Shedding the Fur Coat and Faith – Parshat Noah and Tov l’hodot

Torah – A Tzaddik in a Fur Coat

Chassidic master Rabbi Mendel of Kotzk once referred to a certain rabbi as ah tzaddik in peltz — “a righteous person in a fur coat.”

The Kotzker explained: When it is winter and it’s freezing cold, there are two things one can do. One can build a fire, or one can wrap oneself in a fur coat. In both cases, the person is warm. But when one builds a fire, all who gather round will also be warmed. With the fur coat, the only one who is warmed is the one who wears the coat.

It’s the same for spiritual warmth — one can be a tzaddik in a fur coat….

Noah is described in the Torah as “a righteous man, perfect in his generations; Noah walked with God.” Yet, as Rabbi Jonathan Sacks claims, Noah was not a leader. He was, as the Kotzker Rebbe taught, a tzaddik in peltz; he himself may have been righteous, but he didn’t have the ability, or maybe the will, to inspire people to seek out haShem. Instead of building a fire to allow all to get warm, he kept the warmth to himself.

In our own lives, in our families, in our businesses, are we creating power structures where we warm only ourselves, or are we inspiring others to be and bring their full selves?

Source: Chabad

Tefillah- A Deeper Faith

Tov l’hodot ladonai, ul’zamer l’simcha elyon. L’hagid baboker chasdecha, v’emunatcha baleilot. (Psalm 92)

It’s great to give praise to the Master, and to joyfully praise the Most High. To sing of Your love in the morning, and Your faith in the night. The Holy Rebbe of Aleksander (1879-1943) would say, ‘L’hagid baboker chasdecha’, “to sing of your love in the morning,” refers to times when things are bright and shining. It’s very easy to praise God in those times. But what do I do at night, in moments when everything is darkness? When my world is dark, I need to turn inside, to something deeper: Not just how much I believe in God, but how much God believes in me. “V’emunatcha baleilot,” God’s faith in the night.
When was the last time you understood that someone believed in you? That they had faith in you, wholly and unconditionally? We often think of our faith, or lack of faith, in a higher power. But do we ever think of haShem’s faith in us to do the work that we are put on earth to do? Especially when the night is dark, the floods have come, and you lose your way, know that haShem has faith that you can return to the essence of who you are, to be steadfast in your mission. And remember to tell those you love that you believe in them, as that Emunah is also invaluable and Divine.

The Power of Blessing and the Origin of Mincha – Parshat Chayei Sarah

Parshat Chayei Sarah – Torah from the Holy Land

The Missing Blessing

A few weeks ago, as I was walking to a Shabbos meal, a man came up to me and the people I was with. “My wife just gave birth to a new baby girl,” he said, “and my Rabbi says to ask every person I come across for a blessing for my new daughter. Would you offer a blessing for her?” he asked. Taken aback, I offered some sort of blessing that was less than inspiring, as did one of the people I was with (hers was much more inspiring). It struck me that this was the first time I had ever actually been asked for a blessing from someone, and it was someone I didn’t even know!

In the next few weeks, we will see the strife caused by a father’s blessings to his sons. In our parasha however, it’s blessing that is noticeably absent from the end of Avraham’s life. He gives his children gifts, but no blessings. Rabbi Danny Nevins, Dean of the JTS Rabbinical School, comments, “Rashi, working off a midrash in Bereshit Rabba (61:6), feels that Abraham was ‘afraid’ to bless Isaac since there might be implications for the other members of the family. Rashi says that Abraham didn’t want his future grandson Esau to receive the blessing, but the source Midrash says that Abraham was stymied by the challenge of his other children. If I bless Isaac, then what about Ishmael and the children of Keturah? Instead, Abraham gives Isaac material gifts, including the burial plot in Hebron, and then says, ‘I have done my part; if the Holy One wants to act in His world, let Him do so.’ Rashi rephrases this as, ‘let the master of blessings come and bless whoever it fits Him to bless.’” The challenge posed by blessings is great: one the one hand, it can lead to strife and jealousy, and on the other hand it can spread love and kindness to the world. Where is the balance between the silence of Avraham and the inequality of Isaac’s blessings to Jacob and Esau?

Blessings are an opportunity to connect to a person’s core. They say, “I care about you, and I want the best for you.” But for a blessing to uplift the other, it needs to come from that place of love. Not a selfish love, where the blessing is actually in some way beneficial to you as well, but a love that says “May you be blessed to fulfill the purpose for which you were put on this earth.” It may have been this reason Avraham couldn’t bless his own children. He knew that the destiny of one was to rule over the other, and so he left it in the hands of the Holy Blessing One. While he respected the Ultimate blessing, he preferred that his last words would bring his sons together in unity as opposed to divisiveness. This week, may we be blessed with the energy to renew our commitment to our ultimate purpose, and may our way be illuminated with the light of those came before us.

Origins of the Mincha Service

“Isaac went out to commune with God in the field towards evening, and he raised his eyes and saw, and behold! Camels were coming.” (Bereshit 24:63)

Where does the afternoon mincha service come from? Was it ordained by the Rabbis, after the destruction of the Temple rendered the afternoon sacrifice obsolete, or are its origins much older? Many early sources argue this very question, but it’s from this verse that the Talmud (Berachot 26b) and Midrash derive that our obligation for afternoon prayer stems from Isaac himself! While I won’t endeavor to solve that disagreement here, there’s an important question that remains. If the mincha service does indeed stem here from Isaac, what can we learn about the essence and spiritual energy of the service?

The verb translated above as “To commune with God” is lasuach. Lasuach is a complicated word, but could mean to commune, to meditate, to supplicate (as translated in ArtScroll), speak, or complain. In the BDB Bible dictionary, they claim it could mean l’hithalech, to walk or stroll, but the implication, from the use of the word in the context of Noah, is that here Isaac “walked with God”. In contrast to the morning and evening services where the are many prayers surrounding the Amidah (where we commune directly with God), the mincha service is our only daily service in which the Amidah pretty much stands alone. While there are practical time circumstances for this shortened service, the spiritual consequence is important. We come immediately from the outside world of all our cares and worries and walk immediately into the presence of the Divine. The focus of the service, as supported by the biblical passage, is clear; we are there to commune with the Divine. For a few minutes, in the hustle and bustle of our day, we stop to give ourselves perspective and remind ourselves that there is more to life than just the moment we are in. We are a part of something much larger.

You can view the PDF of this Torah here.

Sam Blustin is an alumnus of the Conservative Yeshiva (2014-2015) and a current Rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary (Class of 2020). You can view more divrei Torah at www.samblustin.com or contact Sam directly at samblustin@gmail.com.

Parshat Vayeshev – Women of the Wall and Joseph’s Faith | Psalm 148

Parshat Vayeshev- Torah From The Holy Land

Torah: Women of the Wall and Joseph’s Faith

Last week, a bill was submitted to the Knesset floor by 16 members of Knesset that would heavily fine or even imprison women wearing tallit or tefillin, reading Torah, or blowing the shofar at the Western Wall. This doubling down of the Ultra-Orthodox parties comes after they killed an agreement to raise the status of the egalitarian Kotel to that of the main Kotel, which was made between Prime Minister Netanyahu, members of Knesset, the Women of the Wall, and the Reform and Masorti (Conservative) movements in Israel, in addition to an impressive coordinated response on behalf of the Women of the Wall and the liberal movements two months ago. The continued stripping of the right of women to wear religious garb at the Kotel has already done damage to the Jewish American – Israeli relationship, and this bill will only further it. To quote the words of Natan Sharansky, the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, this bill, if passed, will have “grave consequences” for the relationship between Israel and Jews in the diaspora.

In this week’s parasha, we read two incredibly similar accounts of the disrobing of Joseph. Joseph’s “coat of many colors”, the first garment to be stripped, was given to him by his father. This haughty coat symbolized Joseph’s ever increasing ego. It was given out of Jacob’s great love for Joseph (over his brothers) and led to Joseph fantasizing (dreaming) about ruling over his brothers. While the dreams themselves may have been from God, the fact he feels the need to share them with his father and brothers further illustrates this building of ego. The increasing hatred of his brothers comes to a head when he is sent to check up on them. They strip Joseph of his cloak, ie. his dignity and ego, and throw him into a barren pit. Even in the lowest of lows, Joseph retains his faith in God. Shattered, he begins to rebuild his self image by placing the Divine at the center of his life, instead of his ego.

Joseph is sold down to Egypt, to Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh, and God blesses Joseph in everything he does. Potiphar puts him in charge of his household, and they both prosper. Repeatedly, Potiphar’s wife makes advances on Joseph, and every time he refuses. He knows what is right and wrong, and is adamant in his refusal. One day, when nobody is around, she succeeds in ripping his tunic off his body, and then accuses him of trying to sleep with her when he refuses her newest advance. Once again humiliated, he’s thrown into prison. Yet again, his faith remains solid. Even in the prison, he prospers, and when two of Pharaoh’s courtiers are thrown in jail with him, he responds to their request for him to interpret their dreams with “do not interpretations belong to God? Relate it to me, if you please” (Bereshit 40:8). Even in the darkness of the prison, Joseph gives credit to God for his interpretation abilities. Low and behold, the cupbearer remembers him after two years, and he is brought out to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, the rest being history. Joseph’s ascension was not a linear one, but every time he was stripped naked and embarrassed, his faith remained strong, and this faith guided him in the darkest moments until he could come out and spread light.

Today, Joseph stands out as our prime teacher. No matter how many times people seek to disrobe women at the Wall (or anywhere) or liberal Jews in Israel of their Jewishness, we can look to Joseph for guidance. There are times when we let our ego get in the way, and this causes unnecessary hatred and hardship. In these moments, we need to take responsibility, and focus on recentering our own relationship and faith in the Divine. And there are times when, of no fault of our own, we are debased and thrown into the pit. Here too, our faith and religious vision must support and guide us. Like Joseph, we can and will emerge victorious, but we need to come together now. Instead of distancing ourselves from Israel, let’s proclaim our love for the Jewish state and our desire to make it a place where all Jews can come together and worship as they please.

T’fillah: The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars (Psalm 148)

Joseph’s second dream foretells of the sun, moon, and stars, representing his parents and brothers, all turning to bow down and worship him. In Psalm 148, one of the Hallelujah Psalms we say every morning, we see these same celestial symbols, this time all praising YHVH. For a moment, let’s transport ourselves to the time of the return from the Babylonian exile, which followed the destruction of the first Temple. For years, the Jews had longed to return home and rebuild their Temple, and the time had finally come thanks to an edict from the Persian emperor Cyrus to return and rebuild the Temple. Making their way back, you could almost imagine the excitement they must have felt. Everything was falling into place, and the entire world seemed to be praising God. It’s in this context in which the Psalm is believed to have been written.

It begins with the highest of the high, the celestial beings, the sun, moon, and stars, praising God. The descension of hierarchy continues to the skies, the ground, the birds and the creepy crawlies, and finally with all types of humans singing together in praise of YHVH. Throughout the Psalm, we invoke the image of God as King receiving praise from all that it created. It’s a daily reminder that all the beauty and awe-inspiring things in the world all exist to praise their maker, including us.

Based upon this drash, last year I wrote a new melody for Psalm 148 designed to invoke this regal and joyous feeling. Take a listen!

To view this d’var in PDF form, click here.