Planting Seeds

Kedoshim

Lev. 19:1-20:27

Précis:  The opening words of Kedoshim are “You shall be holy” (kedoshim tihyu), and it continues with various descriptions of how the People are to strive for holiness. Included are fundamental laws, such as fearing one’s parents and observing Shabbat. Consideration of the poor through the commandments to leave the corners of fields for gleaners is included, as are mandates which complement the ethical principles of the Ten Commandments (being honest, avoiding vengeance). Specific bans against magicians, soothsaying, witchcraft and defiling the dead follow, as are reminders to avoid human sacrifice. This parasha is often viewed as the very core of moral teaching for the Jewish People.

Lev. 19:23-25 "When you enter the land and plant any tree for food you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden for you, not to be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit shall be set aside for jubilation before the Lord; and only in the fifth year may you use its fruit -- that its yield to you may be increased: I am the Lord your God."

           

            The Sages regarded this as a proof text requiring the Jews to plant trees upon their entry into the Promised land. While God had fed them during the four decades in the Wilderness, they now had to feed themselves, and planting trees was an important aspect of this obligation. We plant trees for ourselves and for the future generations.

            There is a famous midrash in which the Roman Emperor Hadrian came upon an elderly Jew planting fig trees. The Roman asked why he was engaged in such labor; given his age, it was unlikely that he would ever enjoy its fruit. The Jew replied, "My lord, I plant this tree myself because if I earn it, I will eat of the fruits of my labor. If I don’t, then my children will." Three years later, Hadrian met the Jew again by his fig tree, holding a basket of fresh figs which he offered to the Emperor. Impressed and humbled by the Jew’s actions, Hadrian returned the Jew‘s basket filled with gold coins.

            We learn from this charming story that we can never stop planting, whether it’s trees or acts of gimilut chasadim (loving-kindness). I write this specifically in mind of my 97 year old mother-in-law Esther, who continues to “plant” the “seeds” which she prays will keep her family close to each other and to our tradition. May her prayers be answered in full.

Scapegoats

Achrei Mot

Lev. 16:1 -18:30

Lev. 16:21 “And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all of the iniquities of Israel, and all of their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them on the head of the goat and shall send him away into the wilderness.”

            We review here the familiar verses (also found in the Torah reading on Yom Kippur) about the scapegoat. What does being a scapegoat really mean? It’s generally defined as “a person or group made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place.” Its genesis is from this verse in our Bible. 

            We Jews have no shortage of experience as scapegoats throughout our long history, and certainly it is still abundant in today’s world.  One needs to look only to the BDM to see that this is the unfortunately the case today. Scapegoating is now part of our presidential politics, as Hispanic immigrants, Muslim Americans and the LGBT community feel the wrath of those who wish to blame them for all of America's ills. 

            However, while scape-goating is often used against a group, I’d like to speak about our own, more personal issues of what I might call “scapegoatism.” Many of us are assigned blame for things for which we are not responsible, and many of us assign others the responsibility for acts or actions they have not taken, or have taken under duress.

            As Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky has pointed out in his Daily Twelve Steps Recovery Meditations Based on the Bible (Jewish Lights Publishing, 1992), it is ironic  that a process for seeking forgiveness has been transmuted into one to conveniently assign blame to others.

            As he suggests, we may have many reasons to blame others for our current problems. This is a source of slow, festering anger and regret which in turn may lead to the “self-medication” many of those who struggle with addiction face. It is a refusal to accept responsibility for what are really one’s own actions. There comes, I suggest, a time when we can no longer blame others – parents, teachers, supervisors – for our own failures to reach what we “should” have reached. We have many reasons, rationales, and excuses to explain why we have become what and who we are, but as Olitzky notes, that won’t help us change for the better. Accepting responsibility – being accountable - is the first step to change.

            While we are a long way until Yom Kippur by the calendar, this week’s reading reminds us that t’shuvah (repentance) is always possible, regardless of the calendar.