Titzaveh (and Parshat Zachor) Excerpts
תצוה
Shabbat Shalom
Parshat Zachor. We must remember what Amalek did and the bad things that have happened in this congregation. Purim Carnival this year was messed up. The booths were all wrong. The throwing the sponge booth. That was a mean thing to do to Hymie...He got hurt. We understand that there have been many disputes this year, but to have him standing there all day, taking hits. The children were not even allowed to enjoy the booth. Bernie purchased half the tickets for himself...The 'oohs' were so loud, the whole community felt Hymie's pain.
It was that kind of hatred that caused the violence last week. The hatred of Amalek...
Single guy did not make a move on the girl talking to me. Interrupt. Introduce yourself. You must remember that you will never meet anybody if you don't introduce yourself. You think I want to talk about how to bury a halachik cat? No. I don’t want to remember that conversation. But you seem like a cat guy…
'Erase the memory of Amalek.' We must have a decent carnival next year. We must erase the apple bobbing booth. Nobody has legitimately bobbed in years. You all use the side of the bucket…
(28:12 & 29) Names of the tribes on the Efod and Choshen (Breasplate) 'for a remembrance.' (28:30) The names of the tribes on Ahron's (the Kohen Gadol) heart, as a remembrance, bearing the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart on the in the breastplate of judgment. The people of the past. We remember the people of the past for good. The non-Amalekite members of our congregation…
We must remember good as well. There is so much bad I can remember here. Mark’s fiancĂ©. We all remember that….Don't bear that on your shoulders. Mark is probably bearing that all the time.
The Cemetery was vandalized. Those are the people of our congregation whose merit lives on. Without their merit, there is nothing decent. They did good. They are the memory we must engrave with pen. Fine point pen for the fine people of our congregation…The point is to not erase their memory, Bernie. Engraving with a pencil rubs off. Pens stay. You can't erase them. Lead pencils are also dangerous.
You hang with Amalek. You drink with Amalek. Amalek vandalizes the cemetery.
What is our response to this Amalek? Will we erase them? Or will we erase the people of this congregation that used to show up to shul on time? The people that kept the minyan going. The people who built a decent ark and Bima, that you all designed with quilts. The people who used to bring out decent herring for Kiddush. And now you spit on their graves and let them be destroyed, the same way you destroyed the shul.
(29:32-33) Ahron and his sons eat of the ram. Only those who received atonement eat from the holy. It is used for inauguration and sanctification. Non-Kohanim could not eat from it. The founding members of this congregation used to eat excellent brisket.
There are things you cannot eat. Holiness stems from separation...
Why? Because we don’t remember our tradition. You mix the decent and non-decent food together. The choolant is sub-par. The herring has no schmaltz. The kichel is soft. There is no remembrance of the inauguration of this shul…Make a decent brisket and I will eat the leftovers.
Certain things you cannot eat from. It is not holy. McDonald's on vacation, not holy Frank.
(29:34) No eating the leftovers of the inauguration meat, 'because it is holy.'
All you guys eat are leftovers. Everything is leftovers in this community. The kiddish is leftovers. You have to constantly renew in order to make holy…Maybe purchase a new suit every once in a while, Rick…Amalek eats day old food.
(29:35) The process is 7 days. I can't remember a person who was holy for 7 hours in this congregation. No commitment. Can't do anything for a week here. That is why our softball team lost…Nobody showed up to practice. A 7 day commitment and nobody shows…Amalek doesn't commit for 7 days.
(29:37) You bring atonement for the altar for 7 days. The altar as holy, also has an inauguration process. Objects are holy. The grogger is holy. Or is it? No. Because like Amalek, there is no process of making things holy. Groggers bother the Megillah reading…We remember Amalek to erase their memory. We don’t cheer for Amalek. We don’t bring noisemakers to shul, in order to cheer for Haman…Amalek cheers for Haman.
There is no holiness, when there is no thought. They don't remember anything. None of you remember how bad the groggers have been. How the Megillah reading lasts an extra 20 minutes, and it sounded like people were happy to hear Haman's name...There is a fine line between a booh and a cheer...the groggers. The carnival and Mark's fiance are memories we must erase…Not our holy Jews in the cemetery, that you forgot about...
You renew, but with remembrance. In tradition is the way we inaugurate the new. It is a commitment to redo it every day. You daven every day...Not a statement of what people do, Bernie. It is a statement of requirement. We know people here only come on Shabbat or Yom Kippur...Because we haven't had a minyan all week. Nobody remembered to show. For 7 days of inauguration the Kohanim had a minyan...Every year we are commanded to remember Amalek…
Our holiness though is due to the memory of the good, the names on Ahron's breastplate...Is there any good we can remember in this congregation?
What is the memory we are giving our children? Groggers?! We are not bringing them into the world of holiness. We serve them leftovers.
Ahron’s children had to inaugurate. They had to live up to the Kohanic expectations. Is this congregation going to live up to the expectations of the founders of this congregation and make for a more enjoyable Purim. Purim is taking place tonight. We will destroy all groggers, and we will remember the good of our ancestors and re-attach the tombstones. We will commit for a few hours to the people of our past and make for a decent Kiddush....We will booh Hamans name in a nasty way. Not a joyous...
Or are we going to throw the sponge in the face of our ancestors. We will not say a Mishebeirach for Hymie...
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