Alan Gross a Prisoner in Cuba (Part II)
‘Give Us a Reason to Hope’

With Passover about to begin, when we sit around our festive tables to re-experience the first Passover and when we are reminded that Pharaoh hardened his heart before he relented, we will be thinking of Alan Gross and praying for his release.

Alan Gross is incarcerated in a prison Hospital in Cuba, and has been jailed now for a total of twenty eight months. Anyone who has seen his ‘before and after’ photographs experiences the shock of seeing a man who is suffering from this terrible ordeal. Yet, Cuba says ‘we are treating him well.’ Cuba needs to release him now, both for the humanitarian concern we have for him and for the members of his family, and for the reason that his prison sentence makes no sense even for the alleged crimes which Cuba has accused him of committing.

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This Sabbath Torah Portion begins the third book in the Torah, Vayikra, which is also the name of the portion. We are more familiar with the vernacular name of Leviticus.

The portion begins with God calling Moses to speak to him within the holy sanctuary. Moses would not dare enter the tent until now, since “the divine Presence filled the Tabernacle.” It would appear that this signifies a changing role for Moses as a leader, as well as a changing relationship with God.
Most of this week’s portion explains the 4 different types of offering or sacrifices that are presented to God. There are the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sacrifice of well-being, and finally the Sin Offering. The instructions are very detailed; the sacrifices are given freely without blemish and the priests must follow exacting directions to slaughter and accept such offerings. There are instructions for offerings for a poor family that may not afford a sheep or goat. Such offerings are just as acceptable when given with a true heart and pure soul.

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February 2012

A couple of years ago two congregations in Maryland, including one of three congregations I serve as rabbi, Hevrat Shalom, had a magnificent evening and Shabbat. Women Chefs of Beit Shemesh, Israel were in our community and cooked a magnificent collection of cuisines from their native countries including Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and Iraq. Recently in the news (more…)

Pharaoh has finally agreed to let the Israelites out of Egypt. G-d deliberately leads the people out by a longer route because He fears that “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.” As we shall see, G-d’s fears are not completely unfounded. (more…)

This week’s parsha is “Beshalach”, which means, “when he let go”.

Pharaoh has finally agreed to let the Israelites out of Egypt.  G-d deliberately leads the people out by a longer route because He fears that “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.”  As we shall see, G-d’s fears are not completely unfounded. (more…)

On the Occasion of the Observance of the Commemo-rative Holiday in Honor of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 2012

In the early 1960s I was a student at the High School of Music and Art, now called the Fiorella LaGuardia School of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. The school was located uptown at Convent Avenue and 135 St. at the crest of Morningside Heights, on the campus of City College.

Like many people my age I was beginning to be aware of the issues of racism in American society, including the ugly racist words which were used, as well as the segregat-ed communities, euphemistically referred to as ‘bad’ neighborhoods and the poverty of these areas which seemed to perpetual.

We rarely talk about an ingredient of racism which is called ‘fear’. The fear factor means that society, the media, possibly your family and friends have a collection of things which make you wary of someone who is different. This is not a surprise to someone who is Jewish, since that is what has always been used against Jews – ‘they are not like us.’

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The story begins as Jacob is about to die. Joseph comes to him and brings his two sons, who were born in Egypt, Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob proceeds to bless them: “God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.”

This story is interesting because of what it says about the circumstances in which we are born versus the choices we make. Ephraim and Manasseh were born and raised in Egypt, a highly decadent and immoral society. They could have chosen to assimilate into the larger Egyptian culture and lived like princes among the Egyptian aristocracy. Instead they chose to identify with their Jewish immigrant roots. Indeed Jews throughout their history have had to make a similar choice. Is it not surprising, then, that throughout the centuries, Jewish parents hoped that their children would be like Ephraim and Manasseh: able to rise above the negative influences of their surroundings and stay true to themselves despite all the disadvantages and risks involved? Hence, the Friday night blessing: “God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.”

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This week’s parsha is the very eventful Vayetze, which, like all the early portions of the Torah, is just crammed with some of our most familiar Bible stories.

It starts off with Jacob fleeing from Esau (Vayetze means “And he left”) and going to seek a wife in Charan, where his relative Laban lives; then there’s the story about his dream of the ladder; then the wonderful scene in Charan where Jacob, once he sees the beautiful Rachel, uses superhuman strength to move a rock off the shepherds’ well so they, and she, can water their flocks.

And then there’s the whole story about how Jacob, after agreeing to work seven years for Rachel’s hand, is given Leah’s instead, and then his working seven more years for the woman he truly loves. After that there’s the part about the dueling wits of Laban and Jacob over a promised portion of Laban’s flock – all the colored sheep — and how basically Jacob out-tricks Laban with crafty animal breeding to assure that there would be an especially large number of this kind.

And finally, the entertaining scene where Jacob decides to return with his already large family to Padan-Aram, and the whole family sneaks away from Laban, and Rachel steals a couple of Laban’s idols. Laban tracks down Jacob and his family, can’t find the idols, and finally comes into Rachel’s tent to look for them. And Rachel – who’s sitting right on top of the idols, which are inside a cushion — basically says: Um, you really can’t come here because I have this, you know, women’s condition, and Laban grosses out and returns empty-handed.

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Alan Gross has been in a Cuban prison for the past two years for unwittingly bringing in a computer and cell phone to the Jewish Community in order to connect them to the internet and the broader Jewish Community especially in this hemisphere. He had not been aware that this was illegal in Cuba, and was assured by his employer, USAID, that it was in fact legal. He unfortunately has thirteen years remaining of his fifteen year sentence. He is now 62 years old and will be 75 years old when he is released. He has already lost one hundred pounds due to illness and is in a prison hospital, one of his daughters is recovering from cancer, and his mother has cancer. The family house has been lost, since one of the main earners in the family is incarcerated in Cuba.

This is a case of injustice. Let us compare it to another case. Scotland released the Lockerbie bomber to Libya against the background of worldwide protests, on the basis that he was terminally ill, and Scotland did this on the grounds of a so-called humanitarian gesture. Never mind that it was ludicrous to do this, and that he is still alive. Surely, if Scotland can releases the Lockerbie bomber, Alan Gross can be released on humanitarian grounds alone, since he is ill, and he has no record of having committed a crime of any sort against anyone!

The former Soviet Union, an ally of Cuba, put the squeeze on the Jewish people who applied for emigration. These Jews would lose their jobs, they were followed, many were beaten, and they had to repay the Government for their education. Those who taught or secretly studied Hebrew were jailed, given token trials, and sentenced to prison, though none were sentenced so severely as Alan Gross in Cuba. The Soviet Union, which has now crumbled, was an example of Titan, the myth of Gods who devour their own children.

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This week’s parsha is “Lech Lecha”, which means, “Go forth”. It tells the story of the beginning of Abraham’s relationship with God and the covenant that God makes with Abraham and ultimately the entire Jewish people.

The story begins with the Lord saying to Abraham: “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation…I will bless those who bless you and curse him that curses you…”

Abraham is 75 at the time, but he follows God’s command and leaves his father’s house in Haran and settles in Canaan. But as soon as he arrives the land is struck by famine; hence, he is forced to go down to Egypt for food. As soon as he arrives in Egypt, however, Pharaoh’s officials abduct his wife Sarah. God sends multiple plagues to Pharaoh’s house, and Pharaoh eventually sends Sarah and Abraham back out of Egypt.

Once Abraham returns to Canaan, his troubles still aren’t over. At one point the neighboring kings go to war, and his brother Lot gets kidnapped. Abraham is forced to go to war to rescue Lot. He’s an old man and he has no children. Sarah gives him her handmaiden Hagar so that they can have a child, but this eventually leads to familial strife. In the long run, Hagar is forced into exile with their son Ishmael and God calls upon Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the child that he does eventually have with Sarah.

In the story God establishes a covenant with Abraham. This covenant will be an “everlasting covenant throughout the ages” and cannot be broken. God tells Abraham that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars; however, he also warns him that his offspring “shall be strangers in a land not theirs”. In the long run though, he promises that He “will execute judgment on the nation they shall serve, and in the end they shall go free with great wealth.”

This entire story can be seen as an allegory of the story of the Jewish people. All the elements are there: the theme of exile and return, even the precursor to the Exodus story in which God sends plagues down on Pharaoh and Pharaoh finally allows the Jews to leave Egypt.

When I read the story, several questions come to mind:
First, if God so loved Abraham, why did He inflict so much suffering on him? Why did He force Abraham to leave the country of his birth, and then no sooner had he arrived in the new land, why was he forced to move once again, this time to Egypt?

Second, if God so loves the Jewish people, why did he inflict so much suffering on them throughout the centuries? Why the repeated exiles from Egypt to Babylon to Spain to virtually every country in Europe, and so on?

Finally, why does God inflict suffering on anyone, Jewish or not?

Over the centuries many famous rabbis have attempted to answer these questions. One of the nice things about Judaism is that most Jews understand that there are always multiple answers to any question. There’s an old joke that for every two Jews, there are three opinions.

I don’t have time to go into all the rabbis’ explanations tonight—indeed, we’d be here all night–but I will tell you about one answer I like that was given by Rabbi Nachum of Chernobyl. Most of you have heard of Chernobyl because of the nuclear catastrophe that happened there. But what you might not have realized is that in the 18’Th Century Chernobyl was a major center of Jewish learning. Rabbi Nachum was a follower of the famous Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chasidic movement.

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