The Sabbath of Remembrance: Thou shalt not Hate

This weekend is Purim. Those who show up to services in synagogues around the world will hopefully rejoice in the fun and frolic of this holiday. Let’s not forget that there is a serious side in preparing for Purim. I am not referring today to the customs of shlach manot or preparation of food gift packages to friends and to the poor. I am not referring to the optional fast day which tradition calls the fast of Esther. Instead, this Shabbat we will read the Torah portion- parashat tzav- which comes from the book of Leviticus. At the end of the Torah reading, when we come to the last set of verses, we will bring out a second Torah in addition to the one we read and open it to Exodus and read several verses reminding us to remember the evil Amalek. This was the biblical figure who attacked the Israelites from behind in their journey into the desert. This was the most vulnerable part of the Israelite encampment because the women and the children were at the back of the formation. The Torah tells us to “blot out” Amalek’s name and then it also tells us “not to forget” him. Because it is a mitzvah to read these verses at the end of our Torah reading, the rabbis fixed this Sabbath and called it Shabbat Zachor-the Sabbath of Remembrance.

Why do we pay attention to this little known ancient barbarian or tribal chieftain who terrorized the Israelites? Is it because of the connection to Haman, the evil one who almost succeeded implementing a policy of ethnic cleansing  of the Jews in Persia, thereby setting up the story of Purim which we shall read Saturday night at Temple? The answer to this question is in part yes. But I must believe that there is more to it than simply remembering the evil man in either story. Someone said to me recently, does not this kind of rabbinic mandate to blot out his name ultimately perpetuate hatred in people? How can Judaism advocate us to hate anyone?

There is a possible outward appearance that by remembering our bitter feelings to Amalek or Haman or any of these nefarious leaders over history that we indulge the emotion of hatred.  But the rabbis taught us to remember them not to hate them. Remembering does not mean hating them forever but it does mean rejecting their actions. It means learning from what they did to our ancestors and being careful today because good and evil are shaped by history and experience.

I know critics within Judaism say that we are obsessed with those who are trying to annihilate us. Maybe we should take a broader perspective and resist being so dependant emotionally upon a siege mentality towards our own history. Yet, I wonder if that change of heart does not create a slippery slope for us when we start to soften the impact of the demagogues and tyrants of the past, the successors to Amalek?

It is certainly a balancing act for Jews in observing Purim to intermingle our celebration of Jewish heroism and remembrance of how close we came to extinction. Maybe that is why humor is the only safety valve that the rabbis had at their disposal that would enable Jewish communities to cope with the ongoing potential threat of a Haman in any period of Jewish history. That is why we use the groggers on Purim and cheer for Mordechai and Ester and put on plays to make fun of ourselves. It is all about balance in our spiritual health. Humor itself is an effective tool or emotion that we have to offset the pressures and the anxieties of life.

We would be wise not to focus so much on the man Amalek or even Haman or any other despotic ruler against the Jews in history that such emotional energy saps our love of humanity and our trust of the good people who have been our friends. We have many of them. Let us learn from all our experiences to beware the potential threat and to still celebrate and make holy our lives. Enjoy Purim and Chag Sameach.

finding the creative voice

Finding the Creative Side: Part Three

Part of the problem between us and God may relate to a problem that focuses on ignoring the creative side of ourselves. Let’s face it when we start asking questions about god and speculating about why we are here in this universe and whether God really cares about us we are tapping into the creative wellspring that makes us human.

As a parent I remember asking my daughter to do creative things like be a ballet dancer and study the piano. She did both of these activities for years. Like most parents we started our kids off on them for physical training, mental acuity and discipline. They did them all and we took pleasure especially when they actually enjoyed themselves. But we knew that it was about developing their creative instincts.

I wonder whether we cared as much about those instincts when it came to religion. Sure we took them to Hebrew school and Sunday schools. It started out as fun in the early years. But we all knew what happened as they grew older. They began to see that serving God was akin to serving Pharaoh when it came to after school Hebrew or getting up early to Sunday school at Temple. They began to resent it and protest and resist us and we became Pharaohs to our children. What happened to the creative, God searching side, the side of our kids that showed us wonder with their imagination about God? What happened to it?

Not for all Jewish kids but for a lot of them Judaism became too much of a period of servitude rather than sacred service or growing the spirit. Too many other activities competing for their time is one rationale.  A world that does not value Torah learning is another one. Parents who are not involved personally in their faith and preach one line of expectation but who do not practice it in their lives becomes another explanation about why kids lose their interest in religion.  God can be found in the pages of the books in the Temple library but the problem is that few open the books and then God becomes invisible. If so, is it no wonder that people lose interest in their religious affiliation?

The challenge is to rekindle that sense of wonder. Grandparents can absolutely do this. Parents can too. Kids need to see their parents striving and learning. They may not show it but they will do it in their way eventually. They still model us for good and for bad. We are never too old to set an example for our kids and our grandchildren. So we all need to get going and get out of our comfort zones to become creative again. We can find God in ways we never thought imaginable. I love watching my congregants take on new hobbies and passions in the community. Social activism is definitely one way. I cannot tell how many people in my current congregation who are retired and were never active in a temple or the Jewish community. Yet when they retired they started to explore joining a temple and now they are amongst the most active in the congregation.  Retirement does bring us to the pathway of spiritual renewal. We just have to resist the all too familiar feeling of avoiding things that represent change. Change can be good. Change can help us grow spiritually.  Taking the time to really think about the way we conceive of God and building on that with continued to learning is absolutely a wonderful opportunity for growth.

You do not have to be a trained scholar to engage the Eternal One. Just be a person strives to discover and to learn. We are all on a journey in our lives. Deriving the most meaning and the truth of the life we live is part of the religious quest. God is part of that quest.  Take a step to read a book or write a thought. One day at a time.

The Torah Portion of the Week: Leviticus

Parashat Vayikra: Momentous Decisions

March 11, 2011

There have been moments in Jewish history that defined the course of Judaism for centuries to come. One of those epic decisions occurred almost a thousand years ago when the Roman legions under the General and soon to be elected Emperor Vespasian entered Jerusalem and destroyed it including the Holy Temple.  Judaism was, therefore, at a crossroads for the rest of its history. How would Judaism survive when the central institution of Jewish identity and communal worship, the Temple, was obliterated from the face of the earth?

I chose this question tonight regarding the Temple and the sacrificial tradition because our Torah portion begins the book of Leviticus. It is the book that sets out the order of sacrificial rites, the purity laws, and the regimen of priestly duties that accompanies the sacrificial offerings. For us that world is long gone. No one, not even the mainstream Orthodox, actively plan to return to reinstate the Temple sacrificial cult. We have assigned this material to Talmudic study and to preserve the ideal of the Temple in our theology and more specifically in the traditional prayer  books, but, Judaism has moved forward to renew itself and proved that it could do so. Because of Rabbinic innovation and political skill our forbearers were able to substitute prayer and study as the means of expiation of sin.

The lesson for tonight is not about the value of sacrifices themselves but about how Judaism adapted itself to the most serious challenge to its existence. The sages reorganized the entire faith from a system of sacrificial offerings to relying upon prayer and study. That was the genius to our survival.  Furthermore, have we not been adapting to the challenges of history for two thousand years?  Yet, hearing the call of the Eternal One from the desert Tabernacle or the Western Wall at the Temple in Jerusalem and its sacrificial rites was a means to an end. It was always about the heart and soul of the people reaching out to God.

Let’s take a look back in history to the time after the Roman conquest of Jerusalem. It is important to remember that synagogues were part of Jewish culture in the heartland of Palestine. There were prayers and worship services. The Jewish sages, Pharisees and rabbis taught Torah. But it was the Temple that was the center of the nation’s spiritual life. People traveled to Jerusalem for pilgrimage holidays like Passover, Purim and Shavuaot. The sacrificial system had been in place as the symbol of national identity and communal worship for a millennium and was also used by all the religions of the Middle East.

And then one day it was all over. It was not simply a political crisis. It left a void in the national spiritual identity. What would people do to continue to fulfill the sacrificial commandments that God commanded the children of Israel to perform from the beginning of our history? Quickly the rabbis negotiated with the Roman authorities to establish a center for learning and study in a small town called Yavneh. One rabbi in particular, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, becomes the leader negotiated with the Roman emperor a pathway towards a future amidst the rubble of  Roman conquest  in the year 70 CE.

It is an amazing story told in the Talmud that Rabban Yochanan had his disciples declare him dead and put him inside a casket to be taken out of the besieged city of Jerusalem. After his escape he made his way to the Roman general. Just after Vespasian had been informed that the Roman Senate had elected him Emperor and Yochanan ben Zakkai appeared before him. Vespasian respected Yochanan ben Zakkai. Vespasian informed him that he was about to leave his assignment to become the most powerful person in the ancient world at that time.

According to the Talmudic account,Vespasian said to Yochanan ben Zakkai, “I am now going away from here and will send someone else to take my place.  You may, however, make a request of me, and I will grant it.” Rabban Yochanan said, “Give me Yavneh and its sages, the dynasty of Rabban Gamaliel.” Think about that. Suppose, as some sages at the time advocated, he had convinced Vespasian to restore Jerusalem. How would Judaism have looked or survived if the Romans restored the Temple sacrificial tradition?

But it did not. In fact some would say it was a brilliant strategic decision that enabled Yochanan and his sages to operate under the Roman radar to reestablish the rabbinic presence in the ravaged and war torn Palestine of the first century of the Common Era. It was that decision that started the process of reconstituting Judaism without sacrifices. It was that decision that propelled the idea of prayer as the only way a Jew could find atonement from their sins. That was a revolutionary decision. And when Rabban Yochanan said, “Our prayers would take the place of our sacrifices to God,” Judaism was transformed.

It is not that our sages forgot sacrifices or did not pray for the rebuilding of the Temple. They did just that. But in the meantime they instituted a new approach raising the synagogues and their local prayer customs as well as the study of the Scripture as the main opportunities for Jews to find God and to receive God’s forgiveness. We take that for granted today but with the lens of history we can realize that what is amazing about our history is the ability of the spiritual leadership to reinvent itself in the midst of this existential crisis that put the future of the people and Judaism itself at risk. At the end of the day, that momentous decision to relocate the rabbinical center of learning at Yavneh changed the face of Judaism from a sacrificial based religion to strictly one of prayer, study and communal worship.

What we may not realize is how the sacrificial tradition influenced the way communal prayer, and, therefore, our current prayerbook would be structured for two millenniums. Most of the passages that directly referred to sacrifices were excised from the Reform prayerbook but the underlying influence is still there nevertheless.

How ironic it is that all of us who would never pray for the rebuilding of the Temple still aspire to stand at the Western Wall of that Temple. It is not about the sacrifices themselves. We stand at the Wall for our history. We hear an inner voice that calls from those stones. It is that calling that is the magic of the Western Wall. Similarly the first word of the Torah portion in Leviticus is, “And God called out to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting.”  

Rabbi Eleazar said Prayer is more efficacious than sacrificial offerings. He also said, “Ever since the day the Temple was destroyed, the gates of prayer have been closed. But though the gates of prayer are closed, the gates of tears are not closed. ( Talmud: B BErachot 32b)

One more text from the Midrash:  We read from the Song of Songs (5:2) The congregation of Israel said to the Holy One, blessed be He:  Master of the Universe, I am numb as though asleep, for lack of the Temple, “nevertheless my heart wakes in house of payer and houses of study.”

We have learned that God’s calling us makes us hear the divine voice in different ways as individuals. We have also learned how we as communities reform our way of worship as a people too when it came to listening to the voice of God in the Torah.  What we give to God is our prayers, our deeds, our Tzedakah, our thoughts and questions. All of these bring us closer to the Eternal One.

Shabbat Shalom

God wants us to ask questions.

God: Part Two

Jews have a hard time with God because many so- called progressive, Conservative and even secular Jews have other Jewish outlets to encounter the Jewish experience other than directly dealing with God. We have gastronomic Judaism where we can go to the deli and eat our favorite cultural delights and say, “That is my Judaism.”  Some will engage in cultural organizations that help the cause of Jewish survival. They say that is their Judaism. Others who aren’t sure what they are but have Jewish names or had Jewish ancestry are out there too. They have found other religions or no none at all. Yet they too retain that sense of identity despite the fact they don’t know what to do with it.

The problem is that we don’t have just one way to define ourselves. Even traditional Jews who practice the laws, the Halachah, can perform the functions of what God wanted from us but that does not automatically mean that they have a personal relationship with God, a way of communicating and believing that the creator sees into our hearts and souls!

I believe that Jews are the people of the commentary. We love to comment and to seek to understand something that we feel is deeper inside a text. Whether that text is the Torah, the Talmud, the Midrash or the Kabbalah, we possess that powerful sense of questioning about what we see inside the words. That has carried us into so many other realms of inquiry and is partly responsible why Jews have made so many contributions into the realms of the arts and sciences.

I am afraid that we have become too placid about searching for the eternal question of God inside our lives. Is it a passing thought or even a distant memory? I would really like to know what people are thinking about in relation to God. I am sure that one does not have to be Jewish to have an inquiring mind. Please! To the contrary, all I am saying is that there seems to be a general sense of serious questioning about God in our lives. Fundamentalist and Charismatics in all faiths have their place. People on the other end of the spectrum have their place as well. I am not talking about sitting in a communal worship setting and asking these kinds of questions. I am referring to the private life of a person who can sit down, take the time to read a book or write a thought and imagine a discussion with the Holy One like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. Sounds crazy?

We are losing our spiritual edge if we become immersed only in the digital reality of technology. We must rescue the part of ourselves that in humility questioned our reason for existence and our mission or purpose for being here. It is not that we will necessarily answer that question but just to ask it and to know that God wants us to ask it even if there is not a direct response to our questions about “Why” is good enough. We must feed the spiritual mind with questions. The spiritual side of ourselves relishes the questions. Have we come to an age where we are starving the spirit and feeding the intellect? What do you think?

Finally, too much is at stake for the continuity of our people not to address this question. It is a global problem when religion runs rampant and leads to war. But this is a private matter, an individual issue, for each person to figure out where they are in this world. A secular world that stifles the spirit of questioning and imagining our connection the Eternal One is equally destructive. Do we need to re-establish a balance in our lives where the matters of the spirit can remind us that inside each of us is a poet, a theologian and philosopher all tied together? Yes, think it is so. It is the creative side of who we are. Let’s not forget that precious aspect of our humanity.

Where are you God?

Jews have a hard time talking about God. I say to myself that I want to talk more about God but I  fear that on the pulpit if I do discuss God, that glassy eyed look will infect the entire congregation at Shabbat services. Yet I must explore first my own ambiguity not about God’s existence as the creator of the universe, but, I want so desperately to feel that God cares and knows we are here. I am searching myself, as if this is my life’s journey, to see if I can discover that presence just for me let alone for everyone else in my congregation.

I think we have lost the art of talking to god. I read the stories of how simple Jewish people could talk to god out of the depths of a shtetl and its poverty and danger too. Yet they carried on conversations with the Holy One. I am not so attracted to the great philosophers of Judaism even though I read their works and admire their determination to make Judaism relevant in the world they lived in during the Middle Ages and even through today. I cling to simple stories and prayers. I look for the poetry of God talk. I search not so much for the answer to God but for the question. I yearn to live in the question.

I see that the pathway between the Holy One and me branches out into many different directions. There are many roads traveled in this search for the questions. I can hear God calling me from the very pages of Genesis, “Ayecha,” Where are you?” (2:9) For me religion is all about a life of self discovery and rolling in the meadow of that question “Where are You?”

I do not see God as simply an inner voice or only an outstanding presence that “rolls darkness into light and light into darkness.” I can’t even define God or know what I am speaking about or to whom. Does that make me an unbeliever or just crazy? An agnostic? I relish the journey of discovering not only the essence of myself as I study, pray, teach torah, and write a poem. But all these sacred acts bring me closer to Eternal One. How do I know this is so? I don’t. But I would swear it to be true. I can live with these paradoxes. I can sustain this search with the creative tension I yearn for as I search for truth and for the question that opens the door to truth I have not yet grasped. This is the game of hide and seek with God that I have engaged in over the last twenty five years. I am hiding and I am seeking!

Not every act is an inquiry into the Godhead. Of course I can perform the rituals and savor them. I can read the prayers to myself and to my congregation with feeling and kavanah (inspiration). I once had a dream that I would text God.  I said, “Are you there?” Does a text message have a better chance of reaching God than a letter to God sent to the Post Office? I have more to say on this. What is your view of God?

No More Theological Bullying

Why am I a Jew?

I taught a class Sunday with our high school students. They are truly a wonderful and respectful group of kids. They are smart and insightful. Currently we are working with them on a congregational project. We are writing a book of stories, memoirs, poems and meditations from all age groups throughout the temple. We are doing this because we have commissioned a scribe to bring us a refurbished Torah. We thought that since every Jew is supposed to write his or her own Torah that we too would invite everyone to bring their life stories and the wisdom they have learned and put it down in a literary format of art as well as invite visual artists to contribute  to this project called Torah Shelanu (Our Torah) This is an amazing project.  I am so proud of the congregation for the amount of writers who are working from a spiritual point of view and expressing private thoughts and ideas in the public domain for all to see. They have courage and imagination.

The young people and I spoke about a variety of questions regarding how they see themselves as Jews. And this is what I sensed and took away from our fantastic discussion. On the one hand they are proud of being Jewish. They know they are different. One said, “We are the outsiders at school.” Yet, several  recounted stories how their fellow classmates in public school proclaimed that they would one day go to hell for not accepting Jesus as their savior. One student was retelling a story of what it felt like to be Jewish as being different than anyone else in the class at the age of five years old!

I sense with them that they are used to being on the defensive because they are Jewish. It  has it pros and cons. The benefit is learning at a young age the truth about being a Jew and how people view us with their prejudices and bias.  It is good that our kids learn sooner than later how to deal with ignorance about Judaism. Defending the faith is part and parcel of what Jews do  century after century.

The cons are concerning too. My feeling is that there is something sad when people can stand up for themselves based upon beliefs they proudly proclaim that they do not believe in and have such a serious  problem articulating what they, in fact , do believe in.

I have been dealing with this issue and Jewish kids since I started out in the rabbinate. Serving in smaller communities, I have listened to the same vignettes coming from their counterparts over the decades. There is only a fellow student or one or two more in the classroom. The Jewish kids automatically feel isolated. As they enter high school, Christians who are curious ask Jewish kids what they believe. How do they answer and not lose their social standing in the school community?

I will be curious to see how they will focus on this question, “Why am I a Jew?” We have to help our kids get beyond a definition of Judaism that means what we do not believe in. Instead we should strive for a definition of Judaism those points to a clear message about what we do believe in. That does not mean we forget the question. It simply means we teach our kids to define themselves on their terms and not on the terms of what others ask them about in the cafeteria.

In the end it is all about education. Talmud Torah K’neged Kulam. Education leads to the fulfillment of all other commandments. Learning is the key. Judaism is not only about survival or only about saying what wrong. We have to not forget the blessings in our lives.

I cannot wait to see how the kids will struggle with this seemingly simple question which may be, in fact, more complex than we think. We write and study sacred texts and even pray so that we may understand ourselves and God in relation to each other and the world around us.  The spiritual struggle is an ongoing one. Our kids need our wisdom to answer the questions they receive from their classmates who come from other faiths.

I pray that the time will come when we will not see religious bullying of Jewish kids or kids of other non-Christian faiths. I say this because if some makes threatening comments about someone going to hell for not believing in their faith then I would consider that bullying. No more theological bullying. Some would call it legitimate proselytizing. I call it theological bullying.

We need an oracle today? Urim and Thummim

Torah Portion: Exodus-Tztzaveh

2/11/2011

The Jewish world, particularly Israel, would certainly like to consult an oracle to find out how the situation in Egypt will ultimately get resolved. As always we are living with questions and wanting more answers. As much as we would like to know and to anticipate, once again we see that we still live in a world where the unpredictable still overshadows us in Egypt and also in the Middle East. The recent decision of President Mubarak to remain in office shocked the hundreds of thousands of protesters who were expecting him to announce his departure from office yesterday.  This would have been enough proof that we ought to be careful about predicting the future. Now we read reports that he has, in fact, left for his summer home in the Sinai abdicating his authority to the military. No oracles here, not even the chief of the CIA!

The Torah portion this week describes the ritual objects the Tabernacle including some which provided divine guidance about future events. The high priest consulted the Urim and the Tummim. No one can translate these words accurately but they represent the oracle that the high priest used in determining God’s will concerning the fate of the Jewish people. Would that we could find those shinny stones that enlightened the Priesthood and the prophet Moses. We surely could use them today given the high stakes for the outcome in Egypt and the repercussions down the road towards Israel.

Are the reasons our ancestors depended on this oracle then and other rituals the same as why we need religious rites and rituals today? The answer is yes. The basic character of human beings is the same. We need rituals to balance between our need to control our world or at least our own lives knowing full well that we can never know for sure what is in store for us. Religious rituals are the way we communicate with God and persuade the Almighty to give us an equal playing field in coping with an unpredictable world.

We should not forget how important ritual objects are in preserving history. The entire Torah portion for this week is all about the holy vestments of the priest as well as the ordination ceremony of the priests in the Tabernacle. In addition the portion discusses the mitzvah of lighting the perpetual light in the Tabernacle.  All of these traditions commemorate the Israelite past as they are starting a brand new faith tradition.

At the same time we see that part of what religion is about is figuring out the Divine Will. We want to know what God wants us to do in our human affairs. Something inside us says, “Go ask God for a sign when we aren’t sure about the right step to take in dealing with a difficult situation.” Yes we believe in one god. The intellectual side of our brains says that life is arbitrary.  The emotional side asks, “How can we harness divine power to predict the actions of our adversaries before they descend upon us?” There is a part of us that wants a short cut or just maybe access to divine insider information to know what will happen to us before it actually occurs. 

According to the Rabbis the Midrash describes just how the person petitioned the Urim and the Thummim. The High Priest would face the ark and the questioner stood behind him.  If he prayed from the heart, the Holy Spirit would envelop the priest at once. He would look into the ephod and do so with prophetic insight, seeing the letters on the Urim and Thummim facing him with “Yes” or “No.”  And thus he would answer.  People would not ask two questions at once, but one after the other.

What we know about these two oracle objects is very little. We never read of one instance in the Torah of Moses consulting the Urm and the Thummim.  Moses’ successor Joshua was ordered to request of his high priest Eleazar to receive an oracle from them before going to war. The most dramatic example of the use of the Urim and Thummim was  in ISam 14:40 when Saul had put a curse on anyone whoudl eat during the battle, but Jonathan, not knowing of the curse, had tasted honey.  In a public inquiry, Saul asked, apparently through Urim and Thummim for the guilty party and the lot pointed to Jonathan. 

The Urim may have been stones were employed like a dice. Scholars tell us that after the Babylonian exile they fell into disuse. Judges and priests were available to render judgment in these kinds of matter. Even the historian Josephus in the 1century CE reported that the Uurim and Thummim had not been used for two hundred years.

While we do not have an accurate translation the popular definition is light and right. The Septuagint called  the lots “brightness and perfection and the Latin translation of the Bible, the Vulgate, translated these words as “teaching and truth.”

Rituals like the Urim and the Thummim impose order on reality. They give us structure and preserve a communal memory as well as an individual one. Religious rituals instill confidence and security in a world that often feels quite the opposite. Religious rituals remind us that cultures need stability to keep at arm’s length the unpredictable will and temperament of the Eternal One. In a way rituals give the opportunity to operate by a system of rules that even God must respect and follow. It is like creating an equal playing field for God and humankind.

Today we still value these traditions. We preserve the chain of tradition for people who claim they are descendants of the Temple priest. Even their assistants, the Levites, know that they are from a great line too.  So many rituals in Jewish law exist for the purpose of preserving the Temple sacrificial tradition even if no one expects it will ever again return. It is comforting and it reminds us where we have been.

I cannot help but wonder if Honi Mubarak saw himself as the incarnate symbolic exemplar of the Pharonic dynasty which was why he initially insisted to stay on despite the opposition of the people of Egypt.  Was he the priest and Pharaoh of Egypt in his mind? Did he have an oracle to consult that suddenly led him to change his mind after making his speech last night that he would never leave his office prematurely? Maybe the lesson is that the people will give leadership a lot of room to govern and even give up a degree of autonomy. But if that leader abuses his people, no matter how many years they ruled or what traditions they claim to uphold because of their God ordained or self ordained role, the people will tear them down.

God may ordain the priesthood but it is up to the person to earn the respect from their work. Nadav and Abihu, the sons of Aaron appointed to be their father’s heir apparent, were destroyed by a divine fire when they did not follow god’s rules on burning a sacrifice. Hosni Mubarak was a modern high priest who as president of Egypt, apparently crossed over a line with his people, long suffering Egyptians, to the point where his priestly role no longer could protect him. Then it was time to go.

The Middle East as well as Egypt and Israel are always unpredictable. We could always use a reliable Urim and Thummim for guidance on Egypt’s future as well as Israel’s well being. Like our biblical ancestors, we just do not know how effective the oracles of the past were nor are we aware of any oracles today. I am afraid we shall have to stay tuned.