Genesis: a World without Borders?

Two important lessons from the Book of Genesis:

1. There is only one human race.

We are all cousins. There is no superior lineage or ethnicity, since we all descend from the same one man and woman. No one's blood is any redder, and no one's skin color is any more evolved or refined. We are all human, no more and no less.

There are no races. Just one human family. Let's learn to get along.

2. Every human is original to everywhere on earth. Borders are artificial.

Ibid 2:7 "And the Lord God formed man of dust from the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the soul of life..."

Our sages interpret it to mean Planet Earth, i.e. that God gathered dust from the entire earth, from all four directions, so that wherever a human would die, the earth would accept him for burial (Rashi, Midrash Tanchuma Pekudei 3, Sanhedrin 38a).

If you are human, then since "you are from the earth," then "to the earth you shall return" (ibid 3:9). And since you were formed of the dust from all over earth, it follows that anywhere on earth is an appropriate place into which to return.

While this has specific implications in Jewish law (for example, that a corpse found in the wilderness is to be interred in the precise spot it was discovered), there is deeper symbolism here.

If every place on earth is a suitable place to be buried, then it most certainly is also an appropriate place to live.

Let no one ever suggest that a certain land is exclusive for certain humans to live, and not for others. Those others were created from the dust of that land, so they are indigenous for all intents and purposes. How dare you exclude them from that land of whose dust their bodies were fashioned?

Borders are artificial constructs. By right, all humans ought to be welcome in every single inch of the earth, inhabitable or otherwise.

Of course, humans were enjoined to respect the natural habitat, fauna and flora, resources, etc., just as Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden not just "to develop it," but also "to preserve it," (ibid 2:15). Likewise, humans were commanded by God to respect the lives and properties of others, as well as the law of the land (דינא דמלכותא). 

Nevertheless, the law of the land should never seek to prohibit a migrating law-abiding human from settling within their border. Such a law would be unjust, as it prevents a child of Adam from returning to the earth from which he hails.

Perhaps this is why the Torah adjures us: "Love the stranger who sojourns in your midst.

Coming from afar, he might seem strange to you, but his body is no stranger to the soil upon which you walk.

He's just coming home to the terrain of his humble origin that you both share in common.

Our connection to the earth (adamah) is what makes us all human, all descendants of Adam.

Let's embrace that.

Kol Nidrei, version 2019

Before reciting this year's Kol Nidrei, say:

“By authority of the Heavenly yeshiva and the earthly yeshiva, we hereby grant permission to pray with the transgressors.”

Who are these “transgressors?”

They are none other than the errant rabbis who unjustly banned Jewish children from their “earthly yeshivas.”

Has there ever been a wrongdoing as shameful and woeful in the history of our people? An epic failure of rabbinic leadership without precedent, an unspeakably-appalling betrayal of our community’s holiest members. Transgressors indeed.

Not only have they personally transgressed, they caused others to sin by following their delinquent examples. Abusive administrators, board-members and lay leaders are all complicit in their grave offense. Worst of all, all their community members are now transgressing by living in a city that deserves harsh censure and excommunication[1] (since it neglects to provide Torah education to all its children). Shuls that unjustly ban Jewish families are likewise transgressors, as they have violated the prohibition of “לא תתגודדו – do not make them into differing factions.”[2] Whoever is davening tonight in such an exclusionary shul is likewise delinquent. Who wants to be party to such offenders? Yikes.

Nevertheless, on this awesome Yom Kippur eve, permission is granted to pray with them. (After Yom Kippur, though, if their abusive policies don’t change, it’s not recommended to be part of such an unsavory shul or community, sadly.  Seek greener pastures, shuls that welcome all Jews and schools that welcome all Jewish children.

Meanwhile, here we are tonight and it’s Yom Kippur, so let’s join them in their unique Kol Nidrei declaration for this year:

"All vows, prohibitions, bans, suppression, restrictions, betrayal, coercion, intimidation, interdictions, or an any expression of unjust bans… which we vowed, imposed, banned or decreed upon innocent, healthy, and holy Jewish children and their families, between last year’s Yom Kippur and this one…

"We regret them all. All are hereby absolved, remitted, cancelled, declared null and void, not in force or in effect. 

"Let our prohibitions not be considered prohibitions. 

"Let our discriminatory policies not be considered policies. 

"Let our bans no longer be bans."

And let the earthly yeshivas be whole once more. Then we may truly conclude:

"And may the entire congregation of the children of Israel be forgiven, for the people acted unwittingly. Pardon, I beseech You, the wrongdoing of this people by the greatness of Your kindness…

"And G-d says: 'I have forgiven you in accordance with your words.'

ברוך שההחיינו וקיימנו והגיענו לזמן הזה

---

[1] Shabbos 119b. Alter Rebbe’s Hilchos Talmud Torah 1:3.

[2] Yevamos 14a.

Urgent Yom Kippur Message for All Rabbis

בס"ד

Urgent Yom Kippur message for all rabbis and community leaders everywhere:





In the liturgy of the yomim noraim, we recite the prayer:



"May they all form a single band (aguda echas) to carry out Your will with a complete heart." ויעשו כולם אגודה אחת 



Indeed, Israel may only stand before G-d when we are one. As we recite in the concluding blessing of shmona-esrei, ברכנו אבינו כולנו כאחד, "Bless us, our Father, all of us as one." When does "our Father bless us?" Only when "all of us” are “as one."



If one Jew is excluded from shul or school, we are all deficient. We cannot stand before Hashem and ask for a sweet new year. As we read in last week’s Torah portion: " אתם ניצבים היום כולכם לפני ה' אלקיכם – You stand today, all of you, before Hashem your G-d."



If one of you is missing, if it’s not “all of you,” you cannot stand before G-d.



In the Yom Kippur liturgy, the word “אגודה אחת – one agudah," is an important term to consider:[1]



In Deuteronomy 14:1, the Torah exhorts us: בָּנִ֣ים אַתֶּ֔ם לה' אֱלֹקיכֶ֑ם לֹ֣א תִתְגֹּֽדְד֗וּ וְלֹֽא־תָשִׂ֧ימוּ קׇרְחָ֛ה בֵּ֥ין עֵינֵיכֶ֖ם לָמֵֽת



"You are children to Hashem your G-d. Do not cut yourself, and do not make baldness between your eyes for the dead."



On the literal level, the verse is commanding us not to inflict ourselves with (medically-unnecessary) pokes, stabs or gashes (as was done by pagans to express their grief over the dead, or to pledge allegiance to their deities.


Our Sages expounded a deeper meaning: "לא תגודדו -- לא תעשו אגודות אגודות. Do not make yourselves into agudos agudos," i.e. different factions and groups that are at odds with one another (Yevamos 14a).


This means that we are not allowed to have a shul or community where some rule like Beis Shammai and some like Beis Hillel.



We may not divide a community into two factions. Some may attend one shul, but may not attend another, and vice versa.



This is an anathema in Judaism, a violation of the verse לא תתגודדו.



Recently, I wrote to a rav of a prominent orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn:



“How can you remain silent while thousands of completely-healthy Jewish children are banned from attending schools and yeshivos in your city, many hundreds in your neighborhood alone!?”



He responded tepidly: “I don’t understand. Let them make their own schools.”



It reminds of me of Marie Antoinette’s fateful retort to starving Parisians (l’havdil), “Let them eat cake.”



They don’t have other schools, Rabbi Ploni. Your community has a dozen schools, and they are banned from all of them! And you are silent.



Some time later, I was shocked to read about a prominent synagogue in Florida, and then another one in upstate NY, that adopted a policy to ban unvaccinated community members from shul. Even more shockingly, unvaccinated Jewish women were prohibited from using the mikva. Shomu shomayim. Unspeakable.


When these rabbis were challenged on their bizarre policy, they responded shamefully: “Let them create their own shuls and mikvas.”


These rabbis and lay leaders are committing the grave sin of לא תתגודדו, “Do not create divisions among Israel forcing them into differing factions.”


Most unsettling about this fiasco is the verse, the source of this ancient teaching:


The same verse, לא תתגודדו, literally teaches us not to unnecessarily poke, stab or gash ourselves.[2]


This is in fact the reason why many of these educated individuals decide not to vaccinate in the first place. If a needle stab is indeed unnecessary for the health of THIS individual, then s/he is absolutely prohibited from getting that vaccine.[3]


At least one vaccine on the mandatory schedule (for which children are being banned from school and families from shul) is medically unnecessary for the young child or individual in question according to all experts: Hepatitis B. Moreover, other vaccines might arguably be medically unnecessary as well, and if that is indeed the case, then they are per force prohibited by Jewish law. This prohibition, not to inflict oneself with an unnecessary wound, is alluded to in the Biblical verse, “לא תתגודדו,” the very same verse that admonishes us not to divide the Jewish people into different factions, and NOT to create an environment in which a Jewish child may attend one school but not another, or a Jewish family may attend one shul but not another. 


Two agudos. One school and shul for the vaccinated, one school and shul for the unvaccinated. Such division is prohibited by halacha.


I find this ominous “coincidence” too remarkable to pass up, so I am bringing it to your urgent attention today, on this awesome Day of Judgment, the day we all must “stand before G-d.”


Rabbi _____, how dare you stand before Hashem in your errant community who has insolently and unjustly banned hundreds of healthy children from school?


How dare you stand before G-d, rabbis and lay-leaders of certain synagogues (and you know who you are) who have shockingly banned sweet Jewish children and their parents from attending shul this Yom Kippur?


How dare you ironically invoke the prayers “May we all become one agudah, one band, to do Hashem's will with one complete heart” when you have flagrantly transgressed the grave violation, “Do not make them into agudos agudos,” don’t divide Israel into artificial factions of vaccinated and unvaccinated!?


How can you invoke “a complete heart” when you have cruelly broken the hearts of countless Jewish children and their parents in your communities!?


Your minyan is incomplete. Your prayers are deficient. You have been found lacking before G-d, heaven forfend. It was by your own doing.


You offer empty lip-service that "they all become one agudah" while you've made them into “agudos agudos.” You have divided Hashem’s holy people, His beloved children, as the verse begins: “בנים אתם לה' אלקיכם – You are children to Hashem your G-d.”


You inflicted Hashem’s beloved children with unnecessary and divisive gashes. You’ve scarred them with factionalism and polarity. In your zeal to promote “public health,” you infected your community with a deadly and highly-contagious disease called sinas chinam, senseless hatred toward a fellow Jew.


I implore you and beg you:


Leave your shul right now and run to invite those alienated Jewish children and families.


I don’t care if it’s in the middle of kol nidrei or neilah. Remember the selflessness of the Baal haTanya who abruptly left shul in the middle of the avoda (in musaf of Yom Kippur) to care for a yoledes and her newborn who had been abandoned by all others in their zeal to go to shul on that auspicious day.


Leave your shul and run to those homes of those children you betrayed.


Welcome them. Embrace them. Make them feel welcome. Apologize to them. Beg their forgiveness. Assure them that you will not abandon them or alienate them ever again.


Rebuke your errant community members who think they are somehow doing something good by alienating and marginalizing fellow Jews.


Tell them that these families are justified in not vaccinating due to the Biblical commandment, “לא תתגודדו – Do not poke, jab or gouge yourselves[4],” and that we may NOT marginalize them due to the very same commandment, “לא תתגודדו – Do not make them into agudos agudos.”


And then we will truly be “one agudah,” one people with one complete heart.


And then our Father will bless us.


May our heavenly Father bless you and yours with a sweet new year, a new year and new decade of true unity and blessing for all.



Rabbi Michoel Green

Westborough, MA

---

[1] Speaking of Yom Kipur and agudah achas, at the very onset of the awesome day, we permit transgressors to join us for prayer in one agudah, since any fast day that doesn’t include posh’ei Yisroel is not a fast day (Kerisus 6b). Abaye based this on the Biblical verse “ואגודתו על ארץ יסדה – He founded His agudah on earth (Amos 9:6). See Shulchan Aruch Harav 619:1.

[2] Regarding the prohibition of "לא תתגודדו", see Mishne Torah, Laws of Idol Worship, 12:13-14, Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah 180:6-7. Regarding prohibition to self-inflict wound, see ibid Choshen Mishpat 420:31.

[3] See my previous blog posts Judaic Grounds to Decline Vaccination and Bodily Autonomy and Halacha.

[4] With regards to לא תתגודדו, it should be noted that the verse concludes “Do not gouge yourselves or put baldness between your eyes for the dead.” Perhaps the hint here is, “don’t cause divisions among your people out of fear of death.” Along similar lines, I imagine how some might interpret it homiletically: “Don’t stab, poke or gouge yourself unnecessarily out of unreasonable fear of death.” Or even “Don’t stab or poke yourself with ingredients that come from the dead,” i.e. the DNA of babies who were sacrificed in the name of “public health,” Hashem yishmor. Furthermore, it should be noted that “קרחה – baldness” is also symbolic of divisiveness and polarity, as the verse states, “ולא יהי' כקורח וכל עדתו” – don’t be like Korach and sow dissent among Israel. ומסיימים בטוב

"One Agudah" -- Beware the Divisive Gashes of Factionalism

Note: I am not "anti-vax," but simply stating the obvious, that halacha prohibits the unjust marginalization of Jews who don't vaccinate. Banning healthy children from school is halachically-indefensible, as is banning healthy individuals from shul. Even worse, this discriminatory policy threatens to tear apart Klal Yisroel into factions. Factionalism is the antithesis of what we are trying to accomplish on the Days of Awe. If you can "think out of the box" and entertain ideas that challenge the so-called "status quo," please read on:

Urgent Rosh Hashana message for all rabbis and community leaders everywhere:

In the liturgy of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we recite the prayer:

"May they all form a single band (aguda echas) to carry out Your will with a complete heart." ויעשו כולם אגודה אחת 

Indeed, Israel may only stand before G-d when we are one. As we recite in the end of each amida prayer, ברכנו אבינו כולנו כאחד, "Bless us, our Father, all of us as one." When does "our Father bless us?" Only when "all of us as one."

If one Jew is excluded from shul or school, we are all deficient. We cannot stand before Hashem and ask for a sweet new year. As we read in yesterday's Torah portion: " אתם ניצבים היום כולכם לפני ה' אלקיכם You stand today, all of you, before Hashem your G-d."

If one of you is missing, if it’s not “all of you,” you cannot stand before G-d.

The word אגודה אחת, "one agudah," is an important term to consider:

In Deuteronomy 14:1, the Torah exhorts us: בָּנִ֣ים אַתֶּ֔ם לה' אֱלֹקיכֶ֑ם לֹ֣א תִתְגֹּֽדְד֗וּ וְלֹֽא־תָשִׂ֧ימוּ קׇרְחָ֛ה בֵּ֥ין עֵינֵיכֶ֖ם לָמֵֽת

"You are children to Hashem your G-d. Do not cut yourself, and do not make baldness between your eyes for the dead."

On the literal level, the verse is commanding us not to inflict ourselves with (medically-unnecessary) pokes, stabs or gashes (as was done by pagans to express their grief over the dead, or to pledge allegiance to their god's.

Our Sages expounded a deeper meaning: "לא תגודדו -- לא תעשו אגודות אגודות. Do not make yourselves into agudos agudos," i.e. different factions and groups that are at odds with one another (Yevamos 14a).

This means that we are not allowed to have a shul or community where some rule like Beis Shammai and some like Beis Hillel.

We may not divide a community into two factions. Some may attend one shul, but may not attend another, and vice versa.

This is an anathema in Judaism, a violation of the verse לא תתגודדו.

Recently, I wrote to a rav of a prominent orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn:

“How can you remain silent while thousands of completely-healthy Jewish children are banned from attending schools and yeshivos in your city, many hundreds in your neighborhood alone!?”

He responded tepidly: “I don’t understand. Let them make their own schools.”

It reminds of me of Marie Antoinette’s fateful retort to the starving peasants, “Let them eat cake.”

They don’t have other schools, Rabbi Ploni. Your community has a dozen schools, and they are banned from all of them! And you are silent.

Some time later, I was shocked to read about a prominent synagogue in Florida, and then another one in upstate NY, that adopted a policy to ban unvaccinated community members from shul. Even more shockingly, unvaccinated Jewish women were prohibited from using the mikva. Shomu shomayim! (Let the heavens be aghast. Unspeakable!)

When these rabbis were challenged on their bizarre policy, they responded shamefully: “Let them create their own shuls and mikvas.”

These rabbis and lay leaders are committing the grave sin of לא תתגודדו, “Do not create divisions among Israel forcing them into differing factions.”

Most unsettling about this fiasco is the verse, the source of this ancient teaching:

The same verse, לא תתגודדו, literally teaches us not to unnecessarily poke, stab or gash ourselves.

This is the precise reason why many of these educated individuals decide not to vaccinate, and rightfully so. If a needle stab is indeed unnecessary for the health of THIS individual, then s/he is absolutely prohibited from getting that vaccine.

At least one vaccine on the mandatory schedule (for which children are being banned from school and families from shul) is medically unnecessary for the young child or individual in question according to all experts: Hepatitis B. Moreover, other vaccines might arguably be medically unnecessary as well, and if that is indeed the case, then they are unequivocally prohibited by Jewish law. This prohibition, not to inflict oneself with an unnecessary wound, is alluded to in the Biblical verse, “לא תתגודדו,” the very same verse that admonishes us not to divide the Jewish people into different factions, and NOT to create an environment in which a Jewish child may attend one school but not another, or a Jewish family may attend one shul but not another. 

Two agudos. One school and shul for the vaccinated, one school and shul for the unvaccinated. Such division is prohibited by halacha.

I find this ominous “coincidence” too remarkable to pass up, so I am bringing it to your urgent attention today, on this awesome Day of Judgment, the day we all must “stand before G-d.”

Rabbi Ploni, how dare you stand before Hashem in your errant community who has insolently and unjustly banned hundreds of healthy children from school?

How dare you stand before G-d, you rabbis and lay-leaders of certain synagogues (and you know who you are) who have shockingly banned sweet Jewish children and their parents from attending shul this Rosh Hashanah?

How dare you ironically invoke the prayers “May we all become one agudah, one band, to do Hashem's will with one complete heart” when you have flagrantly transgressed the grave violation, “Do not make them into agudos agudos,” don’t divide Israel into artificial factions of vaccinated and unvaccinated!?

How can you invoke “a complete heart” when you have cruelly broken the hearts of countless Jewish children and their parents in your communities!?

Your minyan is incomplete. Your prayers are deficient. You have been found lacking before G-d, heaven forfend. It was by your own doing.

You offer empty lip-service that "they all become one agudah" while you've made them into “agudos agudos.” You have divided Hashem’s holy people, His beloved children, as the verse begins: “בנים אתם לה' אלקיכם – Your are children to Hashem your G-d.”

You inflicted Hashem’s beloved children with unnecessary and divisive gashes. You’ve scarred them with factionalism and polarity. In your zeal to promote “public health,” you infected your community with a deadly and highly-contagious disease called sinas chinam, senseless hatred toward a fellow Jew.

I implore you and beg you:

Leave your shul right now and run to invite those alienated Jewish children and families.

I don’t care if it’s in the middle of tekios or kol nidrei. Remember the selflessness of the Alter Rebbe, the Baal haTanya, who ran out in the middle of musaf to care for woman and her baby who had been abandoned by all others in their zeal to go to shul for Yom Kippur.

Leave your shul and run to those homes of those children you betrayed.

Welcome them. Embrace them. Make them feel welcome. Apologize to them. Beg their forgiveness. Assure them that you will not abandon them or alienate them EVER AGAIN.

Rebuke your errant community members who think they are somehow doing something good by alienating and marginalizing fellow Jews.

Tell them that these families are justified in not vaccinating due to the Biblical commandment, “לא תתגודדו – Do not poke, jab or gouge yourselves,” and that we may NOT marginalize them due to the very same commandment, “לא תתגודדו – Do not make them into agudos agudos.”

And then we will truly be “one agudah,” one people with one complete heart.

And then our Father will bless us.

May our heavenly Father bless you and yours with a sweet new year, a new year and new decade of true unity and blessing for all.

Sincerely,
Rabbi Michoel Green


Footnotes:

1. For more elucidation, see my previous blog posts:
Judaic Grounds to Decline Vaccination
Bodily Autonomy and Halacha
What's Wrong with Religious Exemption?

2. Regarding the prohibition of "לא תתגודדו", see Mishne Torah, Laws of Idol Worship, 12:13-14, Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah 180:6-7. Regarding prohibition to self-inflict wound, see ibid Choshen Mishpat 420:31.

3. With regards to לא תתגודדו, it should be noted that the verse concludes “Do not gouge yourselves or put baldness between your eyes for the dead.” Perhaps the hint here is, “don’t cause divisions among your people out of fear of death.” Along similar lines, I imagine how some might interpret it, “Don’t stab, poke or gouge yourself unnecessarily out of unreasonable fear of death.” Or even “Don’t stab or poke yourself with ingredients that come from the dead,” i.e. live-dissected babies who were sacrificed in the name of “public health,” Hashem yishmor. Furthermore, it should be noted that “קרחה – baldness” is also symbolic of divisiveness and polarity, as the verse states, “ולא יהי' כקורח וכל עדתו” – don’t be like Korach and sow dissent among Israel. ומסיימים בטוב.