Passover Preparation and Sources

For the last week or so I have been "all Passover, all the time."
I have been cleaning and kashering (Amherst and CBI first, now at home) and arranging for Seders (two seders at our house plus one at Amherst).

If you are joining us for Passover Seder or meals at Amherst and have not signed up, please do so now.

Starting a few weeks before Passover, I start seeing lots of material on Facebook or in my in-box.

Here are some selections of note:

• The Maccabeats released a Les Mis Passover medley

• Jacob Richman posts educational/entertaining videos for Jewish holidays.  Here is this year's Passover list.

• Rabbi Dov Lerner collects Passover material and has downloadable Haggadot for you to make your own at Jewishfreeware.org I have seen this site grow in material and use--it should keep you busy for years of Seders.

• For Kosher for Passover (K4P) recipes and great general Kosher recipes, I suggest Jamie Gellers' Joy of Kosher.

• I use the Rabbinical Assembly Pesah Guide and the Operation Pesach FAQs for information on K4P, kashering, ingredients, etc.

(I am a member of the Rabbinical Assembly-- the international organization of Conservative/Masorti Rabbis.  Operation Pesach, run by Kosher Nexus, is a program of the Union for Traditional Judaism)

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• Last Minute Addition (not for those without a sense of humor):

A Bob Marley Passover Haggadah

Where Have I Been? Where am I going? Reflections From Ten Days Withouta Smartphone

It all started with a "birthday present" (not the one from the Hobbit). In a rush to run an errand on the way into work, I dropped my phone, an HTC Rezound. Just like not-yet King David defeated Goliath with a stone, my screen protector and case were defeated by a pebble on the ground. The cracked screen was barely noticeable at first until I opened the phone to put in the extended battery. Since I am not due for an upgrade for a while, I decided to live with it. Around two weeks ago, the plug stopped working consistently. I started to use the phone less while I researched my next move. No more mobile internet or gps use. I didn't have insurance, so I found the best step would be to replace the phone on eBay. First the main battery died and then my extra extended battery was slowly being used by "important calls." While I kept the phone with me, I did not use it last week at all. I ordered a phone from an eBay seller no specializes in phone replacements, had strong ratings, and a 30 day return policy. The phone arrived yesterday, working and in near perfect condition. A half hour at Verizon and time re-installing apps,and I back to where I was before. Or am I? (I will come back to this point).

It is not as though I had no technology access. Our family has three laptops, two iPads, one desktop computer with internet access, and two other smartphones and iPod touches (and a Nook that is mostly used when we go on vacation). I also have a computer in my Amherst office and one in my WNE classroom. I almost always have my laptop and iPad (although if I wasn't teaching at WNE, I would just use the iPad). None of the devices I use regularly have 3 or 4g mobile Internet, so I needed to be in a location with wi-fi to have web access. (By the way, it is a little depressing once I started making that list.  None of that includes non-working/old devices).

The problem is that most of my information life is on the cloud--housed primarily at google and Dropbox. This meant that I was always "behind" on email, didn't have up-to-date access to my calendar (yet alone Deborah's), ...

Since I was laid off from Smith in the 2010 budget cuts, I have added a lot of part-time jobs.  When working 8 years at Smith and Amherst, I thought it was hard having a full-time job split between two colleges 9 miles apart.  It is much harder working at one college 9 miles from, teaching two sections of an academic class 25 miles in another direction, and driving out to camp (45 minutes drive) every week or two for retreats.  I spend a lot more time in my car which means I get to hear lots of NPR and other talk radio.   Since November I have been at Amherst more as I am Interim Co-Director of Religious Life.  In general I spend a lot less time in one place than I used to.  Engaging in social media and writing my blog have suffered.  Also, I have found that I am reading different kinds of material than I used to read-- a lot about Israeli History, politics, and culture for my Modern Israel course at Western New England. It is not just the kind of reading that has changed, there always seems to be more I want to read. Having a smartphone means I can read a few emails or rss items while waiting or if I arrive somewhere early. It also means I find more to read.

Back to my 10 days relatively unplugged. I found that I paid closer attention to everything around me when I had no phone pulling at my attention. I enjoyed driving more when I didn't have the phone set to Google maps (where I always toggle to e.t.a.). Although I was not sure when I would get there, I got there with a more settled mind. While the cloud helps me have access to data, calendar, phone numbers, etc., it also saps at my attention span (academic studies have shown that there is little or no multi-masking in our brains).

The challenge is figuring out how to learn from this experience.  To bring it back to the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, perhaps technology  is like the One Ring--it slowly takes over our lives.  At first we notice the convenience and the power but only later do we learn the consequences.  Does our (over-)reliance on GPS devices impact our innate sense of direction? (More on this here and here)  Phone numbers are much harder to remember since everyone has different area codes (seven digits was chosen in the 1950's because it was the typical capacity of working memory).  With cell phones, you don't even have to remember the phone numbers of your close friends and family.

While I hope to add to this in the future, I will start by sharing this selection from Rabbi Rami Shapiro's, Wisdom of the Sages (a modern reading of Pirke Avot):

"Rabbi Judah haNassi said:
What is the right path for a person to follow?
One that honors both self and other.

Be attentive in all you do;
Do not judge one deed small and another great,
for you cannot always know their significance.

Be virtuous, even if virtue is costly.
Avoid sin, even if sin is profitable.

Remember three things and you will not err:
If your deeds shouldn't be known,
perhaps they shouldn't be done.
If your words shouldn't be shared,
perhaps they shouldn't be spoken.
Act with attention, for all your deeds have consequence." (II, 1; p. 22)

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An hour after finishing the original draft of this blog, I received an email from Asking Big Questions with this month's discussion guide, How Does Technology Change Us?  Great minds think alike.
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Sunday March 10th:  I received this today from thedailyrabbi.com:  UNPLUG:  Spiritual Lessons From a Lost Cell Phone.

Four Chaplains Shabbat

In addition to the celebrations in New Orleans and nationwide in honor of the Super Bowl, we will mark 4 Chaplains' Shabbat: The 70th anniversary of the sinking of the USAT Dorchester.  

On February 3, 1943, the Dorchester was attacked by a German U-boat, and four chaplains -- one Catholic priest, two Protestant ministers, and one rabbi -- gave their lifejackets to other sailors and went down with the ship.  Read below to find out about their inspiring story.

This Shabbat, we read Parshat Yitro which contains the peak of the Israelite experience in the desert--Revelation at Sinai (notably, the Ten Commandments, Aseret Ha-Dibrot, which I translate as the Ten Utterances to more fully represent the Hebrew and Jewish theology).  This important Torah reading begins with Yitro, Moses' father-in-law and a priest of Midian, to the Israelite camp.  He offers Moses' important instructions on communal leadership and justice.  Just as the story of the Four Chaplains reminds us of the connections we have to people of different faiths, the part of the Torah containing Revelation begins with an acknowledgment that practical and theoretical knowledge comes from multiple traditions.

My work on campus as a Chaplain/Religious Advisor/Hillel Director (the titles vary) and now as Interim Co-Director of Religious Life at Amherst College) has taught me that despite the many important differences between various faith and ethical traditions, we hold similar views about the importance of helping others and reaching out to people in need.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Bruce

The Four Chaplains

ALEXANDER D. GOODE	GEORGE L. FOX
CLARK V. POLING JOHN P. WASHINGTON Click on the names for their Biographies

THE STORY  (copied from The Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation) THE SAGA OF THE FOUR CHAPLAINS It was the evening of Feb. 2, 1943, and the U.S.A.T. Dorchester was crowded to capacity,  carrying 902 service men, merchant seamen and civilian workers. Once a luxury coastal liner, the 5,649-ton vessel had been converted into an Army transport ship. The Dorchester, one of three ships in the SG-19 convoy, was moving steadily across the icy waters from Newfoundland toward an American base in Greenland. SG-19 was escorted by Coast Guard Cutters Tampa, Escanaba and Comanche.  Hans J. Danielsen, the ship's captain, was concerned and cautious. Earlier the Tampa had detected a submarine with its sonar. Danielsen  knew he was in dangerous waters even before he got the alarming  information. German U-boats were constantly prowling these vital sea  lanes, and several ships had already been blasted and sunk. The Dorchester was now only 150 miles from its destination, but the  captain ordered the men to sleep in their clothing and keep life jackets on. Many soldiers sleeping deep in the ship's hold disregarded the order because of the engine's heat. Others ignored it because the life jackets were uncomfortable. On Feb. 3, at 12:55 a.m., a periscope broke the chilly Atlantic waters. Through the cross hairs, an officer aboard the German submarine U-223 spotted the Dorchester. The U-223 approached the convoy on the surface, and after identifying and targeting the ship, he gave orders to fire the torpedoes, a fan of three were fired. The one that hit was decisive--and deadly--striking the starboard side, amid ship, far below the water line. Danielsen, alerted that the Dorchester was taking water rapidly and  sinking, gave the order to abandon ship. In less than 20 minutes, the Dorchester would slip beneath the Atlantic's icy waters. Tragically, the hit had knocked out power and radio contact with the three escort ships. The CGC Comanche, however, saw the flash of the explosion. It responded and then rescued 97 survivors. The CGC Escanaba circled  the Dorchester, rescuing an additional 132 survivors. The third cutter, CGC Tampa, continued on, escorting the remaining two ships . Aboard the Dorchester, panic and chaos had set in. The blast had killed scores of men, and many more were seriously wounded. Others, stunned by the explosion were groping in the darkness. Those sleeping without  clothing rushed topside where they were confronted first by a blast of icy Arctic air and then by the knowledge that death awaited. Men jumped from the ship into lifeboats, over-crowding them to the point of capsizing, according to eyewitnesses. Other rafts, tossed into the Atlantic, drifted away before soldiers could get in them. Through the pandemonium, according to those present, four Army chaplains brought hope in despair and light in  darkness. Those chaplains were Lt. George L. Fox, Methodist; Lt. Alexander D. Goode, Jewish; Lt. John P.  Washington, Roman Catholic; and Lt. Clark V. Poling, Dutch Reformed. Quickly and quietly, the four chaplains spread out among the soldiers. There they tried to calm the frightened, tend  the wounded and guide the disoriented toward safety. "Witnesses of that terrible night remember hearing the four men offer prayers for the dying and encouragement for those who would live," says Wyatt R. Fox, son of Reverend Fox. One witness, Private William B. Bednar, found himself floating in oil-smeared water surrounded by dead bodies and debris. "I could hear men crying, pleading, praying," Bednar recalls. "I could also hear the chaplains preaching  courage. Their voices were the only thing that kept me going." Another sailor, Petty Officer John J. Mahoney, tried to reenter his cabin but Rabbi Goode stopped him. Mahoney,  concerned about the cold Arctic air, explained he had forgotten his gloves. "Never mind," Goode responded. "I have two pairs." The rabbi then gave the petty officer his own gloves. In  retrospect, Mahoney realized that Rabbi Goode was not conveniently carrying two pairs of gloves, and that the  rabbi had decided not to leave the Dorchester. By this time, most of the men were topside, and the chaplains opened a storage ocker and began distributing life jackets. It was then that Engineer Grady Clark witnessed an astonishing sight. When there were no more lifejackets in the storage room, the chaplains removed theirs and gave them to four frightened young men. "It was the finest thing I have seen or hope to see this side of heaven," said John Ladd, another survivor who saw the chaplains' selfless act. Ladd's response is understandable. The altruistic action of the four chaplains  constitutes one of the purest spiritual and ethical acts a person can make. When giving their life jackets, Rabbi Goode did not call out for a Jew; Father Washington did not call out for a Catholic; nor did the Reverends Fox and Poling call out for a Protestant. They simply gave their life jackets to the next man in line. As the ship went down, survivors in nearby rafts could see the four chaplains--arms linked and braced against the  slanting deck. Their voices could also be heard offering prayers. Of the 902 men aboard the U.S.A.T. Dorchester, 672 died, leaving 230 survivors. When the news reached American  shores, the nation was stunned by the magnitude of the tragedy and heroic conduct of the four chaplains. "Valor is a gift," Carl Sandburg once said. "Those having it never know for sure whether they have it until the test comes." That night Reverend Fox, Rabbi Goode, Reverend Poling and Father Washington passed life's ultimate test. In doing so, they became an enduring example of extraordinary faith, courage and selflessness. The Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart were awarded posthumously December 19, 1944, to the next of kin by Lt. Gen. Brehon B. Somervell, Commanding General of the Army Service Forces, in a ceremony at the post chapel at Fort Myer, VA. A one-time only posthumous Special Medal for Heroism was authorized by Congress and awarded by President Eisenhower on January 18, 1961. Congress attempted to confer the Medal of Honor but was blocked by the  stringent requirements that required heroism performed under fire. The special medal was intended to have the  same weight and importance as the Medal of Honor. ------------ Additional material for Four Chaplains Shabbat

Reflections on Renewing the Eruv at Camp Ramah New England

"Legal fictions such as Eruv just aren't my thing," remarked a rabbi in this area. "it doesn't make sense," said another rabbi (I will preserve their privacy by keeping both rabbis anonymous. "I once heard a joke about making an Eruv . . . The prince of the city told the rabbi asking for permission to build an Eruv: 'if you can imagine a wall by putting up a bunch of strings, why can't you imagine the wall as well?'". This is how a lay leader responded to my climbing on a ladder to repair the Eruv. Then, I saw this: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-march-23-2011/the-thin-jew-line --- Here is a description of the concept of Eruv from the website of an eruv in Atlanta: Some Jewish communities, including one Virginia-Highland synagogue, use strings, wires, and utility poles to create enclosed areas that help relax strict religious laws that prohibit carrying objects during the 25-hour Jewish Sabbath. Known as an eruv, the enclosure is virtually invisible to most people. Eruv is a Hebrew word that means to mingle or mix. Eruvim are built to create domains in public spaces, like sidewalks and streets, that form virtual courtyards that symbolically represent domestic space. Jewish law prohibits carrying items like keys and umbrellas outside of homes on the Sabbath. The rules also keep people from using baby strollers and medical devices like canes and walkers. Inside an eruv, Jews can enjoy the same freedoms to carry and push things that they do inside their homes. Although eruvim have been used in Jewish culture for more than 1,000 years, they are a relatively recent arrival in American cities. There are about 140 eruvim in the United States and they enclose spaces commonly associated with Jewish communities in large, older urban areas like Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. They also cover large areas in Washington, DC. The White House, the U.S. Capitol, and the Supreme Court buildings all are located inside the Washington Eruv. When you stop to think about it, an Eruv is a strange concept.

A History of JDub

I just read a great interview about the history of JDub records (its rise and fall).

Interesting look at an important (but now defunct) institution in the New Jewish Culture world.

I have found culture a great way to reach students who otherwise not come to Jewish programs.

It is an entry but not an endpoint.

Read the interview and let me know what you think.
Rabbi Bruce

Elect to Get Engaged in Election

I am going to try to post a little more often than I have over the last year.

While I am not interested in talking about the election directly, I will pose some questions I would be interested in having each candidate address.

Questions for Governor Romney:

1.  Can you explain the real reason you refuse to release the past ten years of tax returns?  Given the doubling of the stock market (and the leveraged nature of many investments funds), could it because you are significantly better off financially than you were when President Obama took office (despite reporting no wage income)?

2.  If elected, would you close all of your off-shore trusts, accounts, and partnership interests?

3.  Why do you refuse to release details of many of your domestic policy plans?  Is that the type of leadership the American people should accept?

4.  What about being a one-term Governor of Massachusetts has prepared you to be President (especially given your frequent absences from the state during the final years of your term)?

5.  How will your Presidency differ from that of President George W. Bush?

Questions for President Obama:
1.  Do you feel that your previous work experiences adequately prepared you to be the head of the Executive Branch of our government in a time of crisis?  If not, what other experiences and skills would you have wanted to have prior to running?

2.  Given that you have faced a confrontational and inflexible Congress, what responsibility do you have for government inaction and negative political tone?

3.  What would you have done differently during your first term in office?

4.  What staffing changes and policies will you change going forward?

5.  Has your changes to foreign policy been beneficial or harmful to the US?


Readers, please respond through comments.

Check it out. I just rated [A Gem in the Valley] on the Day School Video Academy Awards. #JDSVA #jed21

Check it out. I just rated [A Gem in the Valley] on the Day School Video Academy Awards. #JDSVA #jed21

A Place Could Make You Cry Part I--Reflections on Seeing the Film Unsettled

To paraphrase Groucho Marx: before I start writing, I would like to write a few words.

The title of this blog post is a take-off on a book title by a senior rabbinic colleague, Rabbi Daniel Gordis, an American Jewish leader who made aliyah in the late 90's and started writing emails about his families experiences in an Israel at war.  He collected a number of the emails into a book, If a Place Could Make You Cry--Dispatches from an Anxious State.  It has been a while since I read the book, but the title has stayed with me.  Now that you know the literary allusion, I will skip to the incidents that provoked this post.

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This week is Israel Peace Week at Amherst College.  This ambitious program was created by Amherst Israel Alliance--a new Israel-oriented student organization which was created this fall (the last group, Amherst Friends of Israel, stopped functioning when most of its leaders graduated in '10).  I have had only limited input in the programming, which was organized by student leaders and Amherst's CJP IACT Fellow, Kylie Fisher.

Even though the week is only half over, yasher koach on a great first program.

The first night brought the Consul General of Israel to New England to campus for a reception with student leaders and an informal talk.  It had a good turn-out and feedback seemed positive.n  

The second night was a showing of the film, Unsettled, and a talk by its director, Adam Hootnick.  I had not seen the film but read a few positive reviews about it.  Interestingly, the film did not make it past the first step of selections for this year's Pioneer Valley Film Festival.  

Watching the film prompted me to write this post.

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I don't often cry at films, which sometimes upsets my wife.  Even if I get emotional, it usually has to be a very sad movie for me to openly cry.  Last night, while watching Unsettled, I got very emotional at a few points.  I arrived a few minutes late and sat in the back row.  I didn't realize it at first but I sat next to the filmmaker, Adam Hootnick.  The film chronicles a group of charismatic young Israelis involved in different ways in Israel'

s disengagement (pull-out) of Gaza in 2006.  Through these Israelis and their experiences (as religious and secular settlers removed from their homes, peace activists, and soldiers who worked the disengagement, we are exposed to a nation at war with itself.  While I have often thought of the individual Israeli families who were uprooted from their homes in Sinai ( for me, through Safam's powerful song Yamit), this film brings you into the living rooms and cars of those involved.  It is full of powerful, and sometimes disturbing, human moments in the midst of a historical drama that has been all but forgotten in the West--a country using 55000 soldiers and police forces to uproot a few thousand settlers that were encouraged by their country to settle in Gaza.

One scene that I spoke about during the Q&A was filmed inside the living room of one of the character's family as the soldiers come to evict them.  In contrast to some of the houses which were packed up and even partially dismantled--this home looked like a normal home.  A major and a soldier calmly knock on the door and are admitted with every courtesy.  They sit at the dining room table and talk about what is happening.  The father of the household--like all Israeli males a veteran of the IDF--tries to tell them that they could disobey orders.  When it is clear that they are there to do their job, they talk a little bit more and share the emotions of the moment.  It is clear that each side is not going to back down but they explain why they believe and act the way they do.  The soldiers demonstrate empathy and try to express that they realize how difficult it is for the family.  An elderly man sitting on a couch explains that none of them will fight or harm Israeli soldiers in any way but that they will need to be physically carried out by soldiers.  Around when it is time for the family to be removed, coffee is placed in front of the soldier and the officer.  The young soldier starts to get up to do his duty and the officer stops him by saying, "Drink first."  In the Middle East, it is very rude to refuse food or drink offered to you by a host.  This is one of the times that I cried.  Here they are about to carry a family out of their home, place them on a bus, and take them over the line out of Gaza for the last time.  At least one day before, their presence in Gaza was no longer legal.  The older officer is teaching his soldier a powerful lesson in manners--you don't forgot how to be a guest even in the middle of taking the family out of their own house.  This is one of the times that made me say out loud (before I knew who I was sitting next to):  they are all kids.  (The film does a great job at showing parts of the careful training that was given to the selected non-combat soldiers who were in the inner circle of disengagement.  A powerful part of this is when they were repeatedly warned to not look happy in any way while they were doing their job--even if they were successful at clearing a house). 

For now, I will put this blog post up since I am getting tired but their will be more to come tomorrow. 

Shalom,

Rabbi Bruce

Dvar Torah at My Niece's Bat Mitzvah

My niece recently celebrated becoming at Bat Mitzvah.
I was honored with offering a dvar Torah at shul Saturday morning.
Here is the text as written:

Shabbat Shalom

Earlier in her dvar Torah, Aliza mentioned the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim –welcoming guests--performed by Avraham and Sarah in this week's parashah.   The first eight verses of Chapter 18 describe how they welcomed three guests.  This is seen as the paradigm of hachnasat orchim.

The first few verses contain Avraham’s extension of hospitality.  Avraham could have simply said:  “My lords, please, stop to rest and refresh your selves.”  Instead, the Torah says:  “As soon as he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them and, bowing to the ground, he said, "My lords, if it please you, do not go on past your servant.  Let a little water be brought; bathe your feet and recline under the tree. And let me fetch a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves; then go on—seeing that you have come your servant's way." 

In the next verses, we learn how Avraham involves the household in preparing bread, meat, and other refreshments for the guests.  Instead of just telling us this information, the Torah specifies what Avraham asked Sarah to bake, how he selected a calf and then how Avraham and a servant prepared the rest of the food.

Nechama Leibowitz taught that the Torah does not normally provide details of everyday incidents in a particular narrative.  Therefore, when the Torah offers us such detail, the added information is instructional and not just to enhance the narrative. We learn two types of details about the mitzvah of welcoming guests.  The first type concerns the offer of hospitality and the actions involved.  These demonstrate taking care of the physical and emotional needs of the travelers by breaking down the offer and actions into many parts:  stopping to rest, bathing feet, reclining, eating bread to refresh themselves, and the preparation of food. 

The second type of details concern the way in which the household of Avraham and Sarah performed these actions.  One example highlights their eagerness to care for others.  The verses containing the offer of hospitality and food preparation include five forms of the words “hasten” or “run”.  Their actions are the paradigm of hachnasat orchim not just because they teach us the particular actions involved but because of the way in which they were approached. 

Aliza, you are no stranger to hachnasat orchim.  Your house is always filled with countless family, friends, USYers, and so many others that it would be hard to keep track without a guestbook.  You are not a passive observer to welcoming guest, but you help perform the many types of actions involved.  When we show up, you often imitate Avraham and run to help us with our bags, take your cousins out of the way, and get us situated.  Although I am not there to see you welcome others, I imagine you do it in the same way.

The three guests are understood to be angels, but this is not explicit in the text which describes them as men.  This raises a question about the motivations for parts of Avraham’s actions:  does he know that they are angels or especially important people or does he treat everyone that way?  Commentators differ in their view of some of the particular actions Avraham engages in when welcoming the guests.  Abravanel believes that Avraham knew they were not ordinary people since the text describes them far away and then immediately in front of him.  He perceived their special status and therefore went to them rather than calling to them from afar.  The Sifre teaches that Avraham acted no differently than normal since he did not learn about the special nature of the guests until after he welcomed them. 

I found the Sifre’s approach that Avraham treats everybody the same to be more convincing then Abravanel’s view that he treated the guests in a special manner.  I even asked Aliza about it yesterday afternoon and she confirmed that all people should be treated equally in general but appropriate to their individual needs.  At first I was troubled by going against Abravanel at a family simchah since he is one of Aliza’s ancestors.  Luckily, Aliza in her dvar torah came to Abravanel’s rescue and reconciled the two approaches.  Aliza taught us to pay attention to the miracles around us.  Looking at the world through Aliza-colored lenses and seeing everyone as a potential miracle allows us to perform hachnasat orchim in the same way as Avraham and Sarah do.  Every guest, indeed everyone we meet, is as special as the angels visiting Avraham and Sarah’s tent and must be treated accsordingly.  Aliza, I hope you continue to view the world through your miracle glasses and treat everyone as a treasured guest. 

Dodo (what our nieces and nephews call Deborah) and your cousins, join me in wishing you and your family mazal tov.

My Dvar Torah at Zev's Bar Mitzvah

This is the Dvar Torah I offered at Zev's Bar Mitzvah--Parshat Shoftim, September 3rd, 2011.

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Shabbat Shalom and yasher koach zev,

The Sefer Ha-Chinukh, written in 13th century Spain, outlines each of the Mitzvot in the Torah, portion by portion.  According to it, the Torah reading you leyned this morning, Parshat Shoftim, contains 14 positive and 27 negative mitzvot.  That is almost 7% of the mitzvot in the Torah.  Knowing that you already taught us about one mitzvah in your drasha earlier, I figured I should take a different approach and examine the Parashah as a whole.  As you mentioned, these 41 mitzvot cover broad swaths of Jewish law and ethics.  Parshat shoftim explains how to create just courts, how leaders such as as prophets, priests, and kings relate to the community.  And, It also presents the laws for waging war--one of which is the mitzvah of Baal Tashchit that you taught us about earlier.

When I examined these disparate laws together, one aspect jumped out at me--they all revolve around responsibility.  The responsibility of a judge or witness to insure justice, the responsibilities and requirements on leaders due to their leadership roles, the responsibility of an army towards its own people and its enemies during war, and in your maftir aliyah--the responsibility that a community holds to take care of a dead body.  Each of these mitzvot describes a responsibility the Torah places on individuals or groups in relation to the community.  

As we studied together, many of these mitzvot are contingent--they do not apply until and unless you find yourself in particular circumstances.  That they are contingent means that many--if not most of the mitzvot--will not happen to any one person in their lifetime.  Yet, they remain part of the Torah and the Jewish tradition.  You are responsible for observing them if and when they apply.  I don’t think you should get your hopes up about being king any time soon--despite the fact that your ancestor Abravanel was a descendant of King David.

When you turned thirteen earlier this summer, you assumed the responsibilities to fulfill the mitzvot--the how’s of why’s Jewish life.  Today, by publicly reading Torah, haftarah, davening and teaching us, you demonstrate that you are developing the skills to do so--to make them a part of your daily life.  

Until this age, our tradition views that you need to learn how to observe but are not responsible for observing.  Over the last few years, you have demonstrated this process of learning in order to be able to do.  Let me offer a few examples of this:  at eight or nine, you started fasting the whole day on Yom Kippur, you get yourself to shul on time Shabbat morning even if it means leaving on your own, and you are adamant in your desire to continue your Jewish education after you graduated LGA Schechter. Ima and I have very proud of you for the actions you took on yourself.  

While in the past you had the obligation to learn and chose to act, you now have the obligation to act.  As an adult member of the community, you now have new responsibilities to fulfill the mitzvot.  These place requirements on you that are not always optional.  If you walk into a room where nine are trying to make a minyan, you have to stay to make the required ten.  You have a responsibility to be counted.  

Up to this point, since you did not have the general responsibility to fulfill all of the mitzvot, the responsibility for your actions were on me.  Now, you count and are responsible for your own actions.  Ima and I will continue to guide you on your way and help you with your procrastinating but you are your own person and you have the responsibility to step up and take part in Jewish life.  To mark this, I recited a short bracha after you finished your aliyah--baruch she’patrani m’onsho shel ze.

Everyone is here today to celebrate with you on this special day.  We are all proud of you.  Your grandparents, siblings, other relatives, friends, and especially Ima and I are all glad we could be here.  On your birth announcements, we quoted from a Hebrew song that describes the blessings of an angel to a boy.  In echoing that song, I wish you a shining smile, eyes open to the beauty of our world and all that inhabit it so you fill your heart and soul with wonder, meaning, and happiness.  Mazal tov.