Jewish Journey: Bar Mitzvah

June 9, 2009 at 8:41 pm (Jewish, mitzvot)
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Do you have to do a Bar Mitzvah when you convert? Why are you doing it now? That must have been a lot of work? Where did you find the time? Why did you decide to do it?

The rabbi asked my wife and she said that I would be interested. He asked me to join the class and how could I say no?

What does a Bar Mitzvah mean when you are 39? For me there were several things:

  • I had never had a Bar Mitzvah
  • I had never had the honor of reading from the Torah
  • I had never learned how to chant Trope
  • I had the opportunity to study with 7 other adults who came at this from all different directions
  • I had the opportunity to learn more

13 years being Jewish, it seemed so right to start studying for a Bar Mitzvah. I would be able to relearn the Hebrew aleph-bet so that I could read. I would learn the trope so that I could chant.

Learning trope was a challenge. I never thought about this much until the class. I have never heard myself sing. I never sing out loud. I have never learned a tune. I cannot even reproduce a tune to a song that I have heard for 20 years. It isn’t that I am tone deaf it is more that I have no musical memory. So how do you learn how to chant if you cannot remember the tune 5 minutes later. It was work. I first transcribed the notes as dots over each letter in the word. That told me where to go up and down. But I lost all of the cadence and emphasis. So I made some dots darker and bigger for emphasis. Now I could go up and down with emphsis. Yay.

The only problem is how do you take a two syllable word and go up and down seven times.  So I had to draw the word out in latin characters so that something like b’shayla became b’shay la hahaha ha haah. Now I can see the direction, the emphasis and the syllable stretch. That is what I memorized; Hebrew marked with vowels, trope, dots, and transliterations. A Russian friend who lived in Israel for 7 years could not read a thing.

While I was practicing and listening to my portion over and over I also started on my Drash. I wrote several things here and finally posted my ultimate version. My first draft I sent to the rabbi and he gave me some good advice.  Some advice on looking for ways to bring all the ideas together. I worked hard. I sweated and got annoyed. It was all the type of writing that I have hated for years. But I finished and I think that it was better than my first draft.  Naso: Reflections of a Nazarite

The day came and I was ready. I did not feel worried or anxious about anything. The women were all worried about crying or freezing because they did not like presenting infront of people. Me, I did not mind at all. I had sent out little Jewish quotes and Omer meditations for the group to work on before the “big” day. I was not worried.

There were 7 of us called to the Torah. I was number 6. The sun was beating down on me in my suit and tallit. I was hot but enjoying everyones’ drashot. My turn came and I was ready. I had my yad in pocket and most of my drash handwritten (the wrong one was in the siddur). One of my fellow Bat Mitzvah leaned over and asked if I wrote in Hebrew or English (such great handwriting).

I walked over to the center of the bimah and started reading my d’rash. About two lines in I lost it. I was about to cry and I had no idea how to recover so I paused. Not that pausing helped do anything but focus me on the fact that I was about to cry. I was thinking “how in the world was I going to regroup and finish this?” I leaned over and looked at my family and friends, smiled and said “this was not supposed to happen.” That got a laught and broke the tension. I finished my d’rash and then had adrenaline floating my eyeballs and deafening my ears. Such a fantastic way to start chanting.

I started. “Velakach ha’cohen et hazroah b’shelah …” I prayed and made it beautiful. When I finished I kissed my tallit that touched the Torah and turned to the cantor and said “I did it.”

I chanted Torah the first time – hopefully there will be many more.

cross posted on Blog Midrash

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Who Wrote the Bible?

March 12, 2009 at 8:35 pm (Torah)
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Who Wrote the Bible? – by Richard E. Friedman

Chapter 2 J & E

 

Two Clues Converge

At approximately the same time 3 people, a minister, a physician and a professor found 2 pieces of evidence that the 5 books were not written by just Moses, doublets and the names of G-d. Doublets describe the numerous times the same story is told twice in the Torah. The creation story is one example where the first story lists the creation of plants, animals then man and woman. In the second story it lists man, plants, animals and then woman. One story refers to Elohim and the other to YHVH (Yahweh). These were 2 separate works that were cut up and combined into one story.

 

The Discovery of the Sources

The first on record was written in 1711, the second in 1753, and the third in 1780. Eichhorn was the third and called the person who refered to Elohim (E) and the person who refered to Yahweh (J). German pronounces the J like an English Y. 18 Years later another researcher discovered there were 4 writers. They discovered that E was 2 writers, where the 3rd writing was interested in the priestly (P) class and that Deuteronomy (D) was different. These 4 sources went against all the long held sacred beliefs of Moses writing the 5 books.

 

The Story of Noah – Twice

Try reading the Flood from the 2 authors J and P. The following are by J: 6:5-8 7:1-5, 7, 10, 12, 16 (last sentence), 17-20, 22-23, 8:2 (after the comma), 3 (first section to the comma), 6, 8-12, 20-22. All the pieces not listed are P.

 

Each in Its own Words

J uses Yahweh, uses man and his woman, male and female, says everything died, sends out a dove, J does not have concerns about ages, dates and sizes, J says it took 40 days and nights, and takes 7 pairs of clean animals and one pair of unclean animal. P refers to God, says male and female, says everything expired, sends out a raven, P is very concerned about ages, dates and sizes, P says it took 370 days and nights, and takes pairs of each animal. Each story is separable and complete.

 

The Doorstep

These 4 internally consistent documents was called the Documentary Hypothesis. They identified a fifth person that was a collector who combined all the pieces refered to as the redactor (R). Who wrote these, when and what was their purpose?

Two Countries, Two Writers

The author J came from Judah and the E from Israel.

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What do you think? Do you believe it? Were there several writers or did Moses write in several voices? Does it make a difference to you who wrote it?

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G-d hardened Pharaoh’s heart

June 8, 2008 at 9:34 am (Uncategorized)
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My friend David loves exploring Judaism. He is the kindest soul I know and works very hard at understanding and engaging with his Judaism. David has a problem with the story of the Exodus and it makes Passover difficult for him. David wonders why G-d would harden Pharaoh’s heart? I told David that I wanted to think about that and give a try at answering his question.

I decided to look at whether I thought the phrase G-d hardened Pharaoh’s heart was problematic for me in the context of the story. I never found it problematic before so I thought I would approach it again after David’s question. Here is what I encountered and what I thought:

First a couple of quotes, Exodus 11-10: “Moses and Aaron had performed all these marvels before Pharaoh, but the LORD had stiffened the heart of Pharaoh so that he would not let the Israelites go from his land.” 7-22 with water turning to blood Pharaoh’s heart stiffens. Note that in the first quote G-d does the action and in the second it is the doing of the Pharaoh.

Second,  here is some context from Pharaoh’s point of view. Pharaoh is wealthy, powerful and almost god like. What he says goes. He has always gotten his way. He tells people what to do and they listen. If they don’t he removes them.

Third, here is a list of events. Pharaoh finds the first encounter of the stick turning into a serpent laughable. This shows some insight into his arrogance. But with water turning to blood (7-22) Pharaoh’s heart stiffens. He begins to get annoyed with this G-d who ursurps his power. This happens several more times and it is noted that “Pharaoh’s heart stiffened” (8-15). Then in 9-35 Pharaoh’s heart stiffened again.

The action G-d takes makes Pharaoh more obstinate. He is not more willing to engage after these events. This obstinancy is what is termed the stiffening of the heart. It is the “sense” of Pharaoh saying he will show G-d that he is boss and no one can do these things to me. He is not going to break that easily. Each action makes him dig in his heels and harden his heart more.

G-d is not physically doing this to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh’s reaction to G-ds works cause him to dig in his heels. G-d is separate from Pharaoh in the whole story. G-d does not even have a conversation with Pharaoh nor does G-d go near him. Pharaoh is supposed to learn from the awesome events but doesn’t. His heart stiffens and hardens.

Finally some other thoughts, here is a quote to consider Exodus 10-20 ” But the LORD stiffened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.” Who is acting here? Did the LORD stiffen Pharaoh’s heart? If that is the case is it the LORD that would not let the Israelites go? I assume not because there is a lower case “h” in he. However the sentence could be read that way. Or are we focusing on Pharaoh whose heart is stiffened and he is not letting the people go. But the LORD stiffened Pharaoh’s heart refers to the LORD’s actions and Pharaoh’s response. Did the LORD actually do something to him?

What is your thought? Does this prevent you from telling the story? From enjoying Passover? Can you tell the story of Passover without  the hardening of the heart? Isn’t the intent of the story to teach about the Israelites and their connection with G-d and history. None of this can and cannot be proven. There is very little historical aspects of the story that can be tied together to prove the story. But is that the point? What are you to learn? What is the intent of the Exodus story and Passover?

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When I came out of Egypt

June 6, 2008 at 7:15 am (Uncategorized)
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In every
generation, each of us must see ourselves as if we, ourselves, came out of
Egypt , as it is written: And
you shall tell your child on that day saying, This is what God did for me, when
I came out of
Egypt . (Exodus 13:8 )

What are you? Are you a Jew? What is your story? What do you
tell your children? Do you tell the story of coming out of Egypt? Do you tell it as your story?

Describing our challenges and proudest moments help define a picture of who we
are. This helps frame and set a context for our story. We tell our story of a
great people to keep our history alive. Stories of our families and our people
are important for children to learn about who they are and to provide an
identity and a connection to their heritage.

Our people have a long and brilliant history of underdogs struggling and
overcoming. Over the years we have lived under many difficult regimes then
succeeded beyond the expectations of the nations we embraced.

Under slavery and horrible conditions of an oppressive kingdom in Egypt we
struggled. We left Egypt and
made our way to the land
of Israel and built a
great nation. Then the story repeats itself in history. In every generation we
encounter a struggle against rulers. And in every generation we succeed and
change the world. Within the ups and downs, each year we connect our children with the story of coming out of Egypt.

This is our history. Interestingly, G-d knew this would be valuable to sustain
and connect this group of people we call Jews. We are given the mitzvh “And
you shall tell your child on that day saying, This is what God did for me, when
I came out of
Egypt .“
Our tradition helps define regular intervals and the context to tell the story.
We created a Haggadah and seder so that every year at Passover we tell our
story.

Our history, traditions and beliefs help sustain
and empower us as a community. G-d did this — brought us out of Egypt
to accept the Torah, to teach it to our children and to remain a
special community in the light of G-d. Teach this to your children as a
personal journey and your children will identify and be proud to be
Jews.

This Passover is your opportunity to tell your children about the family
struggles and family triumphs. You have an opportunity to do a mitzvah and
include the story of Exodus this Passover holiday.

Happy Pesach and good feasting.

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Writing On Torah

June 5, 2008 at 6:18 am (Uncategorized)
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I have been asked to write for the Temple’s newsletter Hineni. Here is the portion I have been asked to focus on:

In every generation, each of us must see ourselves as if we, ourselves, came out of Egypt , as it is written: And you shall tell your child on that day saying, This is what G-d did for me, when I came out of Egypt . (Exodus 13:8 )

The Holy One who is Blessed did not redeem only our ancestors, but G-d delivered us as well, as it is said: God redeemed us from that place, in order to bring us out and to give us the land that G-d had promised to our ancestors. (Deuteronomy
6:23)

I have a couple of ideas of how I may want to approach this. One is what does this mean from my experience and the other is what does it mean to us as Jews. I think I am going to choose the latter.

I was thinking about how this commandment focuses you on your history. Each year you are commanded to take a moment to focus on how this story is your story. In each generation every year people have been thinking of this. Each generation meets its challenges and each time the Jewish people have come out and risen above the problems. Several thousand years of history, always a small percentage of the population and sometime with land and sometimes without. Every generation someone looks to subjugate or kill the Jewish people. They still survive and have a vigorous community as ever.

When you read that you are supposed to tell your children that you came out of Egypt and use to explain your pride as a Jewish person and your connection with the history. This lesson provides your children with a sense of pride and longevity, a sense of connection and importance.

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