As we begin the journey to High Holidays, I look at Matot the end of the Book of Numbers, where God is fastidiously concerned that we get right our relationship with the God of Judaism and, even deeper, the true God of the Universe.  When these fall short, we are asked through the Biblical spirituality of vows, do we even care about our own word and how we show up in this world?  This is a teaching for approaching the journey of weeks to the High Holidays.

As we begin the journey to High Holidays, I look at Matot the end of the Book of Numbers, where God is fastidiously concerned that we get right our relationship with the God of Judaism and, even deeper, the true God of the Universe.  When these fall short, we are asked through the Biblical spirituality of vows, do we even care about our own word and how we show up in this world?  This is a teaching for approaching the journey of weeks to the High Holidays.

The Three Covenants: God Cares About God’s Brand.  Do You?

Parashat Beha'alotkha begins with a memo to all the Israelites that doubles down on the top down hierarchy of Aharon and Moshe at the top, and then it continues with a series of amplified grumblings, complaints, and a continuation of the deterioration of the communal project and institution --now one year in-- that Exodus and Leviticus championed.  The crux is that the top down structure operates through directives, orders, and job descriptions, and with each person now operating out of their tent-and-family --unlike before when slavery, Sinai, and mishkan construction were in person collective activities.  It is an apropos description of the change from in-person to remote-work that we have experienced in the last four years, and the insoluble fractures it is causing are not only not resolved, but continue to tear apart the fabric of collective identity for the next several parashiyot in Numbers.  How fitting we are reading this when the top tech companies, who created and sustain remote work, claim they can no longer function operating that way themselves.

Parashat Beha'alotkha begins with a memo to all the Israelites that doubles down on the top down hierarchy of Aharon and Moshe at the top, and then it continues with a series of amplified grumblings, complaints, and a continuation of the deterioration of the communal project and institution --now one year in-- that Exodus and Leviticus championed.  The crux is that the top down structure operates through directives, orders, and job descriptions, and with each person now operating out of their tent-and-family --unlike before when slavery, Sinai, and mishkan construction were in person collective activities.  It is an apropos description of the change from in-person to remote-work that we have experienced in the last four years, and the insoluble fractures it is causing are not only not resolved, but continue to tear apart the fabric of collective identity for the next several parashiyot in Numbers.  How fitting we are reading this when the top tech companies, who created and sustain remote work, claim they can no longer function operating that way themselves.

Is the Book of Numbers about Remote Work?

Victor Turner

The longest parashah of the Torah's is Numbers' Naso, which begins with the theme of the tabernacle of roving ritual performance, like a traveling theater group, and then describes four ritual dramas that take publicly:  the financial penitent, the jealous husband, the addict, and the arrogant prince.  What do these have in common?  Rather than seeing ritual function to impose comformity and social roles, I examine this through the theory of Victor Turner, who posited that rituals actually subvert conventional roles, and in a theatrical way, use fixed theater scrips and actions to subvert them, and you.

The longest parashah of the Torah's is Numbers' Naso, which begins with the theme of the tabernacle of roving ritual performance, like a traveling theater group, and then describes four ritual dramas that take publicly:  the financial penitent, the jealous husband, the addict, and the arrogant prince.  What do these have in common?  Rather than seeing ritual function to impose comformity and social roles, I examine this through the theory of Victor Turner, who posited that rituals actually subvert conventional roles, and in a theatrical way, use fixed theater scrips and actions to subvert them, and you.

Be Someone Else: Victor Turner and the Subversiveness of Ritual Performance

The Rabbis are understandably preoccupied with why the Torah was given bemidbar Sinai, in the wilderness of Sinai, rather than in the Land of Israel.  Entire commentary collections are devoted to this one profound fact.  In fact, the fourth book of the Bible, Bemidbar, even means "In the wilderness" and often occurs just before the holiday of Shavuot, where we collectively re-experience the gift of Torah happening in the wilderness.  A teaching developed that the meaning of the Torah being "a gift from the wilderness" means that in order to receive Torah and wisdom in your life you need to "make yourself a wilderness," meaning that you make yourself a holy receptive vessel through becoming a midbar, a wildnerness.  I teach some traditional teachings of practicing that in your own life. 

The Rabbis are understandably preoccupied with why the Torah was given bemidbar Sinai, in the wilderness of Sinai, rather than in the Land of Israel.  Entire commentary collections are devoted to this one profound fact.  In fact, the fourth book of the Bible, Bemidbar, even means "In the wilderness" and often occurs just before the holiday of Shavuot, where we collectively re-experience the gift of Torah happening in the wilderness.  A teaching developed that the meaning of the Torah being "a gift from the wilderness" means that in order to receive Torah and wisdom in your life you need to "make yourself a wilderness," meaning that you make yourself a holy receptive vessel through becoming a midbar, a wildnerness.  I teach some traditional teachings of practicing that in your own life.

”Make Yourself a Wilderness” To Receive Torah

In this teaching, I note how there are two sorts of social legislation that emerge out of the Holiness Code of Leviticus (as well as other places):  the kind that is aspirational --invitations to become a holy people through holiness of giving, holiness of speech, holiness of conduct, holiness of caring-- and the kind that is deeply uncomfortable structural change -- i.e. so aspirational that you really want to just leave it "in heaven" as an unreachable ideal.  An excellent example of the latter is the Jubilee Year, or Jubilee Reset, when not only does the Land receive extra ecological dispensation (terrifying for an agrarian culture), and not only are most debts forgiven (also terrifying to the economic system), but the Biblical basis of capital, the Land itself, is returned to an original apportionment.  I compare the Jubilee Reset of capital once every 50 years to the Estate Tax, a way to prevent generational wealth from accumulating so far that the society cannot overcome the class divisions it creates of structural poor and structural privilege.  In America, the Estate Tax is easy skirted with comically massive loopholes, while the generationally wealthy claim through propaganda that it should be eliminated because it is somehow targeted at farms, rather than the real problem of generational inherited wealth.  Leviticus ends warning of societal collapse if we leave the Jubilee as an ideal rather than practical policy.  What would society look like if we actually had a law that one cannot leave more than 50 million dollars to each child? 

In this teaching, I note how there are two sorts of social legislation that emerge out of the Holiness Code of Leviticus (as well as other places):  the kind that is aspirational --invitations to become a holy people through holiness of giving, holiness of speech, holiness of conduct, holiness of caring-- and the kind that is deeply uncomfortable structural change -- i.e. so aspirational that you really want to just leave it "in heaven" as an unreachable ideal.  An excellent example of the latter is the Jubilee Year, or Jubilee Reset, when not only does the Land receive extra ecological dispensation (terrifying for an agrarian culture), and not only are most debts forgiven (also terrifying to the economic system), but the Biblical basis of capital, the Land itself, is returned to an original apportionment.  I compare the Jubilee Reset of capital once every 50 years to the Estate Tax, a way to prevent generational wealth from accumulating so far that the society cannot overcome the class divisions it creates of structural poor and structural privilege.  In America, the Estate Tax is easy skirted with comically massive loopholes, while the generationally wealthy claim through propaganda that it should be eliminated because it is somehow targeted at farms, rather than the real problem of generational inherited wealth.  Leviticus ends warning of societal collapse if we leave the Jubilee as an ideal rather than practical policy.  What would society look like if we actually had a law that one cannot leave more than 50 million dollars to each child?

Jubilee and the Passing on of Generational Wealth

In honor of Lag B'Omer, I succinctly recount the Jewish mystical practice of embodying God's attributes during the period of Counting the Omer.  Specifically, in the transition to the week of Lag B'Omer, we transition from practicing in our lives the form of leadership that involves pushing people, and yourself, to get through tasks, the kind of action in which you feel you're carrying people to the finish line so the team gets there, to a different mode of leadership from God's attributes, the leader who says little at the team meeting, and then when they need to, utters just a few humble words (like "Isn't who we are really about X?") that change everything. Netzach (pushing through) and Hod (winning by stepping aside, like in martial arts) interplay.

In honor of Lag B'Omer, I succinctly recount the Jewish mystical practice of embodying God's attributes during the period of Counting the Omer.  Specifically, in the transition to the week of Lag B'Omer, we transition from practicing in our lives the form of leadership that involves pushing people, and yourself, to get through tasks, the kind of action in which you feel you're carrying people to the finish line so the team gets there, to a different mode of leadership from God's attributes, the leader who says little at the team meeting, and then when they need to, utters just a few humble words (like "Isn't who we are really about X?") that change everything. Netzach (pushing through) and Hod (winning by stepping aside, like in martial arts) interplay.

Two Forms of Action: Embodying the Kabbalistic Forces of Netzach and Hod

Hope you're not having an Ecclesiastes month....

Hope you're not having an Ecclesiastes month....

Torah In a Minute: What’s the Big Deal About the Lunar Calendar?

Drawing on many articles, from the New Republic to Thomas Friedman, I use Nachmanides' commentary on a verse from the Golden Calf account, the verse that recounts Moshe's reaction to witnessing the events unfolding, with unflinching criticism of Aaron's (supposed) leadership, and using a rare Hebrew word to describe the scene, that sounds like the Nation is becoming Pharaoh.  How apt. Text of some of the sermon is available here.

Drawing on many articles, from the New Republic to Thomas Friedman, I use Nachmanides' commentary on a verse from the Golden Calf account, the verse that recounts Moshe's reaction to witnessing the events unfolding, with unflinching criticism of Aaron's (supposed) leadership, and using a rare Hebrew word to describe the scene, that sounds like the Nation is becoming Pharaoh.  How apt. Text of some of the sermon is available <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tSjJq7EcpyOiWa8OWEY1wO6x9MzYQwjb0vX_DS_VY_s/edit?usp=sharing" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>.

The Golden Calf and the Present Government in Israel

Using Rabbi Jane Kanarek's 2019 CJLS (Conservative Movement) halakhic responsum, I explain the complex development of Jewish head covering for both men and for women.  Though my conclusions from the sources are a bit different from Rabbi Kanarek's --who does not address issues of relative cultural gender standards-- I, like her, agree that the vast majority of Jews are uneducated to the halakhah of head coverings in awareness of God's presence and in representing the community before God -- a basis that is essentially independent of the familiar domains of female gender modesty and male Jewish identity.  Interestingly, today there is a movement of Jewish women under 50 to wear Jewish scarves and headbands, apparently in recovery of Jewish gender price and identity, but I believe many who do so are unaware of the complex roots that separate principles of hair covering and head covering.

Using Rabbi Jane Kanarek's 2019 CJLS (Conservative Movement) halakhic responsum, I explain the complex development of Jewish head covering for both men and for women.  Though my conclusions from the sources are a bit different from Rabbi Kanarek's --who does not address issues of relative cultural gender standards-- I, like her, agree that the vast majority of Jews are uneducated to the halakhah of head coverings in awareness of God's presence and in representing the community before God -- a basis that is essentially independent of the familiar domains of female gender modesty and male Jewish identity.  Interestingly, today there is a movement of Jewish women under 50 to wear Jewish scarves and headbands, apparently in recovery of Jewish gender price and identity, but I believe many who do so are unaware of the complex roots that separate principles of hair covering and head covering.

Jewish Law, Head Covering, and Knowing Before Whom You Stand

I've always wondered why we repeatedly pray to God to be willing to grant us Shabbat, etc.  What does it mean to be willing, or to be capable of exercising one's will?  Free will and the exercise of will always comes up when trying to understand Pharoah's will and heart-hardening in Shemot, and so I use sources there to answer the question.  The conclusion touches on how our relationship to God is different from our relationship to Torah.  God, like Moshe, may not always be speaking or willing, but the Torah always is.

I've always wondered why we repeatedly pray to God to be willing to grant us Shabbat, etc.  What does it mean to be willing, or to be capable of exercising one's will?  Free will and the exercise of will always comes up when trying to understand Pharoah's will and heart-hardening in Shemot, and so I use sources there to answer the question.  The conclusion touches on how our relationship to God is different from our relationship to Torah.  God, like Moshe, may not always be speaking or willing, but the Torah always is.

God the Stutterer, God the Reluctant

Scholarly, Compassionate, and Practical Jewish Teachings on God, Prayer, Torah and Kabbalah with Rabbi Nadav Caine (ravnadav)

I get excited every time I see that something new has been uploaded. I genuinely enjoy listening to Rabbi Cain&#39;s sermons.  They&#39;re though-provoking, human, sensitive, compassionate, and powerful.  I&#39;m not Jewish, but Rabbi Cain makes me wish I was.  I would love to have him as my Rabbi.

Wonderful!

Thoughtful and inspiring, sensitive and wonderfully perspective-shifting.

Thank you for making me think!

Judaism for the Thinking Person

Conservative Judaism is pretty much always on the defensive these days.  We live in a world where all the legitimacy is ascribed to the Left or to the Right, and the voice of the Middle Way is discounted, even by those who are living it!  In the sermon, I try to show that the deepest religious path of spirituality, wisdom, and practice is The Middle Way.  In a world where conviction is shown in the extremes, we ought to embrace the holiness of truly believing and practicing The Religion of Hillel, not of Shammai.

Conservative Judaism is pretty much always on the defensive these days.  We live in a world where all the legitimacy is ascribed to the Left or to the Right, and the voice of the Middle Way is discounted, even by those who are living it!  In the sermon, I try to show that the deepest religious path of spirituality, wisdom, and practice is The Middle Way.  In a world where conviction is shown in the extremes, we ought to embrace the holiness of truly believing and practicing The Religion of Hillel, not of Shammai.

The Middle Way:  Conservative Judaism Without Apology

I present new difficulties facing progressive rabbis from the Left, including a paucity of resources to even discuss the rise in anti-Semitic attacks because racism "cannot be perpetrated against people of privilege," by new progressive definitions.  This, combined with other progressive tropes, has created a situation whereby anti-Semitism can only be mentioned by white Jews of privilege (like rabbis like me) once we have "fixed ourselves" according to purity tests on the left, and which mainly mean leaving our Judaism and our Zionism behind.  In that sense, it's a "gaslighting" situation whereby every time we cry out for the injustice against ourselves, we are told first we must "get well" before anything will be addressed. My reading of Jacob's Wrestling with the "Angel" is that it speaks to issues we are struggling with today around the prevalence and reality of depression and anxiety.  We want to say that Jacob overcame his fears in order to face his brother, when something closer to the truth is that Jacob only temporarily overcame his fears, but quickly returns to them (since he flees from his brother immediately after facing him and lying to him, and then he suffers great fear and depression ongoing in his life).  Similarly, we wish those who suffer depression and anxiety could overcome them in a way that we can celebrate, like the end of a Hallmark movie. I argue that this is a tendency to blame the victim, a tendency to say the problem is "in them" and must be "fixed" and "treated" in them, rather than consider that they, and many of us, live in a CRAZY-MAKING world, and the whole system needs to be fixed and addressed.  (In psychology, this is called the mistake of identifying "a target patient" rather than targetting the system.  Without acknowledging the system, we are "gaslighting" the victim when we tell them:  "Just get a better therapist, coach, self-help book... Learn to prioritize, do self-care, etc."  We do that to Yaakov/Jacob. I never got to give a great sermon on this because there was a violent act of Anti-Semitism two days before.  And what I realized is that Jews are being told the problem is in many ways with themselves when it comes to Anti-Semitism.  We say, "We're anxious!  There is rising anti-Semitism!  The press isn't even covering the attacks!  I want to be able to be a public Jew!" and the reply from some progressive quarters is, "Well, maybe it's Israel's fault, or your own failing to reckon with your own racism or privilege, and maybe you could be cured by dropping your Judaism and by just voicing a fully secularized progressivism" which is another form of gaslighting, of telling Jews THEY NEED TO CHANGE rather than that THEY LIVE IN A CRAZY MAKING SITUATION.  I try to explore this comparison in this 16 minute teaching.

I present new difficulties facing progressive rabbis from the Left, including a paucity of resources to even discuss the rise in anti-Semitic attacks because racism "cannot be perpetrated against people of privilege," by new progressive definitions.  This, combined with other progressive tropes, has created a situation whereby anti-Semitism can only be mentioned by white Jews of privilege (like rabbis like me) once we have "fixed ourselves" according to purity tests on the left, and which mainly mean leaving our Judaism and our Zionism behind.  In that sense, it's a "gaslighting" situation whereby every time we cry out for the injustice against ourselves, we are told first we must "get well" before anything will be addressed. My reading of Jacob's Wrestling with the "Angel" is that it speaks to issues we are struggling with today around the prevalence and reality of depression and anxiety.  We want to say that Jacob overcame his fears in order to face his brother, when something closer to the truth is that Jacob only temporarily overcame his fears, but quickly returns to them (since he flees from his brother immediately after facing him and lying to him, and then he suffers great fear and depression ongoing in his life).  Similarly, we wish those who suffer depression and anxiety could overcome them in a way that we can celebrate, like the end of a Hallmark movie. I argue that this is a tendency to blame the victim, a tendency to say the problem is "in them" and must be "fixed" and "treated" in them, rather than consider that they, and many of us, live in a CRAZY-MAKING world, and the whole system needs to be fixed and addressed.  (In psychology, this is called the mistake of identifying "a target patient" rather than targetting the system.  Without acknowledging the system, we are "gaslighting" the victim when we tell them:  "Just get a better therapist, coach, self-help book... Learn to prioritize, do self-care, etc."  We do that to Yaakov/Jacob. I never got to give a great sermon on this because there was a violent act of Anti-Semitism two days before.  And what I realized is that Jews are being told the problem is in many ways with themselves when it comes to Anti-Semitism.  We say, "We're anxious!  There is rising anti-Semitism!  The press isn't even covering the attacks!  I want to be able to be a public Jew!" and the reply from some progressive quarters is, "Well, maybe it's Israel's fault, or your own failing to reckon with your own racism or privilege, and maybe you could be cured by dropping your Judaism and by just voicing a fully secularized progressivism" which is another form of gaslighting, of telling Jews THEY NEED TO CHANGE rather than that THEY LIVE IN A CRAZY MAKING SITUATION.  I try to explore this comparison in this 16 minute teaching.

FIXED: Anti-Semitism (Jew Hatred) & Gaslighting the Jews:  Progressives Telling Us to "Go Fix Yourselves First"

One of the halakhot of the Torah service is "Ein Midalgin ba-Torah," one may not skip [words, verses, or chapters] during the Torah reading."  Underlying this strict practical rule is an important value:  we must pay attention to all verses of the Torah, even uncomfortable ones, like those about slavery.  In this sermon, I relate this principle to Exodus chapter 21, which includes rules about slavery rather than eliminates it; and then I look at a Bible that actually did skip verses, the so-called "Slave Bible."  I will leave it to the listener to hear which verses of chapter 21 (and elsewhere) were included as appropriate for those enslaved by the British to fund the empire through sugar plantations, as I also compare the phenomenon to the 1619 Project's recent article "They sold human beings here."

One of the halakhot of the Torah service is "Ein Midalgin ba-Torah," one may not skip [words, verses, or chapters] during the Torah reading."  Underlying this strict practical rule is an important value:  we must pay attention to all verses of the Torah, even uncomfortable ones, like those about slavery.  In this sermon, I relate this principle to Exodus chapter 21, which includes rules about slavery rather than eliminates it; and then I look at a Bible that actually did skip verses, the so-called "Slave Bible."  I will leave it to the listener to hear which verses of chapter 21 (and elsewhere) were included as appropriate for those enslaved by the British to fund the empire through sugar plantations, as I also compare the phenomenon to the 1619 Project's recent article "They sold human beings here."

What do we do about Slavery in the Torah?  Ein Midalgin ba-Torah: No Skipping in the Torah!

The Rabbis argue whether the first part of the Joseph saga displays Joseph's arrogance or whether he has no such intent.  I relate this to the act of taking a selfie, or posting successes and photos on social media... so similar to the Rabbis' concern that Joseph puts too much attention into his personal appearance and promise.  I then conduct an obscure halakhic exercise:  how do the legal codes understand "the right way to have an aliyah to the Torah?"  The Halakhic concern is that while a person who closes the scroll during their blessing might just be following the custom they learned growing up --since the majority of halakhic opinions is to leave the scroll open-- it sure looks like yoharah, a public display of one's higher personal piety.  Are we conscious of what we are doing with our customs, with our social media posts... are we at risk, as the Rabbis worry, of thinking we are "just posting" how we do things (which is really an act of NOT thinking), when we may be harboring the ambiguous, semi-conscious preciousness of the selfie?  

The Rabbis argue whether the first part of the Joseph saga displays Joseph's arrogance or whether he has no such intent.  I relate this to the act of taking a selfie, or posting successes and photos on social media... so similar to the Rabbis' concern that Joseph puts too much attention into his personal appearance and promise.  I then conduct an obscure halakhic exercise:  how do the legal codes understand "the right way to have an aliyah to the Torah?"  The Halakhic concern is that while a person who closes the scroll during their blessing might just be following the custom they learned growing up --since the majority of halakhic opinions is to leave the scroll open-- it sure looks like yoharah, a public display of one's higher personal piety.  Are we conscious of what we are doing with our customs, with our social media posts... are we at risk, as the Rabbis worry, of thinking we are "just posting" how we do things (which is really an act of NOT thinking), when we may be harboring the ambiguous, semi-conscious preciousness of the selfie?

The Selfie and Your Halakhic Display

A lecture in which I present the thesis of Richard Elliott Friedman's book on Exodus, which focuses on the two most ancient parts of the Torah (the Song of the Sea and the Song of Deborah), the historical trends in Biblical archaeology and criticism, and why the Torah could well be a story of two long lost parts of the Hebrew family tree coming together in Israel, possibly under a female leader.  The theme reflects the issues of our time:  overcoming tribalism to have a national vision based on values, and (surprisingly?) those values/Torah coming from those refugee cousins newly in the Land. I've made an optional source-sheet of Biblical texts to go with this lecture.  See: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/178990?lang=bi

A lecture in which I present the thesis of Richard Elliott Friedman's book on Exodus, which focuses on the two most ancient parts of the Torah (the Song of the Sea and the Song of Deborah), the historical trends in Biblical archaeology and criticism, and why the Torah could well be a story of two long lost parts of the Hebrew family tree coming together in Israel, possibly under a female leader.  The theme reflects the issues of our time:  overcoming tribalism to have a national vision based on values, and (surprisingly?) those values/Torah coming from those refugee cousins newly in the Land. I've made an optional source-sheet of Biblical texts to go with this lecture.  See: <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/178990?lang=bi" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/178990?lang=bi</a>

 Did the Exodus Happen?  Archaeology, Biblical Criticism, and The Torah As the Coming Together of Two Hebrew Peoples

We all know that the Ten Commandments are important, and many of us know that there's some way they're different from other "commandments," but we rarely get to the heart of the matter.  In this spontaneous presentation (and hence inferior audio quality), I try to convey exactly what this difference is, and why the Ten Commandments are truly a unique spiritual path of immediate connection to God's presence.  In addition to using real-world examples from my own life, I also explain the importance of Rabbi Abraham Joshua's theology without the typical poeticizing or trivialization of it.  We experience God at our own Sinai, no different from our ancestors, and yet we often walk away from our connection to God.  Why?  I try to explain in this very personal podcast.  

We all know that the Ten Commandments are important, and many of us know that there's some way they're different from other "commandments," but we rarely get to the heart of the matter.  In this spontaneous presentation (and hence inferior audio quality), I try to convey exactly what this difference is, and why the Ten Commandments are truly a unique spiritual path of immediate connection to God's presence.  In addition to using real-world examples from my own life, I also explain the importance of Rabbi Abraham Joshua's theology without the typical poeticizing or trivialization of it.  We experience God at our own Sinai, no different from our ancestors, and yet we often walk away from our connection to God.  Why?  I try to explain in this very personal podcast.

The Ten Commandments as Your Path to Encounter God Directly

If you were a literary critic analyzing the evening prayers, you would have to note how often the trope of going to bed and waking up is repeated:  Ahavat Olam before Shema, VeAhavta and VeHaya Im-Shmo'a after Shema, Hashkiveinu, and then Barukh Adonai  Bayom 'VaLayla on Weekdays or the Shabbat Psalm on Friday night.  Wow:  for a twelve minute service, you've prayed about going to sleep and waking up five times!) What is this all about?  And why is the most commonly studied volume of Talmud, Berakhot ("Blessings"), concerned greatly about the timing of nighttime and morning prayers as well?  In this podcast, I connect all of these with reflections about the psycho-physiological aspects of falling asleep and waking up, including theories about the function of prayer and a recent study on when one should be waking up.  I conclude with a very practical exercise for improving one's spiritual and physical health.

If you were a literary critic analyzing the evening prayers, you would have to note how often the trope of going to bed and waking up is repeated:  Ahavat Olam before Shema, VeAhavta and VeHaya Im-Shmo'a after Shema, Hashkiveinu, and then Barukh Adonai  Bayom 'VaLayla on Weekdays or the Shabbat Psalm on Friday night.  Wow:  for a twelve minute service, you've prayed about going to sleep and waking up five times!) What is this all about?  And why is the most commonly studied volume of Talmud, Berakhot ("Blessings"), concerned greatly about the timing of nighttime and morning prayers as well?  In this podcast, I connect all of these with reflections about the psycho-physiological aspects of falling asleep and waking up, including theories about the function of prayer and a recent study on when one should be waking up.  I conclude with a very practical exercise for improving one's spiritual and physical health.

Why Are The Prayers Constantly Speaking of "When we lie down and when we rise up?" - A Practical Guide

Judaism has long been in a theological crisis.  Under the shadow of classical Christian supernaturalism and American evangelicalism, most Jews tell me they don't believe in God because they believe in scientific explanations of Biblical narrative instead.  In this sermon, I take this on directly, arguing that the Torah juxtaposes the revelation of God's name as God's essence (in Exodus chapter 6) and the 10 plagues to make a theological point that most of us would agree with:  God's essence is the interconnectedness of everything natural and human.  The "scientific" explanation of the plagues (which I draw from a 2019 Time Magazine article by Olivia Waxman) is the demonstration of God's essence as the interconnectedness of all natural and human systems, and the massive chain reactions that occur when we throw them out of balance.  (In Kabbalah, Moses's revelation was of God's essence as Tiferet, ultimate balance.)  The hardening of hearts --not atheism-- is actually the very definition of avoiding connection to God because our normal mindset is to only see one effect from one cause, rather than radical disruption of systems.  (For example, we might see one toxic spill leading to one or two bad effects, rather than leading us to see the chain reaction to the endocrine system disruption of millions of people, which itself leads by chain reaction to massive upheaval in our natural-human systems.  The reaction, like the plagues, goes on and on, but we are resistant to see it.  Our hearts are hard because we don't want to follow the chain of effects beyond one or two.)  Please note that I extensively use the articulation of this from a short essay by Bill Shackman from the Conservative Yeshiva's Torah Sparks.

Judaism has long been in a theological crisis.  Under the shadow of classical Christian supernaturalism and American evangelicalism, most Jews tell me they don't believe in God because they believe in scientific explanations of Biblical narrative instead.  In this sermon, I take this on directly, arguing that the Torah juxtaposes the revelation of God's name as God's essence (in Exodus chapter 6) and the 10 plagues to make a theological point that most of us would agree with:  God's essence is the interconnectedness of everything natural and human.  The "scientific" explanation of the plagues (which I draw from a 2019 Time Magazine article by Olivia Waxman) is the demonstration of God's essence as the interconnectedness of all natural and human systems, and the massive chain reactions that occur when we throw them out of balance.  (In Kabbalah, Moses's revelation was of God's essence as Tiferet, ultimate balance.)  The hardening of hearts --not atheism-- is actually the very definition of avoiding connection to God because our normal mindset is to only see one effect from one cause, rather than radical disruption of systems.  (For example, we might see one toxic spill leading to one or two bad effects, rather than leading us to see the chain reaction to the endocrine system disruption of millions of people, which itself leads by chain reaction to massive upheaval in our natural-human systems.  The reaction, like the plagues, goes on and on, but we are resistant to see it.  Our hearts are hard because we don't want to follow the chain of effects beyond one or two.)  Please note that I extensively use the articulation of this from a short essay by Bill Shackman from the Conservative Yeshiva's Torah Sparks.

What is God?  The Scientific Explanation of the Plagues As Essential To Understanding What God Is

Moses, having been raised by a team of women, "goes out" to experience the world of men when he becomes a teenager.  He experiences fighting and injustice, and when he looks "to and fro" to see if any man is going to do anything about it, sees that no "man" is willing to step up.  So he steps up himself.  He then sees two Hebrew men fighting, one the aggressor and the other the victim, and he tries to engage them in conversation to stop the behavior.  But like a male locker room, rather than talk at all, they (even the victim!) threaten him.  The world of men does not allow for a conversation about abuse, dehumanization, and changed behavior.  So he must flee to Midian, where he then "rises up" in action to stop a group of young men from harrassing young women.  Though clearly 1) Moses knows what justice is, and 2) Moses is not afraid of action, just a few verses later 3) Moses says he is incapable of articulating either in words.  (This might indicate what the revelation of Sinai will be, by the way.)  This is remarkably similar to the recent book of Peggy Orenstein, who argues that young men today  1) know how they should be treating the world of women, 2) know what actions are the right ones, but 3) lack any language for explaining it all, for explaining what it means to be in the world of men (especially in any positive sense), and why they won't "rise up" in their lockerrooms or social groups to stop other boys from spreading offensive pornographic memes, sharing misogynist jokes, or encouraging conquests of women.  Such young men would have to risk their social capital, and even when willing to, don't have the language to persuade against the self-images of masculinity.  Like the Hebrew men threatening Moses for even beginning a conversation about their wrong, abusive behavior, Moses goes out to the world of men, sees the problems (including the treatment of women), but then tells God he would never be able to articulate true masculinity or the need for changed behavior in the world of men.

Moses, having been raised by a team of women, "goes out" to experience the world of men when he becomes a teenager.  He experiences fighting and injustice, and when he looks "to and fro" to see if any man is going to do anything about it, sees that no "man" is willing to step up.  So he steps up himself.  He then sees two Hebrew men fighting, one the aggressor and the other the victim, and he tries to engage them in conversation to stop the behavior.  But like a male locker room, rather than talk at all, they (even the victim!) threaten him.  The world of men does not allow for a conversation about abuse, dehumanization, and changed behavior.  So he must flee to Midian, where he then "rises up" in action to stop a group of young men from harrassing young women.  Though clearly 1) Moses knows what justice is, and 2) Moses is not afraid of action, just a few verses later 3) Moses says he is incapable of articulating either in words.  (This might indicate what the revelation of Sinai will be, by the way.)  This is remarkably similar to the recent book of Peggy Orenstein, who argues that young men today  1) know how they should be treating the world of women, 2) know what actions are the right ones, but 3) lack any language for explaining it all, for explaining what it means to be in the world of men (especially in any positive sense), and why they won't "rise up" in their lockerrooms or social groups to stop other boys from spreading offensive pornographic memes, sharing misogynist jokes, or encouraging conquests of women.  Such young men would have to risk their social capital, and even when willing to, don't have the language to persuade against the self-images of masculinity.  Like the Hebrew men threatening Moses for even beginning a conversation about their wrong, abusive behavior, Moses goes out to the world of men, sees the problems (including the treatment of women), but then tells God he would never be able to articulate true masculinity or the need for changed behavior in the world of men.

The Failing Language of Masculinity, For Moses and For Today

This is a summary lecture from a lecture series I did in Ann Arbor on Judaism and Buddhism: Examining Jewish Mysticism and Philosophy through the 4 Noble Truths.   What if we understand "revelation" as "enlightenment" rather than miraculous supernatural dictation (which is, after all, a thoroughly incoherent concept)?  What if the entire "teaching" (Torah) of Shabbat has to do with bringing enlightenment to the masses?

This is a summary lecture from a lecture series I did in Ann Arbor on Judaism and Buddhism: Examining Jewish Mysticism and Philosophy through the 4 Noble Truths.   What if we understand "revelation" as "enlightenment" rather than miraculous supernatural dictation (which is, after all, a thoroughly incoherent concept)?  What if the entire "teaching" (Torah) of Shabbat has to do with bringing enlightenment to the masses?

Judaism and Buddhism: Enlightenment, Nirvana, and Shabbat

The first parashah that accompanies this novel period of social distancing has lessons to teach us in how to best use the time we now have returned to us. The parashah begins with the command that a (naturally antimicrobial) copper-brass laver of water is placed in the central courtyard of the tabernacle and that the Levites must wash their hands between every interaction of service lest they die. Synagogues today incorporate the adapted features of the Tabernacle with the exceptions of the incense and the laver. We have restored the laver this week with the large bottles of Purell. How apropros. Ki Tissa continues with the completely out-of-order story of the Golden Calf.  Why doesn't this pivotal story about idolatry -- idolatry is when we put our money, time, and spiritual resources into the wrong areas-- occur way back when it actually happened, before the revelation at Mount Sinai? Because we needed what has happened since, all the activities of building the portable sanctuary, the practices of renewal during Shabbat, the visions of divine Service of the Levites... to give us a context for understanding what the opposite of idolatry is. And these activities give us ideas for how to use this time of crisis for a renewal of our relationship to time.

The first parashah that accompanies this novel period of social distancing has lessons to teach us in how to best use the time we now have returned to us. The parashah begins with the command that a (naturally antimicrobial) copper-brass laver of water is placed in the central courtyard of the tabernacle and that the Levites must wash their hands between every interaction of service lest they die. Synagogues today incorporate the adapted features of the Tabernacle with the exceptions of the incense and the laver. We have restored the laver this week with the large bottles of Purell. How apropros. Ki Tissa continues with the completely out-of-order story of the Golden Calf.  Why doesn't this pivotal story about idolatry -- idolatry is when we put our money, time, and spiritual resources into the wrong areas-- occur way back when it actually happened, before the revelation at Mount Sinai? Because we needed what has happened since, all the activities of building the portable sanctuary, the practices of renewal during Shabbat, the visions of divine Service of the Levites... to give us a context for understanding what the opposite of idolatry is. And these activities give us ideas for how to use this time of crisis for a renewal of our relationship to time.

Torah Ideas for Rethinking our Relationship to Time In Our Present Crisis

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