "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."

Note that we are asked to do God's will for our own good. If you are to believe in a Creator, it is reasonable to assume that you would believe in one who has set some guidelines within which He wishes you to conduct yourself and to live your life. It would be cruel for a Creator to expect you to figure out what He wishes you to do. The Judaic God is not cruel. He is a loving, forgiving Parent Who wants the best for us. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever," says Psalm 136:1. There is a cute, but exceedingly wise, statement in the Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 100b: "If the Torah had not been given, we would have learned tzni'ut (modesty) from a cat."

In the same Ethics (2:4) Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince, used to say, "Do His will as if it was your will, that He may do your will as if it was His will. Make your will of no effect before His will, that He may make the will of others of no effect before your will."

In other words, God designed us with freedom of choice, with a yetzer ha ra and a yetzer ha tov (good inclination). We can put our will in alignment with God's.

Let's look at this idea with a real-world example. If it is your will to earn a large income and climb to the top of the corporate ladder, you might go about it with honesty, integrity and ethics guiding you through your career. Following this path, you will look at your role from a standpoint of how to best lead your company in providing goods or services to people who need or want it. You see your mission, and that of your company, as being of service to your fellow man. Your true rewards are the joy and peace that come with living by God's will rather than your own. Corporate profits and career growth are merely by-products, and you are free to enjoy these things because you know that they are well-deserved.

On the other hand, you might choose a different path, an easier path and one that you may think is expected of you. That is, you could adhere to the ruthlessly ambitious stereotype of the corporate executive, taking advantage of and destroying others' careers on your way up. You might cut corners with product quality or safety to increase profits so you can get that big bonus and the corner office.

In the first way, your will is secondary to God's will of doing justice, loving kindness, being humble, and being peaceful. Those who are not of God's will, but still doing their will, will have no effect on you.

Listening to your yetzer ha tov and ignoring your yetzer ha ra requires constant attention and perpetually feeding your head with Godly statements. The rabbis tell of one elder describing his own inner struggle. He said, "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

A d'var Torah for Parasha Vayeishev :Shabbat 12/12/09, follows.

Shalom uvracha:

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

 

Parasha Vayeishev: Genesis 37:01-40:23

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

In this fascinating portion, filled with so many events, we read of Joseph's brothers' jealousy and their willingness to kill him (Gen. 37:20). We also read of Reuben's compromise with his brothers' plan to just throw Joseph into the empty pit, as he wished to return later to save his younger brother (Gen. 37:22). We also read of Judah's further compromise with his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him (Gen. 37:27). Judah tried to convince their father Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts by bringing Jacob his son's wonderful woolen tunic covered in goat blood (Gen. 37:31).

Traditionally, Reuben and Judah are spoken of as heroes for orchestrating this compromise. And traditionally the brothers are considered to be acting as God's agents to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt to set into motion the events that would eventually send Jacob and his family into Egypt, causing the Hebrews to become slaves to Pharaoh. This would lead to our Exodus spearheaded by Moses and our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and our eventual conquering of the Promised Land.

Jews need to ask, as we are in the beginning of the third millennium, is compromise when life is at stake a good heroic attribute?

We are taught that the Torah was already known to our patriarchs, and that Jacob and his sons were already in Eretz Israel. Why did we need to leave our land, be made into slaves, be given the Torah which we already had, to return to a land in which we were already living?

We have seen all too clearly in our recent history that compromise, when lives are at stake, leads to eventual disaster. We do not need to be reminded of Chamberlain's well- received compromise of this century, or of the Missouri compromise of the last century. We do not read of Reuben or Judah arguing for Joseph's freedom. Reuben was the eldest of the brothers. He had the most to lose by Joseph being his father's favorite. If he argued for Joseph's release, could he not have lowered the tension and jealousy? If Judah jumped into the discussion, with two out of the ten brothers (Benjamin was not there) pleading for Joseph's mercy, would not have more bothers leaned toward acquittal? If only three more brothers were convinced, there would be no majority to convict.

As modern Jews who take pride in having the freedom of choice vis a`vis ritual mitzvoth, we have so much more time than our traditional co-religionists. What do we do with the time each day that we are not in shul dovening (praying), or reading labels looking for U's and Ks, or making sure we don't mix up the cutlery in our kitchens? Are we still resigned to walk like Jacob with a limp, as a bird with a broken wing flies, in never- ending circles? Or will we stand upright, uncompromised, like the recovered stronger Israel, who wrestled with the angel when he was Jacob. Will we perform the social action mitzvoth and live the ethics from which our modern Judaic creed did NOT release us?

Each month at Rosh Kodesh we look at the moon's phases and remember David's reign as our people's zenith, symbolized by the full moon. We traditionally pray for the scion of David to come and restore our people's glory. Each of us needs to be uncompromising in performing the mitzvoth of chesed (doing deeds of loving kindness to help others and make a difference in their lives) and continuing to do zaddakah (justice, sometimes translated as charity). We need to be uncompromising in making a stronger effort in our own country and around the globe to do tikun olam (repair of the world) as junior partners with God. We would then find that each of us is a part of that traditionally awaited savior from the Davidic line. And all of these parts of ours, acting as a whole, could really help make a difference in this world and would bring much joy and spirituality to our own lives.

Amos, in this Haftarah, says that God will forgive the Jews of the three cardinal sins of adultery, idolatry, and murder, but He will not forgive them for their greed and perversions of justice, which resulted in their ignoring the poor, the sick and the helpless.

Let us dedicate ourselves to helping keep the moon always full and help rescue the Josephs of this world who are ill, hungry, grieving, and homeless from their empty pit of despair. Let us help give hope to our matriarch Rachel who still "weeps for her children." Amen!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

---

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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev:JEWISH RENEWAL:God's will for modern Jews

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev:JEWISH RENEWAL:God's will for modern Jews

 

Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 12/12/09:A Path of Transformation

 

Shalom to my dear Talmidim, Chaverim v' Rabbanim:

 

For those new to the class,  baruch ha ba, welcome!! You may access the most recent class at

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2009/11/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-renewalthanks.html.

Each class has a link taking one back to the prior class, and also where to get course materials, online.

 

This class is for the Shabbat beginning at sundown December 11, 2009. This is also the time that the 8 nights of Chanukah begin. While I could give you much spiritual information about this holiday, and I have published such in many monographs, and there is a bit in Chapter 13 of  (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1  which is the course book for this class, I would like to invite you to shema, to listen, to learn, a few spiritual points.

 

The students of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai debated in the Talmud about which way one should light the Chanukeah, the Chanukah Menorah. Shammai's followers declared that it should have 8 (plus the shamash) candles on the first night, and then 7 on the second and so forth, down to one. The students of Hillel said the opposite. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b).

 

Now this is not just another case of we Jews finding ourselves arguing over anything and everything. :-)

Beit Hillel's point is that Chanukah is about rededicating ourselves to doing God's will and increasing in spirituality. Hence the Chanukeah increases in light, in spirituality, as so should we. We should never decrease in our spirituality.

 

In fact Hillel himself taught in Talmud Tractate Pirkei Avot 1:13 " One who does not increase in spirituality, diminishes.'' In other words, when we Jews do not study, and work on our own personal Jewish Spiritual Renewal, a process which never ends, we do not just stay at the level at which we stopped. We go backwards. We do not just stagnate, we regress.

 

And hence this is the major spiritual teaching of Chanukah.

 

There is another, a bit more subtle. All of our other holidays celebrate events that happened in 'the open,' with witnesses. As we work thru the calendar, with Nissan, our first month, Passover was witnessed by Hebrews and Egyptians, and the word spread through out the area, so that even Jericho's Rehab, the prostitute with a good heart, related knowing about it, 40 years after the event.

 

Shavuot, the time of the giving of Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Hebrews as well as the world, was witnessed by not only the Hebrews but the ''erev rav'' that came with them from Egypt, [mixed multitude].

 

Lag B'Omer was witnessed by the 24,000 rabbis who pointed fingers at each other, declaring that their semicha (ordination) was better than someone else's, and that one was a rabbi while others were not. God struck them all dead with a plague.

 

Tisha B'Av was witnessed not only by Hebrews but by the Babylonians who destroyed Solomon's Temple and by the Romans who destroyed Ezra's Temple.

 

Rosh ha Shana, the creation of humankind, has it evidence for anyone reading this. And Yom Kippur was done in the presence of all of the Hebrews, with the scapegoat  being sent off into the wilderness.

 

And Sukkoth which celebrates not only a harvest, but also liberation from Egypt, also had its many witnesses, as did Purim, with actually letters being sent to all points of the Persian Empire telling Jews and Persian citizens alike, of the events that unfolded.

 

But Chanukah's miracle happened only in front of a handful of Hebrew soldiers, bloodied, and ritually impure, who could not press ritually pure olive oil. They found one unit that should have lasted for one day, but lasted for 8, giving them time to become ritually pure from their battles, and press more oil.

 

So because Chanukah happened in private we announce to all peoples the miracle of God, by placing the Chanukeah in our door ways, or windows.

 

One last spiritual lesson about Chanukah. The rabbis argue whether the miracle was 8 days or seven. Why? Well, the first day was not a miracle. The menorah burned because it had oil. That is basic chemistry and physics. The last seven days were the miracle because the oil was not supposed to last those seven days. So the miracle of oil was only seven days!

 

So why do we say  Chanukah is 8 nights for 8 days of miracles? The answer is that the Hebrew Macabees had faith, trust, belief and experience with God, to light the Menorah, and rededicate the Temple of Ezra, even though they knew that they only had enough oil for one day. That spirituality of humans straight from the battlefield, is the miracle of Chanukah.

 

When we are soon done with Chapter Three from (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  we will immediately begin with our Chesbon ha Nefesh, a moral inventory of our souls. In order to grow, we must take honest stock of ourselves. We don't let this intimidate us, as God knows our defects, and believe me, our friends and family do as well.  "Can a man hide in concealments that I cannot see him? — the word of God (Jer. 23:24).

 

There are times when moving forward is not enough. There are times when we can't just change what we do, how we speak and how we think about things. Sometimes, we have to change who we are. We need to leap from our comfort zone.  As Rabbi Hillel said above , we have to keep moving forward. As long as we are holding on to where we were yesterday, we are not only standing still but moving backwards. 

 

But there is a bit of Kabbalistic wisdom to this growth. Regarding our souls yearning to grow spiritually, as our soul stands above, before its descent, the soul steps higher each day. And that is a prison, because the soul is Godly and Godly means infinite. So for a  Godly entity, stepping higher each day is still standing still.

 

Now keep in mind that our souls always remain pure, no matter how much yuck we have done in our lives. Jewish Spiritual Renewal (www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org, www.JewishRenewal.info ) is a giant power washing of our souls.

But our souls, so pure , yet covered over with schmutz, are blind to its own prison. So Kabbalistically speaking, the soul must descend below into our bodies and minds. There the soul will experience the ultimate confines of our bodies. And our souls, our yetzer tov, will come face to face with our yetzer ha ra. And with the steps outlined in this Path of Transformation, our souls, our yetzer ha tov,  will transform our yetzer ha ra, to yearn to be connected with the Godhead.

Then we will learn to leap, to break out of all boundaries, to escape the prison of the bondage of self, and of ego.

 

Allow me to end with a Midrash from Midrash Rabbah - Genesis 77:24. The rabbis teach from this very Shabbat's parasha that while Jacob was wrestling with ''the man,'' he was also going back and forth over a river. Millennia later, two rabbis (Hiyya and Simeon) were in the silk trade in Tyre (now Lebanon). After they left Tyre, one said to the other "Let us emulate Jacob, and cross back over and see if we left anything behind." And they found a bale of forgotten silk. So they tell of how Jacob made a deal with this wrestling angel for each to help the other cross the river. The angel carried Jacob's 'stuff', and Jacob carried the angel's belongings. And every time Jacob went back, he found 'more camels and flocks.'

 

What is the point and why am I boring you with a  Midrash of traveling salesman?

Jacob's luggage, what really is our sacks of 'the stuff of our lives,' are light as feathers when we get Divine aid in carrying them. The Talmud tells us when we pick up the yoke of God and Torah, all other human and societal yokes fall from our shoulders. (Pirkei Avot 3:5).

 

So what kind of 'stuff' does an angel carry? Angels carry a never ending inventory of blessings for us.

 

Our job is to simply act in concert with God, and keeping on returning to His side of the river. Continual returning, renewal, teshuvah, guarantees us spiritual growth. With Jewish Spiritual Renewal life no longer is schlepping baggage full of worries, angst, guilt, grudges, expectations, disconnecting us from our fellows and God. Instead we live a life of being happy, joyous and free.

 

May this week and Chanukah season bring you all closer to God and your neighbors, and into Jewish Spiritual Renewal.

 

  We will now continue with Chapter Three from:

(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal

http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 

from Chapter Three: A Life with God

The next question that you have to ask is: "What is God's will for modern Jews?" Does He require us go out and buy four complete sets of Lenox, one for everyday dairy, one for everyday meat, and one each for Passover dairy and meat? No. The Mishna in a section called "Ethics of the Father" sums up God's will nicely: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah."

Micah the Prophet says it well also: "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

These ideas of Hillel in 100 B.C.E. and Micah in 700 B.C.E. are not totally original. The Torah in Deut. 10:12-13 reads: "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."

Note that we are asked to do God's will for our own good. If you are to believe in a Creator, it is reasonable to assume that you would believe in one who has set some guidelines within which He wishes you to conduct yourself and to live your life. It would be cruel for a Creator to expect you to figure out what He wishes you to do. The Judaic God is not cruel. He is a loving, forgiving Parent Who wants the best for us. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever," says Psalm 136:1. There is a cute, but exceedingly wise, statement in the Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 100b: "If the Torah had not been given, we would have learned tzni'ut (modesty) from a cat."

In the same Ethics (2:4) Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince, used to say, "Do His will as if it was your will, that He may do your will as if it was His will. Make your will of no effect before His will, that He may make the will of others of no effect before your will."

In other words, God designed us with freedom of choice, with a yetzer ha ra and a yetzer ha tov (good inclination). We can put our will in alignment with God's.

Let's look at this idea with a real-world example. If it is your will to earn a large income and climb to the top of the corporate ladder, you might go about it with honesty, integrity and ethics guiding you through your career. Following this path, you will look at your role from a standpoint of how to best lead your company in providing goods or services to people who need or want it. You see your mission, and that of your company, as being of service to your fellow man. Your true rewards are the joy and peace that come with living by God's will rather than your own. Corporate profits and career growth are merely by-products, and you are free to enjoy these things because you know that they are well-deserved.

On the other hand, you might choose a different path, an easier path and one that you may think is expected of you. That is, you could adhere to the ruthlessly ambitious stereotype of the corporate executive, taking advantage of and destroying others' careers on your way up. You might cut corners with product quality or safety to increase profits so you can get that big bonus and the corner office.

In the first way, your will is secondary to God's will of doing justice, loving kindness, being humble, and being peaceful. Those who are not of God's will, but still doing their will, will have no effect on you.

Listening to your yetzer ha tov and ignoring your yetzer ha ra requires constant attention and perpetually feeding your head with Godly statements. The rabbis tell of one elder describing his own inner struggle. He said, "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

A d'var Torah for Parasha Vayeishev :Shabbat 12/12/09, follows.

Shalom uvracha:

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

 

Parasha Vayeishev: Genesis 37:01-40:23

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

In this fascinating portion, filled with so many events, we read of Joseph's brothers' jealousy and their willingness to kill him (Gen. 37:20). We also read of Reuben's compromise with his brothers' plan to just throw Joseph into the empty pit, as he wished to return later to save his younger brother (Gen. 37:22). We also read of Judah's further compromise with his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him (Gen. 37:27). Judah tried to convince their father Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts by bringing Jacob his son's wonderful woolen tunic covered in goat blood (Gen. 37:31).

Traditionally, Reuben and Judah are spoken of as heroes for orchestrating this compromise. And traditionally the brothers are considered to be acting as God's agents to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt to set into motion the events that would eventually send Jacob and his family into Egypt, causing the Hebrews to become slaves to Pharaoh. This would lead to our Exodus spearheaded by Moses and our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and our eventual conquering of the Promised Land.

Jews need to ask, as we are in the beginning of the third millennium, is compromise when life is at stake a good heroic attribute?

We are taught that the Torah was already known to our patriarchs, and that Jacob and his sons were already in Eretz Israel. Why did we need to leave our land, be made into slaves, be given the Torah which we already had, to return to a land in which we were already living?

We have seen all too clearly in our recent history that compromise, when lives are at stake, leads to eventual disaster. We do not need to be reminded of Chamberlain's well- received compromise of this century, or of the Missouri compromise of the last century. We do not read of Reuben or Judah arguing for Joseph's freedom. Reuben was the eldest of the brothers. He had the most to lose by Joseph being his father's favorite. If he argued for Joseph's release, could he not have lowered the tension and jealousy? If Judah jumped into the discussion, with two out of the ten brothers (Benjamin was not there) pleading for Joseph's mercy, would not have more bothers leaned toward acquittal? If only three more brothers were convinced, there would be no majority to convict.

As modern Jews who take pride in having the freedom of choice vis a`vis ritual mitzvoth, we have so much more time than our traditional co-religionists. What do we do with the time each day that we are not in shul dovening (praying), or reading labels looking for U's and Ks, or making sure we don't mix up the cutlery in our kitchens? Are we still resigned to walk like Jacob with a limp, as a bird with a broken wing flies, in never- ending circles? Or will we stand upright, uncompromised, like the recovered stronger Israel, who wrestled with the angel when he was Jacob. Will we perform the social action mitzvoth and live the ethics from which our modern Judaic creed did NOT release us?

Each month at Rosh Kodesh we look at the moon's phases and remember David's reign as our people's zenith, symbolized by the full moon. We traditionally pray for the scion of David to come and restore our people's glory. Each of us needs to be uncompromising in performing the mitzvoth of chesed (doing deeds of loving kindness to help others and make a difference in their lives) and continuing to do zaddakah (justice, sometimes translated as charity). We need to be uncompromising in making a stronger effort in our own country and around the globe to do tikun olam (repair of the world) as junior partners with God. We would then find that each of us is a part of that traditionally awaited savior from the Davidic line. And all of these parts of ours, acting as a whole, could really help make a difference in this world and would bring much joy and spirituality to our own lives.

Amos, in this Haftarah, says that God will forgive the Jews of the three cardinal sins of adultery, idolatry, and murder, but He will not forgive them for their greed and perversions of justice, which resulted in their ignoring the poor, the sick and the helpless.

Let us dedicate ourselves to helping keep the moon always full and help rescue the Josephs of this world who are ill, hungry, grieving, and homeless from their empty pit of despair. Let us help give hope to our matriarch Rachel who still "weeps for her children." Amen!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

---

The SPIRITUALRENEWAL mailing list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network a service of Hebrew College.
Join Shamash's Groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Get your Weekly Torah Lessons from MJL. Sign up today!

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For other options go to: http://listserv.SHAMASH.ORG/

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev:ECO-JUDAISM:Gods will for modern Jews

 RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev:ECO-JUDAISM:Gods will for modern Jews

 

Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 12/12/09:A Path of Transformation

 

Shalom to my dear Talmidim, Chaverim v' Rabbanim:

 

For those new to the class,  baruch ha ba, welcome!! You may access the most recent class at

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2009/11/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-renewalthanks.html.

Each class has a link taking one back to the prior class, and also where to get course materials, online.

 

This class is for the Shabbat beginning at sundown December 11, 2009. This is also the time that the 8 nights of Chanukah begin. While I could give you much spiritual information about this holiday, and I have published such in many monographs, and there is a bit in Chapter 13 of  (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1  which is the course book for this class, I would like to invite you to shema, to listen, to learn, a few spiritual points.

 

The students of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai debated in the Talmud about which way one should light the Chanukeah, the Chanukah Menorah. Shammai's followers declared that it should have 8 (plus the shamash) candles on the first night, and then 7 on the second and so forth, down to one. The students of Hillel said the opposite. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b).

 

Now this is not just another case of we Jews finding ourselves arguing over anything and everything. :-)

Beit Hillel's point is that Chanukah is about rededicating ourselves to doing God's will and increasing in spirituality. Hence the Chanukeah increases in light, in spirituality, as so should we. We should never decrease in our spirituality.

 

In fact Hillel himself taught in Talmud Tractate Pirkei Avot 1:13 " One who does not increase in spirituality, diminishes.'' In other words, when we Jews do not study, and work on our own personal Jewish Spiritual Renewal, a process which never ends, we do not just stay at the level at which we stopped. We go backwards. We do not just stagnate, we regress.

 

And hence this is the major spiritual teaching of Chanukah.

 

There is another, a bit more subtle. All of our other holidays celebrate events that happened in 'the open,' with witnesses. As we work thru the calendar, with Nissan, our first month, Passover was witnessed by Hebrews and Egyptians, and the word spread through out the area, so that even Jericho's Rehab, the prostitute with a good heart, related knowing about it, 40 years after the event.

 

Shavuot, the time of the giving of Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Hebrews as well as the world, was witnessed by not only the Hebrews but the ''erev rav'' that came with them from Egypt, [mixed multitude].

 

Lag B'Omer was witnessed by the 24,000 rabbis who pointed fingers at each other, declaring that their semicha (ordination) was better than someone else's, and that one was a rabbi while others were not. God struck them all dead with a plague.

 

Tisha B'Av was witnessed not only by Hebrews but by the Babylonians who destroyed Solomon's Temple and by the Romans who destroyed Ezra's Temple.

 

Rosh ha Shana, the creation of humankind, has it evidence for anyone reading this. And Yom Kippur was done in the presence of all of the Hebrews, with the scapegoat  being sent off into the wilderness.

 

And Sukkoth which celebrates not only a harvest, but also liberation from Egypt, also had its many witnesses, as did Purim, with actually letters being sent to all points of the Persian Empire telling Jews and Persian citizens alike, of the events that unfolded.

 

But Chanukah's miracle happened only in front of a handful of Hebrew soldiers, bloodied, and ritually impure, who could not press ritually pure olive oil. They found one unit that should have lasted for one day, but lasted for 8, giving them time to become ritually pure from their battles, and press more oil.

 

So because Chanukah happened in private we announce to all peoples the miracle of God, by placing the Chanukeah in our door ways, or windows.

 

One last spiritual lesson about Chanukah. The rabbis argue whether the miracle was 8 days or seven. Why? Well, the first day was not a miracle. The menorah burned because it had oil. That is basic chemistry and physics. The last seven days were the miracle because the oil was not supposed to last those seven days. So the miracle of oil was only seven days!

 

So why do we say  Chanukah is 8 nights for 8 days of miracles? The answer is that the Hebrew Macabees had faith, trust, belief and experience with God, to light the Menorah, and rededicate the Temple of Ezra, even though they knew that they only had enough oil for one day. That spirituality of humans straight from the battlefield, is the miracle of Chanukah.

 

When we are soon done with Chapter Three from (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  we will immediately begin with our Chesbon ha Nefesh, a moral inventory of our souls. In order to grow, we must take honest stock of ourselves. We don't let this intimidate us, as God knows our defects, and believe me, our friends and family do as well.  "Can a man hide in concealments that I cannot see him? — the word of God (Jer. 23:24).

 

There are times when moving forward is not enough. There are times when we can't just change what we do, how we speak and how we think about things. Sometimes, we have to change who we are. We need to leap from our comfort zone.  As Rabbi Hillel said above , we have to keep moving forward. As long as we are holding on to where we were yesterday, we are not only standing still but moving backwards. 

 

But there is a bit of Kabbalistic wisdom to this growth. Regarding our souls yearning to grow spiritually, as our soul stands above, before its descent, the soul steps higher each day. And that is a prison, because the soul is Godly and Godly means infinite. So for a  Godly entity, stepping higher each day is still standing still.

 

Now keep in mind that our souls always remain pure, no matter how much yuck we have done in our lives. Jewish Spiritual Renewal (www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org, www.JewishRenewal.info ) is a giant power washing of our souls.

But our souls, so pure , yet covered over with schmutz, are blind to its own prison. So Kabbalistically speaking, the soul must descend below into our bodies and minds. There the soul will experience the ultimate confines of our bodies. And our souls, our yetzer tov, will come face to face with our yetzer ha ra. And with the steps outlined in this Path of Transformation, our souls, our yetzer ha tov,  will transform our yetzer ha ra, to yearn to be connected with the Godhead.

Then we will learn to leap, to break out of all boundaries, to escape the prison of the bondage of self, and of ego.

 

Allow me to end with a Midrash from Midrash Rabbah - Genesis 77:24. The rabbis teach from this very Shabbat's parasha that while Jacob was wrestling with ''the man,'' he was also going back and forth over a river. Millennia later, two rabbis (Hiyya and Simeon) were in the silk trade in Tyre (now Lebanon). After they left Tyre, one said to the other "Let us emulate Jacob, and cross back over and see if we left anything behind." And they found a bale of forgotten silk. So they tell of how Jacob made a deal with this wrestling angel for each to help the other cross the river. The angel carried Jacob's 'stuff', and Jacob carried the angel's belongings. And every time Jacob went back, he found 'more camels and flocks.'

 

What is the point and why am I boring you with a  Midrash of traveling salesman?

Jacob's luggage, what really is our sacks of 'the stuff of our lives,' are light as feathers when we get Divine aid in carrying them. The Talmud tells us when we pick up the yoke of God and Torah, all other human and societal yokes fall from our shoulders. (Pirkei Avot 3:5).

 

So what kind of 'stuff' does an angel carry? Angels carry a never ending inventory of blessings for us.

 

Our job is to simply act in concert with God, and keeping on returning to His side of the river. Continual returning, renewal, teshuvah, guarantees us spiritual growth. With Jewish Spiritual Renewal life no longer is schlepping baggage full of worries, angst, guilt, grudges, expectations, disconnecting us from our fellows and God. Instead we live a life of being happy, joyous and free.

 

May this week and Chanukah season bring you all closer to God and your neighbors, and into Jewish Spiritual Renewal.

 

  We will now continue with Chapter Three from:

(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal

http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 

from Chapter Three: A Life with God

The next question that you have to ask is: "What is God's will for modern Jews?" Does He require us go out and buy four complete sets of Lenox, one for everyday dairy, one for everyday meat, and one each for Passover dairy and meat? No. The Mishna in a section called "Ethics of the Father" sums up God's will nicely: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah."

Micah the Prophet says it well also: "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

These ideas of Hillel in 100 B.C.E. and Micah in 700 B.C.E. are not totally original. The Torah in Deut. 10:12-13 reads: "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."

Note that we are asked to do God's will for our own good. If you are to believe in a Creator, it is reasonable to assume that you would believe in one who has set some guidelines within which He wishes you to conduct yourself and to live your life. It would be cruel for a Creator to expect you to figure out what He wishes you to do. The Judaic God is not cruel. He is a loving, forgiving Parent Who wants the best for us. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever," says Psalm 136:1. There is a cute, but exceedingly wise, statement in the Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 100b: "If the Torah had not been given, we would have learned tzni'ut (modesty) from a cat."

In the same Ethics (2:4) Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince, used to say, "Do His will as if it was your will, that He may do your will as if it was His will. Make your will of no effect before His will, that He may make the will of others of no effect before your will."

In other words, God designed us with freedom of choice, with a yetzer ha ra and a yetzer ha tov (good inclination). We can put our will in alignment with God's.

Let's look at this idea with a real-world example. If it is your will to earn a large income and climb to the top of the corporate ladder, you might go about it with honesty, integrity and ethics guiding you through your career. Following this path, you will look at your role from a standpoint of how to best lead your company in providing goods or services to people who need or want it. You see your mission, and that of your company, as being of service to your fellow man. Your true rewards are the joy and peace that come with living by God's will rather than your own. Corporate profits and career growth are merely by-products, and you are free to enjoy these things because you know that they are well-deserved.

On the other hand, you might choose a different path, an easier path and one that you may think is expected of you. That is, you could adhere to the ruthlessly ambitious stereotype of the corporate executive, taking advantage of and destroying others' careers on your way up. You might cut corners with product quality or safety to increase profits so you can get that big bonus and the corner office.

In the first way, your will is secondary to God's will of doing justice, loving kindness, being humble, and being peaceful. Those who are not of God's will, but still doing their will, will have no effect on you.

Listening to your yetzer ha tov and ignoring your yetzer ha ra requires constant attention and perpetually feeding your head with Godly statements. The rabbis tell of one elder describing his own inner struggle. He said, "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

A d'var Torah for Parasha Vayeishev :Shabbat 12/12/09, follows.

Shalom uvracha:

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

 

Parasha Vayeishev: Genesis 37:01-40:23

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

In this fascinating portion, filled with so many events, we read of Joseph's brothers' jealousy and their willingness to kill him (Gen. 37:20). We also read of Reuben's compromise with his brothers' plan to just throw Joseph into the empty pit, as he wished to return later to save his younger brother (Gen. 37:22). We also read of Judah's further compromise with his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him (Gen. 37:27). Judah tried to convince their father Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts by bringing Jacob his son's wonderful woolen tunic covered in goat blood (Gen. 37:31).

Traditionally, Reuben and Judah are spoken of as heroes for orchestrating this compromise. And traditionally the brothers are considered to be acting as God's agents to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt to set into motion the events that would eventually send Jacob and his family into Egypt, causing the Hebrews to become slaves to Pharaoh. This would lead to our Exodus spearheaded by Moses and our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and our eventual conquering of the Promised Land.

Jews need to ask, as we are in the beginning of the third millennium, is compromise when life is at stake a good heroic attribute?

We are taught that the Torah was already known to our patriarchs, and that Jacob and his sons were already in Eretz Israel. Why did we need to leave our land, be made into slaves, be given the Torah which we already had, to return to a land in which we were already living?

We have seen all too clearly in our recent history that compromise, when lives are at stake, leads to eventual disaster. We do not need to be reminded of Chamberlain's well- received compromise of this century, or of the Missouri compromise of the last century. We do not read of Reuben or Judah arguing for Joseph's freedom. Reuben was the eldest of the brothers. He had the most to lose by Joseph being his father's favorite. If he argued for Joseph's release, could he not have lowered the tension and jealousy? If Judah jumped into the discussion, with two out of the ten brothers (Benjamin was not there) pleading for Joseph's mercy, would not have more bothers leaned toward acquittal? If only three more brothers were convinced, there would be no majority to convict.

As modern Jews who take pride in having the freedom of choice vis a`vis ritual mitzvoth, we have so much more time than our traditional co-religionists. What do we do with the time each day that we are not in shul dovening (praying), or reading labels looking for U's and Ks, or making sure we don't mix up the cutlery in our kitchens? Are we still resigned to walk like Jacob with a limp, as a bird with a broken wing flies, in never- ending circles? Or will we stand upright, uncompromised, like the recovered stronger Israel, who wrestled with the angel when he was Jacob. Will we perform the social action mitzvoth and live the ethics from which our modern Judaic creed did NOT release us?

Each month at Rosh Kodesh we look at the moon's phases and remember David's reign as our people's zenith, symbolized by the full moon. We traditionally pray for the scion of David to come and restore our people's glory. Each of us needs to be uncompromising in performing the mitzvoth of chesed (doing deeds of loving kindness to help others and make a difference in their lives) and continuing to do zaddakah (justice, sometimes translated as charity). We need to be uncompromising in making a stronger effort in our own country and around the globe to do tikun olam (repair of the world) as junior partners with God. We would then find that each of us is a part of that traditionally awaited savior from the Davidic line. And all of these parts of ours, acting as a whole, could really help make a difference in this world and would bring much joy and spirituality to our own lives.

Amos, in this Haftarah, says that God will forgive the Jews of the three cardinal sins of adultery, idolatry, and murder, but He will not forgive them for their greed and perversions of justice, which resulted in their ignoring the poor, the sick and the helpless.

Let us dedicate ourselves to helping keep the moon always full and help rescue the Josephs of this world who are ill, hungry, grieving, and homeless from their empty pit of despair. Let us help give hope to our matriarch Rachel who still "weeps for her children." Amen!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: JEWISH RENEWAL:CHANUKAH:INCREASE SPIRITUALLY

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: JEWISH RENEWAL:CHANUKAH:INCREASE SPIRITUALLY

 

Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 12/12/09:A Path of Transformation

 

Shalom to my dear Talmidim, Chaverim v' Rabbanim:

 

For those new to the class,  baruch ha ba, welcome!! You may access the most recent class at

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2009/11/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-renewalthanks.html.

Each class has a link taking one back to the prior class, and also where to get course materials, online.

 

This class is for the Shabbat beginning at sundown December 11, 2009. This is also the time that the 8 nights of Chanukah begin. While I could give you much spiritual information about this holiday, and I have published such in many monographs, and there is a bit in Chapter 13 of  (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1  which is the course book for this class, I would like to invite you to shema, to listen, to learn, a few spiritual points.

 

The students of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai debated in the Talmud about which way one should light the Chanukeah, the Chanukah Menorah. Shammai's followers declared that it should have 8 (plus the shamash) candles on the first night, and then 7 on the second and so forth, down to one. The students of Hillel said the opposite. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b).

 

Now this is not just another case of we Jews finding ourselves arguing over anything and everything. :-)

Beit Hillel's point is that Chanukah is about rededicating ourselves to doing God's will and increasing in spirituality. Hence the Chanukeah increases in light, in spirituality, as so should we. We should never decrease in our spirituality.

 

In fact Hillel himself taught in Talmud Tractate Pirkei Avot 1:13 " One who does not increase in spirituality, diminishes.'' In other words, when we Jews do not study, and work on our own personal Jewish Spiritual Renewal, a process which never ends, we do not just stay at the level at which we stopped. We go backwards. We do not just stagnate, we regress.

 

And hence this is the major spiritual teaching of Chanukah.

 

There is another, a bit more subtle. All of our other holidays celebrate events that happened in 'the open,' with witnesses. As we work thru the calendar, with Nissan, our first month, Passover was witnessed by Hebrews and Egyptians, and the word spread through out the area, so that even Jericho's Rehab, the prostitute with a good heart, related knowing about it, 40 years after the event.

 

Shavuot, the time of the giving of Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Hebrews as well as the world, was witnessed by not only the Hebrews but the ''erev rav'' that came with them from Egypt, [mixed multitude].

 

Lag B'Omer was witnessed by the 24,000 rabbis who pointed fingers at each other, declaring that their semicha (ordination) was better than someone else's, and that one was a rabbi while others were not. God struck them all dead with a plague.

 

Tisha B'Av was witnessed not only by Hebrews but by the Babylonians who destroyed Solomon's Temple and by the Romans who destroyed Ezra's Temple.

 

Rosh ha Shana, the creation of humankind, has it evidence for anyone reading this. And Yom Kippur was done in the presence of all of the Hebrews, with the scapegoat  being sent off into the wilderness.

 

And Sukkoth which celebrates not only a harvest, but also liberation from Egypt, also had its many witnesses, as did Purim, with actually letters being sent to all points of the Persian Empire telling Jews and Persian citizens alike, of the events that unfolded.

 

But Chanukah's miracle happened only in front of a handful of Hebrew soldiers, bloodied, and ritually impure, who could not press ritually pure olive oil. They found one unit that should have lasted for one day, but lasted for 8, giving them time to become ritually pure from their battles, and press more oil.

 

So because Chanukah happened in private we announce to all peoples the miracle of God, by placing the Chanukeah in our door ways, or windows.

 

One last spiritual lesson about Chanukah. The rabbis argue whether the miracle was 8 days or seven. Why? Well, the first day was not a miracle. The menorah burned because it had oil. That is basic chemistry and physics. The last seven days were the miracle because the oil was not supposed to last those seven days. So the miracle of oil was only seven days!

 

So why do we say  Chanukah is 8 nights for 8 days of miracles? The answer is that the Hebrew Macabees had faith, trust, belief and experience with God, to light the Menorah, and rededicate the Temple of Ezra, even though they knew that they only had enough oil for one day. That spirituality of humans straight from the battlefield, is the miracle of Chanukah.

 

When we are soon done with Chapter Three from (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  we will immediately begin with our Chesbon ha Nefesh, a moral inventory of our souls. In order to grow, we must take honest stock of ourselves. We don't let this intimidate us, as God knows our defects, and believe me, our friends and family do as well.  "Can a man hide in concealments that I cannot see him? — the word of God (Jer. 23:24).

 

There are times when moving forward is not enough. There are times when we can't just change what we do, how we speak and how we think about things. Sometimes, we have to change who we are. We need to leap from our comfort zone.  As Rabbi Hillel said above , we have to keep moving forward. As long as we are holding on to where we were yesterday, we are not only standing still but moving backwards. 

 

But there is a bit of Kabbalistic wisdom to this growth. Regarding our souls yearning to grow spiritually, as our soul stands above, before its descent, the soul steps higher each day. And that is a prison, because the soul is Godly and Godly means infinite. So for a  Godly entity, stepping higher each day is still standing still.

 

Now keep in mind that our souls always remain pure, no matter how much yuck we have done in our lives. Jewish Spiritual Renewal (www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org, www.JewishRenewal.info ) is a giant power washing of our souls.

But our souls, so pure , yet covered over with schmutz, are blind to its own prison. So Kabbalistically speaking, the soul must descend below into our bodies and minds. There the soul will experience the ultimate confines of our bodies. And our souls, our yetzer tov, will come face to face with our yetzer ha ra. And with the steps outlined in this Path of Transformation, our souls, our yetzer ha tov,  will transform our yetzer ha ra, to yearn to be connected with the Godhead.

Then we will learn to leap, to break out of all boundaries, to escape the prison of the bondage of self, and of ego.

 

Allow me to end with a Midrash from Midrash Rabbah - Genesis 77:24. The rabbis teach from this very Shabbat's parasha that while Jacob was wrestling with ''the man,'' he was also going back and forth over a river. Millennia later, two rabbis (Hiyya and Simeon) were in the silk trade in Tyre (now Lebanon). After they left Tyre, one said to the other "Let us emulate Jacob, and cross back over and see if we left anything behind." And they found a bale of forgotten silk. So they tell of how Jacob made a deal with this wrestling angel for each to help the other cross the river. The angel carried Jacob's 'stuff', and Jacob carried the angel's belongings. And every time Jacob went back, he found 'more camels and flocks.'

 

What is the point and why am I boring you with a  Midrash of traveling salesman?

Jacob's luggage, what really is our sacks of 'the stuff of our lives,' are light as feathers when we get Divine aid in carrying them. The Talmud tells us when we pick up the yoke of God and Torah, all other human and societal yokes fall from our shoulders. (Pirkei Avot 3:5).

 

So what kind of 'stuff' does an angel carry? Angels carry a never ending inventory of blessings for us.

 

Our job is to simply act in concert with God, and keeping on returning to His side of the river. Continual returning, renewal, teshuvah, guarantees us spiritual growth. With Jewish Spiritual Renewal life no longer is schlepping baggage full of worries, angst, guilt, grudges, expectations, disconnecting us from our fellows and God. Instead we live a life of being happy, joyous and free.

 

May this week and Chanukah season bring you all closer to God and your neighbors, and into Jewish Spiritual Renewal.

 

  We will now continue with Chapter Three from:

(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal

http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 

from Chapter Three: A Life with God

The next question that you have to ask is: "What is God's will for modern Jews?" Does He require us go out and buy four complete sets of Lenox, one for everyday dairy, one for everyday meat, and one each for Passover dairy and meat? No. The Mishna in a section called "Ethics of the Father" sums up God's will nicely: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah."

Micah the Prophet says it well also: "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

These ideas of Hillel in 100 B.C.E. and Micah in 700 B.C.E. are not totally original. The Torah in Deut. 10:12-13 reads: "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."

Note that we are asked to do God's will for our own good. If you are to believe in a Creator, it is reasonable to assume that you would believe in one who has set some guidelines within which He wishes you to conduct yourself and to live your life. It would be cruel for a Creator to expect you to figure out what He wishes you to do. The Judaic God is not cruel. He is a loving, forgiving Parent Who wants the best for us. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever," says Psalm 136:1. There is a cute, but exceedingly wise, statement in the Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 100b: "If the Torah had not been given, we would have learned tzni'ut (modesty) from a cat."

In the same Ethics (2:4) Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince, used to say, "Do His will as if it was your will, that He may do your will as if it was His will. Make your will of no effect before His will, that He may make the will of others of no effect before your will."

In other words, God designed us with freedom of choice, with a yetzer ha ra and a yetzer ha tov (good inclination). We can put our will in alignment with God's.

Let's look at this idea with a real-world example. If it is your will to earn a large income and climb to the top of the corporate ladder, you might go about it with honesty, integrity and ethics guiding you through your career. Following this path, you will look at your role from a standpoint of how to best lead your company in providing goods or services to people who need or want it. You see your mission, and that of your company, as being of service to your fellow man. Your true rewards are the joy and peace that come with living by God's will rather than your own. Corporate profits and career growth are merely by-products, and you are free to enjoy these things because you know that they are well-deserved.

On the other hand, you might choose a different path, an easier path and one that you may think is expected of you. That is, you could adhere to the ruthlessly ambitious stereotype of the corporate executive, taking advantage of and destroying others' careers on your way up. You might cut corners with product quality or safety to increase profits so you can get that big bonus and the corner office.

In the first way, your will is secondary to God's will of doing justice, loving kindness, being humble, and being peaceful. Those who are not of God's will, but still doing their will, will have no effect on you.

Listening to your yetzer ha tov and ignoring your yetzer ha ra requires constant attention and perpetually feeding your head with Godly statements. The rabbis tell of one elder describing his own inner struggle. He said, "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

A d'var Torah for Parasha Vayeishev :Shabbat 12/12/09, follows.

Shalom uvracha:

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

 

Parasha Vayeishev: Genesis 37:01-40:23

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

In this fascinating portion, filled with so many events, we read of Joseph's brothers' jealousy and their willingness to kill him (Gen. 37:20). We also read of Reuben's compromise with his brothers' plan to just throw Joseph into the empty pit, as he wished to return later to save his younger brother (Gen. 37:22). We also read of Judah's further compromise with his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him (Gen. 37:27). Judah tried to convince their father Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts by bringing Jacob his son's wonderful woolen tunic covered in goat blood (Gen. 37:31).

Traditionally, Reuben and Judah are spoken of as heroes for orchestrating this compromise. And traditionally the brothers are considered to be acting as God's agents to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt to set into motion the events that would eventually send Jacob and his family into Egypt, causing the Hebrews to become slaves to Pharaoh. This would lead to our Exodus spearheaded by Moses and our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and our eventual conquering of the Promised Land.

Jews need to ask, as we are in the beginning of the third millennium, is compromise when life is at stake a good heroic attribute?

We are taught that the Torah was already known to our patriarchs, and that Jacob and his sons were already in Eretz Israel. Why did we need to leave our land, be made into slaves, be given the Torah which we already had, to return to a land in which we were already living?

We have seen all too clearly in our recent history that compromise, when lives are at stake, leads to eventual disaster. We do not need to be reminded of Chamberlain's well- received compromise of this century, or of the Missouri compromise of the last century. We do not read of Reuben or Judah arguing for Joseph's freedom. Reuben was the eldest of the brothers. He had the most to lose by Joseph being his father's favorite. If he argued for Joseph's release, could he not have lowered the tension and jealousy? If Judah jumped into the discussion, with two out of the ten brothers (Benjamin was not there) pleading for Joseph's mercy, would not have more bothers leaned toward acquittal? If only three more brothers were convinced, there would be no majority to convict.

As modern Jews who take pride in having the freedom of choice vis a`vis ritual mitzvoth, we have so much more time than our traditional co-religionists. What do we do with the time each day that we are not in shul dovening (praying), or reading labels looking for U's and Ks, or making sure we don't mix up the cutlery in our kitchens? Are we still resigned to walk like Jacob with a limp, as a bird with a broken wing flies, in never- ending circles? Or will we stand upright, uncompromised, like the recovered stronger Israel, who wrestled with the angel when he was Jacob. Will we perform the social action mitzvoth and live the ethics from which our modern Judaic creed did NOT release us?

Each month at Rosh Kodesh we look at the moon's phases and remember David's reign as our people's zenith, symbolized by the full moon. We traditionally pray for the scion of David to come and restore our people's glory. Each of us needs to be uncompromising in performing the mitzvoth of chesed (doing deeds of loving kindness to help others and make a difference in their lives) and continuing to do zaddakah (justice, sometimes translated as charity). We need to be uncompromising in making a stronger effort in our own country and around the globe to do tikun olam (repair of the world) as junior partners with God. We would then find that each of us is a part of that traditionally awaited savior from the Davidic line. And all of these parts of ours, acting as a whole, could really help make a difference in this world and would bring much joy and spirituality to our own lives.

Amos, in this Haftarah, says that God will forgive the Jews of the three cardinal sins of adultery, idolatry, and murder, but He will not forgive them for their greed and perversions of justice, which resulted in their ignoring the poor, the sick and the helpless.

Let us dedicate ourselves to helping keep the moon always full and help rescue the Josephs of this world who are ill, hungry, grieving, and homeless from their empty pit of despair. Let us help give hope to our matriarch Rachel who still "weeps for her children." Amen!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

---

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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: ECO-JUDAISM:CHANUKAH:INCREASE SPIRITUALLY

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: ECO-JUDAISM:CHANUKAH:INCREASE SPIRITUALLY

 

Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 12/12/09:A Path of Transformation

 

Shalom to my dear Talmidim, Chaverim v' Rabbanim:

 

For those new to the class,  baruch ha ba, welcome!! You may access the most recent class at

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2009/11/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-renewalthanks.html.

Each class has a link taking one back to the prior class, and also where to get course materials, online.

 

This class is for the Shabbat beginning at sundown December 11, 2009. This is also the time that the 8 nights of Chanukah begin. While I could give you much spiritual information about this holiday, and I have published such in many monographs, and there is a bit in Chapter 13 of  (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1  which is the course book for this class, I would like to invite you to shema, to listen, to learn, a few spiritual points.

 

The students of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai debated in the Talmud about which way one should light the Chanukeah, the Chanukah Menorah. Shammai's followers declared that it should have 8 (plus the shamash) candles on the first night, and then 7 on the second and so forth, down to one. The students of Hillel said the opposite. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b).

 

Now this is not just another case of we Jews finding ourselves arguing over anything and everything. :-)

Beit Hillel's point is that Chanukah is about rededicating ourselves to doing God's will and increasing in spirituality. Hence the Chanukeah increases in light, in spirituality, as so should we. We should never decrease in our spirituality.

 

In fact Hillel himself taught in Talmud Tractate Pirkei Avot 1:13 " One who does not increase in spirituality, diminishes.'' In other words, when we Jews do not study, and work on our own personal Jewish Spiritual Renewal, a process which never ends, we do not just stay at the level at which we stopped. We go backwards. We do not just stagnate, we regress.

 

And hence this is the major spiritual teaching of Chanukah.

 

There is another, a bit more subtle. All of our other holidays celebrate events that happened in 'the open,' with witnesses. As we work thru the calendar, with Nissan, our first month, Passover was witnessed by Hebrews and Egyptians, and the word spread through out the area, so that even Jericho's Rehab, the prostitute with a good heart, related knowing about it, 40 years after the event.

 

Shavuot, the time of the giving of Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Hebrews as well as the world, was witnessed by not only the Hebrews but the ''erev rav'' that came with them from Egypt, [mixed multitude].

 

Lag B'Omer was witnessed by the 24,000 rabbis who pointed fingers at each other, declaring that their semicha (ordination) was better than someone else's, and that one was a rabbi while others were not. God struck them all dead with a plague.

 

Tisha B'Av was witnessed not only by Hebrews but by the Babylonians who destroyed Solomon's Temple and by the Romans who destroyed Ezra's Temple.

 

Rosh ha Shana, the creation of humankind, has it evidence for anyone reading this. And Yom Kippur was done in the presence of all of the Hebrews, with the scapegoat  being sent off into the wilderness.

 

And Sukkoth which celebrates not only a harvest, but also liberation from Egypt, also had its many witnesses, as did Purim, with actually letters being sent to all points of the Persian Empire telling Jews and Persian citizens alike, of the events that unfolded.

 

But Chanukah's miracle happened only in front of a handful of Hebrew soldiers, bloodied, and ritually impure, who could not press ritually pure olive oil. They found one unit that should have lasted for one day, but lasted for 8, giving them time to become ritually pure from their battles, and press more oil.

 

So because Chanukah happened in private we announce to all peoples the miracle of God, by placing the Chanukeah in our door ways, or windows.

 

One last spiritual lesson about Chanukah. The rabbis argue whether the miracle was 8 days or seven. Why? Well, the first day was not a miracle. The menorah burned because it had oil. That is basic chemistry and physics. The last seven days were the miracle because the oil was not supposed to last those seven days. So the miracle of oil was only seven days!

 

So why do we say  Chanukah is 8 nights for 8 days of miracles? The answer is that the Hebrew Macabees had faith, trust, belief and experience with God, to light the Menorah, and rededicate the Temple of Ezra, even though they knew that they only had enough oil for one day. That spirituality of humans straight from the battlefield, is the miracle of Chanukah.

 

When we are soon done with Chapter Three from (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  we will immediately begin with our Chesbon ha Nefesh, a moral inventory of our souls. In order to grow, we must take honest stock of ourselves. We don't let this intimidate us, as God knows our defects, and believe me, our friends and family do as well.  "Can a man hide in concealments that I cannot see him? — the word of God (Jer. 23:24).

 

There are times when moving forward is not enough. There are times when we can't just change what we do, how we speak and how we think about things. Sometimes, we have to change who we are. We need to leap from our comfort zone.  As Rabbi Hillel said above , we have to keep moving forward. As long as we are holding on to where we were yesterday, we are not only standing still but moving backwards. 

 

But there is a bit of Kabbalistic wisdom to this growth. Regarding our souls yearning to grow spiritually, as our soul stands above, before its descent, the soul steps higher each day. And that is a prison, because the soul is Godly and Godly means infinite. So for a  Godly entity, stepping higher each day is still standing still.

 

Now keep in mind that our souls always remain pure, no matter how much yuck we have done in our lives. Jewish Spiritual Renewal (www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org, www.JewishRenewal.info ) is a giant power washing of our souls.

But our souls, so pure , yet covered over with schmutz, are blind to its own prison. So Kabbalistically speaking, the soul must descend below into our bodies and minds. There the soul will experience the ultimate confines of our bodies. And our souls, our yetzer tov, will come face to face with our yetzer ha ra. And with the steps outlined in this Path of Transformation, our souls, our yetzer ha tov,  will transform our yetzer ha ra, to yearn to be connected with the Godhead.

Then we will learn to leap, to break out of all boundaries, to escape the prison of the bondage of self, and of ego.

 

Allow me to end with a Midrash from Midrash Rabbah - Genesis 77:24. The rabbis teach from this very Shabbat's parasha that while Jacob was wrestling with ''the man,'' he was also going back and forth over a river. Millennia later, two rabbis (Hiyya and Simeon) were in the silk trade in Tyre (now Lebanon). After they left Tyre, one said to the other "Let us emulate Jacob, and cross back over and see if we left anything behind." And they found a bale of forgotten silk. So they tell of how Jacob made a deal with this wrestling angel for each to help the other cross the river. The angel carried Jacob's 'stuff', and Jacob carried the angel's belongings. And every time Jacob went back, he found 'more camels and flocks.'

 

What is the point and why am I boring you with a  Midrash of traveling salesman?

Jacob's luggage, what really is our sacks of 'the stuff of our lives,' are light as feathers when we get Divine aid in carrying them. The Talmud tells us when we pick up the yoke of God and Torah, all other human and societal yokes fall from our shoulders. (Pirkei Avot 3:5).

 

So what kind of 'stuff' does an angel carry? Angels carry a never ending inventory of blessings for us.

 

Our job is to simply act in concert with God, and keeping on returning to His side of the river. Continual returning, renewal, teshuvah, guarantees us spiritual growth. With Jewish Spiritual Renewal life no longer is schlepping baggage full of worries, angst, guilt, grudges, expectations, disconnecting us from our fellows and God. Instead we live a life of being happy, joyous and free.

 

May this week and Chanukah season bring you all closer to God and your neighbors, and into Jewish Spiritual Renewal.

 

  We will now continue with Chapter Three from:

(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal

http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 

from Chapter Three: A Life with God

The next question that you have to ask is: "What is God's will for modern Jews?" Does He require us go out and buy four complete sets of Lenox, one for everyday dairy, one for everyday meat, and one each for Passover dairy and meat? No. The Mishna in a section called "Ethics of the Father" sums up God's will nicely: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah."

Micah the Prophet says it well also: "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

These ideas of Hillel in 100 B.C.E. and Micah in 700 B.C.E. are not totally original. The Torah in Deut. 10:12-13 reads: "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."

Note that we are asked to do God's will for our own good. If you are to believe in a Creator, it is reasonable to assume that you would believe in one who has set some guidelines within which He wishes you to conduct yourself and to live your life. It would be cruel for a Creator to expect you to figure out what He wishes you to do. The Judaic God is not cruel. He is a loving, forgiving Parent Who wants the best for us. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever," says Psalm 136:1. There is a cute, but exceedingly wise, statement in the Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 100b: "If the Torah had not been given, we would have learned tzni'ut (modesty) from a cat."

In the same Ethics (2:4) Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince, used to say, "Do His will as if it was your will, that He may do your will as if it was His will. Make your will of no effect before His will, that He may make the will of others of no effect before your will."

In other words, God designed us with freedom of choice, with a yetzer ha ra and a yetzer ha tov (good inclination). We can put our will in alignment with God's.

Let's look at this idea with a real-world example. If it is your will to earn a large income and climb to the top of the corporate ladder, you might go about it with honesty, integrity and ethics guiding you through your career. Following this path, you will look at your role from a standpoint of how to best lead your company in providing goods or services to people who need or want it. You see your mission, and that of your company, as being of service to your fellow man. Your true rewards are the joy and peace that come with living by God's will rather than your own. Corporate profits and career growth are merely by-products, and you are free to enjoy these things because you know that they are well-deserved.

On the other hand, you might choose a different path, an easier path and one that you may think is expected of you. That is, you could adhere to the ruthlessly ambitious stereotype of the corporate executive, taking advantage of and destroying others' careers on your way up. You might cut corners with product quality or safety to increase profits so you can get that big bonus and the corner office.

In the first way, your will is secondary to God's will of doing justice, loving kindness, being humble, and being peaceful. Those who are not of God's will, but still doing their will, will have no effect on you.

Listening to your yetzer ha tov and ignoring your yetzer ha ra requires constant attention and perpetually feeding your head with Godly statements. The rabbis tell of one elder describing his own inner struggle. He said, "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

A d'var Torah for Parasha Vayeishev :Shabbat 12/12/09, follows.

Shalom uvracha:

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

 

Parasha Vayeishev: Genesis 37:01-40:23

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

In this fascinating portion, filled with so many events, we read of Joseph's brothers' jealousy and their willingness to kill him (Gen. 37:20). We also read of Reuben's compromise with his brothers' plan to just throw Joseph into the empty pit, as he wished to return later to save his younger brother (Gen. 37:22). We also read of Judah's further compromise with his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him (Gen. 37:27). Judah tried to convince their father Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts by bringing Jacob his son's wonderful woolen tunic covered in goat blood (Gen. 37:31).

Traditionally, Reuben and Judah are spoken of as heroes for orchestrating this compromise. And traditionally the brothers are considered to be acting as God's agents to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt to set into motion the events that would eventually send Jacob and his family into Egypt, causing the Hebrews to become slaves to Pharaoh. This would lead to our Exodus spearheaded by Moses and our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and our eventual conquering of the Promised Land.

Jews need to ask, as we are in the beginning of the third millennium, is compromise when life is at stake a good heroic attribute?

We are taught that the Torah was already known to our patriarchs, and that Jacob and his sons were already in Eretz Israel. Why did we need to leave our land, be made into slaves, be given the Torah which we already had, to return to a land in which we were already living?

We have seen all too clearly in our recent history that compromise, when lives are at stake, leads to eventual disaster. We do not need to be reminded of Chamberlain's well- received compromise of this century, or of the Missouri compromise of the last century. We do not read of Reuben or Judah arguing for Joseph's freedom. Reuben was the eldest of the brothers. He had the most to lose by Joseph being his father's favorite. If he argued for Joseph's release, could he not have lowered the tension and jealousy? If Judah jumped into the discussion, with two out of the ten brothers (Benjamin was not there) pleading for Joseph's mercy, would not have more bothers leaned toward acquittal? If only three more brothers were convinced, there would be no majority to convict.

As modern Jews who take pride in having the freedom of choice vis a`vis ritual mitzvoth, we have so much more time than our traditional co-religionists. What do we do with the time each day that we are not in shul dovening (praying), or reading labels looking for U's and Ks, or making sure we don't mix up the cutlery in our kitchens? Are we still resigned to walk like Jacob with a limp, as a bird with a broken wing flies, in never- ending circles? Or will we stand upright, uncompromised, like the recovered stronger Israel, who wrestled with the angel when he was Jacob. Will we perform the social action mitzvoth and live the ethics from which our modern Judaic creed did NOT release us?

Each month at Rosh Kodesh we look at the moon's phases and remember David's reign as our people's zenith, symbolized by the full moon. We traditionally pray for the scion of David to come and restore our people's glory. Each of us needs to be uncompromising in performing the mitzvoth of chesed (doing deeds of loving kindness to help others and make a difference in their lives) and continuing to do zaddakah (justice, sometimes translated as charity). We need to be uncompromising in making a stronger effort in our own country and around the globe to do tikun olam (repair of the world) as junior partners with God. We would then find that each of us is a part of that traditionally awaited savior from the Davidic line. And all of these parts of ours, acting as a whole, could really help make a difference in this world and would bring much joy and spirituality to our own lives.

Amos, in this Haftarah, says that God will forgive the Jews of the three cardinal sins of adultery, idolatry, and murder, but He will not forgive them for their greed and perversions of justice, which resulted in their ignoring the poor, the sick and the helpless.

Let us dedicate ourselves to helping keep the moon always full and help rescue the Josephs of this world who are ill, hungry, grieving, and homeless from their empty pit of despair. Let us help give hope to our matriarch Rachel who still "weeps for her children." Amen!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

---

The SPIRITUALRENEWAL mailing list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network a service of Hebrew College.
Join Shamash's Groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Get your Weekly Torah Lessons from MJL. Sign up today!

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For other options go to: http://listserv.SHAMASH.ORG/

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: ECO-JUDAISM:JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: ECO-JUDAISM:JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY

 

Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 12/12/09:A Path of Transformation

 

Shalom to my dear Talmidim, Chaverim v' Rabbanim:

 

For those new to the class,  baruch ha ba, welcome!! You may access the most recent class at

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2009/11/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-renewalthanks.html.

Each class has a link taking one back to the prior class, and also where to get course materials, online.

 

This class is for the Shabbat beginning at sundown December 11, 2009. This is also the time that the 8 nights of Chanukah begin. While I could give you much spiritual information about this holiday, and I have published such in many monographs, and there is a bit in Chapter 13 of  (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1  which is the course book for this class, I would like to invite you to shema, to listen, to learn, a few spiritual points.

 

The students of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai debated in the Talmud about which way one should light the Chanukeah, the Chanukah Menorah. Shammai's followers declared that it should have 8 (plus the shamash) candles on the first night, and then 7 on the second and so forth, down to one. The students of Hillel said the opposite. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b).

 

Now this is not just another case of we Jews finding ourselves arguing over anything and everything. :-)

Beit Hillel's point is that Chanukah is about rededicating ourselves to doing God's will and increasing in spirituality. Hence the Chanukeah increases in light, in spirituality, as so should we. We should never decrease in our spirituality.

 

In fact Hillel himself taught in Talmud Tractate Pirkei Avot 1:13 " One who does not increase in spirituality, diminishes.'' In other words, when we Jews do not study, and work on our own personal Jewish Spiritual Renewal, a process which never ends, we do not just stay at the level at which we stopped. We go backwards. We do not just stagnate, we regress.

 

And hence this is the major spiritual teaching of Chanukah.

 

There is another, a bit more subtle. All of our other holidays celebrate events that happened in 'the open,' with witnesses. As we work thru the calendar, with Nissan, our first month, Passover was witnessed by Hebrews and Egyptians, and the word spread through out the area, so that even Jericho's Rehab, the prostitute with a good heart, related knowing about it, 40 years after the event.

 

Shavuot, the time of the giving of Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Hebrews as well as the world, was witnessed by not only the Hebrews but the ''erev rav'' that came with them from Egypt, [mixed multitude].

 

Lag B'Omer was witnessed by the 24,000 rabbis who pointed fingers at each other, declaring that their semicha (ordination) was better than someone else's, and that one was a rabbi while others were not. God struck them all dead with a plague.

 

Tisha B'Av was witnessed not only by Hebrews but by the Babylonians who destroyed Solomon's Temple and by the Romans who destroyed Ezra's Temple.

 

Rosh ha Shana, the creation of humankind, has it evidence for anyone reading this. And Yom Kippur was done in the presence of all of the Hebrews, with the scapegoat  being sent off into the wilderness.

 

And Sukkoth which celebrates not only a harvest, but also liberation from Egypt, also had its many witnesses, as did Purim, with actually letters being sent to all points of the Persian Empire telling Jews and Persian citizens alike, of the events that unfolded.

 

But Chanukah's miracle happened only in front of a handful of Hebrew soldiers, bloodied, and ritually impure, who could not press ritually pure olive oil. They found one unit that should have lasted for one day, but lasted for 8, giving them time to become ritually pure from their battles, and press more oil.

 

So because Chanukah happened in private we announce to all peoples the miracle of God, by placing the Chanukeah in our door ways, or windows.

 

One last spiritual lesson about Chanukah. The rabbis argue whether the miracle was 8 days or seven. Why? Well, the first day was not a miracle. The menorah burned because it had oil. That is basic chemistry and physics. The last seven days were the miracle because the oil was not supposed to last those seven days. So the miracle of oil was only seven days!

 

So why do we say  Chanukah is 8 nights for 8 days of miracles? The answer is that the Hebrew Macabees had faith, trust, belief and experience with God, to light the Menorah, and rededicate the Temple of Ezra, even though they knew that they only had enough oil for one day. That spirituality of humans straight from the battlefield, is the miracle of Chanukah.

 

When we are soon done with Chapter Three from (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  we will immediately begin with our Chesbon ha Nefesh, a moral inventory of our souls. In order to grow, we must take honest stock of ourselves. We don't let this intimidate us, as God knows our defects, and believe me, our friends and family do as well.  "Can a man hide in concealments that I cannot see him? — the word of God (Jer. 23:24).

 

There are times when moving forward is not enough. There are times when we can't just change what we do, how we speak and how we think about things. Sometimes, we have to change who we are. We need to leap from our comfort zone.  As Rabbi Hillel said above , we have to keep moving forward. As long as we are holding on to where we were yesterday, we are not only standing still but moving backwards. 

 

But there is a bit of Kabbalistic wisdom to this growth. Regarding our souls yearning to grow spiritually, as our soul stands above, before its descent, the soul steps higher each day. And that is a prison, because the soul is Godly and Godly means infinite. So for a  Godly entity, stepping higher each day is still standing still.

 

Now keep in mind that our souls always remain pure, no matter how much yuck we have done in our lives. Jewish Spiritual Renewal (www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org, www.JewishRenewal.info ) is a giant power washing of our souls.

But our souls, so pure , yet covered over with schmutz, are blind to its own prison. So Kabbalistically speaking, the soul must descend below into our bodies and minds. There the soul will experience the ultimate confines of our bodies. And our souls, our yetzer tov, will come face to face with our yetzer ha ra. And with the steps outlined in this Path of Transformation, our souls, our yetzer ha tov,  will transform our yetzer ha ra, to yearn to be connected with the Godhead.

Then we will learn to leap, to break out of all boundaries, to escape the prison of the bondage of self, and of ego.

 

Allow me to end with a Midrash from Midrash Rabbah - Genesis 77:24. The rabbis teach from this very Shabbat's parasha that while Jacob was wrestling with ''the man,'' he was also going back and forth over a river. Millennia later, two rabbis (Hiyya and Simeon) were in the silk trade in Tyre (now Lebanon). After they left Tyre, one said to the other "Let us emulate Jacob, and cross back over and see if we left anything behind." And they found a bale of forgotten silk. So they tell of how Jacob made a deal with this wrestling angel for each to help the other cross the river. The angel carried Jacob's 'stuff', and Jacob carried the angel's belongings. And every time Jacob went back, he found 'more camels and flocks.'

 

What is the point and why am I boring you with a  Midrash of traveling salesman?

Jacob's luggage, what really is our sacks of 'the stuff of our lives,' are light as feathers when we get Divine aid in carrying them. The Talmud tells us when we pick up the yoke of God and Torah, all other human and societal yokes fall from our shoulders. (Pirkei Avot 3:5).

 

So what kind of 'stuff' does an angel carry? Angels carry a never ending inventory of blessings for us.

 

Our job is to simply act in concert with God, and keeping on returning to His side of the river. Continual returning, renewal, teshuvah, guarantees us spiritual growth. With Jewish Spiritual Renewal life no longer is schlepping baggage full of worries, angst, guilt, grudges, expectations, disconnecting us from our fellows and God. Instead we live a life of being happy, joyous and free.

 

May this week and Chanukah season bring you all closer to God and your neighbors, and into Jewish Spiritual Renewal.

 

  We will now continue with Chapter Three from:

(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal

http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 

from Chapter Three: A Life with God

The next question that you have to ask is: "What is God's will for modern Jews?" Does He require us go out and buy four complete sets of Lenox, one for everyday dairy, one for everyday meat, and one each for Passover dairy and meat? No. The Mishna in a section called "Ethics of the Father" sums up God's will nicely: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah."

Micah the Prophet says it well also: "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

These ideas of Hillel in 100 B.C.E. and Micah in 700 B.C.E. are not totally original. The Torah in Deut. 10:12-13 reads: "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."

Note that we are asked to do God's will for our own good. If you are to believe in a Creator, it is reasonable to assume that you would believe in one who has set some guidelines within which He wishes you to conduct yourself and to live your life. It would be cruel for a Creator to expect you to figure out what He wishes you to do. The Judaic God is not cruel. He is a loving, forgiving Parent Who wants the best for us. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever," says Psalm 136:1. There is a cute, but exceedingly wise, statement in the Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 100b: "If the Torah had not been given, we would have learned tzni'ut (modesty) from a cat."

In the same Ethics (2:4) Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince, used to say, "Do His will as if it was your will, that He may do your will as if it was His will. Make your will of no effect before His will, that He may make the will of others of no effect before your will."

In other words, God designed us with freedom of choice, with a yetzer ha ra and a yetzer ha tov (good inclination). We can put our will in alignment with God's.

Let's look at this idea with a real-world example. If it is your will to earn a large income and climb to the top of the corporate ladder, you might go about it with honesty, integrity and ethics guiding you through your career. Following this path, you will look at your role from a standpoint of how to best lead your company in providing goods or services to people who need or want it. You see your mission, and that of your company, as being of service to your fellow man. Your true rewards are the joy and peace that come with living by God's will rather than your own. Corporate profits and career growth are merely by-products, and you are free to enjoy these things because you know that they are well-deserved.

On the other hand, you might choose a different path, an easier path and one that you may think is expected of you. That is, you could adhere to the ruthlessly ambitious stereotype of the corporate executive, taking advantage of and destroying others' careers on your way up. You might cut corners with product quality or safety to increase profits so you can get that big bonus and the corner office.

In the first way, your will is secondary to God's will of doing justice, loving kindness, being humble, and being peaceful. Those who are not of God's will, but still doing their will, will have no effect on you.

Listening to your yetzer ha tov and ignoring your yetzer ha ra requires constant attention and perpetually feeding your head with Godly statements. The rabbis tell of one elder describing his own inner struggle. He said, "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

A d'var Torah for Parasha Vayeishev :Shabbat 12/12/09, follows.

Shalom uvracha:

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

 

Parasha Vayeishev: Genesis 37:01-40:23

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

In this fascinating portion, filled with so many events, we read of Joseph's brothers' jealousy and their willingness to kill him (Gen. 37:20). We also read of Reuben's compromise with his brothers' plan to just throw Joseph into the empty pit, as he wished to return later to save his younger brother (Gen. 37:22). We also read of Judah's further compromise with his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him (Gen. 37:27). Judah tried to convince their father Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts by bringing Jacob his son's wonderful woolen tunic covered in goat blood (Gen. 37:31).

Traditionally, Reuben and Judah are spoken of as heroes for orchestrating this compromise. And traditionally the brothers are considered to be acting as God's agents to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt to set into motion the events that would eventually send Jacob and his family into Egypt, causing the Hebrews to become slaves to Pharaoh. This would lead to our Exodus spearheaded by Moses and our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and our eventual conquering of the Promised Land.

Jews need to ask, as we are in the beginning of the third millennium, is compromise when life is at stake a good heroic attribute?

We are taught that the Torah was already known to our patriarchs, and that Jacob and his sons were already in Eretz Israel. Why did we need to leave our land, be made into slaves, be given the Torah which we already had, to return to a land in which we were already living?

We have seen all too clearly in our recent history that compromise, when lives are at stake, leads to eventual disaster. We do not need to be reminded of Chamberlain's well- received compromise of this century, or of the Missouri compromise of the last century. We do not read of Reuben or Judah arguing for Joseph's freedom. Reuben was the eldest of the brothers. He had the most to lose by Joseph being his father's favorite. If he argued for Joseph's release, could he not have lowered the tension and jealousy? If Judah jumped into the discussion, with two out of the ten brothers (Benjamin was not there) pleading for Joseph's mercy, would not have more bothers leaned toward acquittal? If only three more brothers were convinced, there would be no majority to convict.

As modern Jews who take pride in having the freedom of choice vis a`vis ritual mitzvoth, we have so much more time than our traditional co-religionists. What do we do with the time each day that we are not in shul dovening (praying), or reading labels looking for U's and Ks, or making sure we don't mix up the cutlery in our kitchens? Are we still resigned to walk like Jacob with a limp, as a bird with a broken wing flies, in never- ending circles? Or will we stand upright, uncompromised, like the recovered stronger Israel, who wrestled with the angel when he was Jacob. Will we perform the social action mitzvoth and live the ethics from which our modern Judaic creed did NOT release us?

Each month at Rosh Kodesh we look at the moon's phases and remember David's reign as our people's zenith, symbolized by the full moon. We traditionally pray for the scion of David to come and restore our people's glory. Each of us needs to be uncompromising in performing the mitzvoth of chesed (doing deeds of loving kindness to help others and make a difference in their lives) and continuing to do zaddakah (justice, sometimes translated as charity). We need to be uncompromising in making a stronger effort in our own country and around the globe to do tikun olam (repair of the world) as junior partners with God. We would then find that each of us is a part of that traditionally awaited savior from the Davidic line. And all of these parts of ours, acting as a whole, could really help make a difference in this world and would bring much joy and spirituality to our own lives.

Amos, in this Haftarah, says that God will forgive the Jews of the three cardinal sins of adultery, idolatry, and murder, but He will not forgive them for their greed and perversions of justice, which resulted in their ignoring the poor, the sick and the helpless.

Let us dedicate ourselves to helping keep the moon always full and help rescue the Josephs of this world who are ill, hungry, grieving, and homeless from their empty pit of despair. Let us help give hope to our matriarch Rachel who still "weeps for her children." Amen!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: JEWISH SPIRITUALITY :JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: JEWISH SPIRITUALITY :JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY

 

Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 12/12/09:A Path of Transformation

 

Shalom to my dear Talmidim, Chaverim v' Rabbanim:

 

For those new to the class,  baruch ha ba, welcome!! You may access the most recent class at

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2009/11/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-renewalthanks.html.

Each class has a link taking one back to the prior class, and also where to get course materials, online.

 

This class is for the Shabbat beginning at sundown December 11, 2009. This is also the time that the 8 nights of Chanukah begin. While I could give you much spiritual information about this holiday, and I have published such in many monographs, and there is a bit in Chapter 13 of  (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1  which is the course book for this class, I would like to invite you to shema, to listen, to learn, a few spiritual points.

 

The students of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai debated in the Talmud about which way one should light the Chanukeah, the Chanukah Menorah. Shammai's followers declared that it should have 8 (plus the shamash) candles on the first night, and then 7 on the second and so forth, down to one. The students of Hillel said the opposite. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b).

 

Now this is not just another case of we Jews finding ourselves arguing over anything and everything. :-)

Beit Hillel's point is that Chanukah is about rededicating ourselves to doing God's will and increasing in spirituality. Hence the Chanukeah increases in light, in spirituality, as so should we. We should never decrease in our spirituality.

 

In fact Hillel himself taught in Talmud Tractate Pirkei Avot 1:13 " One who does not increase in spirituality, diminishes.'' In other words, when we Jews do not study, and work on our own personal Jewish Spiritual Renewal, a process which never ends, we do not just stay at the level at which we stopped. We go backwards. We do not just stagnate, we regress.

 

And hence this is the major spiritual teaching of Chanukah.

 

There is another, a bit more subtle. All of our other holidays celebrate events that happened in 'the open,' with witnesses. As we work thru the calendar, with Nissan, our first month, Passover was witnessed by Hebrews and Egyptians, and the word spread through out the area, so that even Jericho's Rehab, the prostitute with a good heart, related knowing about it, 40 years after the event.

 

Shavuot, the time of the giving of Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Hebrews as well as the world, was witnessed by not only the Hebrews but the ''erev rav'' that came with them from Egypt, [mixed multitude].

 

Lag B'Omer was witnessed by the 24,000 rabbis who pointed fingers at each other, declaring that their semicha (ordination) was better than someone else's, and that one was a rabbi while others were not. God struck them all dead with a plague.

 

Tisha B'Av was witnessed not only by Hebrews but by the Babylonians who destroyed Solomon's Temple and by the Romans who destroyed Ezra's Temple.

 

Rosh ha Shana, the creation of humankind, has it evidence for anyone reading this. And Yom Kippur was done in the presence of all of the Hebrews, with the scapegoat  being sent off into the wilderness.

 

And Sukkoth which celebrates not only a harvest, but also liberation from Egypt, also had its many witnesses, as did Purim, with actually letters being sent to all points of the Persian Empire telling Jews and Persian citizens alike, of the events that unfolded.

 

But Chanukah's miracle happened only in front of a handful of Hebrew soldiers, bloodied, and ritually impure, who could not press ritually pure olive oil. They found one unit that should have lasted for one day, but lasted for 8, giving them time to become ritually pure from their battles, and press more oil.

 

So because Chanukah happened in private we announce to all peoples the miracle of God, by placing the Chanukeah in our door ways, or windows.

 

One last spiritual lesson about Chanukah. The rabbis argue whether the miracle was 8 days or seven. Why? Well, the first day was not a miracle. The menorah burned because it had oil. That is basic chemistry and physics. The last seven days were the miracle because the oil was not supposed to last those seven days. So the miracle of oil was only seven days!

 

So why do we say  Chanukah is 8 nights for 8 days of miracles? The answer is that the Hebrew Macabees had faith, trust, belief and experience with God, to light the Menorah, and rededicate the Temple of Ezra, even though they knew that they only had enough oil for one day. That spirituality of humans straight from the battlefield, is the miracle of Chanukah.

 

When we are soon done with Chapter Three from (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  we will immediately begin with our Chesbon ha Nefesh, a moral inventory of our souls. In order to grow, we must take honest stock of ourselves. We don't let this intimidate us, as God knows our defects, and believe me, our friends and family do as well.  "Can a man hide in concealments that I cannot see him? — the word of God (Jer. 23:24).

 

There are times when moving forward is not enough. There are times when we can't just change what we do, how we speak and how we think about things. Sometimes, we have to change who we are. We need to leap from our comfort zone.  As Rabbi Hillel said above , we have to keep moving forward. As long as we are holding on to where we were yesterday, we are not only standing still but moving backwards. 

 

But there is a bit of Kabbalistic wisdom to this growth. Regarding our souls yearning to grow spiritually, as our soul stands above, before its descent, the soul steps higher each day. And that is a prison, because the soul is Godly and Godly means infinite. So for a  Godly entity, stepping higher each day is still standing still.

 

Now keep in mind that our souls always remain pure, no matter how much yuck we have done in our lives. Jewish Spiritual Renewal (www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org, www.JewishRenewal.info ) is a giant power washing of our souls.

But our souls, so pure , yet covered over with schmutz, are blind to its own prison. So Kabbalistically speaking, the soul must descend below into our bodies and minds. There the soul will experience the ultimate confines of our bodies. And our souls, our yetzer tov, will come face to face with our yetzer ha ra. And with the steps outlined in this Path of Transformation, our souls, our yetzer ha tov,  will transform our yetzer ha ra, to yearn to be connected with the Godhead.

Then we will learn to leap, to break out of all boundaries, to escape the prison of the bondage of self, and of ego.

 

Allow me to end with a Midrash from Midrash Rabbah - Genesis 77:24. The rabbis teach from this very Shabbat's parasha that while Jacob was wrestling with ''the man,'' he was also going back and forth over a river. Millennia later, two rabbis (Hiyya and Simeon) were in the silk trade in Tyre (now Lebanon). After they left Tyre, one said to the other "Let us emulate Jacob, and cross back over and see if we left anything behind." And they found a bale of forgotten silk. So they tell of how Jacob made a deal with this wrestling angel for each to help the other cross the river. The angel carried Jacob's 'stuff', and Jacob carried the angel's belongings. And every time Jacob went back, he found 'more camels and flocks.'

 

What is the point and why am I boring you with a  Midrash of traveling salesman?

Jacob's luggage, what really is our sacks of 'the stuff of our lives,' are light as feathers when we get Divine aid in carrying them. The Talmud tells us when we pick up the yoke of God and Torah, all other human and societal yokes fall from our shoulders. (Pirkei Avot 3:5).

 

So what kind of 'stuff' does an angel carry? Angels carry a never ending inventory of blessings for us.

 

Our job is to simply act in concert with God, and keeping on returning to His side of the river. Continual returning, renewal, teshuvah, guarantees us spiritual growth. With Jewish Spiritual Renewal life no longer is schlepping baggage full of worries, angst, guilt, grudges, expectations, disconnecting us from our fellows and God. Instead we live a life of being happy, joyous and free.

 

May this week and Chanukah season bring you all closer to God and your neighbors, and into Jewish Spiritual Renewal.

 

  We will now continue with Chapter Three from:

(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal

http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 

from Chapter Three: A Life with God

The next question that you have to ask is: "What is God's will for modern Jews?" Does He require us go out and buy four complete sets of Lenox, one for everyday dairy, one for everyday meat, and one each for Passover dairy and meat? No. The Mishna in a section called "Ethics of the Father" sums up God's will nicely: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah."

Micah the Prophet says it well also: "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

These ideas of Hillel in 100 B.C.E. and Micah in 700 B.C.E. are not totally original. The Torah in Deut. 10:12-13 reads: "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."

Note that we are asked to do God's will for our own good. If you are to believe in a Creator, it is reasonable to assume that you would believe in one who has set some guidelines within which He wishes you to conduct yourself and to live your life. It would be cruel for a Creator to expect you to figure out what He wishes you to do. The Judaic God is not cruel. He is a loving, forgiving Parent Who wants the best for us. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever," says Psalm 136:1. There is a cute, but exceedingly wise, statement in the Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 100b: "If the Torah had not been given, we would have learned tzni'ut (modesty) from a cat."

In the same Ethics (2:4) Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince, used to say, "Do His will as if it was your will, that He may do your will as if it was His will. Make your will of no effect before His will, that He may make the will of others of no effect before your will."

In other words, God designed us with freedom of choice, with a yetzer ha ra and a yetzer ha tov (good inclination). We can put our will in alignment with God's.

Let's look at this idea with a real-world example. If it is your will to earn a large income and climb to the top of the corporate ladder, you might go about it with honesty, integrity and ethics guiding you through your career. Following this path, you will look at your role from a standpoint of how to best lead your company in providing goods or services to people who need or want it. You see your mission, and that of your company, as being of service to your fellow man. Your true rewards are the joy and peace that come with living by God's will rather than your own. Corporate profits and career growth are merely by-products, and you are free to enjoy these things because you know that they are well-deserved.

On the other hand, you might choose a different path, an easier path and one that you may think is expected of you. That is, you could adhere to the ruthlessly ambitious stereotype of the corporate executive, taking advantage of and destroying others' careers on your way up. You might cut corners with product quality or safety to increase profits so you can get that big bonus and the corner office.

In the first way, your will is secondary to God's will of doing justice, loving kindness, being humble, and being peaceful. Those who are not of God's will, but still doing their will, will have no effect on you.

Listening to your yetzer ha tov and ignoring your yetzer ha ra requires constant attention and perpetually feeding your head with Godly statements. The rabbis tell of one elder describing his own inner struggle. He said, "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

A d'var Torah for Parasha Vayeishev :Shabbat 12/12/09, follows.

Shalom uvracha:

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

 

Parasha Vayeishev: Genesis 37:01-40:23

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

In this fascinating portion, filled with so many events, we read of Joseph's brothers' jealousy and their willingness to kill him (Gen. 37:20). We also read of Reuben's compromise with his brothers' plan to just throw Joseph into the empty pit, as he wished to return later to save his younger brother (Gen. 37:22). We also read of Judah's further compromise with his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him (Gen. 37:27). Judah tried to convince their father Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts by bringing Jacob his son's wonderful woolen tunic covered in goat blood (Gen. 37:31).

Traditionally, Reuben and Judah are spoken of as heroes for orchestrating this compromise. And traditionally the brothers are considered to be acting as God's agents to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt to set into motion the events that would eventually send Jacob and his family into Egypt, causing the Hebrews to become slaves to Pharaoh. This would lead to our Exodus spearheaded by Moses and our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and our eventual conquering of the Promised Land.

Jews need to ask, as we are in the beginning of the third millennium, is compromise when life is at stake a good heroic attribute?

We are taught that the Torah was already known to our patriarchs, and that Jacob and his sons were already in Eretz Israel. Why did we need to leave our land, be made into slaves, be given the Torah which we already had, to return to a land in which we were already living?

We have seen all too clearly in our recent history that compromise, when lives are at stake, leads to eventual disaster. We do not need to be reminded of Chamberlain's well- received compromise of this century, or of the Missouri compromise of the last century. We do not read of Reuben or Judah arguing for Joseph's freedom. Reuben was the eldest of the brothers. He had the most to lose by Joseph being his father's favorite. If he argued for Joseph's release, could he not have lowered the tension and jealousy? If Judah jumped into the discussion, with two out of the ten brothers (Benjamin was not there) pleading for Joseph's mercy, would not have more bothers leaned toward acquittal? If only three more brothers were convinced, there would be no majority to convict.

As modern Jews who take pride in having the freedom of choice vis a`vis ritual mitzvoth, we have so much more time than our traditional co-religionists. What do we do with the time each day that we are not in shul dovening (praying), or reading labels looking for U's and Ks, or making sure we don't mix up the cutlery in our kitchens? Are we still resigned to walk like Jacob with a limp, as a bird with a broken wing flies, in never- ending circles? Or will we stand upright, uncompromised, like the recovered stronger Israel, who wrestled with the angel when he was Jacob. Will we perform the social action mitzvoth and live the ethics from which our modern Judaic creed did NOT release us?

Each month at Rosh Kodesh we look at the moon's phases and remember David's reign as our people's zenith, symbolized by the full moon. We traditionally pray for the scion of David to come and restore our people's glory. Each of us needs to be uncompromising in performing the mitzvoth of chesed (doing deeds of loving kindness to help others and make a difference in their lives) and continuing to do zaddakah (justice, sometimes translated as charity). We need to be uncompromising in making a stronger effort in our own country and around the globe to do tikun olam (repair of the world) as junior partners with God. We would then find that each of us is a part of that traditionally awaited savior from the Davidic line. And all of these parts of ours, acting as a whole, could really help make a difference in this world and would bring much joy and spirituality to our own lives.

Amos, in this Haftarah, says that God will forgive the Jews of the three cardinal sins of adultery, idolatry, and murder, but He will not forgive them for their greed and perversions of justice, which resulted in their ignoring the poor, the sick and the helpless.

Let us dedicate ourselves to helping keep the moon always full and help rescue the Josephs of this world who are ill, hungry, grieving, and homeless from their empty pit of despair. Let us help give hope to our matriarch Rachel who still "weeps for her children." Amen!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

---

The SPIRITUALRENEWAL mailing list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network a service of Hebrew College.
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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: JEWISH RENEWAL:JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY

 RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev: JEWISH  RENEWAL:JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY

Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 12/12/09:A Path of Transformation

 

Shalom to my dear Talmidim, Chaverim v' Rabbanim:

 

For those new to the class,  baruch ha ba, welcome!! You may access the most recent class at

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2009/11/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-renewalthanks.html.

Each class has a link taking one back to the prior class, and also where to get course materials, online.

 

This class is for the Shabbat beginning at sundown December 11, 2009. This is also the time that the 8 nights of Chanukah begin. While I could give you much spiritual information about this holiday, and I have published such in many monographs, and there is a bit in Chapter 13 of  (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1  which is the course book for this class, I would like to invite you to shema, to listen, to learn, a few spiritual points.

 

The students of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai debated in the Talmud about which way one should light the Chanukeah, the Chanukah Menorah. Shammai's followers declared that it should have 8 (plus the shamash) candles on the first night, and then 7 on the second and so forth, down to one. The students of Hillel said the opposite. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b).

 

Now this is not just another case of we Jews finding ourselves arguing over anything and everything. :-)

Beit Hillel's point is that Chanukah is about rededicating ourselves to doing God's will and increasing in spirituality. Hence the Chanukeah increases in light, in spirituality, as so should we. We should never decrease in our spirituality.

 

In fact Hillel himself taught in Talmud Tractate Pirkei Avot 1:13 " One who does not increase in spirituality, diminishes.'' In other words, when we Jews do not study, and work on our own personal Jewish Spiritual Renewal, a process which never ends, we do not just stay at the level at which we stopped. We go backwards. We do not just stagnate, we regress.

 

And hence this is the major spiritual teaching of Chanukah.

 

There is another, a bit more subtle. All of our other holidays celebrate events that happened in 'the open,' with witnesses. As we work thru the calendar, with Nissan, our first month, Passover was witnessed by Hebrews and Egyptians, and the word spread through out the area, so that even Jericho's Rehab, the prostitute with a good heart, related knowing about it, 40 years after the event.

 

Shavuot, the time of the giving of Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Hebrews as well as the world, was witnessed by not only the Hebrews but the ''erev rav'' that came with them from Egypt, [mixed multitude].

 

Lag B'Omer was witnessed by the 24,000 rabbis who pointed fingers at each other, declaring that their semicha (ordination) was better than someone else's, and that one was a rabbi while others were not. God struck them all dead with a plague.

 

Tisha B'Av was witnessed not only by Hebrews but by the Babylonians who destroyed Solomon's Temple and by the Romans who destroyed Ezra's Temple.

 

Rosh ha Shana, the creation of humankind, has it evidence for anyone reading this. And Yom Kippur was done in the presence of all of the Hebrews, with the scapegoat  being sent off into the wilderness.

 

And Sukkoth which celebrates not only a harvest, but also liberation from Egypt, also had its many witnesses, as did Purim, with actually letters being sent to all points of the Persian Empire telling Jews and Persian citizens alike, of the events that unfolded.

 

But Chanukah's miracle happened only in front of a handful of Hebrew soldiers, bloodied, and ritually impure, who could not press ritually pure olive oil. They found one unit that should have lasted for one day, but lasted for 8, giving them time to become ritually pure from their battles, and press more oil.

 

So because Chanukah happened in private we announce to all peoples the miracle of God, by placing the Chanukeah in our door ways, or windows.

 

One last spiritual lesson about Chanukah. The rabbis argue whether the miracle was 8 days or seven. Why? Well, the first day was not a miracle. The menorah burned because it had oil. That is basic chemistry and physics. The last seven days were the miracle because the oil was not supposed to last those seven days. So the miracle of oil was only seven days!

 

So why do we say  Chanukah is 8 nights for 8 days of miracles? The answer is that the Hebrew Macabees had faith, trust, belief and experience with God, to light the Menorah, and rededicate the Temple of Ezra, even though they knew that they only had enough oil for one day. That spirituality of humans straight from the battlefield, is the miracle of Chanukah.

 

When we are soon done with Chapter Three from (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  we will immediately begin with our Chesbon ha Nefesh, a moral inventory of our souls. In order to grow, we must take honest stock of ourselves. We don't let this intimidate us, as God knows our defects, and believe me, our friends and family do as well.  "Can a man hide in concealments that I cannot see him? — the word of God (Jer. 23:24).

 

There are times when moving forward is not enough. There are times when we can't just change what we do, how we speak and how we think about things. Sometimes, we have to change who we are. We need to leap from our comfort zone.  As Rabbi Hillel said above , we have to keep moving forward. As long as we are holding on to where we were yesterday, we are not only standing still but moving backwards. 

 

But there is a bit of Kabbalistic wisdom to this growth. Regarding our souls yearning to grow spiritually, as our soul stands above, before its descent, the soul steps higher each day. And that is a prison, because the soul is Godly and Godly means infinite. So for a  Godly entity, stepping higher each day is still standing still.

 

Now keep in mind that our souls always remain pure, no matter how much yuck we have done in our lives. Jewish Spiritual Renewal (www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org, www.JewishRenewal.info ) is a giant power washing of our souls.

But our souls, so pure , yet covered over with schmutz, are blind to its own prison. So Kabbalistically speaking, the soul must descend below into our bodies and minds. There the soul will experience the ultimate confines of our bodies. And our souls, our yetzer tov, will come face to face with our yetzer ha ra. And with the steps outlined in this Path of Transformation, our souls, our yetzer ha tov,  will transform our yetzer ha ra, to yearn to be connected with the Godhead.

Then we will learn to leap, to break out of all boundaries, to escape the prison of the bondage of self, and of ego.

 

Allow me to end with a Midrash from Midrash Rabbah - Genesis 77:24. The rabbis teach from this very Shabbat's parasha that while Jacob was wrestling with ''the man,'' he was also going back and forth over a river. Millennia later, two rabbis (Hiyya and Simeon) were in the silk trade in Tyre (now Lebanon). After they left Tyre, one said to the other "Let us emulate Jacob, and cross back over and see if we left anything behind." And they found a bale of forgotten silk. So they tell of how Jacob made a deal with this wrestling angel for each to help the other cross the river. The angel carried Jacob's 'stuff', and Jacob carried the angel's belongings. And every time Jacob went back, he found 'more camels and flocks.'

 

What is the point and why am I boring you with a  Midrash of traveling salesman?

Jacob's luggage, what really is our sacks of 'the stuff of our lives,' are light as feathers when we get Divine aid in carrying them. The Talmud tells us when we pick up the yoke of God and Torah, all other human and societal yokes fall from our shoulders. (Pirkei Avot 3:5).

 

So what kind of 'stuff' does an angel carry? Angels carry a never ending inventory of blessings for us.

 

Our job is to simply act in concert with God, and keeping on returning to His side of the river. Continual returning, renewal, teshuvah, guarantees us spiritual growth. With Jewish Spiritual Renewal life no longer is schlepping baggage full of worries, angst, guilt, grudges, expectations, disconnecting us from our fellows and God. Instead we live a life of being happy, joyous and free.

 

May this week and Chanukah season bring you all closer to God and your neighbors, and into Jewish Spiritual Renewal.

 

  We will now continue with Chapter Three from:

(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal

http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 

from Chapter Three: A Life with God

The next question that you have to ask is: "What is God's will for modern Jews?" Does He require us go out and buy four complete sets of Lenox, one for everyday dairy, one for everyday meat, and one each for Passover dairy and meat? No. The Mishna in a section called "Ethics of the Father" sums up God's will nicely: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah."

Micah the Prophet says it well also: "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

These ideas of Hillel in 100 B.C.E. and Micah in 700 B.C.E. are not totally original. The Torah in Deut. 10:12-13 reads: "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."

Note that we are asked to do God's will for our own good. If you are to believe in a Creator, it is reasonable to assume that you would believe in one who has set some guidelines within which He wishes you to conduct yourself and to live your life. It would be cruel for a Creator to expect you to figure out what He wishes you to do. The Judaic God is not cruel. He is a loving, forgiving Parent Who wants the best for us. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever," says Psalm 136:1. There is a cute, but exceedingly wise, statement in the Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 100b: "If the Torah had not been given, we would have learned tzni'ut (modesty) from a cat."

In the same Ethics (2:4) Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince, used to say, "Do His will as if it was your will, that He may do your will as if it was His will. Make your will of no effect before His will, that He may make the will of others of no effect before your will."

In other words, God designed us with freedom of choice, with a yetzer ha ra and a yetzer ha tov (good inclination). We can put our will in alignment with God's.

Let's look at this idea with a real-world example. If it is your will to earn a large income and climb to the top of the corporate ladder, you might go about it with honesty, integrity and ethics guiding you through your career. Following this path, you will look at your role from a standpoint of how to best lead your company in providing goods or services to people who need or want it. You see your mission, and that of your company, as being of service to your fellow man. Your true rewards are the joy and peace that come with living by God's will rather than your own. Corporate profits and career growth are merely by-products, and you are free to enjoy these things because you know that they are well-deserved.

On the other hand, you might choose a different path, an easier path and one that you may think is expected of you. That is, you could adhere to the ruthlessly ambitious stereotype of the corporate executive, taking advantage of and destroying others' careers on your way up. You might cut corners with product quality or safety to increase profits so you can get that big bonus and the corner office.

In the first way, your will is secondary to God's will of doing justice, loving kindness, being humble, and being peaceful. Those who are not of God's will, but still doing their will, will have no effect on you.

Listening to your yetzer ha tov and ignoring your yetzer ha ra requires constant attention and perpetually feeding your head with Godly statements. The rabbis tell of one elder describing his own inner struggle. He said, "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

A d'var Torah for Parasha Vayeishev :Shabbat 12/12/09, follows.

Shalom uvracha:

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

 

Parasha Vayeishev: Genesis 37:01-40:23

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

In this fascinating portion, filled with so many events, we read of Joseph's brothers' jealousy and their willingness to kill him (Gen. 37:20). We also read of Reuben's compromise with his brothers' plan to just throw Joseph into the empty pit, as he wished to return later to save his younger brother (Gen. 37:22). We also read of Judah's further compromise with his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him (Gen. 37:27). Judah tried to convince their father Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts by bringing Jacob his son's wonderful woolen tunic covered in goat blood (Gen. 37:31).

Traditionally, Reuben and Judah are spoken of as heroes for orchestrating this compromise. And traditionally the brothers are considered to be acting as God's agents to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt to set into motion the events that would eventually send Jacob and his family into Egypt, causing the Hebrews to become slaves to Pharaoh. This would lead to our Exodus spearheaded by Moses and our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and our eventual conquering of the Promised Land.

Jews need to ask, as we are in the beginning of the third millennium, is compromise when life is at stake a good heroic attribute?

We are taught that the Torah was already known to our patriarchs, and that Jacob and his sons were already in Eretz Israel. Why did we need to leave our land, be made into slaves, be given the Torah which we already had, to return to a land in which we were already living?

We have seen all too clearly in our recent history that compromise, when lives are at stake, leads to eventual disaster. We do not need to be reminded of Chamberlain's well- received compromise of this century, or of the Missouri compromise of the last century. We do not read of Reuben or Judah arguing for Joseph's freedom. Reuben was the eldest of the brothers. He had the most to lose by Joseph being his father's favorite. If he argued for Joseph's release, could he not have lowered the tension and jealousy? If Judah jumped into the discussion, with two out of the ten brothers (Benjamin was not there) pleading for Joseph's mercy, would not have more bothers leaned toward acquittal? If only three more brothers were convinced, there would be no majority to convict.

As modern Jews who take pride in having the freedom of choice vis a`vis ritual mitzvoth, we have so much more time than our traditional co-religionists. What do we do with the time each day that we are not in shul dovening (praying), or reading labels looking for U's and Ks, or making sure we don't mix up the cutlery in our kitchens? Are we still resigned to walk like Jacob with a limp, as a bird with a broken wing flies, in never- ending circles? Or will we stand upright, uncompromised, like the recovered stronger Israel, who wrestled with the angel when he was Jacob. Will we perform the social action mitzvoth and live the ethics from which our modern Judaic creed did NOT release us?

Each month at Rosh Kodesh we look at the moon's phases and remember David's reign as our people's zenith, symbolized by the full moon. We traditionally pray for the scion of David to come and restore our people's glory. Each of us needs to be uncompromising in performing the mitzvoth of chesed (doing deeds of loving kindness to help others and make a difference in their lives) and continuing to do zaddakah (justice, sometimes translated as charity). We need to be uncompromising in making a stronger effort in our own country and around the globe to do tikun olam (repair of the world) as junior partners with God. We would then find that each of us is a part of that traditionally awaited savior from the Davidic line. And all of these parts of ours, acting as a whole, could really help make a difference in this world and would bring much joy and spirituality to our own lives.

Amos, in this Haftarah, says that God will forgive the Jews of the three cardinal sins of adultery, idolatry, and murder, but He will not forgive them for their greed and perversions of justice, which resulted in their ignoring the poor, the sick and the helpless.

Let us dedicate ourselves to helping keep the moon always full and help rescue the Josephs of this world who are ill, hungry, grieving, and homeless from their empty pit of despair. Let us help give hope to our matriarch Rachel who still "weeps for her children." Amen!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:Vayeishev:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY

 

Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 12/12/09:A Path of Transformation

 

Shalom to my dear Talmidim, Chaverim v' Rabbanim:

 

For those new to the class,  baruch ha ba, welcome!! You may access the most recent class at

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2009/11/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-renewalthanks.html.

Each class has a link taking one back to the prior class, and also where to get course materials, online.

 

This class is for the Shabbat beginning at sundown December 11, 2009. This is also the time that the 8 nights of Chanukah begin. While I could give you much spiritual information about this holiday, and I have published such in many monographs, and there is a bit in Chapter 13 of  (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1  which is the course book for this class, I would like to invite you to shema, to listen, to learn, a few spiritual points.

 

The students of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai debated in the Talmud about which way one should light the Chanukeah, the Chanukah Menorah. Shammai's followers declared that it should have 8 (plus the shamash) candles on the first night, and then 7 on the second and so forth, down to one. The students of Hillel said the opposite. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21b).

 

Now this is not just another case of we Jews finding ourselves arguing over anything and everything. :-)

Beit Hillel's point is that Chanukah is about rededicating ourselves to doing God's will and increasing in spirituality. Hence the Chanukeah increases in light, in spirituality, as so should we. We should never decrease in our spirituality.

 

In fact Hillel himself taught in Talmud Tractate Pirkei Avot 1:13 " One who does not increase in spirituality, diminishes.'' In other words, when we Jews do not study, and work on our own personal Jewish Spiritual Renewal, a process which never ends, we do not just stay at the level at which we stopped. We go backwards. We do not just stagnate, we regress.

 

And hence this is the major spiritual teaching of Chanukah.

 

There is another, a bit more subtle. All of our other holidays celebrate events that happened in 'the open,' with witnesses. As we work thru the calendar, with Nissan, our first month, Passover was witnessed by Hebrews and Egyptians, and the word spread through out the area, so that even Jericho's Rehab, the prostitute with a good heart, related knowing about it, 40 years after the event.

 

Shavuot, the time of the giving of Torah on Mt. Sinai to the Hebrews as well as the world, was witnessed by not only the Hebrews but the ''erev rav'' that came with them from Egypt, [mixed multitude].

 

Lag B'Omer was witnessed by the 24,000 rabbis who pointed fingers at each other, declaring that their semicha (ordination) was better than someone else's, and that one was a rabbi while others were not. God struck them all dead with a plague.

 

Tisha B'Av was witnessed not only by Hebrews but by the Babylonians who destroyed Solomon's Temple and by the Romans who destroyed Ezra's Temple.

 

Rosh ha Shana, the creation of humankind, has it evidence for anyone reading this. And Yom Kippur was done in the presence of all of the Hebrews, with the scapegoat  being sent off into the wilderness.

 

And Sukkoth which celebrates not only a harvest, but also liberation from Egypt, also had its many witnesses, as did Purim, with actually letters being sent to all points of the Persian Empire telling Jews and Persian citizens alike, of the events that unfolded.

 

But Chanukah's miracle happened only in front of a handful of Hebrew soldiers, bloodied, and ritually impure, who could not press ritually pure olive oil. They found one unit that should have lasted for one day, but lasted for 8, giving them time to become ritually pure from their battles, and press more oil.

 

So because Chanukah happened in private we announce to all peoples the miracle of God, by placing the Chanukeah in our door ways, or windows.

 

One last spiritual lesson about Chanukah. The rabbis argue whether the miracle was 8 days or seven. Why? Well, the first day was not a miracle. The menorah burned because it had oil. That is basic chemistry and physics. The last seven days were the miracle because the oil was not supposed to last those seven days. So the miracle of oil was only seven days!

 

So why do we say  Chanukah is 8 nights for 8 days of miracles? The answer is that the Hebrew Macabees had faith, trust, belief and experience with God, to light the Menorah, and rededicate the Temple of Ezra, even though they knew that they only had enough oil for one day. That spirituality of humans straight from the battlefield, is the miracle of Chanukah.

 

When we are soon done with Chapter Three from (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  we will immediately begin with our Chesbon ha Nefesh, a moral inventory of our souls. In order to grow, we must take honest stock of ourselves. We don't let this intimidate us, as God knows our defects, and believe me, our friends and family do as well.  "Can a man hide in concealments that I cannot see him? — the word of God (Jer. 23:24).

 

There are times when moving forward is not enough. There are times when we can't just change what we do, how we speak and how we think about things. Sometimes, we have to change who we are. We need to leap from our comfort zone.  As Rabbi Hillel said above , we have to keep moving forward. As long as we are holding on to where we were yesterday, we are not only standing still but moving backwards. 

 

But there is a bit of Kabbalistic wisdom to this growth. Regarding our souls yearning to grow spiritually, as our soul stands above, before its descent, the soul steps higher each day. And that is a prison, because the soul is Godly and Godly means infinite. So for a  Godly entity, stepping higher each day is still standing still.

 

Now keep in mind that our souls always remain pure, no matter how much yuck we have done in our lives. Jewish Spiritual Renewal (www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org, www.JewishRenewal.info ) is a giant power washing of our souls.

But our souls, so pure , yet covered over with schmutz, are blind to its own prison. So Kabbalistically speaking, the soul must descend below into our bodies and minds. There the soul will experience the ultimate confines of our bodies. And our souls, our yetzer tov, will come face to face with our yetzer ha ra. And with the steps outlined in this Path of Transformation, our souls, our yetzer ha tov,  will transform our yetzer ha ra, to yearn to be connected with the Godhead.

Then we will learn to leap, to break out of all boundaries, to escape the prison of the bondage of self, and of ego.

 

Allow me to end with a Midrash from Midrash Rabbah - Genesis 77:24. The rabbis teach from this very Shabbat's parasha that while Jacob was wrestling with ''the man,'' he was also going back and forth over a river. Millennia later, two rabbis (Hiyya and Simeon) were in the silk trade in Tyre (now Lebanon). After they left Tyre, one said to the other "Let us emulate Jacob, and cross back over and see if we left anything behind." And they found a bale of forgotten silk. So they tell of how Jacob made a deal with this wrestling angel for each to help the other cross the river. The angel carried Jacob's 'stuff', and Jacob carried the angel's belongings. And every time Jacob went back, he found 'more camels and flocks.'

 

What is the point and why am I boring you with a  Midrash of traveling salesman?

Jacob's luggage, what really is our sacks of 'the stuff of our lives,' are light as feathers when we get Divine aid in carrying them. The Talmud tells us when we pick up the yoke of God and Torah, all other human and societal yokes fall from our shoulders. (Pirkei Avot 3:5).

 

So what kind of 'stuff' does an angel carry? Angels carry a never ending inventory of blessings for us.

 

Our job is to simply act in concert with God, and keeping on returning to His side of the river. Continual returning, renewal, teshuvah, guarantees us spiritual growth. With Jewish Spiritual Renewal life no longer is schlepping baggage full of worries, angst, guilt, grudges, expectations, disconnecting us from our fellows and God. Instead we live a life of being happy, joyous and free.

 

May this week and Chanukah season bring you all closer to God and your neighbors, and into Jewish Spiritual Renewal.

 

  We will now continue with Chapter Three from:

(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal

http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 

from Chapter Three: A Life with God

The next question that you have to ask is: "What is God's will for modern Jews?" Does He require us go out and buy four complete sets of Lenox, one for everyday dairy, one for everyday meat, and one each for Passover dairy and meat? No. The Mishna in a section called "Ethics of the Father" sums up God's will nicely: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah."

Micah the Prophet says it well also: "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8).

These ideas of Hillel in 100 B.C.E. and Micah in 700 B.C.E. are not totally original. The Torah in Deut. 10:12-13 reads: "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."

Note that we are asked to do God's will for our own good. If you are to believe in a Creator, it is reasonable to assume that you would believe in one who has set some guidelines within which He wishes you to conduct yourself and to live your life. It would be cruel for a Creator to expect you to figure out what He wishes you to do. The Judaic God is not cruel. He is a loving, forgiving Parent Who wants the best for us. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever," says Psalm 136:1. There is a cute, but exceedingly wise, statement in the Talmud Bavli Tractate Eruvin 100b: "If the Torah had not been given, we would have learned tzni'ut (modesty) from a cat."

In the same Ethics (2:4) Rabban Gamaliel, the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince, used to say, "Do His will as if it was your will, that He may do your will as if it was His will. Make your will of no effect before His will, that He may make the will of others of no effect before your will."

In other words, God designed us with freedom of choice, with a yetzer ha ra and a yetzer ha tov (good inclination). We can put our will in alignment with God's.

Let's look at this idea with a real-world example. If it is your will to earn a large income and climb to the top of the corporate ladder, you might go about it with honesty, integrity and ethics guiding you through your career. Following this path, you will look at your role from a standpoint of how to best lead your company in providing goods or services to people who need or want it. You see your mission, and that of your company, as being of service to your fellow man. Your true rewards are the joy and peace that come with living by God's will rather than your own. Corporate profits and career growth are merely by-products, and you are free to enjoy these things because you know that they are well-deserved.

On the other hand, you might choose a different path, an easier path and one that you may think is expected of you. That is, you could adhere to the ruthlessly ambitious stereotype of the corporate executive, taking advantage of and destroying others' careers on your way up. You might cut corners with product quality or safety to increase profits so you can get that big bonus and the corner office.

In the first way, your will is secondary to God's will of doing justice, loving kindness, being humble, and being peaceful. Those who are not of God's will, but still doing their will, will have no effect on you.

Listening to your yetzer ha tov and ignoring your yetzer ha ra requires constant attention and perpetually feeding your head with Godly statements. The rabbis tell of one elder describing his own inner struggle. He said, "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights with the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

A d'var Torah for Parasha Vayeishev :Shabbat 12/12/09, follows.

Shalom uvracha:

 

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

 

Parasha Vayeishev: Genesis 37:01-40:23

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

In this fascinating portion, filled with so many events, we read of Joseph's brothers' jealousy and their willingness to kill him (Gen. 37:20). We also read of Reuben's compromise with his brothers' plan to just throw Joseph into the empty pit, as he wished to return later to save his younger brother (Gen. 37:22). We also read of Judah's further compromise with his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him (Gen. 37:27). Judah tried to convince their father Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts by bringing Jacob his son's wonderful woolen tunic covered in goat blood (Gen. 37:31).

Traditionally, Reuben and Judah are spoken of as heroes for orchestrating this compromise. And traditionally the brothers are considered to be acting as God's agents to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt to set into motion the events that would eventually send Jacob and his family into Egypt, causing the Hebrews to become slaves to Pharaoh. This would lead to our Exodus spearheaded by Moses and our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and our eventual conquering of the Promised Land.

Jews need to ask, as we are in the beginning of the third millennium, is compromise when life is at stake a good heroic attribute?

We are taught that the Torah was already known to our patriarchs, and that Jacob and his sons were already in Eretz Israel. Why did we need to leave our land, be made into slaves, be given the Torah which we already had, to return to a land in which we were already living?

We have seen all too clearly in our recent history that compromise, when lives are at stake, leads to eventual disaster. We do not need to be reminded of Chamberlain's well- received compromise of this century, or of the Missouri compromise of the last century. We do not read of Reuben or Judah arguing for Joseph's freedom. Reuben was the eldest of the brothers. He had the most to lose by Joseph being his father's favorite. If he argued for Joseph's release, could he not have lowered the tension and jealousy? If Judah jumped into the discussion, with two out of the ten brothers (Benjamin was not there) pleading for Joseph's mercy, would not have more bothers leaned toward acquittal? If only three more brothers were convinced, there would be no majority to convict.

As modern Jews who take pride in having the freedom of choice vis a`vis ritual mitzvoth, we have so much more time than our traditional co-religionists. What do we do with the time each day that we are not in shul dovening (praying), or reading labels looking for U's and Ks, or making sure we don't mix up the cutlery in our kitchens? Are we still resigned to walk like Jacob with a limp, as a bird with a broken wing flies, in never- ending circles? Or will we stand upright, uncompromised, like the recovered stronger Israel, who wrestled with the angel when he was Jacob. Will we perform the social action mitzvoth and live the ethics from which our modern Judaic creed did NOT release us?

Each month at Rosh Kodesh we look at the moon's phases and remember David's reign as our people's zenith, symbolized by the full moon. We traditionally pray for the scion of David to come and restore our people's glory. Each of us needs to be uncompromising in performing the mitzvoth of chesed (doing deeds of loving kindness to help others and make a difference in their lives) and continuing to do zaddakah (justice, sometimes translated as charity). We need to be uncompromising in making a stronger effort in our own country and around the globe to do tikun olam (repair of the world) as junior partners with God. We would then find that each of us is a part of that traditionally awaited savior from the Davidic line. And all of these parts of ours, acting as a whole, could really help make a difference in this world and would bring much joy and spirituality to our own lives.

Amos, in this Haftarah, says that God will forgive the Jews of the three cardinal sins of adultery, idolatry, and murder, but He will not forgive them for their greed and perversions of justice, which resulted in their ignoring the poor, the sick and the helpless.

Let us dedicate ourselves to helping keep the moon always full and help rescue the Josephs of this world who are ill, hungry, grieving, and homeless from their empty pit of despair. Let us help give hope to our matriarch Rachel who still "weeps for her children." Amen!

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God

Jewish Spiritual  Renewal: Shabbat 12/5/09 : A Path of Transformation

 

The JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL class is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network a service of Hebrew College.

 

Shalom my beloved Talmidim, Chaverim, v' Rabbanim:

 

This class is for the Shabbat of December 5, 2009.  It comes out a week early, as usual, giving everyone a chance to learn, and to study spirituality and ethics, as well as the parasha for a whole week, so that when you hear it chanted on Saturday mornings at your synagogue, you will have insights to its meaning.

 

But I am publishing this on the American Thanksgiving Day. It is a day when Americans, like our Canadian neighbors a month early, give thanks for...  well everything. Ellen and I have so much for which to be thankful. We thank God and we thank our fellows, every chance we get.

 

We both would like to give thanks to Rabbi B. Bloom, new to our town for about 5 months, who in this short time while speaking about the Jewish  God of love and compassion, and how we humans should treat one another is the same manner, has begun to change the Jewish climate where we live for the better.  His monthly, [and God willing within time daily], Torah study brings ethics and spirituality lessons to those 10 or 12 who attend it regularly. He is also bringing in bits of Talmud, Midrash and Zohar into his classroom. And in January 2010, something which Ellen and I have asked every rabbi in our town for 14 years to consider  doing, and got a direct 'no,' for an answer, Rabbi Bloom is starting once a month Saturday morning Shabbat services. May they grow into a daily minyon. May God continue to bless him and keep him, and watch over him, and his wife (Linda) and daughter, and grant him not only Shalom, but koach and oz to do the will of Ha Shem. Amen.

 

Thanksgiving is considered a secular holiday today, but its roots were not. In fact the roots were Biblical, as Hebrews gave thanks to God for surviving  near death, their crops, and a safe ocean voyage. In fact Sukkah is am Autumn  Biblical harvest holiday of Thanksgiving. And the bible-knowing Christians who came to what is now the USA knew what their obligations were.

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: BERACHA HA GOMEL: JEWISH PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2008/02/rabbi-arthur-segal-beracha-ha-gomel.html

 

Since 1863, in the midst of the USA Civil War, or as we call it in SC, the War of Northern Aggression,  Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the last Thursday of November until 1941. It did not become a Federal holiday until FDR declared it to be in 1941.

 

While kids in school are taught that the pilgrims in New England had the first New World thanksgiving in 1621, the first recorded Thanksgiving was in St Augustine , Florida in 1565, for the Spanish Catholics surviving  the sea voyage.  And the Spanish settlers  near El Paso, Texas had the second recorded Thanksgiving in 1598 for their survival. In 1619, British settlers at Berkeley Hundred, VA,  had their Thanksgiving in 1619 and their charter declared that they would have an annual one to give thanks for their first survival of the ocean voyage and their crops.

 

Most of us think of the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving in New England, in Plymouth, in 1621 as the origin of the USA Thanksgiving.

 

General George Washington, proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving in 1777 thanking God for delivering his army from the clutches of  England at Saratoga, NY. Later, when President, Washington, on October 3, 1789, made a proclamation and created the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America. It was celebrated on Thursday, November 26, 1789.

 

Washington proclaimed another Thanksgiving in 1795. President Adams declared two in the years 1798 and 99. President Madison declared  two as well in 1814 and 15 to celebrate the end of the War of 1812.

 

In 1863 Lincoln declared an annual Thanksgiving to be celebrated on the last Thursday of every November.

FDR in 1941 made Thanksgiving the 4th Thursday, as the November in 1941, had 5 Thursdays. This was done to help stimulate Christmas shopping as the nation was coming out of the Great Depression. This was done by the urging of Fred Lazarus, Jr, the Jewish owner of Federated Department stores, which now we know as Macy's, Bloomingdales, Filenes,  and Abraham and Straus, to give an extra week of pre-Holiday shopping. 

 

It is ironic that Jewish influences were felt in the First Thanksgivings, as well as to the establishment of a permanent Thanksgiving on the 4th Thursday of November in the USA. But have some fun with this when making a beracha  before your Thanksgiving Dinner. Hodu is the Hebrew word for 'we give thanks.' But hodu is also the modern Hebrew word for turkey. "Hodu hodu!," "We give thanks for the  turkey!"

 

As Jews, as taught in (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  or http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 , Chapter Three (see below), we know that our name is derived from Yahudah, meaning thankful to God, as Leah's 4th son was named. Living life with an attitude of gratitude is how we are to live minute by minute. Kvetching, complaining, may be common, but it is not true Jewish behavior. It is the behavior of the non-grateful. In our thrice daily Amidah, in the section called Modim, we say: "Let us thank and Praise You, for our lives, which are in your hand, for our souls which are in your care, and for your miracles which we experience every day, and for your wondrous deeds and favors at every time of day: evening, morning, and noon."  And yes, this could include your computer's modem in the Modim prayer....when it is working.

 

As Jews living spiritually we are to ha karat ha tov, recognize the good. When we do as our sages taught us and bless God over 100 times a day, that flat tire that comes, is a blip compared to all of the gifts we have recognized. Spiritual Jews recognize that everything in our lives in Gamzu L'Tovah, all for the good. We spiritual Jews not only thank God, but the Talmud tells us to thank God for the ''ability to be able to thank God!'' For us Jews who have decide to go thru Jewish Renewal and Spiritual Renewal, every day, every minute is Thanksgiving. 

 

We will now we will begin Chapter Three from:

(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal

http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 

Chapter Three: A Life with God

Chapter Two gave a glimpse into a life without spirituality; at odds with your fellows; dependent upon your finite self and the finite selves of others; filled with failure, frustration, anger, resentment and grudges. You saw that, try as you might, you cannot control others or your surrounding universe; and that trying to do so will only put you at odds with everyone and everything. Life without a spiritual connection is an empty life of selfishness, self-centeredness, and continued futile attempts to please others for your own gain; of using and being used by others while calling one another friends.

 

After 15 years of marriage Victor and Rivkah decided that they had reached a point where there was no choice but to seek the guidance of Levy, the renowned marriage counselor.

When they arrived for their appointment, Levy asked them to explain their problem. Rivkah immediately launched into a seemingly endless tirade, going on and on about everything that is "wrong" with Victor. Victor is selfish. Victor lies. Victor is a bully. Victor tries to control her. Victor spends money carelessly. Victor never has nice things to say about her. Victor doesn't love her.

It might have gone on all day, but Levy had heard enough. He got up, walked over to Rivkah and pulled her from her chair, embraced her and kissed her passionately on the lips.

As Victor looked on in stunned silence, Levy ripped her clothes from her body, cleared his desk with one sweep of his arm, then laid her down and made love to her as if their plane was going down.

When it was over, Rivkah returned to her chair – dazed, but quite satisfied.

Levy, fastening his belt, turned to Victor and said, "You see Victor? That's all it takes. That is what your wife needs, and she needs it at least three times a week. Do you think you can handle that?"

Victor thought about it for a moment, and then replied, "Well, I can certainly get her here on Monday and Thursday, doctor, but on Friday I play golf!"

 

You picked up this book for a reason; you need something in your life. You need spirituality. As a Jew you desire a connection with God. Psalm 94:9 asks, "Would He who implants the ear not hear? Would He who forms the eye not see?" This is meant to respond to one who denies that God can help in life. Before we talk about how to make that connection, let's talk about what it means to be a Jew.

The word "Jew" is derived from the name Yahudah (Judah), the fourth son of Leah, first of the four wives of Jacob. Jacob was also known as Israel. Leah named her fourth son Yahudah because she wanted to "gratefully praise God" (Genesis 29:35). As Jews we are supposed to be ever grateful and praising, but to whom? The answer is in the Hebrew letters of the name itself: Yud, Hey, Vuv, Dalet, Hey. Delete the Dalet and we have the four letters of God's Ineffable Name, YHVH. Dalet is the Hebrew letter pictogram for a door. So we have the doorway to God by being grateful and praising Him. In Hebrew, Jews are called Yehudim.

Being a Jew means that you need to develop an attitude of gratitude toward God. This means that you must accept that God exists as told in the Ten Utterances (also known as the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:3 and Deuteronomy 5:6). You cannot fall back on an agnostic or atheistic rabbi who tells you that it is okay to be Jewish and not believe in God. This is just zeitgeist. Believe me, there are many Jews who do wish to hear this and they will be stuck in Chapter Two for their entire lives.

"In the way in which a person wants to go, God will lead him there." – Talmud Bavli Tractate Makkot 10B

Ironically, when I talk to the rabbis of unspiritual congregants who believe they can behave however they wish and follow their selfish will, the rabbis complain loudly. But what do they expect from these spoiled, undisciplined children? They don't respect God, so who would expect them to respect one another, let alone a rabbi? These rabbis complain, yet often it is they who have failed to teach their congregants that God does exist and that they should be following His will.

 

Benjamin woke up one Saturday morning in a bad mood. When he came down to breakfast, he put on his yarmulka and sat across the table from his visiting sister, Sarah.

"I'm not going to shul today!" he said to Sarah emphatically.

"Yes you are." Sarah calmly replied.

"No. I'm not. In fact, I don't think I really want to ever go again!" said Benjamin with obvious irritation. "The people down there don't like me, they ignore me sometimes. They don't appreciate me at all! I won't go back!"

"Yes, you will go today, and you will continue to go," said Sarah. "You're the Rabbi!"

More from Chapter Three, God willing, next week:

Shalom uvracha:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

Parasha Vayishlach: Genesis 32:04-36:43

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

(more on Jewish Renewal and Jewish Spiritual Renewal and Ethics of the Torah and Talmud can be read at
(002) A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud - Rabbi Arthur Segal  or http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=2E8A0453917297C54C5832CC431B2CF5.qscstrfrnt02?productId=2&categoryId=1 )

"Strummin' on Her Ol' Banjo"

Most of the commentary on this portion is deeply shaded by the times in which they were written. Talmudically, these were times under Roman conquest. The period of Rashi's time, circa 1060 C.E., was under church domination and relentless persecution. Even up to the twentieth century commentaries are overshadowed by the Shoah and anti-Semitism. In all of these, Esau is painted as being evil. Esau is called Edom (blood red). The Torah states that one of the many descendants of Esau is Amalek  (Gen. 36:11). The Talmud records that Esau's descendants are the product of incest and adultery.

The Talmudic rabbis say that Esau is the father of the Romans. They say he stuck a stick into the Mediterranean Sea and that sand began to collect around it. Within time, the Italian peninsula was formed. The Church replaced the Roman Empire, and therefore, indirectly, as one reads between the lines of the rabbinic writings of the Middle Ages, Esau is embodied in the anti-Semitic practices of the Church. But let us peel back 2,000 years of layers, as we have done so many times in this series, and see what the Torah is really teaching.

We first need to remember that it was Jacob who stole from Esau. When Jacob heard that Esau was coming toward him with 400 men, he became frightened. He did not know Esau's intentions at the time, but assumed they were bad, so he prepared militarily. Jacob strategically divided his camp and prepared a tribute for Esau. When Jacob saw Esau, he walked toward him, bowing seven times. Esau on the other hand, ran toward Jacob and, "embraced him, fell upon his neck, and kissed him, and they wept." (Gen. 33:04). Jacob's emotion was fear, but Esau felt love and joy. Jacob begged Esau to accept his gifts, but Esau said that he that he already had plenty.

Esau wanted to help Jacob by assigning him some of his people. Esau wanted to ride along with Jacob, hoping that they would become brothers once again, but Jacob lied to Esau, telling him that his caravan was slow and that Esau should go on ahead. Jacob's group would catch up with Esau at Seir. Esau agreed. Jacob however, took a different direction and went to Succoth, and eventually to Shechem.

The Torah is clear that Esau harbored no bitterness toward Jacob, yet Jacob projected his belief system unto Esau. In Jacob's world, if you cheat someone, there would be payback. Laban cheated Jacob with the wife-swapping episode and Jacob retaliated by tricking Laban with a bit of genetic animal husbandry. Jacob assumed that Laban would be upset, so he sneaked way from Laban, never allowing Laban's four daughters and grandchildren to say goodbye. Laban then came after Jacob. Jacob once again became afraid (Gen. 31:31).

The rabbis of the Roman Diaspora parse the words of this portion to make sure that Esau is 100 percent bad. They place dots over the words for kiss to tell us that the kiss was insincere. They say that Esau, when he fell on Jacob's neck, was really planning on biting Jacob's jugular vein and killing him. The rabbis write that when Esau said he had plenty, he was boasting. Jacob said that he had everything (Gen. 33:11). The rabbis posit that a righteous man always has everything, as he trusts in God, but an evil man has plenty because he continually counts his possessions.

They say that because the Torah does not say that Jacob and Esau kissed when Esau left before Jacob. The implication is that Esau's intentions were evil. The Midrash says that Jacob gave Esau annual tribute to appease Esau. The Talmud says that when he refused Jacob's gifts, Esau was being insincere.

The Midrash records that before the Rabbis would negotiate with the Romans, they would read this parasha first. They said it taught them to pray to God for strength and guidance, to act obsequiously, to give tribute, to keep apart from the Romans, and be secretive. The rabbis used this same technique for two millennia after. The Talmud records how Rabbi Yannai went to negotiate with the Romans and forgot to read this portion before he went. His trip was a dismal failure.

The Midrash blames Jacob for the eventual Diaspora. The rabbis write that Jacob should have taken the long way around Edom and avoided Esau, because no good ever comes from meeting and negotiations with non-Jews. They cite how when two Hasmonean brothers were having a power struggle over the control of the Second Temple, the weaker brother invited the Romans to help him. This is how the Romans gained a foothold in Israel, which eventually lead to the Diaspora. The rabbis of the middle ages say the same rules apply to the new Romans – the Church. Even discourse with Christians on any matter of substance was disallowed. The church-demanded debates between their clerics and the Jews' rabbis almost always ended in tragedy for the Jews.

Jacob and his family settled in Shechem. Dinah, "the daughter of Leah...went out to look over the daughters of the land." (Gen. 34:01). The Talmud says we are reminded that she was the daughter of Leah because Leah also "went out." In Genesis 30:16 Leah is described as going out to meet Jacob to tell him that it was her turn to have sex with him that night. The Talmudic rabbis say that this behavior is appalling and call Leah "she who is fond of going out." They say, regarding Dinah, "like mother like daughter," and blame the rape on Dinah's behavior. We still see this thinking in some courtrooms today. Some Arab tribes today will kill family members who are raped, as it brings shame to the family.

The men of Shechem wanted to live in peace with Jacob's family. They offered Jacob land to live among them and to trade and intermarry. The brothers told the Shechemites that they must be circumcised. This is the Hebrew method of conversion. The Shechemites, though, did not convert for sincere reasons. They thought it would be good for trade, as well as for a source of wives for them, and husbands for their daughters.

The sons of Jacob deceitfully accepted them into the covenant of Abraham, only to kill them three days later. The rabbis say that this is allowed, as the men of Shechem were not going to be sincere Jews and accept Torah values. Are they reading the same Torah we are today? What values did Jacob and his sons possess? Jacob is a master of deceit. He learned this well from his mother and his uncle Laban. Even two of his wives, Leah and Rachel, were in cahoots with Laban; because how else would Leah have tricked Jacob into thinking she was Rachel on the wedding night?

The Talmud says that Rachel was under the bed, talking to Jacob, while he was having sex with Leah, so that he thought he was with Rachel. The rabbis say that Jacob's sons were justified in killing all of the men of Shechem, as rape is one of the seven prohibited Noahide laws. But 400 years later, we learn in the Torah that if a man rapes a virgin, he has the option of marrying her or paying her father a fine. There is no death penalty for rape of a virgin. If you rape another man's wife, it is adultery and therefore punishable by death.

We also learn in the Torah that before a war is fought, your enemy must be given a sincere chance to make peace. Further, when a Jewish army attacks, it must leave open an avenue of escape for the enemy. When is it a Torah value to condemn an entire nation for the sin of one man? Jacob's only concern about this annihilation was not based on Torah morality. It was based only on his fears. His only concern was that friends of the Shechemites would "band together and attack" him. (Gen. 34:30).

What is the Torah trying to teach us? Are we being taught that xenophobia and deceit are admirable traits? Are we being taught that wholesale slaughter is good? Of course not. If anything, we will learn in a few portions later that this behavior against neighbors will eventually turn brother against brother. In the Sephardim Haftarah, Obadiah says, "As you did, so will be done to you." (Ob.1:15). Obadiah prophesied during the reign of King Ahab and his Queen Jezebel.

In the Ashkenazi Haftarah, the 8th-century B.C.E. Hosea says that Jacob's sons lie, deceive, and were "wayward toward God." (Hos. 12:01). Hosea accused Jacob of stealing from Esau while they were still in the womb by "taking his brother by the heel" (Hos. 12:04). The prophets deplore this behavior and agree that the ends do not justify the means.

We are taught in this parasha that Jacob wrestled until dawn with a man (Gen. 32:25). When dawn broke and the fight was over, Jacob asked the man for a blessing, and Jacob was given the new name of Israel. Israel means, "prevailed or struggled with God." The Talmud says that this man was really the guardian angel of Esau and was Satan himself. They see Israel as the champion of good, and Esau as the leader of bad.

Remember, the rabbis of this time assign evil to Rome, and to the Church that follows Rome, as a direct descendant of Esau. Later in the Torah portion, in Genesis 35:10, we read that God also renames Jacob to Israel. But the Torah says that this will not be a permanent name change. The rabbis posit that when Jacob is involved with mundane things, the Torah calls him Jacob. When Jacob is involved in spiritual affairs, he is called Israel.

When Abram received the new name of Abraham (father of nations), he is never referred to again as Abram. Abraham's new name is permanent, but Jacob does not get a permanent name change. This is because Jacob did not wrestle with the guardian angel of Esau, or with Satan. Jacob wrestled with himself. Jacob wrestled with the spark of God that is inside each of us. All of us have the potential to be "heels" and therefore deceitful (as the name Jacob means in Hebrew). Yet all of us have the power to be Godlike as well. We have to continually struggle and wrestle to be truly Israel.

What we learn from this Torah portion is not how to behave like our Talmudic rabbis thought, but how not to behave. The fight is never over. It is never over internally nor externally. Someone will always try to be "in the kitchen with Dinah, strummin' on her ol' banjo." We cannot control others' behavior. We cannot control outside forces. We can control our attitudes and responses to events over which we have no control. It is up to us to find ways of dealing with life's tragedies in ways that do not pull us spiritually down, along with the physical or emotional pain we experience. This is our eternal struggle. Jewish Spiritual Renewal (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal  or http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 helps with this spiritual process. This is why we are the Children of Israel.

Shabbat Shalom:

Rabbi Arthur Segal

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL; JEWISH RENEWAL:Thanks for the ability to thank God

Jewish Spiritual  Renewal: Shabbat 12/5/09 : A Path of Transformation

 

The JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL class is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network a service of Hebrew College.

 

Shalom my beloved Talmidim, Chaverim, v' Rabbanim:

 

This class is for the Shabbat of December 5, 2009.  It comes out a week early, as usual, giving everyone a chance to learn, and to study spirituality and ethics, as well as the parasha for a whole week, so that when you hear it chanted on Saturday mornings at your synagogue, you will have insights to its meaning.

 

But I am publishing this on the American Thanksgiving Day. It is a day when Americans, like our Canadian neighbors a month early, give thanks for...  well everything. Ellen and I have so much for which to be thankful. We thank God and we thank our fellows, every chance we get.

 

We both would like to give thanks to Rabbi B. Bloom, new to our town for about 5 months, who in this short time while speaking about the Jewish  God of love and compassion, and how we humans should treat one another is the same manner, has begun to change the Jewish climate where we live for the better.  His monthly, [and God willing within time daily], Torah study brings ethics and spirituality lessons to those 10 or 12 who attend it regularly. He is also bringing in bits of Talmud, Midrash and Zohar into his classroom. And in January 2010, something which Ellen and I have asked every rabbi in our town for 14 years to consider  doing, and got a direct 'no,' for an answer, Rabbi Bloom is starting once a month Saturday morning Shabbat services. May they grow into a daily minyon. May God continue to bless him and keep him, and watch over him, and his wife (Linda) and daughter, and grant him not only Shalom, but koach and oz to do the will of Ha Shem. Amen.

 

Thanksgiving is considered a secular holiday today, but its roots were not. In fact the roots were Biblical, as Hebrews gave thanks to God for surviving  near death, their crops, and a safe ocean voyage. In fact Sukkah is am Autumn  Biblical harvest holiday of Thanksgiving. And the bible-knowing Christians who came to what is now the USA knew what their obligations were.

Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: BERACHA HA GOMEL: JEWISH PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING  or http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/2008/02/rabbi-arthur-segal-beracha-ha-gomel.html

 

Since 1863, in the midst of the USA Civil War, or as we call it in SC, the War of Northern Aggression,  Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the last Thursday of November until 1941. It did not become a Federal holiday until FDR declared it to be in 1941.

 

While kids in school are taught that the pilgrims in New England had the first New World thanksgiving in 1621, the first recorded Thanksgiving was in St Augustine , Florida in 1565, for the Spanish Catholics surviving  the sea voyage.  And the Spanish settlers  near El Paso, Texas had the second recorded Thanksgiving in 1598 for their survival. In 1619, British settlers at Berkeley Hundred, VA,  had their Thanksgiving in 1619 and their charter declared that they would have an annual one to give thanks for their first survival of the ocean voyage and their crops.

 

Most of us think of the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving in New England, in Plymouth, in 1621 as the origin of the USA Thanksgiving.

 

General George Washington, proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving in 1777 thanking God for delivering his army from the clutches of  England at Saratoga, NY. Later, when President, Washington, on October 3, 1789, made a proclamation and created the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America. It was celebrated on Thursday, November 26, 1789.

 

Washington proclaimed another Thanksgiving in 1795. President Adams declared two in the years 1798 and 99. President Madison declared  two as well in 1