Positive Reinforcement – Parshat Vayakhel-Pekudei

Eve PosenLeave a comment

positive-reinforcement

Since we moved to Portland, our dog Stanley has required a little extra love and attention. We even brought in a trainer again to help us work on some of his behavior issues. In the last session with our trainer, it became clear that just as important as having consistent expectations for him is the positive reinforcement we give him. An enthusiastic “Good boy!” should be the words out of my mouth when he does the right thing. Animals – and people alike – appreciate a “Job well done!” at the end of a task.

The double portion we read this week, Vayakhel-Pekudei (the final portions in sefer Shemot), teaches about the work of building the Tabernacle. Moshe, the great leader of the Israelite people from Egypt back to the land of Israel, is given enormous responsibility. He is asked not only to lead the people and be the emissary between the people and God, but also to take care of the accounting of the materials needed to build the Tabernacle and all that goes with it.   These parshiyot end with the establishment of the sacred space, with God and the people taking a good look at what they have accomplished.

Over half of the narrative in the book of Exodus, which we complete this week, has to do with building the priestly vestments, the Ark, and the Tabernacle. The building of these holy spaces and articles is important; it is the continued work of creation performed by the community.

In Bereshit (Genesis) we get an accounting of each day of creation, and at the end of it, God has the positive reinforcement, “Ki tov” – “it was good.” Up until the seventh day, the reinforcement is “good,” but on the final day of creation, God offers a blessing to the world, the blessing of Shabbat and divine approval.

The book of Exodus has the same pattern and ends the same way. “So the Israelites had done all the work. And when Moses saw that they had performed all the tasks – as the Lord had commanded, so they had done – Moses blessed them.” The Israelites had done more than a good job creating this space, and Moses, God’s mouthpiece, blessed them. The midrash Tanchuma supplies the words “May it be God’s will that the divine Presence rest upon the work of your hands.”

May we enter this Shabbat with not only the positive reinforcement of a week well lived, but with the blessing of using what we’ve built in the future to come.

Not My Problem – Parshat Ki Tissa 5775

Eve PosenLeave a comment

not-my-problem

Once there was a kingdom referred to by its residents as Paradise. The kingdom had adopted this name not for the beauty of the land or for the natural bounty it provided, but for the way everyone loved and cared for one another. If anyone needed anything, a neighbor always stepped forward and cheerfully volunteered, often without ever being asked. Why were the king’s subjects eager to help each other? Because the king led by example. The wise king knew that the people would only treat each other as well as he treated them.

When the king was old, he knew he would soon need a successor, and he appointed his son to take over. But the prince was not wise or considerate like his father. When people approached him with an issue facing the community, the prince was blind to their needs because he couldn’t see how the problems of the common people affected the royal family. His response was always the same: “It’s not my problem.”

Years later, after the king was long gone, the prince’s attitude had infected the entire kingdom. Few people remembered the town Paradise once was because everyone had become self-centered, focused only on their own problems. The only person who remembered the former paradise of Paradise was the old fisherman, who had lived before the time of the previous king. The old fisherman was fed up with the place Paradise had become under the prince’s rule. So he took his oldest, biggest boat and invited the whole town to a party on the water. The whole kingdom came out to enjoy a party on the fisherman’s enormous boat. Even the prince came.

Everyone was having the time of their lives until the host of the party literally pulled the plug. The old fisherman uncapped a hole in the boat, and the boat began to sink. The people were terrified and outraged, but the fisherman didn’t seem to care. The prince begged him to plug the hole, saying “If you let this boat sink, we’ll all drown!” The fisherman calmly responded, “That’s not my problem. I have plenty of other boats.” The Prince was flabbergasted. “Don’t you understand?” he cried. “A sinking boat affects us all! You’ll drown too!”

Finally the old fisherman’s lesson clicked with the prince. In that moment, the prince understood that other people’s problems could be his own, and the town of Paradise couldn’t continue to thrive unless everyone took responsibility for their actions and for each other. The old fisherman plugged the hole and steered the boat back to shore, as everyone, including the prince, helped by bailing water.

Too often we feel disconnected from those whose job it is to lead us in a positive, forward direction. It can seem like politicians, appointed leaders, and office management don’t always have our best interests at heart. If you were one of the prince’s subjects, how would you have acted in this story? Would you have stepped up to address the problem as the old fisherman did, or would you have continued the downward spiral of ignoring problems because they didn’t directly affect you? This is the lesson seen in this week’s parshah, parshat Ki Tissa, which details the story of the golden calf and the ways in which Moshe, God, and the Israelite nation respond to the situation.

The Israelites are portrayed as children who act out because they feel ignored, scared and frustrated. God and Moshe are like the parents whose children have misbehaved. God calls Moshe up the mountain after He sees what has happened and yells out, “YOUR people that YOU brought out from Egypt are a disgrace.” Moshe responds later to God saying, “YOUR people that YOU brought out of Egypt did this.” Neither Moshe nor God wants to take responsibility for this misbehaving child. Each responds with a “not my problem” answer. God doesn’t want to admit that He has created a people that would behave so rashly, and Moshe doesn’t want to take responsibility for being the leader of a people so distrusting of leadership. We all have the power to realize, just as God, Moshe, and the story’s prince do, that the problems facing the people as individuals affect the entire nation as a whole, leaders and all.

Now Boarding – Parshat Tetzaveh 5775

Eve PosenLeave a comment

now-boarding

You may have noticed I like travel analogies. The reason is simple – I love flying. There is still something magical to me about getting on an airplane and being whisked away to a new place, even if that place is really cold or even if it’s for business instead of vacation. I get excited about travel.   When I was younger and I traveled with my father, I felt special because we had a “World Perks” card and could get into the secret club. That made travel even more special. Even the little things like having a lower group number so I could get on the plane earlier were huge in my eyes.

These days I don’t travel a ton or have a perks card, and therefore I have no special reward status. Everyone gets to board the plane before I do. I’m not “priority access,” and I don’t have platinum, gold, silver, bronze, or even aluminum status with any airline. I am simply a traveler. I can’t even board early because I’m traveling with a small child. The single reason I wanted children was to be able to board the plane early, and now the airlines have taken that away from me too. Ok, maybe not the single reason.

I am simply a passenger, coach class.

In parshat Tetzaveh, the Torah portion we read this week, God gives the commandments for what clothing the priests will wear, how they should be fashioned, and the materials that should be used in their fashioning. The priests are set to wear special clothing that distinguishes them from others in the service of God. These clothes are meant to add an aura of holiness to the priests as they complete their work. Since these vestments and garments are to be used for such a unique purpose, God gives a special instruction regarding who is to make them. Aside from this section on apparel, the parshah is mostly centered around the role of the priest.

The Israelite nation stems from the twelve tribes of the twelve sons of Jacob. The ones who are considered to be Priests, Kohanim, come from Aaron, the Levites come from the tribe of Levi, and everyone else is an Israelite. The Kohanim are those that have the honor in our parshah. They wear special clothes, perform sacred rituals, and are leaders in a general sense. The Levites help the Kohanim. They too have special roles in order to make sure the ritual rites are performed. The Israelites are simply congregants, members. Even today, Kohanim traditionally receive the first aliyah to the Torah and Levites receive the second, and only after this do the Israelites have an honor.

This process might have felt exclusionary, especially if you consider that a hereditary priestly class could easily include any unworthy children of a Kohen and exclude those who would actually want to serve. At the same time, there are advantages. It meant that the priesthood was free of outsiders who might use it for personal advantage, and it allowed – and still allows – for a legacy of ritual to be passed on from birth. This hierarchy is one of the few ways in which we’ve held onto the traditions of our past and preserved them.

Not everyone can be a Kohen. Think about it. If everyone were a Kohen, then no one would be a Kohen, just as we can’t all have platinum status, because then we’d have to come up with an entirely new way to board the plane. But the fact is today your status as a Kohen, Levite, or Israelite doesn’t limit how much you can give of yourself as part of our Jewish community. We can all learn, lead, pray, and support; those are the true perks.

Greater Than The Sum – Parshat Terumah 5775

Eve Posen2 Comments

greater-than-the-sum

I still love Legos. There is something oddly comforting in sifting through lots of little pieces, finding just the right one to add to a plastic block creation. Without each piece in its place, my creation wouldn’t be complete. Going brick by brick is like a jigsaw puzzle. If there’s a piece missing or out of place, the whole things feels just a little bit off.

I often get that feeling about everyday life too. If there’s a part of my regular routine that hasn’t happened, the day feels incomplete. Even the Torah has its moments when we’re looking for just the right piece to complete the puzzle. This week we read from Parshat Terumah. The Torah gives us commandments to give gifts as we build the Tabernacle. We receive the instructions for the beautification of the space as we put the ark, covered with cherubs, in its proper space. Each vessel, covering, light fixture, and costume piece is listed so that the space is completed to God’s exact specifications. The Torah lists each piece individually in order to state the exact purpose of each individual item. Everything must be in its place.

With all of these pieces coming together, the Tabernacle is like a big puzzle, but the Torah text works to ensure that each piece isn’t just a solitary component, but a part of the bigger picture. In chapter 26, verse 6 the text states, “So that the Tabernacle becomes one whole.” The Tabernacle is only whole when it has all of its parts, in the same way that the Israelites are composed of many individual people, but must form one harmonious “whole” in order to be a nation.

And even though our community as a whole, like the Tabernacle, is greater than the sum of each individual, our community is also only as strong as our weakest link. Our Torah reading this week reminds us that we all play a critical part in the “whole” that is our community. Each voice, opinion, smile, handshake, and hug matters. When we all work as one, assemble our whole together, then our community is strengthened.

Put On Your Mask First – Parshat Mishpatim 5775

Eve Posen1 Comment

airplane-cabin-parshat-mishpatim

Whenever Duncan and I fly we have an ongoing bit about whose oxygen mask you put on first. I contend that “in the event of loss of cabin pressure” I will be freaking out, so he must help me with mine and then put his own on. However, the flight attendants tell us that we first have the responsibility of putting on our own mask before assisting others. The basic premise is if you’re not ok yourself, then you can’t help others. This safety message from the airlines does makes sense; it teaches us simply that it is our responsibility to help ourselves, and, after we know we’re taken care of, to turn our efforts to helping those around us.

This week we read parshat Mishpatim, the middle section of text in Sefer Shemot, the book of Exodus. The Israelites are on their way out of Egypt and to Israel. They have begun to set up their own system of laws and rules, beginning last week with the 10 Commandments and continuing with this theme for the future. Parshat Mishpatim focuses on interpersonal laws with regard to business. The main idea of this section of text is that we have the obligation of treating each other in business and in relationships as complete human beings.

Given that the Israelites have just come out of slavery in Egypt, it is fitting that the text feels the need to give an alternate model to the Israelites as to how they should treat one another. Further, the Torah recognizes that in a new society there is also a need to establish laws of business. For example, in this parshah, the Torah clarifies how interest can be charged, and how, even as a businessperson or member of society, we must care for one another.

Chapter 22, verse 24 teaches: “If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, do not act toward them as a creditor; exact no interest from them.” The Torah is clear here, that all people are God’s people, both those with money and those without. Furthermore, according to the Shulchan Aruch, the code of law, we are to understand this phrase as “The poor among your relatives take precedence over other poor; the poor of your own town take precedence over the poor of other towns.”

As a community, we must put on our collective community oxygen mask before helping other communities with theirs because only when we are strong can we strengthen others.