Sitting In A Sukkah While Thinking About Stuff.

Rabbi Held

In the past, I've written quite a bit about Sukkot when hanging out in these little huts covered in vegetation materials like corn stalks and branches. This year, it's 90°F. It was so hot yesterday, that they cancelled the Twin Cities Marathon due to excessive heat. Last year, it snowed. Go figure. But whatever the weather, our shul has a long standing tradition of eating breakfast in the sukkah after minyan...Even when it's been snowing. (Thank you Neal and Sandy!)

This year, our new education rabbi's first, Rabbi Held held forth with passage of the Bavli Talmud about Sukkah requirements as taken from arguments about its height in the Talmud. See, Queen Helena of Lod's sukkah was more than 20 cubits high; according to some of the rabbis, this made it "unfit." I won't go into the arguments that went along with that, but Rabbi Held had us all in the palm of his hand. After leading us through the labyrinth of issues with the height and size of her sukkah, he shares the conclusion:

Now that the Tosefta can be explained according to all the statements cited by the amora’im in the name of Rav, no proof can be cited with regard to the essence of the dispute between Rabbi Yehuda and the Rabbis with regard to a small sukka more than twenty cubits high.

Before you go asking that age old question, "What's a cubit?" I'll tell you what it is: it's a unit of measure, an ancient measure of length, approximately equal to the length of a forearm... about 18 inches or 44 cm. I'm guessing that's Noah's forearm they're talking about...but who knows?

But wait! There's more! 

If you want a real experience in Talmudic minutia, read the whole argument about the size of the queen's sukkah (the William Davidson Edition Talmud in English.) It's the most confusing, confounding debate about the size...mostly height of a sukkah. And in the case of Queen Helena, the sages seem to decide not to mention the sukkah may not be exactly to their specification. Is it because she's a queen? Or a woman? Or she needs fresh air? Or had a bunch of sons who may or may not be minors living with mom? Whatever the reason, they left her alone to do her thing with her kids. I kinda liked that ending. 

Maybe I like it because it's in complete contrast to our own government? I kept thinking about the bull-hockey going on with passing a budget to keep the federal government from shutting down. Lost in all the absurd, devious, mean-spirited, destructive behavior from the right wing cabal, The Freedom Caucus, the notion that these jackasses were elected by the people to run the government for the benefit of We, the People is inconceivable. 

Probably because they weren't elected by even a lot of the people. This is problematic. 

General Milley

Outgoing Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, gave an impassioned speech at his farewell ceremony on September 29th. Milley was Chairman of the Joints during the most tumultuous period of our recent history... when feckless loser attempted to overturn the 2020 election. Heather Cox Richardson explained:

Milley had been at Trump’s side at the start of the former president’s march across Lafayette Square on June 1, 2020, to threaten Black Lives Matter protesters, although Milley peeled off when he recognized what was happening and later said he thought they were going to review National Guard troops. Since then, Milley has spoken out against strongman rule and vocally defended the U.S. Constitution. 

The day after the debacle, Milley wrote a message to the joint force reminding every member that they swore an oath to the Constitution. “This document is founded on the essential principle that all men and women are born free and equal, and should be treated with respect and dignity. It also gives Americans the right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly…. As members of the Joint Force—comprised of all races, colors, and creeds—you embody the ideals of our Constitution,” he wrote. “We all committed our lives to the idea that is America,” he wrote by hand on the memo. “We will stay true to that oath and the American people.”

But Milley's speech this weekend went a step further. He said, 

“You see, we in uniform are unique among the world's armies. We are unique among the world’s militaries. We don’t take an oath to a country. We don’t take an oath to a tribe. We don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king or a queen or to a tyrant or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don’t take an oath to an individual.
 
“We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.…
 
“Those who sacrificed themselves on the altar of freedom in the last two and a half centuries of this country must not have done so in vain. The millions wounded in our nation’s wars did not sacrifice their limbs and shed their blood to see this great experiment in democracy perish from this earth. No. We, the United States military, will always be true to those that came before us. We will never, under any circumstances, turn our back on our duty."

What a concept! The duty of any official in the service of the United States government... from a private enlistee to the president...takes an oath of office swearing to protect the Constitution of the United. States:

“I, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

And the Constitution has some pretty definitive stuff in it like separation of church and state, equal rights under the law for all citizens, freedom of assembly, speech, and even to bear arms, although what is meant by the Second Amendment is woefully unclear. Congress and We, the People, have ratified amendments to the Constitution, beginning with the Bill of Rights. But once an amendment is passed, repeal is not at the will of a president, congress, or even SCOTUS. From the ACLU:

But the president cannot repeal part of the Constitution by executive order. And Congress cannot repeal it by simply passing a new bill. Amending the Constitution would require a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, and also ratification by three-quarters of the states.

Yet, a cabal has arisen in Congress that seeks to undo that which We, the People, have held sacred for over 200 years: democracy. The Freedom Caucus seeks to hogtie the government in such a way that no laws or actions can occur without their express permission. They are not the Republican Party, nor do they represent most Republicans. However....

They have the GOP in such a state of terror that they are afraid of them. Tonight, Matt Gaetz filed a motion to remove the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy because McCarthy, who is, quite frankly, no prize, worked across the aisle to get a stop-gap bill passed to keep the government running. Interestingly enough, these clowns wanted to shut down the government, leaving the military, the air controllers, and the TSA working without pay...yet congress would not forego their own paychecks. 

Congressman Jeff Jackson (who I follow devotedly because the guy is a plain speaking human) wrote the following:

The fundamental issue is that we’ve got about 20 members of the majority party - the hardcore members of the right-flank - who want to shut down the government. Pulling a stunt like that comes with a media bonanza, and that’s what they’re after.

That's exactly what they're after. A while ago, Congressman Jackson pointed out those who make the most noise do the least amount of work. Aggrandizement, self or otherwise, is part of the show, the circus, not about governance. So when you listen to the bulloney tossers like Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, know you are listening to an extreme minority with very loud voices. For the record, there are. 45 known members of the Freedom Caucus, but there are 222 Republicans in the House our of 430 Congressional seats. 

45. 

45 Congressclowns hold the entire country hostage. 

45 Congressclowns that supported the overturning of the presidential election. 

45 Congressclowns that pretty much supported the January 6th insurrection. 

45 Congressclowns who swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States...and did not. 

I guess if lining your pockets is your paramount concern, Congress is a good place to do that. These guys are about power and pocketbooks, not about the good and welfare of We, the People....especially if Some of Us People are not white, Christian, misogynistic, haters-of-others.

That's not supposed to be who We, the People are, but I am afraid that is exactly what We, the People, are becoming. Too many Americans are closing their living room curtains to ignore what is happening around us. Good Germans all. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

I am less scared of feckless loser winning the 2024 election

than I am of his getting the GOP nomination and losing. 

The Abundance of Fools...I Mean Fall

Well, here we are in the middle of Jewish Holiday Season. For those of us who observe, the period between Rosh HaShana and Simchat Torah usually feels like 24-days of endless holy days. You are so tired of cooking by the end of Sukkot, that the shabbat dinner that this year follows Simchat Torah by a day is usually pretty basic shabbat dinner. I have long suspected the Jewish holiday cycle is the real punishment for whatever went down in Gan Eden. 

Beth Jacob's Sukkah 2021

Still, there is something magical about Sukkot. If you're observant, you might build a sukkah in your back yard, and maybe even sleep in it. The roof is not solid; you have to be able to see the stars. Eating in the sukkah is always fun. It's a harvest holiday kinda thing, and no matter where you are in the world, you have to think about agriculture because this is what the holiday is about: first fruits. And by extension, you have to think about growing seasons, the land, the weather, and all the rest of the natural world that allows us to eat. 

If you know your Bible well, you know there is a call for a jubilee year for the land, and this year, 5782 is one of those years. In Hebrew, it's called shmita ...return:  

             Leviticus 25:1-7

1 The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai:

2 Speak to the Israelite people and say to them:

When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a sabbath of the LORD.

3 Six years you may sow your field and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in the yield.

4 But in the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath of the LORD: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.

5 You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untrimmed vines; it shall be a year of complete rest for the land.

6 But you may eat whatever the land during its sabbath will produce—you, your male and female slaves, the hired and bound laborers who live with you,

7 and your cattle and the beasts in your land may eat all its yield.

Shmita is still observed in Israel today. For example, Jewish National Fund does not plant trees during the shmita period unless it's an erosion emergency needed to protect the land. This year, however, medical cannabis is a new issue facing Israel. Read the article; it's fascinating.

See, it's like this. stewardship of the land is nothing new. The idea that we need to take care of the land so the land takes care of us was codified thousands of years ago. That concept was taken pretty seriously back then, long before university ag departments and rural extension services. The drafters of the bible did not overlook the relationship between earth and humankind.

The weather events of the past couple of weeks are more indications of an imbalance in our atmosphere. The increased power of hurricanes and typhoons coupled with what we know about rising ocean temperatures should be a pretty serious warning, especially for all those evangelicals who are busy with climate science denial. I wanna know if any farmers in places like Iowa, Alabama, Florida, California, or even Minnesota are observing the Jubilee Year for their land. Or is this just another one of the inconvenient laws tossed out along with observance of kashrut or the sabbath on the seventh day? 

NY TIMES

Meanwhile, back in Washington, D.C., everyone is asking What if we threw a rally and nobody came? Apparently, only 400-500 people were there although a permit had been granted for up to 700. Earlier in the week, the word was out that a far larger crowd was expected, and the U.S. Capitol Police prepared and executed a significant show of strength at the event. However, the crowd was peaceful and nothing of note took place. A friend in DC said they strolled over to watch, and she thought there were more reporters than protesters. That might not be strictly true, but the comparison she drew was rather telling. 

Kids watching soldiers at Second Bull Run

She mentioned that during the Civil War, it was popular to take a picnic lunch to some of the battles, sit on the nearest hill, and watch as soldiers slaughtered each other. It was a fine afternoon's entertainment if you didn't mind the smell of death. She said it was  like driving on the Belt Parkway and seeing a car crash off to the side. The Belt is so narrow that you are right on top of the scene, making rubbernecking inevitable. Gross, but human nature. I did not doubt her assessment for one New York minute. As we talked about the lack of a rally, she admitted that they had, indeed, gone to see the blood and gore, figuring they could join a counter protest if necessary. 

I know she is reading this, and I can hear the guffaw when I shamefully admit to thinking they are fair weather patriots. And I know there will be another phone call in my future. 

But It got me to thinking about what we take for granted. We assume democracy will save us when, in fact, we are watching it erode. The recent attempts, some successful, to restrict access to voting is clearly an attempt to control what should be a free election. We assume Roe v. Wade is settled law when it is clearly under attack in Texas, with a dozen or so states waiting to see what happens before passing their own draconian laws. So much for settled law.

And about those laws. Do any of them hold sperm providers responsible for this? Are there laws preventing men from inseminating women willy-nilly? Or taking responsibility for those offshoots? A woman can have sex once, conceive, and bear a single child in 9 months. A man can fuck a swatch through a population, inseminating hundreds of women, yet there is not one law on the books telling him that's illegal or that he is responsible for the care, feeding, and raising those hundreds of children. That, by the way, is a really BIG hint about what those laws are really about. And it ain't about the children. 

In a 2017 interview, Margaret Atwood, the author of The Handmaid's Tale, said:

Sometimes people have to live their dream. So if living their dream means a lot of dead women and orphans, maybe they're going to have to live that dream and maybe they're just then going to have to figure out, 'Who's going to pay for this?'" Atwood asked. "Who's going to pay for the orphans and the dead women, because that's what you're going to have. And I'm waiting for the first lawsuit. I'm waiting, you know, in which the family of the dead woman sues the ... state and I'm also waiting for a lawsuit that says if you force me to have children I cannot afford, you should pay for the process. They should pay for my prenatal care. They should pay for my, otherwise, very expensive delivery, you should pay for my health insurance, you should pay for the upkeep of this child after it is born. That's where the concern seems to cut off with these people. Once you take your first breath, [it's] out the window with you. And, it is really a form of slavery to force women to have children that they cannot afford and then to say that they have to raise them.

It is a form of slavery to remove self-determination from a person. And it's a red herring. If a legislative body can do this to women, what other groups can and will be targeted? I don't think we have to think real hard for that answer. The demise of democracy in this country will not be with a bang, but with a whimper. (Thank you, T.S. Eliot, for The Hollow Men.)

But I digress. This week's episode is supposed to be about the abundance of fall...not the abundance of fools. 

So, at this juncture, I want to point out that fall is a great time of year for changes. The weather is a bit snappier, the bugs are slowly disappearing, the fruit is ripe, and the colors are grand. Take a moment to think about the gift that is autumn. Take a walk. Go to an orchard. Visit your local farmer's market or farm stand. Then remember that all of this comes from the earth to you. Be aware. Be cognizant. Be considerate of the planet. 

As a very young Junior Son once insisted, "Be ecowogicawy fweindwy." (Yes, he really did sound like Elmer Fudd.) And that drive toward ecological responsibility continues to this day as he and Mrs. Junior Son teach Little Miss and Young Sir how to be ecologically friendly. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Check your living footprint.

Work to make it as small as possible.

Your children and grandchildren will thank you.