Stand-Up For Israel?

Shabbat Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld

Sep 27-28, 2024 • 25 Elul 5784 • Netzavim (Deut 29-31).

Stand-Up For Israel?

A certain Israeli comedy sketch quipped that "standing" with Israel sounds so tiring.

"Free Palestine" sound much nicer. Who doesn't like free stuff?

Much-needed intelligent comic relief in a glut of MSM (main stream media) bone-headedness, such as "Israel and Hizbollah have been exchanging fire for eleven months" as if there is some kind of parity in this fight.

Maybe the AP, the BBC, the NYT and others don't have access to Wikipedia?

Why only now when Israel decides to exercise its sovereign right of self-defense is there a call for a cease fire?

Question for your table: What does "I stand for Israel" actually mean?

It seems to me that it really means, "I stand with the Jewish People."

It unfortunately took a pogrom of unmitigated evil and a 3-front war to bring us to this unity, but here we are.

Question for your table - Once the warring is over, what will happen to all the standing for Israel?

Shabbat Shalom

PS - This week's Table Talk also appears online at http://rabbiseinfeld.blogspot.com.

PPS - some more comedians: this one, these guys, and of course my cousin Jerry...

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The mission of Jewish Spiritual Literacy, Inc. (JSLI.org) is to foster a paradigm shift in spiritual education to enable every human being to access and enjoy the incredible database of 3,000 years of Jewish wisdom.

Finding True North

Shabbat Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld

Sep 20-21, 2024 • 18 Elul 5784 • Ki Tavo (Deut 26-29).

A certain rabbi I know phoned me up the other day with a rather random request.

He asked to borrow my compass.

He explained that he's building a shul and wants to check the engineer's measurements to make sure it's facing the right direction.

Here's what I asked him, which is an interesting question for your table: What's the right direction?

Most people instinctively say, "East". 

Presumably because we want to face Israel which is supposedly in the East. But if you look at a globe, you'll see that depending on where you are in North America or Europe, Israel may be much reasonably more toward the northeast or or southeast or even in the case of Alaska probably due North. 

In Baltimore, there are two shuls across the street from each other on Park Heights Avenue where they made contradictory decisions: one faces northeast and the other faces southeast.

Moreover, a compass doesn't actually point north. It points to Magnetic North, which is located in NE Canada. 

Now, online maps are more accurate than a compass, but that doesn't solve the first problem of deciding which way you should face your shul to begin with.

And I suggested a further problem: if the intent of facing Israel is to know that you're facing Israel, how does it help to make sure your shul is "precisely" facing Israel (whatever that means) if the people attending don't understand that precision?

For your table: If you were building a shul in your town, which way would you build it?

Bonus question: Does a moral compass work in the same way? Does it come down to a judgment call?

Shabbat Shalom

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The mission of Jewish Spiritual Literacy, Inc. (JSLI.org) is to foster a paradigm shift in spiritual education to enable every human being to access and enjoy the incredible database of 3,000 years of Jewish wisdom.

What Matters More?

Shabbat Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld

Sep 13-14, 2024 • 11 Elul 5784 • Ki Teitzei (Deut 21-25).

Did last week's shofar theme start getting you in the mood? (Do you know how many days until the big day?)

This week, a simple question for your table:

If you had to choose between the following, which would you choose: to suffer excruciating pain for 24 hours, or to suffer a low level of pain for 24 years?

(That's a classic question from the author of Thinking Fast and Slow.)

Here's a twist on it for your table:

What's better: To live a lifetime of strict honesty 100 percent of the time and always have a hard time making ends meet, or to cut some ethical corners but always be in the black?

Before you say what you think is the "right" answer, consider: if you choose the former, you are risking a lifetime of worry, anxiety, and sleepless nights; while the latter person sleeps soundly at night.

Before you answer, think about the impact on your family and community, think about the big picture.

Shabbat Shalom

PS - Yes, of course the image is clickable - need you ask?

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The mission of Jewish Spiritual Literacy, Inc. (JSLI.org) is to foster a paradigm shift in spiritual education to enable every human being to access and enjoy the incredible database of 3,000 years of Jewish wisdom.