Shabbat Shalom!

• This week, we celebrated Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, marking the reunification of the city of Jerusalem following the Six-Day War in 1967. I wrote an article on this occasion (I'm including the entirety of it below) in the Sun Sentinel in 2018.

• In honor of Pride month, I'm also including a special announcement from our friend and congregant at Congregation Shaarei Kodesh, Louis Rosner, who was appointed to the board of Keshet.

   

• This week, the week before Shavuot, I would like to share the dvar torah I gave last Shabbat on a ray of light that I've experienced this during dark year: people choosing to become part of the Jewish people...after October 7th. I am not ready to post the link yet (I might re-write it for a different blog and post it there), so I'm attaching the PDF with a source sheet.

Converting to Judaism…Now? Standing Tall During Challenging Times©

Parashat Behukotai 2024/5784

Rabbi David Baum 

I started using a new appointment app, and it has worked so well that I’ve never had so many meetings before. Sometimes, I don’t know who will walk through the door. 

It was early December, and John Doe came in for his appointment. I’m protecting his identity with this name, but honestly, his name might have been more non-Jewish than John Doe. John (or JD for short) and his family joined our congregation shortly before the school year began. JD’s wife grew up actively Jewish, but JD grew up actively not Jewish. JD grew up in a very strict Christian background. Judging by the various tattoos on his arm, I gathered that he had not been attached to his childhood faith in a long time. 

But when they got married, his wife made him promise: we will raise our kids Jewish. It was time to fulfill that promise and give the kids a Jewish education. 

But that’s not why he wanted to meet with me. As I mentioned, JD grew up in a very fundamentalist home, and questions were forbidden. Questions like, how were there dinosaurs if the world was created 6000 years ago, or why do bad things happen to good people? He loved that he could ask questions in my office, and he had many of them. I answered what I could, but the important part was that no questions were off-limits. 

Now, it was my turn to ask: 

“I understand why you want to convert - there are many good reasons I suppose. But you’ve been married for a while, and it’s December, just a couple of months after October 7th. Antisemitism has never been this bad in our country.  I told him about my personal family history of persecution without even thinking about it.

And I asked him two questions I was truly wondering: “Why us, and why now?!?” 

Jerusalem on High and Jerusalem Below

(Op-Ed originally published on June 5, 2018 in the Sun Sentinel)

Our tradition teaches us that there are actually two Jerusalems – a Jerusalem on high and a Jerusalem below. The phrases are open to interpretation, but how can we relate to these two Jerusalems in 2017, 50 years after the reunification of the city?

Here is my take: for close to 2,000 years, the only Jerusalem that the majority of Jews knew was the Jerusalem on high – a perfect place that existed in Jewish prayer, scripture, rabbinic literature, art and poetry. This all changed when the first photographs of Jerusalem were taken beginning in 1844. I can only imagine how Jews living under oppression must have felt seeing actual photographs of the city for the first time. I imagine that the Jerusalem on high, the city poets had written about for ages, became even more real to them, and perhaps, it began the process of the city becoming a little bit more normal.

It is one thing to see pictures of the city, but another to actually visit the city and live in her walls. I will never forget praying at the Kotel after participating on the March of the Living, placing a stone from the concentration camps, where most of our family perished, at the foot of the Wall. Years later, I made the decision to live in Jerusalem for a year, in 2002-2003, during the height of the second Intifada. I lived in West Jerusalem, only a 15-minute walk from the Kotel.

Suddenly, the experience of visiting the holy city became more “normal.” In a sense, the Jerusalem of high was brought low. I was no longer just a visitor, but a resident of the city. I had to wait in long lines to pay taxes, and I was even thrown out my local post office after they lost one of my packages. Living in Jerusalem became somewhat normal, but I was also reminded of the years before a unified Jerusalem. I lived a short walk from the armistice line that Israel held with Jordan and heard stories of how dangerous it was to walk by the Old City due to Jordanian snipers. Even during the second Intifada, I had the luxury of traversing through almost all parts of the Old City. During those moments, I remembered my ancestors who could never visit the city nor even see a picture.

Walking through the shuk on Friday afternoons or praying at the Kotel became a part of my weekly routine. I had some truly divine and holy experiences, but also some pretty low times. Despite it all, I never forgot how truly lucky I was to be a Jew living during these years in a reunified Jerusalem under an Israeli flag.

On this 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, I acknowledge that Jerusalem may not be the perfect city we imagine. The Talmudic scholar Rabbi Yohanan famously reports that God told him: “I shall not enter Jerusalem on high until I enter Jerusalem below.” We cannot ignore the struggles of the Jerusalem below: religious pluralism for non-Orthodox Jews who seek an equal place at the Kotel; the tensions that exist between Jews and Arabs; and more. It is because I acknowledge the Jerusalem below that I can enter the Jerusalem on high.

As we mark the 50th anniversary of the reunification of the city of Jerusalem, let us remember the brave IDF soldiers who fought and gave their lives so we can live in a “normal” Jerusalem, and let us remember that the Jerusalem of today may not be perfect, but continuously strives to be the Jerusalem on high.

An article by an up-and-coming journalist, Gabby Deutch (who also grew up in Boca Raton, grew up in USY/Conservative movement youth group, and was a camper and staff member at Camp Ramah Darom, an institution our family loves, where I was on staff for many years, not that I'm biased or anything).

Gabby is important work in reporting on the experiences of Jews in progressive spaces, including college campuses, professional spaces, and even social groups, being shut out because of their Jewish identity which includes Israel. Here's one example:

‘Opposite of inclusive’: A look inside the increasingly hostile environment for Jewish therapists

Jewish therapists say they’ve been subject to doxing, litmus tests, exclusion and harassment by fellow mental health professionals since Oct. 7

Welcome to 'Baum's Branches'! Every week, I hope to share deep wisdom rooted in the 3,000-year-old Jewish tradition with a wider audience. 

Why the name Baum's Branches? Seems kind of corny. Am I signing up for weekly dad jokes from a rabbi?

No, and I'm glad you asked:

'Baum's Branches' is a play on words. Baum (pronounced as "bowm" not "bomb") means tree in German, which is also my last name. The Torah, the center of our faith and people, is called a 'tree of life' or the Etz Chaim. The Jewish people believe in deep roots as the key to our success, we are constantly digging the wells of our ancestors, but we also branch out, bringing the timeless wisdom of our tradition to the modern world.

Imagine a vibrant forest where Torah roots intertwine with worldly branches, offering a rich tapestry of thought-provoking articles, uplifting sermons, and enlightening podcasts. Each week, I will offer space for spiritual growth and intellectual exploration, that will shape our worldview together. 

I will include: 

• Weekly original Divrei Torah/sermons (either from a previous year, the previous week or even that week’s sermon)

• Links to articles (mostly from the Jewish press), podcasts, and videos that helped shape my view of the world this week

• More to come! 

I created this digital digest for my beloved chaverim/congregants, Congregation Shaarei Kodesh of Boca Raton, who are looking to delve a little deeper each week, but also those around the world whom I may know or whom I’ve never met. I’ve been in Boca Raton a long time now, and not everyone stays in our area, so this digital digest is a way for me to share my Torah with you, both near and far!

Whether you're seeking guidance, inspiration, or simply a moment of reflection before Shabbat, you can grab onto 'Baum's Branches,' reflect, and prepare for a day of reflection and rest.