Author: Eve Posen

Emotional Eating – Parshat Eikev 5771

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“All you need is love.”  The popular Beatles song posits that all you need is love, and if you are loved you will learn how to be yourself and save others as you make your way through life.  In a certain sense, it’s true; without love it is difficult to move forward, to blossom and grow into a successful, active and productive member of society. 
This week’s parshah, Eikev, teaches this principle in a different light.  The text maintains “And if you do obey these rules and observe them carefully, the Lord your God will maintain faithfully for you the covenant that he made on oath with your fathers: He will love you and bless you…”  It seems simple at the outset: all you need is love, and so if you follow the mitzvot and the path that God has set before you, you will receive this love, and from this love will come abundance of land, crops, blessing and more for your family.  Over and over again in the parshah, we’re reminded that the Israelites’ relationship with God is not based on fear of punishment or hope of reward, but rather on the fundamental idea that we follow the mitzvot because God loves us, and we take pride in doing something for the one that we love.  
While this section of texts continues with different references to the history of the Israelites and even contains in it the second paragraph of the Shema, it also focuses on this idea of need.  While it is a lofty and romantic idea that we can live through love alone, we also know that we have higher order necessities in life.  One of these necessities is food, but the text teaches in chapter 8, verse 3 that “He [God] subjected you to the hardship of hunger and then gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had ever known, in order to teach you that man does not live on bread alone, but that man may live on anything that the Lord decrees.” 
While love is an emotional need, human beings all require physical sustenance in order to survive.  This text is teaching us that perhaps there is more to our physical order, but that our spiritual, emotional and physical needs must all be in sync for us to maintain a life of blessing.  We see the Israelites constantly complaining to Moshe and to God about their lack of food and water, and in their cries, the astute reader notices that they are also emotionally malnourished.  They cry out because they remember a time in Egypt where it didn’t seem too bad.  They have a need for stability and for trust.  They are a people that came out from a situation where love was lacking and faith was dwindling.  The text in Parshat Eikev reminds us that we cannot live on the physical alone, and it is our spiritual appetite that pushes us to search for a deeper meaning in our daily lives.
The text also gives us a formula for ensuring that we take note of the moments when our appetite for love, food, learning or other cravings are satiated.  In chapter eight, verse ten the text teaches:
י וְאָכַלְתָּ וְשָׂבָעְתָּ וּבֵרַכְתָּ אֶת ה אֱ לֹהֶיךָ עַל הָאָרֶץ הַטֹּבָה אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לָךְ:
“And when you have eaten and you are satisfied, and you blessed God, your God for the good of the land which He has given you.”
This verse is the basis for Birkat HaMazon, the blessing after meals, because it teaches that after we have satiated our hunger for good, it is necessary to thank God.  Being able to thank God here requires faith in the land that God has created, faith that the rain will come and the land will continue to produce crops.  We are constantly reminding our young ones to remember their “please” and “thank you,” and the Torah does the same for all of us.  While food sustains our physical needs, it is the blessings of abundance, of thanksgiving and of faith that move us through life.
ללמוד  To Learn: ללמד  To Teach: Visit our website www.levineacademy.org to learn how to reciteBirkat HaMazon, the blessing after a meal. Practice makes perfect.  Continue working on your please and thank yous.  We learn through modeling, this week make an extra effort to thank those who help you.  The notion of blessing is a lofty one.  Try this week to say thank you as a family for the nourishment you receive in the form of food, shelter and love. 
לשמור  To Keep:  לעשות  To Do:  visit a local food pantry and make a delivery of needed supplies so that others can partake of the Mitzvah to bless and thank God for sustenance. 

To Learn and to Teach, to Keep and to Do – Parshat Vaetchanan 5771

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For those of you who have seen my office, you know that up until a few months ago my University of Michigan flag hung proudly as the centerpiece of artwork on my wall.  In fact, I never consider myself fully settled in a new place until that flag has been put up.  But, in April the flag was moved so that a beautiful piece of art by the artist Mordechai Rosenstein could grace my office.
The piece represents my philosophy of education taken from the prayer, Ahavah Rabbah, which comes before the Shema.  It states:
לִלְמֹד וּלְלַמֵּד, לִשְׁמֹר וְלַעֲשׂוֹת
. . . which means, to learn and to teach, to keep and to do.  I picked this piece of art – and more importantly this phrase – because I think it naturally and accurately teaches the fundamentals of Jewish education.  In Hebrew, the word for “teach” and the word for “learn” come from the same root.  That is to say that at our core we are all learners and teachers.  We learn by watching and listening to one another.  While we have teachers, rabbis and administrators whose job it is to actually and formally teach students, when we listen to one another, and when we share our ideas, we become teachers and others are the students.  Every day we have the opportunity to be both teachers and students.
The second half of the quotation teaches that we are “to keep and to do.”  It is our sacred obligation to guard, preserve and protect what is important to us, and at the same time take an active role in living our lives according to these customs and laws.  In keeping or guarding, we maintain that teaching spreads the tradition from one generation to the next so that it will never die.  The “doing” allows this to happen, and through practice, cements in us memories that carry us forward.
Judaism is a living religion; it is text based, but survived, maintained, taught and glorified through daily practice.  Here at Ann and Nate Levine Academy, we not only teach Judaism, but we promote living in inspired practice of our sacred heritage.  The education we provide here isn’t just from 8-4, but intended to fan the flames of the passion for learning that happens and is practiced in every aspect of life.  The value of learning is a lifelong value in Judaism.  Learning and teaching, keeping and doing are meant to kindle the spark within your soul.  This year, Levine Academy will focus on kindling the spark, the spark of learning, of Judaism and Jewish living, not only in your children, but in you as well.  We will be offering family engagement opportunities, along with parent learning across the grades.
In connection with this theme, my weekly D’var Torah will teach the Torah portion through the lens of action.  The Torah is a moving story, one that tells of generations and how their actions have brought us to this moment today.  Each week I will read and teach the parshah by way of teaching us how we can embrace living Jewishly.  I hope you’ll join me on this journey!
Abraham Joshua Heschel said it best when he called on Jews to take a “leap of action,” to do more than we understand so that we come to understand more than we do. I invite you to join our community of practice, a community that does more than we might understand in order to further our understanding of Judaism.    Please walk with Levine Academy on your journey, and let me know how I can help you.
ללמוד  To Learn: ללמד  To Teach: In this section each week will be one resource for you to use to learn more about the action item of the week.
לשמור  To Keep:  לעשות  To Do:  In this section each week will be an action item, a way to engage with Judaism actively and touch upon Jewish living in your own home.

On a Tisha B’Av Birthday!!

Eve Posen2 Comments

I’ve had a lot of time to think about the impact of a birthday on Tisha B’av.  Today is not only the day where we contemplate the darkness in the world, whether it is the destruction of the Temple or the explusion from Spain, or England, or the stock market down turn, or even the baseless hatred that seems to be ever prevalent in our society.  It is also the day on the Jewish Calendar that 4 years ago I buried my grandfather and little did I know spend one of the last days with my father alive.  And, as I’m always reminded, it is the yahrtzeit of my great grandfather.  As one who tends to remember dates and see commonalities in life events, this all brings me to think about the torn feeling between the darkness of the day and wanting so badly to celebrate my birthday.  
And if this were my 30th birthday, I’m not sure I could find a happy ground.
But, this is 29, and this is just another day.  As the darkness of the world might feel overwhelming at times, the lights last night by which we read Eicha and the lights on my cake after sundown are a welcome source of light into my next year.  
And yes, I am missing my breakfast in bed, and the free food and treats at local restaurants, but those are a luxury.  This birthday I am reminded of the children around the world who spend every birthday without a special treat or a cake.  I am feeling blessed with the friends and family who are here to celebrate with me, with knowing that i know where my next meal will come from, for the blessing of my job and the community that I live in, and knowing that no matter how dark the world feels today, tomorrow is always a new day. 

May We Be Blessed – Parshat Naso 5771

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I’ve always been intrigued by the notion of blessing.  I always wanted to be the one who said the magic formula over the bread which suddenly meant we were allowed to eat it, and I always got excited about being chosen at services to hold the Havdallah candle on Saturday nights.  Growing up, I knew that we always blessed inanimate things, and our blessing them somehow turned them from mundane into something extraordinary.  But I never really understood how or why we could bless people.  And I’m not talking about the “bless you” after a sneeze, an old custom which dates back to when serious illness without modern medicine was usually terminal.  What does it really mean for me to bless you or for you to bless me?

This week we read parshat Naso, the second portion in sefer Bamidbar.  It deals with another census of the people, laws about purities within and outside the camp, a biblical lie detector test for a woman suspected of engaging in adultery, and explanations of what it might mean to be a nazir, a special person with deep self control.  In the middle of all of these case studies lies Birkat Kohanim, the Priestly blessing, which is perhaps one of the best known sections of our text.  This is the blessing that God instructs Moshe to tell his brother Aaron to use when the priests bless the people.

Chapter 6 verses 24-26:
24: May God bless you and guard you.
כד יְבָרֶכְךָ  ה וְיִשְׁמְרֶך
25: May God shine God’s face upon you and show you graciousness.
כה יָאֵר  ה ׀ פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּך
26:  May God lift God’s face upon you and place upon you peace.
כו יִשָּׂא  ה ׀ פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם:

The first question that the commentators ask is about this notion of people blessing people.  We’ve seen throughout the Torah that fathers have “blessed” their children with the blessing of the first born, but never have we seen this explicit blessing from God for the priests to use on the people.  The Rashbam, a medieval commentator from the line of Rashi, understands this section of text not as the priests giving a direct blessing to the people, but rather as the priests invoking God to bless the people and God responding by giving this blessing.  Rashbam implies that blessing is something that we are deserving of, and in the right moment and at the right time, blessing is something that can bring us a moment of unique peace. 
Over time this blessing has taken on various meanings.  It is said most often on Friday evenings as Shabbat comes in and parents bless their children, but it is also used during a wedding, brit milah, and Bar or Bat Mitzvah, as the rabbi or clergy person blesses the celebrant(s) on their new journey.   These moments denote a sacred moment in time and sometimes a significant change in life.
If you’ve come to our school Shabbat celebrations, you know that at the end of the blessing of the children when we say Birkat Kohanim, I encourage everyone to bless not only the children but also the parents, grandparents, teachers, and friends.  Just as ordinary candles become a divider of time, the wine becomes sacred, and the challah becomes edible, so too when we bless another person, it takes our relationship to another level by including a hint of the divine.  This blessing between human beings creates a moment in which God’s creations are sharing love, peace, and light between one another.  May we be blessed with a lifetime of those moments.
Family Discussion
1. Bamidbar literally means “in the wilderness,” but the root is also the same root as the word for speech, daled-bet-reish.  How can speech or blessing lift us up out of the wilderness and into a new phase in time?
2. Two parts of Birkat Kohanim mention God’s “face.” How do you interpret God’s face?

Where the Wild Things Are – Parshat Bamidbar 5771

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As the weather continues to get warmer and the hours of daylight longer, you can sense that summer vacation is near while walking through the halls of our school.  While our learning is still in full swing, there are only a few days left of school, and it is clear that the students and teachers are ready for some unstructured down time without homework, early wake ups, or major responsibilities.  In our lives, we often go back and forth between needing structure, focus, and routine and needing freedom from those things.  Sometimes it’s a challenge to find the balance between these two conflicting principles.


The Israelites had the same struggle.  We remember that as they came out of Egypt and experienced freedom for the first time, they almost immediately wanted to go back to Egypt.  The freedom to structure their own days and move about with relatively few restrictions left them uncomfortable and uneasy.

This Shabbat we begin sefer Bamidbar, the book of Numbers, where we will learn about the Israelites during their 38 year stay in the wilderness.  In the previous book, sefer Vayikra, we learn about the ideal of human behavior, the idyllic discussion of how human beings should treat one another and how the Israelites will live their lives in accordance with this code.  When we arrive insefer Bamidbar, we see a stark contrast between those ideals in Vayikra and the petulant, complaining masses the Israelites revert back to.

Without instruction, life can get wildly out of control, but with too many rules and regulations, the Israelites cannot be themselves. So while it might seem like the Israelites are stuck in the mindset of the grass always being greener on the other side, the wilderness represents a place with endless possibilities; it is wide open and belongs to no one.  God chose the wilderness as the location formatan Torah, the giving of the Torah, because it is open to endless possibilities. 

We read parshat Bamidbar every year as we approach Shavuot, the celebration of receiving Torah, to remind us that the wilderness is not a place completely free from rules, regulations and structure, but rather, a place of open hearts and minds.  The Babylonian Talmud teaches in tractate Nedarim55a that the placement of this parshah and its connection to Shavuot teach us that one should be as open as the wilderness to receive Torah.  The wilderness has also been compared to God standing with open arms, ready to embrace.

As summer vacation looms, waiting just around the corner, we find ourselves again on the brink of freedom, but needing to balance this with structure and guidance.  The Torah serves as our guide through the wilderness, but it only works when we open ourselves up and are ready to embrace the teachings within.

Family Discussion Questions:
  1. Our “ethical covenant” teaches that an open mind and heart are the key to entering into a covenant with God and living a moral life.  How can you open your mind and heart to a new experience that might feel as strange as standing in the wilderness?What do you do during the summer to keep a sense of structure and organization to your days?
2.  What do you do during the summer to keep a sense of structure and organization to your days?