Ki Tisa and Shabbat Signs

Shabbat is described in a number of ways. It is called a reminder of creation and in particular the work of creation. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. When we pause and observe Shabbat we recall that God ordered the heavens and the earth. According to the great medieval Jewish philosopher, Moses Maimonides, we affirm our belief in God by celebrating Shabbat.

Shabbat is also called a reminder of the exodus from Egypt. Again when we mark the seventh day we recall that God freed us from Egypt. More importantly our observance is a testament to our freedom. Only a free people can set a day apart. Only a free person can set out on a vacation (unless of course a winter storm enslaves us!). To choose to sing our Shabbat songs and prayers together is a reminder that we are free. We can choose to go to services or not. When we do, however, our hearts are lifted together and our souls can be refreshed.

In this week’s portion Shabbat is also called a sign of the covenant. We read the words of the V’shamru prayer that we sing at Shabbat services: “The people of Israel shall keep Shabbat observing Shabbat throughout the ages as a covenant for all time. It is a sign for all time between Me and the people of Israel. For in six days God made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day God ceased from work and was refreshed.” (Exodus 31:16-17)

Circumcision is also called a sign of the covenant. The tefillin that are bound on the head and arm are also signs. They are, however, physical. By the way the rainbow is also deemed a sign of the promise that God made to Noah following the flood. How I long for such a sign on this day! Yet the rainbow is not a sign of the Jewish covenant. Tefillin, circumcision and Shabbat are signs of the pact made between God and the Jewish people.

Are these signs for us or for God? Does the Torah intend these signs to serve as reminders to God of God’s commitments to the Jewish people? This could be one reading of these texts. Or do these instead remind us of our obligations to God, the Jewish people and Jewish history? How can a day serve as a sign? It is self-evident how physical signs can serve as constant reminders. How can Shabbat remind us? How can a day set apart, a day of rest and refreshment prod us?

Every week we sing the words of V’shamru. Have we taken the time to ponder its words and meaning? The Zionist thinker Ahad Haam wrote: “More than the Jewish people has kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jewish people.”

Shabbat is not a sign for God. It is not a sign for us. It is instead a sign for the future. Shabbat lights tomorrow.

And I offer the following to those who are observing Valentine’s Day. These words are from the greatest love poem ever written, a few verses from Song of Songs, a biblical poem filled with passion, eroticism and love.

You have captured my heart,
My own, my bride,
You have captured my heart
With one glance of your eyes,
With one coil of your necklace.
How sweet is your love,
My own, my bride!
How much more delightful your love than wine,
Your ointments more fragrant
Than any spice! (Song of Songs 4:9-10)

Tetzaveh, Rolling the Dice and Making War

In ancient times the High Priest, and the priests, never dressed down. He was always dressed in finery and adorned with jewels, especially on his breastpiece. In fact, the hoshen mishpat, the breastpiece of decision contained twelve different stones, one for each of the twelve tribes: carnelian, chrysolite, emerald, turquoise, sapphire, amethyst, jacinth, agate, crystal, beryl, lapis lazuli and jasper. I will leave it to the jewelers (as well as the bejeweled) members of our congregation to help further define these precious and semi-precious jewels.

Within this breastpiece was a unique fortune telling device: the Urim and Thummim. “Inside the breastpiece of decision you shall place the Urim and Thummim, so that they are over Aaron’s heart when he comes before the Lord. Thus Aaron shall carry the instrument of decision over his heart before the Lord at all times.” (Exodus 28:30) We know very little about the Urim and Thummim. The evidence within the Bible is inconsistent and unclear. They are introduced here in such a manner that they appear well known to the ancient ear. Yet there is not a single instance when their use is described in the Torah. We have only scant references in other biblical books.

How they were used, when they were used and why they were used remains shrouded in mystery. We can however surmise several things about their use. They were only used to help make decisions of national importance. In fact they were most particularly used to decide whether or not to wage war. Judaism codified two types of war: milchemet mitzvah, an obligatory war of for example, self-defense and milchemet reshut, a permitted war to expand a nation’s territory. The Urim and Thummim were employed to justify a leader’s decision to wage a permitted war. This rolling of the dice or casting of lots would help to support what might appear to be an arbitrary decision to the nation’s citizens or more accurately, its subjects.

When waging war, whether the leader is elected as in the case of modern times, or royalty as in ancient times, the support of the masses and even more importantly, the soldiers is of critical importance. When it is a war of self-defense their support is natural and expected. This is why our wars are always framed with this language. Even the Vietnam War was portrayed as critical to stop, or as some argued slow, the advance of the Communist menace. It was natural to wrap the war in Afghanistan in this robe of self-defense. Not only were we justified in pursuing our attackers but we had an obligation to prevent future attacks. And so we marched to war in Afghanistan.

With regard to the war in Iraq it was more difficult to make this case, although this is why the WMD argument became so important. Our leaders argued that it was likewise a case of self-defense. Our country, however, never became unified around this argument. I wonder if the nation would have remained more united if we had shared a faith in oracular devices such as the Urim and Thummim. Imagine how our country might be different if the High Priest stood before the nation and reached within the breastpiece of decision and threw the Urim and Thummim to the ground. It came up Thummim and so we discerned that God too had weighed in and supported our leader’s decision to wage war.

Imagine. And the people oohed and aahed. Together they nodded in agreement. They turned to their sons, hugged them goodbye and silently watched as they readied themselves for war. Our nation stood together. It remain unified.

Still there remain other oracles we wish to discern. Who among these young men might return from the battlefield? Who among them will instead return with lifelong injuries and wounds? And who among them will return with scars in their hearts?

We do not know. We cannot know. Let us ask the Urim and Thummim.

Would that decisions were as simple, and unifying, as the casting of lots.

Terumah, Dolphins and the Super Bowl

In preparing the tabernacle the Israelites slaughtered many animals, among them dolphins. These were the requirements detailed in this week’s portion.

“And these are the gifts that you shall accept from them: gold, silver, and copper; blue, purple, and crimson yarns, fine linen, goats’ hair; tanned ram skins, dolphin skins, and acacia wood; oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the aromatic incense; lapis lazuli and other stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece…. Exactly as I show you—the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings—so shall you make it.” (Exodus 25)

Dolphin skins?, one might ask. Yes, even dolphins.

This past week we read about Japan’s slaughter of dolphins. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy has brought this practice to light when she tweeted, “Deeply concerned by inhumaneness of drive hunt dolphin killing. USG opposes drive hunt fisheries.” (The notion that virtues and morals can be reduced to 140 characters would be the subject of another post.) The Japanese have argued that the practice is deeply rooted in tradition saying, “Dolphin fishing is a form of traditional fishing in our country.”

What is it about this practice that strikes Western societies as cruel and inhumane? Is it that dolphins hold some special place in our hearts? Is it the gruesome images of the slaughter of hundreds of dolphins in a tranquil cove? Why is this practice more abhorrent than the (unseen) overfishing of the world’s oceans? Is this as the Japanese wish to frame the question a clash of civilizations, of Eastern mores offending Western values or is it instead as the United States argues the protection of what should be a universal ethic?

And I wonder what would happen if I were required to construct a tabernacle according to my tradition’s dictates? Would this portable sanctuary look as the Torah describes; would it be adorned with lapis lazuli and acacia wood, tanned ram skins and dolphin skins? Would I be required to herd the dolphins slaughtered by the crashing of the waves of the Sea of Reeds, as the rabbis suggest? To what ends would I travel in order to give my tradition life?

Would I say yes to the tradition or no to the slaughter of dolphins? Although I would of course never go to such lengths, I am left with the larger question: what happens when tradition conflicts with contemporary mores? How do we decide? When do we lean into the tradition? When do we side with contemporary society?

The early Reform rabbis argued in the 1885 Pittsburgh Platform: “We hold that all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress originated in ages and under the influence of ideas entirely foreign to our present mental and spiritual state. They fail to impress the modern Jew with a spirit of priestly holiness; their observance in our days is apt rather to obstruct than to further modern spiritual elevation.” In essence they taught that when it comes to a tallis and kippah, permitted and prohibited foods, sacrifices and priestly adornments we side with contemporary society. We side with the tradition only when it agrees with universal ethical dictates.

I continue to wonder.

Come Sunday most, if not all, Americans will gather around their televisions to watch the Super Bowl. Most as well have come to recognize the terrible costs this game has upon players’ bodies, most especially because of concussions. No matter how many rules and precautions the NFL develops, players will continue to suffer harm, during their years of playing and for many, throughout their lives. There is little doubt that at some point in Sunday’s game a player will lie injured on the field with doctors and trainers kneeling around him. The announcers will offer platitudes about the NFL’s new protocols and hopes that the player’s injury does not end his career. The TV will cut to a commercial. We will take the opportunity to replenish our food or drinks. The game will soon continue. The tradition of Sunday football moves on.

And I will continue to watch. I love the game. I even love the commercials. I love the spectacle and tradition of Super Bowl Sunday.

And I continue to wonder. Who am I to criticize the inhumaneness of the killing of dolphins?

We choose tradition more often than we think.

SodaStream, Scarlett Johansson and BDS

Scarlett Johansson, the new official spokesperson of SodaStream, the Israeli company who has purchased a Super Bowl advertisement spot, is facing controversy from the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement.  SodaStream is located in the West Bank.  It is specifically located in the Maale Adumim industrial park.  Maale Adumim sits right outside of Jerusalem and has a population of some 40,000 residents.  To most Israelis it is a Jerusalem suburb.  To the vast majority of peace negotiators it is one of the three large settlement blocs that will be incorporated within the borders of the State of Israel.  Such facts are of course immaterial to the BDS movement.  Scarlett Johansson released an official statement yesterday:

While I never intended on being the face of any social or political movement, distinction, separation or stance as part of my affiliation with SodaStream, given the amount of noise surrounding that decision, I'd like to clear the air. 

I remain a supporter of economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine. SodaStream is a company that is not only committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine, supporting neighbors working alongside each other, receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights. That is what is happening in their Ma’ale Adumim factory every working day. As part of my efforts as an Ambassador for Oxfam, I have witnessed first-hand that progress is made when communities join together and work alongside one another and feel proud of the outcome of that work in the quality of their product and work environment, in the pay they bring home to their families and in the benefits they equally receive. 

I believe in conscious consumerism and transparency and I trust that the consumer will make their own educated choice that is right for them. I stand behind the SodaStream product and am proud of the work that I have accomplished at Oxfam as an Ambassador for over 8 years. Even though it is a side effect of representing SodaStream, I am happy that light is being shed on this issue in hopes that a greater number of voices will contribute to the conversation of a peaceful two state solution in the near future.

To my mind SodaStream helps to further a two state solution.  Below is a video produced by SodaStream.  It is a testament to the power of what can happen, and what might happen, when Jews and Arabs work side by side.

To my ear the BDS movement is not interested in dialogue and cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians but instead in demonizing and marginalizing the State of Israel. It draws broad strokes and refuses to examine particulars. "All settlements are wrong," it shouts. There are differences throughout the territories. Look within each community instead. I disagree with the movement's refrain that Israel is wrong and the Palestinians are right, that Israel is the oppressor and the Palestinians are victims. There are victims on both sides. Israel has certainly made mistakes and I believe continues to do so (the continued expansion of remote settlements in the West Bank is on my list) but it does not get us any closer to a negotiated peace to portray one side as guilty, and entirely responsible for our present circumstances, and the other as innocent. When Jews and Arabs come face to face with each other and as in the case of SodaStream work together and celebrate together, and in some cases become friends, then we are one step closer to a two state solution and living side by side as friendly neighbors.

I for one am looking forward to the much talked about commercial during the upcoming Super Bowl.  I am almost inclined to purchase a soda maker, even though I never drink soda.

Addendum: below is the commercial that will appear, at least in part, during the Super Bowl.

Mishpatim, Keeping Kosher and Weaving Meaning

“You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” (Exodus 23:19)

With this seemingly obscure verse, repeated three times, a mountain of laws is built. From this one verse the kosher laws requiring the separation of milk and meat are spun. Jewish law derives three prohibitions: cooking milk and meat together, eating any combination of these and as well deriving benefit from this mixture.

Why? The traditional explanation is that a mother’s milk sustains life. It must therefore never be combined with an animal’s flesh. Eating meat is seen as a compromise to human wants, and perhaps needs. It must then be framed by certain constraints. We cannot eat any meat we want. Hence the lists of permitted and prohibited animals. We cannot eat hunted animals. Our tradition argues that they might have suffered too much. We cannot eat meat with the milk that would have sustained its life.

Such are our tradition’s reasons. It is of course possible that all the Torah meant was that we are forbidden from cooking a young goat in a pot of boiling milk. Recent archaeological evidence suggests that this was a practice of Israel’s neighbors. Perhaps the Torah’s law was one more version of its singular refrain: Don’t do what they do. Don’t follow the practices of those idolaters.

Sometimes I wonder if the Torah’s lack of details and explanations surrounding this verse suggests that its meaning was clear to the ancient ear. The Torah states: “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” And the people looked to the North (I once saw such a recipe in a Syrian cookbook) and then to the East and together nodded in agreement. No more needs to be said. The Torah’s message, repeated over and over again and in many different forms, is heard: we will never be like them. We will never do what they do.

And yet thousands of years later this is not what Judaism says the verse means. We are not literalists. We are dependent on years and years of interpretation. At first the rabbis argued whether or not chicken should be considered meat since it does not nurse its young. The ancient chicken farmers must have lost that argument. It looks too much like meat the rabbis argued. And so chicken is now meat.

And the mountain of interpretation keeps growing.

After eating meat we wait before eating milk. Some wait one hour. Others wait six hours. We have separate dishes for milk and others for meat. We have separate cooking utensils. No cheeseburgers. No ice cream for dessert after a steak dinner. The lists grow and grow.

The original intent was long ago obscured. And yet years ago Susie and I decided to build our kitchen according to these lists. No one coerced us. No one demanded this of us. Somewhere along our journey we discovered these lists and decided to make them our own. Now we have two sets of everything. Sometimes we sit down for a meat meal. Other times we take out the milk dishes. No one said, “You must keep kosher.” One day we decided to makes these seemingly arbitrary, but uniquely Jewish, lists our own.

More than anything else this set of rules define our day to day lives as Jewish. Every time we prepare a meal, we have to ask, “Milk or meat?” Every time the question is asked our Jewish consciousness is raised. Every time I reach for a cup or a plate I am reminded of my Jewishness. Buying kosher meat does little to raise this awareness. The refrigerator and freezer hold only kosher choices. “Milk or meat?” becomes the all-important daily Jewish question.

Are the rules illogical? Perhaps. But their meaning transcends their logic. They are meaningful precisely because they are not our own. It is not the logic of the rules that we have adopted but instead a discipline above and beyond ourselves. It is this discipline that binds us to the Jewish community near and far, past and future. It is these rules that daily renew our commitments to our God. The great Jewish teaching is that while eating should be enjoyable it must also be about more than just pleasure. It is as well about discipline.

Sure you can eat anything you want. You can also pause and say a blessing and then allow gratitude to soothe your heart. You can as well, in that instant when you begin the preparations for a meal marvel that even this mundane, every day moment, can be infused with Jewish meaning by the simplest of questions, “Milk or meat?”

Standing on mountains of interpretation “You shall not a boil a kid in its mother’s milk” continues to weave its way into my heart.

Yitro and the Ten Commandments

This week’s Torah portion contains the Ten Commandments.  According to Jewish tradition, these ten are delineated as follows and are called instead Aseret HaDibrot, the Ten Sayings.  Part of the reason for this name is that the first commandment is not in fact a commandment but instead a foundational principle.

1. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

2. You shall have no other gods beside Me.

3. You shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord your God.

4. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

5. Honor your father and you mother that you may long endure on the land.

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not steal.

8. You shall not commit adultery.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. (Exodus 20)

It is interesting to note as well that this week’s portion is named for someone who is not an Israelite.  It is called Yitro.  He is the father in law to Moses and not only a Midianite, but a priest.  In other words he is a religious leader of another nation.  While the rabbis argued that Yitro must have converted, the Bible suggests only that he and his tribe are aligned with the Israelites—at this time.  Later the Midianites become Israel’s enemy. The medieval commentator Ibn Ezra reminds us: Although there are always Amaleks there are also Yitros.  Not every outsider is our perpetual enemy.   

The implied message for the portion’s name is clear.  These commandments contain universal truths.  They were given in the wilderness, a place belonging to no one.  They are found in a portion named for someone outside of the Jewish people.  They do not belong to a select few.  Instead they belong to all.  They belong everywhere.

If they are to having lasting meaning then they must have such meaning for all.  If they are to have universal import then they must belong to all.  This is why it is Yitro and not Moses who opens this week’s reading: “Yitro priest of Midian, Moses’ father in-law, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, how the Lord had brought Israel out from Egypt.” (Exodus 18:1)

Sometimes the greatest truths are found in the mouths of others and not even in our greatest heroes.

Riding in Circles

The following is the sermon delivered at Friday evening Shabbat services.

When we were younger all of us took our required math classes.  Some of us enjoyed these.  Many did not.  In those classes we learned about the basics of adding and subtracting, multiplying and in my most advanced class, division.  Later we learned geometry and there I first found out about this magical number called Pi.  Pi is a curious number.  It is a mathematical constant of 3.14159 and so on.  In recent years it has been calculated out to 10 trillion digits.  In theory it goes on into infinity without ever repeating.  It is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.  It is in a word the constant around which a circle revolves.

Like a circle the Torah is perfect and so I am given to wondering, what is its Pi.  What is the verse around which the Torah spins?  Is it its opening verse: Bereshit bara Elohim—In the beginning God created heaven and earth?  Without a beginning that immediately establishes God’s relationship with the world there could be no Torah.  But you can’t spin around a beginning or ending for that matter.  Is it instead the command to observe Shabbat: Zakhor et yom hashabbat—Remember the Sabbath day?  Can there be a more central command to Jewish life than Shabbat?  Perhaps instead the verse: Vahavata l’r’echa kamocha—love your neighbor as yourself?  Some have pointed out that when the Torah is unrolled to that verse of Leviticus 19:18 the scroll is perfectly balanced.  This verse stands at the exact center of the Torah.  It certainly could be argued that if we observed this command day in and day out we would do more to elevate our lives and the lives of those around us.

Still I remain unsatisfied that these verses could be the Torah’s constant, that these could represent the circle of the Torah’s Pi.  This week in Parashat Beshalach, we read not only the Song of the Sea, containing the words of Mi Chamocha, but the following as well: So God led the people roundabout by way of the wilderness.  And I have come to believe that these words are in fact the linchpin for the remainder of the Torah’s story.  God intentionally led the people on what would become a forty year journey.  I know that we have read the commentaries suggesting that it was not God’s intention at the outset.  It was instead the Israelites’ sins that caused a few month journey to turn into one of forty years.  We recall as well the teaching that only those who were born as free people in the wilderness could become a free nation in their own land.  Slaves cannot really know freedom.  And so the slaves must die so that a new, free people can be formed. 

In fact this forty year long journey was always God’s intention all along.  That is clear from this week’s parsha.  The famous Jewish philosopher, Franz Rosenzweig, suggests this as well.  He writes that God purposely misdirects us.  We only discover our freedom when pointed in the wrong direction.  I think that God just kept leading us in circles until we learned enough to realize the dream of entering the Promised Land.  Have you ever considered the fact that our central book, the Torah, concludes without this dream being realized?  It ends at the edge of the land, at the border of a dream.  And then what do we do?  We circle back to the beginning: Bereshit bara Elohim.

One of the geniuses of our tradition is having faith in the messianic redemption, but also always believing that the messiah’s arrival stands at a great distance.  This notion is codified by the rabbis when they wrote (and I share this in honor of the upcoming Tu B’Shevat): If the messiah comes and you are planting a tree, first finish planting, and then go to greet the messiah. (Avot deRabbi Natan)  When the messiah gets too close we tend to forget about the here and now.  There are plenty examples from our history (Shabtai Zevi is the most notorious) but the lessons are the same.  If you believe that this guy is the messiah then you stop trying to fix things yourself and say instead, “He will take care of it.”  You forget to plant the tree.  So we sing and pray for the messiah’s arrival but continue to take care of things ourselves.  The dream is held at a distance.  The Promised Land is across the way, off in the distance.  We circle back and begin the journey again. 

As many of you know, I am an avid cyclist.  Others might suggest, obsessed but to the aficionado, avid is the preferred name.  Every ride is a new journey.  While I always circle back home, I almost never ride the same route.  Sometimes I look for a new road to explore. Other times I just don’t want to climb Mill Hill.  Then there are days when I realize that climbing Mill Hill will be worth the tail wind I will gain riding out of Bayville.  How many times have I raced on Berry Hill on my way back towards Huntington and never even noticed Temple Lane?  How many miles are required to discover a new, potential home?  How many years of journeying and wandering are necessary?

Part of the problem is our goal-oriented society.  A life without goals appears meandering and aimless.  The sentiment is that without a predetermined destination we are lost.  But it is possible to explore without ever being lost.  When I ride I don’t carry maps.  I know that if I am riding west the Sound is always on my right.  And how do you know that the Sound is on your right when it is not within sight? By the temperature.  As you approach the water the air cools and even though the Sound is outside of view, you can feel it’s near and so you can ride, and explore and wander without ever really being lost.  The direction can only be a feeling.    

You can’t learn and grow if everything is about a goal.  The destination, the goal, is not the purpose of a journey.  School is supposed to be about discovery and not about test scores and grades.  If the message of our tradition were all about goals, then Torah would conclude with the Book of Joshua and not Deuteronomy.  The lesson of the Torah is revealed in this week’s verse.  In journeys we discover our Torah.  In wandering we find our lessons.  When you wander you discover things that are unintended.  It is there that we write stories. 

Think of the stories from vacations and travels.  Rarely do we retell them as follows: Everything went according to plan.  We followed our itinerary to the letter.  Our plane took off on time.  Our driver picked us up at the appointed hour.  More often, it is recounted like this: we were walking and exploring and we happened into this restaurant because we were tired and hungry and we discovered this gem.  We were the only foreigners there.  The food was delicious.  We talked to the chef.  Now we go back there every time we visit.

Life-long friends can be made when there is a mistake in your seat assignment.  Would we remain in the seat or berate the flight attendant about the error?  Leon Wieseltier once observed, Serendipity is how the spirit is renewed.  Wandering is how truths are discovered and lessons learned.  It could be as simple as a new route for a bike ride or as profound as a new friend.  Lessons are gained on journeys.

This week we discover the guiding verse of our most sacred book.  It is not as others would suggest.  It is instead about the journey and wandering.  The key Hebrew word is Vayesev.  It is translated in most Bibles as leading roundabout.  God turns the people around and around and around.  We could almost say that God spins us around in circles. The verb shares the same root as one word for circle. 

People always think that a journey is a straight line.  It is not.  It is instead a circle.  But even a circle has a constant.  That is a lesson learned long ago in math class.  There is a certain principle within each and every circle.  The Torah is the same.  And God led the people roundabout.  We continue on the journey.   Who knows what lessons might be learned.  The Torah never concludes.  We take a mere breath in between reading its last word and its first.  The Torah is drawn in circles. 

Have faith in the journey.  Even though we might wander in circles there remains a constant with infinite meaning. Relish the wandering.  At times we might only be able to sense the destination. Other times the goal appears mysterious. Understand this: we always circle back home. 

Shabbat Meditation

The following is the meditation offered prior to yesterday's Shabbat services.

Shabbat is about perspective.

This morning although it was snowing, raining and sleeting the temperature was 30º. Compared to the beginning of the week’s -15º wind chill, I felt warm. It only takes a bitterly cold day, or few days, to appreciate and be thankful for an ordinary winter day.

That is Shabbat. When life feels cold it warms us. It offers us a day to draw in that extra breath, the neshamah yetirah, that additional soul granted to us on this day. We sing our songs, we offer our prayers, we gather as a community to gain perspective on the week. Our troubles and frustrations appear less bothersome, our difficulties and pains seem more manageable.

We emerge strengthened. Our perspective is restored.

Beshalach and Writing Circles

Years ago, when I was nine, my friend and I were misbehaving on the camp bus.  On that particular day there was no counselor to manage the campers, only a bus driver.  And so we were jumping up and down on the back seats, and screaming and shouting.  I know this is hard to imagine given how little I move on the bima, but we were even running up and down the aisle.  The bus driver understandably grew angry with us.  We ignored every request to stop.  Perhaps the final straw was when we burst into laughter after he yelled at us. 

He pulled the bus over on what was St Louis’ equivalent to Jericho Turnpike.  He ordered us off the bus.  We happily complied, grabbing our bags and lunches as we walked off the bus.  This was not a punishment but instead an opportunity, we thought.  Rather than calling our parents at the nearby bagel store or any number of stores along the way, we decided to walk to my friend’s house.  Although we did not know the area, we could see the local hospital’s tall buildings in the distance and we knew that he lived near the hospital.  And so we walked toward our landmark.

My mom only recently told me that the camp called with the following message, “Mrs. Moskowitz, we need to tell you something.  Your son’s bus driver arrived at camp this morning and told us that he kicked Steven off the bus because he was misbehaving.  We have already sent our staff out to search for him and we are sure we will find him very soon.”  My father happened to be out of town on a business trip.  My mother was advised to stay at home and off the phone in case I called her.  I did not.  She sat by the phone, alone except for my younger brother, waiting and crying.  Family legend has it that her hair started turning grey on that morning.

Meanwhile my friend and I were enjoying our unexpected adventure.  We decided to leave the busy main road and walk through neighborhood streets.  We could eat whatever we wanted from our lunch bag, whenever we wanted.  We were free, wandering the streets of St Louis, oblivious to any dangers and unconcerned by the worry growing at home and among the camp’s directors.  The staff finally caught up with us, a few short blocks from my friend’s house.  We had walked for nearly three hours, meandering through at least two miles of streets.

They called my mom to tell her that they had found me and were bringing me home.  Had this happened more recently I might have been able to retire then and there from the lawsuit’s settlement. By the way the bus driver was only docked a few days pay.  Can you imagine today’s Internet headlines?  “Young boy traumatized by crazed bus driver.”  I was dumbfounded that my mom was so upset and surprised that she kept saying, “Thank God you are ok.”  (I do understand now.)  Of course we were ok.  I had just returned from an exciting adventure.  I had explored new streets.  I had discovered new areas.  I was never afraid.  My friend and I were always together.  We never once doubted our ability to find our way home.  Although we were walking on unfamiliar roads I never felt lost.

Recently I attended a lecture with the noted Harvard professor, Howard Gardner, who authored the book, The App Generation.  He observed that today’s children have never experienced getting lost.  I wonder what lessons remain unlearned.  They are uncomfortable asking a stranger for directions.  They do not know how to use landmarks to find their way. They might be unable to bottle their fears of the unknown and unfamiliar, harnessing them instead for the strength to explore and learn.  Imagine how my story might have been different if we had cellphones or if we had opened the Google Maps app.  There would be no story.

When my father returned home and overcame his anger, he asked me why we had not gone into the closest store and asked to use the phone.  Our answer surprised and mystified him.  I said that we never thought of that.  Why?  The adventure stood before us.  We were writing a new story.

“So God led the people roundabout, by way of the wilderness…” (Exodus 13:18)  The Hebrew is even more direct.  It suggests that God turned the people around and around, intentionally leading them in circles.  40 years of wandering begin this week.  40 years of learning begin with the walking in circles.

There can only be a story when meandering in circles. Years of learning begin with such turns.

Bo and the Plague of Silence

I have been thinking about the cost of my freedom.  In particular what is the cost to others for my freedom?  How many innocents have died in our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq or our continuing drone war?  To be sure the wicked have been killed and terrorist attacks prevented.  Still I wonder how many innocent civilians have been killed so that I can continue to enjoy the simple pleasures of my life, to walk around a city unafraid, to sit in a restaurant with friends, to dance at a wedding celebration.

Last month we read that a drone strike killed eleven people in Yemen as they were traveling in a wedding convoy.  It was reported that those killed were most likely affiliated with Al Qaeda.  It is also possible and perhaps even likely that at least some were innocent wedding goers. 

Every Spring we gather around our Seder tables and pause to recall the plagues: Daam-Blood, Tz’fardeiah-Frogs, Keenem-Lice, Ahrov-Wild Beasts, Dehver-Cattle Plague, Sh’cheen-Boils, Barad-Hail, Arbeh-Locusts, Choshech-Darkness, Makat B’chorot-Death of Firstborn.  For each plague meted against the Egyptians, we recite its name and remove a drop of wine from our overflowing glasses.  We are taught that we lessen our joy because of the suffering of others.  However justified their punishment our joy is diminished.  And then some forget and lick the wine from their fingers.  And others shout, “Don’t taste the plagues!”  Still all return to their meals and celebrations.

This week we read, “In the middle of the night the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the first born of Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the first born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first born of the cattle.  And Pharaoh arose in the night, with all his courtiers and all the Egyptians—because there was a loud cry in Egypt; for there was no house where there was not someone dead.” (Exodus 12:29-30)

Every Egyptian suffered the plague’s punishments, from the rulers who were ruthless in their persecution of the slaves to those who I imagine even opposed Pharaoh’s rule.  The notion that a tyrant only jails those accused of justified crimes is false.  Why must those held in his dungeons be punished as well?  All were killed from those evil men who plot against us and agitate for our destruction to those innocents who came only to dance at a wedding.

Am I to believe that anyone racing across the tribal areas of Afghanistan and Yemen is guilty?   Perhaps there was some who were only held captive and now they too suffer their rulers’ punishments.  One could argue that all Egyptians were complicit.  Far too many remained silent in the face of our persecution.  Far too many perpetuated the system of slavery upon which their livelihoods were based.  

I am unable to forget.  Even the firstborn of those languishing in Egypt’s prisons were also punished. In the struggle against evil do we begin to lose the ability to distinguish between wicked and innocent?

The tradition argues that the plagues were also, and perhaps even more so, for the sake of demonstrating God’s mighty power to the Israelites.  And so I ask, how many must suffer so that I can proclaim my freedom?

The innocent continue to suffer.  

And Abraham pleads with God when he becomes aware of the plan to destroy the sinful cities Sodom and Gomorrah.  “Far be it from You to do such a thing, to bring death upon the innocent as well as the guilty, so that innocent and guilty fare alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” (Genesis 18:25)

Dare we remain silent?

Vaera and the Call of Leadership

Whether you are home discovering a respite from the pressing schedules of work and school or away enjoying some precious days in the warming sun or perhaps skiing down a mountain of snow, take these moments to drink in some words of Torah.

God chooses Moses to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt.  Moses is charged with extraordinarily weighty tasks.  He must first appeal to the mighty Pharaoh demanding that his slaves be freed.  Moses protests to God, saying, “The Israelites would not listen to me; how then should Pharaoh heed me, a man of impeded speech!” (Exodus 6:12)  His tasks appear overwhelming and daunting. 

One of the hallmarks of our great Jewish leaders is that they do not want the job.  They do not seek leadership positions.  Instead these seek them out.  They do not pine after accolades or power.  At times it appears that God even pursues our leaders.  God calls to Moses out of an ordinary and plain bush, albeit one that burns but remains unconsumed.  The prophet Jonah is swallowed by a giant fish when trying to flee.  Like Moses the prophets view their abilities as lacking.  Yet, these are exactly the type of leaders God calls.

On one level the Bible’s import is clear.  These leaders are God’s instruments.  It is not their abilities that move historical events but instead God.  One way to read the Bible is as a record of God’s involvement in human affairs and in particular a concern for the Jewish people.  Moses does not then lead the people out of Egypt but instead God.  Moses does not even speak to Pharaoh.  He is but a mouthpiece.

On another level the Torah offers an important lesson about leadership.  The greatest of leaders are those who find themselves, most often by circumstance and timing, in situations that require their active involvement.  They do not seek positions of power.  They do not relish fame. These pursue them.  It is what is asked of them by these situations that makes them great.  Whether by God or circumstance, they are called to action.   They do not seek greatness.  It follows from the word of God, it moves from a call.

Nelson Mandela offers a modern example.  In his most famous of speeches, delivered before being sentenced to jail for what would amount to 27 years, Mandela said:   

This then is what the ANC is fighting. Our struggle is a truly national one. It is a struggle of the African people, inspired by our own suffering and our own experience. It is a struggle for the right to live.  During my lifetime I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But, My Lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

I do not imagine that greatness is achieved by seeking to die for a cause.  Many great men and women have been prepared to die for the sake of an ideal.  Their willingness to sacrifice their own lives is not the hallmark of great leaders.  Our times confuse this point.  We are witness to far too many who hold up the desire for death as a goal and measure of leadership.

A willingness to sacrifice is indeed a measure of greatness.  More important is the Bible’s lesson that humility and the eschewing of fame are the best measures of extraordinary leadership.

Leadership pursues a select few.  Greatness follows only those who do not seek it.

Shemot and Remembering Our Values

Suffering begins with forgetfulness.

“A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.” (Exodus 1:8)

Thus begins our story of slavery. It was not of course that the new king had forgotten Joseph. The two men undoubtedly never met. It was instead that he forgot all that Joseph had done for Egypt. Generation after generation had failed to teach that it was Joseph who had rescued Egypt from famine. The new king never heard the telling Joseph’s story.

Our redemption and freedom begin with remembrance.

“God heard their moaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.” (Exodus 2:24)

Forgetfulness brings on suffering. Remembrance leads to salvation.

This is why remembering is one of the key building blocks of the Jewish faith. Judaism values memory. We are commanded to remember the Sabbath: “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy” and the evils Amalek did against us: “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way out of Egypt.” Zachor is the command our people recites over and over again. Remembrance is the principle around which we observe our holidays and organize our Jewish lives.

This command is embedded within ritual acts. When we lift up the kiddush cup and thereby sanctify Shabbat we remember the Sabbath as a reminder of both God creating our world and freeing us from Egypt. Think especially about our celebration of Passover. We celebrate our Seders in an effort to make us feel that we were slaves and are now free. It is not supposed to be about the food, however delicious it may be, but that the taste of these symbolic foods reminds us on the one hand of the bitterness of slavery and on the other, the sweetness of freedom. The single most important phrase of that celebration is: k’ilu, as if. “In every generation one is obligated to see oneself as if he went out from Egypt.”

The notion is that we must re-enact and re-live the past in order to feel it and take it into our hearts. Memories are given life in our tradition. Remembrance is codified as mitzvah. Forgetfulness is deemed a sin.

Let us apply this theory to some modern examples. We tend to forget the good people do for us and focus instead on a slight. Like the new king who saw only the growing number of Israelites and forgot all that Joseph had done for Egypt, we forget the good and dwell on the bad.

In our own country we are only beginning to realize the extent to which the NSA listened in on our private conversations. The fear of terrorism has made us forget American values. We also allowed torture to be used against our enemies. Despite evidence to the contrary, and the sensationalism of Zero Dark Thirty and Homeland, we permit torture to be done in our name. We forget the values that make our country great. Life and liberty are our universal dream.

Fear crowds out remembrance and leads to forgetfulness.  Forgetting the values that animate our faith, our country and our lives may very well lead to  ruin.

Forgetfulness leads to suffering.

Only remembrance can guarantee redemption.

David Hartman z"l

The Reform movement honored my teacher, Rabbi David Hartman, at its biennial.  Here is its beautiful tribute video.  It was a wonder and privilege to be in his presence for such moments.



I miss him.  He was the rare combination of courage and love.  He was never afraid of questions.  He was tireless in asking even the most difficult questions of his Judaism.  He also never stopped loving Jews, even those who made him angry, and rabbis, who he felt were always deserving of his support as well as prodding.  I hope to model what I learned from him.  David loved the questioner even more than the believer.  Question and critique strengthens faith.  It never weakens it.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs honored David and his teaching by presenting the Schindler Award to David's son, Rabbi Donniel Hartman.  Both spoke beautifully of David's contributions and teachings and of a Judaism that is unafraid of debate and welcomes a multiplicity of answers.  Such is a faith that our times especially require.



I must close with Moses Maimonides, with whom Hartman had a life-long discussion and debate: "Just as a person is commanded to honor and revere his father, so is he obligated to honor and revere his teacher... "

Each and every day.

Vayehi and Family Harmony

This week we conclude the Book of Genesis. Jacob gathers his family together to offer a final benediction. The portion opens with the words: “Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt…” (Genesis 47:28) And how old was Joseph when his brothers sold him into slavery? Seventeen. The commentators notice this symmetry. Jacob enjoyed the same number of years living with his son in Egypt as Joseph did living with his father in Canaan. What are we to make of this symmetry? The tumultuous years of Joseph’s youth are perfectly balanced by these final seventeen years.

Would that we discover such perfect symmetry in our own lives!

The midrash adds: “These seventeen years were the best years of Jacob’s life – years of prosperity, goodness and peace; his other 130 years were filled with toil and pain.”

Why were the best years of his life spent in Egypt? How could Jacob enjoy any place but the ideal land of Israel? The commentators suggest that the answer must be that he studied Torah in Egypt and thereby redeemed its pagan influences. I think the answer is far more obvious. We need not reach and imagine that Jacob observed such traditional behaviors to justify his happiness in a foreign land.

So why was Jacob so happy? In Egypt his family was once again whole. His sons have forgiven each other. Now they each have flourishing families of their own. Jacob can enjoy the comforts his son has amassed. He can relish in the joys of grandchildren. In Egypt he, and his entire family, have discovered a tranquility that eluded them in Canaan.

The lesson is clear. Shalom bayit, peace in the home, is more prized than even the most cherished of locations. It is a blessing that eluded our patriarch Jacob for the majority of his life. Now he has found it. And he discovers it no less in Egypt!

Peace between siblings, love between parents and children, is the greatest blessing of all. We need not venture to a sacred destination in order to discover this blessing. It is always nearby.

The Geneva Deal, History and Fear

Years ago, when studying in Jerusalem, my friends and I hailed a cab and jumped in.  One of my companions is blind and was accompanied by his seeing eye dog, a trusted and caring German Shepherd.  The driver became agitated.  He refused to allow the dog in the car.  We grew defensive of our friend.  Our indignation soared, "How dare you discriminate!"  But our friend understood.  The driver was a Holocaust survivor and in his mind, and heart, such dogs were trained for another purpose. He grew increasingly terrified.  It took a great deal of coaxing but eventually my ever calm and wise friend persevered.  Although blind he sees and understands far more than most.  He immediately saw and understood the fear.  Perhaps that was all the driver needed: understanding and acknowledgment of his fear, a recognition that despite the fact that it was now over sixty years later, his fears are still real.

I thought of this experience as I begin to analyze the recent agreement brokered with Iran over its nuclear ambitions.  President Obama does not appear to understand Israeli (and for that matter, Jewish) fears.

Yossi Klein Halevi remarked in an article, "Israel's Freakout, Explained":

During the first Obama administration, the urgent Israeli question was: Is he is a friend of the Jewish state? That question was largely resolved for many Israelis during the President’s visit to Israel last March, when he won over much of the public by affirming the Jewish roots in the land of Israel and the indigenousness of Israel in the Middle East, as well as Israel’s past efforts to make peace.
Now, though, Israelis are asking this: After eight years of President Obama, will the Middle East be a safer or more dangerous region for Israel?
For most Israelis the answer is self-evident. The turning point came this summer, when Obama hesitated to enforce his own red line over Syria. That was the moment that he lost the trust of the Israeli public on Iran.

Israel lives, and thrives, in a terrifying neighborhood.  It must remain forever vigilant.  It must be strong and resolute.  I have never known its fears.  Yet they are part of my people's history.

Still I wonder about Prime Minister Netanyahu's insistence that any deal with Iran is akin to Chamberlain's accord with Nazi Germany.  If we insist on this comparison there can only be one resolution to today's conflict.  History can, and should, be a teacher.  But today is not 1938.  The past is but one lens. The future cannot necessarily be seen more clearly through the past.  History is an imperfect prism.

Also writing in The New Republic, Ben Birnbaum, offers a different perspective, "The Iran Deal is Better Than Nothing--Even for Israel":

Another top Israeli security figure recently noted to me that if the deal taking shape in Geneva were to forestall a nuclear-armed Iran for a couple of years, it would be almost as effective as an Israeli military strike—with none of the consequences, of course. Compared to the current situation, the Geneva deal does not clear that bar. But compared to where the Iranian program would be six months from now without a deal, it could come close.

Make no mistake.  Iran continues to agitate for Israel's destruction.  Fear grows in my heart.  We must remain wary of Iranian promises and even suspect of their intentions.  Does that mean though that every effort to reach an accord is doomed?  Can a compromise with our enemies buy us a measure of security?

I want to remain hopeful.  Yet I remain afraid.  I take counsel from the prophet Isaiah, "Say to the anxious of heart, 'Be strong, fear not...' (Isaiah 35)

I reread his words. "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped...."

History is an imperfect lens.  Yet I draw faith from its waters.

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come with shouting to Zion,
Crowned with joy everlasting.
They shall attain joy and gladness,
While sorrow and sighing flee.

Sorrow and sighing flee.  Fear and trembling banished from our hearts.   And the land might rest secure.

Vayigash and Change

We pick up the story of Joseph and his brothers as it nears its dramatic conclusion. Joseph has framed his brothers by hiding a goblet in his brother Benjamin’s bag. Joseph accuses the brothers of thievery and threatens to jail Benjamin. Rather than allowing Benjamin to be carted away and made a slave, as they did to Joseph so many years ago, Judah draws near to Joseph and begs that his younger brother be spared.

Judah pleads, “Therefore, please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father unless the boy is with me? Let me not be witness to the woe that would overtake my father!” (Genesis 44:33-34) In that moment Joseph realizes that his brothers have indeed changed.

The rabbis see in Joseph’s machinations a test of his brothers. Given the opportunity, would they once again get rid of their father’s favorite son or make a different choice? Would they defend Benjamin even though years earlier they had betrayed Joseph? The only true test of teshuvah shleymah, complete repentance, is to find oneself in the exact same situation and make a different choice.

This is how Joseph discovers that his brothers have made repentance. Judah is a changed man.

It is instructive that Judah is the spokesman for the brothers. It was he who had earlier suggested that they sell Joseph into slavery rather than killing him. Judah has indeed changed.

Change is central to his character. It should also be defining of our own. In fact it is from the name Judah that the term Jew derives. The origin of the term Jew is one who descends from the tribe of Judah. Is it possible that change should then be the defining characteristic of a Jew?

I often hear people argue that it is because of Orthodoxy that Judaism survives. I hear this argument from all manners of Jews, from Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Jews. The notion is that only strict observance and inviolability guarantees the future. This is patently false. It angers me when I hear this argument from Orthodox Jews because it highlights their belief that only they hold the true path. It saddens me when I hear this from fellow Reform Jews because it suggests a lack of faith in our own path.

Change is part of our DNA. It is what guarantees our future. An example from history. Everyone who visits Israel goes to Masada and marvels there at the bravery of the zealots who chose their own deaths at their own hands rather than becoming slaves to the Romans. We fail to recognize that not one of us is a descendant of those brave fighters! The Jewish future might have ended with them. Instead it was seized by Yohanan ben Zakkai, a rabbi who secretly met with the Romans and negotiated the building of a small school in Yavneh.

With that masterful change the Jewish future was secured. The zealots would have called him a traitor. If their followers had discovered him they would have killed him. And yet his willingness to change rather than remain steadfast to old ways guaranteed a future that continues to this day.

And yet most remain afraid of change. We want it to remain like yesterday. We mythologize the past and as well tend to demonize the future. We pretend to live in a never changing present.

This weekend I watched the 60 Minutes interview with Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. He spoke about change and how disruptive Amazon is to the old ways of doing things, such as bookstores, that I confess I continue to miss. He remarked, “Complaining is not a strategy.” It is of course easy to say such things when you are a billionaire or in the case of Joseph, number two in all of Egypt. Perhaps then it is easier to say as Joseph did, “Now, do not be distressed or reproach yourselves because you sold me here; it was to save life that God sent me ahead of you.” (Genesis 45:5)

True it is as well easier to laugh at change when you are a recognized master of it. Yet how much brighter might our future be if rather than complaining (or as in the example of Masada choosing suicide) we see only challenges to overcome and discover changes to master? Should this lesson not be instructive for all?

Change is who we are.  It is our very name.

Hanukkah, Thanksgiving and Dual Devotions

This evening begins the holiday of Hanukkah. Tomorrow is of course when we will gather for Thanksgiving. Although these holidays appear worlds (and lands) apart, they are in fact connected by history and theme.

First a reminder about Hanukkah. Forgive the abbreviated summary. During the second century B.C.E. Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian-Greek ruler over the land of Israel, made it increasingly difficult for Jews to observe Judaism. The Maccabees battled against his mighty army and eventually defeated the Syrian-Greeks. They found the Temple in Jerusalem desecrated and so declared an eight-day dedication ceremony. Hanukkah means dedication. According to later rabbinic writings they found there in the Temple only enough oil to last for one day but it miraculously lasted for all eight days.

Their initial reason for eight days had nothing to do with the miracle of oil. So why did they declare an eight-day festival? It was because the first and second Temples were dedicated during the eight-day fall festival of Sukkot. In order to rededicate the Temple they looked back to their history and the holiday when they first dedicated these Temples. Now the Maccabees were not only given an opportunity to celebrate this all-important holiday that they missed observing during the war but to rededicate the Temple to Jewish worship.

While the Puritans did not observe Sukkot (they did not believe in fixed holidays except for the Sabbath; I wonder as well if this temperament continues to influence American Jews), they certainly drew on its themes when celebrating their first Thanksgiving. On that day in 1621 when this first Thanksgiving was observed, they wished to thank God for a bountiful harvest. Their keen understanding of the Hebrew Bible offered them the example of Sukkot. This holiday is our quintessential harvest festival. The booths hearken back to our people’s agricultural roots when we lived near our fields in order to make the harvest easier. It was on this day when we thanked God for the blessings of the land.

The essence of both Hanukkah and Thanksgiving is gratitude. And there is much for which to be thankful. Could not the words of our tradition’s Al Hanism prayer recited to mark Hanukkah also apply to Thanksgiving?

We thank You, O God… In Your abundant mercy, You stood by Your people in their time of distress. You championed their cause, vindicated their rights, and avenged their suffering. You delivered the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the just…

Or perhaps we might look to the words of Emma Lazarus, the American Jewish poet, who saw in her adopted land a confluence of devotions. In her voice the love of Judaism and America are one.

O deem not dead that martial fire,
     Say not the mystic flame is spent!
With Moses’ law and David’s lyre,
     Your ancient strength remains unbent.
Let but an Ezra rise anew,
To lift the banner of the Jew!

And so our hearts are joined in devotions. We give thanks as Americans and as Jews.

A suggestion: If your custom is to give presents for Hanukkah and especially for all eight days add GivingTuesday to your observance. Rather than exchanging presents on Tuesday, December 3, decide as a family where you wish to give tzedakah. Make one night about what others really need rather than what we want. Helping others should never diminish our gratitude.

Vayeshev and Settling Down

The recently released “Portrait of Jewish Americans” by the Pew Research Center offered many insights into the American Jewish community and in particular Jewish identity and affiliation. Most Jewish leaders and organizations have spent the past weeks decrying its results. Intermarriage rates have increased. Affiliation with synagogues has decreased. Religious sentiments have diminished.

Most see in these statistics cause for alarm. We would be better served focusing on the bright notes found in the study. “More than nine in ten Jews (94%) agree they are proud to be Jewish. Three quarters (75%) say they have a strong sense of belonging to the Jewish people.” Jewish leaders however appear only able to speak about the negatives rather than these positives.

I wonder if the problem lies not in American Jews but in the institutions we have constructed. Yesterday’s synagogues were built around the premise that this is where Jews can best assert their Jewish identity. The fact is that American Jews no longer require the synagogue to reinforce their Jewish identity. I am not an expert at reading sociological studies, but the last time I checked a 94% translates into an A. Thus Jews proudly proclaim their Jewish identities.

And yet we only appear to know how to speak as if there is a crisis. Our institutions and their leaders have imbibed this crisis narrative. “Join a synagogue to stem the tide of assimilation. Only the synagogue can guarantee a solid Jewish identity.” These are the refrains we still hear. But yesterday’s refrains no longer hold sway over today’s Jews. Today’s Jews have aced Jewish identity. And they no longer require synagogues to keep earning high grades.

My teacher Tal Becker suggests that Judaism has a problem of arrival. We only know how to speak in aspirational notes about the future. “Next year in Jerusalem!” we say at our seders. But now we are there. We have a sovereign Jewish state with its capital in Jerusalem. And yet we still speak as if we are living in a shtetl. “The world is out to get us!” we declare over and over again. And thus in medieval times we added to our seders. “Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not know you.” Now we have an army. Do we still only speak the words born out of ancient sufferings and oppressions?

In America as well Jews have arrived. Most American Jews (94%) do not feel their Jewish identities are in crisis. And yet Jewish leaders only know how to speak of crisis. We require a new language; we need words not of impending doom. The future can no longer be written as if we are always standing at the precipice, nearing disaster.

Jews no longer feel they need the synagogue to be Jewish. And so synagogues must change and learn to provide something different. Instead we must speak about the meaning to be found in the Torah and tradition and the beauty and joy to be discovered in community. People will always be searching. Perhaps the synagogue can become the new destination where young and old can add meaning to their lives.

The reality of this week’s Torah portion still resonates with import. “Now Jacob was settled in the land where his father had sojourned…” (Genesis 37:1) Our parents, and grandparents, wandered to these shores in order to discover a place where they could proudly declare their Jewish identities. They built synagogues, and institutions and organizations, to provide venues where we could more easily declare our identities and there gain the courage to venture out to the world with our identities safely, and sometimes secretly, held in our hearts.

Now we are settled. We are no longer sojourners. Our Jewish identities stand firm. When will our language change? When will we lift our voices in joy and song and celebration and proclaim together, “We have arrived?”

For more of my thoughts on American Jewish life and synagogues read a prior post: Lobsters and Synagogues.

Vayishlach and Conquering Fears

The Hasidic rabbi, Nachman of Bratslav, used to say: “The whole world is a narrow bridge. The essence is to be unafraid.”

And yet we read of our patriarch: “And Jacob was greatly frightened.” (Genesis 32:8)

Fear is reasonable. It is to be expected. There is plenty about which to be frightened. There are our fears of terrorism and war, of sickness and disease, of the weather and its calamities. (Our hearts are joined in sorrow for those in the Philippines suffering from Typhoon Haiyan.) For most these fears give us pause. They offer us hesitation. Before setting out, we ask, “Is it worth the risk?” Most of the time we are able to forge ahead, mustering the necessary courage to overcome our fears. For others these fears become incapacitating. These people never venture far outside of their comfort zone. They stay close to home for fear of dangers, both real and imagined.

We learn that even Jacob was afraid.

When facing challenges, when staring at crisis, when looking at struggle fear is a natural feeling. When we know there might be disappointment, when we expect there might be heartache, when we foresee there might even be pain, fear is reasonable. Still we should not allow these fears to lead us to inaction.

In order to succeed we must often overcome fear. In order to fashion something new for ourselves, for our family, for our community we must take risks.

Why was Jacob afraid? For years he had lived on the run. After stealing the birthright from his brother Esau, he fled to his uncle’s home. There he was married (twice) and built a family. We understand why he ran. His brother Esau threatened to kill him! Now, after many years, he is about to see his brother again. Will his brother forgive him? Will they make amends? Jacob is greatly frightened.

The evening before their meeting he wrestles with a mysterious being. He emerges from the encounter limping, but with a new name. He is now called, “Yisrael—Israel.” He becomes the “God wrestler.” He crosses the Jabbok, a river cut through a meandering wadi in the Judean desert. Crossing the river in the middle of the night is perilous. Perhaps this is preparation for the upcoming challenge. “If I can cross the river, then I can face my brother. If I can wrestle with God, then I can face anything.” He is ready to face his past. He is prepared to meet his brother.

Jacob sees his brother approaching in the distance. “And Esau ran to greet him. He embraced him and, falling on his neck, he kissed him; and they wept.” (Genesis 32:4) Had Jacob not crossed the river he never would have made amends with his brother. The embrace would have remained a dream and not a reality.

These days the weather is indeed frightening. It is not in our hands. It is beyond our control. And so we should pause before setting out to face a challenge. But we should not turn away. We must plunge head first into the struggle.

It would be irresponsible to head out to sea in a hurricane. Then again we cannot wait for calm seas.

The essence is to be unafraid. Struggle is how we are named.

Veterans Day

In honor of our veterans, a poem by Alden Solovy.

To the Soldier, To the Veteran
These things I do not know:

The sound of a bullet.
The power of a blast.
The blood of a comrade.
The depth of your wound.
The terror at midnight.
The dread at dawn.
Your fear or your pain.

These things I know:

The sound of your honor.
The power of your courage.
The blood of your wound.
The depth of your strength.
The terror that binds you.
The dread that remains.
Your dignity and your valor.

For these things we pray:

The sound of your laughter.
The power of your voice.
The blood of your yearning.
The depth of your healing.
The joy that frees you.
The hope that remains.
Your wholeness and your love.

© 2013 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

This poem is a beautiful testament to our soldiers' sacrifice and an important reflection of what should be our enduring debt.  Take today's additional moments to pause and remember those who have fought in the US armed forced and served our country with great distinction.