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Own It! the Blessing of Shul and Judaism Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg, Beth Am Synagogue May 21, 2016 ~ 13 Iyar 5776 I've Been Th

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Own It! the Blessing of Shul and Judaism Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg, Beth Am Synagogue May 21, 2016 ~ 13 Iyar 5776 I've Been Th Own it! The Blessing of Shul and Judaism Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg, Beth Am Synagogue May 21, 2016 ~ 13 Iyar 5776 I’ve been thinking about the issue of ownership. What exactly does it mean to possess something in Jewish tradition? Perhaps it’s raising two kids in America today who, despite being generally pretty awesome kids, seem to have a fairly inexhaustible desire to acquire stuff. This is human, is it not? And it’s certainly American as apple pie – as long as it’s my apple pie. And we Jews don’t eschew ownership. We value the material world, the physical realm. But there’s also a metaphysical realm through which our interaction with the material is tempered. We understand that access to things – iPads and sports cars to be sure, but also healthy food and clean drinking water and safe shelter – is not universal, and often inequitable. There are too many people in this world (and too many in this city) who don’t have their needs met at virtually any Maslowian level. But our tradition also teaches that even though we should enjoy the things we’ve earned through hard work, ingenuity or skill, we should never take these things for granted. And we do this in two ways: First, by recognizing that ultimately none of it, nothing of this material world, fully belongs to us and, second, by expressing gratitude for what we do have. Which is to say, enjoy what you have, for as long as you have it! And use it well. Take this Sanctuary for example. How blessed we are to have access to such a remarkable space! How beautiful are the arches, the clean lines and understated stained glass windows! Ma tovu ohalecha ya’akov, mishkenotecha yisrael! How lovely are your tents O Jacob, your sanctuaries O Israel! We say these words in any proper davening space, but here you can really mean it! How do we make this place our own? What makes it ours? How do we avoid taking it for granted? Perhaps you’ve been following the story this week about the decision in a longstanding legal dispute between two Kehillot, two historic Jewish congregations. One is Shearith Israel of Manhattan, the oldest Jewish congregation in America, founded in 1654 and the other is Jeshuat Israel which has for well over one hundred years held services at the Touro Synagogue, America’s oldest synagogue building, completed in 1763 in Newport, Rhode Island. As the Sephardic Jewish community of Newport left town, many joined congregations in New York, especially Shearith Israel. And with them, they brought many of the Touro Synaogue’s historic treasures – Torah scrolls, documents and a set of rimonim designed by a famed silversmith, Torah bells valued now at over $7,000,000. For the past four years, Shearith Israel has been claiming in court that it is the rightful owner of Touro, including the rimonim. But the judge ruled that since Shearith Israel’s role was as trustee, promising only to keep the klei kodesh safe until Jews once again worshipped in Newport, it is in fact Congregation Jeshuat Israel who can rightly claim ownership of the space and its accoutrements. The good news for Jeshuat Israel is that, given their relatively small population and resources, they can now sell the rimonim, and create an endowment to secure their financial future and complete essential upkeep on their historic building. Incidentally, I recently learned there’s a Beth Am connection to this story as it was our own Judge Ellen Heller’s sister whose law firm in New York did the pro-bono representation for the Touro Synagogue. 1 Synagogue building disputes are nothing new. I just had a conversation with a friend and colleague this week whose shul and the day school which meets in their building are navigating a sticky relationship, and I remember back in Chicago at my previous synagogue when our shul kids were not permitted to use the outdoor turf field on premises on Shabbos because the school, not the shul, owned the field – even as the shul rented space in its own building to the school for its classrooms. But, I’m less interested today in internal Jewish squabbles (we are a deliciously and maddeningly stiff-necked people after all) and more in the whole notion of possession. The Hebrew word for acquisition is kinyan and, l’fi halacha, according to Jewish law, one comes into possession of something in a number of different ways. Among them are meshicha (not to be confused with mashiach) which is done by grasping hold of an object and pulling it toward you. There’s hag’ba’ah, which involves grabbing and lifting an object, and there’s kinyan sudar which is done by passing a handkerchief or cloth from one to another. And then there’s chazaka which involves one’s claim on an object or a piece of property having occupied it for at least three years, and this is likely the area of kinyan that would apply to the Touro Synagogue case as well. So, we clearly have a notion of possession in Jewish tradition. And yet, there’s a real question as to how much, or how permanently, one can claim a particular object or tract of land or building. There’s a wonderful sugiyah in the Talmud (Berachot 35b) which identifies an inherent tension between two verses in Psalms. On one hand we read: “LaShem ha’aretz u’melo’ah, tevel v’yoshvei va, The earth is the Lord’s in all its fullness, the world and its inhabitants” (Ps. 24:1). God owns the world. This comes from the Psalm for Sunday that we also chant when returning the Sefer Torah to the Aron on weekdays. But another Psalm, Psalm 115 from Hallel (v. 16) proclaims: “Ha-shamayim shamayim l’Shem, v'ha-aretz natan livnei adam, The heavens belong to God, but the earth is given to humanity.” Can we reconcile the contradiction? Rabbi Levi says yes: kan, kodem berachah! The first verse is before one has uttered a blessing. We possess things in the material universe by expressing gratitude, by saying a blessing. Baruch Ata… homotzi lechem min ha’aretz, Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth. Borei pri hagafen, who creates the fruit of the vine. Likboah mezuzah, who commands us to affix a mezuzah on the doorposts of our house. Or our shul! And if we don’t say a beracha? If we don’t express gratitude for these things? The Talmud text goes on to say: Amar Rabi Chanina bar Pappa, Rabbi Chanina bar Pappa says, Kol haneheneh min haolam hazeh b’lo beracha, anyone who enjoys something of this world without saying a blessing, k’ilu gozel l’haKadosh Baruch Hu… it’s as if he stole from God….” So, we must bless something to own it, but this raises a paradox, because in many cases, we must possess something to bless it. You can’t just walk into a store, steal a loaf of bread, say a blessing and dig in! Indeed, in our parasha we have the classic example of a mitzvah that requires individual ownership. U’l’kachtem lachem bayom harishon, Take for yourselves on the first day, pri etz hadar, kapot t’marim, v’anaf etz avot, v’arvei nachal, the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, v’samachtem lifnei HaShem Elokechem shivat yamim, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days” (Lev. 23:40). What are we talking about here? Lulav and Etrog! The Talmud (Sukkah 29b-30a) asks why the Torah makes a point of saying “take for yourselves?” The answer is that each person is 2 obliged to be in possession of his/her own lulav and etrog. And if it’s not yours? Rabbi A .גזול פסול משום דהוה ליה מצוה הבאה בעבירה :Yochanan in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai stolen lulav is not permitted because it’s a sacred obligation accessed by way of a sin. What’s the real lesson to be learned in all of this? I think it’s two-fold. On one hand, we’re limited in what we can claim, and we need to have humility and forbearance, if nothing else, to push back against a world consumed with consumerism, with ownership and possession. What’s the definition of a rasha (a wicked person) according to Pirkei Avot (5:13)? “Shelach sheli v’sheli sheli, what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine too.” And this is a really hard lesson to learn as anyone who has ever tried to stop a toddler from taking another child’s toy can tell you. But another important lesson is just how much of the world is available for us to possess, when we share it! We humans have the capacity to grasp hold of many things the claiming of which do not diminish their value to others. And our mechanism for this is say a beracha. There are blessings for fragrances, for mountains and canyons. There’s a blessing for rainbows and a blessing for meeting a learned person or a head of state. There’s a blessing for breathtaking beauty and one for seeing those whom society would deem the opposite of beautiful (Thank you God for varying creation!) When we say these words, do we own those rainbows, or fragrant bushes or people? Not exactly, but in a manner of speaking we do; we do grasp hold of beauty.
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