The Ten Commandments, Our New By-laws, and the holy day of Shavuot - by Beth Pinals

Image credit from Kolbo by artist Menachem Boas, "Fine art print. Image size is 21' x 31'. The culmination of the Exodus was the giving of the Ten Commandments. This exhilarating moment at Sinai is relived in this stunning piece, with Moses carrying the Tablets and the Leaders of the Tribes bowing in awe. The entire text of the The Book of Deuteronomy is here. This is Hebrew micrography in which all images are made with Hebrew letters. Call for pricing and availability if you would like a framed print. Also available in a limited edition.

Ed. Note: This "bonus" post in our Ten Commandment series is written by Beth Pinals, temple President. This new reflection on the Ten Commandments and how they relate to our new congregational By-laws is shared with you on the eve of Shavuot, the time in which we commemorate the giving of the law to Moses on Sinai. We invite you to join us tonight as we celebrate our Confirmands, and mark this special event. Services tonight start at 7:30 pm in our Sanctuary, and Shavuot morning services are tomorrow at 7:00 am (during which Yizkor prayers will be read).

In Torah, the Ten Commandments are ‘brought to us’ in Exodus – the story of the Israelites’ journey to freedom. The preface to the revelation and receipt of the Decalogue is the affirmation of covenant between God and the people. Without the laws, Israel would not be Israel – the unique, sacred nation reaching back to “those who are not with us here this day” and enduring to a future beyond what we can know. This bridge across covenantal time is in fact, at the core of our TBS Mission and Vision. And the roadmap for the enacting our Vision are our new By-laws.

As Nathan Laufer observes in The Genesis of Leadership, the Ten Commandments “…conveyed the large, axiomatic, strategic values that were to guide the Israelites on their historic mission.” So too, do they offer wisdom and values reflected in our By-laws and in our new Vision for Governance:

1. “I Am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” This blueprint, different than so many others in our daily lives, is sacred.


2. “You shall have no other Gods before me.” In following the new guidelines for roles, decision-making and policy setting, we shall have faith that in this document we can find all of the answers and all of the right intentions.


3. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” Our process will be in accordance with these By-laws and with the utmost respect for one another.


4. “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.” On Shabbat, we shall seek rest from the good work of the Synagogue in order to pause, gain a new perspective, celebrate what has been done, and be rejuvenated.


5. “Honor your father and your mother.” Always keep in mind the foundations laid by those who came before us and acknowledge the ‘caretakers’, mentors, and ‘educators’ of our community. Take special notice of The Leadership Council, which will contain the voices of our sages.


6. “You shall not kill.” We are responsible for the ‘life’ of our TBS Vision, as well as for our Vision for Governance and By-laws. We must keep them alive by keeping them close, utilizing and examining them.


7. “You shall not commit adultery.” Honor the commitment to adhere to these By-laws, in large and small decisions, in matters that are complicated and sensitive, and in moments of doubt.


8. “You shall not steal.” Each section of our By-laws is carefully crafted and self-explanatory. Certain concepts or articles may be designated as ‘borrowing’ from another. In addition, some policies are to be determined by the President or the Board at the start of a term. This clarity prevents the need to seek solution or ‘steal’ from elsewhere.


9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” As we heard in our special Meeting of the Congregation and again see in the past 10 days of TBS Blog postings, it is critical for our leaders and for all of our congregants to speak for themselves. Kavod is kept by allowing each person to own their behavior and communications.


10. “You shall not covet.” In order to push away from envy or wishes to possess another’s circumstances, one must engage in t’shuvah – a return home and focusing inward at our own gifts and processes. We may always return to the internal blueprint or basic structure of our By-laws and Governance Vision as a reminder of the clear and sacred bed on which our community rests.

As the Israelites stood at Sinai open to the public receiving God’s disclosure, so too on May 4th 2011, did representatives of our Congregation witness the sharing of personal reflections on these Commandments, receive and explore the new ‘commandments’, and share the Shechechianu blessing as we officially embraced our new Governance Model, Vision and Bylaws. It is a moment to be remembered. L’dor v’dor… from generation to generation.

The Tenth Commandment: A Personal Reflection by Judy Ravech

Image credit, Cafe Press user Hebrew Art Ornaments

Ed. Note: Today we present this final post in the Ten Commandment Series. Written by Judy Ravech, today's post covers "coveting." This post looks at how we can turn our concern ABOUT others into concern FOR others.

As we finish our series, we invite you to join us tomorrow night for our Shavuot service celebrating our Confirmation Class of 2011. Services will begin at 7:30 pm in our Sanctuary.

Please also let us know whether you have enjoyed this expanded blog series. What future topics would you like to see on the blog? How often would you like to see posts on the blog? Would you like to be a contributing poster? Please feel free to comment on this or any topic on this post.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female slave, or..."

One of the most interesting things about the 10th commandment is that it’s the only one which instructs us on what we should or should not FEEL. The previous nine commandments are all about action, telling us what we should or should not DO. If we don’t observe the other commandments, it would be apparent to others that we’ve broken them; if we don’t observe this commandment, no one except ourselves, and G-d, will notice – unless we go from simply feeling desire for what our neighbor has to taking action. Perhaps the purpose of this last commandment is in fact to prevent that – because desiring what someone else has might eventually lead us to break one of the previous commandments – to steal, to commit adultery, perhaps even to commit murder.

But is it OK to covet something if we don’t act on it? We all have our moments when we envy what our neighbors have – their shiny new car or beautiful home, their happiness or good health, even their well-behaved children who, by the way, were just accepted to Harvard. But if we continually measure ourselves against our neighbors, how can we ever be satisfied with our own lives?

I don’t believe that desire is necessarily a bad thing – it’s what motivates us to study hard in school, to get up each day and go to work, to become productive members of society. But if I focus all my energy on the things I want to HAVE, I cannot be paying nearly enough attention to the things I want to BE. When we stop caring about what our neighbor has and trying to keep up, our hearts and souls become incredibly free. As an active participant here in the TBS community, I’ve been granted continual opportunities to move forward from caring about what my neighbor has, to caring about how my neighbor is – and as a current and future leader, to be in a position to take action and do something about it. This commandment – the last and only one which tells us how to feel – is perhaps really G-d’s way of directing us to “chesed” – and by caring about each other, we ultimately repair the world.


--Judy Ravech

The Ninth Commandment: A Personal Reflection by Ina Glasberg

Image credit, Scientific American.

Ed. Note: Today's post is the ninth in our series on the ten commandments. As a reminder, each of these individual posts was presented at a special congregational meeting during which we passed our new by-laws. Each congregant who presented their personal view of one of the ten commandments is also a candidate for our newly constituted Board of Trustees.

Ina Glasberg spoke at the event and presented her personal reflection on the Ninth Commandment. The summary of her words follows.

As we approach the holiday of Shavuot which commemorates the giving of the Law to Moses, we invite you to join in the conversation by posting your own personal reflections to any of the posts on the commandments. Also please join us at 7:30 on Tuesday night for our Shavuot Service and Confirmation.

Do we realize that we may cause, consciously or unconsciously, injury with the words we speak or repeat? We must not sin in criticism of other people. If you answer or repeat what you do not know to be true -- you are a false witness.

--Ina Glasberg

The Eighth Commandment: A Personal Reflection by Mindy Pasco-Anderson

Image credit is artfeeds.org, a program dedicated to inspiring children through art. Their slogan is "Love Naively. Give Generously. Be Foolishly Compassionate."

Ed. Note: With this eighth post in our series, we are heading into the home stretch as we approach the holiday of Shavuot. Today's post by Mindy Pasco-Anderson tackles the topic of stealing. Join us by adding your feedback to this or any of our posts so far.

This Commandment #8 is a bold, broad directive. What is it, you ask, that you should not steal? Anything that is not yours is my answer. Nothing material, nor a claim to good deeds done by others, another's time or energy, relationships, money, people, pets, ...the list goes on.

The commandment tells us in a very succinct and direct way what NOT to do...

But there’s another, more subtle implied message – something that the physical laws of nature tells us must be there – the complement to the commandment. There is, I believe an implied message of what TO DO. I would define the opposite of stealing as giving or sharing. So, to makes things right in the universe, I believe that we must find ways, big ways and small ways to give back. The HOW is not important, and is as customizable as the giver, their abilities and the perceived need. The WHY, however is unquestionable.

I like this kind of thinking. I like thinking that each and every positive thought and deed helps to keep the world in check. In fact, with so much current world negativity, I think that we all have to work harder to maintain the balance. So simple and yet so powerful.

So, you shall not steal – indeed, you shall be a contributor. Live your life with care and compassion.

--Mindy Pasco-Anderson

The Seventh Commandment: A Personal Reflection by Daniel Barkowitz

The image to the left comes from the web page for Jewish Marriage Encounter in Israel.

Ed. Note: This post, by Daniel Barkowitz, continues our series on the Ten Commandments. Credit is due to About.com's post for quotes about the Jewish Marriage Encounter philosophy of "Love is a Decision". For information on Jewish Marriage Encounter visit their web page.

Just as Faith is a decision, I believe that Love is a decision.

I remember sitting next to my wife, Rebekah, in (what was then) the Newton Sheraton Tara hotel, hanging over the Mass Pike. We were there for a Jewish Marriage Encounter Weekend, an event which promised to teach us how to better communicate with each other as a couple. We were still young in our marriage, what we referred to then as DINKS (Dual Income, No Kids) and we were excited to see what we could gain from a weekend focused on just our relationship with each other.

One of the more controversial statements made that weekend by one of the presenters is that "Love is a Decision." It was a statement that reminds couples to love the person, not the behavior.

Many people do not see why a person would have to make the decision to love since they made that decision many years ago when they said yes to one another on their wedding day. We were taught on the weekend that it is normal in married life to have periods of romance and disillusionment. This cycle is often repeated – sometimes over days, weeks, even months.

One way to break out of disillusionment is by deciding to love. Feelings change and aren't not easily controlled. Love is not only a feeling, it is more than a feeling. Love is a decision.

By saying that “Love is a decision”, I mean that I am committing myself to be open and to share when I don’t feel like it. By saying that “Love is a decision”, I am promising to make the decision to love even when I don't think my spouse deserves my love.

Saying that “Love is a decision” means that you are open to honest communication with your spouse. That's not only talking, but also listening. It is also a decision to be loved.

Making the decision to love includes the everyday, little things that you often do for one another, especially when you’re not feeling loving. From the action of deciding to love, often the feeling of love will follow.

This resonates in our Jewish tradition as well. Often the decision to do a good deed and the commitment to the mitzvot only happens after the mitzvah itself is completed. We are taught to pray with intention, but that the act of prayer itself will lead to the development of the intentionality of prayer.

--Daniel T. Barkowitz

The Six Commandment: A Personal Reflection by Liv Nash

Image credit - Flickr user ANVRecife. Image title is "Killing Ideas II".

Ed. Note: What follows is our sixth blog post as a part of the 10 commandment series. We are counting up to Shavuot by sharing personal reflections from congregants on each one of the 10 commandments. Today's reflection comes from Liv Nash and gives an interesting and new view of the commandment not to murder. Please join our conversation by adding your thoughts and opinions to this or any post. What do you think of Liv's take on the commandment? What do you take from her point of view?

My interpretation of the 6th Commandment relies on a non-legal one. As noted in Broken Tablets, Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Bloch of Telshe also suggests “that a concept of murder more subtle and comprehensive than standard legal definitions is intended.”

I look at the 6th Commandment as a direction to not suppress one’s beliefs, regardless of how they may or may not deviate from what the majority of people may or may not believe. As someone who grew up in a secular household, I didn’t think about religion or spirituality. I knew that I was Jewish and that we celebrated Passover and Hanukah, but I didn’t quite get what being Jewish meant. I know that I thought of it more as a religion than an act of being, which is how I interpret my Judaism today.

As my involvement in Temple Beth Shalom began to grow, I had conflicted feelings about my beliefs – did I believe in G-d or did I feel a connection to the spiritual aspects of Judaism that are so often discussed in our meetings. Even as I attended my adult B’nei Mitzvah classes, leading up to my becoming a Bat Mitzvah here at TBS, I almost felt a need to ignore my feelings toward the religious aspect of what I was doing as I felt very conflicted: again, did I believe in G-d or not and how was I going through this monumental step in my life without knowing. I was suppressing the need to “come clean” with my own interpretation of being a Jew.

Fortunately for me, the TBS community, its leaders and in particular the clergy, have made me realize that all that I was feeling and am still today, is OK. There isn’t a need to put aside the fact that my beliefs may not be consistent with so many. They are my beliefs and I shall not “murder” them.

--Liv Nash

The Fifth Commandment: A Personal Reflection by Bernice Sue Behar

The image we are using today comes from letlifein.com, a website "directed to the ‘after 50′ audience [where] the writers and editors ... don’t sugar-coat the 50+ years but reveal what boomers today, as individuals, are thinking, exploring and experiencing."

Ed. Note: Today's post comes from Bernice Sue Behar and speaks to the Fifth Commandment. Halfway through the series, we would like to ask for your feedback! Are you enjoying the series? What are you finding best about these posts? What would you like to see more or less of in future posts?

When I saw the note asking each of us to say a few words of reflection about one of the Ten Commandments, I didn’t hesitate about which I would choose. The words “thou shalt honor thy mother and thy father” are part of the conversation I have with myself every day.

I decided that the essence of this commandment relates to vulnerability. We usually interpret “honor” as somehow synonymous with respect, but I don’t think that respect can be commanded. Instead, I think that to show honor in a way that matters really means to attend to the needs of our parents as they become older and more vulnerable. As our parents age, they begin to lose capabilities, their life long companions, and often, their dignity. As Jews, we know that it is incumbent upon us to take care of those who are in need and I believe that honoring our parents falls into the same framework. As their children, we are ultimately the ones who are responsible for helping our parents and for bringing them comfort and the reassurance of love.

-Bernice Sue Behar

The Fourth Commandment: A Personal Reflection by Lori Shaer

The image to the left was inspired by the 10 principles from www.sabbathmanifesto.org. From their web page: "The Sabbath Manifesto was created by a group of Jewish artists in search of a modern way to observe a weekly day of rest. The group are all members of Reboot, a non-profit group designed to “reboot” the cultures, traditions and rituals of Jewish life."

Ed. Note: The blog post below gives a moving and inspiring reason behind finding a modern way to take in the power of the Sabbath even in our secular, busy lives. Lori Shaer's words come from our ten day experiment in counting up to Shavuot by sharing personal reflections on each of the ten commandments from members of the nominated slate for the TBS Board of Trustees. Please add your thoughts to this or any of our posts. Do you find a way to observe a moment of rest during the busy week? How do you balance the pace of modern life with the instruction to have a day of rest?

The fourth commandment says –

Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor
and do all of your work.
But the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your G-d
you shall not do any work
you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave,
or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements.
For in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth
and sea, and all that is in them,
and He rested on the Seventh day
therefore the Lord blessed
the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Now I ask you, would anyone like a 48-hour day? Perhaps once a week? Maybe once a month? I know I sometimes would. I have often thought to myself, “Oh, if I just had a little more time to do this or a little more time to finish that." But we all know that our work is never completely done. Whether our work consists of taking care of children and a home, putting together business deals, doing medical research, creative writing, or teaching, our work is never completely done. True, a home can be clean, business deals can be signed, a new drug can be developed, a book can be published, and a teacher can witness a student graduating. But there is always laundry to do, new deals to be made, more diseases to cure, more words to share, and certainly more things to teach. Our work, therefore, is never really DONE.

Everything in our lives certainly cannot be measured in what we have done. Sometimes it is just as important to measure what we have not done and acknowledge that sometimes we just need that break or that rest.

In the book, Broken Tablets, Rachel Mikva quotes Rabbi Gunther Plaut’s teachings when he said, “We must understand that doing nothing, being silent and open to the world, letting things happen inside, can be as important as – and sometimes more important than – what we commonly call 'useful.'” The Sabbath is the ultimate statement that the world does not own us.

A great pianist, Artur Schnabel, was once asked by an ardent admirer: “How do you handle the notes as well as you do?” The artist answered: “The notes I handle no better than many pianists, but the pauses between the notes – ah! that is where the art resides.”

Rachel Mikva then says, “In great living, as in great music, the art may be in the pauses.” Surely one of the enduring contributions that Judaism made to the art of living was Shabbat, “the pause between the notes.”

In our home when we light Shabbat candles on Friday nights, and pause, our kitchen may be disorganized from a busy end of the week. One recent Shabbat while lighting candles our phone rang, but it was not answered. And whatever trinket of one our children may have in his or her hands, it is put aside for some family time and to welcome Shabbat. Our children have helped me become a better and more observant Jew and I have learned that even when everything isn’t done, it’s ok to pause, reflect, and have some sacred time for yourself and your family.

Some of life’s most important and treasured moments come when we are not working, when we pause, when we listen, and when we just watch, even if our work is not yet done.

The gift of the Sabbath allows us this sacred time.

-Lori Shaer

The Third Commandment: A Personal Reflection by Michael Bailit

Ed. Note: We now return to our series on the 10 Commandments with this post from TBS Congregant and Board of Trustees member Michael Bailit. Feel free to share your interpretation of this or any of our previously covered commandments on their blog posts and join in the conversation.

"You shall not take G-d's name in vain." This is a commandment that I have always taken so seriously. In fact, I avoid using curse words of any form. (My sons have reminded me that while they have never heard Daddy swear, they once did hear Mommy do so when she bumped her head.)

With time and reflection, this commandment has taken on greater meaning for me. In fact, I take away two different but both important meanings. First, I observe that relative to many of the "prohibition" commendmants, this one at first seems out of place. Murder, adultery, stealing...we can all agree that these are reprehensible behaviors. Yet this commandment is just about speaking words. We live in an age where we are besieged by words: spoken words on cell phones, radio, television and from friends, family, business acquaintances and strangers, and written words in books, online, on billboards, in newspapers and magazines. Words are ubiquitous and for that reason they seem to have become cheapened - "only words." This commandment, however, seems to say that words are important and that their common use does not diminish that importance. What we say to others and what we say to G-d does matter in our relationships and in the work that we do

Second, the commandment that we not take G-d's name in vain suggests that we should "take" G-d's name otherwise. I take this to mean that we should "take" G-d's name in another way and seek to have some form of a relationship with G-d. The relationship may be harmonious or difficult, one of belief or disbelief or back and forth between the two. What is important is the attempt to engage in a relationship.

These interpretations are more than those that I internalized many years ago when I resolved to be careful not to take G-d's name in vain and suggest the multiple layers of meaning available to us in the commandments.

--Michael Bailit

A Shabbat Speech on the NFTY-EIE Semester in Israel

Ed. Note: We are taking a quick break from our Ten Commandments posts to share the following post. This was presented at Friday night services this week by Temple member Mikah Atkind who spent her fall semester on the EIE Program in Israel. More information about the program can be found at http://www.nftyeie.org/. Two additional temple members, Molly Shuman and Tzipi Crandell, have been accepted to the EIE program for Fall 2011.

Shabbat shalom!

On the 9th of Av, 586 BCE, the first Beit Hamikdash, also known as the first temple, was destroyed. Subsequently, the Jewish people were exiled to Babylon. Exactly 656 years later, the second Beit Hamikdash was destroyed. 65 years after that, Beit Har was destroyed. This was the last village standing, and the last one to be destroyed, during the Bar Kochva Revolt. In 1492, the Jews were expelled from Spain. In Tach-Tat, or 1648-1649, the Chmelnitsky Massacre took place in Russia. In 1881, the first wave of pogroms against the Jews in Russia led to the first Aliyah to what is now the State of Israel. In 1939-1945, as many people know, was the Shoah, or the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis. On Hay B’Iyar, Tashach, or May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was created. These events, both tragedies and what subsequently seem like miracles have shaped the Jewish people since our beginning, about 4,000 years ago in the time of Avraham, Yitzhak, Ya’akov, Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, v’Leah.

This past fall, I spent four months on the NFTY-EIE High School in Israel. Run by NFTY, the youth organization of the URJ, this program allows Jewish high school students from all over North America the opportunity to travel and study in Israel. Going into the program, I expected that I would be with a bunch of your typical NFTY kids, like myself. For those of you who have never been a NFTY kid, this involves singing Jewish songs until you lose your voice, being super overenthusiastic about NFTY, and hugging. A lot. However, when I arrived at the airport, I realized that this was not the case at all. While there were some of those stereotypical NFTY kids, we had an extremely diverse group. Roey spent the first three years of his life living in Tel Aviv, Noah goes to a conservative Jewish day school, and knows pretty much everything you could ever want to know about Torah, and Madeleine’s from Texas…and talks like Miley Cyrus. We had 21 guys and 24 girls; six sophomores, 33 juniors, and six seniors; two Canadians, two Eisnerites, and two from Massachusetts.

Every day, we were responsible for waking each other up and getting to Hebrew by 8:30, where we would learn for almost two hours. After a short break, we had Jewish History for three hours. After our Jewish studies were over, we had lunch, and then all of our general studies classes, such as math, history, English, etc. We had school from 8:30 AM until 7 PM, yet no one seemed to mind. After our last period, we went to dinner, then had Hoda’ot, or announcements. Only then could we start our homework, or if we finished, socialize. However, normal days such as these weren’t common. Many times, we would go on Tiyulim, or field trips, for Jewish history, which could last for as little as a couple of hours, or as many as 8 days, such as our trip to Poland in which we visited Auschwitz, Birkenau, Majdanek, and other death camps and important sites in the context of the Shoah, and tried to absorb in the emotions and impact of the Holocaust. In addition to our Jewish History-based tiyulim, we spent six days hiking from the northeastern side of Israel to the Mediterranean sea, and spent five days at the S’dei Boker army base near Beersheva, in an intensive high school Israeli army program called Gadna.

We began friendships with Israeli teens, both those who were living on Kibbutz Tzuba with us, and others in a small private high school called the Havruta School, near Netanya. We became actively involved in Israeli politics, creating a mock campaign and election for some of the main political parties, including Likud, Shas, and Avodah. We bargained for dried fruit, nuts, rugalach, and other treats at the Shuk in Jerusalem, trying to practice our Hebrew, while the vendors only wanted to practice their English. We bought ice cafes and mozzarella sandwiches at Aroma, invested in the Israeli economy at TNT and other stores at the Malcha Mall, and even went to a teen club until 4 in the morning with our Israeli host families…even though we weren’t supposed to be out past midnight. Seven of my friends and I even got to attend a conference of the Jewish People Policy Institute, for which our English teacher works, and sit two rows behind BB Netanyahu and Natan Sharansky, and listen to both of them speak on the topic of Judaism within Israel and around the world. Of course, we visited many of the tourist attractions as well, in connection with our Jewish History curriculum. We hiked up to the top of Massada to learn about the mass-suicide of the Zealots while trying to defend themselves from the Romans; we visited Tel Aviv to learn about the formation of the city, and their combination of old and new; we visited Sataf to learn about ancient agriculture and the cycle of the Judges and the Kings.

So why did I go in the first place? Well, first we need to think of the reasons behind why one would go. There were 45 of us on the EIE Fall 2010 Semester. In Hebrew gematria, 45 is מ -- מה is equal to 40, and ה is 5. Together, these letters spell mah: what? What is the significance of our past? What is the importance of Israel? What are we as a people? What should we strive to be? What can we gain out of this experience? What were we doing this for? Well, switch the מ and the ה, and you end up with המ—them. While we may have gotten amazing friendships, incredible amounts of knowledge, and an unbelievable four months of adventures, stories, and experiences out of this program, in the long run, we weren’t doing it for ourselves. We were doing it for them: those of the past, and those of the future. We went to keep the covenant between Abraham and G-d, as G-d mentioned in Genesis chapter 17, verse 7: “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a G-d unto thee and to thy seed after thee.” We went to preserve Jewish values, customs, traditions, and stories, as well as the Jewish homeland for future generations. We went to keep Judaism alive in our home here in the Galut—the diaspora—and in Eretz Yisrael.

תודה רבה ושבת שלום