Health Care Reform

In Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol,” the third book in the trilogy that also includes “Angels and Demons” and “The DaVinci Code,” protagonist Robert Langdon quips that he is on his way to take part in a blood-drinking ritual while kneeling at the foot of an ancient torture device.  He refers to his weekly communion.

Symbols fascinate me.  I am often entertained to learn the origins of a society’s symbol or the meaning behind symbols I thought I understood.  One of the more common symbols of modern medicine actually is derived from this week’s Torah portion.  We read in Numbers 21:5-9:

The people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why did you make us leave Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread and no water, and we have come to loathe this miserable food."  ⁶ Adonai sent venomous serpents against the people. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died.  ⁷ The people came to Moses and said; "We sinned by speaking against Adonai and against you. Intercede with Adonai to take away the serpents from us!" And Moses interceded for the people.  ⁸ Then Adonai said to Moses, "Make a seraph figure and mount it on a standard. And if anyone who is bitten looks at it, he shall recover."  ⁹ Moses made a copper serpent and mounted it on a standard; and when anyone was bitten by a serpent, he would look at the copper serpent and recover.

The serpent has long served as a symbol of healing.  It is thought that the serpent-pole described in our parashah influenced the Rod of Asclepius, held by the Greek deity associated with healing and medicine.  Perhaps this is because many antidotes for snakebites are made with a small amount of the venom from said snake.  A lesson from nature that the very same medicine that can hurt can also heal.

We are hearing a great deal about the Supreme Court decision to uphold most of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, colloquially known as Obamacare (which I can't decide if it is a pejorative or a compliment).  Allow me a brief summary:

This act, signed into law in March 2010, provides a great deal of support to lower income families and individuals who are seeking and using health insurance.  Some highlights:

·         Insurance companies are now required to offer the same premium to all applicants of the same age and geographical location without regard to most pre-existing conditions

·         An individual mandate has been established, requiring everyone to be a part of an insurance program, choose a program, or pay a penalty.  

·         Medicaid eligibility has been expanded.

·         Insurance exchanges will be established, and individuals purchasing insurance at these exchanges will receive federal subsidies.

·         Minimum standards for health insurance policies will be established and coverage caps will be banned.

·         Firms employing 50 or more people but not offering health insurance will pay if the government has had to subsidize an employee's health care.

·         Co-payments, co-insurance, and deductibles will be eliminated for preventative care.

·         Chain restaurants with 20 or more stores will be required to post calories, fat content, and other health information on their menus.

But how do we fund such wide-spread generosity of our government?  Well, a series of taxes are also written into the bill.  High income taxpayers have a larger Medicare rate.  There is an annual fee for health insurance providers.  People with excessively high health insurance policies will pay extra taxes on the higher coverage.  There are also fees and tax increases on other entities such as drug manufacturers and medical device producers, as well as a raised floor on medical expenses deductions.  (**This is why we have been hearing anti-PPACA commercials that claim the law will raise taxes.  They will, but not on most people, and certainly not on much of the middle class.)

So there are good things on the bill and bad things on the bill.  Money that people don’t want to pay and health care that people previously couldn’t pay for.  It makes sense that the way we have chosen to symbolize health care is with the serpent.  That which can heal can also harm, apparently.

In reading through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, it is really difficult for me to understand what the problem is with this bill.  Perhaps that is because I read it from a Jewish perspective.  According to Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, health care is first on his list of the ten most important communal services that a city should offer its residents.  According to Joseph Caro, the writer of the Shulchan Orech, a health care provider who withholds services should be perceived as shedding blood.  And in the Talmud, six of the ten things listed as necessary for a town to provide its residents have to do with health care.  To the Jewish people, providing health care to the community is of primary concern, and is the responsibility of the entire community.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie wrote in the Huffington Post, “We are seeing the end of a pitifully inadequate health insurance system that caused horrors every day so tragic that they could rip the heart out of a stone. The American people no longer need to fear that every one of us could lose our health insurance at any time.”  With Rabbi Yoffie, I say, thank God for the wisdom of the Supreme Court of the United States of America.  Thank God for their echoing of Jewish values and American ideals.

May we be able to hold back the serpents who will bite at the heels of this law in the coming months and years.

Plea for the Removal of Strange Fire

There once was a small town near a fast-flowing river.  Just beyond the town the river ended in a huge waterfall.  The townspeople knew to stay away from the river, because anyone caught in the current would surely end up over the edge of the waterfall, and there was no way to survive such a fall.   One day, the townspeople heard shouts coming from the river.  They ran and saw someone caught in the current, heading toward the dangerous falls.  Working together, they were able to throw him a rope and save his life.  A few days later it happened again.  Someone was caught in the current, and they rushed to save him.  They decided to keep the rope tied to a tree by the river for the next time.  Sure enough, it happened again.  And again, and soon multiple people were falling in the river and the whole town set up a watch to fish people out of the dangerous waters, and they had an alarm system installed to bring people to help if necessary.

Then once day they had an idea.  They built a net across the river, so that anyone who fell in would be caught by the net and easily saved by a few people monitoring their net.  Sure enough, it worked, and only rarely did people slip through the net and need extra help.  Everyone in the town was so proud of their solution that they never thought to go upstream and discover why people were falling in the river in the first place.

This week’s Parashah contains one of the strangest bits of text we encounter.  Parashat Shemini begins with the first sacrifice following the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests, with Aaron as high priest.  Aaron offers the sacrifice and fire comes down from God to consume it.  Then Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Abihu, try to do the same thing.  It happens in two verses:

Now Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before Adonai alien fire, which God had not enjoined upon them.  ² And fire came forth from Adonai and consumed them; thus they died at the instance of Adonai (Lev. 10:1-2).

Aaron’s sons, trying to do what they had seen their father do, ended up dying at God’s hand.  The same fire that came down moments earlier to accept Aaron’s sacrifices comes down again with tragic results.  One moment the Israelites shout and cheer as they revel in God’s acceptance of their sacrifice, and the next there is deafening silence.

Fire from God is an incredibly powerful force, and when summoned with the correct intent it brings expiation and elation.  When summoned falsely or by the wrong person, at the wrong time, or with the wrong intent, the consequences are deadly.

In the Bible we can give a little leeway to this disturbing story.  We can explain it with midrashim that suggest God knew Nadav and Abihu had malicious intent and were therefore punished.  We can read it as a warning, over the top for the modern reader but perhaps on track for the Bible, to not act without proper instructions, especially when dealing with the Divine elements that require a particular understanding.  We can assume that there is some sort of lesson to be learned from this terrible story, but all we can do is speculate as to the original writers’ intent.  Nadav and Abihu took their father’s ritual equipment, used it improperly, and it resulted in their death.  They were victims of their father’s strange fire.

Today’s’ modern parallel would be a child stealing their parent’s gun.  We read it all the time, when children want to be cool and show a friend what was under daddy’s bed or in mommy’s purse.  When they use what they don’t understand in an improper way.  It never ends well.

Perhaps it could be argued that guns are helpful.  I don’t personally agree.  I think they only harm.  But let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that someone could convince me that for some reason it is necessary to have a weapon in the home.  When they are not stored properly, used properly, locked away out of reach of anyone who could misuse them, they can only become the same strange fire that Nadav and Abihu toyed with.  Usually when a child takes a handgun that is not properly locked away, the results are the same for them as for the sons of Aaron.

Here in Florida we have extremely lax gun laws.  My brother-in-law, visiting our family here two weeks ago, greeted me with, “So happy to be in Florida where murder is legal."  I responded, "Welcome to the Gunshine State!"  We have laws that allow someone with arrests for assaulting a police officer and domestic battery to carry a concealed weapon.  We have laws that allow someone to use deadly force against another human being just because they feel scared.  We have laws that allow police officers to free a suspect because it looked like he was “standing his ground.”

It is absolutely tragic what happened to Treyvon Martin about six weeks ago.  It is disgusting that it took so long to bring charges against George Zimmerman.  There does need to be justice, and hopefully this will come to some sort of resolution soon.   Zimmerman may have shot Martin in self defense, and Martin may have attacked Zimmerman in self-defense.    But if we focus on George Zimmerman and Treyvon Martin, tragic as the story may be, we are just fishing people out of the river. 

The problem we have is not that one guy who has police officer pals displayed terrible judgment and went unpunished for too long.  The problem we have is Florida’s gun laws.  Martin was a victim of Florida’s Strange Fire.  Zimmerman should not have been allowed to own a weapon, much less serve as his community’s neighborhood watch.

I heard a story on NPR recently about a military battalion coming home from Iraq.  They got through Iraqi airport security without a hitch and flew home, landing here in Florida.  20 or so men and women, finally home from a tour of duty, were detained for two hours by security in America.  One soldier had a nail clipper confiscated, but he was allowed to keep the gun strapped to his chest.  All of the soldiers were allowed to keep their guns and rifles, though several of them had lotions and razors taken away from them by TSA.

In late August, Tampa will be hosting the Republican Party’s National Convention.  They are trying to create a “Clean Zone,” that will help control protesters outside of the convention.  There is a list of items that cannot be brought into this area, including clubs, knives, chains and pepper spray.  But because of Florida’s gun laws, they cannot ban guns in that area!  According to the Hillsborough County Public Defender, “If you’re walking in the convention area, you can’t have a water pistol, but if you’re licensed properly to carry a concealed firearm you can.”[1]

My friends, I know that there are people in this sanctuary who have concealed weapons licenses.  With close to a million people carrying them in Florida, that should be no surprise.  I pray that you don’t have them with you in this holy space, but I acknowledge that it is possible.  I know that those of you who carry weapons do so “for your own safety,” or because you live alone or don’t believe the police would get to you on time.  I know that as a rabbi I am supposed to be nice.  I am supposed to give way in the name of the Talmudic dictate, dina malchuta dina, “the law of the law is legally binding.”  When a congregant tells me about the weapons in their home I typically smile and nod and change the subject.  Every time I do that, I am guilty of putting a net across the river.  So I will do this no more.

It’s time to stop fishing people out of the river, time to stop casting nets to prevent people from more harm than they already have gotten into.  It’s time to go upstream.  This is not about the Treyvon Martins of the world.  This is about laws in the Gunshine State.  This is about political control the NRA has in our country.  This is even about misrepresentation of the 2^nd Amendment of our Constitution.

Owning firearms is wrong.

If you defend our country or cities by serving as a military or police officer, I commend you.  Your weapons should be kept in some sort of protective custody when you are not using them for your job.  If you are not employed as such, get rid of your weapons.  They cannot do any good in your home.  In all likelihood if they are ever used they will only harm you or someone you love.  If you are a hunter, try bow and arrow.  A bow cannot accidentally go off in your hand.  It takes much more skill and would not only prevent accidental shootings (ahem, Mr. ex-Vice President), it would prevent the thinning of animal population that is regularly threatening our ecosystem.

Until we get rid of the weapons, please—please lock them up.  Lock them tight with keys and combination locks and anything that keeps them out of the hands of people who don’t know how to use them.  Help prevent our children from toying with strange fire and suffering such a terrible fate.

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[1] According to Reuters, “Trayvon Martin killing puts spotlight on ‘Gunshine’ state” by David Adams and Kevin Gray

Sports and Comicbooks

I’m not a sports fan.  I never have been.  I’m a comicbook geek.  So when a teenager walking around Universal Islands of Adventure this weekend asked me, “As a rabbi, what do you think of Tebow?”  I was forced to answer, “I love it! It has totally changed the way I watch television…”

Once he explained to me the difference between the DVR system and the Denver Broncos quarterback, I still needed some explanation.  Why would you need my opinion on him “as a rabbi”?  What’s so special about him?  What’s a quarterback?

Since the conversation was becoming sports-based and another youth advisor was passionately offering his own opinion, I took it as an opportunity to bow out of the discussion.  Then later I found myself walking with that same advisor.  He tried to bring up football again, and I professed my ignorance.  I told him I don’t understand the obsession so many people have with sports, especially here in South Florida.  I don’t get why people get so into the teams and get so upset at losses and so excited at wins.  Unless they have money riding on the games it just doesn’t make sense to me.  Personally, I would much rather play a sport than watch other people playing, and I don’t even like to do that very much.

He explained to me that for most people sports are what comicbooks are to me.  It is an escape into a fantastical world where super-humans can do amazing things.  He told me that people get as involved with the players and the teams as I do with the characters in the stories I read.  I have to admit, it was the first time anyone has ever explained sports fanaticism in a way that makes sense to me.

So when I got home I decided to look up this Tim Tebow character to try to understand why people are so into him or against him.  According to Wikipedia, he is a Heisman trophy winner—which apparently means somebody Jewish likes him.  He won an ESPY, the Academy Awards of the sports world, for Best Male College Athlete in 2008.  The list of his awards and honors is incredibly impressive.  He was offered entry into the NFL draft in 2009, but he chose to finish college instead.  He was picked up by the Denver Broncos in 2010, where he took the number 15, which has been the best selling NFL jersey since his draft.  He is featured on the covers of magazines and video games, and Marvel Comics even made a superhero out of him.

That all makes him seem pretty great.  Award-winning athlete, popular among fans.  What could be the issue?  Apparently the problem comes on two fronts.  The first is his faith and what could be seen as proselytizing.  He was fond of writing references to biblical passages on the eye black football players use to shade their eyes from sunlight.  After Tim Tebow wrote the words, “John 6:13” on his eye black, the verse got searched 90 million times in 24 hours on Google.  He says a prayer of thanks after a touchdown by kneeling in the end zone—a move now known as “Tebowing,” and which the New York times says when people do it you can’t tell if they are emulating or mocking him.  He also preaches in the Philippines, his country of birth, and supports evangelicals there and in the States.  The other problem people have with him is that he is…get this: too nice.  Supposedly when interviewing or having discussions with people about God, football, or the weather, he is the nicest guy you could imagine.  Frankly I don’t understand the problem with that except that maybe he doesn’t fit in to modern society.

So back to Universal.  The teen asked what I thought about a national figure wearing religion on his sleeve.  I told him It’s way better than the national attention drawn to the non-football activities of Michael Vick or Kobe Bryant.  If a public figure can influence today’s youth in a positive way, I’m all for it.  Moreover, we shouldn’t be afraid to talk to our friends and neighbors, and most importantly our children, about how important God is to us.  If we keep talking about God and how important our sacred tradition is to us, our children will keep paying attention to it.

So this weekend whether you’re watching football or reading comicbooks, enjoy the heroes of entertainment, and celebrate the ones who know there’s something even bigger than them.

Only in NFTY

Today I was reminded of how lax I was in writing about the eight miracles of Chanukah in our modern world. Tonight, however, I witnessed one that was worth all the others I skipped.
Tonight is the third night of NFTY-STR's Winter Regional convention. Every year teens from all over South Florida gather for four days of programming led by their regional board. Every year on the third night they run a program called "STR Search," which is basically a talent show. The first act tonight was a senior girl who I have seen sing four years in a row. She is a good singer who, bluntly put, thinks she's great. She gets a little too loud and a lot too close to the microphone. She also happens to be a high functioning autistic child, so nobody minds. As an adult, I think it is great to let her sing away. I know that she has issues but she loves to express herself in song, so I tolerate her. But here's the miracle: the high school kids to whom she sings. The self-focused, apathetic, materialistic kids who don't want to do anything but feed their desires, they don't just tolerate her. They love her.

When she sings, they sing along, they hoot encouragingly, and they cheer while she pushes through difficult parts of the song. When she finishes, they give her a standing ovation. It was so beautiful, I felt tears forming. But I wasn't alone. A quick glance around the advisors sitting in the back taught me that I was not alone by far.

These kids at NFTY-STR are an incredible miracle. They make me proud to work with them, proud to do what I do, and consistently impressed by the vast amounts of compassion they are capable of.

Thank you, NFTY-STR. You are the best gift I have gotten this Chanukah.

Third Day of Chanukah: The Miracle of Freedom

Today on Facebook I saw a picture.

It was a picture of Gilad Shalit celebrating Chanukah at home.  Gilad Shalit, for over 5 years, was held captive by Hamas militants.  From the time he was 19 to 25, he was imprisoned and deprived of many of the freedoms the rest of the world takes for granted.  On October 18, just over two months ago, he was released in exchange for over 1000 Palestinians who had been captured by Israel.

It is a simple picture but it expresses nothing less than a miracle.  Gilad Shalit looks great.  A bandaged hand and skinny frame, but smiling and standing on his own two feet.  He looks like he is celebrating with six other people (as evidenced by the six glasses on the table), and he is lighting the Chanukiah in his parents’ home.  The fact that he could even be photographed like this exemplifies the miracle of freedom. 

 
So often we sit in our homes and light our Chanukiot without even a thought to how lucky we are to be able to do so.  Gilad Shalit could not celebrate any holidays for over 5 years, and now because of the perseverance of his family and the willingness of the Israeli government to compromise, we are able to celebrate with him, and acknowledge our own freedom this Chanukah.
 
May we understand how blessed we are to be free to light our Chanukiot this Chanukah.

A Second Chanukah MIracle

Today I noticed the miracle of sibling love.  Last night we lit candles and opened presents as Natalie ran out the door to a Chanukah party for work.  The kids and I had pizza and enjoyed a gift from the previous night: Spy Kids 4.  This is, I admit, an awful movie, but my children love it.

So as the movie was coming to an end I decided to play parent.  I paused the DVD and told them the movie would be continued when teeth were brushed and pajamas were on.  Without so much as a complaint the boys sprang into action as I grabbed Isabella.  Bella loves to brush her teeth, so she takes a bit longer than the boys.  As she finished I noticed her need for a change, so before going up to get her pajamas I stopped at the diaper station.

Here is where the miracle happened.  I heard the boys finishing upstairs, and I thought maybe I would just put Bella to bed when we got up there.  Instead of just coming down, however, Alexander came bearing Bella’s pajamas.  He told me he wanted to make sure she could get ready too.  So he watched as I put her in her pajamas, then asked if he could sit with her through the end of the movie.  The two of them sat snuggling, stroking each others hair, and Alex cooed softly to her, “I love you, Bella!”

Watching a 4-year-old be so tender with his baby sister was truly a miracle.

Ma'i Chanukah?

Why is Chanukah celebrated for eight nights?

Why do we light eight-branch candelabra?

In looking at three different texts about the “history” of Chanukah, we can read three different answers.

First, from the book of II Maccabees, the Chanukah celebration is described as being modeled after Sukkot:

They celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the festival of booths, remembering how not long before, during the festival of booths, they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals.  ⁷ Therefore, carrying ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purifying of his own holy place.  ⁸ They decreed by public edict, ratified by vote, that the whole nation of the Jews should observe these days every year (2 Maccabees 10:6-8).

When I read this I picture the exhausted Jewish troops discussing their need for a victory party and debating how they would celebrate.  The most recent holiday before the dedication would have been Sukkot, the “festival of booths.”  So they would have been disappointed in how they had to celebrate two months prior.  Still reminiscing about how Sukkot could have been or would have been if the Temple was under their control, they decided to model their rededication festivities after Sukkot.  Makes a lot of sense!

About 100 years later or more, the Jewish historian Josephus explains the same phenomenon.  He explains that when the Maccabees were surveying the damage done to the Temple after the war, they found eight spears sticking out of the ground, four on either side of the entrance to the Holy of Holies.  That was clearly a sign that they should celebrate their dedication for eight days.

Another 400 years or so later, the Talmud explains that

When the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils therein, and when the Hasmonean Dynasty prevailed against and defeated them, they made search and found only one cruse of oil, which they lay with the seal of the High Priest, which contained sufficient oil for one day’s lighting only. Yet a miracle occurred, and they lit the lamp for eight days (Shabbat 21b).

This is the answer we all come up with when we think about the miracle of Chanukah, but it wasn’t written about until several hundred years after the Maccabean revolt!  According to the principal of Ockham’s razor, all things being equal, the simplest explanation is most likely to be true.  So which is simpler: that a one-day cruse of oil lasted eight days or that a group of people wanted to relive a holiday they enjoyed a lot?  Probably the latter.

But more important than trying to figure out what really happened over 2000 years ago is the realization what the development of our ancient texts teaches us.  The ragtag group of warrior priests winning the battles over the Syrian Greeks was a miracle.  It was amazing that they were able to come to some sort of victory against all odds.  That was truly something to celebrate.  Perhaps as the years went on they wanted to attribute the victory more to God and less to the guerrilla warriors.  That’s terrific, and makes for a great story.  So they changed the miracle from the battlefield to the candle light.  That’s ok, because Judaism is all about taking the needs of the day and reacting to them as a people.  The rabbis of the Talmud created such a powerful story that we still teach it to our children today. 

But no matter how amazing their stories are, the rabbis never teach us that their way is the final word.  They instead teach us that it is the responsibility of learned Jews to notice the miracles of our day.  We might not see a pillar of smoke and fire or a flaming chariot with fiery horses, but we will see a flower blooming.  We will connect with a friend, and notice the beauty in the world around us.  These are all miracles, and they should be noted as nothing less.  It is up to us to tell the stories of the miracles we see every day.

So this week I will try to point out one miracle for each of the eight days of Chanukah.  As the first day draws to a close, I remember the latkes my family and I ate last night.  To me it was nothing short of a miracle that my wife (very afraid of trying new things) thought the latkes with beets in them were amazing.  (She supposedly doesn’t even like beets!)  So today’s miracle is for new things: may we all enjoy them this Chanukah!

Chag Urim Sameach!