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Kamala Harris
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Dear Friends:
Call me old-fashioned or sexist, but I think that the entire dust up of President Obama calling California attorney general Kamala Harris the "best-looking attorney general in the country" is a tempest in a teapot.
I understand the importance of de-emphasizing appearance in a world in which physical beauty is over-glorified, but condemning someone for complimenting a man or woman on their
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"A Cookie is a Sometimes Food"
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appearance is political correctness gone awry. A couple of days ago I saw a male colleague wearing a new suit. I told him he looked great. Is that sexual harassment? Would it be if I said the same thing to a woman - which incidentally, I did last week, though feeling obligated to preface my comment with "This is not sexual harassment...but you look wonderful today."
It has reached the point where I am doubly concerned about saying anything to anyone except "good morning" and "nice day, isn't it."
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President Barak Obama
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I understand that the President of the United States does need to uphold a certain standard, and probably should not have made that type of casual off-handed remark about a government official. All leaders need to be scrupulous about what they say or do since they set an example to others. But was the President truly deserving of all of the criticism heaped upon him?
Our tradition teaches that we should always be looking for ways to judge people positively rather than negatively. We should accentuate the positive and not look for faults. We should be more forgiving and less judgmental.
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Tzara'at
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This week's combined parshiot of Tazria and Metzora discuss the different types of fungus and inflammations that can infect people and structures. These infestations were seen as divine punishment for the sin of lashon hara, gossip, and idle chatter. The expert in tzara'at was the Kohen. It was the priests who had the expertise to discern a true infection from harmless discoloration.
If a homeowner found a possible infection in his house, the Torah prescribes: "The owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, 'Something like a plague has appeared upon my house.'" (Lev. 14:35)
The seminal Biblical commentator Rashi adds: "Even a Torah scholar, well familiar with these infections, should never say, 'A plague has appeared in my house, rather, 'Something like a plague has appeared in my house.'"
 | | The Power of Positive Thinking |
Rabbi Mordechai Cohen expands Rashi's comment. He writes that if someone is not permitted to say that he saw a plague in his own house, how much more so is one not permitted to say they saw a plague in their neighbor's house.
People should always be searching for and pointing out the positive attributes of family, friends, and neighbors rather than illuminating their "plagues and infections."
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal Tifereth Israel Synagogue San Diego, CA 92119  |
