Parashat Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1-24:18)

Reflections on the Torah portion – Rabbi Andy Vogel

The rabbis of the Talmud didn’t know from Brookline when they prohibited Jews from living in a city in which there were no doctors.  In fact, their ruling said:  “One must live in a place where doctors live who can bring healing to the sick” (Talmud, Sanhedrin 17b).  They deduced this from this week’s Torah portion, which gives the command (Exodus 21:19), v’rapo yirapeh, “he shall surely bring healing.”  Although the Torah says that God is our healer (Exodus 15:26), the Jewish view is that human beings are also permitted – even commanded – to restore others to health, and not wait for divine healing.

The act of healing is seen by Judaism as a religious and holy act, whether it is to a healing of body or of soul.  A doctor is seen as a partner with God in bringing healing to the sick.  Maimonides, doctor as well as rabbi, saw the studies of hygiene and medicine as acts of “worship”; the 1st century Jewish teacher Philo of Alexandria taught that healthfulness is a gift from God; and, a Jewish teacher named Asaph the Physician (9th or 10th century) composed a beautiful physician’s oath similar to Hippocrates.  In all, we learn that all who bring healing –physical, emotional or spiritual – help fulfill another Biblical command to us (Deut. 4:15):  “You shall take good care of your souls.”

            - Rabbi Andy Vogel

Sinai Update – Week of February 4-10, 2007

Parashat Yitro (Exodus 18:1 – 20:23)

Reflections on the Torah portion – Rabbi Andy Vogel

As the 2008 campaigns for President in the United States begin to gear up, we’re reminded by this week’s Torah portion that the task of leadership does not rest on just one person’s shoulders alone.  Moses’ father-in-law, named Jethro (Yitro, in Hebrew), notices that Moses is bearing most of the burden of leadership and judgment of the Israelites himself.  He says, “Surely you will wear yourself and the people out because the task is too burdensome for one person to handle alone” (Exodus 18:18).  Jethro then suggests that Moses divide up the tasks among the people themselves by delegating authority to others, and reserving the most complicated cases for himself.

This leadership model is an excellent one for us to learn from – in the contexts of both our secular American government and our synagogue community.  On one hand, no one should be the sole “decider” of how a democratic government should function or what paths it should take; it is critical to share the responsibility with many.  The corollary is that, as Jethro’s model demonstrates, when the many are charged with taking responsibility, the community’s functioning is more participatory and therefore more healthy.  At Temple Sinai, I am pleased that more and more members of our community are involved in committees and leadership, and can claim “ownership” of the decisions that are made in our congregation.  May this trend continue!

- Rabbi Andy Vogel

Sinai Update – Week of January 28 – February 3, 2007

Parashat B’shallach  (Exodus 13:17-17:16)

Reflections on the Torah portion – Rabbi Andy Vogel

This week has a special name on the Jewish calendar:  “Shabbat Shirah” – the Shabbat of singing.  Why?  Jews around the world will read the narrative of the crossing of the Sea of Reeds, and then, in Exodus chapter 15, plopped right in the middle o this narrative section, we find the Biblical poem of the Song of the Sea, Moses and the Jewish people’s praises of God, which is followed by a repetition of part of the poem by Miriam and the women.  Biblical scholar Everett Fox writes that “a poem is necessary at this point in the story, to provide emotional exultation and a needed break before the next phase of Israel’s journey in the book.  The Song manages to focus the Israelites’ (the audience’s) intense feelings in a way that… only poetry is capable of expressing…” (The Five Books of Moses, p. 334-335).

When we sing, our souls can rise with our emotions to new places.  “Music is sacred,” a writer at the Center for National Jewish Leadership and Learning (CLAL) puts it, “when it acts as a conduit toward deep emotional states that might otherwise not be reached.  Music can take our joy and raise it up.”  Just as the ancient Temple in Jerusalem was a place of constant music, so, too, is music and song an essential part of our prayer today in our congregation and wherever we pray.  This week especially, let us sing!

            - Rabbi Andy Vogel