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David Shanes - Men's Club Shabbat Service D'var Torah - April 16, 2010
Samantha Stegman Bat Mitzvah D'var Torah - October 24, 2009
Keith Liker's Blessing for Noah on the Occasion of Noah's Bar Mitzvah - May 2, 2009
Anita Szawielenko D'var Torah - July 24, 2009
David Shanes - Men's Club Shabbat Service D'var Torah - April 17, 2009
Carol Gendel D'Var Torah - March 2009
Marty Teal D'Var Torah Men's Club Shabbat Service - April, 2008
Phyllis Savin D'Var Torah - March, 2008
Keith Liker D'Var Torah - February, 2008
Matthew Shugart Conversion Speech - May 23, 2007
Freda Heller D'Var Torah - June 9, 2007
Natalie Diamond D'Var Torah - February 2007
Keith Liker D'Var Torah - January 2007
Karina Liker's Bat Mitzvah Speech on Mezuzot
Mary Lou Criqui's Conversion Speech
Mary Klein Conversion Speech - April 1, 2006


Men's Club Shabbat Service
D'var Torah by David Shanes - April 16, 2010
Parsha Tazria-Metzora

Every once in a while you find different portions in the Torah that tie together into a common theme. Last year's parsha for Men's Club Shabbat was Shemini, which just happens to be the previous parsha. As I am sure that you all recall from last year, that portion dealt with the kashrut laws; all the way down to the flying insects. After many nights of deep thought, I was able to come to the conclusion that when I, or my successor Allan, is sitting in the next Temple calendar meeting that we should have a copy of the Torah with us in order to check dates against the contents of the parashot for those weeks before committing.

This year we learn about birth, leprosy, various bodily discharges and the rules for when one is clean and unclean. With last year's dietary restrictions, I was surprised that we didn't all starve. After this year's restrictions, I was surprised that we could find a man and a woman that were both clean at the same time and could be together long enough to even have someone to feed in the first place.

Given the fact that babies were constantly being born and all of those other things happening all of the time, one would think that there were more unclean than clean people at any given moment. If you then take those that were remaining and send everyone with signs of leprosy to quarantine outside the camp for the required 7 days, then you would probably get 2 Jews remaining. I believe the Talmud tells us that those were probably the first 2 Jews to have 3 opinions.

Let's talk about clean and unclean for a minute. We see these restrictions presented to us as the tie to events that affect our physical cleanliness. If that were solely the case, one could make an argument that 10 minutes in the nearest mikvah and we would all be clean again. Maybe, instead, we are talking about an emotional or spiritual cleanliness; one where our minds, not our bodies need time to recover from an event. We still do this today. Haven't you ever heard anyone say, "I need my space", "you're in a timeout", or just "Not now honey, I have a headache?" These are ways that we communicate to each other that we need an emotional or spiritual recovery period.

Back to the Torah, we come across very prescriptive rules that seem too complicated to follow or to tell who was clean or unclean at any given moment. Is it 7 days outside the camp or 33 days alone? We can, at least, keep track of those who are bald with leprosy who are instructed to call out "Unclean, unclean."

Maybe we can hypothesize that these rules are not only meant to be interpreted literally regarding physical or visible impurity and under what circumstances people could socialize, but that we could extend this premise of segregation and isolation to cover emotional impurities as well.

My friend Gary in elementary school had Cerebral Palsy. His posture was off and he walked differently. He got made fun of around the school and in the bathroom because he didn't have full control of one of his arms so some things that you or I do easily and take for granted were not so easy for him. Did the kids that made fun of him know that most children with Cerebral Palsy have either average or above average intelligence? Probably not. Maybe a more interesting question is did they even care?

Well that was in the 1970's and that was a long time ago. Clearly we have matured as a society and become more tolerant in the 35 years since then, right? Actually, no, we have not come as far as one would hope.

My final "pre-Pesach" meal a few weeks ago was a grilled BBQ chicken snack wrap from McDonalds. Off in the corner of the restaurant were half a dozen people with visible disabilities, mostly Down's syndrome. One of them occasionally had loud physical and emotional responses. Whenever he had one, someone in line in front of me laughed. This guy who appeared "visibly normal" on the outside was mocking someone who physically looked and acted differently than he did. Which one of these two people would you send outside your camp, the one who appears different or the one who mocks those who are?

Why did he do this? Why did he find it funny? Why do nations, men of power or the average person do this? Did Hitler segregate and discriminate because he was ignorant or scared or threatened? I grew up in Hawaii where one of the main islands was designated in 1866 as a colony for leprosy or Hansen's Disease. People who were believed to have leprosy were immediately pulled from their families and sent off to live in this colony on Molokai. That law wasn't lifted until 1969. There are still leper colonies all over the world. The colonies existed a long time ago because before treatment was readily available there was much concern about leprosy being contagious. If you have seen pictures of what leprosy can look like, then I ask you this; if those who had leprosy were medically treated so that they were no longer contagious, do you think that they would have been treated any differently?

I would ask all of us in this room to raise a hand if they have ever pre-judged someone based on the way they looked, acted, what they weighed, how they dressed or how they spoke; but many here would be too ashamed to be honest with themselves and admit it. If we were all honest, you would see everyone's hand go up. If it is so common to judge then, why is it bad? Most people notice when something is different in society; when something doesn't look right or normal. What we have is the power of compassion and empathy; the ability to look past that first impression, to look beyond the surface and see what lies deep inside; to see things from another's, possibly disadvantaged, point of view.

I read a book several months ago entitled "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell. The sub-title is "The Power of Thinking without Thinking". The whole book talks about how we form impressions of the world around us in the blink of an eye and, usually, without realizing that we have even done it. We all do it. Haven't you ever crossed the street to avoid walking too closely to someone who made you nervous because of the way that they looked, were pierced or tattooed? Examples in the book show how wrong these snap judgments may be. How many of you here have read the book? Personally, I think everyone in this room should read it.

President Reagan is well known for his speech at the Berlin Wall in 1989 that included the request "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" That was a physical wall that had separated a people and divided nations and military forces for 38 years. Go be the hero in your family, your neighborhood, your office or your community and tear down the walls of injustice, segregation and intolerance. Prove to yourself, your family and those around you that tolerance is a good thing. Who knows, it could become contagious.

Thank you and Shabbat shalom.