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Rabbi John Rosove's Blog

Category Archives: Musings about God/Faith/Religious life

Reflections on this Passover – 2020

06 Monday Apr 2020

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Divrei Torah, Ethics, Health and Well-Being, Holidays, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Dear All:

This is as difficult a year to celebrate Pesach as any of us born after WWII has ever known; but this year is not an anomaly in Jewish history. We’ve known as a people years of suffering before that the Haggadah itself documents in Midrash, rite, ritual, and song. As we do every year, we ask especially now what is the meaning of Passover.

The traditional Haggadah has a statement inserted during times of great oppression that calls upon God to “pour out Your wrath” upon the enemies of our people who caused us such suffering. Many modern Haggadot, however, deleted this reference and replaced it with “pour out Your love” upon Your people and all peoples, especially upon those suffering from oppression, illness, and want.

That being said, it’s entirely appropriate for us to be angry at those federal, state, and local government officials who have been derelict in their duty to follow the advice of medical experts and scientists who early on advocated taking aggressive steps to stem the tide of this pandemic and thereby protect, as much as possible, the well-being of our citizenry. Though many of our nation’s governors, mayors, health-care professionals, first-responders, and community leaders have stepped up to protect us, history will judge harshly those who failed to be the leaders we so desperately need.

Our Seders should include prayers for the healing of every person across the globe who is ill with this virus. Here is the shortest prayer in the Hebrew Bible (Numbers 12:13) that Moses offered on behalf of Miriam who had been struck with leprosy – “El na r’fa na la – Please God heal her.” We can put it into the plural for all those afflicted – “El na r’fa na lahem – Please God heal them.”

This year our Seders likely will be the smallest gatherings we’ve ever experienced. But we can still  celebrate our festival of freedom and renewal, be grateful for our families, friends, and tradition of hope, and say dayeinu – that may be enough.

Hag Pesach Sameach.

“Comfort, O Comfort My People”

13 Friday Mar 2020

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Health and Well-Being, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

As my wife and I practice “social distancing” to protect ourselves, our family, friends, and community, and as we feel the anxiety that so many share, I’ve sought words of comfort as together we face this terrible pandemic.

Martin Buber, quoting Rabbi Pinchas said: “When a person is singing and cannot lift his/her voice and another comes along and sings with him/her, another who can lift that person’s voice, then the first will be able to lift his/her voice too. That is the secret of the bond between spirit and spirit.” (Tales of the Hasidim)

How do we lift each other’s spirit as we isolate ourselves from one another? That’s a fundamental humanitarian question in these days.

Thankfully, we have the internet, social media, telephones, Face-time, streaming of religious services, and the media as a whole to connect us to our families, friends, fellow Jews, and to the world beyond our front doors.

The biblical prophet Isaiah said, “Nachamu, nachamu ami – Comfort, O comfort My people, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call out to her…” (40:1)

In times of trouble, Isaiah’s words have always inspired and comforted me. Interpreting “Jerusalem” as a Place of peace, comfort, compassion, empathy, and justice, we can extend the meaning of Yerushalayim shel ma-alah (The Heavenly Jerusalem) to include our world community confronting together this frightening pandemic.

“May the One Who dwells in this Place comfort you” is a message inscribed on Kings Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. In our own “places,” may we know good health and feel comfort as we connect with each other in new ways in these days.

Shabbat Shalom.

 

 

On the Ethics of Public Shaming

19 Sunday Jan 2020

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Ethics, Jewish Identity, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

I have often wondered how President Trump retains the support of so many orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews, most of whom are well-versed in the ethics and laws of the Talmud. I am also curious how President Trump retains the support of the Republican Jewish Coalition based on well-known Jewish ethics of speech (Thanks to my colleague Rabbi Leigh Lerner who shared the following passage on the Reform Rabbi list serve RAVKAV).

In the Babylonian Talmud (6th century CE) it is written in Baba Metzia 58b:

“Abaye said to Rav Dimi: In the West, i.e., Eretz Yisrael, with regard to what mitzvah [commandment] are they particularly vigilant [to avoid committing]? Rav Dimi responded: They are vigilant in refraining from humiliating others, as Rabbi Ḥanina says: Everyone descends to Gehenna [i.e. hell] except for three. … the ones who descend to Gehenna ultimately re-ascend, except for three who descend and do not ascend, and these are they: One who engages in intercourse with a married person, as this transgression is a serious offense against both God and a person; and one who humiliates another in public; and one who calls another a derogatory name. The Gemara [500 CE –  the rabbinic interpretation of the Mishnah – 200 CE] asks with regard to one who calls another a derogatory name: That is identical to one who shames him/her; why are they listed separately? The Gemara  answers: Although the victim grew accustomed to being called that name in place of his/her name, and he/she is no longer humiliated by being called that name, since the intent was to insult him/her, the perpetrator’s punishment is [nevertheless] severe…. one who humiliates another in public has no share in the World-to-Come. Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai: It is more comfortable for a person to cast him/herself into a fiery furnace, than to humiliate another in public to avoid being cast into the furnace.”

Consider all the nasty and demeaning epithets that President Trump has called his political competitors over the years — Crooked Hillary; Sleepy Joe Biden; Little Michael Bloomberg; Alfred E. Neuman – Pete Buttigieg;  Slimeball James Comey; Lyin’ Ted Cruz; Sneaky Dianne Feinstein; Jeff Flakey; Al Frankenstein; Fat Jerry Nadler; Cheatin’ Obama; Nervous Nancy Pelosi; Mike Pounce; Little Marco Rubio; Crazy Bernie Sanders; Shifty [and corrupt] Adam Schiff, among others.

Granted, the President is neither Jewish nor a pastor nor the Pope, but ethical behavior in all western religious traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) demands that we treat every human being with dignity and infinite worth because we are created b’tzelem Elohim – in the image of God. Destroying the dignity of another and publicly humiliating any human being personally is forbidden in Judaism.

It’s time that the Republican Jewish Coalition and all religious Jews apply our fundamental Jewish ethics in the evaluation of our leaders and of ourselves in our own behavior towards others.

 

 

 

 

 

New Year Song – “Reset”

25 Wednesday Sep 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Holidays, Inuyim - Prayer reflections and ruminations, Jewish Identity, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life

≈ 1 Comment

This is the new New Year Song “Reset” with lyrics by Abby Pogrebin and music
by Noah Aronson. I hope you find it uplifting and joyful and perfect for
this time.

Best wishes for a meaningful 5780

<https://www.facebook.com/92ndstreetY/videos/422639271717667/>

Be kind to your rabbi

08 Sunday Sep 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Ethics, Holidays, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Social Justice, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

We need our rabbis to speak to us as honestly, eloquently, and inspirationally as they can during this season. Doing so, however, is not easy. I hope that all congregants appreciate their rabbi’s efforts whether or not they agree with what their rabbis say.

If your rabbi inspires you to think and reflect deeply – if he/she elevates your spirit and helps you to see the world as if with new eyes – if your rabbi touches you and you feel renewed as a consequence of his/her words – tell them so and offer them your gratitude. They will appreciate that simple gesture more than you can know. They write for you and a good/great sermon is a veritable gift offered from heart to the heart and soul to soul.

For my complete Times of Israel Blog – see https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/be-kind-to-your-rabbi/

 

In Memorial: Rabbi Richard N. Levy, J Street

25 Tuesday Jun 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Ethics, Human rights, Jewish History, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Tributes

≈ 2 Comments

Rabbi John Rosove writes, “Richard was a once-in-a-generation rabbinic leader whose influence cut across denominational lines. His kindness is legion, his joyfulness ever-flowing, and his love for his family, friends, colleagues, the Jewish people and humankind a model for us all.”

In Memorial: Rabbi Richard N. Levy

Tristan and Iseult – Courtly Love and Covenant

04 Tuesday Jun 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Divrei Torah, Ethics, Health and Well-Being, Holidays, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life

≈ Leave a comment

The Jungian therapist Robert Johnson wrote in a little book called “We”:

“Here we are confronted with a paradox that baffles us, yet we should not be surprised to discover that romantic love is connected with spiritual aspiration – even with our religious instinct – for we already know that courtly love, at its very beginning so many centuries ago, was understood as spiritual love, a way of loving that spiritualized the knight with his lady, and raised them above the ordinary and the gross to an experience of another world, an experience of soul and spirit.”

I discuss the medieval myth of Tristan and Iseult the Fair in the context of this week’s Torah portion Bamidbar, the Biblical prophet Hosea, and the Festival of Shavuot that begins this Saturday night as similar expressions of spiritual love.

To read my d’var Torah, you can find it on my blog at the Times of Israel at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/tristan-and-iseult-courtly-love-and-covenant/

 

Moses and God’s Tears – A Poetic Midrash for Vayikra

13 Wednesday Mar 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Divrei Torah, Inuyim - Prayer reflections and ruminations, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

I have written a poetic midrash based on the word “Vayikra…” And God called Moses. You can read on my Times of Israel Blog at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/moses-and-gods-tears-a-poetic-midrash-for-vayikra/

Bezalel – Judaism’s First Artist

28 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Art, Divrei Torah, Inuyim - Prayer reflections and ruminations, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

On the face of it, the verses from this week’s Torah portion Vayakehl describe the matter-of-fact building of a movable edifice. But this isn’t merely an architectural plan. It’s a description of the highest aesthetic vision of the ancient Israelites, a standard that would impress itself upon the hearts, minds, and souls of generations of Jews to come…

Not just any craftsman could design and build this sacred structure. Only someone with the right qualities of heart, mind, soul, skill, and communal attitude could do the job, qualities spelled out in the text.

To read the entire d’var Torah, go to https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/bezalel-judaisms-first-artist/

“Make for me a Sanctuary that I may dwell within them” – Parashat T’rumah

07 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in Art, Divrei Torah, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life

≈ Leave a comment

The Mishkan (i.e. Tabernacle) was a physical manifestation of God’s presence on earth as designed and built by human hands, just as the created world (through the twenty-two letters of the aleph-bet) is an emanation of Divine thought into the creation of the universe. In each case, the same verb asah (make) appears in the Biblical text. There being nothing of coincidence in the Hebrew Bible, the rabbis concluded that there was a direct correlation between the creation of the world by God and the creation of the Mishkan by the ancient Israelites.

For my full d’var Torah, please see my Blog at the Times of Israel at  https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/make-for-me-a-sanctuary-that-i-may-dwell-within-them-parashat-terumah/ .

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