| Kedoshim 5760 - May 5, 2000 |
Love Yourself
Ok, here’s the problem: You’re supposed to love your fellow. Which means that you should accept your fellow human beings as they are. (That’s what love means, right?). But can you--should you-- accept your fellow human beings as they are?
| FROM THE CHASSIDIC MASTERS |
A History of Love
Man, by nature, is a selfish creature. Even in his relationships with others he tends to focus primarily on himself or, at most, on his self-colored perception of his fellow.
"Love" is the endeavor to transcend this intrinsic selfishness and truly relate to one’s fellow, to be sensitive to and devoted to his needs as an individual distinct of oneself and one’s own stake in the relationship.
The First Rothschild
The Rabbi pulled out the entire drawer and checked the desk more carefully. Then he pulled out the rest of the drawers to search them again. He looked under the desk and behind the desk, but the purse was not to be found. The Rabbi's heart was filled with pain. It took a long time to collect all that money, and now he had no way of helping unfortunate, helpless poor people.
Sweet
Once, I had a divine revelation.
It was on the holy day of Rosh Hashanah, but I wasn’t in shul. I was in a hospital on that very wet morning, in a sterile and depressing geriatrics rehab ward, where a few old bubbies (grandmothers) had gathered to hear the sounding of the shofar.
Is G-d a He?
Over the past few decades, a new and distinctive movement has emerged among Jews who are attempting to reclaim some kind of spiritual meaning for their lives. The question has been: If we are recovering our connection to the Divine, can we find that connection in traditional Judaism?
The question has been particularly difficult for many Jewish women because of the picture of G-d we inherited. The G-d we learned about as youngsters—that distant, kingly figure who watched over us—seemed, for women discovering their feminine consciousness, too blatantly male. In popular feminism, the G-d of the Hebrew Bible, of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim tradition, has gotten a bad reputation as “the patriarchal G-d of Western culture.” Some turned to other religions in search of a G-d beyond gender or a philosophy that did not require a belief in G-d at all.
During the summer months, it is customary to study a chapter from the Talmud’s Ethics of the Fathers each Shabbat afternoon. This Shabbat, (May 6, 2000) we study chapter 2.
Chapter Two
Rabban Gamliel the son of Rabbi Judah HaNassi would say: Beautiful is the study of Torah with the way of the world, for the toil of them both causes sin to be forgotten. Ultimately, all Torah study that is not accompanied with work is destined to cease and to cause sin.
Those who work for the community should do so for the sake of Heaven; for then merit of their ancestors shall aid them, and their righteousness shall endure forever. And you, [says G-d,] I shall credit you with great reward as if you have achieved it.
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Kedoshim
Leviticus 19:1-20:27
Week of April 30 - May 6, 2000 The
Parshah In A Nutshell
Full
Parshah Summary With Commentary
THE REBBE: 50 YEARS
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