Eden in the Sukkah

The story goes that a Hasidic Jew had saved 50 rubles so that he could buy the best citron possible for the holiday. With joy in his heart, he went to buy the citron; however, on his way he met a friend who looked miserable. It became clear that his friend’s horse had died and now the poor man could not make a living. “How much would a new horse cost?” the man asked his friend. “45 rubles,” he replied. The Hasid gave the man 45 rubles, and with the five remaining rubles, he bought himself a cheap, shriveled-up citron.

That night in the synagogue the rabbi announced, “I smell the scent of the Garden of Eden. Everyone take out your citrons!” The rabbi inspected every citron until he came to the Hasid who was too embarrassed to even take his citron out. “Let’s see it,” demanded the rabbi. The Hasid sheepishly revealed his citron. “That’s it!” declared the rabbi. “The scent of Eden!” The rabbi asked what led the man to buy such a citron, and the Hasid told the rabbi all about the money he had saved and then given away.  Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins

The Person Next to You

I dislike articles that begin with, “I am sitting on my lounge chair looking up at the….”.   It likely probably stems from my early essays that all began that way.  I mistakenly assumed that people would be interested in what I was doing on a Wednesday evening in April….

Anyway. 

As I stood this year on the bima marveling at this wonderful community of people who gathered to pray on Yom Kippur evening I was struck was the wide variety of people that comprise our congregation.  We are all Jews with the same collective history and unconscious but that is where the similarity ends.

We came in fine clothes from the most posh and fashionable stores, recently obtained clothes from Goodwill, and with an amazing scale of skin tones.  We had every conceivable color present!  Straight, frizzy, curly, done-up, shaved close, blonde, gray, dyed, and black hair.  People with serious addictions to food, alcohol, pornography, drugs and gambling.  Entrepreneurs and thieves.  Tzaddiks and scoundrels.

There were gossipers and rubber-neckers, swindlers, cads, and altruistic saviors.

Transsexuals, bisexuals, homosexuals, heterosexuals, people faithful to their partners for life and others who were not.

Then the Hazzan began to intone, just before Kol Nidre, “I hereby declare it is permitted to pray with sinners.”  At that moment all barriers dropped.  No one was better than the next.  All became equal in God’s eyes (always that way actually) and more importantly, in one another’s eyes.

To be rid of judgmentalism is utopia.  It is perfection and exactly what G-d wants from us.  Forget about what you heard about disparity of wealth, learning, class, orientation, or color, what really divides humanity is being judgmental, believing that someone unlike us, is worth less.

I’d like every day to be Yom Kippur (minus the fasting) when pretense is stripped away and we all stand before God knowingly naked and indistinguishable from one another.  Death is like that.  But it would be a shame if we wait for the end of life to teach us the ultimate lesson of life.  We are all the same.

Ten for Parents

Ten Crucial Thoughts on Parenting

10. Some part of any money that comes your way should be for tzedaka.

9. The way you fulfill your appetites should be preceded by, “How does Judaism say I should do this?” 

8. You have a home in Israel.

7. Nothing is more important to your moral development than Jewish education.

6. Come to shul with me.

5. Make a Shabbat table.

4. It is important to daven.

3. I expect you to live as a Jew.

2. Zei a mensch.

1. “This is what I believe about God…”

Read the list. Discuss them.  Let them become part of the dialogue.