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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 17, 2009
Parsha Shemini

In our parsha, Shemini from Vayikra, we talk about completing the service before the Holiest of Holies.

If you are interested in "Torah trivia for 5000", in Leviticus 10:16, we read that (p. 543, The Living Torah) Or "Moses then inquired about the goat as a sin offering" and learn that the word inquired or darash is the middle word in the Torah. We are half way to Simchat Torah again which is great for all of us that love singing and dancing.

The following sections cover the laws of kashrut. We read that G-d tells Moses and Aaron to speak with the Israelites and tell them the laws. We learn that, by and large, animals that have true hooves, or hooves that are both split and wholly cloven footed AND that bring up their cud are ok. We are then given a list of animals that are "not ok" because they violate one of these two rules. It is believed that these characteristics divide animals of prey and those with obnoxious habits from those that are suitable for human consumption.

We then head over to the water where we learn that anything that has fins and scales is ok to eat. Everything else is not.

Next to the air. We have a list of "flying animals" which must be avoided. After the flying animals, we move on to the flying insects. I don"t know about you, but I have never had to have a discussion with anyone about an insect being kosher and ok to eat.

We then end with a couple more rules come out that involve small animals and other smaller creatures.

While there is no reasoning behind why these restrictions exist, G-d wants to make himself clear on these and does so through the statement, ""I am G-d and I brought you out of Egypt to be your G-d." Therefore, since I am holy, you must remain holy."

There are 3 general categories that the 613 commandments fall into: Mishpatim or intuitive justice, aidot or commemoration of events and chukim whose reason for existence is not clear.

I am an engineer, or at least was before I turned to the dark side of management. Engineers like to be able to fix and explain things. All of the flowcharts, data mining and artificial intelligence algorithms couldn"t help me get my head wrapped around these laws.

These rules fall in the category of chukim or statutes. This means that they are to be obeyed even though no reason is given for their existence. There are some that contend that these rules were for hygienic reasons. Some historical research has shown that Jews, as a group, have proven to be less susceptible to certain diseases and have had longer lifespan, although there does seem to be some diseases that we were more susceptible to. There are some that say this is due to the dietary restrictions as well as the process of Shechitah, or cleansing of meat by draining the blood which was believed to harbor the germs and spores of infectious disease. Interestingly, in the Middle Ages, this apparent immunity created a perception that the Jews had caused some of the diseases and plagues of the time and we were often blamed for them.

The core purpose of these laws was not health, but that they caused us to continually think about our religion. Every decision related to Kashrut, as well as other behavioral rules like prohibition of work, cause us to think of faith first. Maimonides believes that the purpose of these laws is to train our appetite, to learn to resist temptation and to avoid believing that the sole purpose of man"s existence is to enjoy the pleasures of eating and drinking; also known as one of the Seven Deadly Sins, gluttony or overindulgence. The Zohar says that, "whosoever eats forbidden foods is cast out of the realm of the Divine Holiness." Maccabean martyrs were known to die before breaking these dietary rules. It is the thought that this continuous and conscious "self-sacrifice" was a privilege for us to partake in. Many historians claim that these kashrut dietary laws created cohesiveness among the Jewish people has been a factor in helping us survive over time. Many of the early rabbis believed that in order to be a holy people we need to separate ourselves from everyone else and these laws created that separation. In fact the root of the word kadosh means "holy" or "sanctify" and an alternate meaning is "to separate".

Personally, I have always had a problem with these rules. I was raised in a Reform home in Hawaii. We didn"t keep kosher nor did anyone I knew. I was raised Jewish, had my bar mitzvah, but some how, felt like something was lacking. It wasn"t because we didn"t keep kosher, it was just like I didn"t fell Jewish "enough" even though I didn"t really know what that meant. When I graduated from high school and headed off to college I decided to stop eating pork. Why? In retrospect, the best reason that I could come up with was that I felt empowered. I was on my own and could make my own decisions and chose to separate myself from my past. I took control of something in my life and went with it. I went close to 20 years without eating it, at least not on purpose. While I didn"t bust out the decontamination suits if something touched a bacon bit, I wasn"t out eating ham sandwiches.

For my own personal reasons, I understand these rules as they have been defined as a "separator". For me, it wasn"t a separation between purity and impurity nor did I feel "holier". I just felt more in control. My Jewish identity growing up revolved around a temple that was 20 miles from our house. I wanted more, but couldn"t readily get it. Once I was in college, I met a family that went to Orthodox services that made me feel totally lost. So I took further steps, studying Torah and Talmud, buying the ArtScroll series of books that explain the holidays, and getting a better understanding of why we Jews do what we do. As years past and I felt "closer" to Judaism, I started to feel that my originally purposeful decision to not eat pork was about as arbitrary as choosing not to eat pizza. It did, however, accomplish my goal of bringing me closer to Judaism.

Again, one of the core tenants of Judaism is our ability to question things. We can try to understand another"s reasoning for doing or not doing something or we can try to understand our own rationale. You are all sitting here because Shabbat means something to you. Either that or you were dragged here by someone that Shabbat means something to. You might be here because you are in the Men"s Club and wanted to participate in tonight"s service. You might be here because you are saying misheberach for someone ill or kaddish for lost loved one. These are all conscious acts that we take to connect us to something that is greater than ourselves. I would ask each of you to look inward to your own connection with Judaism and decide how you feel. It is important to feel connected on the inside, but don"t forget; Judaism is about community. Bettering yourself as an individual is a means to the end of helping you give of yourself to the community as a whole, through acts of loving kindness or through acts of tikkun olam; repairing the world. Just like in a marriage, the more you understand yourself, the more you can contribute to your relationships.

While I would hate to make this sound like I am condoning a "pick and chose/take-out menu" style of religion where we just take what we like and leave behind what we don"t, the Reform movement, just like the other movements, have done a bit of this anyway and I will take this over blind faith any day of the week and twice on Shabbat.

Thank you and Shabbat shalom.