Bringing Joy To Life

Parshat Ki Tavo

 by Rabbi Avi Billet 

Some people enjoy Yom Tov. Some people find it challenging to be b’Simcha on Yom Tov. Some people love the preparation and lead-in to Yom Tov. For some it is a tremendous burden. How could we be so clearly different when it comes to celebrating our special calendar days? 

We all know the answer: every person’s life journey is filled with ups and downs, low points and high points. And if Yom Tov comes along during a low point, or if life in general is in a low point and one is not content in other areas of life, Yom Tov isn’t a distraction from life, but a burden that gets in the way of “all the things that need to get done.” 

 Some people find Yom Tov to be a challenge if they either live alone all the time or will be alone for Yom Tov. Some might visit family and still feel alone! Someone in a failing marriage might feel this way, as might an adult single visiting parents of whatever age, as well as the more obvious divorced or widowed who find themselves in a life experience they did not anticipate, even if it has been many years since the end of the marriage. 

 In the United States, every year around Thanksgiving and the end of December, people write similar sentiments about going home for the holidays. Especially single people in their 30s, 40s and older. 

Keeping the Camp Holy

Parshat Ki Tetze 

by Rabbi Avi Billet

The Torah speaks of the military encampment, and a level of purity, holiness, and even cleanliness which is meant to be maintained while out in the field. One aspect, the covering of human waste, can verily be understood to be the Torah’s way of also protecting from filth and disease which can easily be spread in a military space, when people do not properly tend to hygiene. [Incidentally, until the 20th century, in just about every military conflict in history, more soldiers died from disease, starvation and the elements than from combat. Even some fronts in WWI and WWII are disputed about these outcomes, but after the World Wars, this has certainly been the case – now, in general, there are far more casualties from combat than from those other factors.]

 

From Devarim Chapter 23:

Tamim Tihyeh = A Dose of Humility (Baal Tefillah and Lashon Hora)

Parshat Shoftim

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Rav Shimshon Rafael Hirsch writes on the verse “Tamim Tihyeh Im Hashem Elokekha” (“You shall be whole/complete with the Lord your God”) (18:13):

“Temimus required for the offerings, and for the offerers symbolizes the requirement of our wholehearted devotion to God – the devotion of the whole person, including all his relationships, to God. This wholeness is the direct result of our awareness of God’s unity. It is the realization of our vocation as עם סגולה, a nation belonging exclusively to God. 

“Here, this wholeness is described in its concrete sense. Not even the smallest fiber of our lives shall be detached from God; we must be with God in our entirety. Consequently, all the heathen ways described in the preceding verses are banned from the Jewish sphere. God alone is the director of our fate and the guide of our actions; He alone decides our future, and His will is the sole criterion by which we are to decide what to do and what to refrain from doing… Only from God would we seek instruction regarding what we should or should not do, if God had not already given us such instruction in his Torah. Actually, one who is Tamim is so completely engrossed in God that he thinks only of the duties he must perform at the present moment, and as for his success and his whole future – he puts all his trust in God. By fulfilling his duty, he has already attained the supreme goal of his doing and not doing. He has paid God the tribute of duty faithfully fulfilled, and he is impervious to anything beyond that.”

While I removed from his comment several sentences related to not seeking divination to know the future, his point that we don’t need to know the future, but it is necessary for us to have a hand in writing our own future. It is through being attached to God, and most specifically through Godly living, which means living a life focused on Mitzvah Fulfillment and doing Chesed, imitating the ways of God, and upping our game in our own Middos – through this we have a hand in our destiny. 

לשכנו תדרשו – L’shikhno Sid’r’shu

Parshat Re'eh 

by Rabbi Avi Billet 

 In furthering his instructions to the people as to how they are to go about their business of acquiring and settling the land, after informing them of the need to eradicate all places of worship they will encounter, altars, monuments, idols, worshiped-trees directed at the ‘gods’ of the nations, Moshe tells the Israelites that their own worship is to be confined “only to the place which the Lord your God shall choose from all your tribes, to set His Name there; you shall inquire after His dwelling and come there.” (12:5) 

 There will be exception to this for the first few years of their living in the land, as the bamah will be available for certain devotional offerings, but eventually all will be consumed under the rubric of the Mishkan and Mikdash, each being in a defined space in the future – the Mishkan being the central location, until such time as the Mikdash will be built. In the meantime, all formal sacrifices (Korbanot) are to be brought at the Mishkan.

Finding Our Purpose

Parshat Eikev

by Rabbi Avi Billet

8:2 – Moshe reminds people that in the undertaking of the responsibility of mitzvos, they must remember the entire journey of the Bnei Yisrael through the wilderness – 40 years – which was “to cause you difficulty, to test you, to know what is in your heart, whether you will observe the Mitzvos or not.” Ralbag posits that this was a test of grit, to see - after all these years - how committed they were to Torah. 

 Testing them consisted of there not being water, or no meat, nor vegetables, nor legumes. No garlic, no onions, nor whatever else they may have wanted – all they had was manna.

 All of this was to show the ability of God to sustain an entire nation, essentially, on bread alone.

The Concept of the Chosen People

 Parshat VaEtchanan

by Rabbi Avi Billet

At least twice in Va’Eschanan, Moshe makes a reference to the people of Israel being chosen by God. Anyone who can read would understand that the “chosenness” of which we speak is not a measure of “greatness” but is a measure of “mission,” meaning that the Jewish people were chosen to fulfill a particular mission in this world. 

 An essay which begins with such a pronouncement could go on for many pages, but since there is limited space here, we will explore how the selected verses in question demonstrate this notion, leaving out any judgments of peoples, of faiths, and of brainpower. The only “religious” component of chosenness is the basic tenet that there is one God. Anyone who serves or worships idolatry rejects the mission. And, to state what most of us know, while one need not become Jewish to exist in the community of God, there are virtually no barriers to entry to become Jewish, beyond the actual commitment to God, the Torah, and the Jewish people, which are basic requirements. 

Moshe's Eichah - a Different Lament

Parshat Devarim

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Note: The word איכה (Eikha or Eichah) means "How" and it is typically associated with LAMENT, primarily because it is the name of the book known in English as "Lamentations" - a mournful ode to the destruction of the First Temple.

Devarim 1:12 -  אֵיכָ֥ה אֶשָּׂ֖א לְבַדִּ֑י טָרְחֲכֶ֥ם וּמַֽשַּׂאֲכֶ֖ם וְרִֽיבְכֶֽם: 

The first comment in Midrash Eichah reads as follows: 

 “How [eikha] does…sit [alone].” Three prophesied with the term eikha: Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. Moses said: “How [eikha] can I bear alone…” (Deuteronomy 1:12). Isaiah said: “How [eikha] did [the faithful city] become a harlot?” (Isaiah 1:21). Jeremiah said: “How [eikha] does [the greatly crowded city] sit alone?” Rabbi Levi said: This is analogous to a noblewoman who had three friends. One saw her in her tranquility, one saw her in her debauchery, and one saw her in her disgrace. So, Moses saw them in their glory and their tranquility and said: “How [eikha] can I bear alone your troubles?” Isaiah saw them in their debauchery and said: “How [eikha] did [the faithful city] become a harlot?” Jeremiah saw them in their disgrace and said: “How [eikha] does [the greatly crowded city] sit [alone]?” 

 This passage seems to present Moshe’s "Eichah" (bolded above) as a positive comment!