Literary critic, poet andWall Street Journaleditor Adam Kirsch visited Yeshiva University on September 21 for a conversation with students from theZahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thoughtand theJay and Jeannie Schottenstein Honors Program. Kirsch spoke with Straus Center Program Officer Tal Fortgang and a room full of Yeshiva College students about his book,Come and Hear: What I Saw in My Seven-and-a-Half-Year Journey Through the Talmud, and his series of columns forTableton hisDaf Yomi(daily Talmud study)excursion.

Kirsch began by explaining what motivated him to take on the project ofDaf Yomias a non-Orthodox Jew, literary critic and novice in the world of Talmud study. He was inspired by the 2012Siyum HaShas(celebration of the completion of theDaf Yomicycle)and figured he could gain insights into what animated todays Orthodox Jews, as well as how the ancient sages continue to exert an influence over Jewish cultureobservant or nottoday.

He immediately began receiving feedback on his discoveries, as chronicled in a regular column atTablet. Kirsch reports hearing from yeshiva students and non-observant Jews alike, and began to see his mission as acting as a scout for people with backgrounds similar to his ownthose who had not encountered the Talmuds unique mode of argument or its assumptions about the intermingling of the natural and supernatural worlds.

Kirsch emphasized to the students in attendance that an element of Talmud study that stands out to an outsider is that the argument is often an end in and of itself. He also pointed out that because the Talmud is more than just a code of lawit touches on so many different topics, involves many indeterminate arguments and records many episodes not legal in natureit allows Jews in every era to share reference points that can unify a people who may be geographically and philosophically disparate. For instance, the term tikkun olam meant one thing in the time of the Talmud, another thing in the Medieval era and another thing to many contemporary Jews. Whether or not Jews today are using the term in accordance with its original meaning, they still feel the need to ground their understanding in a term that resonates with other Jews.

Students eagerly peppered Kirsch with questions about the past, present and future of Talmud study. Kirsch noted in response that study of the Gemara is undergoing a renaissance today among observant Jews, academics and people simply interested in understanding the development of Jewish thought. He contrasted this renaissance with early American Jewish literature, which derided Talmud study as backward and barbaric, a symbol of the old world American Jews were leaving behind.

Today, he concluded, the Talmud is available in many languages, on many platforms, with many commentaries, at the push of a button. Whether the democratization of Talmud study will turn out to be good for the Jews or not is yet to be seen.

The event was the latest in a series sponsored or co-sponsored by the Straus Center and Schottenstein Honors Program. Recent events included a conversation with theJerusalem Posts Zvika Klein and a dinner discussion withTablets Liel Leibovitz and YUs own Rabbi Daniel Feldman.

You can learn more about the Straus Center by signing up for our newsletterhere. Be sure to also like us onFacebook, follow us onTwitterandInstagramand connect with us onLinkedIn.

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A Daf Yomi Scout: Literary Critic Adam Kirsch Shares Insights from His Seven-Year Study of the Talmud with YU Students - Yu News

Thought nonbinary gender was a modern concept? Think again. The ancient Jewish understanding of gender was far more nuanced than many assume.

The Talmud, a huge and authoritative compendium of Jewish legal traditions, contains in fact no less than eight gender designations including:

In fact, not only did the rabbis recognize six genders that were neither male nor female, they had a tradition that the first human being was both. Versions of this midrash are found throughout rabbinic literature, including in the Talmud:

Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar also said: Adam was first created with two faces (one male and the other female). As it is stated: You have formed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. (Psalms 139:5)

Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar imagines that the first human was created both male and female with two faces. Later, this original human being was separated and became two distinct people, Adam and Eve. According to this midrash then, the first human being was, to use contemporary parlance, nonbinary. Genesis Rabbah 8:1 offers a slightly different version of Rabbi Yirmeyas teaching:

Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, He created him as an androgynos (one having both male and female sexual characteristics), as it is said, male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:27)

Said Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, He created for him a double face, and sawed him and made him backs, a back here and a back there, as it is said, Behind and before, You formed me (Psalms 139:5).

In this version of the teaching, Rabbi Yirmeya is not focusing on the first humans face (or, rather, faces) but on their sex organs they have both. The midrash imagines this original human looked something like a man and woman conjoined at the back so that one side has a womens face and a womans sex organs and the other side has a mans face and sex organs. Then God split this original person in half, creating the first man and woman. Ancient history buffs will recognize this image as similar to the character Aristophanes description of the first humans as both male and female, eventually sundered to create lone males and females forever madly seeking one another for the purposes of reuniting to experience that primordial state. (Plato, Symposium, 189ff)

For the rabbis, the androgynos wasnt just a thing of the mythic past. The androgynos was in fact a recognized gender category in their present though not with two heads, only both kinds of sex organs. The term appears no less than 32 times in the Mishnah and 283 times in the Talmud. Most of these citations are not variations on this myth, but rather discussions that consider how Jewish law (halakhah) applies to one who has both male and female sexual characteristics.

That the androgynos is, from a halakhic perspective, neither male nor female, is confirmed by Mishnah Bikkurim 4:1, which states this explicitly:

The androgynos is in some ways like men, and in other ways like women. In other ways he is like men and women, and in others he is like neither men nor women.

Because Hebrew has no gender neutral pronoun, the Mishnah uses a male pronoun for the androgynos, though this is obviously insufficient given the rabbinic descriptions of this person. Reading on we find that the androgynos is, for the rabbis, in many ways like a man they dress like a man, they are obligated in all commandments like a man, they marry women and their white emissions lead to impurity. However, in other ways, the androgynos is like a woman they do not share in inheritance like sons, they do not eat of sacrifices that are reserved only for men and their red discharge leads to impurity.

The Mishnah goes on to list ways in which an androgynos is just like any other person. Like any human being, one who strikes him or curses him is liable. (Bikkurim 4:3) Similarly, one who murders an androgynos is, well, a murderer. But the androgynos is also unlike a man or a woman in other important legal respects for instance, such a person is not liable for entering the Temple in a state of impurity as both a man and woman would be.

As should now be clear, the rabbinic interest in these gender ambiguous categories is largely legal. Since halakhah was structured for a world in which most people were either male or female, applying the law to individuals who didnt fall neatly into one of those two categories was challenging. As Rabbi Yose remarks in this same chapter of the Mishnah: The androgynos is a unique creature, and the sages could not decide about him. (Bikkurim 4:5)

In many cases, the androgynos is lumped together with other kinds of nonbinary persons as well as other marginalized populations, including women, slaves, the disabled and minors. For example, concerning participation in the three pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot) during which the Jews of antiquity would travel to the Temple in Jerusalem, the mishnah of Chagigah opens:

All are obligated on the three pilgrimage festivals to appear in the Temple and sacrifice an offering, except for a deaf-mute, an imbecile, and a minor; and a tumtum, an androgynos, women, and slaves who are not emancipated; and the lame, the blind, the sick, and the old, and one who is unable to ascend to Jerusalem on his own legs.

As this mishnah indicates, it is only healthy, free adult men who are obligated to appear at the Temple to observe the pilgrimage festivals. People who are not adult men, and men who are enslaved or too old or unwell to make the journey, are exempt.

As we have already stated, the androgynos was not the only person of ambiguous gender identified by the rabbis. Similarly, the rabbis recognized one whose sexual characteristics are lacking or difficult to determine, called a tumtum. In the mishnah from Bikkurim we cited earlier, Rabbi Yose, who said the androgynos was legally challenging for the sages, said the tumtum was much easier to figure out.

The rabbis also recognized that some peoples sexual characteristics can change with puberty either naturally or through intervention. Less common than the androgynos and tumtum, but still found throughout rabbinic texts, are the aylonit, who is born with organs identified as female at birth but develops male characteristics at puberty or no sex characteristics at all, and the saris, who is born with male-identified organs and later develops features recognized as female (or no sex characteristics). These changes can happen naturally over time (saris hamah) or with human intervention (saris adam).

For the rabbis, what is most significant about the aylonit and the saris is that they are presumed infertile the latter is sometimes translated as eunuch. Their inability to have offspring creates legal complications the rabbis address, for example:

A woman who is 20 years old who did not grow two pubic hairs shall bring proof that she is twenty years old, and from that point forward she assumes the status of an aylonit. If she marries and her husband dies childless, she neither performs halitzah nor does she enter into levirate marriage.

A woman who reaches the age of 20 without visible signs of puberty, in particular pubic hair, is deemed an aylonit who is infertile. According to this mishnah, she may still marry, but it is not expected that she will bear children. Therefore, if her husband dies and the couple is in fact childless, his brother is not obligated to marry her, as would normally be required by the law of levirate marriage.

A nonbinary person who does not have the same halakhic status as a male or female, but is something else that is best described as ambiguous or in between, presented a halakhic challenge that was not particularly foreign for the rabbis, who discuss analogs in the animal and plant kingdoms. For example, the rabbinic texts describe a koi as an animal that is somewhere between wild and domesticated (Mishnah Bikkurim 2:8) and an etrog yes, that beautiful citron that is essential for Sukkot as between a fruit and a vegetable (Mishnah Bikkurim 2:6, see also Rosh Hashanah 14). Because they dont fit neatly into common categories, the koi and the etrog require special halakhic consideration. The rabbinic understanding of the world was that most categories be they animal, vegetable or mineral are imperfect descriptors of the world, either as it is or as it should be.

In recent decades, queer Jews and allies have sought to reinterpret these eight genders of the Talmud as a way of reclaiming a positive space for nonbinary Jews in the tradition. The starting point is that while it is true that the Talmud understands gender to largely operate on a binary axis, the rabbis clearly understood that not everyone fits these categories.

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The Eight Genders in the Talmud | My Jewish Learning

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished September 27, 2022

Dear Reader,

Fall has officially begun, and it appears the summer heat that has endured here in St. Louis is finally gone. Its time now to think about fall-like things, Rosh Hashanah, Yom, Kippur, long sleeve shirts and sweaters, colorful leaves, October baseball and of course pumpkins.

Pumpkins? Yes, pumpkins. Yes, for two reasons. First, this weekend is the opening of pick-your-own pumpkin season at Eckerts Farms, and because pumpkins have played a very important role in Jewish life long before they became associated with fall events like Halloween and holidays like Thanksgiving.

In the 16th century, one of the first crops brought back from the New World to Europe was the pumpkin. The gourd was easy to grow and stored well during cold winters. In her book The Book of Jewish Food, Claudia Roden writes that since it first appeared in Italy, pumpkin has been associated with the Jews.

Ravioli filled with pumpkin a familiar dish to anyone who frequents Italian restaurants at this time of year was originally a Sephardic creation. Italian Jews also developed recipes for pumpkin puree, pumpkin flan, and pumpkin fritters, a Hanukkah delicacy, wrote Roden.

Pumpkins are featured in many Sephardic recipes. It is tradition, among Sephardic Jews, to eat something containing pumpkin for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

According to MyJewishLearning.com,many Sephardic communities developed their own pumpkin specialties. A jam or sweet spread made with pumpkin was common throughout the Sephardic world, especially as a Rosh Hashanah delicacy. Pumpkin was also commonly used in soups and stews, just as it is today. In addition to these ubiquitous dishes, each Sephardic community adapted pumpkin which is nothing if not versatile to its own cuisine and paired it with the ingredients available to them.

Leah Koenig, the author of Modern Jewish Cooking, writes that early acceptance of the pumpkin by Jews was important for the future of New World foods.

Sometimes, Jewish communities inadvertently helped normalize unfamiliar ingredients and helped usher them into wider acceptance over time, writes Koenig. Not only was this true for pumpkin, but for many other New World vegetables as well, from artichokes to tomatoes.

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Though pumpkins are not mentioned in the Torah specifically, they do appear a handful of times in the Mishnah and the Talmud.

According to Jteach.org, in the Talmud, Tractate Sukkah 56b, Abaye said: A young pumpkin (in hand) is better than a full grown one (in the field).

Talmud, Tractate Berachot 48a Rabbah said to [Abaye and Rava], To whom do we bless [i.e. say Grace After Meals]? They replied, The All-merciful.

And where does the All-merciful dwell? Rava pointed upwards to the ceiling; Abaye went outside and pointed towards the heavens. Rabbah said to them, Both of you are Rabbis; for that is what the proverb says, Every pumpkin is known by its stem.

Mishnah Shabbat 17:6 (about actions which are permissible on Shabbat) If a stone sits in a pumpkin one may draw water with it [the pumpkin] if the stone does not fall out, but one may not draw water with it [if the stone] does [fall out]. [If] a vine-branch is tied to a pitcher, water may be drawn with it on Shabbat.

So, as we kick off the year 5783, dont forget to embrace this fun part of our heritage both as Americans and as Jews. In honor of how our Sephardic ancestors used pumpkins in a wide variety of dishes, I hope we can get creative this year with how we use and think about pumpkins. How about a new twist on pumpkin pie, or pumpkin bread? Please keep me posted if you do.

The pick-your-own season run throughout October. Guests can visit any of the Eckerts farms to pick their perfect Halloween pumpkins. Eckerts Millstadt location has additional attractions of private bonfire sites and haunted wagon rides.

Belleville, Millstadt & Grafton Farms |Select Days from Sept. 24-Oct. 30

For more information on Eckerts,visit the website.

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Fall in St. Louis means it's time to embrace the Jewishness of the pumpkin - - St. Louis Jewish Light

Why Yom Kippur is one of the happiest days of the year.

A few years ago, I had the privilege of awarding someone a medallion at an AA meeting, a celebration of a significant milestone of sobriety. I am always inspired from being among people who have the courage to admit their addiction, name their enemy, and confront it on a regular basis.

The recovery program is made up of 12 steps, and the meeting I attended addressed Step 8, which is to make a list of all persons we had harmed, and become willing to make amends to them all and Step 9, to make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

People reflected on the experience of being willing to make amends with people, some whom they hurt and others they were hurt or injured by.Then one person got up and said something I found fascinating.When she arrived at this step in her recovery, she realized one of the people she most needed to make amends with was herself.The mistakes she had made, the excuses, missed opportunities, damaged relationships, sabotaged success she had caused herself, left her needing to be willing to forgive herself, to make amends with herself.

The next person who spoke disagreed and pointed out making it about ourselves is what got us into trouble to begin with. Amends is about others, it doesnt always have to be about the I, and that kind of thinking is misguided and can lead to bad outcomes.

I walked out of the meeting moved by both sides and thinking about this question. Who was right?

The Talmud reconciles two different statements of Reish Lakish. The first: Great is teshuva, repentance, as the penitents intentional sins are counted for him as unwitting transgressions. The second: Great is repentance, as ones intentional sins are counted for him as merits. The Talmud explains the seeming contradiction: When one repents out of love, a higher level of repentance, his sins become like merits, but when one repents out of fear, a lower level, his sins are counted as unwitting transgressions (Yoma 86b).

I understand how the power of teshuva can transform my mistakes, indiscretions, poor judgment, and intentional violations into accidental, careless ones.Picture a judge lightening a sentence because of good behavior and still putting criminal charges on the record, but lesser ones. But what does it mean that my intentional mistakes can become actual merits? How can those mistakes be turned into merits, virtues, assets, acting in ones favor?

Surprisingly, the answer can be derived from sleeping bats.

Many people know that bats sleep upside down but few know the reason. While bats can fly, they cant take off. Some birds can take off from a dead stop by simply flapping their wings, but bats cant. Birds wings are long and feathered and can generate enough thrust to achieve liftoff, but bats wings, as ScienceFriday explains, are basically large, webbed hands. Once airborne, a bat can use these webbed hands to sustain the flight over long distances and steer seamlessly, but they have a problem: they cant do the necessary flapping to take off.

Bats use the momentum from falling to take flight.

So what do bats do if they can fly but cant take off? The answer is they dont take off -- they fall down. During the night, they use their claws to climb up a tree. Once they get high enough off the ground, they drop, using gravity to gain momentum and they use the momentum from falling to take flight.

Perhaps this is the meaning of Talmud quoted above.Not all types of teshuva are equal. If you do teshuva because of fear of punishment, you dont want to suffer the consequence, then your fall can be considered accidental.

But if you do teshuva, not out of fear, but from love, enthusiasm and excitement then you are ready to fly and can use the momentum generated from your fall to give you lift, to take off, to discover things and achieve things you previously couldnt.

For many, Yom Kippur is a dreaded day, not only because of the physical pleasures we are denied but because they think it is a day to beat ourselves up, to rack ourselves with guilt, blame, fault, fear and dread.

Yom Kippur is not a day to beat ourselves up, to knock ourselves further down.

That couldnt be farther from the truth.The Mishna lists Yom Kippur as one of the two happiest days of the year.Yom Kippur is not a day to beat ourselves up, to knock ourselves further down.We are here to confront our mistakes, to think about failures and the times we have fallen, but to use them to give us the momentum, the energy, and the knowledge of how to fly.Your fall turns into your uplift, into flight.

In Steve Jobs Commencement Speech to Stanfords Graduating Class of 2005, he retold his story of getting fired from the company he created at the age of 30. It was the most devastating setback of his life. He fell and he fell fast. Though it could have destroyed him, Jobs explained to the graduates that getting publicly fired turned out to bethe best thing that could have happened to him.

Losing his position and success as the leader of Apple opened him up to express his creativity more freely. He started a company called NeXT, helped launch Pixar, reclaimed his role as CEO of Apple, and the rest is history. Failure opened Steve Jobs up to express himself more freely and forced him to create his way out of his rock bottom into the super-success he enjoyed at Apple. As he explained to the graduates: It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.

J.K. Rowling has sold more than 500 million books and is one of the wealthiest women in the world, but in a commencement speech of her own she described that she needed to fall before she was able to fly. She described how at the time of her own graduation from college, her greatest fear was failurea fear that became reality seven years later as she struggled through single-parenthood, unemployment, and poverty all at the same time.

Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

Failure, she said, revealed her true character:I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

We make amends with ourselves not by excusing our fall but by transforming it into momentum to give us lift. The world gives us our fill of fear, worry and anxiousness. Lets resolve to change from love and longing, from lift.

We have made mistakes, we have fallen down sometimes in anger or outrage, sometimes in judgment and sometimes in envy.Yom Kippur is not about beating ourselves up, staying down, feeling sad, somber or guilty.

Consider what went wrong, why it went wrong, and use that knowledge to learn from it, to gain lift, to take flight and to ensure it doesnt happen again. We dont need to sell that many books or build a revolutionary company to achieve success in our lives. All we need is to get up after we have fallen and take flight.

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Why Bats Sleep Upside Down and The Secret of Yom Kippur - aish.com - Aish.com

By Zoe Sottile, CNN

(CNN) -- Sunday is the start of Rosh Hashanah, also known as the Jewish New Year, which marks the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days.

The millennia-old holiday is an occasion for reflection and is often celebrated with prayer, symbolic foods, and the blowing of a traditional horn called a shofar. This year's Rosh Hashanah marks the start of year 5783 in the Hebrew calendar.

Here's what you need to know about the history and meaning of Rosh Hashanah.

Rosh Hashanah has its roots in the Talmud, although it isn't entirely clear when the holiday was first celebrated. The Talmud says that the world was created on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. Jewish people celebrate Rosh Hashanah on the first and second days of Tishrei -- which usually line up with September or October in the Gregorian calendar.

Although it's not completely clear when Jewish people first celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Book of Leviticus includes a passage in which God tells Moses that the first day of the seventh month is a day for rest, marked with the blowing of a horn. But it doesn't include the name Rosh Hashanah.

According to National Geographic, the earliest mention of Rosh Hashanah by name is found in the Mishnah, a Jewish legal text dated to 200 C.E.

"Rosh Hashanah" means "head of the year" in Hebrew, and the two-day holiday is considered a time to reflect and repent in anticipation of the coming year.

It is also referred to as the "day of judgment." The holiday traditionally calls on people to consider how they might have failed or fallen short in the past year -- and how to improve and grow in the coming year.

This is symbolized by one of Rosh Hashanah's most iconic traditions, taschlich, in which participants symbolically cast off their sins by throwing morsels of bread into a body of running water.

There are 14.8 million Jewish people around the world, and practices associated with Rosh Hashanah vary even within individual communities. People usually celebrate Rosh Hashanah by attending synagogue and refraining from work -- including schoolwork -- and sometimes the use of electronics. Families might also light candles at home

Rosh Hashanah is often celebrated with special foods, like apples dipped in honey, which symbolize the hope of a sweet year to come.

Challah bread, baked in round loaves instead of braids and dipped in honey, is also popular. So are pomegranate seeds and the head of a ram or fish -- to symbolize the "head" of the new year.

One of the most distinctive elements of Rosh Hashanah is the blowing of the Shofar's horn, a ram's horn. The blowing of the horn is used as a call to repentance during the holiday.

The horn is typically blown in the morning of both days of Rosh Hashanah. The unique instrument dates back thousands of years to the time of Abraham and Isaac.

Rosh Hashanah kicks off the High Holy Days, also known as the Ten Days of Penitence. The High Holy Days end with Yom Kippur, which is considered the most sacred of Jewish religious holidays.

Yom Kippur is also known as the Day of Atonement. It represents an opportunity for people to atone for their sins and ask for forgiveness from God and other people.

While Rosh Hashanah tends to be a joyful celebration, Yom Kippur is a more somber holiday often marked by fasting.

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5 things to know about Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year - WDJT

Last month we began the Jewish New Year of 5783 by addressing the life of Moses, our greatest philosopher and lawgiver.

Now as we say goodbye to 5782, we turn our attention from the theoretical and philosophical to the practical, that is to the deeds that make a society work or fail. We turn our attention to the stories that surround the life of Moses successor: Joshua.

Unlike Moses, Joshua was neither a philosopher nor a great writer. He gave us no great intellectual insights. Instead, Joshuas story is of the tale of a pragmatist. He is the man who turned Moses ideas into everyday realities. Joshua is a technocrat and soldier, more the doer than the thinker, more the pragmatist than the idealist. Joshua leaves no great insights nor quotable phrases. Instead, his is a narrative that echoes throughout both Jewish and world history and impacts our lives even until today.

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The story of Joshuas life is one of a man who has to deal with daily lifes messy details. The Bible tells us that Joshua did not deal with the future but with the here and now, not with great ideas but rather with the myriad of details we call life. His stories are not that of the academic ivory tower but of the basic necessities of survival. A Talmud passage attempts to differentiate Joshua from Moses by stating: The face of Moses was like the sun; the face of Joshua was like the moon (Bava Batra 75a). In other words, the Talmud saw Joshuas shine as a reflection of the work that Moses already had done.

Others might disagree. When we read Joshuas story we come to realize that he was much more than a mere reflection of Moses. In reality, there are two Joshuas. The first Joshua was Moses loyal deputy, the second Joshua only appears after Moses death as he assumes the task of national leadership.

We learn about the first Joshua in Sefer BaMidbar (the Book of Numbers). In the desert, the text calls him Moses mesharet. The Hebrew term mesharet means a loyal subordinate. Joshua is the paradigm of a disciple plus intern; he is also the eternal optimist. When the 10 spies stated that Israel could not succeed, Joshua, along with Caleb, wrote the minority report insisting that Israel should press forward and enter the land of Canaan. The people of Israel rejected their report and for that mistake the Children of Israel would spend some 40 years wandering in the desert.

We first learn of Joshua as a fierce fighter. He fought Israels first battles and won. Not only was he a fierce warrior, but he was also a brilliant general. He taught us that leaders must never lead from behind but must always live by the dictum acharai/after me! From Joshuas perspective, leadership from behind is no leadership at all. Joshua was not only fierce in war but also generous and kind in peace. We know about his professional life yet we know little about his personal life.

After Moses death we meet the second Joshua. This is a Joshua who mixed faith with innovation, and creativity with a generosity of spirit. Our second Joshua is a person devoted to both the past and to the future. He is a leader willing to take calculated risks, to listen, and to act. Joshua taught us not to fight the next battle based on the last battle. He understood that a nation dare not base its military on the superficial but must understand its future challenges and prepare itself to meet them. Joshua taught that leaders who do not keep their focus on the here and now tend to fail themselves and their nations.

Joshuas life is one that raises many questions. He first enters the Biblical stage as a warrior. The Bible never reveals to us the reasons that Moses picked Joshua. What we do know is that long before Joshua became Israels second leader he demonstrated his leadership capabilities. During the years of aimless wandering in the desert, all who were a part of the post-Exodus generation would perish and a new generation would be born into freedom. It was this new generation that would be tasked with entering into the land of Israel. Of the 12 who scouted the land, only Joshua and Caleb would survive and cross the River Jordan. By the time they entered into the land of Israel, they were old men with young ideas.

Joshua was also lucky. Moses had to struggle to succeed and often failed; Joshua seems to have been above the fray. During his term of office, we read of no major criticism, and the people generally tended to do what he asked. Had Israel learned the lessons of the golden calf? Was Joshua the savvy politician, actor or both? Was he simply lucky? The text is silent.

Unlike Moses, Joshua was a leader who had crossed the River Jordan both physically and mentally. Joshua was Israels first leader of a now independent and less immature nation, one whose destiny would be in its own hands. By crossing the river, Joshua became a leader who by necessity would have to deal with lifes less exciting but practical issues. Joshua took us from national childhood to national adulthood.

In typical Biblical fashion we see Joshuas positive and negative qualities. Joshua was a strong and optimistic leader. Yet he never appointed a successor, and after his death the nation would have to deal with a political vacuum. Is the text teaching us that strong leaders prepare their replacements? Does Joshuas life remind us of how dangerous it is for a nation to be burdened with a weak line of succession?

Joshuas life teach us who live many millennia later much about leadership and war. Did Israel suffer because it quit its battles too early? Is the text telling us that a premature peace may hold dire consequences later and that leading from behind is a formula not for peace but for disaster?

These are open questions raised by Joshuas life and leadership. They are questions to be debated for all eternity. Perhaps this is the reason that the story of Joshua contains no lofty pronouncements or poetry. His tale is a story that teaches us that war is a dirty business, sometimes necessary but never glorious. Joshua taught us that at times nations must do what is necessary but never celebrate anothers suffering. These are essential lessons to consider as we enter the New Year of 5783.

Peter Tarlow is a police chaplain for the College Station Police Department and the Rabbi Emeritus of Texas A&M Hillel Foundation. Tarlow is a member of the Texas A&M Faculty of Humanities in Medicine, and the director of the Center for Latino-Jewish Relations.

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Peter Tarlow column: Story of Joshua is of a by-the-book leader - Bryan-College Station Eagle

East Room

12:06 P.M. EDT

THE FIRST LADY: Good morning.

AUDIENCE: Good morning!

THE FIRST LADY: As we gather in honor of the High Holy Days, I know that all of our hearts are with those affected by the hurricanes.

May many have had to flee their homes, as youve seen. Temples will be shuttered on Yom Kippur. And some will have to break their fast without beloved family beside them.

I hope that their faith and our prayers bring them comfort during this dark time.

In Judaism, the Days of Awe these 10 days of reflection and repentance call for introspection. But its not an endeavor taken alone.

The prayers on Yom Kippur begin with we. We have gone astray. We have not lived up to the best versions of ourselves as individuals and as a community.

Its a recognition of a powerful truth: that we fail together, we forgive together, and we heal together, too.

Thats why there is hope to be found in this sacred time as well.

Its a chance to release the burdens that have weighed us down and reach toward the light of the divine; to be with family, facing the best and worst of ourselves surrounded by love, knowing that we will emerge stronger than before.

Its a moment to remember that we the path we walk will one day end and hold close those who travel beside us.

The Days of Awe remind us that its never too late to begin again.

We, all of us, are a work in progress. So we continue that work: speaking truth, fighting for for justice, believing that we can heal our broken world.

Let us look toward the past with wisdom and turn toward the future with joy.

Let us remember that there is hope and healing ahead. In our highs and our lows, we are not alone, and there is beauty and sweetness in every step of the way.

Now, Im grateful to be here with my family, including so many people who have become family over the years. (Laughter.) And that it now includes Kamala and Doug.

You know, there are so many things (applause) yes. You know, there are so many things that you have both brought to our lives. But during the High Holidays, I am especially grateful for the chance to join you, Doug, in honoring traditions that I know that you hold close to your heart.

So, thank you for spending this special time with us.

Everyone, please welcome the Second Gentleman, Doug Emhoff. (Applause.)

THE SECOND GENTLEMAN: Thank you, my good friend Dr. Biden. You have always been such a leader in bringing people together, and you do it with compassion, and you do it with purpose. And thats exactly what youre doing here today by welcoming our Jewish community to the White House. So, thank you so much.

And on a personal note back at you (laughter) you and the President have really made our family feel like your family. So, thank you so much.

And again, I also want to echo Dr. Bidens words of comfort to those who have been affected by these horrible storms. Our prayers are with you, and we will continue to do everything we can to support all of you and your families and your communities.

And my wife, the Vice President Kamala and I (applause) were honored to join you as well as we welcome in this new year. Shana Tova.

And its a particular honor for me as the first Jewish spouse of a President or a Vice President. (Applause.)

But do you know, for years, as a lot of you know, the Bidens invited our community for celebrations when they lived at the Vice Presidents Residence. And now, the Vice President Harris and I my wife (laughter) are we are very grateful that we get to continue in the tradition that they set forth.

The doorposts there are protected by mezuzot thats two mezuzahs. We hosted a Passover Seder. Weve lit a historic menorah for Hanukkah. But now, we gather in the White House during the Days of Awe, as Dr. Biden mentioned, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Now, in my family, Rosh Hashanah meant a trip to my grandmothers apartment in Brooklyn. (Laughter.) And I can still smell that brisket cooking and burning in the kitchen. (Laughter.) I can still taste the slightly warm challah, but slightly stale (laughter) on the table.

And, of course, as a lot of you remember, my grandmother begged all of us kids not to jump on the couch because I took the plastic coverings off! (Laughter.)

But this is also a season to reflect and atone and repent for both of our shortcomings and those that we see around us.

And lets be clear we all know this: Jews worldwide face horrendous discrimination and violence and antisemitism. And one of the reasons that our great President ran for president was to confront the kinds of hate and antisemitism that we all saw and were mortified by in Charlottesville. (Applause.)

And on this issue on this issue, we have a President and a Vice President who know that all Americans must be able to worship without fear or violence. (Applause.)

And we also know they are two leaders of deep faith who believe in tolerance and inclusion, not just for our Jewish community but for all communities. (Applause.)

And our President has said, and I quote, If Jewish history and tradition teaches us anything, its the resilient belief in the promise of tomorrow.

So as the Jewish community in the United States and Israel and around the world take stock and renew our hopes for the start to 5783, we are grateful to be sharing it in one of the Jewish communitys best friends.

Please join me in welcoming the President of the United States, Joe Biden. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Well, as youre about to find out, Doug and I married way above our station. (Laughter.) Youve already seen one example of that. Youll soon see another. Doug, thank you for the introduction.

And Doug is right. Youre the first, but Kamala often says you wont be the last. Kamala wont be the last woman to be Vice President or President. (Applause.)

So let me start by recognizing this reception comes at a very difficult time for so many Jewish families in Florida, possibly for some of you who have loved ones in Florida mothers, fathers, grandparents, friends. Our heart goes out to everyone there in the state experiencing what could be may be one the most devastating hurricanes in the history of that state.

And I say Ill Im going to say more about that this afternoon. Im making a major address on this.

So many families just celebrated New Years and are now in this solemn part of the High Holidays. Some of you are from the area or have family and friends there. And as I said, its got to be tough time for a lot of you.

And I want to Representatives Ted Deutch and Debbie Wasserman Schultz are here, and a lot of other friends. (Applause.) Good to see you, Ted.

And were working closely with the governor and the entire Florida delegation Democrat and Republican making sure that we do everything we can, including now search and rescue, recovery, and rebuilding efforts, which is going to go on for a while. Going to go on for a long while.

And whatever it takes, were going to be there as one nation and one America. Were not going to walk away.

So let me just say, Ted, youre a dear friend. Youre retiring after 12 years. Dont go. Change your mind. Do something. (Laughter.) Were really going to miss you, pal. No, we really are. Were going to miss you in Congress. Weve worked together closely for a long time. And I look forward to your leadership on the American Jewish Committee. So, thank you. (Applause.)

When Jill and I were Vice President and First [Second] Lady, Jill and I honored were honored to host the first Rosh Hashanah reception at the Naval Observatory.

And today, as President and First Lady, were humbled to host the first High Holidays reception ever in the White House with so many of our friends. (Applause.)

Now, if I acknowledge everyone by name, well be here (laughter) for the Hanukkah reception in December. (Laughter.)

But this is Ted Ted and Debbie, I also want to acknowledge someone else who means a great deal to our family: Rabbi Michael Beals of the Congregation Beth Shalom in Wilmington, Delaware. (Applause.) There you are.

With his predecessors Rabbi Kraft and Rabbi Geffen thats where I received my education. I probably went to shul more than many of you did. (Laughter.) You all think Im kidding. He can tell you Im not. (Laughter.) Im not.

Beth Shalom is home for countless friends. And, for me, its been its been a home. And over the years, weve shared deep conversations about faith and and finding purpose. And theyve always, always, always been there for my family in the good times and not-so-good times.

And just like rabbis, synagogues, and Jewish community centers in your hometowns, youre always there; your congregations are there for you and for everyone in the neighborhood, whether theyre Jewish or not.

And thats the tradition I got raised I spent a lot of time Im a practicing Catholic, but I Id go to services on Saturday and on Sunday. (Laughter.) You all think Im kidding. Im not. (Laughter.)

So, look, thats the power of the Jewish community all across America.

And Doug mentioned the High Holidays are a sacred time for introspection and renewal and and repentance, and a time to ask for forgiveness, to mend our relationships with God and with our fellow men.

The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who passed away two years ago, once said that the most important lesson of the High Holidays is that nothing nothing is broken beyond repair. Nothing is broken beyond repair. Its never too late to change and to be better. Ive always believed that message, and I also think its universal.

And weve emerged from one of our most difficult moments in our history. I believe nothing is broken beyond repair, and theres a lot we can do to change things and bring people together.

We can and we are emerging stronger from this pandemic. Were building an economy that works for everyone. Were were responding to the cry of for action by the climate. Were were (applause) were actually rallying the world. Were rallying the world to keep support for Ukraine strong and consistent and (applause) and Ukraines right to exist as a people.

You know, and were were showing that we can do big things as a country when we work together, regardless of our political party, from taking on gun violence, to supporting our veterans, to rebuilding America itself, to ending cancer as we know it.

But there is a lot more we can do, but we have to do it together, to restore the soul of America. When I ran, I said one of the reasons I was running, literally, was to restore the soul of America, bring back some decency and honor in the way we talk about one another, the way we deal with one another standing up to antisemitism that was constantly lurking in the shadows. (Applause.)

You know, the Jewish people know better than any what my father, who was not Jewish but would constantly use the phrase, silence is complicity. Silence is complicity.

I was reminded of that yet again during my recent trip to Israel. I reaffirmed Americas unshakable commitment to Israeli security. As a matter of fact, the Prime Minister was telling me he said, I remember what you said Id forgotten what I said when I landed. (Laughter.) He looked at me, he said he said, You looked at me and you said, Its good to be home. (Laughter.)

But, you know, the first place I went back to was Yad Vashem. And there were two Holocaust survivors there who immigrated to America after the war but returned to that sacred ground to speak to young people so we never forget.

And I think that after all they experienced in the 40s, today theyre witnessing a record high antisemitism in 2022 they never thought would be the case again. Although, maybe they did, in their hearts, think it could happen. But they were there.

I decided to run for President and this is not hyperbole you know youve heard me say this for over almost three years now that, when I saw those people walking out of the fields literally walking out of the fields in Virginia, carrying torches, Nazi flags; and chanting the same exact antisemitic bile that was chanted on the streets of Berlin and Germany in the early 30s.

And when asked, when the young woman was killed, What do you think? And the comment made by a former leader was, There are good people on both sides.

Ive made it clear since I was elected, including two weeks ago at the first-of-its-kind summit against hate-fueled violence at the White House: Hate can have no safe harbor. Its never defeated; it only hides. It hides under rocks. And when we breathe a little oxygen under those rocks, it comes out it comes out.

And failure to call it out is complicity, and the silence is complicity. We cant (applause) no, I mean it.

We cant remain silent. The rest of the world looks to us.

Thats why I established the first Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Combat Antisemitism at the at the ambassadorial level. (Applause.)

I appointed Deborah Lipstadt, a Holocaust expert, to this critical position. She is here today. Where are you, Deborah? All the way in the back. (Laughter.) Thats usual with her humility. But, Deborah, thank you for being willing to do it. (Applause.)

And we worked with Congress to secure the largest increase in funding ever for physical security of nonprofits, including synagogues, religious organizations. (Applause.) Because nobody nobody should fear going to a religious service or a school or walking down a street wearing a symbol of their faith. Nobody. Nobody. Period. (Applause.)

We launched the first National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism and its first-of-its-kind White House Initiative on Hate-Motivated Violence, working hand in hand with the Jewish community. And many in here are working with us.

Im not going to remain silent. We cant remain silent. I mean this sincerely. If we let it go, democracy and everything else is at stake. We cant remain silent.

So, let me close with this. The Jewish tradition holds that from the time the Book of Life is opened on Rosh Hashanah until the gates close on Yom Kippur, our fate hangs in the balance. Its in our hands its in our hands to change, to do better to ourselves, for ourselves, and for others.

I believe we face a similar inflection point as a nation.

My hope and prayer for the year ahead is that, for one of the most difficult moments that weve gone through in a long time, we emerge stronger.

That resilient belief in the promise of tomorrow is embodied in thousands of years of Jewish history and in the story of America.

So lets do the work ahead lets do the work together, regardless of what your political persuasion. Lets recognize the work of our democracy.

You know, as the Talmud instructs, It is not required that you complete the work, neither may you refrain from it. It is not required you complete the work, but neither may you refrain from it.

To bridge the gap between the world we see and the future we seek, to keep the faith, to remember who we are. Were the United States of America, damn it. Theres nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together.

So God bless you all. May this be a happy, healthy, and sweet new year. And may we all be inscribed in the Book of Life.

But before I leave today, I have a special part of this program I want to mention.

One that of things that Jill and I appreciate the most about opening the White House to celebrate people who mean so much to the country I cant think of anyone better who embodies the sacred spirit of this season than the special guest we have here today.

Born in Tel Aviv. Stricken by polio as a as a child thats made it difficult for him to walk ever since. Came to America to pursue his God-given talent that moves our souls. An Israeli-American icon of our time. One of the most celebrated violinists of our times. Please join me in the Foyer to hear a special performance from Itzhak Perlman. (Applause.)

Itzhak. He plays from the heart. As the rabbis tell us, What comes from the heart enters the heart. And youre about to experience it.

God love you all. God be willing that we have a good year. Thank you. (Applause.)

Q Mr. President, whats your message to Vladimir Putin today, following the annexation?

THE PRESIDENT: Ill be talking about that a little later today, okay? Lets celebrate now. (Applause.)

12:27 P.M. EDT

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Remarks by President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff at a Reception to Celebrate the Jewish New Year - The White...