Parashat Re’eh (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17)

Reflections on the Torah Portion – Rabbi Andy Vogel

Vegetarianism is God’s true wish for humankind, according to Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935, the first chief rabbi of the Land of Israel), in a verse from this week’s Torah portion.  Before Noah, humans were not permitted to eat animals, but after the flood, and again in Deuteronomy 12:20, we can almost hear the reluctance in Moses’ voice as God allows meat to be eaten by Jews: “When Adonai enlarges your territory, as God has promised you, and you say, ‘I shall eat some meat,’ for you have the urge to eat meat, you may do so.”  But in the verses that follow, God sets some restrictions on our carnivorous desires, outlining which animals are forbidden, prohibiting consumption of blood, and asking the biblical Hebrews to slaughter animals with compassion and care.

Rav Kook believed that eating meat was only a temporary concession by God to people’s weaknesses and lustful urges, and he taught that the human race was at a low spiritual level where we needed to be taught to value human life.  Richard H. Schwartz writes in his “Judaism and Vegetarianism” that Rav Kook’s view was that, by allowing us to eat animals, God was ultimately teaching us to value human life, even if it was in distinction to other forms of life, so that we would improve our human relationships.  Until a “brighter era” dawns, we are permitted to eat meat, but only if we keep in mind God’s lesson to us about the value of human dignity and life in all its forms.

            - Rabbi Andy Vogel

Sinai Update – July 16-22, 2006

Parashiyot Mattot-Mas’ei (Numbers 30:2-36:13)

Reflections on the Jewish World

“What can I do now to help the people of Israel?” – note from Rabbi Eric Yoffie

This is the question each of us is asking as we follow the events unfolding in Israel. We anxiously watch our televisions and computers and we feel the urgent need to demonstrate support for the State of Israel in this moment of crisis. We worry about the 600 NFTY youth in Israel [including one member of Temple Sinai], and what they are learning from this experience. And we mourn the loss of innocent civilian life this conflict is causing on both sides.

Now is the time for us to stand with Israel in solidarity. There is much to be done — and much you can do to show Israel that we care.

As we did in 2002, the Union has created the 2006 Israel Emergency Fund. Contribution will be used to help Israelis impacted by the crisis. Among other projects, funds will:

Help the United Jewish Communities send Israeli children in Northern communities to youth villages in the central region;
Assist Magen David Adom provide emergency medical treatment to those wounded by terrorist bombings;
Provide funds to Israeli Progressive synagogues to provide counseling and other services to the to the general population in their communities
As always, the full amount of donations to the fund, minus any credit card charges, will be used for this crisis.

The Union for Reform Judaism and ARZA have gathered prepared resources, all of which are accessible online at www.urj.org/Israel , and you can learn more also at www.ARZA.org .

We stand with Israel, in solidarity and support, at this difficult time.

-          Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism

Sinai Update – July 9-15, 2006

Parashat Pinchas (Numbers 19:1-25:9)

Reflections on the Torah Portion – Rabbi Andy Vogel

After a passage from the Torah that describes a rebellion against Moses’ authority by Korach, a member of the priesthood, the Haftarah of this week’s portion from First Samuel addresses replacing the institution of the Judges with a monarchy.  In the character of the prophet Samuel, the Hebrew Bible acknowledges in the Haftarah the dangers of allowing a human being to be the sovereign ruler, in place of God.  Human beings are described as susceptible to the temptations of power, of worshipping “no-things” (I Sam. 12:21), idols without substance, and of forgetting that God and God’s values are of infinite worth.

Nonetheless, King Saul is anointed Israel’s first king.  What follows in most of the Haftarah is the prophet Samuel’s admonition to the Israelites, that they “revere, serve and listen to God, and do not rebel against the word of the Eternal” (I Sam. 12:14).  In responding to the Israelites’ desire for a human king, Samuel teaches that we must always be on guard to defend ourselves against the human ability to justify corruption, rationalize violence, and look past our own greed, materialism and self-aggrandizement which can lead to denying the truth that there is a Power greater than ourselves.

Sinai Update – July 2-8, 2006

Parshiyot Chukat/Balak (Numbers 19:1-25:9)

Reflections on the Jewish World – Rabbi Andy Vogel

This week saw the intensification of Israel’s incursions into the Gaza Strip, following the abduction of an Israeli soldier by Hamas militia forces and a barrage of crude missile attacks by Hamas into the southern Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Netivot.  As Shabbat arrives, the Israeli army is again occupying parts of the northern Gaza Strip, at least 20 Palestinians and a few Israeli soldiers have been killed, Israel continues to hold Palestinian legislators, Hamas continues to threaten the execution of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, and the situation continues to worsen.  This week represents yet another major crisis in the ongoing, seemingly never-ending nightmare of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that plagues these two peoples locked in conflict.

An editorial this week in the Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz ( www.haaretz.com ), suggested that Israel’s self-image is one of a rational state, but that the “lure of madness” often prevails over more balanced decision-making.  The editorial said that “when F-15 planes are sent to destroy a metal workshop or kill a leader in a wheelchair and hordes of tanks gallop after launchers of primitive rockets and ministries and palaces of Arab leaders are destroyed twice a month, something of the cathartic effect of the ‘redemptive craziness’ is lost, and everything becomes just barren routine.”  It urged the Israeli government to resist its “temptation to go crazy” in responding to the desperate and despicable acts of Israel’s neighbors; what is needed, and quite seriously, is a return to sanity.

We pray that after Shabbat, leaders on both sides – but at the very least, the leaders of Israel – will come to their senses and put a stop to the cycle of violence and retribution that brings only more despair, not relief, to the Israeli-Palestinian dynamic.  May Shabbat renew in us a sense of vision for ending this terrible dynamic.

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