From the Rabbi
Rabbi Robert L. Wolkoff
Previous Messages
“Bat Mitzvah in Jerusalem”
It was a beautiful winter day today in Jerusalem. We had just celebrated Eliza Garmise’s bat mitzvah at the family section of the Western Wall. Eliza stood to read the Torah right at the heart of the Jewish story. She was surrounded by her proud parents, Jason and Jessica, and her grandparents — our shul members Alan and Rochelle Garmise. Three years ago, they all stood witness to Eliza’s sister Hannah’s bat mitzvah, observed with grandma Rochelle also celebrating her belated bat mitzvah. This time, the celebration was shared with the bar mitzvah of Eliza’s friend Benjy, who was accompanied by his parents and grandparents.
It was wonderful to see the three generations standing shoulder to shoulder — mothers, daughters, and granddaughters; fathers, sons, and grandsons. Our rabbis teach us that the connection of the three generations spells out the word “stone” — as in the cornerstone of the Temple. Seven months ago, a large stone suddenly fell out of the Western Wall, right there at the family section, and many practical and spiritual speculations followed. But even if all the stones fall, the important stone of the foundation was standing in front of us in the form of three generations keeping their promise to God, as God keeps His promise to them.
My words to the teens came out of an important lesson from the weekly portion of “Ki Tisa.” One of the signs of maturity and responsibility is to keep those promises. We read about the 40 days and nights that Moses goes away to bring down the two tablets. The people somehow believe he is late (“boshesh” 32:1), even though he actually returned on the same day. But the people demanded a visible God, something to believe in right then and there. By creating the Golden Calf, they were violating the cardinal prohibition of having no other gods.
The golden calf was not the first time the covenant between Man and God was broken because of not waiting a little longer. The midrash also tells us that Eve and Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge on the same day they were created. Had they waited a bit, they would have entered a peaceful Sabbath.
The common thread between the Golden Calf and the Tree of Knowledge is “instant.” To be in a hurry, and in a hurry to know. If we let our FOMO (fear of missing out) control us, then we instantaneously lose our relationship to God. God gives Moses the tablets right after His mandate to keeping Shabbat. “And the people of Israel shall observe the Shabbat for their generations as an eternal covenant.” (Exodus 31:16) Perhaps the essence of God’s creation is exactly that — to take our time, to slow down, to keep Shabbat, to nourish the generational connections, of becoming a bat/bar mitzvah — the cornerstone of the covenant.
Blessings from Jerusalem,
Rabbi Gadi Capela
“The Wisdom of the Siddur”
Moving from confusion to order is a sign of maturity and responsibility. It is also the price of freedom. We give up our random, spontaneous, aimlessness existence for a purposeful and well-organized life. The Siddur is the Jewish organizer. It accompanies us closely from the minute we awake to the minute we fall asleep, throughout all the seasons of our lives. The siddur offers us the wisdom to cope with any situation, simple or overwhelming.
The first secret to organization is to compartmentalize. The Siddur does it well for us. It recognizes that the calendar is the wheel that turns the world, picking up the natural rhythm of creation and dividing our schedule accordingly. The day is divided to 3, the week is divided to 7, the year is divided to 4.
The siddur is designed to remind us to be always mindful — of God and of our fellow humans. It is the assistant we all need in our busy schedules. When we are organized, we can react better to life’s curvatures. The Siddur prepares us for each spiritual and physical activity, recognizing our needs and helping us gather our thoughts. Ultimately, good organization can lead to a peaceful existence — personally and nationally. A just organization and division of resources is the basis for peace in the world.
May we have a blessed month.
—Rabbi Gadi
A New Workshop:
When I return from the annual pilgrimage to Israel, we will resume weekly classes, beginning Thursday, March 7, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. The new series will be dedicated to learning about the Siddur. In this workshop, we will delve into the structure and philosophy of the Siddur, and explore how it can help each person organize his or her life.
Please join us for spiritual insights and lively discussion.
—RG
“Bingeing the Bible”
With the passing of President George H. W. Bush, another chapter in American history has been signed. He was my first American president. I had just graduated from high school in Israel and was waiting for my army service when Iraq invaded Kuwait and instigated the First Gulf War. Soon after, scud missiles were starting to land in the middle of Israel. It was a tough time — having to run for shelter in sealed rooms, wearing gas masks. My brother and sister were still serving in the IDF (Israeli Defense Force), and my father was recruited for reserve duty. I joined a few days before the war officially ended.
For political reasons, the coalition’s armed forces, headed by the United States and its commander in chief, President Bush, asked Israel to avoid retaliation and let the coalition wage the battle. After six weeks of active battle, the war was over. For me, President Bush was a determined soldier, fighting tyrannical regimes wherever they were, representing core American values. May his memory be for a blessing.
Lately, I’ve been “bingeing the Bible,” as I like to call it; I’m reading the Bible cover to cover, not waiting for the weekly episode. It becomes obvious that the beginning and end of the Biblical books, is determined by the life and death of the protagonist king, prophet, or leader, irrespective of the way they die. This idea starts with the Book of Genesis — which we just completed reading in synagogue, that ends with the death of Jacob and Joseph. The Torah ends with the death of Moses, the Book of Joshua ends with the death of Joshua, giving room to the first judge to come on stage. 1 Samuel ends with the death of King Saul, while 2 Samuel begins and ends with King David. Things have to die before other things can begin. A new era beginning with a new leader.
The other feature that comes clear when reading the Bible straight through is the fact that stories are not always told in a chronological order. Many times stories moves forward and backward at the same time. The people who are dead, come back to live. Departing and then reuniting with the characters. But reading about them or telling their stories gives them their immortality. So even if they are gone, they are still circling around us. Maybe the person that knows it best is the Prophet Elisha, who saw his master, the Prophet Elijah, storm alive with a chariot into heaven.
Elisha gained a perspective which allows him to see beyond and notice the heavenly beings around us. When he is engulfed by the King of Aram with mighty chariots and a great host, he does not despair. When his servant was crying out: “Alas, my master! what shall we do?” He answered: “Fear not: for they that are with us are more than they that are with them… And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:14-17) Elisha sees what we don’t see. Those who departed, are now the army around us that protects us.
We never know what a new leader would be like and what new era they will usher. All we can do is keep “seeing” our past and future leaders and know that their successes as well as their failures are always live in our ongoing story. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we can’t binge life, or accelerate it forward and backward. We have to live one day at a time, one episode at a time.
Happy New Era!
—Rabbi Gadi Capela
Get Social