Shaarey Tphiloh

Wedding of Yosef and Lital

Rabbi Akiva Herzfeld — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:06:17 +0000

Hurricane wedding Yosef and Lital

The wedding of Yosef and Lital. We continue to wish them well in Eretz Yisroel

Invocation Maine State Senate

Rabbi Akiva Herzfeld — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:07:17 +0000

Prayer at Maine State House in Senate Chamber
Jan. 11, 2012
Ve’eleh’ Shemot B’nei Yisroel Ha’baim Mitzraimah – Ait Yaakov Ish U’baito Ba’u
These then are the names of the People of Israel who went to Egypt – with Jacob each man and his house came.
In the Jewish synagogues, this very week, we start reading the Exodus story from the Hebrew Torah scroll.
The Book of Exodus is called Shemot, in Hebrew, which means “names.” Exodus in English, but Shemot, Names, in Hebrew. Behind the exodus story are the Names of the people – the individual names of those in the exodus story of the Hebrew Bible.
The story of the Exodus is one of everlasting meaning. God redeemed the people from Egypt, and led them through the waters of the Red Sea, as the horse-drawn chariots of the army of wicked Pharoah gave chase.
We remember drawing close to the glory of God on the Mountain of Sinai. Moses, the lawgiver, climbed the Mountain, and came down with the Torah, a body of moral and ethical laws for the people each one of them with a name.
Today, in 2012, we few, we happy few, here in Maine, in Augusta, in our glorious Senate Chamber, we too continue this godly pursuit of establishing the law, promoting bills that support justice, tranquility and equality for each one the 1.2 million people who live in our State. We acknowledge the Sovereign of the Universe as we work to protect the natural beauty of our State, our lakes and rivers and majestic mountains, and our beautiful earth and oceans that we share with other living animals and plant life.
I stand before you as Jewish person, a RABBI. The Prophet Isaiah once said to the Jewish people in Israel in the name of the Lord:
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? – I have had enough of burnt offerings and the fat of well-fed beasts.”
What does God want most of all from us, asks Isaiah: “Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”
Let these holy words guide us.
Let the sounds and promises made in this chamber come from our hearts and let the laws be directed toward protecting the rights of every person in Maine;
To ensure education for children, so that we can bring equal opportunity for advancement to all the citizens of our State’s future; and to help children start school and receive an education that they deserve from a young age, no matter where that child may live in our State.
Let the laws help bring a healthy living environment for our residents, and let the laws direct the advances of modern medicine to each one of our citizens, to help strengthen them and cure illnesses;
And let God bless our State with a balanced budget, as it says in the Book of Proverbs: “The Lord abhors dishonest measures, but a perfect accounting is His delight.”
Let us pray together that we shall walk in ways of mercy and peace, in the way of God, according to the visions of the Prophets, so that the names and persons of our friends and neighboring citizens are of value to us. With our deeds, let us restore the world in which we live from past mistakes and preserve our righteous institutions of governance for future generations. And to this we conclude by saying as one, AMEN.

The Rabbi’s Old Shoes

Rabbi Akiva Herzfeld — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:26:36 +0000

The Voice – Maine Jewish – January/ February 2011
My son and I don’t always like the same books. He is two years old, and likes to read about TRUCKS. He especially likes books about garbage trucks and recycling trucks.

I prefer heavy books that explore the message of Judaism and explain the meaning of the Torah. I like books with big ideas and profound messages. Sometimes my son does take an interest in my books. He pulls them out from my bookshelf and stacks them in his big yellow toy dump truck and drives them around the house. “Stop that,” I say to him. “Books are for reading, not for hauling and dumping.” But I don’t get too upset by this. Not so long ago, he used to chew on my books, leaving his drool everywhere. When he was younger, his favorite book was the Zohar translation in my bookshelf. He enjoyed munching on its yellow cover, which must have tasted very good.

Sometimes great children’s books have ideas in them that appeal to children and adults. One book in my son’s library is “Joseph Had a Little Overcoat” by Simms Taback. This children’s book describes how once upon a time a man named Joseph had “a little overcoat” that “was old and worn.” Instead of throwing out his overcoat when it was old and worn, Joseph made a jacket out of it. When the jacket became worn, Joseph made a vest, and then a necktie, and so on. (I won’t spoil the ending.)

I thought of Simms Taback’s book recently, when I saw the sole on my shoes wearing out. Instead of throwing out my shoes, I took them to be fixed by the cobbler on Stevens Ave. I could have purchased new shoes for just a few more dollars, but, I thought, “Why get something new, when I can make use of the old?” When the cobbler was finished, I showed my son the soles of the shoes and said, “Look, the cobbler fixed them.” And then we read the story about Joseph’s overcoat.

It feels great to recycle things, and also to recycle old ideas and make them new again. This is an important message for children and adults. As a rabbi, I find that people expect me to teach by quoting texts and ancient passages from the Torah or the Aramaic Talmud. But while Judaism is an ancient religion, it is also a living tradition, and the teachings of the Torah can be found everywhere. The important lesson of do not waste (in Hebrew, Bal Tashchit) is an idea that springs forth from the Torah’s text, but this idea can also be learned from seeing and observing and learning from the world around us.

Avis — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:32:05 +0000

Invocation at the Maine State Senate by Rabbi Herzfeld at 10:00 a.m.