February 12, 2021 | 30 Sh'vat 5781
Candle Lighting Miami 5:52 pm
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"Not since college have I been so excited about learning!" |
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We reached out to some of our adult learners and asked them to share a little about themselves and the impact of Melton & More.
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“Let your home be a meeting place for sages.”
– Pirkei Avot 1:4
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Ann Zartler lives in Rhode Island, and this is her first year learning with Melton & More. Ann has been hearing about the Melton & More courses from her sister Sue Klau, a Melton CORE graduate and an active student for the past 20 years.
Question: You are taking three courses with your sister, Sue Klau, this semester, and you are participating in the year-long CORE program! How has this experience impacted you?
Not since college have I been so excited about learning. To be involved with such brilliant scholars and wonderful fellow students is the great gift of the Covid tragedy. I could not have anticipated that CAJE would be so central to my life during the past 11 months.
Question: Share with us the best post-class conversation you had with your sister, Sue.
I have learned so much about my sister Sue that I didn't know I was missing. Her incisive responses and pertinent questions during classes have revealed to me the depth and breadth of her knowledge of her Jewish studies and of her wisdom.
The most memorable post-class discussion with Sue occurred when I was saying that I don't know what I would do without CAJE in my future. Sue said, "Once you've let the genie out of the bottle, you can't put it back in." To contemplate going forward without continuing this exhilarating and life-enhancing education is unimaginable. I'm not leaving my beloved Rhode Island, so I need CAJE to keep coming to me!
Question: What courses have you taken this year?
One Man’s Search For Truth; OMG, Can You Believe?; MOT: Members Of The Tribe and the year-long Melton CORE program: Crossroads of Jewish History and Ethics of Jewish Living.
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“Learning Must Be Sought—It Will Not Come of Itself!”
--Reish Lakish, Midrash Mishlei 2:4
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Debbie and Michael Troner are committed life-long Jewish learners and take multiple Melton & More courses together every semester. Michael is a member of the board of the International Florence Melton School.
Question: We love that you take courses together! Tell us more about the power of Melton & More Jewish learning and how it's impacted your life as a couple?
We find studying as a couple an immensely enriching and rewarding experience because we have our own hevruta (study partner) to discuss how we each interpret the texts. We are able to learn from the wonderful teachers we have and from each other. It is so much fun to be able to expand our interpretations of what we have learned with each other.
Question: One of the courses you are currently taking together is “To Have & To Hold: The History of the Ketubah” with Rabbi Manny Vinas. What is one takeaway from this class that totally surprised you?
Well, we were totally blown away to find out that Sephardic and Ashkenazic customs and ceremonies differed so greatly! This was an incredible revelation. Rabbi Viñas always blows us away with his revelations of Torah and Text.
Question: What Classes have you taken this year?
Rise of A Kingdom: The Book of I Samuel; Talmudic Kama Sutra: Romantic Love and Sexuality in the Rabbinic Tradition; A Dwelling Place of the Soul: Mishkan HaNefesh; Swimming in the Sea of Talmud; Rise Of A Kingdom: The Book of I Samuel Part 2; Biography of the Bible; One Man’s Search for Truth; To Have & To Hold: The History of the Ketubah; We Are What We Remember: The Ever Evolving Transmission of Jewish History; OMG: Can You Believe?!; A Nation Sings: The Evolution of Israeli Pop Music.
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“Blessed is the child who studies with his father,
and blessed is the father who teaches his child."
- Talmud
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Shep Faber & Aly Faber: Shep serves on the Adult Learning Advisory Board. He has been an active Melton & More student for many years. Since classes went online, his daughter Aly was able to join him in the Melton & More classroom from her home in North Carolina.
Question: In reflecting upon your experience of learning with your daughter this past semester, what are some highlights you would like to share?
Shep: Mostly, just sharing the experience with my daughter was a highlight for me. We zoom all the time during the pandemic but learning together with my daughter was special. I love that I could introduce her to Melton & More and for her to see how I spend much of my time and the appreciation I have for Melton and More. I am definitely a “kvelling parent!”
Aly: I really enjoyed taking this class with my dad as we are in two different states and I haven't seen him since quarantine. This is a great way to have a shared experience remotely. I sincerely enjoyed the class Rhythm & Jews. Who knew Jews were so influential in the music industry? A real eye-opener!
Question: What courses have you taken this year?
Swimming in the Sea of Talmud, The Hidden Traditions of Purim and Passover, Jewish American Voters in 20th Century Presidential Elections and Aly joined me for Rhythm and Jews.
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To learn more about CAJE Adult Learning/ Melton and More classes or join this remarkable community of learners, Click Here.
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Now streaming for a limited time is
"Exit: Music,"
a musical documentary that explores the lives of five composers whose lives were upended due to anti-Semitism and the rise of the Third Reich during the Second World War.
Accompanying the film presentation will be a live discussion on Sunday, February 14 at 5pm with writer & star Simon Wynberg, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's Brett Werb, and moderator Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff.
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Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach
presents
Ethics and the Holocaust
A FREE Lecture Series for Educators and Adult Learners.
John K. Roth is the Edward J. Sexton Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and the Founding Director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights (now the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights) at Claremont McKenna College. He is the author or editor of more than fifty books, including The Failures of Ethics and Sources of Holocaust Insight.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2021 | 4:00-5:00pm
ZOOM (ID information upon rsvp). For more information contact Danny Reed at dreed@gmjf.org
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So Poor You Sell Your Daughter |
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Sometimes when we read the parsha (weekly Torah portion), we are jolted by the disparity between the modern, privileged lives we live in the 21st century and the reality reflected in the Torah and the world in which it appeared. Parashat Mishpatim (Shemot/Exodus 21-24) this week gives us a lot of material to consider.
My colleague from Melton, Rabbi Morey Schwartz (ordained by Yeshiva University), wrote his commentary on Shemot/ Exodus 21:7-11 that he entitled: Selling your daughter as a maidservant -where he wrestles with this very problematic text, indicative of a time in which people were so poor that the only thing they could offer to repay a debt or get money to stay alive was to sell themselves or a child into indentured servitude or a life as a kind of concubine.
I'm going to focus on another part of the parsha that also highlights extreme poverty:
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Exodus Chapter 22 שְׁמוֹת |
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כד אִם-כֶּסֶף תַּלְוֶה אֶת-עַמִּי, אֶת-הֶעָנִי עִמָּךְ--לֹא-תִהְיֶה לוֹ, כְּנֹשֶׁה; לֹא-תְשִׂימוּן עָלָיו, נֶשֶׁךְ
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24 If thou lend money to any of My people, even to the poor with thee, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shall ye lay upon him interest.
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כה אִם-חָבֹל תַּחְבֹּל, שַׂלְמַת רֵעֶךָ--עַד-בֹּא הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ, תְּשִׁיבֶנּוּ לוֹ
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25 If thou at all take thy neighbour's garment to pledge, thou shalt restore it unto him by that the sun goeth down;
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כו כִּי הִוא כְסוּתֹה לְבַדָּהּ, הִוא שִׂמְלָתוֹ לְעֹרוֹ; בַּמֶּה יִשְׁכָּב--וְהָיָה כִּי-יִצְעַק אֵלַי, וְשָׁמַעְתִּי כִּי-חַנּוּן אָנִי
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26 for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin; wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto Me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.
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Here we have a person who is so poor that he has to give his only garment--likely a covering that he would wrap himself up in at night like a blanket--to a creditor, until he earns enough money to pay off his debt.
Imagine what that must have been like! The only thing you own that is worth anything (other than your body and your labor) is a blanket. That's it. That's how poor and marginalized you are.
This is likely an even worse state of being than a homeless person today. Because while a homeless person may also not own very much (we’ve all seen them pushing a shopping cart with what appears to be all their worldly possessions), today there are government programs, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and other safety net possibilities that simply didn’t exist in ancient times.
In Devarim/Deuteronomy 24:10-13 this same mitzvah is reiterated with the additional warning not to enter the debtors home (probably more like a hovel) to seize the pledge every day, but instead, to wait outside for the debtor until he gives the cloak to you each day, lest you violate his dignity and his small personal sanctuary.
And what's even more remarkable is that these verses from our Torah were not theoretical. Based on archaeology, we find the Torah and these mitzvot of compassion were indeed considered the constitution of our nascent Israelite society!
What's the proof? Archaeologists have found a broken ostracon (a potsherd or a small piece of stone that has writing scratched into it) from the 7th century B.C.E. (Before the Common Era, i.e., before year 0) at a site on Israel's coast between Jaffa and Ashdod.
On this piece of pottery was found the complaint of a reaper (field laborer) from Judea to a government official that a person named Hashvayahu ben Shova took away his garment and his fellow reapers will testify as witnesses in his favor.
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Inscription:
“May the official, my lord, hear the plea of his servant. Your servant is working in the harvest; your servant was at Hasar-Asam (when the following incident occurred). Your servant did his reaping, finished, and stored (the grain) a few days ago before stopping (work). When your servant had finished (his) reaping and had stored it a few days ago, Hoshayahu ben Shabay came and took your servant's garment. When I had finished my reaping, at that time, a few days ago, he took your servant's garment. All my companions will vouch for me, all who were reaping with me in the heat of the sun: my companions will vouch for me (that) truly I am guiltless of any in[fraction]. [(So) please return] my garment. If the official does not consider it an obligation to return [your servant's garment, then have] pity upon him [and return] your servant's [garment] from that motivation. You must not remain silent [when your servant is without his garment].”
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All of this demonstrates that even 2500+ years ago the poor and marginalized in Israelite society felt empowered to protest and find redress through Torah law when their rights were trampled on.
How extraordinary! How far advanced beyond other civilizations at the time!
And yet, as Rabbi Schwartz writes below, as much as I love Torah and its wisdom, I too can't forget the maidservant sold into servitude:
THIS YEAR I find myself unable to stop dwelling on the image of the father, so desperate that he is forced to indenture his daughter to servitude, to pay off debts, to secure her survival.
THIS YEAR my heart goes out to this poor young maiden, deprived of ever knowing true-love, of ever drifting into the arms of the man of her dreams - destined instead to make due with her lot and hope that perhaps the man she does end up with will give her some small measure of happiness...
The wonders of life, many of them ever so basic - we fail to celebrate them in all of their simple wonder: the blessings are the curse, making us indifferent to the suffering that surrounds us, making us forget to be grateful.
I am thankful this year that for some blessed reason, my eyes are glued to the maiden - hoping that paying her a little attention will make her smile - even just a little bit - as Torah scholars once again step right over her - indifferent to her plight - focused only on their holy quest for greater erudition, elevating the Torah at her tragic expense.
Perhaps you know such a maiden?
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