Parshat Vayishlach: On Names and Missions

    There is a Rashi in this week's parsha which explains that the angels do not have permanent names, because their names change according to their missions. Actually, even we, people, do not have permanent names. While we are alive, we have a name which we can add to or change, but when we leave our bodies (die) the traditional Jewish view is that you do not take your name with you. 
     This may be the connection between the Hebrew word "Shem" which means "name" and "Sham" which means "there." These two words share the same two Hebrew letters of "Shin" and "Mem." Only the vowel is different,and in the Torah vowels which go under, or over, the letters are not written. The only way to tell these two words of "Name" and "There" apart is through the context and perhaps sometimes the traditional reading.
(Evidence that we do not keep our names when we leave our bodies is that at the conclusion of Shemoneh Esrei, one our main prayers, when we are signing off from being directly in front of G-d, we do not sign off with our names, instead, we say an individualized verse from Tanach (the Bible) to identify our essence, what we stand for, what we are all about.)
May we, while priviledged to be alive, fulfill our missions to ourselves, familes, and the world community at large. May we keep being reincarnated with missions that help us all become tzadikim, completely righteous, and deserving of the best rewards from Hashem.

Parshat VaYetzei: On Stones, Midrashim, Angels, Potential

(Draft, please read and share)

     In parshat VaYeitzei, there is a midrash (homily by the Rabbis) which says the stones that Ya'akov Avinu had placed around his head (12 of them according to Rabbi Yehudah), were arguing with each other.  They each wanted to be as close to Ya'akov's head as possible so as to protect and make him more comfortable.  Normally we do not like for there to be arguments but G-d was pleased that each stone was motivated to do a good deed, to be as close to Ya'akov's head as possible. G-d merged the stones into one stone so they could be united in carrying out their act of kindness.

     Did this really happen? Well, based on the text, it seems Ya'akov had taken more than one stone, and in the morning these stones had miraculously become one stone, called "The Stone".  Still though, stones don't talk, so what did the Rabbis mean?

Likewise, mountains don't talk.  There is a midrash that when G-d was deciding which mountain to give the Torah on, the mountains argued about who should be given this honor and Hashem ultimately chose the mountain of humility, Mount Sinai.

    So how do we explain the midrashim (homilies)?  The Rabbis knew that stones and mountains do not talk, so what did they mean?

    There is an idea that G-d created everything for a reason.  Why did G-d create the highest mountain?  Perhaps we would have thought it was to give the Torah on it, but we learn differently, since G-d did not do this. So the highest mountain was created for other reason(s), and you, like the holy Rabbis can darshan/homilize as you see fit based on your understanding of G-d, psychology, sociology, etc...But when we say that the highest mountain was talking, we mean one would have thought it was created for so and so, but it turns out it was created for something else. 

     This may also be the same idea as saying that all physical entities have an angel associated with them.  The Hebrew word for angel is malach which actually translates as messenger, but it is no stretch to extend this translation as an advocate.  This is in line with the concept of a personal angel or even guardian angel, like Jewish tradition tells us that the man Ya'akov wrestled with was his brother Esav's angel/advocate.  Going with this translation for angel, as an advocate we can explain further that an advocate just needs to be an idea or argument.  So maybe all angels are advocate ideas.  Now the Rambam (Maimonidies) spoke of encounters with angels in the Bible as dreams or visions because he held that angels were incorporeal like G-d, that they had no physical form.  The Ramban (Nachmanidies) vociferously disagreed with the Rambam.  The Ramban held that angels could take physical form.  I think now we can arbitrate between the Rambam and Ramban.  We could say that usually angels do not have physical form, they may not even exist more than an advocate idea exists.  However, there are times that G-d wants the advocate ideas to have physical form, like when the three angels, disguised as men, visited Avraham.  One angel advocated for Avraham's health/comfort after Avraham had carried out his circumcision and was in pain. A second angel visited Avraham to advocate (and deliver the message) that the time had come for him and Sarah to have their own son.  And the third angel was there to advocate for the destruction of Sedom, but he was also going with the advocate of healing which had the job of saving Lot and his family, as perhaps also the job of helping some on the people of Sedom die a quick and not too painful a death, perhaps.  That third angel, in addition to being linked to the angel of healing/comfort/saving, may have also been at Avraham's tent as a way of G-d introducing the conversation about the upcoming destruction of the city of Sedom.       

    Similarly, the advocate idea (angel) of Esav was given physical form to wrestle with, to challenge Ya'akov, to see if he was really worthy of having supplanted Esav with regards to the rights of the first born son and the better blessing from their father Yitzchak and G-d. That wrestling match with the physical form of the advocate angel of Esav was probably sanctioned and directed by G-d to help Ya'akov gain confidence in his upcoming meeting with his seemingly physically superior brother Esav. So the physical form of advocate angels makes sense on occasion, and if the Rambam were here, I would ask the Ramban to help me convince him, and we probably would.  But most of the time, advocate ideas (angels) are not given physical form, and they are real in the sense that G-d, the Judge of the world is continually fair in balancing all advocate ideas of everything and everyone who has been created in helping them actualize their latent created potential.

     Back to Ya'akov's stones, the ones he put around his head and when he woke up, they were one stone. I believe that there are two levels to the Midrash. First, each stone had an advocate idea (angel) in front of G-d seeking to be as close to Ya'akov as possible, but again, for an inanimate object like these stones, that means that G-d created these stones for a purpose and anything that G-d creates should be used for the highest purpose within its potential. So, G-d, the Fair Judge, seeing the potential in each stone, and being able to maximize their aspirations, combined them into one stone.  That is the basic understanding of the Midrash, but especially with the version that says there were 12 stones, we see that the Rabbis indeed had another lesson.  First, a little more context: Ya'akov had been sent away under instructions from his father to go to Lavan's house and find a wife.  One concern that Ya'akov, as he was running away from his brother, may have had, is what would be when he gets married and has children.  He could have been thinking:

"My father had a main brother Yishmael, they did not really get along, and only one son was selected to carry on the special Covenant with G-d which had begun with Avraham. Now, my brother Esav and I have not gotten along, and only one of us has been selected to carry on the Covenant.  What will happen when I get married, will my sons get along, and who will be selected to carry on the Covenant?"

G-d sent Ya'akov a coded message, a coded answer to his concerns.  G-d united the twelve stones into one stone.  This was G-d telling Ya'akov that all of his children would be worthy and united in carrying on the Covenant, the special/separated/holy relationship with G-d. 

(To add a homily onto a homily, perhaps these stones were the stones that Avraham had used when making an altar to offer Yitzchak upon, and when Ya’akov (decades later) got to Mount Moriah, the stones were no longer an altar, when he woke up they were one stone, he poured oil onto the united stone to dedicate it to be used for G-d, and it eventually became the cornerstone of the Beit Hamikdash (Temple) built by King Solomon.

 

(I cannot claim much originality in what I wrote, sometimes I read great ideas, but don't remember where or from whom.)

A working definition of an angel:

"Advocates (ideas) on Behalf of Creations Reaching Their Potential.  They Affect The Physical World Through G-d's Direction And May Even Take Physical Form When Appropriate"

An Alternate Title:

Stones Don't Talk, Nor Do Mountains, But Their Angels Do

 Also see:

http://vbm-torah.org/archive/sichot/bereishit/07-65vayeitze.htm

Why Did Lot's Wife Turn Into Salt?

     I am currently developing my thoughts about salt.  Lot's wife was turned into salt as a middah keneged midda, measure for measure punishment for her having disdain of the custom of putting salt on the table for guests.  My thoughts are like this: Suppose that the salt does protect a person, especially a host from the yetser hara, the evil inclination.  In what circumstances, what does this mean?  Well, how could the yetser hara go after a host? It could tell the host that he has guests over, but really he does not want them over because they are going to eat his food, drink his water (used to be a big chore to get water), so they are costing him time and energy.  One of the worst things a host can do is make his guest(s)feel unwelcome.  So how does one fight his yetser hara.  He goes on the offensive with an action that will counter-act any negative, un-G-dly thinking.  The host puts salt, an item that used to be expensive, on the table to make sure his guests know that they are welcome, that even though the salt is costly, and will probably cause the guests to eat and drink more, he desires this, for his guests to feel completely welcome and taken cared of.  Since Lot's wife was of Sedom and shared its culture of selfishness to the degree that they passed laws against hospitality, she was punished by turning into a pillar of salt, a food item which represents the best of hospitality, of an unencumbered desire to share G-d' gifts with others. (The proper, "what's mine is yours" attitude.)

   Perhaps this is why salt was put on each korban, a sacrifice, that even though a korban costs the mekarev, the bringer, money, putting salt on the korban is a way of showing Hashem that you truly want to bring it, and that you are grateful for Hashem being your guest and accepting your offerring.  This is why Hashem did not accept Kayin's korban.  Kayin had a great notion of bringing an offering to Hashem, but he showed that his heart was not truly in it by the bringing of not the best fruits, like a host who doesn't really want his guests there. Hevel brought of the best, like a host who puts expensive items like salt on the table.  This is why Hashem turned to his host (Hevel) and to his offering.

   In general, bringing a korban, a sacrifice, or putting salt on the table even when hosting only yourself, is an act of faith. A korban, at times, would seem to be bal tashchit, the deliberate wasting of G-d's gifts, because it is not that G-d needs or gets physical pleasure from any korban offered to him.  What is interesting is that when the act of bringing a korban was first invented, Kayin or Hevel did not burn their offerings.  They simply had some sense of duty to say “Thank You” to Hashem for what they had, and their means of saying “Thank You” was to set some of their bounty up as offerings to Hashem.  They probably did not know what was going to happen.  Apparently it was Hashem who decided to use a fire [aish=perhaps some symbolic connection to the shoresh of ish (man) and isha (woman)] to accept korbanot, unless later on He decided that some korbanot should be eaten by the kohanim and/or people themselves. So, it appears to me that Hashem decided to use fire in accepting korbanot and this was a dispensation of sorts with regards to bal tashchit.  Really for Hashem there is no such thing as bal tashchit with regards to food and the like, because Hashem can "create" or cause these things to exist with His sheer will.  For someone who wholeheartedly brings a korban, he accepts and expresses that his possessions come from Hashem, and Hashem will provide him as befits him.  Likewise, the unencumbered host accepts and expresses his faith that his possessions come from Hashem by not worrying about what his guests are costing him, but instead worrying about how best to make them feel welcome and cared for.
Thank you for reading.
Even though this is a draft, please share.

Bereishit: Perhaps The Forbidden Fruit Was Sexual Pleasure

I have been thinking that the Forbidden Fruit in Gan Eden may have been sexual pleasure, and that this is what mankind was supposed to not have engaged in on the sixth day of creation. There is an idea, I believe brought down by the Sfas Emes that mankind was going to get to partake of the forbidden fruit, after the first shabbat, that they would then be ready for sexual pleasure, and also be ready for immortality. But mankind partook to early, entering a state in which the drive for physical pleasure (the yetser hara) is very hard to overcome, and so we are not ready for immortality, which is why we were removed from Gan Eden so as not to be able to eat from the Tree of [Eternal] Life. We do have the Torah though, that is also called a "Tree of Life."

     The idea of the forbidden fruit coming from the Tree of Knowing Good and Bad (Yodea Tov Vera) is that before this first act of disobedience, we were in a state of innocence, not even being aware of a desire in opposition to the desire of following Hashem, the Yetser Tov. In other words, this act of disobedience awakened the latent potential of the Yetser Hara, the desire to follow our bodily desires instead of following Hashem, that desire being the Yetser Tov. Before this conflict of desires, there could be no moral decisions, just as an infant is incapable of making a moral decision. Moral choice was created by this act of disobedience. This choice was eventually going to be given to us, because it is only through choosing good that we can attain kedusha and true pleasure, but we lost our innocence too early, before undergoing the first shabbat.

Gilad Schalit, Baruch Haba

Gilad Schalit, Baruch Haba

A Good Day For Us, Happy Holiday In the Sukkah There is Family To the Sukkah is Invited an Honored Guest Gilad Schalit, Blessed is Your Coming	יוֹם טוֹב לָנוּ, חַג שָׂמֵחַ בַּסּוּכָּה יֵשׁ מִשְׁפָּחָה, לַסּוּכָּה מוּזְמָן אוֹרֵחַ, גִּלְעַד שָׁלִיט בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא
A Good Day For Us, Happy Holiday Children Are Rejoicing Now To Our Sukkah Comes an Honored Guest Gilad Schalit, Blessed is Your Coming	יוֹם טוֹב לָנוּ, חַג שָׂמֵחַ יְלָדִים נָגִילָה נָא לַסּוּכָּתֵנוּ בָּא אוֹרֵחַ, גִּלְעַד שָׁלִיט בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא

   These words, this song is not original, it is a popular Sukkot song!

Yom Kippur: A Day To Make Amends, A Day To Move Forward, How To Obtain An Apology, How Yom Kippur Became Yom Kippur

How To Obtain An Apology:

    If you feel the need to seek an apology from someone in order to move forward in your relationship with them, I suggest you approach them and tell them from the outset that you will forgive them, and not bring the matter up again, but you feel and would appreciate a heartfelt apology.

 

How Yom Kippur Became Yom Kippur:

     Yom Kippur became the day of atonement/forgiveness for all time, when Moshe came down from Mount Sinai with the second set of tablets bearing the Ten Principles of Behavior Towards G-d and One's Fellow Creations aka "The Ten Commandments." That day was the 10th day of the seventh month which would become Yom Kippur. The existence of these second set of tablets was a sign that the Jewish people had been forgiven for the adulterous sin of the Golden Calf.   Moreover, the plans for the Mishkan=Tabernacle were back on the table. The Mishkan would enable G-d's Shechinah to reside in the midst of the Jewish people, analagous to a husband residing with his wife. This is the relationship, as proclaimed by the prophet Hosea, that G-d desires to have with each and every person on earth, not a master-servant relationship, but rather a teacher-partner relationship. 

     May we all become partners with G-d in our own and one another's conquering/sublimation of our base desires in the pursuit of higher, holier, selfless pursuits.

G-d Bless and Gemar Chatima Tovah,

Rabbi Mordechai Martin Goodman

Rosh Hashanah Message: We Can All Do More

BS"D
     I beseech you, my Jewish brethren and fellow world citizens, on this Rosh Hashanah, to pray for peace between the Jews and the Palestinians, as well as peaceful resolutions to all conflicts in the world.  Please put the weight of the world on your individual sholders as though the world was created only as a test to see how you relate to your fellow creations. 
Here is an excerpt from: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/talmud_&_mishna.html      "How are witnesses inspired with awe in capital cases?" the Mishna begins. "They are brought in and admonished as follows: In case you may want to offer testimony that is only conjecture or hearsay or secondhand evidence, even from a person you consider trustworthy; or in the event you do not know that we shall test you by cross-examination and inquiry, then know that capital cases are not like monetary cases. In monetary cases, a man can make monetary restitution and be forgiven, but in capital cases both the blood of the man put to death and the blood of his [potential] descendants are on the witness's head until the end of time. For thus we find in the case of Cain, who killed his brother, that it is written: 'The bloods of your brother cry unto Me' (Genesis 4:10) — that is, his blood and the blood of his potential descendants.... Therefore was the first man, Adam, created alone, to teach us that whoever destroys a single life, the Bible considers it as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a single life, the Bible considers it as if he saved an entire world. Furthermore, only one man, Adam, was created for the sake of peace among men, so that no one should say to his fellow, 'My father was greater than yours.... Also, man [was created singly] to show the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, for if a man strikes many coins from one mold, they all resemble one another, but the King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, made each man in the image of Adam, and yet not one of them resembles his fellow. Therefore every single person is obligated to say, 'The world was created for my sake"' (Mishna Sanhedrin 4:5)."
As it says in Pirkei Avoth = Ethics of the Fathers, "Lo alecha hamelacha ligmor, velo ata ben chorin = it is not upon you to complete the task, but you are not absolved of it ether,"  We can all do more,

Healthcare Almost Solved With Two Laws

1)  Healthcare insurance companies can sell their coverage in any state.
     (We don't need  fifty Americas when it comes to healthcare.)

2)  Any citizen or resident, regardless of pre-existing conditions can go to any employer,
     even not their own, and can join whatever plan(s) that employer offers.

The Way of G-d: Tzedaka and Mishpat = Righteousness and Law

              Sefer Bereishit: Perek 18, Pasuk 19 = The Book of Genesis: Chapter 18, Verse 19

For I have known him because he commands his sons and his household after him, that they should keep the way of  G-d to perform righteousness and justice, in order that the Lord bring upon Abraham that which He spoke concerning him."	כִי יְדַעְתִיו לְמַעַן אֲשֶר יְצַוֶה אֶת בָנָיו וְאֶת בֵיתוֹ אַחֲרָיו וְשָמְרו דֶרֶךְ יְ־הֹוָ־ה לַעֲשוֹת צְדָקָה ומִשְפָט לְמַעַן הָבִיא יְ־הֹוָ־ה עַל אַבְרָהָם אֵת אֲשֶר דִבֶר עָלָיו:

  In this week’s parsha:

Sefer Devarim: Perek 16, Pesukim 19-20=The Book of Deuteronomy: Chapter 16, Verses 19-20

You shall not pervert law; you shall not show favoritism, and you shall not take a bribe, for bribery blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may live and possess the land the Lord, your God, is giving you.	לֹא תַטֶה מִשְפָט לֹא תַכִיר פָנִים וְלֹא תִקַח שֹחַד כִי הַשֹחַד יְעַוֵר עֵינֵי חֲכָמִים וִיסַלֵף דִבְרֵי צַדִיקִם: צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִרְדֹף לְמַעַן תִחְיֶה וְיָרַשְתָ אֶת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶר יְ־הֹוָ־ה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ:

Civil Liberties and Free Speech

(Draft)
I love America. 

America is a multicultural nation that has an Official separation of Religion and State and Freedom of Religion for all.  I do not believe that every country in the world needs to be like America when it comes to the separation of Religion and State.  I believe in a World Full of Choices, where just about everyone can find a country with a national culture/religion which agreeable to them.  I do not believe that any adult should be forced to live in a country that they do not wish to live in.  Therefore, I have no problem with a country under Islamic law, Christian law, or Jewish law so long as it is desired by the majority of its citizens and basic civil liberties to all citizens and residents are protected. 

These basic civil liberties include:

1) The right to practice one’s individual religion in the privacy of his own home

2)  The right to assemble with like minded individuals and practice religion in a group

      and public setting  (with #2, you don’t actually need #1)

3)  The right to practice one’s own sexual orientation in the privacy of one’s own

      home 
    (I do not believe that a government should be forced to marry or recognize a marriage   
     that it does not morally or religiously agree to, but the government must allow for those people to  
     live together)

4)  The right not to be discriminated against with regards to education, employment,

      societal participation, and political participation on the basis of anything other than
      merit

5) The rights of free speech, assembly, and political dissent within appropriate environments

6)  The right to non-violent civil disobedience, so long as you are prepared to be

      arrested, and if you ae a non-citizen, deported

7)  The right to boycott, spend your money as you please, so long as you are prepared 

      for the government to call, but not demand, for an economic boycott of you

8)   The right to not be harassed or proselytized to with regards to one’s own private

       religion, belief system, or sexual orientation

9)  The right to fair, unbiased treatment under the law regardless of race, gender, sexual  

      orientation, or beliefs

10) The rights of parents to educate their own children, so long as the children are being  

       given basic literacy education in a national language, as well as a basic mathematical education

Israel, I believe has nine of the ten civil liberties I mentioned above.  They have recently failed with regards to their anti-boycott law which I oppose.

 
More on Freedom of Speech and Dissent Within One's Own Government:
I support free speech to the degree that any Government should Allow and Protect Hate Speech and Dissent to be lega,l but not Violently Threatening speech.  Freedom of speech should be limited when it comes to the Harassment of Individuals, especially the bullying of children.  When it comes to dissent of public policy, again I do think that a government has to allow its own citizens to be voices of non-violent dissent, but should not be obligated to allow non-citizens to enter its borders to voice Their opposition. 

An Article by Dr. Eliezer Hadad From the Israel Democracy Institute

http://www.idi.org.il/sites/english/ResearchAndPrograms/Religion%20and%20State/Pages/TheRabbisLetterAndHalakhah.aspx

"The "Rabbis' Letter", signed by dozens of community rabbis in Israel in December 2010, asserts that Jewish law forbids the rental and sale of homes in Israel to non-Jews. Is the rental of property to non-Jews indeed forbidden by halakha? What is the status of non-Jews living as a minority among Jews? Are the Biblical prohibitions cited in the Rabbis' Letter applicable to Arabs in Israel today?
In this article, IDI Researcher Dr. Eliezer Hadad surveys opinions by contemporary rabbis who adopted a universalistic approach and found a halakhic basis for the equal rights mandated by both international norms and the Israeli Declaration of Independence."

Zionism

At the heart of Zionism should be two ideas:

1)  Maintaining the Israel/Palesine land, even if shared, as a safe haven for Jews over the world and
2)  Being able to assist Jews in returning to their ancestral and spiritual homeland        

These two ideas can exist without seeking to displace or have sovereignty over Palestinians. 

http://rabbimartingoodman.blogspot.com/2011/08/shared-lands-two-sovereigns-alternative.html

Shared Lands, Two Sovereigns: An Alternative Peace Solution To The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Shared Lands, Two Sovereigns:

An Alternative Peace Solution To The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

(Draft by Rabbi Mordechai Martin Goodman)

1)      Any Jew or Palestinian, including Israeli settlers and Palestinian refugees, may move to and live in any city or town in Israel/Palestine.

2)      Israeli and Palestinian government buildings may be built and operated anywhere within Israel/Palestine.

3)      Both Israel and Palestine will write individual and overlapping constitutions.  Jews, Palestinians, and other groups will choose whether they want to be an Israeli national or a Palestinian national.

4)      Whether an Israeli national or a Palestinian national, Israelis and Palestinians will vote together in local elections, and pay local taxes.

5)      All national taxes will be equally shared by Israel and Palestine.

6)      All police forces throughout Israel/Palestine will be comprised of an equal amount of Israelis and Palestinians who will be partnered together from the level of patrol officers to police chiefs.

7)      Israel will maintain its IDF, but will not use the IDF for police action in Israel/Palestine unless called upon by both Israeli and Palestinian police chiefs in a given locale.  The IDF can be used in agriculture and infrastructure maintenance and creation. The agriculture and infrastruture force should be bi-national.

8)      All holy sites throughout Israel/Palestine, including The Temple Mount will be available to all go worship and pray, so long as the desire by anyone doing so is not meant to incite discord.  A bi-national governmental entity equally comprised of Israelis and Palestinians will be established so as to work out scheduling for holy site use with regards to holidays.

9a  Anti-incitement legislation will be passed by both the Israeli national government

      and the Palestinian national government. 

9b) A bi-national governmental entity equally comprised of Israelis and Palestinians

      will be established and given the power to order police forces to arrest those

      guilty of incitement.  Police forces can of course act independently as well.

9c)  Although hate speech, as opposed to threatening speech, will be legal, the bi-

       national governmental entity will also be charged of identifying, denouncing, and

       hopefully dissuading hate speech.