Russell McAlmond

Parsha Korach – Bad Advice

June 19, 2015 By Russell McAlmond

The Rebbe once said, “Either you will affect your environment, or your environment will affect you. There is no middle ground.” In this week’s parsha of Korach, an charismatic person (Korach) tried to take control of the temple of Israel in opposition to Aaron. He persuaded 250 other prominent Israelites to join him. According to the text, they all paid for it with their lives.

Popular public opinion can be very persuasive. For young people, peer pressure is enormous – but even adults feel pressured to conform to popular opinion. But is this the best source for our values? Do we put our values up for popular vote and let other people determine for us what they are based on a majority vote? Do we let our environment control us or do we affect our environment?

As Jews we are given a source of values and wisdom to rely on – the Torah. The Torah, and the rabbis, were not right about everything, but there is true wisdom in their writings. Rather than have popular TV shows, movies, music or other cultural media tell us what values to have – we have a better source. Human nature does not change and this is why writings that are thousands of years old can still be truth for the 21st Century. Wisdom is wisdom – no matter how long ago it was written.

Don’t let your environment dictate your values. Instead, have your values influence your environment to do good.

Parsha Shelach – You Have Courage

June 12, 2015 By Russell McAlmond

Have you ever came up with an idea that you thought would be terrific and everyone you talked to told you not to do it? This is a common story with some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country. They too were told that is was too “difficult”, “unlikely”, “impossible” and other negative terms. What did they do? They did it anyway – and it worked!

In this week’s parsha of Shelach, spies were sent into Canaan to report back what it was like. They came back with stories of how fortified the cities were, how large the warriors were, and how they never thought Israel could never defeat them. In other words, they came back saying the idea was “impossible.” The penalty for this report, as we all know, was for the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for forty years. It seems G-d does not reward us for a lack of courage.

If you have an idea that you really believe in and have done the planning – go for it. Your friends, family and others will try to talk you out of it because they may lack the courage to do what you are about to. Don’t let their fear interfere with your plans. As Aristotle says, “You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.” And from e.e. Cummings; “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”

Have the courage to live your dreams – whatever they may be.

Parsha Behaalotecha – Miriam and Intermarriage

June 10, 2015 By Russell McAlmond

In this week’s parsha of Behaalotecha (don’t ask me to pronounce it) we have Miriam being given a severe punishment. Her ‘crime’ was chastising Moses for his treatment of his wife, Tzipporah. Tzipporah had given Moses two sons (Gershom and Eliezer), had saved his life at one point, but was now being separated from Moses. Miriam knew that Tzipporah had been a wonderful wife to Moses and could not understand why he was doing this. She knew Moses had a good marriage – and it was an intermarriage.

Tzipporah was a beautiful woman and utterly faithful to Moses. His marriage to her (a Midianite) was what today we would call an “intermarriage” – Jew to Non-Jew. Some Jews today would consider such a marriage to be a betrayal of the Jewish people or of our lineage. Nothing could be further from the truth. As Miriam recognized, Tzipporah was a incredible addition to our people, not a subtraction. We should all be proud to have her in our family.

Intermarriage rates in the US are over 50% and climbing. Some Jews make the argument that in order to ‘preserve’ Jewish continuity that a Jew must marry another Jew. This is not true. Jewish continuity is not dependent on this kind of marriage. Moses, our greatest leader, was not dependent on this kind of marriage. Judaism is preserved by making a difference in the lives of human beings, not simply because it has been around a long time.

Marry the person you fall in love with no matter where they come from. Judaism will survive, or not, based on its own merits.

Parsha Naso – Repairing Ourselves

May 28, 2015 By Russell McAlmond

There are certain concepts which are important to recognize in Judaism. One is that we have free will – we decide – we are not forced to do things. Two, that we are accountable for the choices we make because we have free will to make them. In this week’s parsha of Naso we are told to accept personal responsibility for our actions, not to avoid them, and to make restitution for the harms or crimes we commit. In other words, it is not society’s fault that we chose to take these actions – it is our fault – and we are personally responsible for them.

According to Maimonides, one of the codifiers of Jewish law, one of the thirteen principles of Judaism is that there is reward and punishment for human behavior. We are responsible and accountable for what we do. Too often, in contemporary society, we try to shift blame to parents, socio-economic level and other outside sources that supposedly cause our bad behavior. There is no doubt that life may be more difficult for some than for others. Nonetheless, no one is forced to commit crimes or hurt others. These are individual choices and we are responsible individually for them, not society.

We learn from our mistakes unless we don’t take responsibility for them. By denying that our mistakes are made by our free will, we will never grow to become better human beings. “Tikkum olam” is the goal of “repairing the world”, not perfecting it. We will never be perfect – but we can learn from our mistakes by admitting to them, making restitution and striving to repair ourselves.

Parsha Bamidbar – The Age of War

May 22, 2015 By Russell McAlmond

Parsha Bamidbar is about the census of the people of Israel where the counting of all male Israelites started at the age of twenty. The age of twenty was considered to be the age at which a young male Israelite could go to war. The rabbis tell us that women weren’t counted because they were not warriors. Things have changed in a few thousand years.

In Israel today, young women are warriors and go into the military just as men do. In fact, Israel has had numerous women train as fighter pilots for the IAF (Israeli Air Force). Modern treatment of women as warriors has a good and bad side. It is good that women are treated as equals when it comes to defending their homeland. It is bad that women are subjected to the stress and danger of modern warfare. Warfare is not good for men or women, but as it says in the Tanakh (Ecclesiastes 3:1), “There is a time for everything.”

As a former US Marine, I can tell you that those who serve in the IDF and the US military are fervent believers in peace. When I was in Israel, I volunteered on an IDF military base near Tel Aviv and talked about this with the young men and women soldiers. They would like to get on with their lives and not have to serve their country by being in the military. Nonetheless, they serve because they love Israel, the Jewish people and they are willing to die to defend them. I have nothing but admiration for their dedication and service, as I do members of the US military as well.

As a proud member of the Jewish War Veterans, I want to thank all Jews for their service to their country and people. Shalom to all.

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