Rabbi Tilchin's Shabbat Messages and Divrei Torah

Today, January 10, 2025, coincides with a minor fast day on the Jewish calendar known as Asarah b’Tevet – the 10th of Tevet.  It is one of three sun-up to sun-down fast days traditionally associated with the destruction of our Jerusalem Temples.  We learn in Mishna Ta’anit that in pre-exilic Israel, during times of pervasive drought and extreme danger (both seen as forms of divine punishment), people would observe minor fasts three days a week in hopes of mitigating the suffering and damage that might ensue. The longer the drought, the more intense the fasting protocol. Fasts would start as optional for pious individuals. If those were not affective, the community as a whole (adult men) would be required to fast for a period of time. If that did not solve the problem, additional, more intense fasts were added. Mishna Ta’anit provides a fascinating window into the practice and theology of the late biblical and rabbinic periods of our history AND it feels eerily relevant right now.

When I attended the Rose Parade in Pasadena on January 1, I could not have imagined the trauma that sections of the San Gabriel Valley would endure less than a week later as one of several areas within LA County ravaged by fires too powerful to contain. California residents should be mindful that what is happening in Los Angeles at this moment could just as easily be happening in Orange County, San Diego or any part of drought-ridden California. Our state’s current system of fire defense is no match for 21st century Santa Ana winds. And they are only going to grow stronger over time. The time to “fast” with deep intention (whatever that means to each of us) is NOW!

Feelings of helplessness at times like these are natural, but those of us who may be spared (this time) from devastation can donate to one of many relief agencies that are doing everything in their power to help support displaced families who have lost their homes, first responders working tirelessly, pets in need of care and more. The businesses, schools, houses of worship and other decimated entities will also need support. I invite our newsletter readers from throughout California and around the country to consider visiting the links below to make donations that will have immediate impact:

CALIFORNIA FIRE FOUNDATION’s program Supplying Aid to Victims of Emergency (SAVE) is providing immediate, short-term relief to victims of home fires throughout California through a comprehensive gift card program.
JEWISH FEDERATION OF LOS ANGELES has set up a website with resources and information on ways we can all help through volunteerism and philanthropy. 
AMERICAN RED CROSS LOS ANGELES REGION 
PASADENA HUMANE is providing lifesaving resources to animals affected by the wildfires.
LOS ANGELES REGIONAL FOOD BANK is working with government agencies, nonprofit and faith-based partners. 
LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION is seeking funds to equip LAFD members battling the wildfires with tools and supplies. 
JEWISH FEDERATION OF ORANGE COUNTY has established the Wildfire Relief Fund to assist Jewish communities in the affected areas. 

Thank you for your compassion and care. We may someday need others to support us in the wake of future natural disasters, and charitable giving is a powerful way for people to recognize our shared vulnerability.

This message is dedicated to the memory of my beloved sister, Minda Ellen Tilchin, Nechama Mindl bat Asher Noah v’Sheindl, on the occasion of her 8th yahrzeit. She died from pancreatic cancer on 10 Tevet in 2017. Her memory is a blessing to her family, friends and colleagues who were touched by the love and radiance she shared with the world. I miss her everyday.🕯️

By Rabbi Marcia Tilchin
Parashat Lekh L'kha 5785

One of the key reasons that the Jewish people have endured to this day is that we have always turned to Torah as our guiding light, even in the darkest of times. There are some important lessons to be gleaned from the first three parshiot in the book of Genesis – Bereishit, Noah and Lekh L’kha -  that may be helpful right now.

People have the capacity to move beyond extreme tragedy:

“Cain said to his brother Abel … and when they were in the field, Cain set upon his brother Abel and killed him…”

Soon after God creates the world and all that is in it, there is a murder between brothers. Cain’s life goes on – not without repercussion - but he has many children and a full measure of years after his grievous mistake.  Adam and Eve have another child, Seth, who starts a new line that brings us to the birth of Noah.

We are all born with a purpose:

“When Lamech had lived 182 years, he begot a son.
And he named him Noah, saying, ‘This one will provide us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands, out of the very soil which יהוה placed under a curse.’”

Noah’s destiny is supposed to be a model for all of us, inspiring us to comfort and provide relief in our generation by exemplifying goodness in our time. Regardless of the names we are given at birth, we must each work to identify our purpose and capacity to help.

God’s given world, as beautiful as it was intended to be, can be a harsh place that, at times, almost seems beyond redemption.

"יהוה saw how great human wickedness on earth was—how every plan devised by the human mind was nothing but evil all the time. And יהוה regretted having made humankind on earth. With a sorrowful heart, יהוה said, “I will blot out from the earth humankind whom I created—humans together with beasts, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I regret that I made them.” But Noah found favor with יהוה."

It is upon each of us to do what we can every day to live a Godly life by showing genuine care for our families, friends, communities and the strangers in our midst who need hesed (lovingkindness). These good deeds do not go unnoticed by others or by our Creator.

We can each become the person that we want to be and pass our cultivated values on to future generations.

“This is the line of Noah.—Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with God.— Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

The sages ask why it is that the Torah lists Noah as the first person in his own lineage, ultimately concluding that Noah raised himself by making the choice to be blameless in his age and because of that, God chose him to restart the experiment of humanity.

We all have the capacity and resources to “build an ark” when we feel a storm coming:

“God instructed Noah: ‘Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make it an ark with compartments and cover it inside and out with pitch.’”

When we are living through tumultuous times, we have the tools and materials we need to craft safe spaces (like an ark) that allow us to feel protected and safe so that we can continue to do our good work a) while we ride out a storm, b) during in the cleanup afterwards and c) as we rebuild.

Always have an eye toward hope:

This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Make an opening for daylight in the ark, and terminate it within a cubit of the top. Put the entrance to the ark in its side; make it with bottom, second, and third decks.

Our safe spaces must not close us off completely. There must always be a way for us to see the light of day when it appears. As we are reminded every morning in Psalm 30 – Tears may linger for the night, but joy comes with the dawn. The “arks” we build to carry us through turbulent times must include a feature that will help us see the light of hope.

God’s covenant – even with just one person - can renew the world:

God said to Noah: “For My part, I am about to bring the flood—waters upon the earth—to destroy all flesh under the sky in which there is breath of life; everything on earth shall perish. But I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall enter the ark, with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives. And of all that lives, of all flesh, you shall take two of each into the ark to keep alive with you; they shall be male and female.”

It’s upon us, even when everything appears to be in chaos, to consider our partnership with God as we enter and exit the arks that we build, knowing full well that our actions are helping to save and preserve others.

Healing requires patience and time:

“The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. And when the waters had swelled on the earth one hundred and fifty days, God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and God caused a wind to blow across the earth, and the waters subsided.”

When disaster strikes, the repair time will be slow, but we will be able to leave our protective spaces eventually.

Everybody processes trauma differently and families can be complicated:

“Noah, the tiller of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk, and he uncovered himself within his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a cloth, placed it against both their backs and, walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness; their faces were turned the other way, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness…”

Each of us has the capacity to walk with God. AND each of us, at times, may need to mask our pain, succumb to indulgence, and exercise poor judgment. Like Cain, Noah lived a full life after the flood.

Those who act ungodly or worse can still ascend to power and amass wealth:

“When Noah woke up from his wine and learned what his youngest son had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan; The lowest of slaves Shall he be to his brothers.”

And yet, we learn just a few verses later:

“The descendants of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. The descendants of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.  Cush also begot Nimrod, who was the first mighty figure on earth…The mainstays of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. From that land, Asshur went forth and built Nineveh.”

The great empires that preyed upon Israel throughout history appear to be from Ham’s issue, which means that we stem from the same family of origin. The fact that siblings not only don't always see eye to eye, but can inflict great pain on one another is an eternal reality that we must work with and around as we shape the arc of history for the betterment of all humankind.

At the end of Parashat Noah, we read the story of the tower of Babel

“Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words.  And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another… ‘Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves…’”

A few verses later, we learn that 10 generations after Noah, through his son Shem, a man named Avram is born to Terah, father of Avram, Nahor and Haran. The rabbis ask: What was so special about Avram that God singled him out to start the nations of Israel?  One answer can be found in the beginning of Lekh L’kha. Wherever Avram settles for a time (and he moves around a lot in Genesis 12:1-10), he builds several altars to Adonai:

"Avram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, at the terebinth of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land. יהוה appeared to Avram and said, “I will assign this land to your offspring.” And he built an altar there to יהוה who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and he built there an altar to יהוה and invoked יהוה by name."

The rabbis posit that, in direct opposition to the builders of the tower of Babel who wanted to make a name for themselves as a testimony to their power, Avram only built altars to God, helping to spread the concept of Adonai wherever he went. In spite of his great wealth, he never built a monument to himself and, in fact, his only purchase, later in Torah, is a burial plot for his family.

We, as Jews, have always followed in the footsteps of Avraham:

Eternally nomadic, our contributions to the places we have lived for thousands of years have never been for our own aggrandizement. We are God’s partners to help heal wounds inflicted on the innocent by other humans, nurture hope however we can, and create the openings for daylight in the arks of protection that we build for ourselves and others to help navigate times of danger and destruction.  We have done this since the time of Noah, and we will continue.

Shabbat Shalom.