Federation Star - November 2019

26A Federation Star November 2019
The marathon
doesn’t really end
Three weeks ago, I stood in shul
listening to the piercing sound of
the shofar, imagining its echoing
call, ushering all of us into a world of
peace and unity forever more.
Two weeks ago, I stood in shul
with the holy ark open in front of me,
as we all proclaimed G-d’s name with
the passion and devotion of millions of
others with us and before us in history,
rededicating our lives to Him.
One week ago, I stood in shul, reveling
in watching my children dance joyfully
on Simchat Torah, with the Torah
and each other.
And here I am now, trying to figure
out our perplexing Judaism, which
commands three weeks of a non-stop
spiritual marathon when we entrench
ourselves in spirituality with four
holidays, which entails hours of fasting
and prayer and song, along with festive
meals back-to-back, at times for three
days in a row! And then it all comes to
a sudden halt. On this Tuesday morning.
As I sort through piles of mail, walk
outside our Chabad Center to head out
to a meeting, and sit in traffic to reach
my son’s school.
Or does the spiritual marathon
really come to a halt?
I sort through my mail and discover
an envelope that belongs to the neighbor
next door. Looks like mindless, useless
junk, but I take the time to bring it to
them, knowing that only she deserves
to make that decision.
I walk outside our Chabad Center
on this ordinary day and take the opportunity
to talk for a few moments
to a jogger passing by that I knew had
recently suffered a painful loss.
I sit in traffic, and in order to stay
calm I listen to something uplifting,
maybe Torah.
Because Judaism is not about serving
G-d and being spiritual solely in a
shul, with the holy Torah scrolls in view.
It’s about serving G-d at all times, wherever
you are, and whatever is demanded
of you. You can bring G-d pleasure with
intense prayer on Yom Kippur, and you
can then bring G-d the same pleasure on
an ordinary Tuesday when you are honest
in business, patient and encouraging
to the new clerk at Starbucks, cook a
nutritious kosher meal for your family,
and take care of their physical and
emotional needs warmly and lovingly.
So in a spiritual way, it’s actually
Yom Kippur on every regular Tuesday
as well as on every other day of the year.
The marathon doesn’t really end. There
may be fewer formal meals and different
prayers, but daily continuation of some
kind of spirituality is the responsibility
of the individual.
G-d is there for us. It’s up to us to
bring G-d into our lives.
Rabbi Fishel Zaklos serves at Chabad
Jewish Center of Naples.
Opinions and letters printed in the Federation Star do not
necessarily reflect those of the Jewish Federation of Greater
Naples, its Board of Directors or staff, or its advertisers.
L
Rabbi
Fishel
Zaklos
Themes On Philanthropy
JOIN US for a lunch & learn!
Ellen Weiss, Executive Director of
TOP Jewish Foundation, will conduct 6 sessions
on various philanthropic topics,
including opportunities for tax-savings.
The second session is listed below:
November 19, 2019
11:30 - 12:30 pm
Legacy Giving: charitable bequests
from wills and living trusts
Sessions held at the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples
Ellen Weiss at 813-769-4785
ellen@topjewishfoundation.org
www.topjewishfoundation.org
Lunch will be provided.
All sessions are complimentary.
Seating is limited, contact Marcy Friedland
to reserve your seat
TOP Jewish Foundation is the Foundation of the
Jewish Federation of Greater Naples.
TOP will assist you in designing your philanthropy to help
the community & to benefit you, using many tools such as:
• Gifts in Wills or Trusts (Bequests)
• Permanent Endowments
• Gifts of Insurance & Retirement Assets
• Required Minimum Distributions for IRAs
• Donor Advised Philanthropic Funds
• Gifts of Appreciated Stock & other assets
• Gifts that generate income, such as Charitable Remainder
Trusts and Charitable Gift Annuities
Marcy Friedland at 239-263-4205
mfriedland@jewishnaples.org
www.jewishnaples.org
Together, we are ensuring the Jewish Future
The power of words
Rabbi
Adam F.
Miller
Excerpted from Rabbi Miller’s Yom
Kippur sermon.
The tale is told of the Chofetz
Chaim, a noted rabbi of his age,
and another rabbi stopping to eat
a meal. When they finished eating, the
owner approached and asked, “So, how
did you like my food?” “Very good,”
said the Chofetz Chaim. “Oh, it was
quite good,” said the second rabbi, “but
it could have used more salt.”
As the owner left, the Chofetz
Chaim turned white. “I can’t believe it!
Why did you speak lashon hara?”
Seeing the Chofetz Chaim’s reaction,
his companion was confused.
“What did I say that was so wrong?”
he stammered. “I said that the food was
good – but it needed some salt!”
“You simply don’t realize the power
of words!” cried the Chofetz Chaim.
“Let’s go to the kitchen and see for
ourselves.” As they opened the door to
the kitchen, they saw that the owner was
berating the cook for not using enough
salt and insulting her honored guests.
The cook stood wiping tears from her
eyes and shouting back at the innkeeper
about the quality of her cooking. Their
voices reached a crescendo as the owner
threatened to fire the cook.
The other rabbi ran to stand between
them, “Please, stop! Forgive me for
causing harm – the soup was good and
my tastes are unusual. Please do not fire
her on my account.” Hearing the rabbi’s
heartfelt apologies, the innkeeper agreed
to keep the woman on staff.
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author
of Words that Hurt, Words that Heal,
helps us to understand why the Chofetz
Chaim became upset. “As a rule, most
people seem to think that there is nothing
morally wrong in spreading negative
information about others, as long as the
information is true. Jewish law takes a
very different view. Perhaps that is why
the Hebrew term lashon hara has no
precise equivalent in English. For unlike
slander, which is universally condemned
as immoral because it is false, lashon
hara is by definition true. It is the dissemination
of accurate information that
will lower the status of the person to
whom it refers; I translate it as ‘negative
truths.’”
Think about that teaching from
COMMENTARY
Telushkin. The veracity of information
cannot be used as an argument to justify
sharing that information with others.
There was no need for the rabbi to
comment about salt. Those words only
served to diminish the reputation of the
innkeeper and the restaurant.
While our words have the power to
hurt, they also carry the power to heal.
We read in Torah, “God said, ‘Let there
be light.’ And there was light.” Words
bring hope and inspire the spirits of
others. Imagine if the rabbi had complimented
the cook on the soup, “Please
thank the cook for the best soup I’ve had
all week!”
The parable is told of a teacher who
gave out pieces of paper to her 7 th grade
class, instructing them to write one nice
thing about each of their classmates.
That night, she sat down and compiled
a list for each student which started with
the words, “Thank you for being…” and
then continued with the list of positive
attributes identified by the student’s
peers – a friend, a nice person, smart,
etc.
The next day, the teacher handed out
the lists and asked the students to each
read them aloud. While some giggled,
most seemed surprised to learn that their
peers appreciated their talents, skills and
personalities. From that point forward,
the teacher noticed a more positive
atmosphere in the class. Students who
previously snubbed one another, now sat
together and talked. While others, who
previously felt isolated, now interacted
with the whole group.
Years later, the teacher attended
the funeral of a student from that class.
When she met the parents of the deceased,
they started to cry. Apologizing,
they explained that the teacher had
made more of an impact on their son
than any other person in his life. The
mother pulled out a tattered and worn
piece of paper. “He had this with him
in his pocket at all times,” she said. The
teacher opened it up and saw her note
with the words of thanks and praise from
his classmates. Other students, walking
by, saw the list in the teacher’s hand and
began to share how those lists of gratitude,
generated by their peers, forever
changed their lives.
One month into this new year,
may we be mindful of how we use our
tongues, and the power of our words.
May we refrain from the temptation to
speak ill, no matter how true. Instead,
may the words of our mouths be for
blessing.
Rabbi Adam Miller serves at Temple
Shalom in Naples.
COMMENTARY BRIEFS
JORDAN VALLEY NEEDED
TO PROTECT ISRAEL FROM
THREATS TO THE EAST
The Arab countries roundly – if
rather perfunctorily – condemned
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s announced
intent to extend Israeli
sovereignty over the Jordan Valley.
Dore Gold, the head of the Jerusalem
Center for Public Affairs and
a former director-general of the
Israel Foreign Ministry, said that
the muted response has to do with
“understanding very well...the Iranian
threat to the eastern portion of
the Arab world.”
He said that there is a degree of
understanding about the context of
the move, and how it has “strategic
military significance” in checking
malign Iranian intentions in the
region.
Gold noted that one of the significant
aspects of Netanyahu’s
announcement was that he presented
a map where he defined the
area that he feels is necessary for
Israel’s security, and that the map
he used is very close to the one that
Deputy Prime Minister Yigal Allon
proposed soon after the 1967 war.
Gold said that Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin also adhered to the
Allon Plan to retain the Jordan Valley,
saying in his final address to the
Knesset in 1995 that in any future
agreement, “the Jordan Valley in
the widest sense of that term would
be the security border of the State
of Israel.”
At the time, Gold said, “Israeli
planners were largely preoccupied
with the future threat of an Iraq
expeditionary force that could cross
Jordan in 35 hours.”
While Saddam Hussein has been
eliminated, he said, the threat to Israel
from the east did not disappear,
since Iran “is very actively trying to
project its military power westward
toward the Mediterranean.” (Herb
Keinon, Jerusalem Post)
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