Torah

Hyphenated Theology

TO ME, GOD IS NOT a Being to be worshipped – but a Presence to be experienced. (YMMV.)

Life

The Bag

ONE OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES from The Lord of the Rings concerns Frodo Baggins’ loyal manservant and steadfast friend Sam Gamgee. It’s a narrative quote, not dialog, and it describes Sam’s knapsack as stuffed full of (quoting from memory): “… little treasures of his master’s to be trotted out in triumph when needed and called for.”

Now, as comedian Ron White would say, “I told you that story so I could tell you this one.”

It’s my custom to post a daily Facebook question, to the evident delight of good friends who love to play along. I always answer it myself just to get the snowball rolling, and the other day I posted this:

What’s your EDC (Every Day Carry)? (Me: In addition to wallet, keys, phone and bandana handkerchief, I carry a four-pocket, five-pound, grey Cordura sling bag containing a Leatherman-knockoff multitool; blue and red ballpoint pens; blue Sharpie; mechanical pencil; yellow notepad; binoculars; two-lens jeweler’s loupe; LED flashlight; thumb drive; spare bandana; two black KN95 masks; two pair nitrile gloves; two pair earplugs; comb; mirror; six-inch/15-centimeter plastic ruler; earbuds [wired]; one of those steel, credit-card-sized “11-in-1 survival tools” [bottle opener, can opener, standard screwdriver, wingnut wrench, hex wrenches, blade, magnetic compass, file, ruler, keychain loop, and saw]; sewing kit; first-aid kit; inspirational reading; space blanket; razor-sharp Opinel No. 8 knife; miniature Swiss Army knife with toothpick and tweezers; mini carabiner clip; ibuprofen; Listerine spray; dry-mouth spray and lozenges; two plastic teaspoons; two paper straws; military-issue folding can opener; actual magnetic compass; synagogue-leadership roster; vaxx card; cough drops; folding scissors; eyeglasses; homemade trail mix; phone charger; small clothespin; rubber band; butane lighter [I don’t smoke, but instant flame can be handy]; guitar pick; Kleenex packet; nail clippers; two packets of Bustelo instant espresso; and one of my business cards with “IF FOUND PLEASE RETURN TO” scribbled on the back. In short, everything which I have needed and/or anticipate needing goes into this damn bag which I lug everywhere, feel absolutely naked without, and have misplaced twice – with attendant bad freakout. Wouldn’t you?)

The NorCal fire season – especially 2017’s, which burned half of Sonoma Valley – definitely made an impression on me, and for that reason I partly live out of my other go-bags for small things like sunglasses and daily grooming essentials; it’s a great stress-reducer to know I can grab everything of importance without thinking. But to be honest, I really tote all these things, each thoughtfully and meticulously collected over a period of years, because I love to be useful. (Which is not a bad way to be.)

So. What’s your EDC? And a bonus question: What makes you feel useful?

Torah

Where Are You?

(Sermon for Parashat Vayikra [Leviticus 1:1-5:26], 4/5/25.)

THIS WEEK’S TORAH PORTION, LIKE the entire book of Leviticus it’s taken from, asks: “How do we get close to G?d – and survive?”

Leviticus’ answer is excruciatingly detailed – so much so that it strikes fear into b’mtzvah students whose birthdays fall anytime during its reading season. But this third book of the Torah opens simply enough, with G?d having Moses tell the Israelites: “When any of you presents an offering to Adonai…”

Note the operative word: “when.” Not if, but when. The Torah assumes that our ancestors would do like their surrounding cultures, and worship their deity by sacrificing slaughtered animals on a flaming altar. So ingrained was this practice that if Moses and his charges could see us gathered here this morning, they’d wonder why we don’t offer animals like they did – as the Torah tells them to do.

In fact, the purpose of this “offering” is built into the Hebrew word that depicts it: “korban,” which shares its kuf-reish-bet root with the word “kiruv,” meaning “to draw near.”

The esteemed Torah commentator Rashi emphasizes that our portion begins by talking about voluntary offerings – not those brought to atone for a sin or other trespass. When someone felt the need for a spiritual boost for whatever reason, they would bring to the Altar whatever their means allowed – domestic ruminants, turtledoves, matzah, or even raw flour. If they wanted to express to G?d their gratitude, for example, their animal’s fats and organs would burn on the Altar, and its meat would be consumed by the worshipper and their friends and relations.

There is something very moving about the idea of sharing an intimate meal with G?d. It’s quite the contrast to the people’s attitude at the foot of Sinai in Exodus 20:16. There, they heard G?d’s voice and subsequently begged Moses: “You speak to us and we will listen; but let not G?d speak to us, lest we die.”

The word translated as “we will listen” is “nishma” – from the root shin-mem-ayin, or “Shema.” (Sound familiar?) Indeed, the concept of Shema is so important that we’re commanded to focus on it in prayer twice daily. That’s reminiscent of the twice-daily offerings burning on the Altar of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) – and later, the Holy Temple.

But the question remains wherever religious folk gather: How do we experience G?d, the Divine, the Holy One, or however you think of It? Through study? Prayer? Acts of kindness? Something else entirely? Let’s listen to each other, and hopefully learn a little something…

[PASS MICROPHONE]
The handful of replies included “In nature,” “Random moments of intuition,” and finally, “Just sitting in silence.”
[THEN]

Thank you, everyone, for your input and insights. Riffing on that last answer, the Sufi poet Rumi once said, “G?d speaks in silence. Everything else is a poor translation.” Shabbat Shalom.

Eats

Instant Equilibrium

A BIT PRICEY, BUT O! so worth it.

Occasionally, and despite my usual decent breakfast (homebaked bran-ginger-date-pecan muffin, high-protein yogurt, and coffee), I am apt to suffer hypoglycemia while perambulating about Sonoma. (There was even the time a few months ago when I approached some firefighter trainees to ask for a therapeutic granola bar and wound up riding an ambulance back to my house. Great story, too little time/space to tell it further.)

As proof against these attacks, I used to carry pitted dates in my EDC for gobbling to raise my blood-sugar. However, I recently hit on the following mixture which, in addition to being tasty, serves its purpose more admirably because of added protein:

Blend equal parts (say, at least a half-cup each) whole candied pecans, chopped candied pecans, chopped dates, roasted and salted pistachio kernels, dried cranberries, and goji berries. Portion out into a plastic sandwich or snack-size bag, seal, and tuck into EDC. (Try hard not to nibble on it unless needed.)

Crit, Life

We’re All Americans, Dammit

I’VE SAID THIS BEFORE, BUT it’s more important now than ever:

“I pledge allegiance to the Constitution
Of the United States of America
And to the ideal on which it stands:
One nation of individuals
Indivisibly intertwined
With liberty, justice, and peace for all.”

(So help me, G?d. And so help all of us.)

Torah

Breaking Class

(Sermon delivered this past Saturday morning. Feel free to scroll past if you’re not into that sort of thing.)

KI TISA IS ONE OF those Torah portions that helps give G?d a bad name.

It seems that every time we turn around, in Torah and in the rest of the Bible, G?d is getting mad about something. Jealous. Wrathful, even. What could be behind this extreme behavior?

According to Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed, there is one thing and one thing only which sets G?d off: idolatry. Turning our backs on G?d is something that G?d just can’t abide.

Which makes sense. Not only were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob promised that their descendants – that’s us! – would become a vast population, but that with G?d’s help, we would thrive.

In addition, there’s G?d’s delivering us from Egyptian slavery with plagues and miracles. “You owe me,” G?d seems to be saying. “After all I’ve done for you, and you go lusting after idols? Take THAT!”

But as we’ve also heard this morning, Moses calls G?d’s bluff (if it is a bluff) to annihilate the Jews with a “what-would-the-neighbors-think” argument. And G?d relents.

Of course, Moses – no stranger to anger himself – then proceeds to smash the Tablets of the Ten Precepts, as R’ Adin Steinsaltz calls them. Moses destroys the only record of the Sinai Contract, then carves out a new and slightly different one that has lasted more than 3,000 years.

The aliyot my friend Stephen Steiner just chanted are from chapter 32 of Exodus. Stephen points out that in Gematria, Jewish numerology, 32 is also the numerical equivalent for the word “lev,” lamed-bet, meaning “heart.”

Active debate with G?d might be understood as one aspect of the Jewish heart. We don’t always take what G?d says at face value, whether it’s Abraham arguing on behalf of the S’domites, Jacob’s chutzpadik deal-making en route to Laban’s house, or the rabbis of the Talmud rejecting divine miracles as legal proofs.

But iconoclasm might be seen as another Jewish heart-aspect. If Moses hadn’t broken the Tablets, our ancestors wouldn’t have awoken from their idolatrous slumber. Moses is in good company: with Abraham breaking the idols in his father’s shop, Elijah breaking the reputation of Baal’s priests in this week’s haftarah, and Jews in general throughout history making radical breakthroughs in social justice, medicine, science, entertainment, agriculture, and many other fields of human endeavor.

We’re the little kid who points a finger at the unclad emperor and dares to say so; and sometimes, we’ve taken our lumps for it. But our holy chutzpah has always been in service of creating a better world – not just for Jews, but for everyone.

May it always be so. Shabbat shalom.

It is necessary,” answered Don Quixote, “to know everything in the profession I follow.”
— Miguel de Cervantes