Friday, March 25, 2011

Shemini 5771

Shabbat shalom, everyone,

This week's Torah portion, Shemini, begins with the conclusion of a special ritual, the ordination of Aaron (and his sons) as the priests of Israel. The ritual describes a procedure of installation of the Israelite community's spiritual leaders, the ones who would lead the people in sacrificial worship and who would act as intercessors between the people and their God.

From the Bible's day to our own, the need of the Jewish People for inspired spiritual leadership has remained a constant. Eventually, with the destruction of the Temple, the priesthood would be relegated to a ceremonial role, and the rabbinate would emerge as the chief institution of Jewish spiritual leadership. Throughout the generations, the Jewish people has seen fit to ordain as rabbis people who exemplify deep learning and deep commitment to the highest ethical principles of our faith.

This week's Torah reading illustrates the place of primacy that our spiritual leaders have always held in steering the direction of our religious lives. The ceremony described in Parashat Shemini is one of high drama, with sacrificial blood and animal flesh, fire and smoke, sacred clothing and ritual choreography. It commanded the attention of the people, to say the least. They looked up to their priests who were invested with sacred power: the power to utilize sacrifice and offering to expiate sin, the power to marshall the people's energies and wealth to doing good, helping the needy and supporting their religious institutions, an almost mysterious power. Fortunately we do not invest rabbis with all the same powers! We do not need rabbis to reach out to God; we do not need rabbis to live vicarious Jewish lives for us. But we do rely on our rabbis to help us learn and live Torah.

This week, the Union for Reform Judaism, the synagogue arm of the Reform Movement, nominated its next President, the chief spiritual leader for over 900 Reform synagogues and 1.5 million affiliated members: Rabbi Richard Jacobs. It is a point of pride for our community in particular, because for the past 19 years Rabbi Jacobs has helmed with distinction, thoughtfulness, and a visionary outlook, the congregation that I also have the privilege of serving as one of its rabbis, Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale.

It is a particularly emotional development for me personally, because Rick is also the man I call my rabbi and whose mentorship and mutuality of leadership at WRT has been a signature blessing of my rabbinate.

As the Torah this week prompts us to contemplate the significance of our spiritual leaders in our midst, I invite you to read about Rabbi Jacobs and his nomination by following this link.

All of us at Westchester Reform Temple join hands and hearts in offering Rabbi Jacobs a heartfelt mazal tov and a pledge of support in his forthcoming, sacred work!

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Jonathan Blake

1 comment:

  1. Two points, Rabbi Blake:

    You imply "the priests of Israel" were "the Israelite community's spiritual leaders".

    Don't let the translation of "Kohen" as "priest" steer you wrong. Spiritual leaders of the Israeli people were usually RABBIS - those who intimately understood Torah and Talmud. In contrast, Kohanim spent most of their work time in the Temple. Across the Land of Israel, rabbis were usually the spiritual leaders. And even this point is not altogether correct, because ANY JEW who radiated Torah and Talmud IN HIS BEHAVIOR - IS a spiritual leader. This implies, correctly, that every observant Jew can become a spiritual leader.

    The Rabbi's role today is different from what it used to be. Today much of Jewish commonfolk know little about Torah and Mitzvot. So they hire a rabbi to perk them up with speeches every Shabbat. But the real role of rabbis is to RULE ON ISSUES OF LAW. Sure they can teach too, but that is also the obligation of any knowledgeable Jew.

    -------

    The 2nd point I want to address is your statistic of "900 Reform synagogues and 1.5 million affiliated members".

    It pains me if that statistic is correct, because, as you know, I am an observant, chassidic Jew. Why should that bother me? Because when one hand itches, the other hand, by nature, wants to relieve the itch by scratching it.

    Don't let big numbers impress you. Most of the matter in the world is inert. This "kingdom of inert matter" feeds the "kingdom of vegetation". There is much more vegetation than there is mass in "the animal kingdom" - because the latter depends on the former. Similarly, there is much more in the animal kingdom than there are in the "human kingdom", which subsists on it.

    The reasons I state are merely biophysical reasons, although chassidic philosophy has a spiritual perspective on these quantities.

    So, again, there are more humans than there are animals; more Gentiles than there are Jews; more irreligious Jews than religious ones; and more anti-chassidic Jews than chassidic Jews; and more chassidim than there is the one Moses of the Jewish collective body. The whole world stands on the shoulders of this singular personality. Much like an inverted pyramid standing on its tip (spiritually, and therefore physically - because everything physical propagated from its spiritual counterpart; For all is G-d, Who is spiritual.)

    You see, G-d did not need Moses to take the Jews out of Egypt. But, in fact, He did put a Moses in charge. Because, like every body needs a head, every Jewish collective body has a "head" at its helm, whether the "body" knows it or not.

    Anyways, this chassidus is too much for me to expand on here. But I wouldn't take your "big numbers" quite as dramatically as they are made to sound.

    G-d bless you and your congregants.

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