Spirituality

TORAH PORTION

DAVID B. HERNIELIN

EAT TECHNICALLY SPEAKING (DPNC

RESOURCE CENTER

Protecting Your Family,
Your Identity and Your Integrity Online

Thursday, November 18, 2010
7-9 p.m.
Handelman Hall at the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Jewish Community Center
in West Bloomfield.

Join us for a dynamic forum on Cyber Safety, featuring a panel of legal
experts, educators and IT professionals.
This panel includes information about Cyberbullying and what
yourucligital imprint" looks like. This is a must attend for parents,
educators and anyone, anywhere who is online.

RSVP: (248) 432-5411 or ts@hermelinort.org

This program is free and open to the community and designed for an adult
audience. Please reserve to confirm your spot. Walk-ins are
welcome but program materials are only
available to registered participants.

THE BATTLE FOR THE JEWISH SOUL:
ARE THE MISSIONARIES WINNING?

Michigan Jewish Institute,
SAJE

(Seminars for Adult Jewish Enrichment)

In this provocative, two-part lecture series

and The Shul present:

Rabbi Tovia Singer exposes the growing and

unyielding efforts of fundamentalist Christian
organizations like "Jews for Jesus" that
aggressively target Jews for conversion.

Jesus Was a Jew,
But Can a Jew Be far Jesus?

Thursday, November 18, 2010
7:30 p.m. lecture

light refreshments, book sale and
signing following program

The Janice Charach Gallery
Jewish Community Center
6600 W. Maple Road
West Bloomfield

Rabbi Tovia Singer

Text Twist: How Missionaries
Manipulate Jewish Scriptures

Sunday, November 21, 2010
1 p.m. light dairy lunch
1:30 p.m. lecture

Radio talk show host, author, and top
international counter-missionary expert

Two compelling lectures.
Attend one or both.
Free and open to the public.

The Shul
The Jack & Miriam Shenkman Building
6890 W. Maple Road
West Bloomfield

Pre-registration is requested by November 15. Call 248.432.5692 or visit www.jccdet.org .
Register for Nirim credits at www.jewishdetroit.org/nirim.
Rabbi Singer's visit is generously underwritten by Linda Lowenstein and family in memory of her parents.

SAJE is made possible, in part, thanks to the generous support of Sheri & David Jaffa through the Center's Pillars of Light program.
SAJE is endowed by a generous gift from Cis Maisel Kellman.

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50 November 11 • 2010

Overcoming Hate

Parshat Vayetze: Genesis 28:10-32:3;
Hosea 12:13-14:10.

y

ou can dislike intensely, but
you should never, ever hate.
This was a pervasive refrain
my mother ingrained into me as a
youngster. Yes "hate" is a very strong
word because it denotes
revulsion, distaste, enmity
and antipathy. Additionally,
as we know all too well,
hatred can be a precursor
to violence and a major
motive behind armed
conflicts like war and ter-
rorism.
I can only imagine that
several of our biblical
ancestors must have felt
a sense of hatred on the
highest level. For instance,
Cain must have hated his
brother Abel to be com-
pelled to kill him.
Similarly, Esau must have hated
Jacob after Jacob stole both the first-
born inheritance and his father's
most cherished blessing. But inter-
estingly, the word "hate" does not
emerge in either of these two stories
or in any other Torah portion thus far
until it appears this week in Parshat
Vayetze.
Following Jacob's unanticipated
marriage to Leah after working seven
years to win the hand of her sister
Rachel, Leah became hated by Jacob.
While Jacob had reason to perhaps
"hate" Leah's father, Laban, for his
terrible act of deceit, what reason did
Jacob have for putting his feelings of
hatred onto Leah?
Nonetheless, the Torah is unwaver-
ing in its use of the Hebrew word for
hatred — s'nuah — suggesting per-
haps that Jacob hated Leah because
she symbolized the deceptive circum-
stances of their wedding and thus
their entire relationship.
Sinat chinam — baseless and
causeless hatred — is what the
ancient rabbis attribute to being
the primary reason that the ancient
Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.
And I believe that we have learned
little, if anything, about controlling
our hatred as a society in the 2000
years since the Temple's destruction.
Sadly, like our forbearers, we, too,
live in a time where intense hatred

prevails between people. We are
products of a world overflowing with
unyielding prejudice, bigotry, racism,
sexism, homophobia and countless
other forms of hatred that at times
leads to condemnation and
violence against both indi-
viduals as well as groups
of people.
But even Jacob shows us
this week that hatred does
not have to prevail. Our
portion also offers a vision
for a world beyond hatred,
one that I hope we can all
fully embrace.
As Jacob dreams of a
ladder reaching the heav-
ens, he arises from his
sleep refocused and revi-
talized — excited to bring
the beauty of God's majesty and
the potential for increased holiness
into the world. No longer being held
back by the awful memory of all the
years of hard labor he experienced
in Laban's house, Jacob now has a
clear mission to pursue: spreading
the power of goodness and kindness
among all people.
We, too, can have the very same
mission and purpose if we so
choose. Recognizing that hating
others generates so much unneces-
sary and destructive dark energy
within us, we should allow ourselves
to fully let go of our negativity and
our grudges in attempting to create
a reality where respect, honor, men-
tshlekeit and peace reign supreme. I
am convinced that if Jacob could do
it, so can we! ❑

Rabbi Joseph H. Krakoff is a rabbi

at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in
Southfield.

Conversations

What would or has provoked you
to feelings of hatred of another
person?

Do you feel that you give others
the benefit of the doubt?

How can you make friends out of
your so-called "enemies"?