​            Gift giving is an interesting activity.  As Purim is right around the corner, we will soon have a specific holiday obligation to offer gifts to friends[1] and those in need[2]. Leaving charity aside for a moment, when I give a gift to a loved one, I do not give the gift because they actually need the item or the experience.  I want to see the look in the person’s eyes when they open it.  That look that tells me that this person needs me.  That look is more important than any specific thing. 
           This week we read from Parshat Tetzaveh.  God instructs Moses, “You shall further command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of beaten olives for the light, so that a lamp may be set up to burn regularly/וְאַתָּה תְּצַוֶּה אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן זַיִת זָךְ כָּתִית לַמָּאוֹר לְהַעֲלֹת נֵר תָּמִיד.”[3]  The question is, why is this commandment important or meaningful?  Why do we need to regularly or consistently light this lamp?  The Rabbis offer one explanation.  “‘I do not need your light.  But I want to give you an opportunity to light for Me like I have lit for you.’…this can be compared to a seeing person who leads a blind person as they travel along the road together. When they come to the house, the seeing person says to the blind one, ‘Please go and light a candle for me.’ To this the blind person replies, ‘I do not understand. As long as we were travelling, you supported and guided me. Why do you now ask me to light a candle for you?’ To this the seeing person responds, ‘I want to give you an opportunity to pay me back so that you do not feel an ongoing debt of gratitude.’”[4]
            This is a fascinating teaching. The Rabbis explain that God does not need the lamp.  God does not even really need the light.  What does God need? This is about being in relationship.  We have been given a tremendous gift.  The Torah[5] is the great light that has been bequeathed to us.  And God is placing a lamp before us as if to say, “you will not have to worry about repaying me for the kindness.  We are engaged in a relationship of constant giving and receiving.  Every day I make the sun rise and re-give you Torah so that you may see the world as it should be.  And everyday you will offer me yourself, so that we can be together. I do not need your light. I need you.” 
            The Sfas Emes[6] further teaches that it is our mission as Jews to look for the holy light in everything and lift it up, back to its source in heaven.  That there is a light inside of every person and thing.  “To set up/לְהַעֲלֹת” the lamp is really to raise up the light so that everyone can see that it comes from the Source of All.  “Consistently/תָּמִיד” means that God is always a part of every person and thing.  When we look for it, we will find it.
            On this Shabbat, we have a duty to remember.  Traditionally we remember the evil that Amalek thrust upon us.  This week, let us also remember that their evil was perpetrated because they did not see God in every human and everything.  Let us act differently.  By seeing the holiness around us, and raising it up, we will be repaying God for the kindness bestowed on this world, for creating it with such multitude, wonder and diversity.   
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ezra


[1] Mishloah Manot

[2] Matanot L’Evyonim

[3] Ex. 27:20

[4] Ex. Rab. 36:2 (also Num. Rab. 15:6)

[5] אורייתא/oraita which is the Aramaic term for Torah means The Light.

[6] Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (Hebrew יהודה אריה ליב אלתר‎, 15 April 1847 – 11 January 1905), also known by the title of his main work, the Sfas Emes (Yiddish) or Sefat Emet שפת אמת‎ (Hebrew), was a Hasidic rabbi who succeeded his grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, as the Av beis din (head of the rabbinical court) and Rav of Góra Kalwaria, Poland (known in Yiddish as the town of Ger), and succeeded Rabbi Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin of Aleksander as Rebbe of the Gerrer Hasidim

            One of the great sports movies of the last 15 years is Coach Carter. Coach Carter, played by Samuel L. Jackson, is attempting to coach and mentor young men in a working-class neighborhood.  After a few wins, the team begins to get overly confident.  Showing off and attributing all of their success to their hard work alone.  Coach Carter imitates his players, by bragging about everything that he does:  how he thought of the plays that they execute and that their execution was the product of his work.  Finally, he ties his own shoe and looks around the gym for high fives for his ability to tie a nice bow. “I did that!” He shouts.  And then refuses to give high fives for it. 
            This week we read from Parshat Terumah, where God instructs Moses to tell the people how to build the tabernacle/mishkan.  “tell the Israelites to take for me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give, you shall receive the offering for me/דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִקְחוּ לִי תְּרוּמָה.  מֵאֵת כָּל-אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ תִּקְחוּ אֶת-תְּרוּמָתִי.”[1]  What exactly are we giving?  And what are we getting?
            The Talmud asks a question: Manasseh said to him: I will ask you, from where are you required to begin cutting a loaf of bread when reciting the blessing: Who brings forth bread from the earth?...Manasseh said to him: One cuts the loaf from where it crusts as a result of baking.[2]  The Izhbitzer Rebbe[3]explains the question in the Talmud.  The question is really asking, “where is the deep recognition in this loaf of bread that the blessed God is giving it so you can truly say on it, ‘Blessed art Thou?’  And the answer is, ‘from the part that was baked first.’  There are so many stages in the work of our human hands that goes into making the bread: the kneading, arranging, heating the oven, putting it equally in the oven.  But the very place where it starts baking is not a result of the power of [hu]mankind.  Then, when one takes this into his heart, asking why it starting baking at this particular place, he sees that it has only come about from the will of the blessed God.”[4]
            The crust is a constant reminder that despite all of our hard work, there is much that is out of our control.  Coach Carter was trying to teach his players about humility.  And that is only one part of the equation.  Of course, it is important to acknowledge the seemingly random things in our lives that are out of our control.  But the Izhbitzer is pushing us one step further.  Not only do we need to be momentarily conscious of that which is beyond us, but we should also try to live with that awesome awareness at our core.  When we live in a place where we always know that all of our hard work will never be enough on its own, then we will bring God into the fabric of our lives, and holiness will walk with us wherever we go.  May we go forward knowing that it is not simply our work that we are handing to God, but through accepting God’s role in our handiwork, we will in fact be bringing God down to dwell with us. 
 
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ezra


[1] Ex, 25:2

[2] BT Sanhedrin 102b

[3] Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica (Yiddish: איזשביצע, איזביצע‎ Izhbitze, Izbitse, Ishbitze) (1801-1854) was a rabbinic Hasidic thinker and founder of the Izhbitza-Radzyn dynasty of Hasidic Judaism.  Rabbi Mordechai Yosef was born in Tomashov (Polish: Tomaszów Lubelski) in 1801 to his father Reb Yaakov the son of Reb Mordechai of Sekul, a descendant of Rabbi Saul Wahl. At the age two he became orphaned of his father. He became a disciple of Reb Simcha Bunim of Peshischa where he joined Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk and Rabbi Yosef of Yartshev; both were also born in Tomashov. When Rabbi Menachem Mendel became Rebbe in Kotzk, Reb Mordechai Yosef became his disciple there; then in 1839 became himself a rebbe in Tomaszów, moving subsequently to Izbica.

[4] Living Waters, pg. 156, translated by Betsalel Philip Edwards. 

​            Last night, I tuned in to watch the opening events of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.  I was excited about the figure skating team event that was kicking everything off.  A few minutes in to the Men’s Short Programs, I called Laura, my wife, over to watch with me. “Come watch the next three skaters.”  The next three came from countries that I have close relationships with: Canada, Israel and the United States.  We watched the Canadian skater and then NBC showed a pre-recorded story of an American skater and his journey from Salt Lake City to the Olympics.  After the story, NBC showed Israel’s official section cheering on their fellow countryman and athlete after having put up the highest score thus far of all the men.  Why then were Laura and I immediately confused and upset?  It was because NBC did not air the Israeli man, Alexei Bychenko, as he skated a “perfect program” according to commentators.  On opening night, the only athlete not shown was the Israeli.
            This week we read Parshat Mishpatim.  In the middle of the Parsha[1], God proclaims, “You shall be people consecrated to me; therefore you shall not eat any meat that is mangled by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs/וְאַנְשֵׁי קֹדֶשׁ תִּהְיוּן לִי וּבָשָׂר בַּשָּׂדֶה טְרֵפָה לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ, לַכֶּלֶב תַּשְׁלִכוּן אֹתוֹ.”    The Sfas Emes[2] teaches on this verse.
In the name of the holy rabbi of Kotsk[3]on the verse:  “You shall be people of holiness unto me.”  The guarding of holiness has to be within the realm of human deeds and activities.  God has no lack of sublime angels, seraphim, or holy beings.  But God longs for the holiness of people; it was for that reason that He caused sparks of holiness to enter the world, in measured and reduced form.  Therefore, “[you shall not eat any meat that is mangled by beasts in the field]”; from this the rabbis derived the principle that anything taken out of its proper place is forbidden.  This means that the flow of holiness is in all things, but in a measured way.  We have to guard the corporeal, that it not transgress the border of holiness.
But “you shall be” can also be read as a promise [rather than as a commandment].  In the end Israel are to be “holy unto the Lord.”  That is why we have to guard ourselves now, so that we are ready to be placed upon the King’s head.  The Midrash says in a parable, [referring to one making a crown], “as many precious stones and pearls as you can put onto it, do so, for it is going to be placed upon the King’s own head.[4]
According to the Kotzker Rebbe, we need to exemplify holiness in our human actions and make sure that the mundane does not encroach upon the holy.  Our humanity and physical nature is what makes us desirable to God.  When we use our earthliness properly, we become holy.  However, the Sfas Emes points out that our holiness is not necessarily about our physical nature.  It is because Israel, God’s precious pearl, will be placed on the Holy One’s crown. 
            The Olympics should be a glorious time to celebrate the wonder and holiness of the body that God created.[5]  And last night, while I tuned in to see that holiness displayed under the banner of the State of Israel, I was denied that pleasure.  That was wrong.  Humanity’s diversity gives honor to our Creator while the diversity of the Olympics affords us the joy in seeing ourselves in our national heroes.  That was a shame.  While we did not get to see our own holiness on display in the human sense, as the Kotzker teaches, it afforded us an opportunity to focus on the teaching of the Sfas Emes.  Any medals we would win, and fashion with our hands, we should remember, they do not belong around our necks, they will ultimately get placed in the crown.  May we have a blessed week of human holiness realized while preparing many precious medals to give glory to the One who unites.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ezra


[1] Ex. 22:30

[2] Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (Hebrew יהודה אריה ליב אלתר‎, 15 April 1847 – 11 January 1905), also known by the title of his main work, the Sfas Emes (Yiddish) or Sefat Emet שפת אמת‎ (Hebrew), was a Hasidic rabbi who succeeded his grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, as the Av beis din (head of the rabbinical court) and Rav of Góra Kalwaria, Poland (known in Yiddish as the town of Ger), and succeeded Rabbi Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin of Aleksander as Rebbe of the Gerrer Hasidim

[3] Menachem Mendel Morgensztern of Kotzk, better known as the Kotzker Rebbe (1787–1859) was a Hasidic rabbi and leader. He is considered to be the spiritual founder upon which the Ger dynasty in Poland is based, through the teachings of its founder Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter. One of his major students was Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica.

[4] Sfas Emes 2:111, Translation by Rabbi Art Green (Language of Truth, pg. 114)

[5] Granted, in recent times we have become aware of terrible crimes committed during the construction of the various games and by trusted officials who were allowed to be close to vulnerable athletes.  While this taints the Olympics in a certain way, it does not detract, in my eyes, from the idea of the Olympics.