Life is endowed with blessings and curses; good and evil all mixed together. It is up to each of us to choose to do good or to do evil. So begins today’s parasha.

This seems like a logical and timely message following on the heels of the High Holidays during which we prayed for forgiveness for our sins of the prior year. Thus, the timing of the season correlates with Hashem’s message to B’nai Yisroel on the eve of entering the Promised Land.  The Promised Land is not only a physical place, but it is a spiritual state of being required for the Israelites to fulfill their destiny to be a holy people, living within a covenant with Hashem. The covenant and its laws provide a framework for the Israelites to do good and to elevate life’s journey to a level beyond simple existence. In this parshah the objective of choosing good over evil is stressed through our obligation to give tzedakah.

But is the choice of good over evil, blessing over curse, a communal or a personal obligation? I would argue that it is both and that each supports the other.

What do I mean when I say this?

When we come together as a community on Shabbat, holidays, simchas or at a house of shiva, there are expectations of us, but there are also unexpected rewards. Whether we pray together, or are simply present to give one another emotional support, there is a special presence we can sense—an elevated state of being that we feel at a visceral level. Together, we uplift one another. The connection that develops at such times sustains both the individual and the community. At such times we sense a connection with each other and with our Creator. These moments of connection are moments of blessing; they give spiritual fuel to us as individuals, leaving no room for the evil that curses our existence.

But these community activities could not occur, nor could they have such power, if each member of the community did not bring his or her own spiritual fuel to those events. It is a wonderful and beautiful recycling and recombination of spiritual energy that we create as partners with Hashem. The individual brings his or her energy to the community. The community activity combines and enhances that spiritual energy exponentially and then gives it back to the individual members. Our lives are best lived when we use the laws of the covenant to provide a beautiful spiritual matrix that can crowd out—though never eliminate completely—the evil in our world. Even curses can have a silver lining. It is up to us to use our spiritual strength to look for the silver lining in our curses and, with the help of our communities, turn those curses into blessings.

As we start our New Year of observance, I wish for all of us and our families a happy, healthy, and sweet new year of blessings that crowd out the curses. 

Shabbat Shalom!

Just 7 weeks prior to the start of today’s Parsha, the Jewish people were still slaves in Egypt.  But now, As G-d is about to give B’nai Yisroel the Torah and make them his “chosen people,” Moshe’s father-in-law shows up at their encampment.  This is Yitro, the priest of Midian.  He brings with him his daughter/Moshe’s wife Zipporah and their two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, to join up with Moshe and the Jewish people.  The translation of his name, Yitro, is “another chapter” which I presume is since his experience and counsel of Moshe added another chapter to the Torah.  As a factual matter, Yitro had several other names including Reuel, Hobab, Yeter and others, but that is a chapter to be added to another Dvar.

Yitro observed Moshe sitting as judge onto the people from “morning to night” hearing their cases and rendering justice with his decisions.  As a caring father-in-law has been know to do, he counsels Moshe that his lifestyle is not sustainable, and that Moshe should create a hierarchy of justice employing 70 righteous elders from the community to hear the majority of cases so as to refer only the most difficult and serious cases to Moshe.  Like a dutiful son-in-law, Moshe defers to Yitro’s counsel and abruptly sends him on his way.

It is now 9 weeks from leaving Egypt.  At the base of Mount Sinai, G-d instructs Moshe to assemble the people to receive the Torah which of course began with the Ten Commandments.  Then, amidst thunder and lightning with Mount Sinai shaking and covered with thick smoke, G-d descends as fire upon the mountain.  Moshe is called to ascend into the smoke from which G-d speaks directly to all those assembled, and as it is said, all those from future generations, in what we affirm as the Revelation.

Let us pause for a moment to consider something.  As a community of former slaves from Egypt who are now to become a “Nation of Priests,” it seems logical that a court system would need to be established.  It was too much for one man, Moshe, to hear all legal matters from morning to night.  The cha;ter that Yitro added, was the establishment of a legal system that would allow Moshe to delegate authority.  This would “free up” Moshe’s time to address the most serious legal and religious matters of the people.

Since the people were about to receive G-d’s law, enforcement of the law requires a system for ensuring justice without bias.  The Hebrews were not the first of the Near Eastern cultures with a legal system, but they were the first legal system based upon G-d’s law given at Mount Sinai, rather than simply a human derived convention.

Moses gained further authority as B’nai Yisroel’s supreme human arbiter because of the people declining to directly hear anything from G-d beyond the 2^nd Commandment due to their fear of dying from direct Revelation.  The people pleaded with G-d to allow Moshe to receive the remainder of the Law and then to bring the Law back down to Earth, so as to hear it more easily from another human being they trusted. 

Try for a moment to place yourself in the shoes of our forbearers.  As slaves, they had no self-determination.  They had layers of task masters between themselves and the Pharoah.  The had experienced the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, and now, the Revelation of G-d’s Law at the base of a shaking mountain on fire that was covered in thick smoke.  Sounds like a bit much to contend with and keep your head together even for us overly experienced and sophisticated Moderns, let alone for a downtrodden community of recently free Hebrew slaves.  Is it any wonder why they pleaded with G-d for Moshe to take over for them on hearing and transmitting the Law from the 2^nd commandment onward?  So where does all this Revelation leave us today?

I suggest that this Parsha is a reminder for all of us living in the Modern world to step back and take a big dose of humility.  We should get off from our high horses and come down to Earth.  We think we are so much smarter than all who have gone before us, but I assure you that our forebearers were plenty smart, even beyond their own time in History.  We must respect our elders, even our fathers-in-law, such as Jacob’s respect for Laban.  Well, we can revisit that another time.  Please remember that our lives and our ability to live as free people depend on us revering G-d and G-d’s Laws.  May we all be fortunate enough so as to “add a chapter” of our own to the Living Torah!  Shabbat Shalom!     

Vayeitzei, “and he went out.”  In this Parsha, Jacob went out from Be’er Sheva to Charan.  But did he only go out geographically or on another level?  Did Jacob in his search for a wife, also go in search of a life?  Why was it necessary?  For his personal and spiritual evolution did he need to go away from home to a land far away with different customs and get totally out of his comfort zone?

As we know, Jacob was a bit of a momma’s boy.  He may have been the original Jewish prince.  When any of us leaves the comfort of our familiar surroundings and our daily patterns we open ourselves up to the greater world and a host of new experiences resulting in a myriad of new opportunities.  Although there is comfort in staying with a known commodity, we can only learn what life has in store if we are willing to take a chance and get out of our comfort zones.  How many of you are Dallas natives?  How much richer is your life for having taken the chance to see what is out there?  And, when you did, how did it affect you personally, emotionally, career wise, finance wise, friend wise and most importantly in the spiritual dimension.  For me, taking the “road less traveled” has made all the difference.  And so, it would be for Jacob.

On the road to Charan, Jacob lays down to sleep in what he later realizes is a Holy place.  During sleep, he dreams of a ladder extending from Earth to Heaven with Angels ascending and descending.  G-d speaks to Jacob in his dream with the statement that he shall have progeny in numbers that rival the dust of the Earth and that he and his progeny will be a blessing to all the families of the Earth.  Wow!  Who could help themselves when they awaken from such a dream to feel G-d’s awe and the inspiration to fulfill such a legacy.  Of course, Jacob would not shirk his duty and went on to be the father of 12 sons and 1 daughter.  Pretty good start, right?

He awakened from that dream saying G-d was in this place, and I knew it not.  Jacob proceeds to consecrate that place, but then does something odd for a man of faith who has such a dream.  He says if G-d will do this and if G-d will do that and if I return in peace to my father’s house and land and if G-d will be my G-d, and if this stone which I have erected as a monument to you shall be the house of G-d, then I will give all that You give to me as a tithe back to You.  This type of bargaining must also be the original episode, or close to it, of Jewish chutzpah.  What nerve that young ancestor of ours had to bargain with G-d after having such a miraculous revelation in a dream.  I can go on with the “blow by blows” of this parsha, but what should be evident is that Jacob had a lot of emotional and spiritual growth to experience before he could become Israel after struggling with the Angel, but that is a story for a later parsha.

There is so much more in this parsha to explore, but let us stop there for a moment and go into further depth.  This parsha is the story of Jacob’s growth, on his way to becoming a patriarch and the father of a Holy nation.  Please remember, that Jacob was a calculating person in his youth who acquired his older brother’s birthright through manipulation and deception.  Should turnabout be fair play?  Should Jacob experience being manipulated and deceived to grow emotionally and spiritually?  You bet, and far be it from his father-in-law to be, Laban, to deny him this growth opportunity.

Jacob worked for Laban for 7 years to earn the right to marry the beautiful younger daughter, Rachel, but Laban would substitute the older daughter who was “dull of eye”, Leah, whose identity was hidden beneath the wedding veil.  Jacob was forced to wait one additional week before he could marry Rachel, and then he had to work 7 more years as his payment for the Rachel.  Of course, he would accumulate more sheep and goats in the process, but then he would have to work 6 more years so that Laban would let him leave with his family and his flocks.  But wait, there is more!  Laban, who kept pushing back the goalposts, so to speak, once again tried to reset the rules for Jacob.  Jacob would have none of it and quickly packed up and left with his flocks and possessions and his family.  Laban would chase after him, but the night before he would have caught up with Jacob, the Lord came to Laban in a dream warning him not to harm Jacob.  They then made a pact to do no harm to one another and Jacob proceeded toward the Holy Land.

Although the Holy Land is a place and Jacob consecrated as Holy the ground at which he dreamed of the ladder to Heaven, I would posit that it is what we do, and where we do it that creates Holiness.  Jacob had learned much, but his learning was far from over as we will see in subsequent Parshot. 

Shabbat Shalom!

What makes us feel good?  What gives us joy?  In a world, seemingly tearing itself apart, how do we maintain humanity?  Some Dvar’s will speak to your mind and arouse your intellect.  Today, I wish to speak to our hearts and souls that inspire and inform our intellect and our actions.

Today’s Parsha speaks of Blessings and Curses, Good and Evil, and Free Will.  It tells us to sanctify G-d with a Temple at the place that He shall choose and to be weary of false prophets.  We are given signs to identify kosher animals, fish and birds.  We are told to Tithe 10 % and to provide for the Levites and the poor.  We are told to release slaves on the 7^th year and to forgive loans on the 7^th year as well.  We are told that we shall ultimately gain more than we have given through these actions.  In current parlance, we are instructed to “pay it forward”.  Lastly, we are reminded to celebrate Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot, which are the pilgrimage holidays.

All of instructions above boil down to the fact that we have the Free Will to make both good choices or bad and we can follow G-d’s recipe for making good choices, or not!  When we make good choices and “pay it forward” we do so with joy in our hearts and we are blessed.  When we make bad choices, our hearts are empty, and we are cursed.  Happiness can be fleeting when it is not the byproduct of the joy of giving.  Joy is sustainable.  Happiness is not.

Joy comes from the heart, whereas happiness is more cerebral in nature.  The mind can fluctuate in its perceptions and moods, and it has the tendency to always ask us “What’s next?” or What have you done for me lately?”  In scientific terms, the mind is searching for the next surge of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, that stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain.  The everlasting joy that comes from the heart of a person who continually looks for opportunities to give, to “pay it forward”, creates the steady heartbeat and steady flow of blood that sustains both body and mind.  It is joyous behavior and actions that nourish the soul.  Fleeting moments of happiness that result from titillating self-indulgence simply lead the mind and ego astray.

G-d places before us the choice between blessings of sustainable joy or the curse of pursuing the fleeting moments of happiness from self-indulgence, that beg for more, more, more…  Where will it all end?

Choose wisely my friends.  Choose with your heart to “pay it forward” with sustainable joy.   In the spirit of Passover, redeem yourselves from the bondage and enslavement that characterize the endless pursuit of self-indulgent happiness.  Chag Pesach Sameach!  Shabbat Shalom!

How do we know the validity of our dreams and how to interpret them:   Are they guideposts for life, signs from Hashem, or are they Freudian activities for working out the incongruities of our personality and exorcising our demons?  How do we know when they are one or the other?

For Joseph, dreams were the stuff of destiny, the predictors of things to come as seen in today’s Parshah.  But for the rest of us, who are not on such a large scale as pieces of G-d’s grand plan for all mankind, what do our dreams mean?  How do we place them in perspective?  Oy… all of these questions and no answers!  Please bear with me for a moment.

It takes a wise heart, guided by Torah, to properly interpret dreams and place them in perspective.  When we choose not to place ourselves as the primary focus of our dreams, this allows us to have a starting point toward finding a greater purpose for our dreams.  In our Parshah today, Joseph parlays his G-d given talent of interpreting dreams into his position as second only to Pharoah in ruling over Egypt.  By comparison, I would speculate that none of us here today has even close to that level of talent for interpreting dreams.

However, each one of us does have our own unique G-d given talents.  I would posit an alternative “take-home message” from this Parshah, that we should recognize our own individual G-d given talents and use them to benefit not just ourselves, but for the benefit of the greater community.

Joseph sets the example for this concept.  In his youth, his talent with dreams was self-aggrandizing and created a disdain for him amongst his brothers which ultimately landed him in a pit, then slavery and the jail.  Only with the passage of time, the gaining of experience and the acquisition of wisdom was Joseph then able to learn to use his gift properly.  He advanced his position in a way that served Hashem’s greater purpose, so that he might not only save his own family but also save the future of the Hebrew people.

I see in my own life’s path, that much of my own early achievement, albeit clothed in the altruistic garb of a scientific and medical career, may have been more about my own ego than being about the people I was destined to serve.  Only through time and the acquisition of wisdom can any of us gain the insight, with G-d’s help, to experience the humility to recognize the joy of serving our fellow humans.

We should each, celebrate our own journeys on such a path.  For without a community that contains each of us with our own unique G-d given talents, there can be no community!  Shabbat Shalom!

You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.  The case in point is our recent deep freeze, in which many of us lost electricity and water service.  Water and electricity are some of modern life’s daily essentials that we take for granted until a new reality confronts us as we huddle for warmth and struggle for lack of drinking water.  We dream of regaining the comfort of a hot shower and a cooked meal.  Yet at the same time we reflect on the blessings of life, love, family and community that are there to support us and get us through these difficult times.  This reality slaps us in the face to awaken and be grateful for normalcy.

So, how does this relate to our current Parsha?  Tetzaveh means to “command” as G-d is commanding Moshe with instructions for how the Israelites must crush olives for the oil to light the Eternal Flame of the sanctuary.  Then Moshe is commanded to follow intricate details for the creating the priestly garb and for the initiation ceremony for the Cohanim.  Finally, we are commanded in the supplemental reading for this week of Purim to remember the Evil of Amalek and to eradicate “the memory of Amalek from under the heavens.  Do not forget.”  The connection between Amalek and Purim being that Haman, the villain of Purim, is a descendant of Amalek.

Yet Tetzaveh also means to connect and to bond.  As B’nai Yisrael, we are all commanded, connected and bonded with one another and with Hashem and with Moshe as the prime example of this connection.  This connection is so often taken for granted by us in our normal day-to-day lives.  Only in moments of extreme adversity in which our normal lives are turned upside down are we so shaken to the core, that we realize our dependence on community and the G-d given comforts of our day-to-day world.

It is so important for us all to take pride and responsibility in our role of “crushing olives” to provide the oil for the Eternal Flame that illuminates our hearts and minds with G-d’s love and lessons for what it takes to have a sustainable, good-hearted and grateful community.  Maybe, just maybe, it is the symbolism found in the reverence of our rituals that can serve as a gentle and continuous reminder of what it takes to be a Holy community and a Nation of priests.  Hopefully, only once in a generation will we need such a natural disaster such as our recent deep freeze, to shake us so strongly to our core, so that we can recognize what we have each day and appreciate it… before we lose it.

And in this moment of gratitude and appreciation we are also commanded to “blot the memory of Amalek from under the heavens!”  How do we do this?  We do this with joy in our hearts, joy in our actions and by “crushing the olives” for the oil to light the Eternal Flame.  That is the flame which shines Hashem’s Light and Love onto the World so that Evil has no place to hide.  When we do the work, when we “crush the olives” for the oil to shine Hashem’s bright light onto the world, we blot the memory of Amalek from under the heavens.

Shabbat Shalom

In this parsha, we begin with the instructions upon entering the promised land for the Israelites to give an offering of the first fruits harvested as an expression of their gratitude for all the blessings from the life creating, life sustaining higher power, we call Hashem.  Gratitude for our blessings engenders humility.  Humility is cultivated in the crucible of life’s blessings and curses.  In this process that can take up to 40 years in the crucible of lessons learned from wandering in the desert of life, we finally can gain the heart to know, the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

But why does this take 40 years?  What does this symbolize for us?  Is there something that we gain in life that is only achieved once we have lived to the age of 40?  And, what do we make of the visual imagery of the curses and blessings shouted by half of us on one mountain top back and forth to the other half of us on the opposing mountain top?  And, what of the Levites and Cohanim standing in the valley between us?

This imagery is rather startling.  Think of the seeming impossibility of 300,000 people on one mountain top rising 2,000 feet above a valley filled with priests numbering however many and an additional 300,000 people on the opposing mountain top maybe one mile or more across the valley.  Could they really hear each other calling out both blessings and curses to one another?  How did that sound reverberate within the valley filled with priests?  It truly staggers the mind if we take this event literally.  Did it really happen this way, or is this simply an image used to get across a very important point?

In Jewish tradition, I am tempted to continue asking and answering with purely questions, but I will resist that temptation and posit what you will hopefully deem a useful answer.  Imagine yourself as one of the priests in the midst of this surrealistic stage.  The blessings and curses echo back and forth over your heads.  You are already consumed by the important task you have to keep the Israelites morally and ethically and task-wise on track as they prepare to enter uncharted territory into a homeland they have been promised, that they will have to take by force, but is inhabited by peoples who will be physically and spiritually opposed to what you are bringing.  So, you must absorb and enforce the carrot and stick approach that is being shouted over your heads so that the Israelites can achieve their destiny.

Wow.  I need to step back for a second myself.  This gets a bit intense.  The Israelites were faced with an unprecedented and daunting task.  Was this part of a necessary process from exiting 40 years in the desert where we started as slaves to then become the invading and conquering force of an unknown land?  Was this part of Coach Moses’ final pep talk to the team under the auspices of team owner Hashem before taking the field in order to win the game?  And, what was that game we were playing again?  Was that to be G-d’s chosen people living in the promised land?  And, chosen for what?  Oh, I’ve got it, to be an example for the world of life lived properly, a Holy nation, a nation of priests.

Fortunately, most of us have learned to set our goals high, realizing we may never achieve them, but at the same time knowing that it is easier to achieve something of substance if we have raised the bar so high for ourselves that we might never reach it.  Did it really take me getting to at least age 40 wandering the desert of life to gain the humility so that I might have the heart to know, the eyes to see and the ears to hear?

Probably!  Shabbat Shalom!

In this parshah, G-d splits the Red Sea and the Israelites are so grateful as to sing the Song by the Sea.  They lack food in the desert, albeit briefly, and complain to G-d who then provides manna and quail, yet they continue to complain.  Was it ever enough for our ancestors then?  Is it ever enough for us today?

Do I bow my head in gratitude, or easily slip back into mind-numbing amusement?  Do I bow my head in gratitude, or simply slip back into my typical mind and time-consuming work?  Do I bow my head in gratitude, and hold on tightly to all whom I love?

Life is filled with choices, decisions and living in full measure with the ramifications and consequences of our decisions.  Sometimes, we feel that we don’t deserve the negatives that have followed our decisions.  And yet, how often are we oblivious to all the wonderful positives in our lives that we seemingly had little or nothing to do with?

An attitude of gratitude can make all the difference in how we manage the ups, the downs, and the sideways moments in our lives.  It is certainly OK to want more, to strive for more, but it is so much MORE functional to be happy with whatever we have.

In our daily lives, we take for granted that when we click a switch the light will turn on, that when we click the remote the channel will change on cue, or more importantly that the volume on the TV will be muted when we push the mute button.  Do we truly realize that the amenities and peaceful existence we have as individuals even of the middle class in current day USA leave us so much better off and safer than were the lives of Kings and Queens in the Middle Ages?  The average life span today is so much greater, sanitation is better, the food supply is safer, we have indoor plumbing, electricity, cell phones, internet, streaming music and video.  We have better entertainment and nourishment at our fingertips than what the Royalty had in times gone past.  We have freedom of speech, freedom of expression as evidenced in popular music and fashion.  Why shouldn’t we be happy with our lot?  And yet we are not!  Shabbat is a space in time for us to take a deep breath and pause to smell the roses, as they say.  Shabbat is our time in space, a seeming contradiction of terms, in which we can pause and ask ourselves, “Who created all of this?”

Please pause for a moment this Shabbat and think about infinity.  Is it linear, is it circular, is it the ever- expanding universe, is it the ever inwardly expanding human mind and consciousness, is it all of these and more?  YES!!!  How do we explain the grandeur of the infinite?  How do we explain the space, the pause, in time that Shabbat creates?  How can we acknowledge with gratitude all that has been bestowed upon us?  Of these first two of three questions there is no answer that words or thoughts can express and there is no answer, simply the ability to relate to their imposing nature.  On the last of these three questions, How can we acknowledge with gratitude all that has been bestowed upon us?  The answer is a smile, a simple thank you to each other, or a prayer to G-d.  Not a prayer of asking for that which we do not deserve, but rather a prayer that expresses gratitude for all that we have been given to this day and that we have done little or nothing to deserve.

Let us not look at one another and superficially assume that some of us have not worked, worried, cried and suffered through circumstance that we don’t dare admit to or share when we compose our appearance and present so well to each other.  What is that line… appearances can be deceiving?  Yet, protective amnesia is such that it allows us to discount the trials and tribulations that preceded our moments of peace and appreciation.  This is another gift from Hashem.  Let us celebrate together this Shabbat.  Shabbat is that proverbial pause that refreshes.  Let us celebrate an attitude of gratitude, even if our current individual situations do not fit a space in time at which we feel able to pause and refresh.  Since we do know that the time for each of our own next Shabbats, our times to pause and refresh, are surely soon at hand.  Let us pause and remember, that we do have much to be grateful for, even in uncertain and soul-trying times.  I am so grateful to share this prayer of gratitude with all of you today!

Shabbat Shalom!

Vayishlach… And he sent…     Jacob sent malachim- Angels/Messengers onto his brother Esau, and when they returned to him, they related that Esau had 400 men and flocks and more.  Jacob was to meet his brother Esau the next day and it had been 20 years since they had last seen each other after Jacob traded a bowl of porridge to Esau for the birthright and blessings of the firstborn from their father, Isaac.  Jacob then became even more afraid of his fate, and at this moment, he entreated Hashem for protection in a state of complete humility.  So it is for Jacob, once again, he is only able to face the truth with humility when he is afraid for his life.  Is it not so, for many of us, that only in times of utter despair can we be humbled?  In this state of humility, or not, Jacob reminds Hashem that He has promised to make Jacob the father of a multitude and once again, Jacob bargains with Hashem for his life.

There is so much in this Parsha that we could focus on, but I prefer to focus on Jacob on this night prior to meeting up with Esau, who’s birthright Jacob had bargained to gain.  Please note that Jacob always seems to need to bargain for what he wants or needs.  That night, Jacob spent alone, having divided his family and flocks into two separate camps.  He encountered an unfamiliar angel that night and they wrestled until morning at which time the angel asked Jacob to be released.  In the course of their fight the angel had injured Jacob’s hip.  Jacob would only release the angel once the angel had blessed him.  The angel then blessed him and changed Jacob’s name to Israel, for he had wrestled both man and G-d and had prevailed.  This fits with the Jewish tradition that in extreme circumstances changing one’s name can change one’s destiny.  He is no longer Jacob the trickster or Jacob the bargainer, he is now Israel, the father of a nation.

There is much discourse from rabbinic sources as to who this angel was.  To some, this was Esau’s messenger-angel and to others simply G-d’s messenger.  To still others, and this is my position, the angel was Jacob’s deceitful/sinful self, wrestling with Jacob’s aspirational self who desires to change the course of his life.

When we look at Jacob this way, we can also see and acknowledge our own imperfections.  We can see and acknowledge those temptations that prevent us from actualizing our better selves.  This is not a single night’s struggle for Jacob or for any of us.  Rather, this is an every-day and seemingly moment to moment struggle.  In every situation, in every moment, there are decisions to be made in which our better angel is wrestling with our darker more selfish angel.  When our better angel wins the moment, we find it easier to be at peace and we can love ourselves.  Such is the truth of life.  Every moment, with every decision can be a Holy moment.  Holiness is the essence, and the good is its expression.

When we learn to behave in the moment, guided by Holiness…  When we make the right decisions…  That is when we learn to love ourselves, and then we can love one another.  This establishes the relationships within our family, our community, and the world at large.  Truth and love are the Holy essence of the Human experience, as manifested in good actions that result from good decisions.

Shabbat Shalom

This Parsha contains 74 of the Torah’s 613 mitzvot.  These include a wide array of laws including how to deal with the beautiful captive, inheritance rights of the first-born, how to deal with the wayward and rebellious son, burial and dignity of the dead, returning of a lost object, and the obligation to send away the mother bird before taking her young, as well as many others.  But the most striking in my mind is the last commandment of the Parsha.

“Remember what Amalek did to you by the way, when you were coming out of Egypt.  How he met you by the way, and smote the stragglers at your rear, when you were faint and weary;   and he feared not G-d.  Therefore it shall be, when the L-rd your G-d has given you rest from all your enemies round about, in the land which the L-rd your G-d gives you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek form under the heavens; you shall not forget.”

Amalek epitomizes the most dastardly, most cowardly of evil doers- someone who shoots or stabs you in the back, when you least expect it, and when and whom is most vulnerable to prey upon.  This is animal behavior and not compatible with Humanity.  More respect is due when an adversary confronts you face-to-face and when you are at full strength.  Such is the nature of a worthy adversary rather than the predatory, buzzard-like nature of Amalekite evil.  In this last and most striking mitzvah, we are cautioned and commanded therefore, to protect the most vulnerable members of our community and to “wipe out the memory from under the Heavens” of the sons of Amalek who would prey upon them and us.

Symbolic and Historical sons of Amalek include Haman in ancient Persia, Roman emperor Titus who destroyed and sacked the Second Temple, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tze Dong, Al Qaeda, Isis and others.  We must stay ever vigilant.  These are the power-hungry products of abnormal society in our times who speak glowing platitudes of generosity, equality and justice, yet they are the ones who really seek to destroy Western Society and recreate it in their own tyrannical image.  Right now, think of the plight of the people of Hong Kong who seek to stave off the Communist Chinese Dictatorship.  Think of what Al Qaeda did to Manhattan and the Pentagon as we commemorate and remember the 18^th anniversary of 9/11 just this past week.

In order to protect ourselves from Amalek in our times, we need to protect Free Speech and not succumb to evil group think that simmers in our midst, even in our great country.  We must recognize Amalek in those who shout down the free speech of those who have differing views from their own ideology by calling those with differing views by vicious names such as racist, misogynist, homophobe, etc., when these labels are so undeserved.  Truth ultimately wins out when logic and rationality overrule emotional self-righteous outbursts of “group think” unsupported by fact.  Be Bold.  Speak out.  Protect those who lack a voice or who are afraid to speak out.  Remember Amalek as he appears in our times…

As Hashem reminds us, we will be at war with Amalek until we blot out his memory from under the Heavens.  We can only do so when our hearts and minds are linked to let the truth shine through and freedom ring by protecting free speech and justice under the rule of law.  Speak out.  Be bold.  Listen to all points of view.  Let freedom ring!

Shabbat Shalom