Sign In Forgot Password

Rabbi’s Blog: June 22 - Optimism + Petition

06/22/2021 10:43:39 AM

Jun22

Dear OZ family,

 

There are two Biblical dates on the calendar this week.

 

The prophet Yechezkel acted out a number of prophecies that served as omens and signs for his people, to instruct them how to navigate the years of exile before their return to their homeland. In chapter 4, he was told to lie on one side for 390 days and then turn to his other side for 40 days, without moving. He was to eat a special diet with ingredients popularized today as Ezekiel bread (made from wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt : Ezekiel 4:9). Our sages say that the total number of inactive days for Yechezkel corresponds to the years that his people did not observe the Shemitta and Yovel laws in Israel. There is a dispute amongst the commentaries whether Yechezkel actually acted out these prophecies or whether or not they were visions described vividly by the prophet to his audience, but not actually performed. Some of his actions would violate the Torah, such as the command to shave his entire head and beard with a razor (the very next prophecy after this one), or the command to stand in a field of dry bones in chapter 37 (Yechezkel was a Kohen, who is forbidden to be defiled this way). Ib’n Ezra, Rambam and Radak generally side with this opinion. Rashi, Rav Yosef Kara and Abravanel generally side with the literalist position, that maintains that God’s command to the prophet amounts to a “Hora’at sha’ah”, allowing Yechezkel to do whatever God tells him, much like Eliyahu, offering sacrifice outside the Temple (Melachim Aleph 18). Yechezkel began this 430 day task on this day, 2,448 years ago.

 

81 years later this Friday, the 15th of Tamuz, Ezra began his trek from Babylonia to Israel to lead the new community in Israel that was established with the inspiration of Chaggai, Zecharia and Malachi, and with the chizzuk of Yechezkel’s messages so many years before. The end of Tamuz and the beginning of Av commemorate the  losses we suffered in the first and second Temples in Jerusalem, but in between this was a time of renewal and hope. Let us now build on this hope. Rabbi Akiva’s famous optimism at the end of Masechet Makkot was borne of the fact that as bad as things were under Roman rule, he saw a glimpse of the potential for things to get better. The worst was over and it was time to rebuild. Next week we will read a Haftara in which Yirmiyahu calls for much destruction, uprooting and demolishing, but always followed by rebuilding and replanting. That is where we are now.

 

Please join me in wishing Mazel Tov to Nicole and Michael Strongin on the birth of a baby boy. Also to Yoann and Rivkah Mallet on the birth of a baby boy. May they take their sons to The covenant of Avraham in a good time.

 

We also extend condolences to Blair Muss and Eddie Izso on the loss of Blair’s father, Milton Muss. Shiva information has gone out.

 

Finally, please remember to vote today in the NY primaries. A letter of encouragement from the West Side & East Side Rabbis was distributed earlier.

 

Also, at the end of this message is a petition to sign in support of Israel , and to counter an extremely one sided letter that went out form the City University system that condemns Israel in the harshest terms without even mentioning the 1000’s of Hamas’s missile attacks. Let our voices be heard to counter the hatred.

 

Be safe.  Be healthy.   Be Excellent.

 

Rabbi Allen Schwartz

 

 

 


Rabbi Allen Schwartz

Congregation Ohab Zedek

118 West 95th Street | New York, NY  10025-6604

Phone 212.749-5150, ext 200 | Fax 212.663-3635

E-mail ras@ozny.org

Website:  www.ozny.org

 


Dear Friends, 

 

We are asked to support the CUNY Community Statement Encouraging Mutual Respect and Engagement Towards a Just Middle East Peace and a CUNY Free of HarassmentThe statement opposes the CUNY Community Statement of Solidarity with the Palestinian People which denies Israel the right to defend its citizens and calls for the academic boycott of Israel.  

 

The spirit of our statement also stands against the June 10, 2021 resolution of the PSC-CUNY union, which represents 30,000 faculty and staff at CUNY, which states, in part:  

 

RESOLVED, that the PSC-CUNY condemns the massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli state; 

and be it further 

 

RESOLVED, that in fall 2021, the PSC-CUNY facilitate discussions at the chapter level of the content of this resolution and consider PSC support of the 2005 call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS).  

 

In line with the inversion of the truth in the discussion around Israel, neither the statement nor the union resolution mentions Hamas. Opposing the efforts to boycott Israel is crucial to preserving CUNY as an educational institution rather than as a reeducation center and for preserving the rights of faculty and students to interact freely across borders. It is also crucial to ensure that students who support Israel can thrive in an atmosphere free of harassment 

 

We are therefore urged to sign the petition at https://cunystatement.com/ and to send it to friends and colleagues for their consideration. The petition may be signed by members of the community as well as by those with present or past affiliations with CUNY. 

 

Fri, March 29 2024 19 Adar II 5784