From the Rabbi
Rabbi Robert L. Wolkoff
Previous Messages
“Temple Rising and Israel’s Nationality Bill”
This year, Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of the month of Av, was observed on Sunday, the 10th of Av, because public mourning and fasting are prohibited on Shabbat. It is a day of mourning for the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem. Thus, we are encouraged to read the book of Lamentations (Eikha): “How does the city sit solitary, that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how has she become tributary!” The Second Temple period makes it even more depressing — not only because of what the Romans did to the Jews, but what the Jews did to themselves.
The Rabbis tell us that Jerusalem was destroyed exactly because of that baseless hatred between Jews and Jews, and between Jews and other people who were living in the land at the time. During the latter part of the war against the Romans, the Jews in Jerusalem were divided mainly into three factions. Each faction suspected the other of a lack of loyalty to the national cause. They set fire to each other’s storehouses of grain. They killed each other. As Abraham Lincoln expressed it, could a nation divided against itself fight the mighty Roman legions?
The new Israel Nationality Bill moved forward in a stormy Knesset session. Now, even more than three factions exist, attesting to an expression of diversity. Although the new law contains only a few actual legal implications, and it does not impact the citizenship of a non-Jew in Israel, still, Jerusalem comes under fire for its new Basic Law, which is similar, in fact, to many European constitutions. The law is mostly a modern version of the old nationalistic aspirations, and a long-awaited re-establishment of national identity and sovereignty.
In an article in the July 19 Wall Street Journal, Eugene Kontorovich wrote: “Get Over It—Israel Is the Jewish State.” The article begins with the following statement: “Let the handwringing and denunciations begin. On Thursday, Israel finally expressed in constitutional law the basic achievement of Zionism: Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people. In the seven years since the new provision was first proposed, it has attracted a barrage of criticism from the U.S. and Europe. Foreign politicians have demanded Israel not pass the law, and they have not been mollified by the removal of most of its disputed provisions.”
Perhaps Kontorovich was referring to the proposal that communities could be established based on “religion or ethnicity,” which was replaced with a statement of support for Jewish settlement. This law is declarative, not operative; it articulates “values.” It gives status to the Law of Return and to symbols — flag, anthem, etc. — and fixes Israel as “the Jewish State,” homeland of the Jewish people, and Hebrew as the official language.
The Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, established in 1998 by former Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson, was designed to fight anti-Semitism by uniting governments and experts to strengthen, advance and promote Holocaust education. According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, modern anti-Semitism is in several ways relative to the Nationality Bill. Among other provisions that relate directly to the Holocaust, the bill calls it anti-Semitic to deny the Jewish people their right to self-determination, to consider the existence of the State of Israel as a racist endeavor, and to require of Israel behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
This week, July 27-28 is Shabbat Nachamu, which takes its name from the Book of Isaiah (40:1-26) and speaks of “comforting” the Jewish people for their suffering. May Shabbat Nachamu bring us true consolation.
—Rabbi Gadi Capela
“A Limb of a Living Animal”
Earlier this year, when we were dealing with the issue of a path to citizenship for the so-called Dreamers, children brought to this country by illegal immigrants, I wrote “Let My People Stay.” In my essay, I compared the discussion about immigration to that of abortion. I claimed that America may secure its borders, but it cannot ignore the life that developed in its womb, of people willing to leap forward through a bloody door in order to give their families better lives.
This week, it became clearer how antiquated immigration laws can tear through the flesh of families, ripping a limb from a living animal. While America is trying to protect its borders, as have many other countries in the world, America has to remember to protect its spiritual and ethical borders as well.
When Noah and his family left the Ark after the flood, they started a new world. At that point they were given seven basic laws of human conduct that no man or woman should violate. Six of these laws were already given to Adam, the first human being. The Tosefta — the earliest complete rabbinic version of these seven laws lists them as follows: to have an adjudication process, no idolatry, no blasphemy, no sexual immorality, no bloodshed, and no robbery. The seventh law, the prohibition against tearing and eating the limb of a living animal, was given to Noah when, after the flood, humankind was permitted to consume meat. “However, flesh with its life-blood [in it], you shall not eat.” (Gen. 9:4) The Noahide Laws apply to all of humanity and human matter.
Genesis previously tells us that a family is one flesh: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.” (Gen. 2:24) A family is one flesh. It doesn’t matter how “tender” the shelter is. The most common reason immigrants leave their home country is to give their children a better life. Of course, there are exceptions: In cases of criminality and other risks, tough immigration laws are necessary to enforce.
The Mishnah tells us that Rabbi Chanina, the Deputy High Priest, says: “Pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the fear of it, man would swallow his fellow alive.” (Avot 3:2). It’s important to have a strong government, but strong nationalism is good only when it can contribute to the global efforts. Like LGBT and other marginalized populations, these immigrants can become the “unlikely harbingers” with a unique message of social justice — marginalized for a while, like the Israelites in Egypt, but not forever.
The USCJ, in partnership with all the major American Jewish movements throughout the United States, joined the JCPA (Jewish Council for Public Affairs) and the ADL (Anti-Defamation League), in a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen. At the end of his letter, David Bernstein, president and CEO of the JCPA, wrote the following: “There are proven alternatives to the incarceration of families fleeing violence that don’t permanently traumatize young children or make people suffer unnecessarily.”
In the brightest day of the year, let us make the darkness of separation disappear. Amen.
—Rabbi Gadi Capela
“On the Shoulders of Giants”
The day before we completed the counting of the 49 days of the Omer, we escorted Arthur Levin — Aaron ben Enoch z”l — on his last journey. This occurred just before Shavuot — the holiday of receiving the Torah.
In various places throughout the text, the Talmud claims that in studying Torah — beginning with Moses, who was the closest to the original teachings on Mount Sinai — there has been a “deterioration of the generations,” because every generation moves farther away from Sinai. Regression rather than progression.
To demonstrate this concept, R. Yohanan states: “The fingernail of earlier generations is better than the belly of the later generations.” (BT. Yoma 9b.) For example, the Tanaim, the earlier rabbis who lived in the time of the compilation of the Mishnah (1st-2nd C. CE), receive automatic precedence over the Amoraim, who came afterward.
The lesson from this is that the only way to overcome the “deterioration of the generations” is to act like “dwarfs on the shoulders of giants.” R. Isaiah di Trani (circa 1200-1260), an Italian commentator of the Talmud was the first to cite this aphorism of the Christian philosopher and theologian, Bernard of Chartres. The thought pays tribute simultaneously to progression and regression, as it always remains necessary to explain how progression in Torah study was possible despite moral regression. In other words, it’s a lost battle unless we sit on the shoulders of the giants who came before us. This is who Arthur was — a giant.
Three years ago in February, Stanley Rubin and I traveled to Florida to celebrate Arthur’s 100th birthday with many of our Florida contingency and the rest of the Levin family. It was nice to get out of the cold in February for a few days, but the real warmth came from seeing Arthur dance at his party. It was worth the three-day trip in the car and then back. It was a Friday night, and we sang the last lines of Psalm 92 from Kabbalat Shabbat — the welcoming of Shabbat: “…The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; they shall grow tall like a cedar in Lebanon. They shall bear fruit even in old age; they shall be ever fresh and fragrant…” This was Arthur, always celebrating life.
Now Arthur joins his wife Emma and his brother Jack. On Arthur’s last journey, we went through the stations of his life. I was with his two daughters, Carol and Diane, and his niece, Jodi. We went through Greenport High School, his early dentistry practice on Front Street, his home, the Island’s End Country Club and, of course, the shul. I loved Arthur. He and his older brother Jack will forever be an inspiration for me. I feel fortunate to have known them. It is hard to understand this place without knowing that generation.
Now it is up to us. The only way to overcome the “deterioration of the generations” is to act like dwarfs on the shoulders of the giants that preceded us. It is up to us to take the extra step from 48 to 49, to the top of the mountain, to keep receiving the Torah and long life.
May Arthur’s soul rest in Eden, and may his memory be for a blessing.
—Rabbi Gadi Capela
Get Social