“Pomp and Circumstance” serves a purpose.  One cannot help but feel the excitement permeating the air.  Being fully present in the moment is almost unavoidable.  Rituals having to do with connecting to Adonai may have the same effect, especially when shared with a group.

        Together with others, we gain strength, fortitude, energy, and resolve.  This, in fact, is a double-edged sword.  For those who may not be familiar with this idiom, it means it cuts both ways.  The group dynamic may be a blessing to the world, or a curse.  What inevitably happens when a group gets together for a purpose is they are all driven to act.

        When one gets right to the essence of what Judaism teaches, there are two utterly important fundamental elements:  There is only one G-d, and do unto others as you would have done unto you, or love your neighbor as yourself, and treat others as you want to be treated - these are all one ideology.  This is assuming one recognizes our connectedness with G-d, and with each other, as Adonai is a part of every one of us.

        In this month of Elul, we are to take time to look at our behaviors and relationships of this past year and ask forgiveness after admitting our mistakes, first from each other, for ourselves, and then from Adonai.  Rosh Hashanah begins the moment Elul ends, with the beginning of the new month of Tishrei, and the start of a new year on the Hebrew calendar.  For those who do not know, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the holiest days of the year for the Jewish people. (If you will indulge my getting on my soapbox - of course, I will anyway because this is of the utmost importance - the Torah commands us not to work on these days, which includes any and all secular activity.  To demand a student’s attendance - or an adult’s, for that matter - is a sin, not just merely an insult, overlooking, rude, etc., but downright sinful.  Do not be insulted, or angry, if a Jewish person refuses to take a test, or to go to work, school, a meeting, sporting event, or any other of a wide variety of secular activities.  These are days of prayer and reflection, forgiveness and heartfelt apologies.  On Rosh Hashanah, it is written, and on Yom Kippur, it is sealed in the Book of Life, who will live, who will die, and a long list of things which will or will not happen in a Jewish person’s life for the new year.  No test, deal, show, etc. comes even close in importance.  While probably not stated enough, I do hope everyone gets the point.)

            Our parashah begins with a more detailed discussion of tithing.  We are told specific details about tithing from our bounty, from our land, i.e. Our fruits, vegetables, grains, and so forth.  It is utterly important we give the first fruits of our labors to the Levites, orphans, widows, proselytes, and the poor who live around us.  Now, if people were naturally inclined to act in a certain way, we wouldn’t need a law to require us to do so.  When one has worked hard to see their labors come to fruition, one is naturally inclined to be excited to have it for oneself.  We are commanded to do otherwise.  Due to the fact this demand is hardly a secret, one should feel pressure to act accordingly.

            In our parashah this week, we are also told to celebrate our good fortune by our tithing, thereby connecting to the positive and good spiritual energy from others.  By telling us to celebrate, and this also is how Adonai wants our thanks, and by seeing to the needs of others, and then adding this is not only how we may serve G-d - with a joyous heart and soul - but also how doing so will bring us blessings; thus, we learn our attitude matters.  This law then applies to all of the other commandments, and as it is written in the Torah a multitude of times, love Adonai and serve Adonai with all of your mind, heart, and soul.

            Once one acts out of love for Adonai and for one’s fellow human being, one will be more inclined to study the Torah, and will be happy and joyous to then carry out all of G-d’s commandments.  Perhaps this is why the very next part of our parashah teaches us to write all of the words (neatly, mind you) on twelve pillars when we arrive in the land of our inheritance, eretz Yisrael - the land of Israel, or Canaan, as it was called back then.  We are to erect twelve pillars with all of the words of the Torah upon both Mount Ebel and Mount Gerizim.

            It gets even more interesting after this directive.  We are to split the tribes up between the two mountains, with the Kohanim in the valley between them, and we then face Mount Gerizim and recite a blessing, then turn and face Mount Ebel and recite the same blessing in the negative, as a curse.  Back and forth through a specified list.  In other words, if we do as the commandment tells us, our lives will be blessed; if not, we will be cursed.  Reaping what you sow to tie in with the tithing!  In case you didn’t read the passage, there aren’t separate blessings and curses, it is basically about what some call Karma.

            The commandments to be recited begin with loving G-d, and therefore not worshipping, making, selling, etc., idols of any kind.  The next one tells us not to defame our parents.  This is to reinforce how we are connected, and how our actions and inactions, both words and deeds, reflect upon those who came before us.  The rest of the twelve to be recited - twelve tribes, twelve specific blessings and curses - teach us that everything we do reflects our love for, or conversely our turning our back on, Adonai, by the way we treat each other.  Four of the twelve are about incest - i.e. of course, do not have it - and other prohibited sexual behaviors.  The rest are about not lying - including slander, gossip, libel, bribery - nor cheating, conning, taking advantage of, stealing, abusing - both verbally and physically - or killing.  These are all summed up by telling us to generally and specifically both observe the commandments and fulfill them.

            Directly after this detailed ceremony, we are briefly told how we will be blessed in all we have and do if we follow and fulfill the commandments, not “veering right or left”, and then we have a very, very, very long list of the curses which will reign down upon us if we do not.  This is not merely a list of possibilities as a warning to us, it is prophetic.  Virtually all of these things have actually happened at different times in history.

            Change can and does occur, but it takes time.  So we act, and study, and act, and study. . .until we have become Torah.  While G-d does know all, we are still given the power of choice.  What does this tell us?  Our actions, thoughts, words, and deeds are important and meaningful.  Without the power of choice, we would be robots, doing what we were programmed to do (I won’t even begin to count the books, films, etc., that have posited this about contemporary and futuristic versions of humanity).  Moses prophesies what actually happened, but Adonai gave him the sight to share with us in the hopes that we would guard ourselves against the curses.  We could have changed those future curses (from the perspective of the Israelites Moses was speaking to).  We might look back at history and learn from it, so as to change our future too.

            As we are busy looking inward this month, let us take seriously the lessons of history, our individual past, and that of the Jewish people, and of the whole world’s history.  Science is learning at such a phenomenal rate at this point in time that so many of our past assumptions were wrong.  Yet we were so certain we knew the varied truths.  In general, human beings have been and still are so pompous about what we believe we know, despite a vast multitude of evidence, historically speaking, to the contrary.  What is so sadly ironic is G-d blessed us with eternal truths embodied in the words of the Torah.  These are truths about human nature, cause and effect, and even the very existence of G-d.  You don’t have to believe me, but do yourself a favor and at least study, act, learn, watch, think, love, celebrate, and study, study, study.

            In general, we human beings have been like teenagers who dismiss the wisdom and warnings of our elders.  We may not want to admit we were wrong, or that the dangers we have been warned of are real.  This week’s parashah places cause and effect up close and personal.  There are numerous, wonderful healing, loving movements gaining momentum right now as I write this blog.  For this I am grateful, and hopeful.  As a people, we have collectively imagined, through the ages, and then realized many wonderful dreams.  Those who believed in human kind, Adonai, and who tirelessly worked for the betterment of society, for freedoms, for the realization of Israel being given back to those who have inherited her, dreams most presented opposition to, whether through actions, thoughts, or words; dreams which have come true due initially to one person’s efforts and slow building-up of followers.  This is reality.  It has happened, and it could happen again.

         We can make this world a better place, and no, John Lennon, you aren’t the only one who imagined it!  Our ancestors warned us, and there are prophets among us today, and in our recent history, warning us of many things.  Moses believed it was his mission in life to free his entire people from slavery in Egypt; further, he believed Adonai spoke to and through him.  Not only wasn’t he crazy, even our daughter religions believe this to be true.  If it wasn’t, with hundreds of thousands of people as witnesses to the events described and recorded for all time, would Judaism have thrived? 

        Would our daughter religions have come about?  Further, and not for nothing, but we Jewish people aren’t only stubborn, we are rather (as a group, mind you) argumentative and realistic - some would say cynical.  Yet we are still here.  In extremely recent history, many have tried to exterminate us and failed.  Within eight hours of being declared a Jewish State, the Arabs surrounding Israel attacked us. 

        We as a people have prevailed, and prevailed, and prevailed again.  Over and over again, Adonai proves to the world we are the chosen people.  We don’t go looking for fights, but we won’t back down when provoked, either.  Yet we have survived and thrived because, first and foremost, it is obviously the will of G-d, but also because we study, we sing, we laugh, we pray, and we celebrate.  We were chosen, as I and many others have stated numerous times before, and we are here to be a light unto  the nations.  Light is Adonai, wisdom, love, justice, truth, kindness, justice, fairness, and law and order (not bastardized) in its purest form; all of these things, not necessarily in the order I described, but rather jointly, along with peace and learning.  Not just for ourselves, but for the whole world.  Thank you for letting me share my light, or rather, the light of Adonai, which works through me, and with you.

        Shabbat Shalom!  May you be blessed with peace.  May you be a force for good in this world, of cooperation, respect, love, learning, sharing, and much more.  I’d love to know what you think!