Jewish Musings Tuesday, Jan. 31

[hollygail]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.

Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:

Angelika
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to do that but you are also welcome to chime in!

[hollygail]

I’m doing a slight edit of a d’var Torah (see below), and I’m the one who added emphasis in bold: www.myjewishlearning.com/article/equal-before-god/

Equal Before God

Moshe and Pharaoh clash over who among the Israelites will worship God in the desert, illustrating the fundamental differences between paganism and monotheism.

By Rabbi Shimon Felix

Provided by the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel, a summer seminar in Israel that aims to create a multi-denominational cadre of young Jewish leaders.

This week’s parashah contains one of my all-time favorite conversations, one of the occasions where two opposing world views are really beautifully, succinctly and clearly articulated.

As the parsha begins, the Egyptians have been through seven plagues, but will still not let the Israelites go. Moses now warns them of the next plague, the locust. Pharaoh’s people have had it, they are ready to give in. "And the servants of Pharaoh said to him: ‘Until when will this one be a stumbling block to us? Send out these people that they may worship the Lord their God. Don’t you know yet that Egypt is lost?’"

Pharaoh capitulates, sends for Moses and Aaron, and says to them: "Go, and worship the Lord your God." But Pharaoh also has a question: "Who will be going?"

And now, with his response to Pharaoh, Moses lays the groundwork for universal suffrage and the French and American Revolutions: "With our young people and our old people we will go, with our sons and our daughters…we will go, for it is a holiday to God for us."

Pharaoh’s response is swift: "…Not so, let the male adults go and worship the Lord, for this is what you ask." Angrily, Pharaoh brings the meeting to an end: "And he drove them out from before him." The interview is over, the deal is off, and the locusts arrive the next day.

Understanding Judaism

This short exchange between Moses and Pharaoh is crucial to an understanding of Judaism, and monotheism. Pharaoh is a pagan. For him, a religion’s rituals are done by the functionaries or the leaders of the tribe. The rest of the people, the servants and subjects of the king, are dependant on the relationship between the leaders — the priests and the royalty — and the various deities they serve.

Pharaoh can see no reason for everyone to be part of the worship of the Lord. As his “secular” world is arranged — hierarchal, authoritarian, and totalitarian — so is his religious world. It is the religious leadership — in this instance the adult males — who must go and serve the Israelite God. The people should remain behind, enslaved, passive, and hope that the priests get the rituals right, and thereby insure the blessings of their God or gods.

Pharaoh thinks that only the adult males should go because he does not grasp the notion of freedom for all. He sees Moses and Aaron as the Jewish leadership, to whom, under pressure from their God and God’s plagues, he is willing to cede some authority. He can not imagine that their God wishes to relate to each and every one of the miserable people he has enslaved. He can not imagine that each of these individuals is a separate entity, standing alone before God.

Moses, on the other hand, explains the core of monotheism to Pharaoh, and to us. All of us, young and old, man and woman, must stand before God. As equals. As individuals. We all must participate in the relationship with the divine. And so, all of Israel must be allowed to go and commune with God in the desert. God, who created every one of us, has a relationship with every one of us.

This is the way Judaism works, and this is why the Jews must leave oppressive, totalitarian, autocratic Egypt, the Egypt that enslaves, the Egypt that rules, for the freedom of the desert. There, and only there, unencumbered by the chains of slavery, oppression, and royalty, each and every individual, on his or her own, stands before the Creator of the Universe, celebrates before the Creator of the Universe. In fact, we can perhaps say that the specific content of this celebration in the desert is the fact that all of us, young and old, male and female, can stand, and are standing, as independent entities before God. That itself is worthy of celebration.

Killing the First Born

As the plagues continue, and reach the awful climax of the killing of the firstborn, God’s side of this equation is clarified. The reason each and every one of us must stand before God is this: God created us all. God rules us all. In the pagan world, with a plethora, a hierarchy, of gods, not everyone has the same relationship with one deity or another; not every deity has the same relationship with the world and its creatures. If, on the other hand, there is one, all-powerful Creator, as the plagues prove, we are all equally the Creator’s creations. We all stand before the Creator equally as God’s, and only God’s subjects.

Some of you may be wondering exactly how far I really want to go with this egalitarian thing. In other words, really put my money where my mouth is. Good question.

I do think that what I said above is right, and true. I also think that the Jewish people know that men and women, children and adults, also have to interact, live together, raise families, in community, and that there are ways in which we, as a people, have tried to arrange these interactions, ways worthy of our respect, on the one hand, and our respectful criticism on the other.

Rabbi Shimon Felix is the Israel Director of the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel. He lives with his family in Jerusalem, and has taught in a wide variety of educational frameworks in Israel and abroad.

- - -

I, for one, wasn’t sure how far Rabbi Felix was going to go with this egalitarian thing either. I was sort of hoping he’d go a little farther than he did, and bring politics into the d’vat Torah, but alas…

So here’s the topic for today: are you equally respectful of yourself (and/or your own weight loss journey, or program, or fill in the blank) and other people’s commitments to their own fitness / health / weight / fill in the blank? How about in other areas of life, like opinions and disagreements (etc.)?

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well. I have some health issues going on right now, including the digestive problems. I am respecting myself and my needs by seeing my main doctor yesterday, and emailing my endocrinologist this morning, plus making arrangements to see other specialists as needed. As for respecting other people, I try to do this the best I can, although it is hard sometimes when we disagree strongly on politics (!).

I'll try and get back later; I have another appointment early this afternoon.

Have a peaceful day, Lee

[peachymom1]

Good morning everyone! Lee, I hope your health issues are manageable, and good for you for taking care of yourself.

Holly this is a great question. I have been learning to step back and think about whether I am really being respectful of someone else's position or journey, without simply dismissing it as ignorant or misguided. It helps me to remind myself to ask questions instead of making judgments. I'm a work in progress in this area. Adding humility to the equation helps me immensely too.

[louise]

I found that my strength training has made me more respectful of my working out. When I have had the various injuries this past year I went to the orthopedist and said what exercises I do and it was very different from my feeling I don't really do much. I am always tempted to say that because my weight training is no big deal compared to what a lot of you do, but that is not the point - the point is that I expend the effort and have had results. I can't argue with that. It makes me go do it again - not every morning, but many mornings. What I would like to have some respect for is my food plan. Now that I'm on the delivery program this week I have a LOT of respect for it (funny how the cost will do that). I wanted a little somethin somethin last night and settled for a 10 calorie Jell-O cup. It's making me think maybe I should figure out if I should splurge and treat myself to a couple of months on the program - that would (hopefully) be enough time for a noticeable change in my weight - maybe that would get the inertia going in my favor. Dunno.

[savtele]

Boker Tov All! I have to say, my brother's heart attack has been a huge wake-up call to me! It's easy to slip back into old ways, a little of this, a bit of that, a shortening of the workout here, a bit more couch-potato there. Then, BOOM, my 3 years-my-junior brother is flat on his back, tubes & beeps and blinking lights everywhere - and suddenly portion sizes & length of workout matter. I am wanting to internalize this to the point where "back-sliding" is not an option!

Meanwhile - he is out of ICU. They had placed a stint his 1st night in hospital - it seems to be working. He will no doubt go to cardiac rehab when he gets stronger. Everything is looking UP!

I've been to the gym - I need to take a pain pill (yes, that's the downside)
Have a good day all!

[happysavta]

Peachy, I was so moved by what you wrote. It's worth repeating. I should put it on a piece of paper and keep it in my purse.

"I have been learning to step back and think about whether I am really being respectful of someone else's position or journey, without simply dismissing it as ignorant or misguided. It helps me to remind myself to ask questions instead of making judgments. Adding humility to the equation helps me immensely too."

In the heat of the moment, I forget to take a deep breath, stop for a minute to step back and think. The emotions and the mouth take over and the spillage turns into a flood, if you know what I mean.

Thanks for such a helpful reminder, Peachy. You're terrific!

[Annette]

Hi all Just stopping by to say hello. I was doing OA for about 3-1/2 months but I just couldn't keep doing it anymore. My dear Mom died less than two months ago and then my daughter had some serious medical problems. Then hubby had some too. The stress just got to me. I'm circling around WWs again, still not able to commit. I really like this new format where you can comment directly to people's posts!!! Well, blessings to all of you.