Rabbi Sherman - Honorable Mensch-ion

Rabbi Nachman in the Talmud once asked his servant, “What should a servant do if his master not only frees him, but rewards him with great wealth?” The servant replied, “He should thank him and praise him.” Rabbi Nachman thought for a moment and said, “You have exempted us from singing the Mah Nishtana, the Four Questions.”

As we begin the month of Nissan, we prepare for our Passover Seders, both physically cleaning our home and spiritually cleansing our souls. While Passover is the birth of the Jewish people, we must not forget that the days following Passover lead to the narrative of the modern Exodus, from the depths of the Holocaust to the rebirth of the promised land of Israel.

When Moses came down the mountain and shattered the tablets on the golden calf, the Torah says vahiychar af, Moses was angry. However, Rabbi Joseph Herz makes a distinction between anger and indignation. The Rabbis teach that one who breaks anything in anger is like an idolater. Anger is selfish and an emotional reaction. Herz further explains that indignation is a moral response that we feel when we see a great wrong committed. This is what Moses felt when he witnessed the golden calf; the event did not hurt him personally but rather erased the Divine presence from the people Israel.

Just a few years ago, birthday party conversation centered around social and cultural talk: the best movies and the most delicious restaurants. Today, the chatter is different. You hear in depth analysis of the most current acts of antisemitism--internationally, nationally, and on a micro level, affecting our own neighborhoods.

While our tradition puts an emphasis on the Ten Commandments, it is important to recognize that the moment would never have occurred without the proceeding events of revelation. The miracle is in the words, roeem et hakolot, they saw the voices. Rashi explains that the people saw which should be heard, something which is impossible to see on any other occasion.

How do you define music? Dependent on the combination of notes, music can create cacophony or harmony. In western music, with 12 finite notes, it is up to the musician to create the masterpiece. Music carries us through our lives. We sing when a baby is born and we sing when a loved one passes. We sing when we feel loved and we sing when we are upset. Some of the most well known spirituals came from the enslaved who sang to pass the time.

Ask someone to describe darkness and you will receive different definitions. Rabbeinu Bachya in interpreting this plague gives three examples. There is tangible darkness, thick darkness, and darkness that will materialize. Each one of these is experienced differently.

Magic allows us to be in awe of what we do not know. We love the suspense, the thrill, the fact that the impossible can happen in front of our eyes. Do you remember the first time you learned how to perform a trick or learned how the magician makes it happen? It often takes the fun out of the game and magic simply becomes reality.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel would interview students entering Rabbinical school. He once asked, “If you were stranded alone in Antarctica, what is one thing you could not live without.” The student trembled in fear, unsure of how to answer this great Rabbi. A Torah? A mezuzah? A siddur? After a few moments, Heschel responded, “If I were you I would take a winter coat.”

Last week, my father retired as a Rabbi after fifty years in the pulpit. This Shabbat will be the first week in a half a century that he will not give a sermon or acknowledge a birth, yahrzeit, or a wedding couple from a bima. He will be a Jew in the pew. Often, people approach Rabbis and say, “I’m coming to you because you have a more direct route to God.” In reality, each of us have the same access to the Divine.