Chazak ! ! !

Chazak

Chazak - Chazak - & Psalm 23

This week is a double Parshiot Shabbos where we combine “Matot” with “Masei” because this Shabbos is called “Shabbos Chazak or “the Shabbos of reinforcement”. Why? Because it is the ending of this book of the Chumash and we so declare “Be Strong, be strong, and may you be strengthened”.

Parshat Matot is always read during Bein HaMetzarim, the three weeks between the fast of the 17th of Tammuz and the fast of Tisha B’Av which comes up in about nine more days. We read this parshat now because it is associated with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash and recalls the negative qualities of a staffs frimness.

And it is this that takes us back to the relationship(s) between Chazak and the 23rd Psalm. Question: “Have any of you wondered why we read; ‘...thy rod and thy staff..’ in this Psalm? Well, the concepts come from this weeks readings of the Torah. In Matot, the singular form is mateh and that translates to the literal - “staff”. This term is used to refer to the tribes of the Jewish people as the leader of each tribe was distinguished by his staff of leadership. And again, for similar reasons, “shevet” is also used as a synonym for “tribe” and its literal translation is: “rod”.

Of course you are asking why and what is the difference? A rod (mateh) is supple and can be bent while a staff (shevet) is firm and unyielding. For those of you city-bred chillin, I’ll explain. If you go and cut a willow (rod) in the spring, it is still connected to the existing parent branch and is is quite flexible and pliant. But if you were to cut the part of the parent which has been growing for several years and has additional rings you find that it is rigid, hard and dry. This is the shevet (staff) form. Traditional Jewish thinking sees these terms as analogies for different levels of expression of the souls’ potential.

The “rod” is related to the soul as it exists in the spiritual - where a relationship with HaShem is appreciated and it is united with an active bond to the lifegiving, spiritual nature.. “Staff” on the other-hand has its relationship with the material world where the soul is part of the enclosure of the body. It, therefore, has a severed existence from G-dliness and in some sense suffers a feeling of loss which sometimes manifests itself as needing to be seen as strong and firm.

This is sometimes seen as an asset and at other time as insensitive or stubborn. We see this most often now in our country’s leadership. They seem not to have read or Sages comment that, “A person should always be pliant like a reed, and not hard like a cedar.”

And, again, we see in Psalm 23 that it takes both attributes or pliancy and rigidity to unite our body and our soul. Then we can take comfort. Several times I have asked the question; “Do you think that you have a ‘soul’?” and when most everyone says “yes”, I disagree and say; “No, I do not believe that - I think it is the other way around, for I believe that the soul was made first and that body ‘attached’ late and when the body leaves this world or ours, the soul will continue.”

That, in any case is not, necessarily our discussion this morning. I would like to consider further; the relationship of Chazak to our 21st CE lives and how we deal with the problems of when to be firm and unbending and when we need to be pliant and - shall we say - ‘more forgiving’.

Here is an example. I recently received again the story of the ‘shoe bomber’. Remember him? And here, briefly, is the Judge’s final comments to him after passing his life sentence along with an additional 80 years, etc.

This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.

Now, let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you or any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before. There is too much war talk here and I say that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here in this court, we deal with individuals as individuals and care for individuals as individuals. As human beings, we reach out for justice.

You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature. Whether the officers of government do it or your attorney does it, or if you think you are a soldier, you are not----- you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not meet with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.

So war talk is way out of line in this court You are a big fellow. But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I've known warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty of multiple attempted murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it right when you first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the press and the TV crews were, and he said: 'You're no big deal. '

You are no big deal.

What your able counsel and what the equally able United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know how tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here to this courtroom today?

I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing? And, I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you, but as I search this entire record, it comes as close to understanding as I know.

It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose. Here, in this society, the very wind carries freedom. It carries it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom, so that everyone can see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly, individually, and discretely. It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf, have filed appeals, will go on in their representation of you before other judges.

We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties. Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear any burden; pay any price, to preserve our freedoms. Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. The day after tomorrow, it will be forgotten, but this, however, will long endure.

Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America , the American people will gather to see that justice, individual justice, justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done. The very President of the United States through his officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to mold and shape and refine our sense of justice.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of America . That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag stands for freedom. And it always will.

Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down.

These are comments of one Judge. They are comments and decisions made by a Judge of our county that are based upon the Judio-Christian laws that we discussed last week. Do they represent the relationships between firmness and pliancy? Do they represent our Sage’s advice to be, “...pliant like an reed...not rigid like a cedar.”? When is it proper to be flexible? Can Israel apologize for protecting it citizens and more than the US of A? Go back again, to [tlhq-Kohelet] Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon, perhaps the greatest of all Judges - “...a time to scatter stones - and a time to gather stones; A time to rend and a time to mend; A time to be silent and a time to speak... A time to kill and a time to heal... -as in wartime or in the legal execution of criminals.

And, from last week: Think about it.

Yisrael Betzalel ben Avraham

Matot-Masei 5770

STSG @ Beth Shalom

Bamidbar: Bermuda Dunes, CA