I LOVE lemonade so when there are lemons coming our way, guess what….

This summer began with questions, puzzled looks, disappointed faces, tears, and so forth given that summer camps were closed, overnight camp experiences cancelled and parents are working from home, kids are addicted to their screens even more so given that this is how they were going to school and in general, what WERE WE GOING TO DO? For adults, we were upset that plans had to be cancelled – we were supposed to be in Rome for an international conference in June and there was a possibility I and my daughter and her family would be in Israel for July. Obviously none of this happened.

One of the things that struck me in the beginning of this Covid 19 Odyssey was a lovely piece some clever person created that showed a parent and their child in the year 2030. The parent asked the child who was in his later teenage years what he remembered from 2020. He could not remember at first. Then the parent began … “I had to work from home, you guys went to school from home, we were all in self-isolation, parks were closed, no entertainment spots to go to, we could not get out of the house, etc. etc. It was just so frustrating.” Then the child thinks and says, “Oh right, now I remember, that was the BEST year of my childhood. We had dinner together every night, dad and I played ball in the yard, we played board games and laughed as a family, enjoyed our home, and it was just great. BEST YEAR EVER!”

So, for my summer of 2020, I continued to work. Always, meetings, classes I teach, programs I run, etal. were on the screen, and at the same time I took the moment and made lemonade… that is, we hatched up this idea of Machaneh (Camp) Savta for two nine year olds and a six year old and a three year old as well, when she could detach from her mommy and daddy’s arm or leg for a while. We spent a lot of time in the pool, used imagination in playing with a toy village, read and completed summer school packets, the six year old went to a virtual camp for a few hours in the morning resulting in several house scavenger hunts, we all dovened (prayed) and learned the weekly Torah portion together, completed art projects, learned sewing skills and made skirts, learned about some of the issues swirling around us in our world on an age appropriate level, cooked dinners, just hung out, played games, took walks, etc.

It was really quite lovely, if somewhat complicated at time keeping all of the balls in the air at once. I know these wonderful members of the newest generation of our family will tell stories about our experiences and also about our unplanned experiences, like the ceiling collapsing in their bedroom due to a huge mistake made by an air conditioning service person, a flooding of my downstairs office and crafts room due to faulty covering of one of our window wells, and the lovely power outage that left us in the dark telling ghost stories. But through it all, we laughed, were busy and happy and in the end, it really was a lovely summer experience in every way.

We are the fortunate ones! We could do all of this and come up with a wonderful and satisfying Plan B for our kids. I hope that for all of us who are able to do so, this will be our approach. This time does absolutely present some different and wonderful opportunities, if we are paying attention. You know that saying -- “Life happens while you are making plans.”

So what else will I take from this time? I make sure to phone friends regularly as much as possible to stay in touch. I’ve even used the moment to reconnect with college roommates and my best friend from childhood thanks to my very busy ZoomRoom. My wonderful husband Ken has taken up reading books, which I enjoy as well so we do more of that. We are appreciative of the comfort and resources we have to make this time meaningful. It is a slower pace generally and our world has gotten a bit smaller, but we are grateful for so much and I am especially thankful that we have all had the good sense to use the opportunity of this moment instead of mourning what we can’t do. Oh and right, for my husband and children and all who care – GO PHILLIES with your cardboard fans, FLYERS, and SIXERS with your onscreen fans! Be well all, stay safe, and make this time as special as possible. Now it’s time for that cool glass of lemonade!

Can we get a grip on Intersectionality?

In linguistics, we learn that definitions are often contextual. That is to say a term can be misappropriated or specifically designated to mean something other than originally intended given certain context and conditions. So, for example, here is a term that has been giving me headaches, recently” INTERSECTIONALITY!

A dictionary definition (Seventh Collegiate Dictionary) is:

the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

This term has historically been used to indicate inclusivity, that is to say to recognize my whole self, as I am all of me, not just one thing. All of these different aspects of who I am intersect to form my whole identity – my gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, etc. When I am at a disadvantage or somehow being discriminated against, it may very well be because of my race, religion, gender, etc. that all impact upon and intersect with each other. For example, it is known that black transgender women are at a significantly higher risk for being subjected to extreme violence than virtually any other group in the United States. When did we. begin to use this term to express “all of me?”

According to the Columbia Journalism Review, “Intersectionality” was coined in 1989 by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a civil rights activist and legal scholar. In a paper for the University of Chicago Legal Forum, Crenshaw wrote that traditional feminist ideas and antiracist policies exclude black women because they face overlapping discrimination unique to them.

The term was intended to be one of affirmation, so that we see ALL of each other, and not just focus on one aspect of an individual, understanding the many reasons for discrimination, and hopefully how we can counteract this. We all have many different identity points, facets of our lives and do not want to be reduced to a caricature of any one aspect of who we are. Further, when different reasons for discrimination compound each other, there are members of our community who need our advocacy and concern even more,

So, what has happened in our present world of contention where too many causes and issues are too often conflated so that instead of the intended meaning of this term where we are to see all of the many aspects of what makes us an individual or group and be cognizant of any disadvantage that accrues due to that total picture, too many among us are reducing the many variegated aspects of who and what we are to simplistic and erroneous minimal categories. Here all victims are victims and all oppressors are oppressors summarily without looking at the nuanced reality of different groups and their stories and challenges. Israel is NOT an absolute oppressive annihilator (though there are policies that may not be well-informed on many levels), all immigrants are not suspect (any more than every group has its suspect members), all people of color are not lazy (we all have those too!), all Jews are not rich, all Muslims are not terrorists and so on…. We are all people of many identities – I for example, am a mom, wife, woman, observant Jew, supporter of the value of all lives and social justice, an academic, a creative thinker, and so much more. Do NOT reduce me to a bleeding heart liberal or call me names because I support Israel and DO NOT tell me that I cannot love Israel (though disagree vehemently with policies and practices of its government and some of its own identity groups) and feel that we must 100% support black lives, Muslim people of faith, help immigrants, and so on. I live by the foundational Jewish belief that we must respect every human being for G-d is at the core of each and every one.

When I see and value and accept you as a person of faith, gender identity, nationality, racial grouping, and all of the many other facets of who you are as a complete human being, THAT IS INTERSECTIONALITY. When one says you cannot support Black Lives Matter (even with troubling statements in its position statements with which I vehemently disagree) and love Israel and be a person of privilege (due to my racial identity, but not my gender nor my religious grouping) and otherwise reduce us to the A or NOT-A binary options, THIS IS NOT INTERSECTIONALITY.

Our identities are complex and nuanced and multi-faceted, just like each of the elements of those identities. Our tenth commandment teaches not to covet your neighbor’s identity or belongings, acknowledging that we are all many different things. That is what makes us interesting. Instead of looking at labels, let us work on creating affinity groups in a meaningful way. I was learning with my daughter’s two nine-year-old and six-year-old daughters this morning about Tisha B’Av, the saddest and most mournful day in the Jewish calendar, that will be on Thursday. We were talking about the destruction of the Jewish Temple due to Sinat Hinam, causeless hatred, which I think is the result of the MISUSE of the terms INTERSECTIONALITY in our world today and how we have to build our community with good people with constructive and caring values, REGARDLESS of the various identity points that may “mark” us as part of this “good” group or that “not good” group. They got it!

Can we please all take on this lesson? I see and care but will never discriminate against you because of the religious garb you wear; what your gender is – binary or not, what is the color of your skin; the language that is your mother tongue…. I SEE YOU and I understand that these ARE IMPORTANT PARTS OF YOU. What I care deeply about is that we do not conflate these identities inappropriately and instead use our shared values of caring, sharing, forgiving and giving, and humility and faith in the greater good and so much else to build consortiums and communities that are healing and accepting. COME ONE COME ALL, AND BRING ALL OF YOU to the party! Then hopefully my headaches will go away.

DeSean Jackson, Public School Principals, Orthodox Jewish Rabbis and Political Figures

So, I was just inundated with reactions to statements made by DeSean Jackson last week, including a friend and colleague who asked me to write about this (Thank you IG). First of all, in terms of full disclosure, I had no idea who this person who caused such an uproar is and had to be educated as to his being a team member of the Eagles (football team for Philadelphia, for those of you as outside of the sports awareness loop as I generally am, much to the chagrin of my family and too many friends!) and his importance to them as a great wide receiver (whatever that is!). So, this is what I have figured out…. This Eagles wide receiver who is supposed to be really great and very valuable to the team, and therefore probably admired by and a potential role model to many made comments that were clearly anti-Semitic (as well as incorrectly attributed) causing a great stir and angst among many.

As one who believes that we best learn when putting isolated incidents in context, let us concider the time-honored words of Tom Lehrer, in his song, National Brotherhood Week.

Oh, the white folks Hate the black folks And the black folks Hate the white folks To hate all but the right folks Is an old established rule

But during National Brotherhood Week National Brotherhood Week Lena Horne and Sheriff Clark are dancing cheek to cheek, it's Fun to eulogize the People you despise As long you don't let them in your school…

Oh the Protestants hate the Catholics And the Catholics hate the Protestants And the Hindus hate the Muslims And everybody hates the Jews, but during

National Brotherhood Week National Brotherhood Week, it's National Everyone-Smile-At -One-Another-hood Week, be Nice to people who are Inferior to you It's only for a week so have no fear Be grateful that it doesn't last all year

Source: https://genius.com/Tom-lehrer-national-brotherhood-week-lyrics

Then of course there is the writing of German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, on whose tombstone, one iteration of the following sentiment appears:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Going further, there are too many various versions of this sentiment, including the very dark and chilling poem by Maurice Ogden entitled The Hangman which you are free to look at here:

https://www.edhelper.com/poetry/The_Hangman_by_Maurice_Ogden.htm

We get it! People hate people who do not agree with them; do not think like them, do not live like them, do not look like them, and simply are deemed, by whatever arbitrary criteria, as not worthy of their approval. This hatred may be intentional, inherited, representative of social constructs, conscious or subconscious. Unfortunately and generally, the permission to actively exercise this hatred is just clearly ingrained in our society. So, there is nothing we can do about it, right? Wrong! WE CAN and DO make a difference.

Two stories that happened to our son, Brian prove this. We are a Jewish Day School family and our three older daughters went completely though these schools. This was clearly our intention for our youngest, our son, but the school he went to was not, to be clear and concise, a safe or validating space for him and the other school we wanted to consider did not want to take him on as a student. So, we had our first experience with the Public School system; in our area, specifically and thankfully the Cheltenham Township Public Schools and wonderful Dr. Pamula Hart, conscientious Mrs. Irene Parker, fabulous teachers and many opportunities throughout his education. The first incident was in elementary school when a group of boys took Brian’s Kipah on the playground during recess, which he wore all of the time along with Tzitzit, to school, and began tossing it and playing “Keep Away.” Dr. Hart would not have it! She spent hours and hours talking to the boys who did this, the by-standers who watched, Brian, the parents of all involved and then brought everyone together in conversation for apologies, to learn more about each other and to understand that we need to work and play and learn together with respect. The lesson was well learned by all. We had no more incidents until ….

In grade seven, Brian was sitting in class and the girl behind him started drawing a swastika on his neck. She was immediately removed from class, I was called out of a faculty meeting I was running and told about the situation. I ascertained that Brian was fine and then asked about the girl. They told me this meant an immediate expulsion as Cheltenham is a No Place for Hate School System. I then asked them to back up – I had one question – is this girl brand new to the school system? The principal answered that she was and how did I know to ask? My response was that there was no way a student who had been there for the previous year, during which one third of the year was a study of the Holocaust and all that went wrong as well as lessons learned would do that. I could not believe that students educated for years in this school system, which valued midot (standards of behavior) as well as any other aspect of the educational system, would commit such an infraction. I indicated that she needed education not expulsion. The faculty then worked with me to come up with a two-week course to “catch her up” to the rest of the community regarding this important topic and she would serve an in-school suspension while she was working through the material. At the end of her study, she wrote a beautiful apology to Brian and they became good friends. This was the brilliance of Dr. Hart and Mrs. Parker and the faculty of Cheltenham Public Schools -- to educate, process and carefully watch for and oversee change – they were successful! We were thrilled!

I hear it and I see it … this lack of respect, care, knowledge of the other and the fear it generates. That is precisely why I spend so much time working across faith lines, trying to negotiate relationships between those who may not have knowledge of each other. I absolutely love and cherish my friends and colleagues who are Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, and across other religious spectrums and within the continuums of these communities. We speak respectfully, we ask questions, we genuinely care for each other and ALL OF US are doing this in concert with our respective faith’s foundational beliefs providing direction and energy. I often state that I have far more in common with these individuals than with those in my own faith community who forget that a most critical part of being religiously observant is to live with humility, not hubris; to remember that no one person has the complete picture; to consider how your story impacts on others and theirs on you; and that ultimately, we need each other in important and continuing ways. These relationships are healing, validating and meaningful and the work we all do together is so important and MAKES HUGE DIFFERENCES!

For those who prefer to play the “who said this” game, it’s so easy to get angry and to feel justified in one’s own reactions… The fact of the matter is that THERE ARE MEMBERS OF ALL OF OUR GROUPS THAT ACT WITH SUCH LACK OF CONCERN WITH OTHERS. I have often heard people, for example, in more religiously pitched communities claim that their way of life is the best and ensures proper behavior. Yet, I can give you a too long list of Orthodox Rabbinic authorities who DO NOT ACT according to the standards of behavior DEMANDED by our system of life (and to be sure, there are many, many WONDERFUL Orthodox Rabbis who do!). My point is that when we hear about Priests, Rabbis, people in religious authority and people in important positions of political leadership whose actions and words are followed by many and should be standing as role models act inappropriately, I get far more upset than when this is the case with, from my perspective, a random member of one sports team.

But, I know all too well that many will look at DeSean Jackson and others like him as their role models before considering their national or religious leaders and here is where he and others like him have to learn that with the privilege of their position comes responsibility. Education, such as that which our son and his school community received in his public school education and so many receive in wonderful educational institutions – both private and public; the example that is provided by responsible and intelligent leaders in our community who understand that with THEIR position of privilege comes a platform with great responsibility – this is what we should be looking at, publicizing and paying attention to. If we take those who misuse and abuse their platforms off of them (hint to social media here!) and give that space to those who are sharing meaningful and caring and helpful messages, maybe we will not have the problem of DeSean Jackson, his words and those who have not benefitted from positive role models who follow him and inflame our already fractured world further!

The Peasants are revolting!

They certainly are! Okay, here is a trivia question for anyone reading this from the Milford Mill High School Graduation classes of 1970 and 1971 in Baltimore Maryland. Do you remember that line? It was from the class of 1971’s Farewell Assembly as our friends, one year older, were graduating and leaving us in charge of the school! It was a joke that garnered appropriate laughter. However, in our contemporary reality, the humor is lost. Everyone is revolting and everyone is finding each other revolting, unfortunately. Forget tolerance, we have lost a sense of common human decency in too many instances. Civil rebellion has been an important aspect of our history on many levels. We have seen instances of when such reaction held those in power who abused others in check and we have held onto this as a right as civilians and human beings and members of governed entities.

In my work with members of other faith communities, with learners of all ages and religious and ethnic identities, in my ongoing communications with many wonderful Orthodox Jewish Rabbis who are working to insure that their communities are inclusive, and just in conversations with close and beloved people in my life with whom I may differ significantly in terms of politics or be different in level of religious observance, there is mutual and shared respect and true love for each other. We learn from each other, share our ideas and maintain our individual identity and integrity while insuring we do not compromise that of the other. This is a skill set that many of us have been taught, to have civil conversations and caring interactions, and yet, too often people are unable to do so. How sad.

I recently received an email from somone with whom I have sporadic content, when I wished them health and safety and expressed my hopes for healing of our fractured world, which is generally my message as many of you know. This is the response I received:

The civil unrest is very troubling. We need to look into this very deeply To determine our destiny.

My first reaction was to say yes, I agree that we need to look at how people cannot talk to each other or listen to each other and this indeed does compromise the viability of our destiny. But then, I realized this was not the context of the statement. As monuments are being taken down, and so many symbols of who we are collectively are being questioned in terms of their intentions and agenda, people are clearly drawing their lines in the sand and screaming, yelling and kicking to maintain them. WE ARE IN THIS MESS TOGETHER BUT ARE FIGHTING EACH OTHER AS ENEMIES! How did this happen?

I have been reading Yuval Noah Hariri’s amazing book Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind, in which he speaks about how we have lost our ways as humans while screaming about our religious identities, political alliances, ethnic identities, racial affiliations – and maligning anyone not sharing them. The most recent concept of intersectionality where ALL VICTIMS identify with ALL OTHER VICTIMS they identify as such and then vilify the rest of us is a poignant and sad example of this dynamic. As Hariri discusses how we need each other more than ever given the many overwhelming threats to our continued existence globally, how are we to accept and cherish our differences and consider the notion that we may even learn something significant from each other, widening our own parameters of understanding of our vast human family?

There is a great deal of Gemara/Talmudic discussion about speech and blasphemy, posing the query as to whether or not such use of words is a “ma’aseh,” i.e. a concrete deed that is completed, or not? As words can and do definitely lead to death and horrible consequences, it is clear that speech is indeed a facilitative action, a concrete deed, with very real consequences. How many of us have heard of someone who died by suicide due to not being able to withstand verbal bullying any longer? I feel like this is clearly the situation we are in.

We ALL need to continue to speak and act on behalf of causes in which we believe. This freedom of speech is important and a most foundational element of who we are as thinking, intentional beings -- we may respectfully revolt but this is not revolting nor should it be seen as such. That being said, we also have to remember a basic rule of communications theory – when I speak I must be cognizant and aware of what you hear; otherwise my message will not get through. I DO CARE AND CRY for the injustices in our world at present against Blacks, Jews, Muslims, Women, LGBTQ persons, children without advocates, immigrants and all others who are not accorded the full panoply of human rights to which we are all entitled as being created in the image of G-d. Many who disagree say I am a bleeding heart liberal or being “lenient” in my approach to law; but I am going with several Orthodox Jewish Rabbis for whom I have deep respect who say this is not being “Meikel” or lenient but rather observing strictly the most important and fundamental principles upon which all Jewish law is based. As Hariri states in his study, this belief is shared in the history of our humanity by many thought systems and religious structures. It is individuals who have forgotten this and those of us who have not have the responsibility to remind others that we are to remember that each person is important and special, has an expectation of basic human rights, and when one person is not accorded such, we are ALL compromised.

At this time of global climatic compromise, too many instances of enmity, lack of acceptance of others, and so much else that has taken us many steps backwards in our shared journey, let us commit ourselves to accepting each other and listening, I mean truly listening when people are at risk…even if and especially when we do not agree... Because a system that does not protect one group of its citizens and population will ultimately abuse all of them, when that purpose is served. We in the Jewish community say: All of Israel is responsible for each other. In terms of all of us as the children of Adam and Eve, let us consider that All of Humanity is responsible for each other, peasants, or otherwise!

THIS IS NOT ABOUT POLITICS, IT IS ABOUT….

THIS IS NOT ABOUT POLITICS, IT IS ABOUT….

Wearing a mask to protect one’s health and that of those around us is being prudent, a good citizen and in appropriate self-interest at this time in our reality. AND YET, there are those in our country who would have us believe it is a political statement. Really?

Being horrified at police brutality is about caring about human beings. BLACK LIVES MATTER is about being appropriate citizens and good human beings. Holding individuals who carry accountable for being responsible and controlling their own tempers is about observing the laws set for the country we all share and so much else. It is NOT a political statement!

Loving a country that is a democracy in the Middle East and a homeland for Jews and so many others, by the way, from so many other lands, is about identifying with the land of my history, my religious identity and so much else. It is based on foundational principles of justice and concern for all human beings that are fundamental to all monotheistic religious codes. It is NOT a political statement!

I have been reading Susan Rice’s book, Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For, have watched the documentary of Richard and Mildred Loving’s story, on which the movie Loving is based, and have watched numerous you tube recordings and read memoirs and writings dedicated to peoples’ understanding of their identity and what in the larger stage on which we live threatens that identity. Rice speaks of a time when Democrats and Republicans got along well, had meaningful debates about their differences with respect and reasonably pitched voices. THIS IS WHAT I REMEMBER from my years in the middle of so much between the mid-sixties and early seventies, when I was in Baltimore and Washington DC. We all had our political affiliations and perspectives but our friendships WERE NOT based on politics. Our statements and precautions we took for our health WERE NOT seen as political. We were all part of the family of people that call the United States of America home.

I know too many people who have died from COVID 19 and protecting all of ourselves, our families and our communities is about using the common sense that G-d is kind enough to bestow upon us to act sensibly and responsibly. No amount of shouting, name-calling and disrespectful tweets and barbs will change that.

I am profoundly worried about our country. I am proud of the MANY, MANY people who are working to hold the reasonable and moderate middle and are using their voices of sanity and reason. That being said, we CANNOT ignore the hatred, prejudice and violence that has been unleashed in this country. NO ONE PERSON no matter what position, has created that. It has always been here. BUT, the responsibility each of us have to respond to this in a way that is healing and restorative is critical and anyone who allows voices of authority to claim that “there are very fine people” in all groups including the Ku Klux Klan and other white extremist groups validates and gives tacit permission to all those who hate us to act violently and THEY ARE doing just that -- because we are Jews, because we are Muslims, because we are people of color, because we are LGBTQ -- because we are not part of the White America they want to fight for . DO NOT take this glibly, we all know previous chapters of history when this was done, certainly in the later 1930s in cultured and well-educated Germany, and we know where that led.

Use your voices! Write, teach, read, learn … and remember that if, in the words of Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, we do not rise to stand with each and every group who is maligned, than we have no right to ask that they do the same for us. And anyway, it is the right thing to do, it is the moral and just thing to do, it is the HUMAN thing to do. BLACK LIVES MATTER! LGBTQ LIVES MATTER! JEWISH LIVES MATTER! MUSLIM LIVES MATTER! ALL LIVES OF MORAL JUST HUMANS MATTER! KEEPING OURSELVES HEALTHY MATTERS And this is NOT political!!!!!!!!

Sustainability vs. Profitability: Adjusted Times Require Adjusted Thinking and Planning

I recently saw an interview on television with a restaurant owner that impressed me greatly. The owner was asked how he was dealing with the reality at present and what it was doing for his business. He remarked that he is not really making money per se, but is dedicated to putting food on people’s tables and insuring that his employees can do the same for their families. He is not looking for profitability in this time just sustainability – can he break even or not lose too much financial viability. I think this is a wonderful role model for all in thinking about how we look at what is happening at present and the adjustments we must all make. One question that is getting a great deal of attention at this time is vacation home owners and those who have rented their properties for periods in the summer. If the ones who were planning a vacation can no longer benefit from the offerings of their vacation home site, then should they be entitled to refunds? One shore home owner is quoted as saying that the would-be-vacationers were renting their home, not the area, and the deal stands. Now we all know that is not really what they were renting…. Others are being more understanding. But so it goes. We, along with so many others, are waiting to hear about refunds for our plane tickets to Rome, which has been totally shut down and we have nothing to go to there now in June. So how should we handle these situations?

A few days ago, in my Gemara learning I came upon this text in BT Mas. Arachin 20:b for those who want to check it out: “The one who rents a house to his friend and the walls become infected with leprosy….” Of course, the question is, what is his obligation to refund the renter’s money? In this discussion, there are several situations (as is the habit in Talmudic discourse) about different conditions that can rise and what options we should exercise, whether through obligation or because it is the proper thing to do or because it will maintain a peaceful and viable community. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone would approach our present situation with that type of thinking and follow the lead of the restaurant owner in the first situation cited above?

Some of our car insurance companies realize we are not driving and cutting rates or providing refunds. Some land owners and landlords are acting with the same thinking. There are those businesses and individuals who are acting honorably and I am sure this will bode well for them when we move out of our present cloud of existence. I would suggest we all note who is acting in a caring empathic manner towards all of us and support them later while for those who are still focused on profitability, well….

I think there is an opportunity here – to act honorably, to stop worrying about what is best for each individual in isolation of the group but rather to be concerned about the health of all from which we will ultimately benefit in the long run. I and many of my colleagues are presently providing free programming on line and I know it is appreciated. We are doing this because we care and because as long as we can sustain ourselves, we are not concerned about profit at this time. That should not be our focus – there is too much else to attend to and do.

Often in the Gemara, there are rulings that are cited “for the benefit of X.” In other words, sometimes it is more about what we should do than what we have to do. That would be a great guiding principle at this time in our lives. As we have learned, we are indeed all in the same storm, but not in the same boat. Some of us are quite comfortable, while others are not so blessed. Let us all watch out for each other and when we are thinking about our property we have rented for vacation, or tickets we have sold or any other agreement we have made while so much of our reality has been upended, let us all ask ourselves – what do we need to sustain us and where can we not worry about the profit, and instead use that potential resource to benefit others, so their boats can sustain them more readily.

Be well all and stay safe!

Busy, Teaching, Learning, Thinking, Observing, Connecting, and Counting Blessings

Hoping all in your world are well and safe. This has clearly been a time with its challenges. Too many people have died and we have all lost friends, relatives, neighbors and fellow members of our human family. We are not in gatherings, we are not traveling, we are mostly running our worlds from limited boundaries. Some of us are definitely stepping up our game in using technology. We are socially connecting in new ways at physical distances. We are all waiting for a return to some type of normalcy, even though we are all aware it probably will not return to what we are used to. What will our lives look like going forward? What blessings and lessons from this time will we take with us, helping us to live further enriched and meaningful lives, protecting ourselves, each other and our world better?

Within this surreal situation, I am one of those people who has blessed to be able to move my life onto on-line formats -- teaching, meeting with various groups and colleagues, planning programs (including our Multi-Faith Council’s upcoming Annual IFTAR Gathering this coming Wednesday, May 6), and going to lots of Zoom events – and thinking about the reality that we are indeed all in this together. Zoom Rooms are now our club house. Neighbors out for a walk are always stopping for conversation and many of us are actually meeting in a meaningful way for the first time. Within all of this, we all take note of the graduations, personal milestones and special occasions which will not be happening now, but I have begun to suggest that again we think of how to recapture these moments later – perhaps high school and college graduations the end of fall semester when people are home, a later celebration of a Zoom wedding, or …? On the other hand, exposure is increased for those of us on line --- The classes I teach which normally in physical space can attract between ten and twenty-five people at one time are now being seen by as many as several hundred, when they are archived. These are the opportunities of the moment. In some groups I teach, I have people “in the same room” from Canada, California, the Mid-west and the East Coast….

This week is a particularly busy one as I reconnect with my younger Torah scholars, students at Perelman Jewish Day School. One of the things we learn together is the weekly Torah portion. When we last met, we were still in the historical narrative and beginning of being a communal entity in Sefer Shemot (Exodus). Now we are in VaYikra (Leviticus) – a book of laws of purity and action. As we look at where we are at this moment in time, we have just hit the mid-point of the Torah narrative this past Shabbat. We read the Holiness Code in Parshat Kedoshim, reminding us how we are different than other peoples and how we are to maintain our identity and standards of behavior no matter what we observe others doing. This is always an important lesson for all of us – the understanding and embracing of our moral compass. How do we maintain proper behavior and standards of health and well-being in a world in which such may not be the bar by which all is measured? Additionally, the book of VaYikra is about purity and cleanliness and keeping our bodies as well as our souls clean and healthy. This lesson is clearly relevant for our time and the connections to be made are obvious. What may NOT be so obvious is the notion of touch-contamination, clearly discussed in our Torah reading of two weeks ago and greatly expanded in our Talmud and other Codes of Law. I will actually begin this week’s lessons with these children as well as my adult Torah study groups with these lessons – in which we are reminded that the walls of our houses, material of our clothing, surfaces on which we work, etc. can all carry various Tum’ot – those impurities that have physical as well as spiritual consequences.

Too often, people think of religious codes as only dealing with religious observance standards, per se. Yet, as I have shared often enough, our Jewish texts are concerned about business ethics, how families and friends treat each other, not cheating in our daily actions, treatment of our animals, our earth and so much else that contributes to the well-being of our physical realm – all of which is considered sanctified ground. I really think of this as one of the greatest blessings of all – the notion that all we are and all we do has potential to heal, strengthen, validate and so much more, if enacted properly.

When we do begin to re-enter the larger realm of activity in our daily lives, in hopefully what will be intelligent and graduated steps, let us consider how to think of all those and all that is around us – and how our footprint and touch impact on all, as taught in our religious and legacy texts. Here’s to considering the reality and potential blessings of a post-COVID 19 World informed by the lessons we are learning now!