Parashat HaShuvah - Yayishlach - "Overcoming the Power of Fear." Genesis 33:4-36:43, Haftarah, Obadiah 1:1-22

When one of my sons was little, the big concern was about monsters under his bed before he went to sleep.  The nightly ritual was as follows.  We’d look under the bed together to make sure there was nothing there. When the coast was clear we would say the nighttime Shema and ask God to take away the bad stuff before I turned off the lights and kissed my son's forehead, making sure I’d leave the door open a crack so the light would come into his room; the dark can be scary after all.  Fear is a funny thing, which is why I say that the word F.E.A.R. is really an acronym; False Expectations [that] Appear Real. We see that kind of fear in this week's sedra, Parashat Yayishlach, when Jacob is going to encounter his brother after 20 years.  A quick recap: Jacob manipulated his brother Esau to take his birthright and deceived their father Isaac to steal Esau's rightful blessing as the first born.  After many years Jacob is going to meet Esau and is fearful of what might happen, and while the feelings of fear were real for him, Jacob had no evidence that Esau would actually do anything; hence the power of fear.

We learn in a Midrash (Bereshit Rabbah 75) about Jacob: “You abased yourself and called him ‘my lord’ eight times,” meaning that he cowered before Esau when seeing him. Taking a self-deprecating view, Rashi teaches that when Jacob sent messengers (or angels, depending on how you read it) to assess the temperature of his brother, he did so “in order to find out Esau’s state of mind concerning him.” Rashi further says that Jacob wanted his brother to know that he is not “a prince nor other person of importance but merely a sojourner. It is not worth your while to hate me on account of the blessing of your father who blessed me (27:29).” Jacob said: are you really holding on to something from 20 years ago even though I was wrong? Jacob is so fearful that he believes that his brother will take everything that belongs to him and kill his wives, concubines and his children (cf. Gen. 32:12).  Although our tradition came to see Esau and his descendants as enemies of the Jewish people, Rashi calling Esau “wicked,” the written Torah paints a picture of Esau as a brother who is benevolent, a family man who is content with his lot, happy for Jacob’s success, hugging each other when they met, weeping in the joy of their reconnection. Now there are those who say that was a one-sided display of “fraternal affection” with only Esau being “affectionate” whereas Jacob was “impassive.” If that is so then their encounter is insincere and in the backdrop of Jacob's fear. I honestly think that takes away from victory over the said fear that Jacob desired. Let me explain. 

We read in the Torah that before meeting his brother, וַיִּירָ֧א יַעֲקֹ֛ב מְאֹ֖ד וַיֵּ֣צֶר ל֑וֹ, Jacob was greatly frightened in his anxiety.”  These things that “distressed him” (Ibn Ezra) found Jacob making fear based choices that gripped him. As a result Jacob found himself wrestling all night with the angel, which is symbolic of him coming face to face with his fear, attempting to overcome it. When the brothers finally meet it says that Esau was excited to meet his nieces and nephews with their mothers; you know the ones Jacob thought his brother would kill?  Maybe as the Sforno teaches, when Esau saw Jacob, “his attitude changed suddenly when he realized to what extent Yaakov had humbled himself before him.” In the end, we find the first two-state solution. Esau and Jacob agree to stay in touch and bless each other but recognize they each need their own land for their families and descendants (cf. Gen. 33:15ff).  Esau settled in what is the Negev today and Jacob in Shechem that today is the central West Bank. So although fear guided Jacob's choices, in the end, all was right in their family. Jacob looked back and perhaps said to himself, “what was I thinking,” as a small smile came across his face as he shook his head, feeling a sense of relief, and maybe even a little embarrassed. Jacob allowed his fear to own him, he allowed the fear to direct his sense of right and wrong, but in the end his fear drove him to wrestle with it.  Fear is a powerful thing that just doesn't vanish and must be faced head on. In Jacob’s case his fear was an acronym: False Expectations [that] Appear Real. He was fortunate.

Not every story, unfortunately, turns out to be imagined. The fear of October 7th is palatable for us Jews and our communities, not only because it happened but based on the words from Hamas it could happen again.  It is fearful to learn that a New York City teacher who attended a pro-Israel rally had to lock herself in her class room from Anti-Israel pro-Palestinian students, or that here in Dallas Anti-Israel Palestinian groups and Neo-Nazis protested outside one of our synagogues. Likewise, Islamophobia is also on the rise, as three young men visiting Vermont for Thanksgiving from the West Back were shot while walking down the street. There are parents and families in Israel and abroad who lived in fear at the fate of their loved ones, who now celebrate their return while others cannot fully celebrate, living with the fear of not knowing or worse. Jacob was lucky, his fear was imagined, but fear is not always going to monsters under our bed. Jacob reminds us that the power of fear must be overcome, something that happens when we face it, not just alone, but together. Psalm 27 reminds us: fear is powerful but it does not own us.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Adam Ruditsky 

Parashat HaShuvah - Toldot - "We are Family even when we disagree. " Genesis 25:19-28:9, Haftarah, Malachi 1:1-2:7

 Toldot can mean “history” or “generations,” a word that can also speak to the idea of “results'' or “outcome.”  As people, we know “what” Toldot means, but do we feel a sense of belonging on a gut level?  We recognize that when it says “This is the story of Isaac, son of Abraham, Abraham begot Isaac,” it is about a family genealogy that also speaks to Rebekah as well (Genesis 25:17). Yet when we read it do we have a personal connection or is it just another story?  We further read in Genesis 25:27 about the birth of their sons, Esau and Jacob.  It says that “when the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the outdoors; but Jacob became a mild man, raising livestock,” the former a hawk and the later a dove. And like with many other families, one parent gravitated toward one child, as Isaac did with Esau and Rebekah did with Jacob (Gen. 27:28). It was the same family, but they were all different, but they are our family as well.  

Regarding Esau and Jacob, our tradition has much to say.  Rashi and Ibn Ezra tell us that Esau is a “trickster,” a man not to be trusted, while Jacob is a “simple” or “naive” shepherd, who spends his days studying Torah, a justification of Rebekah’s later deceit.  The Netziv, Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, teaches that Isaac proposed to bless Esau with birkat haaretz (the blessing of the land) – physical plenitude and mastery over the physical world.  Reserved for Jacob was the birkat Avraham (the blessing of Abraham) – the blessing that Abraham received ensuring that his descendants would be God’s chosen nation.  In the promise to Abraham found in Genesis 12:2, the blessing itself was about the “physical land,” so I am not sure how you can break them up between birkat haaretz and birkat Avraham.  In that spirit I’d say the blessings of Isaac were not either/or,  meaning that the blessings that Esau and Jacob received each had their own meaning and purpose. Yet in Isaac's blessing to Esau he told him that Jacob had a responsibility to do right by him, or as a Midrash (Genesis R. 67:7) says, “If he (Jacob) merits, you will serve; if not, you will eradicate,” or “revolt.”  Esau serving Jacob did not give Jacob the right to do as he pleased. 

That is what makes this partly so tough; Arabs and Jews are cousins and have responsibility toward one another's well being. What is even tougher is the Jewish divisions within our community that are emerging over what is happening in Gaza.  The Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) on October 27th organized a rally in New York City where hundreds of activists engaged in a peaceful sit-in and wore black T-shirts that read “Not In Our Name, ”saying that “The Israeli government has declared a genocidal war on the people of Gaza.”  The JVP, and other like groups, are helping to shape the minds of the younger Jewish generations who have a different connection to Israel and a different worldview.  While it is true that JVP calls out “the massacres committed by Hamas against Israeli civilians are horrific war crimes,” they do not do not condemn Hamas and do not stand in solidarity with their family tragedies of October 7th, only blaming Israel for their apartheid policies concerning the Palestinians.  In response Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) wrote, “who in their right mind can watch Hamas commit atrocities. Brutally murder civilians, kidnap children & elderly & then protest Israel’s right to defend itself???”

Calling a ceasefire is not a bad thing, and the fact is that the Palestinians are also prisoners of Hamas who have taken their freedoms and human rights away, many of their lives being unnecessarily lost.  I get it, no one wants to see war and no one wants to see innocent lives being taken away, Jew or Arab. While I feel the heart of JVP my heart belongs with the toldot of the Jewish people who are fighting for survival regardless if the world wants to see that. This has been Israel's life for 75 years, if not more, being attacked by people who do not want them to exist.  Therefore, as Jews we must support Israel's right to defend themselves and not call for a ceasefire, even more so since Hamas continues to say that their main stated goal is to kill Jews and destroy Israel and will not give every hostage back. I wish JVP, and others, could see that.  I wish JVP would teach that to the new generations of Jews that follow them. But what JVP teaches is that Israel is an apartheid state and in the end break's up the family. But I also get this as well: Although the world knows that Hamas is hurting their own people and only cares about their own interests to destroy Israel, the world calls out Israel as a country that values people and human rights to stop this war with a ceasefire, because Hamas will not.  That is an unfair burden to put on any one country given their situation to secure their survival. This is much more than Israel's problem alone. 

The roadmap of the Middle East is complicated, and not all Jews have the same political views, but this is not about politics but about the survival of our family.  So circling back to Esau and Jacob, despite their early squabbles and  differences, both brothers shared a common desire - their father's blessing.  Jewish division will not help, especially over Israel, the only Jewish state in the world. We have to find common ground as Jews to allow Israel to defend herself as this is about survival and not about territories.  Like Esau and Jacob who saw their father's blessing as a part of their lineage, we also must connect to the toldot of our ancestors and the survival of our/the Jewish people.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Adam Ruditsky 

Parashat HaShuvah - Chayei Sarah - "An open Letter to Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib - Will you dream with us!" Genesis 23:1-25:18, Haftarah, 1 Kings 1:1-31

Dear Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib,

I’d like to tell you a lesson we can learn from this week's Jewish Torah reading, Parashat Chayei Sarah, a section with a dream and a dispute. In the Torah we find a dream, a dream where a father, Abraham, wants to marry off his son, Isaac, to the best wife possible, who is Rebekah.  In the Haftarah we find a dispute when David’s son, Adonijah wants to usurp his fathers throne and have both power and control over the Kingdom of Israel, a right that was to be passed down to another son of David, Solomon.

What about that dream today? Jews and Arabs living in peace as they did many times in the past sharing the common value of life. We read in the Mishnah (Sanhedrin 4:5), “Whoever destroys a single life is considered to have destroyed the whole world, and whoever saves a single life is considered to have saved the whole world.”  Likewise, almost word for word we read in the Quran (Qur’an 5:32), “For that cause We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever kills a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind.” During the time called “the golden age of Jewish culture in Spain,” Jews and Arabs, in particular Muslims, maintained cordial and productive relationships. In Palestine, while under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Jews and Muslims lived together in peace. Imagine that time when Jews thrived under Muslim rule and Muslims thrived in partnership with their Jewish neighbors. Is that not all our dreams?  

In the spirit of partnership, Abraham found a partner in the family of Rebekah to carry forth God’s promises to the world. In that same spirit of partnership, there was a time when both Jews and Muslims partnered together to improve the lives of their communities.  Yet we also see that was once a dream of partnership became a dispute of individual agenda. In the story of Adonijah, who “exalted himself, saying: I will be king” (1 Kings 1:5), according to the Talmud (Sanhedrin 21b), “The term ‘exalted himself’ teaches that he sought for the monarchy to fit him, but it did not fit him.” After Solomon rightfully ascended the throne of his father David his brother Adonijah would be executed because he “sought for the monarchy to fit him, but it did not fit him,” it was never his to wear, he committed treason. Why did Adonijah have to die? He was a brother to Solomon and they shared the same father in King David. Here, there was no partnership, but a dispute that ended with a broken family and a mother who mourned her son's death.

The dream of cousins in Jews and Arabs being partners, living next to each other like it was during the “golden age” has been replaced by another agenda, which is dispute. In an age of monarchs, empires, evolving borders and a time of nationalism, there emerged the need for self-determination for the Jews and the Arabs of Palestine.  The dream: a nation with people living in peace side by side. The dispute: a fight over land and peoplehood that resulted in too many people needing to die.  This battle of self-determination long ago passed the boundary of two peoples seeking to live in peace. How can you make peace when you're not sure who your partner is?  How can we make peace with our cousins, even if you say it is only the voice of a persuasive minority, a voice that tells the world they want us dead?  How can you expect us to make peace when those who carried out the October 7th attacks tells the world that they will do it “again and again.”  These are the words of a Hamas leader, Ghazi Hamad, also says that “Israel is a country that has no place on our land" and October 7th was the “first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth.”  Without a word of regret or sympathy for the deaths of innocents he said, “We must remove it [Israel] because it constitutes a security, military and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation. We are not ashamed to say this."  Israel does not want to dispose of and remove the Palestinian people, it's about ridding Gaza of Hamas, people who want to destroy Israel. You condemned hate and violence to all people, thank you, but you did not condemn Hamas. I have to ask why?  

When I woke up on Wednesday morning I learned that you, Congresswoman Tlaib, had been censured for repeating the often chanted pro-Palestinian phrase, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” words that Jews and most of the world consider to be an anti-Israel/antisemitic trope. Congresswoman, even if you say that is not so, that is not the case for others like Ghazi Hamad who call for the death of Jews in all of “Palestine.”   But what left an impression on me were the words that you spoke on the house floor;  "I can't believe we have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable," further saying that "We are human beings just like anyone else."  Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, yes that is true, we agree as Jews, Palestinian's are human beings like everyone else as we are fashioned in equality who deserve honor and respect.  This is not so for Ghazi Hamad who said concerning the very people you cry for; “We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs."

I will fight that battle with you, Congresswoman. However you are gravely mistaken because it is not Israel, and it is not the American Government who have decided that your people are disposable.  Hamas clearly sees the people of Gaza who are not Hamas as “disposable” because they are willing to sacrifice an entire population for their agenda to destroy Israel.  Are you aware that they said that about the very people you cry for, your brothers and sisters?  Are you aware of their plans to destroy Israel and kill Jews, not just in Israel but everywhere WE LIVE?  Congresswoman, are you allowing the disinformation of evil people to dictate your sense of truth that forms your personal and professional narrative?  I implore you to investigate the claims of the government in Gaza instead of attacking those who agree with you that “Palestinian people are not disposable.” You forget that we hold the same value of life as you do and want to be your people’s partners for peace. We want them to live in freedom and security from the tyranny of rule and oppression; Jews have been there and done that. I really hope you can come to see that. I really hope that is your dream also.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Adam Ruditsky 

Parashat HaShuvah - Vayera - "The Test of a Narrow Bridge." Genesis 18:1-22:24 Haftarah, 2 Kings 4:1-37

In Parashat Vayera we conclude Abraham’s 10 tests with the Akedah, or binding of Isaac. We therefore read in Pirkei Avot 5:4, “Our Father Avraham was tested with ten trials and withstood them all.”  Rabbi Judah Lowe ben Bezalel (the Maharal) in his commentary on Pirkei Avot writes about Abraham’s “tests” as being more like an examination, inquiry or investigation, whereas for Pirkei Avot itself the tests are about a personal trial or experiment, a learned experience of one kind or another, how did life "try us" for this or that?  Why does it matter?  Because life is a trial and we must respond to its lessons, that is just the way things work.

Recently the Jewish Voice of Peace went through such a test, a test that many liberal Jews face, one that speaks to many in Reform Judaism I’d think.  As a group, the Jewish Voice of Peace actively calls Israel out as an apartheid state, protests for for ongoing peace with the Palestinians and lobbies to end Israel’s occupation of the land to be Palestine. They are not alone in this mission. Yet after the events of October 7th, a chapter of the BLM movement, whom the Jewish Voice of Peace stood behind ferociously, said, “When a people have been subject to decades of apartheid and unimaginable violence, their resistance must not be condemned, but understood as a desperate act of self-defense.” This statement was made on October 9th, only two days later, to give justification to the inhumane massacre and kidnapping of innocent Jewish people, from babies to the elderly, by Hamas.  Groups like the Jewish Voice of Peace now have to ask the questions: who are our friends, who cares enough about what we stand for that they will stand with us, who feels Jewish pain or has that been sacrificed on the altar of political hierarchy?  The question that we may ask is, is Jewish life in Israel (well all Jewish life) now somehow less valuable than Arab life in Palestine?

It almost seems like what happened on October 7th was yesterday's news and the news of today is the war in Gaza, viewed by many as Israel’s disproportionate relentless attacks that are devastating the people of Gaza, which in turn have seen mass demonstrations both here in America and abroad. How can we not be tested? How can we not be concerned about what we see on our college campuses or by various threats made to Jewish organizations?  How can we not be concerned about the human toll in Gaza of the innocent who are caught in the middle? We learn from Nachman of Breslov that famous saying, “The whole entire world is a very narrow bridge, and the main thing is to have no fear at all,” a saying that applies to our world now as Jews and Jewish communities.  The diversity of views that include the ones we embrace, or disregard, are near, they are upon us, and we can escape their presence.  We cannot escape how the world views or presents Israel in the media, but we must always remember that even if you disagree with Israel’s policies politically, the value of life is always greater than an ideology that views life as expendable; the value of life has unfortunately become like a narrow bridge.  Although it's readily available online, the ongoing brutality of Hamas and their value of life and loss, it is not mainstream news.  Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior member of the Hamas political bureau, was asked in an interview on Russian TV about the tunnels under Gaza; Marzouk said, “the tunnels built in Gaza were meant to protect Hamas'' and for the residents of the [Gaza] Strip it "is the responsibility of the UN to protect them."  Likewise, it has been reported by multiple sources that according to the U.N. the gas needed to operate hospitals to care for the sick is being confiscated by Hamas to use to fire missiles into Israel.  

I can go on, but this is the bottom line: Hamas has sacrificed their own sons and daughters, in this case the people of Gaza, who they have been elected to protect and serve.  They failed their test and there are many who cannot see that or have just elected to turn their heads for their own political agendas and/or alliances.  Recently a Jewish Los Angeles based lawyer called out the New York City based Democratic Socialists of America as “a political organization that believes in three things: affordable housing, raising the minimum wage, and the wholesale murder of Jews.” While the last view was an exasperated frustration, it was the result of those who have so quickly turned their backs on Israel let alone others, as we saw with the BLM quote above, who make justifications for Jewish deaths on October 7th.

We are all being tested. Our test is to question our loyalties, not give up our convictions. Our test is to be faithful to Israel even though we may have problems with the government.  Our test is to never forget and never stop advocating for peace, either for Israel or the Palestinians.  Our test is to always balance our criticism with our conviction and not to sacrifice our Jewish values on the altar of world pressure. Our test is to stand our ground and make room for others who share a different view but value life just as much as we do. It's tough to be business as usual right now, but as thankful as we are that Abraham would not sacrifice his son, we must be just as deeply saddened that Hamas sacrifices their own children based on what they consider a just response. Like I said, we are all being tested in one way or another, it's a narrow bridge. 

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Adam Ruditsky