TEN GENERATIONS – by Rabbi Baruch Cohon

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Baruch
Rabbi Baruch Cohon

Rabbi Baruch Cohon

TEN GENERATIONS – by Rabbi Baruch Cohon

          Last Saturday in synagogues worldwide we read the story of Creation, including the first human beings, Adam and Eve.  This coming Saturday we will read about Noah and the Flood.  In the valued volume called Pirkey Avot – “Chapters of the Fathers” – the Mishna points out: “There were ten generations from Adam to Noah, which shows G-d’s patience.  Each generation was increasingly infuriating, until He [finally] brought the Flood upon them.”

          So it took 10 generations for the human race to make enough mistakes to incur a disaster that figured to wipe out all the life that G-d created.  10 generations.  How long was that?

          My dictionary defines the length of a generation as averaging 30 years, the age difference from parents to children.   This definition is logical today, since the first child in a family generally is born where the parents are somewhere between 15 and 45 years old.  So 10 generations = 300 years.

          That doesn’t work in the case of Adam and Noah, though.  The Torah specifies the age of each of those ancient fathers when their first child is born, and those ages ranged from 65 to 187.  (That last age is the famous Methuselah who died at the champion age of 969.  Always wondered what else he accomplished…)   So those 10 generations totaled to 1,056 years.

          This year, Noah and his ark would be welcomed in Boulder, Colorado.  Also in Sri Lanka.  Did people there do anything to bring on those horrible floods?  If they did, when did their mistakes begin?  In 1713?  Or in 1013?

          We hear a great deal about what the human race is doing to accelerate climate change.  Dire predictions have it destroying life on earth if we don’t change our ways.  Even though experts differ on the extent and speed of ice melts – maybe it happened in the Arctic and not in the Antarctic – or maybe Noah’s flood was really the melting of the Ice Age – but human error somehow magnifies these problems.  How long have we been making the mistake of burning fossil fuels?  Not 1,000 years for sure.  Not even 300.  After all, ships in the 18th century sailed by wind power, horses pulled carriages and heat was generated by burning wood.

Maybe our generations are getting shorter. The destruction that took the ancients 1,000 years to bring about, took us from American colonial days to now less than 300, and is predicted to take us maybe one more modern generation.

          Let’s hear it for progress.

          Or better, let’s do what we can to earn G-d’s patience.

You can contact Rabbi Baruch Cohon for further discussion and/or comments at: baruch.c.2011@gmail.com

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MY DANCE PARTNER – by Rabbi Baruch Cohon

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Baruch
Rabbi Baruch Cohon

Rabbi Baruch Cohon

MY DANCE PARTNER – by Rabbi Baruch Cohon

          If you know me you probably looked at this title and wondered what kind of partner would dance with a geezer with two left feet? 

Simple.   One that has no choice. 

This week that helpless partner is a Torah scroll.

          The approaching holiday is Simhat Torah – literally “Celebrating the Torah” – a remarkably joyful, spirited occasion.  In many synagogues this time lends itself to loud singing, plenty of laughter and – yes – dancing, which can be graceful, athletic, or club-footed.  Nothing dims the joy.

          The reason for all this hilarity is the Torah itself, the Five Books of Moses contained in each of the hand-lettered scrolls that reside in the Holy Ark of every synagogue.  They are identical copies of Judaism’s most valuable possession.  We read them through every year in public services.  On Simhat Torah we finish the last book, Deuteronomy, and immediately start the first book, Genesis.  The process continues uninterrupted.  During that reading it is traditional for everyone in attendance to be honored with an aliya — a chance to bless the Torah and hear a few verses read, then pronounce a second blessing.   Then in many synagogues, for adult men comes an invitation to a l’hayyim – generally a stiff shot of 90-proof, could be Bourbon, Scotch or Vodka.  So the singing gets a little louder.

          Before any of this can happen, of course, comes the ceremony of removing all the Torah scrolls from the Holy Ark.  We carry them in procession all around the synagogue.  Not once.  Seven times, with the scrolls transferred to new carriers every time.  These processions culminate in the impromptu dancing that brings me my once-a-year dance partner.   I look forward to this.  Not that I expect to improve over what I did last year.   Let’s face facts: dancing with a Torah scroll has its drawbacks.  I have to do all the work, and carry all the weight; I can rest it on my shoulder, or if I feel ambitious I can lift it in the air and keep prancing around, as long as I protect it from falling.  Falling can be a serious risk, if only because dropping a Torah scroll incurs a penalty of 40 days fasting – for the whole congregation!   Not of uniform size or weight, a scroll can weigh as much as 50 pounds, and it does not go on a diet. 

But there are positives too.  My dear Torah scroll has no feet to step on, and will never criticize me for an awkward turn.

          So sing with us: Sisu v’sim’khu b’sim-has torah – “Rejoice and celebrate on Simhat Torah!”  Make a toast, crack a joke, enjoy your heritage – and be adventurous enough to grab a Torah scroll and DANCE!

You can contact Rabbi Baruch Cohon for further discussion and/or comments at: baruch.c.2011@gmail.com

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SOME “MAZEL” FOR SUCCOTH –by Rabbi Baruch Cohon

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Baruch
Rabbi Baruch Cohon

Rabbi Baruch Cohon

SOME “MAZEL” FOR SUCCOTH –by Rabbi Baruch Cohon

          My friend and former colleague Rabbi Meyer Heller used to feel sorry for the Succoth holiday which comes this week.  “Succoth has no mazel” was how he put it.  “People are all shuled out from the High Holidays and don’t want another religious occasion four days later.”  For many people, of course, that is still true.  And it is unfortunate, because this yomtov with its decorated tabernacle and its guests both real and imaginary offers a happy and relaxed celebration.  Quite a contrast to the serious soul searching of Yom Kippur.  In fact, Succoth is the only holiday where the Torah instructs us v’hayita akh sameyach – “just be happy!”

          So what is Succoth?  Historically, Succoth celebrates harvest time.  Reapers erected booths in the field to save time while gathering in earth’s bounties.  Those booths recalled the temporary shelters our ancestors lived in during the Exodus.  Just as Divine power helped us gain freedom then, so it helps reap nature’s bounty in more settled times.  And small homemade sheds express our gratitude for freedom, for nature, for history.  Here and there, some people like to sleep in their succah.  Everyone who has a succah eats meals there.  And we invite guests –ushpizin as they are called in Aramaic.  Maybe you saw a delightful Israeli film by that name a few years ago, in which the guests turned out to be two escaped convicts who knew the host before he became religious!

          Besides the friends who are our guests in the succah, we also invite imaginary guests – our Biblical forebears, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David – seven in all, one for each day of Succoth.  That’s right, it is a seven-day holiday both in Israel and the Diaspora.

          So why do our calendars show nine days?  Because a separate yomtov – Shmini Atzeret, literally Eighth day of Assembly — starts on the eighth day, as prescribed in the Torah.  And the ninth day in the Diaspora is another separate holiday, Simchat Torah – Rejoicing in the Law – which gets combined with the Eighth day in Israel and in Reform congregations.  More about that next week.

          Meanwhile, take a little time to build a succah in your backyard and celebrate in it Wednesday night.  Some handy prefab units are now on the market, that save time doing this.  Personally I prefer to build our 8 X 8 shed every year and cover it with palm fronds.  Depending on where you live, that covering called s’khakh, which must consist of cut-off branches, could be palm fronds, or evergreens, or as in my middle-western boyhood corn stalks.  It connects us to the earth.  Yet it is not so solid that you can’t look through it and see the stars.  Earth, sky and people – all God’s bounty.

          Happy Succoth!

You can contact Rabbi Baruch Cohon for further discussion and/or comments at: baruch.c.2011@gmail.com

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NULL AND VOID – Kol Nidrey blog by Rabbi Baruch Cohon

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Baruch
Rabbi Baruch Cohon

Rabbi Baruch Cohon

NULL AND VOID — Kol Nidrey blog by Rabbi Baruch Cohon

Recently I heard someone refer to “Kol Nidrey,” the famous chant that opens the evening service of Yom Kippur, as “the most moving Jewish prayer of all.”  Actually, Kol Nidrey is not a prayer at all.  it is a legal formula.  The elders of the congregation stand holding scrolls of the Torah, symbolizing a religious court, while the cantor chants the words that proclaim all our vows and oaths and prohibitions taken from this Yom Kippur until next Yom Kippur to be null and void.  What does this do for us?

Realistically, the classic Aramaic text is recited in order to enable us to start the new year on as positive a basis as we can.  But most members of most congregations don’t really listen to the words. They listen to the melody, and it truly is moving.  As a vocal solo or a violin solo, as a choral climax or an orchestral highlight, it is unique.  Over the yers, many cantors and many composers arranged it and contributed original touches, until what we have today is a composite masterpiece of Ashkenazi music.  In the synagogue it is the reverse of most of our songs, because it is not an accompaniment to the words.  Rather, the words are an accompaniment to the music.  Jewish people speak of going to services to “say Shma” or to say or sing “Avinu Malkeynu.”  But on Yom Kippur Eve they go to services to “hear Kol Nidrey.”

Historically the words presented a serious problem.  Anti-semites used them to argue that a Jew’s word cannot be trusted since he declares it “null and void” in advance.  Some rabbis tried to ban Kol Nidrey.  But the people loved it.  Other rabbis — incuding my father of blessed memory — wrote alternate words, in English or Hebrew instead of Aramaic.  Those words presented no problem, because they specified vows to G-d, which Yom Kippur atones for if we fail to keep them.  But those lyrics never caught on, because they sounded different.  The people wanted to hear the sound of the old Aramaic words, whether they understood them or not.  And so Kol Nidrey lives on, resounding through the generations.

The style of this unique melody contrasts dramatically with today’s camp-tune songs.  Some communities lack the kind of voice to interpret Kol Nidrey.  But hey — Jan Peerce’s record is available.  And for more traditional congregations, whoever is functioning as a High Holiday cantor will do his best to sing Kol Nidrey, and to build it to a great effect.  Certainly the opportunity is there.  After all, it is chanted three times!

So don’t miss Kol Nidrey this Friday evening.  A once-a-year treat.  Let it help you start a good year.

You can contact Rabbi Baruch Cohon for further discussion and/or comments at: baruch.c.2011@gmail.com

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HNY — New year message from Rabbi Baruch Cohon

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Baruch
Rabbi Baruch Cohon

Rabbi Baruch Cohon

HNY — New year message from Rabbi Baruch Cohon

If you’re Jewish, happy 5774!  And if not, happy rest of 2013 or whatever number you observe.  Starting Wednesday at sunset and continuing Thursday and Friday, the Hebrew calendar inaugurates its super holy day season, calling on all Jews to spend the first ten days of the new year in actively repenting past mistakes and resolving to do better.

Frankly, if you think we have been doing this for 5,773 years — wrong.  Judaism is not quite that old.  3,000 plus would be more like it.  So where do we get this 5774 date?

Tradition counts this as the age of the universe.  Counting the years described in the book of Genesis, that is, counting them literally.

And what about the discoveries of modern science?  What about astronomy’s millions of years?  Or Darwin’s theory of all those millennia of evolution?  Is the Hebrew calendar stuck in Folklore and legend?

Looking at the whole issue logically, I submit that this one detail, a year-number, points up a basic fallacy in the current dispute between Creation and Evolution.  Reading Genesis in translation can give an impression of a benighted view of the beginning of our reality.  But considering the actual content of the story, we see that the famous Six Days of creation are not defined.  How long is one of those days?  Can’t be 24 hours because time hadn’t started yet.  No sunrise, no sunset, so a day of Creation could cover eons as we calculate now.  With or without a Big Bang.

That is one part of the fallacy.  The other part is clear from Genesis’ description of the origins of life.  Life starts in the water, then goes to vegetation, reptiles, birds, amphibians and insects, animals and finally humans — the sequence being identical to Darwin’s.

Do we need a dispute?

Maybe we just ought to assume that the earliest of our 5773 years were a whole lot longer than they are now.  Even as the year drawing to a close this week was just a little shorter than 5772.  Now let’s see how we can live together in the new year!

You can contact Rabbi Baruch Cohon for further discussion and/or comments at: baruch.c.2011@gmail.com

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