Read about Isaac's spiritual journey! Then let me know what you think!
Spiritually Yours,
Laura Weakley
Saturday, November 21, 2009
http://whatthetorahteachesusaboutsurvival.com/Torah_Commentary/Entries/2009/11/20_Our_Own_Spirituality_files/widget16_markup.html
http://whatthetorahteachesusaboutsurvival.com/Torah_Commentary/Entries/2009/11/20_Our_Own_Spirituality_files/widget16_markup.html
Monday, November 9, 2009
Walk the Walk: Genesis Chapters 18-22
Genesis 18:18-19
יז. וַי־הֹוָ־ה אָמָר הַמְכַסֶּה אֲנִי מֵאַבְרָהָם אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי עֹשֶׂה:
18. And Abraham will become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the world will be blessed in him.
יח. וְאַבְרָהָם הָיוֹ יִהְיֶה לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל וְעָצוּם וְנִבְרְכוּ בוֹ כֹּל גּוֹיֵי הָאָרֶץ:
- For I have known him because he commands his sons and his household after him, that they should keep the way of the Lord to perform righteousness and justice, in order that the Lord bring upon Abraham that which He spoke concerning him."
Teaching the generations righteousness and justice is spoken of in the first portion of the parasha for the week. Soon after, this is put to the test under extremely harsh circumstances (to say the least!). We are taught through G-d’s examples what this means to G-d. We also see through G-d’s testing of Abraham that Abraham understood what righteousness and justice mean - and maybe more importantly - passing the importance of it, along with the knowledge, through the generations. Abraham taught not only his own children, but also everyone in his “household”, basically meaning everyone with whom he had contact. Righteousness and justice are every person’s responsibility.
Certainly if G-d is omnicient, than Adonai was well aware of what was happening in Sodom and Gomorrah. But we are not G-d, so Adonoi sent his angels to find the truth. Teaching us that just because we think we know the truth, we owe it to those we judge, and if we are to have a system of TRUE justice, judges owe it to defendants to actually find out the truth. For you attorneys, read this in this manner: make sure to do due diligence. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions, nor should we accept gossip as the truth.
Abraham demonstrated a lot of chutzpah standing up to Adonai and arguing for the lives of people he didn’t even know. We learn how important it is not only to refrain from rushing to judgment, but we are also responsible for standing up for those who may not be able to stand up for themselves. Abraham argued that a whole town should not be destroyed if there are righteous people who live there. In other words...don’t punish the innocent! Also, if there are righteous people, then the others may have a chance to change.
If you are surrounded by people (call this peer pressure) who commit acts you know to be wrong, it is very easy to join them. Standing up to them, and more importantly, trying to teach them the error of their ways, is what righteous people do. We have numerous historical examples of people whose lives turned around due to the care and concern shown to them by someone modeling healthy behavior Simply put, someone who cared about their future.
We are taught by the examples in this week’s parasha how acting righteously doesn’t translate to lectures. Abraham “walked the walk”, so to speak. He taught by example, as did the angels and G-d.
Abraham treated the strangers (some of us call them angels) like family. Perhaps I should say as family should be treated. The strangers inquired about Abraham’s wife Sarah, showing respect for both of them. Abraham saw to the strangers’ comfort first, and once he had delegated the cooking tasks, he talked to the strangers and showed interest in them. Let us not forget that Abraham did all of this just after his circumcision. Midrash teaches us this occurred on the third day after his circumcision, and this is when a man is in the most pain and feels his weakest. Abraham was sitting at the tent opening, basically looking for a way to help others despite his own painful situation. He ran to greet the strangers, welcome them, and took care of them. He didn’t even eat with them, he just kept them company, which indicates the importance of making certain your guests, as well as strangers in your midst, have enough to eat. Had Abraham supped with them, someone might have still been hungry.
King Abimelech demonstrated concern for others and not just himself. Once Abimelech found out, through his dream, that Sarah was Abraham’s wife, he still had the choice upon waking to ignore his dream or to make reparations. Pharaoh, once he found out Sarah was Abraham’s wife, was so scared for his own well-being, he gave Sarah back and told them to leave. Abimelech, on the other hand, while he was also afraid, took extra steps to make sure Sarah and Abraham’s reputations were intact, and they were treated with respect. Of course, he also told them to leave, but they left with heads held high. He made certain they weren’t shamed.
While Abraham lied by omission, and did so to protect his own life, I have to believe he had faith that Adonai would watch over Sarah, and see no harm or adultery would come to her. While one could say Abraham shared a little too much - and I have to agree - the story is in the Torah for a reason. Along those lines, I choose to think Abraham, having quite a personal relationship with G-d, knew Sarah would be fine. Also, as Abraham felt Abimelech’s kingdom was full of godless people, he knew he could (with G-d’s help) teach the people through Abimelech’s experience how to treat others. Not treated lasciviously, nor greedily, but kindly and with respect.
We are told in the narrative all of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were sinful by the use of inclusiveness of these words, “...from young to old, all the people from every quarter.” Lot and members of his family were saved not by their own true righteousness, but because of Abraham’s. Lot, while not as demented as the rest of the people in those towns (yes, I’m judging, but based on what the Torah tells us), wasn’t exactly operating on moral high ground either. I won’t delve into how angry his behavior makes me, suffice to say it’s highly offensive he offered his own daughters to the raucous crowd rather than turn over the angels to them. Lot was aware he was no saint, as he was ashamed to go home to his uncle, which the angels had instructed him. And he didn’t want to return to Abraham, both because of his own shame, as well as the shame he knew he’d bring upon Abraham and his house. He then kept his mouth shut and didn’t dispel his daughters’ collective view that the whole world was destroyed, as they had thought, and he allowed them to ply him with alcohol and ....well, I’ll leave this PG-rated. You adults understand what happened next. Lot was clearly given a chance to change his evil ways, and he did not. At this point in the passage, Abraham took his family and left town.
Lot chose to live amongst and amidst evil people, Abraham wanted nothing to do with them, but was very concerned with giving people a chance to change.
We are responsible for demonstrating through our own behavior, as well as helping others to come to make better choices through experience. But the important point is we are in fact responsible, or shall I even say, we are our brothers’ keepers.
G-d, by speaking about Abraham to the angels, within ear-shot of Abraham himself, gave Abraham “an out” as we say in the U.S. Abraham could have pretended he wasn’t listening, or he could have chosen to take action, which he did, and intervene. I would imagine that challenging G-d must be pretty intimidating, especially because of Abraham’s rather unique one-on-one relationship. Abraham was well aware of G-d’s power. Yet, he wasn’t thinking about himself or his own safety when he argued for the lives of others.
The angels could have intervened and told Lot how to behave, but they didn’t, they simply made their presence known. Abraham could have taken his chances with Abimelech, but he didn’t: he presented Abimelech with the choice of acting righteously or not. Abraham also didn’t voice what he was doing, he - in cooperation with G-d - instead gave Abimelech his own choices and, of course, the consequences of those choices. G-d did not speak directly to Abimelech, but instead chose to come to him in a dream. This put the ball in Abimelech’s court, figuratively speaking. Upon waking up, he had the choice of ignoring his dream or heeding it.
We teach by example. Truly righteous people don’t just “talk the talk”, but they “walk the walk”, and by doing so exemplify correct, righteous, and just behaviors. Truly righteous people don’t preach to others what they should do. They understand everyone must be given choices, and learn from experience. They do this by acting the way they would like others to act. They just are righteous. They are humble and don’t “toot their own horn” because they understand that doing so would undermine their own righteousness. I recall reading an Ann Lander’s column, or it might have been from Miss Manners, but it was a very long time ago, so please excuse me for not giving exact credit. Someone wrote about what someone was doing wrong in their eyes (and most likely in reality too), and the writer was asking if it was OK to correct the person publicly, as they had been at a social event together. The answer was that although the one person’s action was wrong, to publicly point it out would actually have been worse. Care about others and teach by example, and if you feel you must point out a faux pas, please do so privately, gently, and with compassion. Don’t publicly shame another person.
We learned these themes from the passage: respect others in their homes, and show genuine interest in their lives, as Abraham did. Don’t forget to show respect by inquiring about someone’s spouse, just as the angels demonstrated by asking about Sarah. Finally, treat others as you would treat your own family, and treat your own family members with respect. Lot didn’t do either! Basically, walk the walk!
I’d love to know what you think!
Spiritually Yours,
Laura Weakley
Monday, September 14, 2009
What Does It Mean To Be Jewish?
What Does it Take to Be a Jew?
I stumbled across a Canadian Press article today that discussed a Massachusetts foundation’s efforts to donate Jewish children’s books to organizations and their religious school classrooms. Among the books supplied by the foundation, Lauren Seidman’s “What Makes Someone A Jew” acted as the centerfold for the article. Upon seeing this book and the difficult topic it so obviously discusses, I started thinking about my first encounter with this question.
I can still remember sitting in religious school on Sunday mornings in my shul and listening to the teacher (who also happened to be my mother – yes, I know, lucky me) raise this question. At the time, I was probably in 4th or 5th grade – no where near as young as the kindergarten students mentioned in the article – and even at the age of 10 or ll, this question seemed hard to answer. And it was! What defines someone as a Jew? Birth? Belief? Customs? Inevitably, someone in my class always said that a Jew was someone whose mother was Jewish. True, but is there more to it than that?
Source: http://www.jewishlights.com
Even today, I find the question difficult to answer. Each person has such differing viewpoints, and part of me believes it’s whatever works for the individual. However, I also feel that being a Jew is more than following certain Jewish customs. Does someone who really enjoys matzah ball soup, and eats it often, automatically qualify as a Jew? Of course not. The situation is more complicated than that (as religion always is).
Given the complexity of the question and its potential answer, how do children in kindergarten cope? Seidman’s book makes clear that appearance doesn’t affect whether or not one is Jewish. In the end, she sums up her definition saying,
Now I understand what it means to be a Jew. It’s not how you look or what others think of you. Being Jewish is about my deeds, thoughts, and heart, so now I know I’m off to a very good start.
The rhyming summary makes clear what it “means” to be Jewish. Perfect for 5-year-old children, but I still have to wonder. Is it really that simple?
-Sarah
1 Comment
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Metanoya a coffeehouse and cafe welcomes Author Laura Weakley
I look forward to meeting you next week at Metanoya a coffeehouse and cafe where I will be signing my book "What The Torah Teaches Us About Survival". Books will be available for purchase!
Spiritually Yours,
Laura Weakley
Spiritually Yours,
Laura Weakley
Some thoughts about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
Read my latest thoughts about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur!http://whatthetorahteachesusaboutsurvival.com/Spiritually_Speaking.html
http://whatthetorahteachesusaboutsurvival.com/Spiritually_Speaking/Entries/2009/9/10_Some_thoughts_about_Rosh_Hashanah_and_Yom_Kippur_files/widget2_markup.html
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
My Opinion About The Eagles Signing of Michael Vick
I'll start off by saying that serial killers start with killing animals. The fact that he could be so horrific about how he did it, and laughed about it, says a whole lot.
Ball players like all famous people are role models, whether they like it or not. When you are in the public eye, it is even more important to have good character, because children will want to emulate you. I realize there are a lot of extremely poor role models in the public eye, but I want to address my feelings about the Eagles hiring Mike Vick.
I don't care how good a person is at sports, and yes I realize it is very big business, but to employ someone who is a felon, or ex-felon is so unbelievable I don't have strong enough words. In yiddish, we say it's a shanda.
It goes without saying, I don't believe the Eagles should have hired Michael Vick. I don't believe he should have any job in the public eye. A society which has no problem with this is decadent period. Yes, I do believe in second chances, but he's not only shown no remorse, but also if he hadn't gotten caught he'd still be abusing dogs. Getting caught is the only reason he supposedly stopped. You can't convince me that he isn't a violent person.
It bothers me greatly when people's careers are cavalierly ruined. That is, for normal human mistakes. Not for violent ones, or mistakes which hurt others intentionally.
As far as business is concerned, The Torah gives us specific ways to act in business. I have owned my own businesses, or worked for myself my entire adult life. So coming from someone who walks the walk, and knows the importance of not being hypocritical when you present yourself as a religious person, I will tell you that I never let money (other gods) dictate my morals nor my business decisions.
Allow me to elaborate. No matter what I am or have gone through financially, no matter how much I have needed money, it NEVER influenced my moral decisions, or actions. I never took money from someone I had a bad feeling about. Trust your instincts. I never took money to do something I didn't believe in. And I never took money because I was desperate. Believe me, I've been more than desperate, I've been destitute, and I never stole, sold my body, or anything else which some people do when they are desperate. I've sent money back when someone's actions were let's say disturbing. Most people around me growing up, and as an adult have thought and told me I was crazy. I needed the money.
Well, I'm still here to tell my story. I trust in G-d. I'm a very good debater and highly intelligent, meaning it would be very easy to convince myself that it was really ok to accept money for something I know to be wrong. I still can't, won't, and haven't done it.
My purpose of sharing this with you is not to toot my own horn, but rather to explain, I do know what I'm talking about. I'm not an armchair quarterback. I have experience.
I have never believed that in running any of my businesses, looking the other way or ignoring immoral acts, actions, or activities would in the long run help my businesses. I have been a successful business owner whose business savvy has been highly sought after for advice.
Anyone who is in business and has a brain, yes I feel extremely strongly about this, knows you can't place immediate needs ahead of long term goals. I'll tell you this, if you do you won't be in business for long. The way you are thought of, the people you employ, your honesty and integrity should all be held to the very highest standards. If you do this, you will be successful, and the money will come. You may think I am over-simplifying what you need for success, but I assure you I am not. Yes, of course other aspects are important, good business sense, talent, among others, but the way you run a business IS ABOUT WHO YOU ARE.
So to the Eagles, and all other sports teams and their owners and managers, you should be ashamed of yourselves for hiring Vick, and others like him. Ok, I feel like I'm wagging my finger like my grandmother used to do! Seriously, the people you hire are high profile, and most importantly are role models for our children. This means they directly influence our society's future. I can't emphasize this enough. There are so many people out there with BOTH talent and integrity. Take note, think about the long term effects of your monetarily based decisions. I pray you do.
Spiritually Yours,
Laura Weakley
From: IreneAdler on 09.02.09
Posted to: Blog Post
Comment: Ver well put. Thank you for sharing this. Wish you could post it on the thread that you've linked it to, as I wasn't sure to make reply there or here. I hafta wonder what goes through the minds of Vick's fellow players. I"d be awfully uncomfortable playing alongside him. Might even cause me to ask to be traded - to a team that would not play against him. Once I was a juror on a rather unsavory child molestation case. Judge took great pains to remind us not to make judgment until we'd heard all the facts. So I was very careful not to think anything of the defendant. Once we'd rendered verdict (guilty) it suddenly hit me- I was in the same room as a real, live child molester. A whole lot of strong emotions hit me and I couldn't get out of that court room fast enough. Grateful that I would never have to return to it. I wonder if any of the other football players experienced something like this. Irene.
Thanks for your response Irene! I have to agree with you that healthy thinking people do not like being in a room, ball-field, etc with people who harm animals or other people. To date, I believe he still has not apologized. Not that it would make a difference, but his not doing it demonstrates his mentality hasn’t changed.
Spiritually Yours,
Laura Weakley
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Sometimes we just don't want to!
I started wondering about what it means in Genesis when we are told that Issac was blind. According to Everett Fox’s interpretation in his “The Five Books of Moses”, Genesis 27:1
“Now when Yitzhak was old and his eyes had become too dim for seeing,..”It doesn’t say he was blind, though we generally understand it as being blind.
Moses Maimonides in his “The Guide for the Perplexed” notes that all five of our senses are defective in that they passively receive impressions which are subject to interpretation. So Issac (Yitzhak is his Hebrew name in transliteration), in this case, saw what he wanted to see. Don’t we all, at times!
I am discussing the Torah Portion when Issac gives Jacob the blessing rather than giving it to Essau (in some versions, the name appears as “Esau”) . This wasn’t the first time in the Bible the younger son receives the blessing and the inheritance. Issac’s father Abraham gave the blessing and the inheritance to Issac, when Ishmael was the older son. In biblical times, the cultural standard typically found the oldest son receiving the blessing and the inheritance. Precedence existed for his doing so. This would indicate greater importance has been placed on knowing the nature of your children, as opposed to just blindly following the crowd, or doing something because it’s traditional.
Right before this story begins, there is a short paragraph which - at first glance - doesn’t seem to fit with either the previous story, nor the next one.
Genesis 26:34-35: “When Esav (Essau’s Hebrew name transliterated) was forty years old, he took to wife Yehudit daughter of B’eri the Hittite and Ba’semat daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a bitterness of spirit to Yitzhak and Rivka (Rebecca’s Hebrew name transliterated).
We are being told that not only did Issac’s son Essau marry two Hittite women, who were off-limits to the Israelites, but these women basically gave Issac and Rebecca a lot of grief. Apparently, they were not good people.
Issac knew deep inside on some level that Essau would not be the one to continue the Jewish line. Issac also had a soft spot for Essau. I presume it is because Essau was strong, whereas Issac was portrayed as weak, and - I’ll just say it - a “momma’s boy” (As Seinfeld used to say, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that! I’m just saying...)! We all know people who see some family members differently then those around them do. This isn’t always a bad thing as in this case, where Issac chose to believe that Essau was a better man than reality indicated. Remember, we are all influenced by the company we keep, and Essau chose to marry two mean-spirited women.
Based upon what I’ve written thus far, perhaps the dim-sightedness of Issac really reflected his inability to see people for their character as opposed to what he wished them to be. Now comes the part which I’ve always found more than just a little absurd: Rebecca and Jacob “tricking” Issac into giving the blessing and inheritance of the first born to Jacob instead of to Essau.
Personally, I find it extremely difficult to believe that no matter what “costume” Jacob wore, his father didn’t know it was him. Issac even states that the voice is the voice of Jacob. The fact that the Torah tells us Issac’s vision was dimmed and not that he was blind tells us Issac knew Jacob was in front of him asking for the blessing, etc. Somewhere within his soul, Issac knew his son Jacob would be the one to pass on his Judaism. As a result, it seems even Issac went along with Jacob’s ploy because it was the right thing to do (bless him, that is).
Issac was portrayed as a very passive man, perhaps forever traumatized by that little incident on the mountain where his father was prepared to kill him. Yes, I am being slightly sarcastic here. If he was indeed a passive person, then it fits that he would act surprised when Essau confronted him. Passive people don’t like confrontation, thus they will act innocent to avoid it. It follows that knowing her family members as she did, Rebecca only had Jacob costume himself to give Issac an excuse he could use when Essau returned to him.
Sometimes we pretend to deceive ourselves, and at other times we see people as we want to see them, and miss seeing who they really are. The cold, hard truth is our souls recognize the truths about others and we feel conflict within ourselves until we remove our “blinders”.
May you see what is really there - not what you want to be there - and may you be blessed with peace (shalom).
Let me know what you think!
Spiritually Yours,
Laura Weakley
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A Thought about Adonai
While praying this past weekend in temple, I had a flash of insight. We were praying the Shema found in Deuteronomy 6:4, when like millions of other times we said the word “Adonai”. All of a sudden, it hit me. The word “Adonai” (Lord) itself, I believe, is related to the word “Adon”, meaning “lord”, “mister”, or “Mister” (Mr.). In other words, it occurred to me that Adonai is about the G-d inside of me. We say “Adonai echad”, which translates as “The Lord is One”. I then thought, basically what He was telling us in the Torah is that G-d is inside of each of us, and we are all connected together as one.
I believe I am indeed on to something!
We Jews see the tetragrammaton, YHVH, and read it as “Adonai”; more accurately, in Hebrew it appears as ( יהוה ). For those who study Kabbalah, you may be familiar with the concept that these letters, when placed vertically, form the shape of a human:
י
ה
ו
ה
This can be interpreted in different ways, (i.e., 10 Jews, 11 opinions!), but to me it definitely represents G-d inside of me. This can also be used as a very powerful meditation. It supports my thesis - if you will - that when we pray the Shema, i.e., Shema Yisrael, Adonai Ehloheinu, Adonai Echad; in English: “Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One”, we are assuring ourselves and G-d that we are aware of His holiness everywhere, including inside each one of us. Additionally, that holiness is connected, and we are all one.
I’d love to know what you think!
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Laura Weakley