6 Months After October 7th: Two Different Kinds of Fire

In the Torah portion that we read last shabbat, Parashat Shemini, we come across a strange and previously unknown concept – that of אש זרה (Eysh Zara) – a “strange fire”  offered up by Aaron’s sons. According to our text, Nadav and Abihu brought their firepans to the altar after the Mishkan (Tabernacle) was dedicated and proffered an offering to God that had not been commanded.

As a result of this action, a fire from the heavens descended and they died at the hand of God.

This story is unsettling for many reasons.  It is brutal, sudden and unexpected.  It doesn’t seem to be fair. It’s also incomplete .  We don’t truly understand what the fire was and why Nadav and Abihu deserved such a horrific punishment.

Over the centuries, commentators have debated the meaning of the fire and the circumstances that brought such a horrific punishment. Responses range from portraying Aaron’s sons as hungry for power, to being religious zealots – so overcome by their exposure to God that they acted impulsively.

The basic idea behind every explanation is that there had to be a compelling reason for their punishment.  After all, God doesn’t act impulsively, right?

But what if there isn’t?  What if the deaths of Aaron’s sons were just a series of tragic events that led to catastrophe that had no real rationale or reason?

Or even worse – what if this story is a parable about the inevitability of violence, death and destruction in our world?

As we look at the world today and see how tragedies occur all around us - all the time, it becomes increasingly compelling to view the Eysh Zara as a horrific, mysterious event without explanation.  To try and rationalize tragedy places us in murky moral waters. The truth is, we can see potential alien fires all around us.

It has been six months since the tragedy of October 7^th. During this time, we have born witness to the destructive and devastating fire of the Hamas Terrorists who burned, beat, raped, kidnapped and murdered innocent Israelis: at a music festival, in their homes, on the battlefield and, in the process, ripped  hole into the soul of the State of Israel and the Jewish people around the world.

The fires that raged at Kibbutz Beiri, Kfar Aza, the Nova music festival and the entire Gaza envelope continue their destructive path to this very day.

Everywhere we look, we can see Eysh Zarah – “Strange Fire”:  

• The fires of war and the need to respond to the horrors of October 7^th – to rescue the hostages and ensure that Hamas’ infrastructure will be destroyed.
• The fires of hatred – the anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism that had been laying dormant and now have been re-ignited by a coordinated campaign: on the streets of our cities, on the internet, in college campuses and high school classrooms, in legislative halls and public events, activists are using the horrors of this war to justify their hateful rhetoric and simplistic canards that draw ignorant followers to repeat chants and enact legislation calling for the destruction of the State of Israel. So many innocents and ignorant young people are playing into the hands of the most radical regime in the world – Iran – and it’s proxies: Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
• The fires of fear and mistrust that many of those who were born in the past 50 years do not know first-hand – but are built into the inter-generational trauma that has been a part of our people from generation to  generation.

One thing about fire that we all know – especially here in the west where wildfires are a constant menace – is that once it is started, it tends to rage, grow and become increasingly difficult to extinguish.

Fire can and often does burn uncontrollably – and innocent lives are lost in the midst of the blaze.

War rages like fire. It cannot be controlled.  The loss of life on both sides of this horrific conflict increases exponentially:  from soldiers killed in the line of duty, to innocent civilians caught up in the crossfire; From terrorists who hide in the midst of the civilian population and who gain power with every death of a non-combatant; to aid workers who are killed as the result of horrific, inexcusable mistakes by the IDF – as we saw this past week with the tragic deaths of the World Food Kitchen volunteers.

This week marks six months of war in Gaza. What began as a clear and just counterattack against a vicious enemy who committed horrific acts of terror, murder, rape and violence has morphed into something else – an Eysh Zarah – a strange fire that has taken on a life of its own – destroying everything in its path:

Yes – much of Hamas’ infrastructure has been dismantled, but this has taken place at a cost of tens of thousands of lives. It also has bred more terror:  each family that has lost a loved one has also gained additional searing hatred for Israel as a result of their tragedy.  This in turn, is fertile ground for new recruits for Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

With each death of innocents, with every building that is destroyed, the ideology of Hamas – flamed by Iran and its proxies - grows stronger

The hunger that has engulfed the Palestinian people rages like wildfire

The grief of Israelis: those who have lost loved ones; those who wait in agony for news of their captive family members; those whose children fight in the streets of Gaza – also burns and destroys

The voices of hundreds of thousands of citizens protesting in the streets of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and almost every major city in Israel – demanding new elections and a reckoning from both the Government and the IDF for the mistakes that have been made and an end to racist, authoritarian and self-serving governance burns stronger every day as well

Maybe this is the lesson of the Eysh Zarah – the strange and destructive fires that we- as human beings ignite in order to show our strength, hatred and desire to control that which is uncontrollable…

There is another example of a burning fire in the Torah that appears to be a counterbalance to the blaze that consumed Aaron’s sons – that of the Burning bush encountered by Moses on Mt. Sinai. When Moses received his call from the midst of the flames, he understood that the fire that was burning was not destructive – but rather, it was a divine call for service and hope.

At this sober 6 month anniversary, may we find the strength to look into the fire – and not see hatred, but, perhaps, like Moses Mt. Sinai – see a bush that burns and is not consumed – sending a message of peace and hope.

Ken Yehi Ratzon – May this be God’s Will.

AMEN

 

Opening Prayer for the CO State House During a Holy Season - April 4, 2023

 

Our God and the God of all people:

God of the Left and God of the Right

God of the Judged and God of the Jurist

God of the Doubter and God of the Driven

God of those who have no God:

We are living in troubled times. We are part of a nation divided and a legislative body that finds it difficult to come together in spite of our differences. Divisions and distrust permeate everything that happens in this sacred space.

And yet - buried beneath the layers of legislation and protocol that consume every elected official, advisor, clerk, officer and servant of this chamber is a seed of hope – waiting to germinate and blossom into legislation that lifts up the Springtime possibility of promise.

We stand together at a sacred time for the Jewish, Christian and Muslim Communities.  The messages of rebirth and renewal that are central to the festivals of Passover and Easter compel us to find hope in times of trauma. The blessings of inner devotion and dedication to renewed moral and spiritual understanding underpin Ramadan’s fasts and celebrations.

How can we channel the values, spiritual depth and promise of this sacred time for three of the world’s great religions?

Perhaps, those who have been charged with leading our State and creating and protecting its laws - and all who labor to support them – should see how blessed they are with the potential to make a difference.

And so - may any arguments that arise be for the sake of Heaven.

Bless this house, O God. May enmity provoke aspiration.

May conflict dissolve into communion.

And may we all find Your presence in our lives as we witness the rebirth and renewal of this sacred season.

AMEN

  

Opening Prayer for the Colorado State House of Representatives at the Halfway Point of the Session

Our God who calls us to reflect on who we are and why we are here:

This morning, we come together in this sacred place as we near the half-way point of our legislative session.  We marvel at the passage of time while simultaneously feeling the anxiety of the layers of unfinished business that loom in front of us.  In a world that all too often demands unyielding perfection from its leaders, there is little, if any, margin for error.  Words of condemnation come easy in political parlance.  But as hard as we are on our colleagues, we are even more merciless on ourselves.  Those who have been chosen to serve feel the burden of answering the clarion call of the people:  to make a difference; to change the unchangeable; to fix the flaws in our laws, fate of our state and the holes in our souls.  And yet, the realities of time and space force us to acknowledge that we cannot complete every task.

 

And so we pray:

 

Dear God, You created us with imperfections.  Watch over all who serve in this chamber:  the legislators and the lawyers, the captains and clerks; the interns and the innovators.  Give them both the strength to pursue the task of governance, and the patience to accept that there is always more to accomplish than is humanly possible.  Protect the souls of your servants who are exposed to the harshness to human expectation.  Help them to support one another –even in the heat of debate and disagreement.  Let any conflict that arises be for the sake of the greater good and teach us to quickly forgive and forget the sting of slogans and slights that are thrown about in the messy process of  crafting legislation.   As the end of this session looms ever larger in the forefront of our consciousness, may every person here become reconciled to the sacred necessity for compromise and communion.

 

We thank You for the ability to make a difference.  We see You in the passion of our colleagues.  We seek Your presence in our daily lives.  AMEN

Opening Prayer for the Colorado House of Representatives on "Leap Day."

Our God who dwells on High.

Our God who walks in the street.

Our God whose voice rolls down like thunder.

Our God who we find in the doubts that plague us in the middle of the night.

Today is the 29^th of February. This day that only occurs every 4 years reminds us that, in our desire to find order in the chaos of the cosmos, we need to adjust our calendars so that we might continue to number our days in accordance with the seasons of the year. Time, as we understand it, is arbitrary. The years, months, days, minutes, and seconds that we use to track the passage of time are our own creation, not Yours. While we strive for consistency and absolute perfection in all that we do – we know that there are things that truly are out of our control. And so, we invent ways to adjust our lives to deal with inconsistencies and irregularities. If we did not add this one day every 4 years, we would be off kilter and our sense of normalcy would be disrupted.

On this day of deliberation – help these legislators to remember that the process of governing  - like our calendar -is imperfect. Let them find You – not in the absolute or categorical imperatives that draw lines in the ideological sands of partisanship; but rather in their doubts, in their questions, in their struggles to fulfill the needs of our community.  Help them to move one another and to be moved.  Open their hearts to the possible and the improbable.  Help them to find the human and the divine in their colleagues, their constituents and in themselves.

Help us all to stay balanced, O God.

Help us to find humor and banish hubris.

Give us – all of us – on this day of calendar correction – a moment of tranquility and transcendence so that we might rise above our ordinariness and glimpse the glory of Your greatness.

 Let us see it in ourselves.  Let us see it in these deliberations.  Let us see it in the imbalance that reminds us of our mortality – and the beauty that comes from imperfection.

Then, and only then, will we merit the gifts You have bestowed upon us.

May this day bring change.

May this day bring hope.

May this day bring love.

 AMEN

 

Opening Prayer for the CO House of Representatives around Presidents' Day 2/22/24

 

Our God and God of all people:

God of the rich

God of the poor

God of the refugee

God of the soldier

God of the homeless

God of the comfortable

God of those who have no God…

 

Today would have been my mother’s 98^th Birthday.  It also happens to be the birthday of our nation’s 1^st president, George Washington. Last Monday, our country celebrated President’s Day where we commemorated the leadership, dignity and Vision inspired by both Presidents Washington and Lincoln.

Our First President understood the necessity of coming together in unity against a common enemy.  He led the fight for our Independence and blazed a trail of Democracy that has continued to be an inspiration around the world for 248 years.

 

Lincoln came to power during a terrible period of national divisiveness.  He stood up to injustice and bigotry and forced our nation to come to a bloody self-reckoning that almost destroyed our Union. He paid the Ultimate Price for his steadfast belief in Humanity’s embodiment of Divine aspiration. 

My mother was born in Leipzig, Germany – just before Hitler came to power.  She and her parents narrowly escaped the horrors of the Holocaust and came to our country as refugees – I stand here today as a testament to God’s grace and the high ideals for which Washington, Lincoln and so many others fought and died.

 

Today, we as a nation are as divided as we have ever been. The fractured nature of national and regional discourse should be a cause for great concern. As we prepare to remember our greatest Presidents, we pray that we also might continue to strive to emulate them and all that they stood for.

This morning, we pray for our leaders of the Great State of Colorado that they might work together to legislate and forge new bonds of connectivity with our highest national values.

 

Guide them as they work, O God – not as partisans, but as partners – transcending pettiness and finding holiness in this august chamber. Let all debate be for the sake of a greater good.

 

Bless all who come to this place:  elected officials, advisors, administrators, those who keep order and those who come simply to observe the magic and the messiness of creating laws.

 

We thank you for the opportunity to make a difference.

We thank you for extraordinary leadership.

We give thanks for the privilege to live freely in our nation.

 

AMEN

 

 

 

Breaking the Chains of Captivity in Gaza - Israel Blog

I spent this past weekend in St. Louis, MO where I attended Songleader Bootcamp (SLBC) – a yearly celebration of Jewish music, spirituality, and leadership. This is the 5^th year that I have been honored to serve as a Core Educator at SLBC. In that role, I taught classes, helped to lead services, shared my music, and helped to create a sacred community.

This year’s SLBC was filled with many memorable experiences that I look forward to sharing with you in the near future.  As always, the many sessions of prayer, singing, and learning were inspiring and fulfilling.  We were joined by a cadre of national thought leaders, musicians, artists, and clergy. For the past several years, much of our learning was facilitated by Rabbi David Ingber – the founder and visionary of a synagogue named Romemu in New York.  Rabbi Ingber is a remarkable scholar and someone who has become a dear friend.

At one of his sessions, Rabbi Ingber asked us to think about one particular section of the service  Birchot HaShachar – the morning prayers. These daily blessings thank God for things that we all too often take for granted. Here at Temple, at our weekly Shabbat morning service, it has become our tradition to recite them and then ask people to share their own “blessings”. 

This is always a powerful moment in the service. The members of our sacred community share how the past week brought them joy and fulfillment:    

• A wedding
• The birth of a child or grandchild
• Recovery from illness
• A new job
• And so on…

Sometimes in our rush to share our own blessings, we don’t take the time to probe the deep wisdom of our traditional prayers. Rabbi Ingber taught that we really can’t understand the power of these prayers until we experience them directly. For example, when we say:  “Praised are You, Adonai our God, who opens the eyes of the blind,” unless we have lost and regained our eyesight, we cannot possibly comprehend the deep meaning of the miracle of sight. Similarly, when we pray “Blessed are You, Adonai our God, who heals the sick,” the words gain great power when we – or someone we love – has risen from the sickbed.

We then focused on the blessing: “Praised are You, Adonai our God, who frees the captives.”

Until recently, these words did not have all that much impact. The concept of captivity was merely a metaphor – or a historical reminder of the suffering of our people in the past. After the horror of October 7^th, however, this prayer has taken on a whole new meaning and become a hauntingly powerful reminder of the fact that there are still men, women, and children – babies – who are languishing in horrific conditions in Gaza – imprisoned by terrorists who have shown their brutality by murdering, raping, and plundering the homes of innocents whose only crime was the fact that they lived in the State of Israel.

Those who languish in the terror of captivity in Gaza remind us daily that that their fear, helplessness and terror continue to fester like wounds that have anguished the entire State of Israel – along with all of us who grieve with them.

As we watch the horrors of war play out in the streets of Gaza, we must never lose sight of the fact that the IDF is fighting against an enemy whose modus operandi is the sacrifice of innocent lives - Palestinian and Jewish alike – in order to accomplish their goal of eradicating the Jewish State. The devastation of innocents caught up in Hamas’ evil could easily have been prevented had Hamas not set the stage for its own destruction by creating the conditions and provoking Israel to perform the mitzvah of Matir Asurim, freeing the captives.

Let us pray for an end to this horrific war, for the captives to be returned to their families who wait in anguish, for the eradication of Hamas and the beginning of hopes for peace.

Amen

Love Lessons for Legislators - Invocation for the Colorado State House for Valentine's Day

Our God and God of all people.

We know you by many names:

God of mercy, God of Justice, God of Salvation, God of all Humanity

But this morning – let us call you God of Love…..

Today is February 15^th. Yesterday was Valentine’s day.

Some here today – the more cynical among us - might think that a day set aside to focus on love is a ploy to sell chocolate and flowers. And they may be right. After all, shouldn’t we show our love every day? Shouldn’t we be grateful for the laughter and the tears, the kisses and caresses, the support and joy, the passion and the playfulness we share that makes each day seem brighter than the one before? The love that we give and receive makes us better human beings…….

But we aren’t always aware, are we? We are forgetful. We are creatures of habit. We take the people around us for granted and we expect them to love us nonetheless. And the crazy thing about it is that they do. Most of the time….

Dear God,

Our diverse traditions teach us that Your essence is love. You love us –otherwise why would you tolerate us?

If You did not love us, how would you be able to stand idly by while we diminish Your image by despoiling your beautiful world?

If You did not love us, how could You let us live when we ignore the suffering in our streets or the violence that is daily fare for those persecuted because of the color of their skin, their faith, or birthplace, who they love or how they love?

If you did not love us, you would not permit the toxicity of discourse that makes legislation so painful.

If You did not love us, you would not have given us a conscience that wakes us from our slumber and forces us to realize our weakness, our frailty, our greed and our hubris.

Help us to love You  - O God of Love. Help us to love one another – so much so that we might rise above the partisanship that all too often places stumbling blocks in the path of governance.

Help us to live so that we see that our very ability to love is a gift.

Bless these legislators O God. Bless all who labor for the sake of our beautiful state of Colorado. Help them to love one another. Help them to love their compassion and their quarrels. Help them to love the differences and the moments of clarity that occur when they do Your sacred work and help to perfect our world.

At this season of Valentines day – may we all find ways to rejoice in the love that makes our lives complete.

It takes time to love – it takes patience. Sometime it even takes chocolate and flowers.

But sometimes, our love makes Your love a reality.

May it be so today.  AMEN