Rabbi Janine's Messages

Dear Community, 

Did you know that not all the prophets in Torah are Israelites? 

This week’s Torah portion features one such person, Balaam. Balaam is a Moabite prophet who is called upon by Balak, the King of Moab, to curse the Israelites. Balak sees that the Israelites are on the move towards the Promised Land and that Gd helps the Israelites win each battle. Balak, concerned with the size of the Israelite people moving through Moabite land, asks the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites. But Balam cannot make this promise, saying he is only able to say what Gd tells him to say. Even though Balak orders Balaam three separate times to curse the Israelites, each time Balaam ends up blessing them instead. 

Balaam’s blessing has become a famous and beloved part of our morning prayer service, “Mah tovu ohalecha Ya’akov, mishkenotecha Yisrael! How lovely are your tents, Oh Ya’akov, how fine your encampments, Oh Yisrael!” (Numbers 24:5) 
The Jewish people see this now as a statement of pride. What was meant to be a curse was transformed into a blessing! How often can people say that? 

Mah tovu ohalecha Ya’akov? What makes Jacob's descendents so “lovely” today? Perhaps it is our people’s insistence to turn what was once a curse into a blessing. To live and increase, no matter who the current Pharoah is. 

Rabbi Sacks of blessed memory once said, 

Jewish history is not merely a story of Jews enduring catastrophes that might have spelled the end to less tenacious groups. It is that after every disaster, Jews renewed themselves. They discovered some hitherto hidden reservoir of spirit that fuelled new forms of collective self-expression as the carriers of God’s message to the world.

Humans can typically adapt to whatever life throws at us. But is it possible that the history of the Jewish people shows a path to being more than adaptive, but instead exceptionally resilient? 

Reconstructionism does not believe in chooseness. In fact, Reconstructionists actively refuse any language of chosenness. This is why our prayers can sometimes be different, for example, our Aleinu takes out chosen language from the traditional prayer:
She'lo asanu k'goyei haAratzot, ve'lo samanu k'mishpchot haAdama
She'lo sam chelkeinu kahem
VeGoraleinu k'chol hamonam 
Since Gd has not made us like the nations of other lands, and has not placed us like other families of the earth, since Gd has not assigned unto us a portion as unto them, nor a lot as unto all their multitude​. 

So perhaps what I’m saying in this message is a bit different for a Reconstructionist rabbi. I do not believe that Gd made Jews different or chose us over anyone else. But I do believe (with humble astonishment) that the Jewish people have overcome time and again against the absolute worst odds and we have flourished. Our history is exceptional. 

How lovely we are indeed. 

Shabbat Shalom, 

​​​​​​​Rabbi Janine Jankovitz