Midrash Final

The burning question inside of me is; "What's a Rabbi Anna Midrash and what's 'just' a story, or an Anna rambling?

I bring this text for us:

וּמַלְתֶּ֕ם אֵ֖ת עׇרְלַ֣ת לְבַבְכֶ֑ם וְעׇ֨רְפְּכֶ֔ם לֹ֥א תַקְשׁ֖וּ עֽוֹד׃

Cut away, therefore, the thickening about your hearts and stiffen your necks no more.

I take from this that we must remove the armour we put on each day, to protect ourselves, to face the day, to get on with what we need to do. But cutting away the foreskin, the thickening, from our hearts, is to open ourselves up, to be authentic, to be true to ourselves, to be vulnerable.

Brene Brown - Vulnerability

"Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity."

So what has this got to do with being a rabbi specifically?

For me, being a rabbi is being a Jewish leader, not only a Jewish leader, but a Jewish leader steeped in, immersed in Judaism, so that the way we lead, the purpose of our leadership and the example we give is wholeheartedly, unabashedly Jewish.

If the Soul of the Jewish People is to be Redeemed – Rabbi Sharon Brous | Ikar | Rosh Hashanah Day 1 5786

"The rabbis’ job is not to placate one constituency or another, or to remain pareve (or neutral) enough so as not to agitate anyone at all.

It is literally our job to transcend simple binaries and sentimental flag-waving to help the community engage in moral discernment.

To be vigilant and clear-eyed about the headwinds against our people, all while holding those purporting to act in our name to the highest levels of scrutiny.

To fail to speak would render us complicit in the moral flatlining of faith, in turning religion itself, in the words of Rabbi Leonard Beerman, into a sedative, a tranquilizer. A drug. And to be clear:
silence only contributes to a moral vacuum that is being filled by people hellbent on defending the indefensible on one side, and those fantasizing of our erasure on the other.

To not speak is a form of reckless endangerment. It is our moral responsibility to speak."

Back to our first text - removing the excesses - the foreskins

מדרש תנחומא, לך לך ט״ז:ג׳

וּכְשֶׁאָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְאַבְרָהָם, הִתְהַלֵּךְ לְפָנַי וֶהְיֵה תָמִים, הִתְחִיל תָּמֵהַּ. אָמַר, עַד עַכְשָׁו אֲנִי תָּמִים, אִם אֲנִי מָל אֶהְיֶה חָסֵר. חָמֵשׁ עָרְלוֹת הֵן, אַרְבַּע בָּאָדָם וְאֶחָד בָּאִילָן. עָרְלַת הָאֹזֶן כְּתִיב בָּהּ הִנֵּה עֲרֵלָה אָזְנָם (ירמיה ו, י). עָרְלַת הַלֵּב, דִּכְתִיב: וּמַלְתֶּם אֵת עָרְלַת לְבַבְכֶם (דברים י, טז). עָרְלַת לָשׁוֹן, דִּכְתִיב: עֲרַל שְׂפָתָיִם (שמות ו, יב). עָרְלַת בָּשָׂר, דִּכְתִיב: וּמַלְתֶּם אֵת בְּשַׂר עָרְלַתְכֶם (בראשית יז, יא). אִם אָמוּל אֶחָד מֵאֵלּוּ, נִמְצֵאתִי חָסֵר מֵאֵבָרַי. אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא: מָה אַתָּה סָבוּר שֶׁאַתָּה תָמִים שָׁלֵם, אַתָּה חָסֵר מֵחֲמִשָּׁה אֵבָרִים. אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא: עַד שֶׁלֹּא תָמוּל, הָיָה שִׁמְךָ אַבְרָם, א' אֶחָד, ב' שְׁנַיִם, ר' מָאתַיִם, מ' אַרְבָּעִים, הֲרֵי מָאתַיִם וְאַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁלֹשָׁה. וּמִנְיַן אֵבָרִים שֶׁבָּאָדָם מָאתַיִם וְאַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁמוֹנָה, מוּל וֶהְיֵה תָמִים. כְּשֶׁמָּל, אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא: לֹא יִקָּרֵא עוֹד שִׁמְךָ אַבְרָם וְהָיָה שִׁמְךָ אַבְרָהָם. הוֹסִיף לוֹ יהוה, חֲמִשָּׁה, מִנְיַן רַמַ״‎ח אֵבָרִים. לְפִיכָךְ וֶהְיֵה תָמִים.

Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 16:3

When the Holy One, blessed be He, told Abraham: Walk before Me, and be thou wholehearted (Gen. 17:1), Abraham began to wonder. He said to himself: “Surely, until now I have been whole in body, but if I circumcise myself I shall be incomplete. There are five prepuces, four in a man and one on a tree. The prepuce of the ear, as it is written: Behold, their ear is uncircumcised (Jer. 6:10); the prepuce of the heart, as it is written: Remove the obduracy of your heart (Deut. 10:16); the prepuce of the tongue, as it is said: Of uncircumcised lips (Exod. 6:12); the prepuce of the flesh, as it is written in this verse: Ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin (Gen. 17:1). If I should circumcise any one of these prepuces, my organs will be incomplete.” The Holy One, blessed be He, asked him: “Why do you believe that you are whole? In fact you lack five limbs. Before you were circumcised, your name was Abram: The alef in your name is one, the bet two, the resh two hundred, and the mem forty, and that totals two hundred and forty-three. However, Man’s limbs total two hundred and forty-eight. Circumcise yourself and you will be whole.” After he was circumcised, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Him: No longer is your name Abram; henceforth it will be Abraham (ibid., v. 5). He added a heh, which equals five, to his name, making a total of two hundred forty-eight, corresponding to the number of limbs in the human body. Hence Scripture says: Be thou whole.

so removing the excesses, the thickenings, creating space, a HAY letter with all it's breathiness, in order to truly be whole.

Back to Brene Brown:
"You can't get to courage without rumbling with vulnerability."

So, what is it that we do, as we journey on to being rabbis rather than self indulgent storytelling wafflers?

Perhaps not with the removal of physical limbs to feel complete and whole, but certainly many sacrifices, and choices to be studying, or preparing for class, over and above other things;

Because we are all immersing ourselves in the layers and layers of Jewish stories, histories, rituals, prayers and longings.

Because we are removing the excesses, the armour from our hearts and learning to speak, and share stories, and show leadership from that vulnerable, authentic, place.

May we all be blessed with an additional HAY in our lives if not our names, to breathe more space into our limbs and organs, to steep ourselves more and more into our Judaism, to be more vulnerable, to show leadership in new and creative ways, and to master social media to share our message, as we journey on in our rabbinic destinies.