Moshe Cordovoro teaches in Tamar Devorah (The Palm Tree of Devorah) that to be in the image of God means to be humble, for through humility we learn and practice compassion. There are eight ways to practice the attribute of humility and each corresponds to a place on the body.
The first practice is with the head, as he writes:
Lower your gaze, a person who raises their head upward glorifies himself.
Friends,
The events of recent weeks regarding the Cordoba House Mosque and Community Center in Lower Manhattan is very distressing. The emotions and generalizations seem to imply a syllogism that is counter to our beliefs as Americans and as well as dangerous to us as people of faith. We must stand up and support the freedom of religious expression of all faiths in this country. We must fight against the dangerous tendency to categorize all peoples of the same faith as one. That is to say, we cannot abide by the assumption that all Muslims support terrorist activity and every mosque preaches hate. As Jews we know what it is like to be likened to stereotypes, held accountable for ideas that are said by fanatical Jewish groups that do not represent what we believe, and we know the sting and danger of bigotry and discrimination.
Dear Congregants,
There is a spiritual practice that I have developed over the years. During the weeks before Rosh Hashanah I choose a word to contemplate. This word stays with me the entire year. I research it, I talk about it with friends, I go to sleep asking to dream about it. It is a word that becomes my friend and my teacher, my prod urging me toward resolution, revelation, growth. One year my word was grace, another year it was presence, then I chose forgiveness.
This year I choose humility. Sefat Emet, in his commentary to Ki Tavo in the Book of Deuteronomy writes:
Never think that you have come to the truth; understand that you are always standing at the entrance. The word ‘doorway’ (delet) is related to the word humility (dalut). By realizing how little you have achieved, you find door after door opening for you. A person is always ready to hear the word of God, then when a moment of grace occurs, something opens up for him. But he has to be standing at the doorway.
I have tried to learn humility from others. I only know five:
One I know very well. Three I watch from a far. One was my teacher.
Ezra and I are enjoying our time with family, taking long car rides to see the country, sitting in cafes and eating in great restaurants. I write to you now however, to bring to your attention a rather serious matter. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the URJ writes the following:
The news over the holiday weekend in Israel was disturbing, tragic, and confusing. As a community we mourn the loss of life and pray for the healing of the wounded. The videos of Israeli soldiers being lowered into the Turkish lead ship and then being beaten, stabbed, and thrown overboard, was horrifying to witness. The Israeli Army had announced that they would be boarding the ships in order to escort them to the Israeli port city Ashdod, where the contents of the ship would go through a security check for illegal weapons and other contraband and then all food and medical supplies would be shipped over land by Israelis into the Gaza Strip. With this in mind, Israeli soldiers boarded all ships peacefully, except for the lead ship, from which a band of terrorist and criminals beat them. The Israelis did not have weapons drawn. They first attempted paint pellets to subdue the crowd, then pistols at the feet of the crowd, and then as they feared for their lives, the situation escalated. There is clearly much to be learned in the following days about the details of the planning and execution of this mission.
