Acts of God, Acts of Man

Get the Blame, Take the Credit:  CBS News reports:

After seven days traveling from Newark, N.J. to North Carolina, the plane made famous by its miraculous landing on the Hudson River in January 2009 reached reach its final gate Friday -- the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte. "The Early Show" talked with pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and some of his passengers about that miraculous day, the effect it had on their lives, and how they feel about the plane's final destination.

Did a miracle happen in New York City on January 15, 2009?

It seems that God always gets the blame when things go wrong.  When natural disasters strike (and alas, they have struck much too often of late), they are officially termed "Acts of God" - at least for insurance purposes. 

Abq Jew, an advocate for the Kadosh Baruch Hu (Who does not need Abq Jew's help), just wants fair treatment.  If you're going to blame God for bad things, you should thank God for good things.  Why is a tornado an Act of God, but a sunny day isn't?

Was the "Miracle on the Hudson" an Act of God or an Act of Man? Judaism answers the question with a blessing - שׁנתן מחכמתו לבשׂר ודם - that thanks God for having "given of His wisdom to flesh and blood".  Let's call that sharing the credit - Sully did his part, and God did His.

You can read more of the story here, and view the video here.

Tikkun Leyl Shavuot & The Elements

Shavuot Yizkor for Dad:  Abq Jew's father, Richard Yellin, zichrono l'bracha, loved the satirical songs of Tom Lehrer. So much so that we once bought - no, we invested in - one Tom Lehrer album, An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer, an album described by the New York Herald Tribune as "more desperate than amusing".

We played that album a lot, successfully annoying our family and friends. As a result, Abq Jew knows all the lyrics to all the songs on that album.  Except this one, The Elements, because the lyrics are a bit tricky.  (Also - Abq Jew knows none of the lyrics to any other songs that may have been on any other Tom Lehrer albums.  Just this one.)

As members of Abq Jew's Fan Club know, there's a Community Shavuot Service & Tikkun coming up:

Congregation B'nai Israel @ Tue 07 June 2011 @ 7:00 pm 

What It Is:  Nahalat Shalom and Congregation Albert join
Congregation B'nai Israel for a Shavuot Service, with guest speaker
Rabbi T. David Ritch de Herrera of Sephardic New Mexico.
Also featuring Rabbi Deborah Brin and Cantorial Soloist Beth Cohen
of Nahalat Shalom; Rabbi Howard Kosovske and Cantor Barbara Finn
of Congregation Albert; and Rabbi Min Kantrowitz of JFSNM. 
There will be an all-night Tikium Leyl Shavuot beginning at 11:00 pm.

and it's always possible that the participants therein will run out of material at some point, probably around 4:00 in the morning.  Too early for Hashkama Minyan, but way too late to just call it a night.

May Abq Jew humbly suggest ... you're way ahead of me.  Abq Jew has looked all over the Internet, and has found ... er, discovered ... the two best videos of The Elements - here and here.

Pick one, pick the other, pick both - but pick yourself up and bring the lyrics to a Tikkun!

There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,
And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium,
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,
Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium,
And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium,
And gold and protactinium and indium and gallium,
And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.

There's yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium,
And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium,
And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium,
And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium, and barium.

There's holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium,
And phosphorus and francium and fluorine and terbium,
And manganese and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium,
Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium.
And lead, praseodymium, and platinum, plutonium,
Palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium,
And tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium,
And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium.

There's sulfur, californium, and fermium, berkelium,
And also mendelevium, einsteinium, nobelium,
And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc, and rhodium,
And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper, tungsten, tin, and sodium.

These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard,
And there may be many others, but they haven't been discovered.

Yes, Abq Jew will be thinking of his mother, Roselyn Yellin, of blessed memory, at Shavuot Yizkor, too.  But this blog post is really for Dad.

Ten Commandments Free For All

Rabbi Marc Angel on Shavuot:  As noted in a previous blog, the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals offers a vision of Orthodox Judaism that is "intellectually sound, spiritually compelling, and emotionally satisfying". The Institute was founded in October 2007 by Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel, formerly of Congregation Shearith Israel, the historic Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of New York City.

As we approach the Holiday of Shavuot, Rabbi Angel considers what might happen if the Holy One, Blessed Be He, once again descended on Mount Sinai.

A New Revelation? Thoughts for Shavuoth

On Shavuoth, we commemorate the awesome Revelation at Mount Sinai, when the Almighty presented the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel.  All of the Israelite men, women and children experienced that solemn moment, marking an everlasting covenant between God and the Israelite nation.

Let us imagine that God would invite us to a second Revelation at Sinai, asking all the Jews of the world to attend.

The Hareidim would say: we cannot be in the same domain as the non-religious or less religious Jews. We are pure, we will not have contact with those of lesser purity.

The Secularists would say: we cannot attend because we do not want to be bound by any commandments. We are citizens of the world and don’t want the particular responsibilities of being Jewish.

The non-Orthodox would say: we can’t attend unless the event is egalitarian; and unless there is no expectation that we accept any commandments. We are open to suggestions, but not to commandments.

The modern Orthodox would insist that the Revelation also include Divine words relating to science, philosophy and the modern world.

Hassidim would demand that they be placed near their own Rebbes, and not anywhere else.

Each Sephardic and Ashkenazic ethnic group would insist on having its own hazan, its own minhag, its own pronunciation of Hebrew.

Unaffiliated Jews would turn up out of curiosity; the Kabbalah Center would set up booths on the outskirts selling books and red strings.

Alienated and ignorant Jews would complain: this event is boring, we need a rock band or other entertainment to make it attractive.

The hypothetical second Revelation might not be such a happy and congenial event, after all. And yet, it should be a tremendous unifying experience for the Jewish people.

The Talmud (Eruvin 21b) teaches that King Solomon instituted two practices, and a heavenly voice approved of both. One practice is the washing of hands before meals; the other is the setting up of eruvin (boundary enclosures). Washing hands relates to personal purification. After we wash, we remain silent until reciting the blessing over bread. During that period of time, we are in a uniquely private domain, involving only us and the Almighty. Interpersonal relationships are excluded. The eruv, though, provides a method of including others in our domain. It is a symbolic way of turning a public area into a private area by considering all of us as one extended family and community.

For us to be a whole, united Jewish people, we need to draw on both of these wise practices established by King Solomon. We need to concentrate on personal purity, on fostering a direct and powerful relationship with God. We need the humility to accept God’s commandments, and to delight in them. At the same time, we need the “eruv” philosophy that attempts to include as many as possible within our domain. It is a philosophy of inclusion, not exclusion; it is a way of extending boundaries and demonstrating concern for our neighbors—even those with whom we may disagree.

Shavuoth is the festival on which we recall the Revelation at Mt. Sinai. It is also a good time to plan for a hypothetical second gathering of Israelites at Sinai—and to think carefully how we can envision such an event as an opportunity to bring all of us together.

For the Jewish people to find its spiritual balance, we will need to work on personal spiritual development and purity; and also on strategies that are grand enough to allow all of us to stand together in the presence of God.  Moadim leSimha.

 Note: for your convenience, Abq Jew has reprinted the entire article above.  But you are strongly encouraged to visit the Institute's website - http://www.jewishideas.org - to learn more about the Institute's work, and especially to read and view Rabbi Angel's thoughts and opinions.

Got Midrash?

Tell Me A Story:  Everyone loves a good story, and the Holy One, Blessed Be He - and the other writers of the number one storybook of all time, the Bible - are certainly no exception.  The Sacrifice of Isaac, Joseph and his Brothers, the Exodus from Egypt, the Rebellion of Korach - any and all of these stories could easily go 13 weeks on TV.

And then there's the famous story of Abraham Breaking the Idols, which all of us learned in Hebrew School.  What a great Biblical story!  Except for one slight thing - it's not in the Bible.  You can look, as the great Biblical scholar Nehama Leibowitz, of blessed memory, used to ask of her students.  But you will not find it, because it's not there.

In fact, there are an awful lot of Biblical stories that aren't in the Bible.  How did Adam feel when the sun set on Day One?  Whatever happened to Haran, Abraham's brother?  For that matter - whatever happened to Isaac, who - according to the Biblical text! - did not return from Mount Moriah with Abraham?  And - perhaps the most important question in the history of Biblical exegesis - why did Rebecca fall off her camel?

You will not find answers to these questions in the Bible - but you will find them in the Midrash.

Want to learn more?  On Tuesday June 14th @ 7:00 pm,  Abq Jew will be presenting A Special Midrash - about stories that you thought were in the Bible, but aren't ... but maybe they should be.  It will be the fourth of seven presentations in Congregation B'nai Israel's Making Connections to Judaism series.  If you missed the first three - well, you missed the first three!  But don't miss this one (or any that follow).  Yes, Abq Jew is tooting his own horn!