Doing Our Share -- Torah Reflections – Dec. 2010

Acharei-Mot 

 

I am asking Arnie Brown to read my drash for me. I figure that if Moses, one of the most excellent spokespeople in Jewish history, could ask Aaron to speak for him, it has to be ok for me to ask Arnie. 

 
This is the first drash I have ever prepared. I grew up in an orthodox shul, and my bar mitzvah was in an orthodox/conservative shul. In both of these shuls, only the Rabbi ever gave the drash/ I still feel awkward offering a drash when there is so much about our Torah I don’t understand and find confusing. This week’s Torah portion is no exception. This week we read Acharei Mot/K'doshim, Leviticus 16:1-20:27. We read about more do’s and don’ts in order to be ‘holy.’ For me, I always wondered how anyone could not be holy. If we all come from G-d and we’re only here for a speck of time to make the world better, and we all return to G-d, how can we be unholy for that small speck of time? 

 

The heart of this week’s portion, and perhaps the entire Torah, is Leviticus 19.1, where we find the famous rule about loving your fellow neighbor as yourself. This simple rule is, I think, the essence of what the Torah is trying to teach. However, Leviticus then goes on to tell us not to curse the deaf or put stumbling blocks before the blind. While these rules are normally seen as being positive for people with disabilities, I find them to be distancing and isolating people with disabilities. Unlike Exodus, where G-d commands Moses to work even with his speech impairment, Leviticus makes no such commands. Leviticus simply tells Israelites how to ‘treat those people, so that they, the Israelites, can be holy. 

 

This Torah portion reminds me of when my father died. The Rabbi from our conservative shul came over to the house to make a Shiva call. Knowing the chapel had a flight of steps to get to it, I asked him how I should say Kaddish for my father. The Rabbi said, ‘Neil if you say Kaddish once, it is as if a normal person has said it a thousand times!’ I wanted to ask him which Midrash he got that from. Undoubtedly he said it to make me feel better. It, however, made me feel isolated and distanced from my Jewish heritage. It was the easy way out, and who wants that? 

 

My point is that if indeed the way to holiness is through doing good deeds and making the world better, shouldn’t our objective be to enable each other to do our part? Isn’t the best way of helping someone to enable that person to contribute and do their part of Tikkun Olam? Isn’t the best way of helping someone is to figure out how they can help us?

 

Someday, I hope to read an interpretation of the Torah that commands all people to help make the world better – regardless of race, color, nationality, sex, sexual bias, or disability. Until then, let’s go on with the Board meeting.