Devin's Day (October SA/TO Snap)

Devin Suau was a six year old boy in Framingham. He passed away in 2017 when he was six, a week before his seventh birthday, due to a rare form of brain cancer, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. At the time when he was fighting cancer the Framingham community rose up, starting the WhyNotDevin movement. But now, the city of Framingham is remembering him by proclaiming Devin Day.

The City council unanimously voted to put in place the day which was proposed by the City council, The school district, and Framingham Mayor Yavon Spicer. Now October 20 is Devins day in Framingham which is supposed to be “a day of kindness”. The Day October 20 was chosen since it was the day Devin passed away. 

As well as making Devin Day, the first ever Devin’s Dash 5K is being sponsored by Jack's Abby, a local brewery, on November 7 to raise awareness and the money for the study of the type of Cancer that Devin had.

Chayei Sarah D'var Torah

Summary:

To start this portion, Sarah died and Abraham buried her. Then, Abraham asked his servant to go to the land that Abraham was from to get Isaac a wife, but not to bring Isaac there and to bring the woman to Isaac. The servant went to the city of Nahor, Abraham’s birthplace, and found a spot to try to find a good wife for Isaac. He encountered a woman, Rebekah, who offered him and his camels water, and then allowed them to spend the night at her house. The servant told Rebekah and his family his story, and they allowed him to take Rebekah with him. They went back to Isaac, and Isaac loved Rebekah. After this, Abraham died, and his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him together, and Ishmael also died at the end of the portion.

Commentary:

After Sarah died and Abraham was mourning, the Torah says, “Then Abraham rose from beside his dead, and spoke to the Hittites, saying, ‘I am a resident alien among you; sell me a burial site among you, that I may remove my dead for burial’” (Genesis 23:3-4). I think this is a really interesting quote because it shows how Abraham is really feeling. He used the specific words “resident alien” not because he was from outer space, and also not just because he was unfamiliar/unrelated to the Hittites- I think this word choice also represents how Abraham feels lost now that Sarah died, and he feels like he is a foreigner to the world since he lost his wife. It was a big moment in the Torah that Sarah died, and unfortunately, Abraham had to live the rest of his life (which only lasted until the end of this portion anyway) without her.

 

Vayera D'var Torah

Summary (by Isabel Pravda):

The Torah portion of Vayera is about Abraham and Sarah, Issac, and Lot and his family. Abraham and Sarah are approached by three visitors, who announce Sarah will soon have a son. Soon after, Abraham argues with God about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Meanwhile, Lot’s home is attacked by the people of Sodom and he escapes with his two daughters. Lot and his family had instructions not to look behind him while escaping, but his wife did not listen and got turned into a pillar of salt. At the end of the portions, Abraham and Sarah have their son Issac, and God tests Abraham by telling him to sacrifice Issac.

The haftarah of Vayera includes the profit of Alyshia. The story contains two miracles. The first miracle started with a widow who was in debt, dealing with creditors threatening to take her two children into slavery due to her little amount of money. Elisha asked what the widow had at home and she responded by saying she only had a vile of oil. Elisha then told her to gather as many empty containers as possible, she did as told borrowing many from neighbors and friends. He then told her to pout oil into each of the vessels. When the widow did this, each vessel started to fill with oil. She sold the oil and made a hefty profit, and was able to save her children from slavery.

The second story of Elisha started off when Elisha was visiting the city of Shunam. He was welcomed into the home of a hospitable couple, who made a guest room for him to stay. In return, the profit blessed the couple with a child. Years later when the child was working, he complained he had a headache and died shortly after. The couple layed his body on the guest bed where Elisha once slept and the mother of the child went on her donkey to get Elisha. Elisha quickly went to the house when he heard the news, and miraculously brought the child back to life. The child sneezed three times before waking up.

Commentary (by Matthew Koltenuk):

Another major event in Vayera is that God told Abraham to take his favorite son, Isaac, to a mountain in order to sacrifice him. Abraham was about to kill his son as an offering when an angel appeared and told him to stop, "For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me" (Genesis 22:12). Abraham instead sacrificed a ram, and then God blessed him for following instructions, with the blessing should sound familiar about how Abraham's descendants would become as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the ground. In fact, this story is so important that we read it on the second day of Rosh Hashanah every year.

This week in the religious school here at Temple Israel (in which I am a madrich, which is why I know this happened), the sixth and seventh graders had an interesting discussion about this passage. The question was: was this a test from God to Abraham, and if so, did Abraham pass or fail? One perspective shared on this was that this was a test, the goal of the test was to make Abraham stand up to God and realize that his son is more important than blindly following instructions from God, and that Abraham failed by being willing to sacrifice Isaac if the angel hadn't intervened. However, a different perspective was that this was a test, but the goal was for Abraham to prove his loyalty to God, and he passed by being willing to sacrifice Isaac just because God told him to do that.

Despite the intense discussion that these students had about the topic, I think that it's clear just by reading the text of the Torah that the latter opinion is true. The quote two paragraphs above said that the angel stopped Abraham from killing Isaac because it was determined that Abraham did fear God, and that he was willing to do whatever God said. And, after the test, God gave Abraham a very positive and perhaps the most important and impactful blessing in the Torah, and God's reasoning for this blessing was "because you obeyed my command" (Genesis 22:18). This shows that this was not at all a test to teach Abraham a lesson about self-advocacy or defending his family, but this story was about Abraham proving to God that he was loyal and fearful of God. He passed this test, and in return, he was blessed to be the ancestor of the Jewish people.

New Health Care Facility for the Transgender Community (October SATO Snap)

 New Health Care Facility for the Transgender Community

Idividuals who identify as transgender, (note that this is an umbrella term used by many gender identities such as trans-femme, trans-masc, non-binary, gender fluid, agender ect.) have always experinced a level of discrimination due to their indenty, but it is extremely prominent in the medical community. There is a history of people refusing medical serices to transgender people, but luckily, new federal laws such as the “Health Care Rights Law (as part of the Affordable Care Act)” that behavior is prohibited. However, sometimes trans people need more care than the average cisgender person. According to a 2018 study conducted by the University of Michigan, transgender adults are twice as likely to be told they have a depressive disorder, as well as report twice as many poor mental health days compared to cigender adults. In addition, transgender adults are 4 times more likely to attempt suicide. Transgender people of all ages expeirence dyphoria, making it difficult to feel comfortable in their own body, something that needs special care and attention. Not only is mental health an issue, but being transgender can affect physical health differently as well, with nearly twice as many trans people reporting 9 out of 30 days had poor physical health. 

Fortunately, there is a new solution. A new clinic in North Hampton Massachusetts (close to home!) called Transhealth Northampton was officially opened on May 4th, 2021. Their goal is to empower trans and gender diverse adults, children and families. They are a trans led organization that provide proffesional healthcare and seek to expand healthcare possibilities for the transgender community. They provide clinical care that includes pediatric primary care, adult primary care, and mental health care. They also are committed to research, advocacy, and education and are continuing to expand those programs. Many people not only under the trans unbrella, but also transgender individuals in the Jewish community feel not only is this an amazing advancement in healthcare, but would love to go to a clinic like this if one was avalible to them. Finally, remember to make sure to always accept and validate transgender idividuals and welcome everyone into our temple community!

Visit  the official Transhealth website at https://transhealth.org/ 

Lech Lecha D'var Torah

Lech Lecha Summary:

God told Abram to leave his native land and go where God tells him; God promised to make Abram a great nation, to bless him and make his name great, to bless those who bless Abram and to curse those who curse him. Abram followed God’s directions and left his home, Haram, with his wife Sarai and his son Lot. The group traveled throughout Canaan, building some altars to God. After a while, there was a famine in Canaan, so Abram needed to go to Egypt to get food.

Before he entered Egypt, Abram said to Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. If the Egyptians see you and think, ‘She is his wife,’ they will kill me and let you live. Please say that you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may remain alive thanks to you.” After they entered Egypt, Pharaoh fell in love with and married Sarai and because of her, Abram was given good treatment as well. However, God afflicted Pharaoh and his household with plagues because of Sarai. Pharaoh then got frustrated with Abram that he lied that Sarai was his sister, and he kicked them out of Egypt.

Abram and Lot both had become very wealthy at this point, with lots of cattle, tents, and resources. Abram suggested that they split up because of this, so they did. However, the area where Lot went was soon invaded, and the invaders captured Lot. When Abram heard of this, he went to where Lot was being held captive, and Abram and his men defeated the invaders and took back Lot, all his possessions, and the other things that were stolen. After this, Abram was offered a reward by the King of Sodom, the place that was attacked, but Abram declined. Some time after this, God made a promise to Abram assigning him and his offspring the whole land of Canaan.

Sarai and Abram wanted to have kids, but they weren’t able to yet. Sarai had a maidservant named Hagar, and she suggested to Abram that he should try to have kids with Hagar. Soon after, Hagar and Abram had a baby together, and this made Sarai mad and jealous. In response, Abram gave Sarai permission to do whatever she wanted to Hagar, so Sarai treated Hagar harshly and Hagar ran away. God sent an angel to find Hagar, and the angel told her to go back to Sarai and have the baby, and the baby would be named Ishmael and he would be important and have many offspring. At the end of the portion, God establishes a covenant with Abram, and changes his name to Abraham (because God will make Abraham the father of a multitude of nations). Abraham’s part of the deal is that all of his descendants must be circumcised, to uphold the covenant. God also changes Sarai’s name to Sarah, and God promises that Sarah will give birth to a baby with Abraham and that she will give rise to nations and rulers and have many important descendants. Abraham laughed at the fact that Sarah was 90 and he was 100, and God said they would have a baby, but God still said that they would have a son, and he would be named Isaac. God also blessed Ishmael and promised to make him “exceedingly numerous” and be the father of 12 chieftains. God left Abraham, and then Abraham, Ishmael, and every other male in Abraham’s household all circumcised themselves to uphold the covenant with God.

Commentary: 

One major part of this portion was when Abram decided to pretend that Sarai was his sister and not his wife, for that was a very bad and selfish decision by Abram. First of all, since Pharaoh and the Egyptians thought Sarai was beautiful, Pharaoh married her. That must have been terrible for her since she was already married to Abram but was forced to pretend to be his sister and get married to Pharaoh. Then, God cast plagues upon Pharaoh since he married Sarai, and that made Pharaoh angry about the fact that Abram lied to him and told him Sarai was his sister. So, Pharaoh and Sarai were hurt by this experience. However, the one person that this story helped was Abram! The Torah says that because Pharaoh married Sarai, “it went well with Abram. He acquired sheep, oxen, donkeys, male and female slaves, she-donkeys, and camels.” This shows that even though Sarai was forced to marry Pharaoh and Pharaoh suffered from plagues since he married her, Abram’s decision to pretend that Sarai was his sister only helped himself, while hurting others. Overall, even our greatest leaders and ancestors can sometimes make poor decisions, like Abram did in this portion.

Noach D'var Torah

Summary, by Ari Klawans:

Parshat Noach begins by telling us the Noah was, "blameless in his age," often interpreted as meeting that Noah was not actually blameless and perfect, but he appeared so in comparison to the other people around him, who were incredibly violent and horrible. Because all of humanity has fallen into chaos, God decides to start over. God tells Noah this and then tells Noah to build an ark that can hold himself, his family, and two (or more) of every type of animal. (There were seven of the kosher, or "clean," animals.) Noah does as God tells him to. God makes it rain for forty days and forty nights, covering everything. Eventually, the rain finally stops and the ark comes to rest on top of Mount Ararat. To make sure that it is safe to leave the ark, Noah sends out a Raven, who comes back without anything, not having found a single dry place where it could stand. Noah tries again with a dove, who returns with an olive branch. Noah releases a second dove, who does not return at all, signaling that it is now safe to leave the ark. God creates a rainbow in the sky. God tells Noah that it is a symbol of God keeping the promise that God will never destroy the world again. Because of this, there is a tradition that when one sees a rainbow, they say the blessing: Blessed are You, Lord our G‑d, King of the universe, who remembers the covenant, and is faithful to His covenant, and keeps His promise." At the beginning, the parsha has a gloomy, end-of-the-world connotation, but it can also be read as a message of hope for the future, that even though things are bad now, they don't always have to be. The rainbow represents that hope, however because God has promised not to destroy the world in such a fashion again, we can harness that hope and use it to help God repair the world through Tikun Olam.

Commentary by Matthew Koltenuk:

Believe it or not, this portion actually has a connection to the early origins of racism. Back in the 17th and 18th centuries, one of the reasons many people believed in racism was known as the "Curse Theory." In this portion, after Noah's son Ham saw Noah when he was naked, Noah cursed Ham, saying, "Cursed be Canaan, the lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers" (Genesis 9:25). Many people (of all religions) read this line and interpreted it to mean that people with darker skin were cursed and were descendants of Ham. This theory is obviously highly unlikely and just a thing that people said and believed in to justify their racist acts, and many people eventually came out against it, including Martin Luther King Jr, who said, "This is blasphemy. This is against everything that the Christian religion stands for" in a speech he gave in 1956. King'ss statement is true, and it's unfortunate that so many people misinterpreted the Torah/Bible and used it as (false) justification for why racism is acceptable.