28 Thursday May 2020
Posted in Important Moments, Jewish Festival
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In Judaism, shoes, or more specifically their removal, frame key moments.
We approach the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, by removing our leather shoes. Pilgrims would remove their sandals on approaching Har haBayit, Temple Mount. Moshe’s very first Divine encounter at the burning bush …read full article .
11 Monday May 2020
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Lag Ba’omer, the 33rd day of the Omer, marks the death of the talmudic sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, also known by his acronym Rashbi. On this day, it is customary to tell his story (TB Shabbat 33b). This year, as we find ourselves isolated ‘in our caves’, his story feel particularly relevant.
Rashbi’s casual critique of the benefits of Roman rule in Judea is reported to the authorities, and he is condemned to death. Rashbi goes into hiding with his son, first taking shelter in a Beit Midrash. He then realizes he is putting his wife at risk of being tortured by the soldiers in order to disclose his hiding place, and so he finds shelter in a cave. Over the next 12 years, he maintains an ascetic lifestyle, immersed in prayer and study with his son, nourished by a carob tree and a brook just at the cave’s entrance.
There’s a postscript to this story that is less well known (TB Shabbat 33b/34a):
(Rabbi Shimon) said: Since a miracle happened for me, I will go and repair something (for the sake of others) as it is written: “And Jacob came in peace…” (Genesis 33:18).
Rav said: Whole in his body, whole in his money, whole in his Torah.
“And he graced the countenance of the city”;
Rav said: He established a currency for them.
And Shmuel said: He established marketplaces for them.
And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: He established bathhouses for them.
He said: Is there something that needs repair?
They said to him: There is a place where there is uncertainty with regard to ritual impurity and the priests are inconvenienced to circumvent it.
He said: Is there a person who knows that there was a presumption of ritual purity here?
An elder said to him: Here ben Zakkai planted and cut the teruma of lupines. He also did so. Everywhere that (the ground) was hard, he pronounced it ritually pure, and every place that (the ground) was soft, he marked it (as impure).
After twelve years isolated in a cave, Rashbi emerges with a renewed appreciation for his dependence on society’s infrastructure. He sets out to repay his debt and offer his contribution. He sees this as a sacred duty, anchored in the midrashic interpretation of the verse describing Jacob as arriving ‘shalem’, in peace and intact, from his journey home away from Laban, and ‘he graced the countenance of the city’.
The rabbis interpret Jacob’s ‘grace’ as civic contributions; he establishes a currency, marketplaces, and bathhouses. It is striking that these three features are precisely the infrastructure brought by the Romans to Judea that Rashbi initially criticized:
Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai responded and said: Everything that they established, they established only for their own purposes.
They established marketplaces, to place prostitutes in them;
bathhouses, to pamper themselves;
bridges, to collect taxes from (all who pass over) them.
It appears that Rashbi’s period in isolation enabled him to come full circle. He is now able to appreciate not only the value of civic duty, but is ready to take up civic obligations himself.
His own contribution is to remove an inconvenience for a small group in a particular locality. Now the Kohanim, who until that point needed to take a long detour to avoid becoming impure due to some unmarked graves, can go about directly and confidently.
As we contemplate our own transition from quarantine and social isolation, Rashbi’s own story may hold wisdom that will be key to emerge shalem, wholesome and in peace, from our experience of isolation. We may be critical of society and individuals. The key is to be less cynical and undertake to fix something, ameliorate the lives of others, both as a sacred duty and as the sense of purpose that enables us to emerge shalem, at peace and intact.
14 Thursday Feb 2019
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‘Living with the times’, is a motto of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe zt”l that resonates with me. He suggested that every day we ought to find inspiration from a segment of the current Torah reading. So what are we to make of the confluence of Fashion Week in New York over the last few days and in London over the Shabbat in which we read the sedra of Tezaveh ?
London Fashion Week (LFW) takes place twice a year – in February and September, one of the big four international fashion trade events together with Paris, Milan, New York – where designers showcase their new creations to an audience of 5000 buyers and press. If you follow fashion, or have seen photos of what is presented on the catwalks you know that the new fashion collection that are presented are very creative but not really practical or even wearable for most of us.
So is it relevant to normal people, who are neither in the business, nor celebrities invited to grace the front row?
But before you are tempted to dismiss it as just shmattes, it is worth bearing in mind that the LFW alone generates between £40 -100 million in sales. And the global apparel market is valued at 3 trillion dollars, and accounts for 2 percent of the world’s GDP.
The Torah portion of Tezaveh presents God’s own debut as a designer, with a capsule collection specially designed for the kohen gadol, the high priest.
God is incredibly specific in detailing the exact fabric, the color, the size, and the method for constructing the eight pieces. In fact, the instructions take up about forty verses.
Why so much attention to the details of the high priest’s garments?
‘Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.’
(attributed to Mark Twain)
It seems that the high priest draws influence from the garments specially made for him:
וְאַתָּ֗ה תְּדַבֵּר֙ אֶל־כָּל־חַכְמֵי־לֵ֔ב אֲשֶׁ֥ר מִלֵּאתִ֖יו ר֣וּחַ חָכְמָ֑ה וְעָשׂ֞וּ אֶת־בִּגְדֵ֧י אַהֲרֹ֛ן לְקַדְּשׁ֖וֹ לְכַהֲנוֹ־לִֽי׃
‘And you shall instruct all who are skillful, whom I have endowed with the gift of skill, to make Aaron’s vestments, for consecrating him to serve Me as priest’. (Exodus 28:3)
It is not enough to simply be clothed, but the specifications and characteristics of certain garments enable us to carry out precise functions. There are some great examples:
Each of the fourteen layers in an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), otherwise known as a space-suits has a particular function: from a water cooling layer to regulate body temperature to one that regulates air pressure. We can also look at the gear that Olympians wear; fast swimsuits that give olympic swimmers an edge by reducing skin friction and drag of the body on the water. And what is it about being clad in tight fitting Lycra & Spandex that enables us to tackle exercise ?
Returning to the high priest, what special function did his elaborate outfit enable him to carry out?
Various commentators elaborate on the practical function of each garment, for example the bells sewn into the hem of his robe announced the kohen’s arrival. This is interesting, but not easily relatable to our own everyday life.
Here I’d like to turn to the Tanya, the handbook of Hasidut Habad. Its fourth chapter is dedicated to the topic of levushim, garments of the soul. It explains that our soul is our essence, and that part of us that strives to connect to God, through Torah and mitzvot, On its own the soul is all spirit and holiness, but cannot find actual expression, spiritual growth or connection to the Holy. It is only able to do so through physical expressions called levushim, garments. The soul has three levushim;
מחשבה thought – used to understand Torah
דיבור speech – to study the laws and details of mitzvot
מעשה action – to put the details of mitzvot into action
The levushim don’t merely cover up the soul, so that it is embodied, but are what enable it to function in the world. This reframing of the physical as a vehicle for the spiritual expression is a recurring theme is hasidut and one that I find very useful.
But to go back to clothes that hang in our closet, we all have some well worn favorites that we love. We may not be interested in keeping up with new fashion collections or even feel the need to change our wardrobe every season. We may be most comfortable when slip into our favorite cozy sweater. But is that a good thing?
Think back to a time you wore something different for the very first time. How did you feel? I know that as a young teacher, barely a couple of years older than my own students, wearing a structured suit jacket was just what gave me the feeling of competence and authority I needed.
Considering how our physical attire affects the way we feel, let’s imagine what we could achieve if we injected some creativity in our own soul’s garments. What could a Fashion Week for the Soul offer?
A different way to access Torah; perhaps through the mystical language of the Zohar, or the lens of philosophy. A new ritual, perhaps one that doesn’t feel routine can refresh our spiritual practice.
The new designs being paraded at Fashion Week can be easily dismissed as totally unrealistic for real people to wear, and thus irrelevant.
In reality, there’s a huge amount of creative boundary pushing in fashion design, these ideas eventually filter down to the ‘ready to wear’ market and change what the average consumer buys and wears, and very gradually, even how we view what we have been wearing until that point.
As we read Tezaveh over Fashion Week, let’s ‘live with the times’. Let’s step out of our old, comfortable, go-to wardrobe staples, and try out something we would normally dismiss. Let’s enable our soul to find new meaning in Torah and new expressions of holiness in our world.
18 Friday Jan 2019
Posted in Important Moments
One of my childhood favorites, The Little Prince, is a little book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist, and pioneering aviator who flew airmail routes, and joined the French Air Force at the outbreak of WWII.
In this semi-autobiographical novella, the little prince is a boy from a tiny asteroid, who just appears out of nowhere to strike up a conversation with a pilot stranded in the desert, attempting to repair his airplane before he runs out of drinking water.
The little prince talks to him about various characters he has met on his travels. His sharp observations are full of wisdom.
Here, I want to share some of his conversation with the fox. At their first encounter, the fox asks the little prince to ‘tame ‘ him, so that they can be friends. The next day the little prince meets the fox again:
“It would have been better to come back at the same hour,” said the fox. “If, for example, you come at four o’clock in the afternoon, then at three o’clock I shall begin to be happy.
I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances.
At four o’clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am!
But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you . . .
One must observe the proper rites . . .”
“What is a rite?” asked the little prince.
“Those also are actions too often neglected,” said the fox.
“They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours.”
The fox is explaining the role and importance of ritual.
Ritual requires the little prince to be consistent in the timing of his visits.
Only through consistently visiting every day at the same time, the fox can begin to anticipate his visit and look forward. The fox is saying that the anticipation is not just a necessary step to get to the desired encounter, but is a pleasurable and essential element of the relationship itself.
This fits in really well with the Torah portion of Beshalach which introduces Shabbat, our set time for encountering God. Shabbat is first introduced to Bnei Yisrael through the instructions for the manna (Exodus 16:4-5):
הִנְנִ֨י מַמְטִ֥יר לָכֶ֛ם לֶ֖חֶם מִן־הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וְיָצָ֨א הָעָ֤ם וְלָֽקְטוּ֙ דְּבַר־י֣וֹם בְּיוֹמ֔וֹ
I will rain down bread for you from the sky, and the people shall go out and gather each day that day’s portion.
וְהָיָה֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁ֔י וְהֵכִ֖ינוּ אֵ֣ת אֲשֶׁר־יָבִ֑יאוּ וְהָיָ֣ה מִשְׁנֶ֔ה עַ֥ל אֲשֶֽׁר־יִלְקְט֖וּ י֥וֹם ׀ יֽוֹם
But on the sixth day, when they apportion what they have brought in, it shall prove to be double the amount they gather each day.
And from these verses the Talmud (Shabbat 117b) infers:
א”ר חסדא לעולם ישכים אדם להוצאת שבת שנאמר והיה ביום הששי והכינו את אשר יביאו
Rav Ḥisda said: A person should always rise early on Friday in order to prepare all of the expenditures for Shabbat, as it is written with regard to the collection of the manna: “And it shall be on the sixth day, and they will prepare that which they have brought” .
On the surface, it seems that the double portion of manna on Friday is just a logistical detail. It is practically necessary to have a double portion on Friday, so as to have provisions ready for Shabbat, the day in which gathering manna is not permitted.
But, if we look at the double portion gathered on Friday through the lens of the fox, we transform it into a ritual.
The gathering of double manna, is not merely a technical detail that enables the Bnei Yiisrael to have food on Shabbat, it is crucial to creating the sense of anticipation that in turn creates the magic of Shabbat.
This lens also enables us to re-read the oft quoted phrase from the Talmud in Avoda Zara 3a:
מי שטרח בערב שבת יאכל בשבת
One who painstakingly prepares before Shabbat, will eat on Shabbat.
It is not simply about preparing the food and ensuring you can actually eat, but it suggests that the pleasure of Shabbat is inherent in its anticipation.
Preparing for, and looking forward to Shabbat is what sets Shabbat apart from the rest of the week. It is what makes Shabbat feel special.
The Talmud (Shabbat 119a) further describes the ways in which a number of Amoraim would ritualize their preparation for Shabbat.
They each had their own set Friday errands and routines.
Some of these are very practical, some less.
Some are necessary and some completely superfluous:
Rav Anan would don a simple black garment for the Shabbat preparations, so that he could change to special clothes for Shabbat,
Rava salted a fish,
Rav Huna kindled lamps,
Rav Pappa spun the wicks
Rav Ḥisda cut the beets,
Rabbi Yannai put on his garment on Shabbat eve and said: Enter, O bride. Enter, O bride.
Rabbi Ḥanina would wrap himself in his garment and stand at nightfall on Shabbat eve, and say: ‘Come and we will go out to greet Shabbat the queen’.
This list goes on.
It is not simply to tell us that these Amoraim were helpful around the house on Fridays. The Amoraim understood preparing on Erev Shabbat as an important ritual in its own right.
In fact the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Hayim 250) rules that:
ישכים בבוקר ביום הששי להכין צרכי שבת ואפי’ יש לו כמה עבדים לשמשו
ישתדל להכין בעצמו שום דבר לצרכי שבת כדי לכבדו
One should rise up early on Friday to prepare provisions for Shabbat. Even if one has many staff that can do it, they should make an effort to prepare something themselves in order to honor Shabbat.
It’s not about getting the job done. It’s about entering into the task as ritual.
It’s not about getting the job done. It’s about entering into the task as ritual.
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik used to say that the true mark of a pious Jew is not that he or she is a Shomer Shabbat, but is a Shomer Erev Shabbat, observing the eve of Shabbat.
The narrative of the double portion of manna, with its earliest example of Shabbat preparation, invites us to consider how we might develop or enhance our own Shabbat preparation rituals. And how we might reframe ordinary chores into sacred rites that heighten our anticipation for the arrival of the Shabbat queen.
(Adapted from a Shabbat sermon delivered at Congregation Netivot Shalom,
Teaneck, NJ, 2018)
22 Monday May 2017
Posted in Important Moments
Where are you from?
I have to take a deep breath before I can answer this question.
I was born in Milan and lived there until I left home aged 15 to continue my high school studies in Jerusalem. Upon graduating, I moved to the United States to continue my religious studies. Until that point I was from Italy.
Over eight years in the ‘melting pot’ of New York I came of age with work, marriage and children. Just as I began to put down roots and see myself as Italian-American, our family relocated to London.
Where are you from?
All of a sudden, it became a little complicated.
I am from Italy.
But you sound American?
Yes I have been living in New York.
But if I was back in New York, I’d have to explain I was Italian but living in London.
Then came a point when I would visit Italy and my italian sounded a little foreign.
You speak italian really well. Where are you from?
I am from Milan.
But you sound American?
Where are you from?
I had envisaged our move to London to be temporary. But ten years on, I had been living in London longer than I had ever lived in New York.
I did not feel British.
My husband and children all acquired British citizenship, I remained Italian, but finally acquired a pair of wellies.
Sixteen years on, I realized I had been living in London as long as I had ever lived in my native country and twice as long as I had lived in the United States where i had developed my adult identity.
I resolutely remained Italian.
I am a Londoner!
Just as I marked two decades of life in London, producer Rachel Wang got in touch requesting to interview me for a film feature called 1000 Londoners.
Rachel’s questions about the buildings, views and features of London that I most liked (and disliked!) made me realize, that while I don’t identify as British, I do identify as a Londoner.
I am comfortably at home in Milan, Jerusalem and New York, but London is my city.
I love its energy and architecture, its eclectic fashion, art and design scene.
I am grateful to Rachel for finding the Londoner in me by including in me as Londoner #212, which is the area code for New York!
12 Monday Oct 2015
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Ahead of the JOFA Tribute Dinner on November 15th, here’s the story of how I was moved to get involved with JOFA and launch it in the UK:
It was not the DJ that changed my life
….
