Rabbi Jack uses Aaron and Miriam sock puppets to talk about Lashon Hara
Counting is a fundamental human activity – many of us count the number of e-mails in our in-boxes (this message describing my recent rabbi-ing activities is planned as one of only four per year), and starting on the second night of Passover, Jews around the world start another form of counting, namely a countdown to the holiday of Shavuot, celebrating our receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai. Over the past three months, I’ve had several opportunities to share Torah with friends; there is nothing I enjoy quite so much as experiencing the beauty of the weekly Torah portion with Jewish adults.
On a recent visit to the Washington, D.C. area for a family simcha, I was honored to lead a Torah discussion at Adat Shalom in Bethesda, transmitting teachings from Rashi through Hirsch to a wonderful and sophisticated group. In February my longstanding relationship with Chavurat HaMidbar in Albuquerque resulted in a most enjoyable Shabbat afternoon session on the medieval commentators, and after Havdalah, I delivered a variant of my talk on Jews in Theoretical Division at Los Alamos during World War II.
The next day I was one of the speakers at the annual Albuquerque adult Jewish education event called A Taste of Honey. My topic was Lashon Hara (gossip), and my sock puppet friends from last Yom Kippur made their New Mexico debut (see photo). I’ve delivered several other Jewish-themed presentations of late (alas, all the rest without sock puppets), including a talk entitled “Jewish Prayer and the Jewish Pray-er” as part of the annual Lenten series in Los Alamos, a Pre-Passover Workshop in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and “With Stars in Their Eyes: Astrology in Jewish Texts” as part of HaMakom of Santa Fe’s continuing adult education series. The Northern New Mexico Chevra Kaddisha, devoted to preparation of bodies for traditional Jewish burial, offered an afternoon training last month where I provided insights into “The Liturgy of Tahara and Etiquette in a House of Mourning.”
The powerful passage in Psalms (90:12) asking G_d to “Teach us to count our days rightly, that we may obtain a wise heart” reminds us that life is not without end. No sooner did I complete my discourse to the Chevra Kaddisha than I learned of the death of a dear family friend, and shortly thereafter I was on a plane to California to conduct the funeral service for this woman whom my mother befriended in high school. May her memory serve as a blessing.
These past three months I’ve conducted Shabbat services in Los Alamos and Santa Fe, led a community seder, paid healing visits to people both familiar and completely unknown, spoken with potential converts, educated an adult B’nai Mitzvah class on the topics of Passover, the Holocaust, and Israel Independence Day, and last but far from least, presented the daily prayer beginning the State Senate session. I doubt the hallowed chambers of the Merry Roundhouse in Santa Fe have rung before with words about the House of Hillel and the House of Shammai (whom I described as early Democrats and Republicans).
I try hard not to count the number of books that are in our library, but Beverly and I watched somewhat in disbelief as an entire bookcase, empty only last month, filled up over the course of a week. A few of the recent acquisitions include Jewish Bible commentaries (Malbim on Ruth, Kimhi on Psalms, Kli Yakar on Deuteronomy), Yiddish fiction (At the Edge of Dreamland by Eisenman, Temptations by Pinsky), contemporary Hebrew writing (A Different Source by Izakson, World Cup Wishes by Nevo), theology (I’m G_d; You’re Not by Lawrence Kushner, The Book of Job by Harold Kushner), and the five volumes now available in the new Koren Talmud series. A trip to Vienna in March helped me attack some relatively massive tomes on the shelves (Hasidism Reappraised by Rapoport-Albert, East River by Asch) but I also consumed some slimmer volumes (Conversations: Primo Levi & Tullio Regge, Book of My Mother by Cohen). Two inexpensive and consistently high quality series which I recommend are Jewish Encounters (Schocken) and Jewish Lives (Yale University Press); I just read Benjamin Disraeli by Kirsch in the former and purchased Moshe Dayan by Bar-On in the latter.
There are still dozens more books to order, but who’s counting?
B’shalom, Rabbi Jack