Monday, February 17, 2014

I'm back!

It has been a while, but I am back and hope to be posting a little more regularly.

Below is my recent Shabbat sermon. I had been thinking about counting and community, and community member Howard Blas told me about Jewish Disabilities Awareness Month (JDAM). The light bulb turned on, and the result is the sermon below.



Atone For Your Souls
Ki Tisa 5774 – February 15, 2014
Rabbi Elie Weinstock

            There is a prohibition against counting Jews.

            The Talmud (Yoma 22b) quotes Rabbi Yitzchak who teaches that one may not count Jews for any purpose – even for a mitzvah. It is based on the verse in Hoshea (2:1):
וְהָיָה מִסְפַּר בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כְּחוֹל הַיָּם אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִמַּד וְלֹא יִסָּפֵר

            Not counting Jews is most relevant when counting Jews for a minyan. To do so, we are instructed to count body parts or to say “not-one” or to use a pasuk with 10 words. When the State of Israel conducted its first census, various halakhic opinions were expressed as to its permissibility. (Those allowing it noted the goal of the census is not to count specific people, rather to gain necessary information.)

As far as issurim go, this prohibition does not seem anchored in the legal realm. It is more of a spiritual concept. Rashi reinforces this reasoning by noting:
שהמנין שולט בו עין הרע והדבר בא עליהם, כמו שמצינו בימי דוד:
We’re worried about the ayin ha-ra. And we have proof that counting Jews leads to calamity. It Shmuel II, chapter 24, King David counts Jews, and a plague leads to the death of 70,000 people. What is the ayin ha-ra and why should it dictate our behavior?

I would like to suggest that there is something wrong when we count Jews. This is the ayin ha-ra to which Rashi refers. It need not be a spiritual danger, rather there is a negative influence or perspective which accompanies counting Jews. There are times when numbers are needed, but counting people can lead to a negative result, an ayin ha-ra. It is this concern that the Torah addresses in the opening verses of parshat Ki Tisa.

יב) כִּי תִשָּׂא אֶת רֹאשׁ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם וְנָתְנוּ אִישׁ כֹּפֶר נַפְשׁוֹ לַיקֹוָק בִּפְקֹד אֹתָם וְלֹא יִהְיֶה בָהֶם נֶגֶף בִּפְקֹד אֹתָם:
(טו) הֶעָשִׁיר לֹא יַרְבֶּה וְהַדַּל לֹא יַמְעִיט מִמַּחֲצִית הַשָּׁקֶל לָתֵת אֶת תְּרוּמַת יְקֹוָק לְכַפֵּר עַל נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם:
(טז) וְלָקַחְתָּ אֶת כֶּסֶף הַכִּפֻּרִים מֵאֵת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְנָתַתָּ אֹתוֹ עַל עֲבֹדַת אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וְהָיָה לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְזִכָּרוֹן לִפְנֵי יְקֹוָק לְכַפֵּר עַל נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם:

            Why is there such an emphasis on kaparah? The simple explanation is to atone for and avoid the sin of counting Jews. But why the repeated mention of and noticeable emphasis on kaparah? The term kaparah is usually associated with atonement as on Yom Kippur. Kaparah involves a correction. Repenting for our sins leads to kaparah. At the same time, kaparah can also mean redemption (c.f. Ba’al Ha-Turim), to change course or to look beyond what is right in front of us. The kaparah achieved by the half-shekel method of counting helps us avoid pitfalls inherent in counting. It guides us towards a proper appreciation of what it means to count and be counted and how we look at the totality of the Jewish people. We need to be concerned with how individuals view their role as part of the community, who we include in counting the community, and the strength and challenges of a broad community. Achieving these outcomes when counting Jews provides 3 kaparot, 3 important lessons on how we view our individual roles and the concept of community.

            There is the kaparah for the individual who must realize the need to become part of the whole. At times, the individual may not want to ally her/himself with the community. Some may feel that their individual talent or viewpoint does not fit into the whole. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch teaches that the half-shekel contribution reminds the individual - as talented as s/he is – does not really “count” without contributing to the whole. When we count Jews with the half-shekel coin instead of counting each person individually, we create a framework that posits a value in everyone seeing themselves as part of the whole. The capacity for community is far greater than the sum of its individuals and each person must recognize their true value as being part of the whole – whether they like it or not. This is an important kaparah, correction in the individual’s perspective.

            There is the kaparah for the community to recognize the value of each individual. When we look to create community, there are people who are easily overlooked. It is like the game of kick-ball in school. Someone is bound to be chosen last. That hurts – and needs to be addressed. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, teaches:
People differ in their intellect, character, and talents, in the quantity of their material resources and the timbre of the spiritual sensitivities. But all are equal in the very basis of their bond with God.
 He-ashir lo yarbeh v’ha-dal lo yam’it. Each individual contributes equally to strees the importance that everyone counts.

            February is Jewish Disability Awareness Month (JDAM). It is an initiative bringing together federations, synagogues, and other Jewish organizations to raise awareness and support efforts to foster inclusion of people with disabilities and their families in Jewish communities worldwide.  How many people have heard about it? I had never heard of the initiative until a community parent and educator, Howard Blas, told me about it. Like so many important issues, it is something we implicitly endorse but easily and innocently ignore. JDAM was created to put the need to include everyone on our radar screens, and we need these reminders. There are people who are easily overlooked. Think of the people you don’t see often. Think of people who are unfamiliar. They count. The half-shekel method of counting so as to include everyone is a kaparah – a mandate to make sure not to leave anyone out of the community.

            The kaparah of the half-shekel directs the individual to associate with the greater community, and it reminds the community to include each and every individual within the count. There is also a kaparah for the community to recognize that it is strong enough to include the disparate individuals and ideas contained within it.

            Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Lunschitz, the Keli Yakar, writes that we assign numbers and count things of value. If it doesn’t matter, we don’t count it. Ki kol mispar moreh al ha-ma’alah ha-peratit she-yesih l’kol ish va-ish. While we don’t count individuals, we can’t just ignore the fact that our collective contains many unique talents, perspectives, and voices. We know this is true. When you have two individual Jews, there are, at least, three opinions. We can’t let differences prevent us from maintaining as broad a community as possible.

            The Jewish people are an amalgam. In fact, the Hebrew word for congregation, Tzibur, is homiletically interpreted as the acronym for Tzadikim, Beinonim and Reshaim (righteous, average and wicked). In the 19th century, there were some religious leaders who raised the idea of separating from the sinners in order to create exclusively Torah-observant communities. Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin (known as the Netziv) sharply criticized this idea. He wrote: (Meshiv Davar I:64):
The author suggests that the only way to remain vigilant is to separate (from those who are bad influences) the same way Abraham separated from Lot. With all due respect for the author, this suggestion is a sharp sword in the heart of the Jewish people and its continued existence.

The Jewish people must remain a nation of all Jews. Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook, the first Chief Rabbi in Israel and a disciple of the Netziv, writes similarly (Kovetz Yesod Mishpat):
[T]o decide that sinners are not part of Klal Yisrael, and that the nation includes only the good and righteous – this is the path of heresy…it is a wrong opinion that is forbidden to enter Am Yisrael…

I fear the issue of separation and fragmentation is back with a vengeance. You know the issues, and you have heard many of them discussed from the KJ pulpit, in the Jewish press, and in our community. In Modern Orthodoxy, there are differences of opinion concerning Open Orthodoxy, Partnership Minyanim, women wearing tefillin, conversion, and the role of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. More broadly in the Jewish community, there are voices who wish how to give up the fight against intermarriage or to circle the wagons and ignore those who seem to be leaving the community at an alarming rate. There are disagreements about what it means to support Israel. Recently, a number of Jewish leaders (including New York City rabbis) said those who support AIPAC are right-wing fanatics. It may be tempting to draw the lines of community to encompass only “the righteous” or like-minded people, but we cannot. If when we count, the community matters more than the individual, those who are “outside the pale” of tradition or communal consensus should be written off.

This mindset requires a kaparah, and we cannot let our focus on the collective cause us to ignore the individual voices that are out there even if they differ from what we feel is correct. It is not easy to do. Ultimately, we are a strong nation because of our diversity and disparate personalities.

The half-shekel method of counting is a mitzvah, and it is a kaparah. It helps us properly understand the responsibility of the individual to be part of the community. It reminds the community to include those who are easily left out of the count, and it calls for a definition of community that is strong enough to include those who may differ.

We don’t count Jews, but each and every Jew – individually and as part of a broad Jewish community - counts.

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