(Parts of this column are excerpted from my book, "Losing the Rat Race, Winning at Life", Urim Publications, Jerusalem, 2005--the book is available through the online store at www.jewishideas.org.)
Thoughts on Parashat Emor
by Rabbi Marc D. Angel
Some years ago, someone gave me a clock as a present. I installed a battery and put the clock on a shelf in my office. The clock ticks and the second hand makes full circles every 60 seconds. The problem is that the minute and hour hands do not move! It's always the same time.
Shalom and best wishes for a happy Hanukkah. We have about 150 members in our University Network, with students from throughout the US as well as several other countries. Our group continues to grow, and we hope you'll invite your fellow students to sign up for the University Network by going to our website jewishideas.org. Here are a few items for your attention.
"And you shall not wrong one another; but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God."
I recently read a heart-breaking news story.
The Brooklyn District Attorney's office is investigating accusations that a popular kabbalistic rabbi in Israel has defrauded American Jews in the amount of many thousands of dollars. This rabbi is also accused of having bilked many Israelis. The charges relate to his promising to use kabbala, blessings and amulets to cure the terminally ill or to make barren women fertile.
My wife and I recently had dinner in a fine New York kasher restaurant. At a nearby table, a father and daughter (about 12 or 13 years old) were seated together. How nice, I thought, that this father wanted quality time with his daughter, and took her out to a special dinner. However, the father soon received a call on his cell phone, and he was on the phone for the entire time that we were in the restaurant. The "quality time" with his daughter was not of a very high quality. She was picking away at her dinner, staring off into space, as her father talked endlessly on his cell phone.
This week's Torah portion includes a strange episode. In response to Moses' request that others share leadership with him, God rested the spirit of prophecy on 70 elders. Two men, though, continued to prophesy after the others had stopped. " But there remained two men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad; and the spirit rested upon them...and they prophesied in the camp." When Joshua was informed of the irregular situation, he called upon Moses to arrest Eldad and Medad; he wanted them silenced. Moses responded: "Are you jealous for my sake?
Some years ago, my wife and I visited Rome. Among the historic sites we visited was the Arch of Titus--a monument to the Roman conquest of Judea in 70 C.E. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem, razed the Temple, killed and enslaved many thousands of Jews--and sent our people into an Exile that lasted until the rise of the State of Israel in 1948. On the inner wall of the Arch of Titus is a depiction of the Roman victory over the Jews, with the Romans carrying off the Menorah which had graced the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
Shalom. Here are a few reminders. We've had some good conversations on the new University Network discussion group, and I encourage you to enroll if you haven't already done so--and I encourage you to add your comments, raise your issues, and help make the discussion group a lively and worthwhile forum.
If you've enrolled on the discussion group but have not been receiving messages, please let me know asap. Today, you should have received the latest comment from Michael Makovi.