Adoni!

The purpose of this blog is to give and get a little respect at the Shabbat table. Please print and share.

In Jerusalem's Old City, there used to be a woman who panhandled by giving out red strings in exchange for a "donation".

Nobody really wanted the strings, but if you passed her by without giving her money she'd respond, "Ay, yie, yie...."

If you completely ignored her, she'd call out, "Adoni!"

I remember the first time she called me that.

I thought she was calling me God.

That got my attention!

I didn't know how to react.

It turns out that she was just saying, "Sir!" but I didn't know any better.

(Adoni could also be translated as "my lord".)

This week, Adoni was in the Israeli news.

On Monday, Jewish Member of Knesset Itamar Ben-Gevir went up to the rostrum to make a speech while Arab MK Ahmad Tibi was serving as acting-Speaker.

BG: Minister. members of Knesset…
TIBI: I’m sorry, but it’s accepted to say “Adoni Chairman”.
BG: You are not my master. You are not master. Show me where this protocol.
TIBI: This is the law.
BG: Show me the rule. Show me the rules (that say I need to address you that way).
TIBI: You are not addressing me properly.
BG: Who are you at all? You are a terrorist. You should be in the Knesset in Syria, not here.
TIBI: I request that security remove Ben Gvir from the podium.
BG: I will not go down. I will not go down. You are a terrorist. You don’t tell me that I can’t talk.

At this point, security dragged Ben-Gvir out of the Knesset.

Simple question for your table: Who was right? Ben-Gevir or Tibi? Both? Neither?


Shabbat Shalom

 

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Et Tu?

The purpose of this blog is to stimulate waxing rhetoric at the Shabbat table. Please print and share.

 

Tonight is the full moon of our 5th lunar month, the month of Av.
 

This event is called Tu B’Av.

 

The moon symbolizes the Jewish People - the "small luminary" reflecting the "great luminary" (Bereishis/Genesis 1:16).

 

The moon symbolizes Jewish history - waxing and waning. And even when it looks like we're gone, we always come back. 

 

It's the pinnacle of the month of the lion, which is Yehudah (Judah) which is the tribe that symbolizes leadership achieved through gratitude and honesty.

 

(As opposed to leadership achieved through power).

 

If you're near a beach, you can experience a reminder of that power by seeing a high tide tonight and a low tide tomorrow mid-day.

 

The moon symbolizes the Jewish woman, who maintains her steady power whether or not she exerts it visibly. 

 

In fact the highest high tide and lowest low tide are specifically when the moon is invisible. 

 

The Midrash says that the sun and the moon were once the same size, but then the moon shrank. And that one day the moon will be restored to its original size. 

 

These are symbolic statements and must be interpreted.

 

Question for your table: What's your interpretation?

 

Shabbat Shalom

 

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Speaking of Speaking

The purpose of this blog is to stimulate some speaking at the Shabbat table. Please print and share.
Mazal tov to Todd and Calla on the birth of their first grandchild, Michael Eden, and to the parents, Bobby & Yifat!

Once more the topic of speech comes up, a third week on the mountain.

Two days ago I was yelled at and called a mild expletive by someone I know because he felt that my car was misparked.

I was actually standing a few feet from the car and wasn't blocking traffic nor breaking any laws.

Moreover, I would not have even been there at that moment had my departure not been delayed by a 3rd party who was asking me for help for a 4th party whose life is in danger. 

None of this is to say that he was wrong and I was right, maybe he was right and I was wrong!

But: it was very dark and he clearly didn't recognize me.

4 questions for your table:

Should I assume that had he recognized me he wouldn't have said what he said?
Should I also assume that he later regretted what he said?
Does it really matter what people call you or say about you?
How would you react in such a situation?


Shabbat Shalom

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Where On the Mountain Are You?

The purpose of this blog is to reach new elevations at the Shabbat table. Please print and share.
In memory of Dovid ben Eliezer, whose 16th yahrzeit was observed this week.

Dovetailing on last week's missive about Seaside, Florida, if you've been a subscriber to this email long enough, you may have heard this one before.

Ask any rabbi, "What's the most important mitzvah in the Torah?"

What do you expect them to say?

Try this at your table.

The "correct" answer is of course, "Love your neighbor."

Today, in memory of my father (mentioned above in the dedication), I'm going to qualify that answer in two ways.

First (and again, try this at your table): What does "love your neighbor" really mean?

Like, um, what if your neighbor isn't a very nice person?

(I'm trying to use the phrases "like, um" and "I mean" more because I'm hearing it every day coming out of the mouths of many NPR hosts and reporters, so I take it to be a new trend in American English.)

To my father, love your neighbor meant truly wanting what is best for them, and rejoicing in their achievements as if they were his own children.

Here's the second qualification to "love your neighbor"....

I mean, while emulating my father is a huge leap for many people, and someone who achieves it has achieved greatness, it's really the first step to achieving personal greatness.

I compare it to climbing a mountain. Love your neighbor is base camp.

Question for your table: What's at the top of the mountain?

Another lesson from my father: Never speak falsehood - including always doing what you say you're going to do.

A person who cultivates careful speech is very near the top of the mountain.


Shabbat Shalom

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I'm a Jew, I'm a Jew, I'm a Jew

The purpose of this blog is to Jew-up the Friday night dinner table. Please print, share, forward, etc.

Last week, our table-talk question was, Why did the Chafetz Chaim annotate the flyer?

If we could go back in time and ask him that question, I imagine he might say, 

"Because I'm a Jew."

Meaning, honesty is Jewish. If you're a Jew and conscious of what that means, you strive to be honest.

The Talmud famously says (in the name of Rava), when a person dies and goes to the next world, they're asked a series of questions about how they lived in this world.

Rava lists 5 specific questions.

Question for your table: What's the number-one question?

Let them mull that over for a few minutes. 

Top guesses? "Did you believe in God?" "Did you give 10 percent of your income to tzedakah?" "Did you love your neighbor?" "Did you make Shabbat holy?" "Did you avoid lashon hara?"

Those are all great mitzvahs. But they're not Rava's numero uno.

#1 question: "Were you 100% honest in everything to do with money?"

That's the number one topic for a Jew in this world.

Second question for your table: Is this a particularly good, particularly difficult, or historically average time to be a Jew?

Before you answer, consider that Jews are still frequently attacked for being Jewish, even this week in the USA.

Consider that we have an antisemitic member of Congress.

Consider that we had the self-inflicted Lag BaOmer 45.

Consider that we had the unexplained Surfside collapse (with many Jewish victims).

But also consider these quintessential Jewish angels.

Here's a takeaway from that last link:

The reporter asked local resident Steve Eisenberg, "How did you get involved in the recovery efforts?"

Eisenberg: "I'm a Jew, I'm a Jew, I'm a Jew."

Question for your table: What did he mean by that?


Shabbat Shalom

PS: Please help the victims:
https://jewishbroward.org/surfsideemergencyrelieffund/
https://supportsurfside.org/

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